I'm a FINALIST for a 2014 GCLS Award - how flipping cool is THAT?!

So I'm totally pumped that my book of poetry, The Immaculate Chaos of Being is a finalist for a 2014 GCLS Award!  (That regularly updated list of finalists here.)  [Here's where I thank the lady who saw fit to nominate me - THANKS!!  You were SO RIGHT to be so pushy! ;)] 
I mean, seriously - that's pretty flippin' cool.   When I published it, I knew it wouldn't fly off the shelf- I mean, let's be real...the general public doesn't give a shit about poetry.  And despite the truth of that statement, it reached #4 in the Poetry by Women ([general] fiction and literature) category and #1 in the Lesbian Poetry (gay and lesbian) category at Amazon.com - that's pretty darned cool too.  That, for a short time, my name shared space on a list that included some of the greats....it's awesome.  Or at least, I think it is.  It would be cooler still, if as time goes on, the appreciation for the work endures and it continues to share space on a list with the others.  (And more than a handful of people end up buying it.)
The best part of this whole journey (and it's the same with my novel too, as I know I've expressed several times but it always bears repeating) is the conversations and feedback I've gotten from readers (it cracks me up to say, 'fans') who took the time to tell me how touching or moving or thought-provoking it was, and the few who put up their reviews on Amazon (Thanks for that, btw- It's definitely appreciated.).  Knowing that something I've done in this world has had an impact beyond my physical reach, that it will continue to have an impact - and not like my pottery where the impact is a daily life enhancement, but a THOUGHT or FEELING impact - long after I've passed - well, that's pretty darned cool too. 
To all the fellow finalists out there- congratulations on coming this far!  I'm proud to share space on a list with each and every one of you.  Good luck to us all! :)