I posted a notice under National Book Award that my book, The Gate of Beautiful (several chapters of which grew out of this thread) was one of six Finalists in the religion category of the National Best Books Award for 2009. I didn't win, but it was an enormous honor to be one of the six finalists. Books were submitted all year from major publishers to small independent publishers who self-publish books, like mine. The odds of being one of the six finalists, being basically self-published, are too small to calculate. But I done it.

Kudos to the kitchen table. You can all stand up and take a bow.

Jerry