Bringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion)
Bringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion) by Debra H
Goldstein
The Olympics produced many discussions from what is the
twisties to whether Americans have the wrong mindset in terms of medals. The
reality is that we celebrate winning the gold, but don’t have the same excitement
for silver or bronze. Who ever saw a bronze medalist on the “Breakfast of
Champions” Wheaties box?
An August 9, 2012, Scientific American article, “Why Bronze
Medalists are Happier Than Silver Medalists,” noted that both silver and bronze
medalists focus on what might have been. The silver medalist frets about how
close to winning the individual came and consequently is disappointed. The
bronze medalist is happier because that winner’s comparison is the person who
finished fourth-out of medal contention. The thrill for the bronze medalist is having
squeaked through with a medal victory.
As a semi-finalist for the 2021 Silver Falchion cozy award
for Three Bites Too Many, the third book in
Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery
series about a woman who is more frightened of the kitchen than murder, I am
excited. I’d like to win, but I’m honest enough to admit that I’m in good
company in the cozy heat. Tina deBellegarde, Kay DiBianca, Bonita Y. McCoy,
Lori Robbins, Colleen J. Shogan, Maggie Toussaint, Cathy Tully, Becki Willis,
and Lois Winston are all tough and worthy contenders. I’d love to hear the
Killer Nashville announcer call out “Debra H. Goldstein,” but I think any of us
should consider ourselves gold medalists. Why? Because somewhere and sometime
this past year, the books we are nominated for brought readers joy. A medal
would be nice, but what’s better than touching other people by giving them a
few hours of fun and escape from their daily lives? What do you think?
As a finalist for the Silver Falchion in the category of Best Investigator, I echo your sentiments one and all. I love the fact that Killer Nashville awards top honors in SILVER, too. Wishing you and all the other finalists hearty congratulations and the best of luck.
Kudos Saralyn, and good luck!
Congrats on being a finalist in the Best Investigator category. Best of luck!
What do I think? I think you are absolutely right! Awards are great, but giving readers joy is the real goal. Many congratulations on the nomination!!!
Thank you. It would be nice … but readers are key!
Debra, congratulations on being among such a great group of authors. The times I've finaled (or won) are imprinted on my brain. But I think my first final ever will mean the most to me because it was recognition that I could write. Win or final, these are milestones. And if you raise to the level of the Olympics, well then that's putting you up there with a small percentage of athletes in the world — I can't even imagine. Have fun in Nashville, and keep us posted.
make that rise to the level 🙂
Will keep you posted….
Beat of luck to you, Debra, and Saralyn, too. A few years back, I was a Silver Falchion Finalist, too. None other than our own Kathryn Lane beat me out for the top honor, but far as I'm concerned, having our work recognized by independent arbiters of quality in our field is and honor in itself.
Congratulations on the nomination. I did vote for you . . . Your blog today is right on. Good luck.