we're finalists!

That's right. Blood, sweat, and eight tear-stained drafts of Beggar's Rebellion later, the book has been picked as a finalist in Mark Lawrence's Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off contest, likely the biggest and most prestigious contest for indie fantasy authors around. 
Emphasis on biggest. To be a finalist means I'm one of just ten authors chosen from a pool of 300. Getting this far means that the good folks at Fantasy Book Critic chose my book as the top of the thirty entries they got to read, and I wasn't at all sure that was going to happen despite having confidence in my book. So this feels great. 
Especially in a publishing world where there aren't many objective standards--terrible books top the charts, excellent books tank in sales, and lots of us in the middle wonder if we just haven't gotten our break yet... or if we aren't ready for it even if it did happen. 
Well TBH I'm still not sure I'm ready. But this certainly feels like a break of some kind--the top ten finalists from previous years of the SPFBO have lead me to some great reads, and no matter what happens here I know finaling this year will steer more people toward Beggar's Rebellion. Which, prizes and publications and profits aside, has always been the point of this: not just to write, but to be read. 
​And knowing that's happening? I feel like I've already won.