For someone who doesn't much care for contests, I seem to be involved in a lot of them lately. After a suggestion from industry professional Kevin Becketti, a lot of nudging from my loving and enthusiastic husband, and a half a bottle of wine, I convinced myself to enter the first annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest, submitting a 320 page completed manuscript for my novel Rhythm.

I'm not sure how many books were submitted, but Amazon selected the 5,000 that managed to fulfill their stringent technical requirements. After receiving notification that Rhythm had made the initial cut, I settled back, completed my article on Fred Rogers for Steinway Magazine, and began working on a campaign to propel my Grammy pre-nominated CD Songs from the Castle onto the list of five finalists. The camapaign didn't work out, but never mind that, I had fun touching base with many of our fellow NARAS members.

With this year's considerable holiday-season work rush, the 12,000 weekly activities of our two spirited children, and my desire to conquer my domestic inadequacies by mashing a potato or two over the Christmas holidays, I pretty much forgot about the Amazon contest. But then last week, I received notification that the book had made the list of 800 semi-finalists. It's like American Idol for geeky novelists. Now I'm in the middle of another campaign. But this one comes at a better time—it's January, and my brain is no longer occupied with trying to figure out the hippest chord changes to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

Some of you are aware of Rhythm—I've been working on the book for two and a half years, and I'm in love with my main characters and the story itself. This is my first crack at writing a novel, a task I was determined to tackle before my 50th birthday. After the success of Piano Girl, I had been encouraged by various folks in the publishing business to write another memoir. But back then the very suggestion of writing another book about myself curled my toes, caused an attack of hives, and made me want to pull the covers over my head and hide. I was starting to feel like Ashley Tinsdale in High School Musical—the blond who keeps singing about me me me me me me. It was time to move onto another genre.

Here's the difference between writing fiction and writing memoir: When writing fiction, you start out with nothing and have to create everything. When writing memoir, you start out with everything and have to create silence. At least that's the way I see it. The edit process is the same, though. You look at what you have and find a way to make it sing. That's the fun part.

If you'd care to read a 5,000 word excerpt from the beginning of the novel, go to my book page and click on our mock-up cover. This will link you to the Amazon site. From there, you'll be invited to write a review of the excerpt.

A word of thanks to those of you who have continued to support me through this process. I'm not just talking about my parents, close friends, and family, but also those of you who have taken the time to write with cheers of encouragement. Writing a book means embarking on a long journey, not just for the author, but for the people who must learn to cope with an obsessed writer in their lives. I know you've got my back, and this means the world to me.

By the way, I did mash the potato and it was excellent.