The results are in for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and it looks like my dreams of standing with the hummingbirds in Seattle will have to wait a while. Three men have taken out the honours with interesting looking titles. The winner is decided by readers, so read their excerpts and cast your vote. I’m thrilled to have made it to the semifinals and on the strength of the feedback I received, will be fishing for a North American agent and a publisher there, as well as in Australia too of course.

In other news, the QWC/ Hachette Programme is once again open for submissions. I won a spot in their 2008 Bribie Island manuscript development retreat and had a wonderful time, and learnt a lot. It’s really worth a go. Favel Parrett, Past the Shallows, Phillipa Fioretti Book of Love and Fragments of Dreams, and Chris Currie, The Ottoman Motel, were all in my group and have gone on to publishing successes. Who knows? The next one could be you! The rest of us are still out there trying, and we’re getting closer all the time.