My wife writes under the name Emily McKay. She handed out excerpts of her latest young adult book at Championships and a few other regionals, and I wanted to brag that last night she won a RITA award for that novel – The Farm. The RITA is sorta like the Nebula or Hugo in that it is genre specific recognition for writers.
If you enjoyed her book or the excerpt, or want to encourage a former middle school teacher who is doing something different, you can visit one of her sites – emilymckay.com or escapethefarm.com and congratulate her.
Brief summary, it is a book about two teenage twin sisters, one with severe autistic symptoms, set in a post-apocalyptic world where vampires are real – and they don’t sparkle.
Congratulations. I remember meeting Emily and talking about the book last year in St Louis, and getting an excerpt (and some bling).
As a writer, I know how much of your heart and soul goes into your craft, and to get external acknowledgement is so very gratifying, proof that “you are good at this”. Sometimes writing is so lonely, so stuff like this helps one get through the dark times (I speak of deadlines and editors…).
OK, now I have to go buy the rest of the book. I’m more of a SciFi fan, but I’ll read anything.