One of These Kids Doesn't Belong Here...

As of right now, the books submitted for consideration in the Tie-In Writers Awards for the Category of GENERAL FICTION/BEST NOVEL (original) are:

LAS VEGAS: HIGH STAKES by Jeff Mariotte
MR. MONK GOES TO HAWAII by Lee Goldberg
MURDER SHE WROTE: THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE DEAD by Donald Bain
GUNSMOKE: THE RECKLESS GUN by Joseph A. West
CSI: SNAKE EYES by Max Allan Collins
OAKDALE CONFIDENTIAL: SECRETS REVEALED by Alina Adams
ALIAS: NAMESAKES by Greg Cox
CSI NY: BLOOD ON THE SUN by Stuart Kaminsky

Whenever I see the above list, I am tempted to regress to Sesame Street age (it's not that hard, I have three small children, at any given point in any given day, someone is screaming that they want to watch it) and hum, "One of these kids doesn't belong here/One of these kids isn't the same."

The kid in question would be me. Alina Adams, author of "Oakdale Confidential." Because, while all of the other titles are tie-ins to shows that feature stand-alone episodes with beginnings, middles and ends, mine came from the soap opera, "As The World Turns," a genre where a story actually coming to an end would mean, well, the end.

In that respect, all of the stories featured in the other tie-in novels could have conceivably happened in between the characters' other adventures. My characters have no in-betweens. They're on five days a week (sure, maybe my story could have been squeezed in on that rare weekend off, but it's kind of doubtful).

In addition, even the longest running show on the list, "Gunsmoke," only ran twenty years. "As The World Turns" celebrated fifty years on the air last April. (Hence, my use of the word "only" prior to "twenty years.") Even if the writers had been so motivated, they would have had "only twenty years," at most, of history to summarize. I had fifty. And some of my under 25 year old characters have already been married three times. Not to mention come back from the dead once or twice.

Finally, all of the other books carry bylines of real people. Even "Murder, She Wrote" is credited to Jessica Fletcher (not a real person) and Donald Bain (presumably a real person -- we've never met). Mine is credited to Katie Peretti (not a real person) WITH Alina Adams (I like to think I'm real but, as stated below, I have three children, so altered states of sleep deprived reality are not out of the question).

So, one of these kids isn't the same... But I'm still thrilled to have been allowed to join in the fun.