Even better than 2nd place in a Beauty Pageant...

So, you may remember there used to be an old Community Chest card in Monopoly about beauty pageants. It looked something like this:

Well, I'm not sure if it's still in the game. Maybe it was decided at some point that mention of beauty pageants is demeaning and outmoded. Maybe it's been replaced by a card saying 'You've signed an exclusive deal with OK! Magazine after forgetting to wear any knickers on a reality TV show, collect £500', which shows the obvious progress society's made. But more to the point, when I was a child the dream of that original card came true, in a Little Prince and Princess competition at a Pontins in Blackpool:

The winner, with his cape, fancy crown, and dimply smile has been excluded from this picture, because frankly I was robbed. His parents were clearly very chummy with the Bluecoat in charge, and there were rumours he was already signed up to a child modelling agency ahead of the contest a la Simon Cowell and his X-Factor acts.

Well, now I can begin to move on from that disappointment because the achievement has been superseded, by the equally unlikely sounding news: 'You have been selected as a finalist in a Chick-lit novel writing competition'.

Yes, I'm in the Final 20, the last man standing, in the Novelicious Undiscovered competition, having been lucky enough to be picked out of a field of 100s. Tuesday 15 May is the day I'm up on the site's showcase. To get an idea of how nervous I am about the whole thing, it might be worth having a look at this other photo of another public performance on a Pontins holiday:

Once again, I think I'm going to need a change of shorts.