A few months ago, a former coworker suggested I enter The Cavern into the "Cinematic Book" contest held by ScreenCraft. I did my due diligence by researching the contest and the organization--they are legit.
I was intrigued, and of course flattered by the suggestion. I've had this ongoing image of The Cavern becoming a Divergent/Hunger Games-esque movie or, even more appealing, something like The 100 on the CW. The action in the story all by itself always felt like it would communicate better on a screen. Throw in the glowing eyes of the Caverners, the inevitable journey to The Surface (the title of the sequel, btw), and the entire book series plays out visually to me.
Btw, if you haven't already, you can read The Cavern, and its free prequel novella The Descent, through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and everywhere e-books are sold.
After entering the contest, I'd like to say I played it cool and didn't check the submission site, even though it clearly said nothing would be announced until early January. But I'm not cool at all, and I checked that site at least once a week just to see if something changed. Of course nothing happened, but January 8--the date of the quarterfinalist announcement--finally approached and I didn't check that sucker until well into the afternoon. I was too scared! It felt easier to ignore rather than find out I hadn't made it to the next round.
When I checked my personal submission page and saw that I was a quarterfinalist and made it through the first round out of 1200+ submissions, I still didn't believe it. I checked the ScreenCraft website where the quarterfinalists would all be listed and scrolled down the page, just waiting to not see my name or the title of my book. But there it was. I guess it wasn't a mistake!
Even if I don't make it to the next round, I'm still beyond excited for this win. This little bit of validation means that the visual story I see in my head is a possibility to other people. Nothing may come from this actual contest, but my name and my book are still on a reputable screenwriting website. People working in the business will see that and hopefully look further into my series. Maybe I don't win the contest, but that doesn't mean I don't make my dreams come true.