I can barely believe I get to say this:  my book A Noble Companion is a finalist for this year's Realm Awards!!!  

::cue all the squees::

This little Ugly Duckling retelling was such a challenge to write.  First of all, it's the first time I have been part of a multi-author project.  Second, I really had never written fantasy before, and I struggled with that aspect of the book a lot.  Third, every book in this series focuses on a side character of the fairy tale being retold, not the usual main character, and... there aren't really any other named characters in The Ugly Duckling.  

I'm not a fantasy writer, I'm a historical fiction writer, so I did a lot of praying that God would help my imagination and writing skills grow and change to suit this new project.  And I did find ways to make it truly a fantasy book, but one resting solidly on a foundation of historical research for the setting.  But I never really expected that it could compete against more obvious fantasy books for the Realm Awards, which are for Christian fantasy and sci-fi.  The fact that it made the long list last month felt like a really amazing honor, and I really didn't even hope that it would go farther.  But it did!  It's a finalist now!  Wow.

If you want to see who all the finalists are, you can find the official list here.  If you want to know more about A Noble Companion, check out my page about it.

If you haven't read My Rock and My Refuge yet, but you love historical fiction, fairy tale retellings, Christian fiction, and/or very clean and gentle romance, I think you might like this book ;-)  It's a Beauty and the Beast retelling set in an 1870s Colorado silver mining town. If you have read it, please leave a review for it somewhere! Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Northwestern Publishing House, wherever. Even just a star rating or a simple "I enjoyed this book" is always a plus!

My latest book, My Rock and My Refuge, has been selected as a 2023 Finalist in the WILLA Literary Awards Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction category!

God is so good!  I have dreamed of someday winning this award for pretty much the entire ten years I have been writing western novels.  To even be a finalist (which is like a runner-up) is such an honor. I thank God for blessing my writing efforts and helping me become a better storyteller with every book and story I write. To God be the glory! 

The WILLA is awarded by the Women Writing the West organization to outstanding writing focused on women and girls in the North American West. If you would like to see the list of all of this year's winners and finalists, you can find that right here on the Women Writing the West website. My Rock and My Refuge has some amazing company on that list! 

If you haven't read this book of mine yet, and you're curious what other people think about it, you can check out its reviews on Goodreads.  You can also order a copy from Northwestern Publishing House, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.