When Kath and I asked if you’d be interested in an unpublished writer joining the cast here at WU, we weren’t expecting the response we received — a definitive YES (187 of them, to be exact). And when we finally opened the doors for submissions, we weren’t expecting to receive so many worthy essays.
We thought this decision would be easy. It has been anything but easy. It has been stomach-ache-ing-ly hard. And I don’t even care if the fabu Dave King would scold me for using a non-word like stomach-ache-ing-ly; the sentiment is true.
Really? Just one? Kath and I have wondered. Can’t we take them all? And if you think I’m kidding, then you should know that we even considered creating a Writer Unboxed 2–a panel of unpublished writers with a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to offer, according to us. It’s an idea that continues to simmer on our collective back burner, and we may revisit it sometime in 2011–after I’ve worked through all of the phases for my second book.
But back to the decision. Hard. Stomachaches. Choices. Gah.
You should know that several people could’ve had this position. The submissions were that good. But in the end, we did decide that a few people and their essays stood out from the pack.
Here are our WU Unpublished Writer QUARTER-FINALISTS:
Lisa Janice Cohen
Cassandra A. Brown
Nina Badzin
Rebecca Hargreaves
Amy Nathan
Samantha Clark
Meryl K Evans
Pamela Toler
Rob Gokee
Which also includes this list of
WU Unpublished Writer SEMI-FINALISTS:
Heather Reid
Erika Liodice
Barb Mountjoy
Christy Hayes
Laura Espinosa
Erika Robuck
Which also includes this list of
WU Unpublished Writer FINALISTS:
Tracy Hahn-Burkett
Lydia Sharp
Suzannah Windsor Freeman
Jeanne Kisacky
Anne Brown
Jan O’Hara
Kristan Hoffman
Sharon Bially
So who wins the spot? We’re in the process of sending email notifications now, and we’ll post the results here on the blog by 5 p.m. EST. We have a few surprises in store.
Congrats and a big THANK YOU to all of our amazing finalists!
Photo courtesy Flickr’s Tyla’75
About Therese Walsh
Therese Walsh co-founded WU in 2006 and is the site's editorial director. She was the architect and 1st editor of WU's only book, Author in Progress, and orchestrates the WU UnConference. Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal; and her debut, The Last Will of Moira Leahy was a Target Breakout Book. Sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to learn about her new projects (or follow her on BookBub). Learn more on her website.
Fun fun! Now I have like a billion tabs open so I can check out all these great writers. Thanks for this opportunity, and congrats to all the quarter-, semi-, and finalists!
.-= Kristan´s last blog ..Barcelona sunrise =-.
Heartfelt thanks to WU for this wonderful initiative, and for the time and thought you’ve devoted to it.
Same. Agree with Sharon and Kristan.
Congrats to those who were selected from start to the lucky last name(s). This is such a great site for all writers.
Best from this Poet Writer in National Poetry Month!
.-= Patricia A. McGoldrick´s last blog ..RAINBOW =-.
Thank you thank you! What a wonderful opportunity!
.-= Erika Robuck´s last blog ..Warm Ups: Figurative Language in Wolf Hall =-.
Thanks again for the opportunity. WU is such a great resource for writers and I love that you are bringing on a new voice. I can’t wait to read the new contributor’s posts.
And I agree with Kristan, I can’t wait to check out all these writers that you linked to. Thanks for linking to my website as well.
Cheers!
.-= Rebecca @ Diary of a Virgin Novelist´s last blog ..Writing Workshops as Labs =-.
Agreed. Ditto. What they said. :)
Love the links, and I love this site!
.-= Lydia Sharp´s last blog ..Oh the Joy of Fridays =-.
Congrats to all the semi-, quarter-, and finalists. And I’m happy for the lucky, wonderful, unpublished writer who gets to blog here.
But what happens if that unpublished author gets published? Will they get booted out?! LOL. I’m sure that wouldn’t happen; they’d probably just get moved to the published-author list of bloggers, right?
.-= Laura Droege´s last blog ..Why Easter makes me want to fight =-.
Thanks for the opportunity. It was great fun writing audition posts. I know the winner will be a great addition to the Writer Unboxed team.
.-= Samantha Clark´s last blog ..How to Train Your Dragon and book-based movies =-.
I’m excited to see my name on the list! I noticed that I’m in the minority for not having my own blog or website already. Who knew I was so behind!? ;)
Thanks again to Therese and Kathleen for all their work to give unpublished writers a boost. Looking forward to the final announcement later!
Thank you to all at WU for giving us this opportunity, and I’m checking out all the other writers’ sites right now.
Congratulations to everyone mentioned on the list!
.-= Suzannah´s last blog ..21 Writing Prompts for Setting a Scene in Your Novel =-.
Thanks for making me a quarter-finalist! I’m looking forward to hear the news of who won!
.-= Cassandra´s last blog ..A Bit About Queries =-.
@Nina Badzin That’s okay. :) My own site is very old (in my book) and isn’t for writing! You are not the only one behind.
And I am very happy to have gone through this opportunity! It was a great learning experience.
Nina–Don’t worry. Twitter’s a start! Just add one thing at a time.
.-= Erika Robuck´s last blog ..Musings on Revision (aka:Whining about Revision) =-.