@SeraDrake
Another one that's filling up FAST (this one has cute cats!)
https://www.wattpad.com/story/411789564-%F0%9D%90%8F%F0%9D%90%AE%F0%9D%90%AB%F0%9D%90%81%F0%9D%90%9E%F0%9D%90%9A%F0%9D%90%A7-%F0%9D%90%80%F0%9D%90%B0%F0%9D%90%9A%F0%9D%90%AB%F0%9D%90%9D%F0%9D%90%AC-%F0%9D%9F%90%F0%9D%9F%8E%F0%9D%9F%90%F0%9D%9F%94-%F0%9D%90%8C%F0%9D%90%A2%F0%9D%90%A7%F0%9D%90%A2-%F0%9F%8D%8A
This one is filling up FAST. One book, maximum of two categories.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/411515488-nocturne-awards
This is a bit last-minute, for which I apologize, but here's a contest that might have a few spaces open. If not, it looks like there will be other contests in the future, so keep your eyes on it.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/411216828-coffee-chapters-contest-contest-book
HOLY CARP
I'm one of eighteen finalists for the Hawthorne Prize.
https://americanwritingawards.com/hawthorne-prize
I'm pretty sure the winner is going to be Ron Destro - he's the one who got the Kennedy Center Award - but even being a finalist is a massive achievement in this contest.
Ancilla made it to the finals...
New mini award
https://www.wattpad.com/story/411577357-the-starfall-awards
I want to ask, who's in your profile picture? I'm just curious since I see you a lot!!!
@superpowahh - That's a younger version of me, taken when I was only forty-something years old.
In my email today: Ancilla was awarded third place in the special LGBTQ+ category of the Spring 2026 Outstanding Creator Awards.
https://www.outstandingcreator.com/winners--2026-spring-contest.html
That was a contest I hadn't expected to do well in at all, so I got a pleasant surprise.
Ancilla has been having a good week.
You are a published author. That is amazing, congratulations!!! Did you publish traditionally or by yourself? Do you think my book, once finished, would be able to be published?
@LemonLoaf - I definitely think your book stands a good chance of getting published, especially if you get the right agent. Whether or not it goes viral and nets you some good royalties may be another matter. A good agent is worth their weight in gold. Alternately, you could self-publish the way I do - if you do it through Lulu or Draft2Digital, it doesn't cost much at all.
@LemonLoaf - Self-published. First, I'm a control freak, and I refuse to relinquish my moral rights. Second, the stuff I write is so weird and niche that I doubt any publisher would touch me with a ten-foot pole. I'm probably good, all things considered, but I'm unmarketable. Which would also explain why I have spent about ten times on advertising, ISBNs, and other business fees what I've received in royalties. A success I am not. I tel, myself to just consider it a labour of love - an expensive hobby - rather than a living. I will never quit my day job. At least I am not alone. I read somewhere that the average professional writer makes about $10K per year. That's well below the poverty line, and below minimum wage. Most of us have day jobs to fund our writing habit these days.
And in other news, Ancilla was just named one of forty shortlistees for the 2026 Hawthorne Prize. Finalists will be announced next Sunday; the winner a little bit after that.
https://americanwritingawards.com/hawthorne-prize-1
For the record, I don't think I have a hope of winning, although I might possibly luck out and be one of the finalists, if I get a judge who connects deeply with what I've written. Some of the authors on this year's shortlist are nobodies like me, but a casual glance at my fellow shortlistees showed at least one Kennedy Center Award winner (Ron Destro). And some of the books shortlisted have not only received Kirkus "Get it!" endorsements like I did, but actual Kirkus stars.
It's only an indie contest, but it's one of the more prestigious ones.
Even making the short list is an achievement.
It's also further validation, which is something I'm chasing hard. The problem with writing erotic literary fiction is that it's erotic. "Erotica" today doesn't seem to imply tasteful, artistic writing and visual art that happens to have sex, sensuality, or lovemaking as its focus, not like it used to. The days of Yellow Silk (a journal of erotica popular in the 80's and 90's) and Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press are long gone. If you look for erotica on Amazon, Eden Books, or other bookselling platforms, you are likely to find smut, with titles like "Taking It Up The Keister From My Stepbrother And His Werewolf Best Friend."
And a lot of that smut is probably auto-generated by AI, and guess what? If it's perma-free on Kobo or 99 cents on Amazon, readers don't care. They're not looking for literary quality, they're looking for their pet fantasy and stories they can read with one hand.
Literary fiction readers, meanwhile, don't generally go for erotica, although there are exceptions.
I walk in the footsteps of Anais Nin and D H Lawrence.
They are very large footsteps.
But it looks like I might be doing something right after all...
@SeraDrake Oh, I missed this update! Congrats again - I definitely need to start looking into real-world contests again.
Redoing my contest shoutout because I ditzed out the first time (the dubious joys of being an airhead...)
Leaving the first post up because Calla is an awesome read and I think it's positively criminal that it's been up for months and has only had about 600 views. I am not just saying this because reading and commenting on it (or part of it, I can't remember) was a contest payment.
https://www.wattpad.com/story/410956489-the-goldenrod-awards
