As I stood before the crowd of members of Women Writing the West and accepted my WILLA finalist award, I found myself speechless. Yeah. Those who know me know that never happens, but it did. I finally got them to laughing by telling them the reason it took us so long to drive from Arkansas to San Antonio was that I thought the city was west of New Mexico.

That got a good laugh and I relaxed a bit. Winning this award has been a humbling experience, and that seems odd. It's just that the entire episode was so unbelievable, as if I'd been transported to some other land, a fantasy life, perhaps, and I would awake to find it all a dream.

But it wasn't a dream. I was treated like a celebrity during the time I spent in Texas with such talented women who write about the west. It was the first time I had entered a book in the WILLAs, and while I hoped to win, I never thought I would even final, which I did.

Fly With The Mourning Dove is now and forever will be a WILLA finalist, and like so many other high points in my writing life, no one can take it away from me, no matter what the future brings.

My thanks to all the judges who made this win possible, and to everyone who worked so hard to make the awards such a special occasion.

Here's a quote from one of my favorite authors, given to me by a good friend and exceptionally talented writer, Lynn Carney.

""Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. ~ Ayn Rand, Russian-born American author.