Outstanding Creator Awards Nominee

 So, I submitted my book to The Outstanding Creator Awards competition a couple of months ago, and they also provide you with an editorial review. I've had a lot going on so I'm only now making a blog post about it here. 

So along with the nomination for the contest, I'm sharing a link to the review. I was thankful to them for referring to Mark as my husband as I had explained what had happened in the book. We never got to get "officially" married but we wanted to and I consider him my husband to this day. I took his last name as my own and wear a ring in memory of what could have been on my left hand. There really is no recipe for how to be considered married within scripture. There are sacred traditions both within Judaism and Christianity (that it's probably safer to adhere to if you can.) But we thought we had longer and well...you can read it in the book 😉 I was once told by a Priest, that God is not bound by His sacraments and ordinances and so for me, Mark is my husband, and I believe he comes to see me frequently (as do probably many others who've gone before me.) I'm not the type of Christian who believes God keeps our loved ones corralled in heaven like horses. That's never made sense to me. I find the arguments as to why He wouldn't allow it to be that way rather weak. But that's a post for another day.

"This book will go down as one of the unexpected gems of the contest, a diamond in the rough just like Mark, the very man it centers around."

My babe 😘💔

When I read the review, I cried. They truly got what I was trying to convey and understood the tragedy of not just alcoholism, but falling in love when one is dying. As my friend Angela said when we first became a couple, "It's like A Walk to Remember but the sexes reversed." I've never forgotten it. It felt like it in a lot of ways. 

Another mind-blowing aspect of this contest is the variety of genres submitted (there are many categories to submit to) and even some familiar celebrity creators . Sir Michael Caine has an entry. I love many movies of his but is it cheesy for me to say his Scrooge in Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my all-time favourites? Sue me, I’m still a kid at heart. Interstellar is also probably within my top 10 favourite films of all time. Another familiar face and name that is also included in this contest is Amy Jo Johnson, who played Kimberly the pink Power Ranger when I was addicted to the show as a kid. Turns out she’s got a comic book series based on the show. Very cool. Very mind bending for me to be in a contest with these people I grew up watching. 

So if you'd like to read my review it can be found at the following link. Winners are supposed to be announced sometime this month. Even if nothing comes of that, I am very happy to have such wonderful words said about my book.

The review can be found on this link from The Outstanding Creator Awards website.

They also have a Facebook page I highly recommend. I've already discovered a few books I've added to my list because of their reviews.