Nebulas and Space Cadets

On March 12th, the finalists for SFWA's Nebula Awards were announced, and my book Puzzleheart made it onto Andre Norton Nebula Award ballot! Huzzah!

SFWA is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, a professional organization of which I've been a member, on and off, for 25 years now. The ballot is created by SFWA members, who will also choose the winners in June.

I'm incredibly honored to be on the ballot and also well aware that many factors contribute to this sort of recognition, merit being just one of them. So many fantastic books were never even on the radar of SFWA's voting members – especially since most of them don't read a lot of middle grade and young adult novels. The ballot could be filled a dozen times over with deserving books.

So there's a danger in placing too much weight on something like this. As soon as you let positive external validation loom too large--especially in terms of your mental health–you open the door for lack of validation to carry similar weight. If you fall into the trap of thinking "award nomination = The book is great!" then not getting a nomination might make you think "The book is bad." Or even "I'm a bad writer."

This is a lie.

Awards are not faultless indicators of greatness, and the absence of awards indicates even less.

That said, I'm truly grateful that my peers in SFWA thought highly enough of Puzzleheart to recognize it this way, and I'm going to celebrate the hell out of the news. (I'm just not going to let it mean anything more profound about my worth as a writer or a person.)

Relatedly, read this wonderful opinion piece by Kimberly Olson Fakih, "10 Things I Hate About Starred Reviews."

And now the Space Cadet

Finley, my youngest boy (who is a not-very-young fourteen) had a long overdue dental appointment last week, during which he had two extractions. I am embarrassed to admit how much I love when he's completely drugged out.

His little mouth was numb, so he kept carrying morsels of food on his nose and cheeks every time he grabbed a bite.

Finn normally enjoys watching squirrels and birds on the TV, but this took on a whole new intensity while he was on the pain killers.

(If you're wondering, I've recently become obsessed with the AntsCanada YouTube channel, which features a lot more than just ants.)

Finley is now off the pain meds and back to purring, sleeping, and dilating his eyes a totally normal amount. He's still 100% adorable.

Thanks for reading this week!

Jenn