Final Thoughts on Stoker Weekend

So, alas, I did not win the first novel award but overall it was a worthwhile trip and I enjoyed many funny and surreal conversations. My favorite event on the big Saturday I detailed in a previous post turned out to be sitting on the first novel panel. All the first novel panelists were very nice and after meeting my fellow finalists I realized in a concrete way that there were no villains to be defeated here just fellow writers struggling to market their novels.

I also now have more empathy for the finalists in award ceremonies who have to sit there for three hours waiting to either be strangely elated or crushed and go over their victory speech in their minds and in the end, you know what, it doesn't really matter if you win or not because you'll be exhausted either way.

So there you have it. Noah, thank you for the rose you hid in my luggage for me to find when I arrived home in St. Paul.