As a writer, I submit my writing to be judged dozens of times a month (article ideas I pitch, fellowships I apply for, agents I queried) and the rate of response is, well dreary.
Ghosting isn’t just for dating, you all. 👻 No-response rates for pitching articles to editors or for querying your book to agents is somewhere around 50% on average. And that doesn’t account for how many of the responses you get are a polite “no, thanks.” (You know it’s bad out there when writers tell each other “At least you heard back!” as a sign of positivity.)
All this to say when I send out dozens (or hundreds over the course of a year) of pitches I learned to expect to hear back like, pretty much never. That way when I do hear back it’s a pleasant surprise.
So, I was happily surprised to learn that I was recently named a 2026 Aspiring Author Scholarship Award Winner by the Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame. I submitted to this award process a little over a year ago and am so thrilled that Home Planet is one of the five winners. 🎉
Also, how cool that their design matches my hair? 😻
This scholarship award is given to unpublished authors with ties to Colorado. And while it includes cash, more importantly to me, it includes an intensive one-year coaching and mentoring program created by the Hall to support authors and aspiring authors to achieve their publishing goals.
But perhaps best of all is that a panel of judges consisting of bookstore owners, librarians and published authors picked Home Planet from a blind submission process. It’s a vote of confidence that this book, this story is interesting to other readers. Releasing writing out into the world is a very vulnerable place to be, and this experience makes that just a little bit easier to bear.
If you’d like to join me for the award ceremony, it’s happening on September 11th (just a few days before Home Planet is released on the 15th) at the Inverness Denver in Englewood. Details and tickets can be found here.
Fun fact: Rebecca Yarros was inducted in the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame last year!
Is there something you are interested in learning about the book, the writing process, or otherwise? Hit reply and let me know.
Warmly
Tiffany