Joy Meredith & Three Colorado Gold Finalist Entries Sep 04, 2018

Every year, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers runs a contest for unpublished writers. It's called Colorado Gold and the winners are announced during the annual conference (coming up this weekend, Sept. 6 through 9). There are five categories in the contest and, for each of the categories there are five finalists and, as a result, 25 finalists in all. This year, savvy contest watchers will notice one name that pops up three times: Joy Meredith. Joy has two finalists in the women’s fiction category and one in mainstream. The titles? Something Out of Nothing. That’s the mainstream entry. And Old Cravings and, finally, McSham and the Whim Wham—those are the entries in Women’s Fiction. But neat categories are not exactly Joy Meredith’s cup of tea, as you will hear. She is eager to turn genres on their head and look for twists and unusual approaches. Joy Meredith loves writing books about ordinary people in the midst of extraordinary circumstances. She believes allowing different foods to touch on her plate is a big no-no, but she’s fearless when it comes to mixing genres, with romance at the heart of all her stories. She lives outside Denver with her English husband, whom she married for his James Bond accent, and their three amazing children. To reflect her active lifestyle, Joy owns two pugs. She works as an elementary school librarian helping children track down books almost exclusively about sharks or princesses. Or shark princesses. In her free time, she likes reading (duh), printing off healthy recipes she has no intention of cooking, and playing nerdy German-style board games.