SPFBO and Being Brave and Bold

One of my pledges to myself this year was that as soon as I was stable enough, health-wise, I was going to start making up for all the things that I’ve missed out on thanks to being sick – and to be brave and bold and go for opportunities, even if I’m unsure how they’ll work out for me.

It’s not that I’m risk adverse. In fact, I’m laughing as I type that, because anyone who truly knows me absolutely knows how bold and occasionally rash I can be. As the Eleriannan might say, “audentes fortuna iuvat” – and that’s been proven true for more times than I can count. Being brave and bold gets you more than sitting around waiting for things to fall into your lap, y’all.

All this is my long winded way of saying that I entered In Sleep You Know into the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off or SPFBO 9, which is a contest designed to put a spotlight on, as the title suggests, self-published fantasy novels. It is organized yearly by Mark Lawrence, and this is the ninth year. Three hundred book submissions are divided amongst ten blogs, who read, review, and eliminate the selections until they find the one book they’ll put into the final round.

The second round is where all the judging blogs get the finalist books to review and make a decision between. At the end of the process, a winning book [and also a winning cover, in a separate, concurrent contest] will be chosen and crowned the winner of SPFBO. Yay! The entire process takes about a year, so expect occasional updates as things progress.

I’ve gone into this with zero expectations in any direction other than finding some new reads, getting some exposure, and making some new writing and reviewing friends/contacts. The experience is worth it! [though of course I want to win, but truly that’s not the reason to enter]

If you want to see all of the entries and what blogs will be doing the reviewing – which I highly recommend, get you some new reads – you can go here [there’s also stats about SPFBO and other interesting info] and here [a gorgeous visual layout where you can see all the covers and click easily on each story’s link].

In other brave and bold news:

• I’ll be participating in the Broad Universe members Rapid-Fire Reading at Balticon! As soon as I get the scheduled time and details I’ll make sure to post them.
• I decided that I’m going to start taking a writing class monthly, to continue to hone my craft and re-invest in myself. The one for June is going to be Embodied Characters, taught by my brilliant friend Marianne Kirby! It’s being hosted by Neon Hemlock and if you’d like to take it too, the link is here – https://www.neonhemlock.com/neon-salon
• I started going back to the gym this week! This is a huge deal because I’m trying to regain strength and stamina that I lost while I was mostly housebound. I’m glad to report that I’m not nearly as weak as I thought I might be!
• I had an iced chai latte with almond milk and it didn’t wreck my guts. *throws confetti*

What brave and bold things have you done lately? I want to know! Hit reply and leave a comment so that I can cheer you on, too. 💜

Today’s brave and bold soundtrack: D-Day by Agust D. Stream it here: https://open.spotify.com/album/446ROKmKfpEwkbi2SjELVX?si=t4gM9tqBT6ysbTDP3tz3JQ