It came as a happy surprise when this year’s Queer Indie nominations were announced a few weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting it at all. Everyone says, it’s enough to just be nominated and as wonderful as that is, of course I want to win. Everyone yearns to be validated and recognised for their hard work.
We writers really do suffer for our craft. We are constantly second-guessing ourselves, doubting if we’re taking the right path and looking at our more successful peers, wondering why that isn’t us. We slave away, usually on our own, locked into imaginary worlds that no one yet knows exists. Will they ever be seen by outside eyes? Sometimes the answer is no. If you’re like me, there are folders filled with abandoned ideas, partially written stories or synopses, even a finished manuscript you decided to trash. But these should never be seen as failures, they are merely stepping stones for our brains to leap from until landing on ‘the one’. The story you feel the most passionate about. The book you want to share with the world. This can take months, sometimes years of painstaking work and heartache, but once it’s published, you can be proud of what you’ve accomplished.
I always tell myself, if this is not the very best work I can do, then it won’t be seen by anyone else. There are stories left in a folder that I wrote 20/30/40k words for – stepping away from months of work. Some of the ideas make it into new stories, others, I come back to later and inject them with new ideas to make them fresh and feel alive again. The two books I have published are my best work to date, but I’m always pushing myself forward. To the next big idea, a new way to excite and entertain – because in the end, that is why I write; to entertain. And if you’re not entertained, then I’m not a very good story teller.
So, yes, I am very proud to be nominated in this year’s awards. The prize is a permanent feature of QI’s website. It may not be the dizzying heights of the Booker Prize, but one I would very much cherish. As a creative, there is no better honour than the recognition of one’s work.
If you would like to vote for me, you have until February 7, 2022 to get your entries in.
You’ll find me under – Queer Lit: Speculative, Terry Geo
There are some excellent authors also up for awards in a range of categories. You can check them all out here: https://queerindie.com/vote/
Thank you!
Terry Geo