It’s a wonderful feeling to receive positive feedback on something you have poured yourself into for years, even when recognition wasn’t what motivated you in the first place. I was the lucky recipient of such good news when I got notification last week that my six-year labor of love, Once upon a Mulberry Field, had been selected as a finalist in the 2014 National Indie Excellence Book Awards for Historical Fiction.

The NIEA was established in 2007 in Los Angeles, California to recognize excellence in independent publishing. It is open to all English language books available for sale, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors. The competition is judged by independent experts from all aspects of the book industry—publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers, and professional copywriters.

“The Indie Excellence® Winners & Finalists recognize the books that demonstrate an indefinable synergy of elements that makes for overall excellence.”

Although prior to publication my first-draft manuscript had been chosen as a finalist in the 2012 San Diego Book Awards (Unpublished Novel category), this is the first time the book has garnered some national recognition. It is an honor for me, and it gives me a boost of confidence that I am on the right track. But just as important, I hope it will bring Mulberry Field a little attention from the reading public out there—another nudge on the great wall of exposure and publicity that I’m only beginning to scale.

After all, one big reason why I began writing was to reach other people and to share what I write with them. Awards or not.

Click here to see the complete list of 2014 NIEA Finalists.