Gold Line Press announced their winners and finalists for their chapbook contests yesterday, and I was named as a finalist for their Fiction Chapbook Contest. Gold Line is affiliated with the creative writing program at the University of Southern California, and the contest judges included Danzy Senna, Maggie Nelson, and Safiya Sinclair. I feel incredibly honored to have been chosen as a finalist.

Contests like this are always hard because I, for one, was so happy to have made it to the final five. At the same time, when you find out you didn’t win, that means that particular chance at publication is now no longer available, and that’s really the ultimate goal, right? A book! So you’re happy for the winner but also somewhat sad for yourself. The editors for this particular competition let me know I was a finalist in early December, which was amazing. I so appreciated the early heads up. I told a close friend of mine I had a Schrodinger’s Chapbook that whole time, that it felt like the book was both published and dead at the same time. So in a lot of ways, this is somewhat heartbreaking good news. It’s also something all writers go through. I’ve done a lot of research on small presses who publish chaps, so I’m hoping this little baby finds a good home very soon!