reported by William A. Davis, FictionFanatic.com

Cherie Priest disliked her job at a school "in the sticks" outside of Chattanooga, Tenn. But it had at least one virtue -- a good Internet connection that allowed her to begin posting in a blog the material that would eventually become a novel.

Writing published on Priest's blog, or online journal, evolved into "Four and Twenty Blackbirds," a Southern Gothic ghost story named earlier this month as the fiction winner of the Lulu Blooker Prize, the first literary award for "blooks," or books based on blogs. The award is sponsored by Lulu.com, a self-publishing Web site.

Priest, 30, began posting her work about six years ago, before 'blog' became a household term. "I didn't think anyone was reading," she said. Happily, that turned out not to be the case. Priest was contacted by a small press in Atlanta that eventually published the novel. Most sales came from readers who ordered the book after reading the blog. But Priest parted ways with the publisher when they decided to pull "Four and Twenty Blackbirds" from print. She had the last laugh.

Priest posted a note on her blog telling people this might be the last chance they'd have to buy the book. "That got linked around by a lot of people, many with bigger audiences than me," she recalled. "The result was, it spent several weeks at number two on the Amazon horror bestseller list."

"Four and Twenty Blackbirds" was picked up by a larger publisher, Tor, which re-released the book last year in an expanded edition with plans to publish the second book later this year in what will eventually be a trilogy.

Just weeks before the prize was announced, Priest left Tennessee, the state that had provided a lush canvas for her fiction. Her journey to a new life included leaving her job, getting married and moving to Seattle, Washington. In Tennessee, one of Priest's students was named Eden, which the writer adopted for the heroine in "Four and Twenty Blackbirds."

Eden spends a lot of time combing through what's left of an abandoned sanitarium called Pine Breeze in the search for the truth about her ancestors.

"It always surprises people to learn that the sanitarium was once exactly as described," said Priest, who also likes to poke around in places where she doesn't belong, though she usually encounters the authorities rather than evil spirits.

"I have a weakness for urban exploration," she confessed. "I've been picked up by the police (though never arrested) more times than I can count for letting myself into abandoned buildings. I'm not a vandal, but I'm definitely too nosy for my own good."

For details about the Lulu Blooker Prize, see http://www.lulublookerprize.com .

Recommended Resources:

1) Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition : How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne

2) Plot & Structure: (Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers From Start to finish) by James Scott Bell

3) Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger