I began my journey with The Tiger’s Tale at the end of January, 2008. I attached my story to a contest entry form, took a deep breath for courage and hit send. I was hoping for useful feedback and was stunned by a win. Winning was a start, but there was a long trek between the win and landing a publishing contract. When I’m running in a long distance race, I use mental tricks to get myself through the tough spots, those places where I don’t believe I can put one foot in front of the other one more time. I might visualize the clock as I cross the finish…