Second round of ABNA

Today, entrants in the second round of the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel were announced. From a total of 5,000 entries in each category (General and YA Fiction), 1,000 have each been selected based on the best pitches. Congrats to all my fellow writers who've advanced in this round. Saw a few names I recognized. It was thrilling and surprising to find my own. Those 300-word pitches were hard as hell to write, but I'm glad to know mine worked, as it is also the back blurb of Sultana.

So what's next? On March 22, the quarterfinals lists will indicate the next 250 people to move on, in each category. The editors, including author Lev Grossman, Marysue Rucci, and literary agent Jennifer Joel and one lucky (?) Amazon Top Reviewer will judge the 3,000 - 5,000 word excerpts that accompanied each pitch. The excerpts are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 for their overall strength, prose and style, plot, and originality of the manuscript.

How do I think Sultana will fare? I haven't the slightest clue - I'm just delighted the pitch worked! Until March, I'll just be:

Waiting.