The Rainbow Awards (2013)

As far as I can fathom, A LOT goes into this. LOTS of time. Lots of effort. Lots of thought. Lots of planning. So, a huge THANK YOU goes out to Elisa Rolle for all her hard work! She is amazing. (Literally, she is pretty amazing. I met her in October. Very kind, very poised, very classy woman.) But these Rainbow Awards are no small task.

From Elisa's FaceBook Post, she says:

2013 Rainbow Awards

Almost 400 books, more than 150 judges, all over the world, and many, many submissions, from indie publishers, from mainstream publishers and a lot of self-published authors. And, to me more important of everything, we raised almost 6500 dollars that are already to the two charities, Ali Forney Center in New York City and Colors in Los Angeles. This is Colors' thank you letter: "I am writing to thank you for your donation in support of the Antioch University Los Angeles LGBTQ Colors program located just west of downtown in the MacArthur Park area. Your support directly impacts the services provided to LGBTQ youth under 25 years of age. The core values of social justice, service to community, and experiential learning comprise the heart of our mission, and the Colors program enables us to provide a valuable service to the community. As you know, Colors is a collaborative program offered by Antioch University Los Angeles and Pueblo Nuevo Development Corporation that provides comprehensive services to combat both the epidemic of suicides by LGBTQ youth and the bullying directed against them. Colors offers this underserved population and their families counseling, psychotherapy, support, and advocacy free of charge. Colors is committed to creating a world where LGBTQ youth are valued, embraced and invited to contribute to their full potential. This program is fully supported by alumni and friends like you. This support enables us to live our mission, and we are truly grateful for your participation. Thank you for your support."


(Copied. If this is wrong to do I'll delete it.)


Elisa has a beautiful heart. These awards serve a purpose and now have become a charitable event to help people. Elisa has vision. Kudos to you!


400 books and 150 judges. And I counted 32 categories … DUDE!!

If you want to view ALL the categories and read who won, please click HERE.

Initially, both The Cost of Loving and My Roommate's a Jock? Well, Crap! were in the running. There are specific dates of publication that qualify entries. Luckily, I had TWO publications in that window! Yay. But then they do some rounds of judging and TCOL didn't make it into the final round. There is a scale. Judges give a book points. (Or something.) And the published work is read by several people to get a "grade". (*Note: I am using my OWN terminology; visit REVIEWS AND RAMBLINGS to find out the rules and the nitty-gritty.) TCOL was out, but JOCK was in.

My Roommate's a Jock? Well, Crap! Made it into the final round of judging. HUGE for me! There is a lot of competition. And in the end… drum roll… JOCK took 3rd place. Not too shabby.

Best LGBT Romantic Comedy1. J.L. Merrow – Slam

2. Barbara Davies - Licensed to Spy / Sandrine Gasq-Dion - A Betting Man, A Marrying Man (2 novellas as 1 submission)

3. Wade Kelly - My Roommate's a Jock

I'm honored to be in such company as JL Merrow. She has 76 distinct works according to Goodreads. Whoa! And then there is little ole me with THREE. (well, 4 with the anthology.) JOCK competed with the big guns and won third. Pretty good. Elisa e-mailed me this image. Should I use it? I guess I am a winner because I was in the competition and WON a spot in the standings. I would take home a bronze medal had this been the writing OLYMPICS.

I am happy. This was a great adventure for me and many frazzled nerves waiting and wondering if my writing was good enough. So one more year of the Rainbow Awards is done. I'll have to think about next year and what might be in the running. Well, I guess it depends on getting something published! I still have not heard a word about Names Can Never Hurt Me. This makes me very nervous. It has been 5 weeks. Last time, it took 5 weeks to hear back about TCOL. I expected 5. But now? As time creeps by I worry my stuff is not good enough. And I worry about the reasons why? Too long? Too boring? Uninteresting? Lack of focus? IDK. The longer the wait, the more reasons I can conjure as to why they wouldn't want it. I'm good at that.

As far as The Rainbow Awards for 2014… I think the only ones that COULD make it in under the deadline would be NAMES and possibly Misplaced Affection if I got that one finished and submitted VERY soon. We'll see.

Happy Sunday. Don't forget to visit 2 Boys in Love. Matt and Brad have very interesting posts and on Sundays there is often a special post by Sam-I-Am. (Sunday's with Sam.) They are a fun bunch of guys!

That's all for now.

Wade