Today, I was the first of the Final Five to be eliminated from the Dorchester America’s Next Best Celler contest.

The poll I had running here indicated that out of 14 people, 8 thought I’d go all the way and 6 thought I’d make it to the final three.  No one thought I’d be eliminated first.

Bowing out this early does put a bit of a damper on my year-end celebration because I’ve been celebrating how much I managed to accomplish in 2009.  I know that I should focus on the fact that I made the Final Five with the first manuscript I have ever completed.  I’ve tackled so much in the last year that I am proud of, that even though I’m disappointed I did not go the distance in this contest, I’m still happy to have made it so far.

The process taught me plenty, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to participate and advance in this contest.  My thanks to Dorchester and Textnovel for putting on the contest, to those who’ve supported the story, and to my fellow contestants — one of whom will be the next Best Celler.

To me, this feels kind of like how it would be if I was a hockey player and my underdog team made the final push for the playoffs with a great run. Maybe people started to believe; players start thinking that maybe this is their year as you advance from the first round to the second.  Then, from the second to the third.  Then, from the third to the actual Stanley Cup Final.

It’s like that.  First round = making Top 20.  Second Round = making Top 10.  Third Round = making Top 5.  Fourth Round = Winning that contract.

And then, you get swept right out of the playoffs with a decisive, heartbreaking elimination game.  You gave it your best, and you’re looking at this elimination like it was you’re one shot and it’s gone.  It’s slipped from your hands, and you don’t know when you’ll get another chance.

That’s how it is with the Stanley Cup.  You might only have one shot to win that baby, then and be faced with a drought (cough, Toronto Maple Leafs, cough).

But you console yourself that there’s always next year.  Your team can make some adjustments over the long summer.  Tweak the roster, make some moves to strengthen up the weaker areas, then have another go at it in the new season.

As a writer, I can gut the story and try to find the places that were “predictable” and slow.  See if I can spin it, tweak it, improve it.  See if I can edit, rewrite, and revise it enough to give it another go in 2010.

This isn’t the end, a friend pointed out, this is just the beginning.

I’ll end with a message a friend left me on Facebook:

The vast majority of people who want to write novels never start. The vast majority of those who start never finish. The vast majority of those who finish never submit. I say, in all seriousness, having watched this process many times in others … if you bounce back from this, you’ll know you have the stuff to go all the way.