New Voices Top Ten

The top ten for the Mills & Boon New Voices contest were announced on Monday and even though I really did not think I had a chance in hell, there was a little part of me that dreamed something about my short little chapter would equal instant love for an editor.

Alas, it was not to be. The top ten finalists can be found here, and look for their 2nd chapters to be posted soon.

I am able to take a few things from this contest including sharing my WIP for the 1st time, getting great constructive feedback from fellow writers, and meeting many of those writers and forming a twitter community chat with them. I'm hoping that we'll continue to chat and support each other as we all target Harlequin and Mills & Boon.

I'm also looking at the top ten as a really great resource. The contest was like the slush pile, and these ten are the stories that are being asked for partials. I mean we all see the final published versions of books, but this is like getting to see what wasn't accepted, what was, and how it gets edited and changed along the way. Pretty valuable insider info there.

A big thanks again to Mills & Boon for hosting this contest. It really was a great experience for me all around and I'll happy do it again!

A Brief, Shining Moment...

Yep. I had it all for about about 15 minutes. The bright lights shined on me and the fame - oh the fame!

Sorry, I'll get a grip on myself. :)

Truth is that I was alerted on twitter earlier this week that A Passion to Protect, my entry in the Harlequin Mills & Boon New Voices contest was the top rated entry out of over 600! I even took a screen capture to make sure this momentous achievement could be proved to the hubby.

I know it's hard to read, but that's my name and my story right there up top!

In all honesty, the whole ratings thing has been interesting and silly because it's obvious there are people rating good stories very low in order to keep them from having high ratings. I've read so many great ones that had really low scores that it made me stop caring about the rating (well, stop obsessing over it at least since I can't really say I don't care).

What does really matter to me are the comments since that was my main motivation to enter besides the idea that my little entry just might catch an editor's interest. If you haven't had a chance to read and comment on my chapter, you can find it here.

Thank you to those who've already read it and commented and to anyone willing to head over and give me advice!

She's a Contest Queen, New & Green...

After my last post about promising myself to get out there as a writer, I'm excited to say that my entry Say Goodbye made it to Round 2 in my very first contest at Romance In The Backseat!

Our 2nd chapters are supposed to be written in the opposite POV from our opening scene and were posted this weekend. You can check out (and hopefully vote for) my new scene from the hero's POV here.

In even more exciting news, I finally submitted my 1st chapter entry of A Passion to Protect to the Mills & Boon New Voices contest. I'm particularly excited about this because it's my actual WIP and I'm hoping for some really good constructive criticism to help me improve and develop as a writer.

It would mean the world to me for you to go check it out and leave me a comment. Good or bad, I'm just hoping for some good critiques. Check out my entry here.

Wish me luck with my contest entries! Now, I'm off to keep writing on the WIP just in case the absolutely amazing happened and I keep going in the contest. :)

My First Ever Contest Entry

I've neglected this blog since RWA, but life has knocked me out and I'm just now getting my bearings back. One of the things I decided at RWA was that I have to put myself out there more as a writer. Tell more people. Talk about it. Don't treat it like just a hobby.

So, in an attempt to let it all hang out, I've entered my very first writing contest. Awesome right?!?

It is kind of awesome, I just wish I had put more work into. I completely forgot the contest, which was writing prompt focused, and literally had to write my entry in about 2 hours. 2 hours and 1,000 words...why can't I do that everyday? :)

I didn't even have time to proof the entry before I sent it in, but this time I was just focused on the getting it out there part. I'm not sure I'll do well in the contest, but I wanted to show myself that it didn't kill me to let other people read my work.

So, if you'd like to read some Romantic Suspense scenes from aspiring authors - and vote on who could win a Q&A and 1 on 1 time with author Kylie Brant, then go here.

Oh, and I guess the other part of putting myself out there would be telling you which entry is mine. :) That would be Say Goodbye. Hope you stop by and check it out!