The Guardian had an interesting article about Joanna Kavenna winning the Orange New Writer Award. Her novel Inglorious is by no means spec fic, but I liked what the author had to say about the seven novels (or in a different article, 13) she wrote before she got this one published: "I see it as an apprenticeship, rather than thinking I squandered 10 years."

I think that speaks to the importance of optimism as a trait that furthers one's goals. I also liked her comment on the chick-lit label: "I don't understand what chick-lit means, and to a degree it's just used to dismiss quite a lot of writing by women. ...It's a blanket term that renders a wide variety of literature frivolous. It's used either to dismiss the writing or to avoid thinking about it."

Considering that the related Orange Broadband Prize, the British award for the best English-language novel published in the UK and written by a woman, exists because some people felt that women writers weren't getting enough recognition, it's an interesting comment. I don't know of such an award in the US. Does anyone else?