Faulkner-Wisdom: An Unexpected Gift from a Growling Fool, short-list finalist

An Unexpected Gift from a Growling Fool was named short-list finalist in the novel category for the 2013 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition.  There were 362 entries from 37 US states and seven foreign countries.  Last year, A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit was one of the finalists and The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady was a short-list finalist for the second year running.  I’m still waiting to hear the results for the Novel-in Progress category, where The Girl in the Bathtub was a finalist last year, and from the Novella category where I entered for the first time, The Act of Theft.

 

So that’s four novels that have made the finals or short-list finals in 2012 and 2013 Faulkner-Wisdom Competition in the novel and novel-in-progress categories.  Not bad.  A fifth book has a chance in the Novella category.

Before entering this year, I revamped my novels and read them out loud, a good way to catch mistakes and sharpen the writing, something I recently blogged about. 

Still, there is a lot of competition out there from all those in master degree writing programs and literature majors that have a leg up on the rest of us.  It sure helps to have some­one, other than yourself, pushing you to raise your writing standards and your storylines.  That’s what I did for years for my writing students and those whom I edit. When living in Penang, where two of my novels are set, I exchanged work with other writers, and did a little of that over here in Borneo with the opening pages.  Perhaps it’s high time I start doing that again. 

* Update: The Girl in the Bathtub also named short-list finalist for novel-in-progress (Gift from the Past)  and Act of Theft, shortlist finalist for the novella, so five books into two years!

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I