PREMIUM: Do you want the good news or the bad news?
Well, here they come
The good news is I made the long list for Spread the Word’s London Writers Award.
The bad news is…
I didn’t make the short list and I’m gutted. Although it really did seem to good to be true. I’m trying to focus on the positive. My writing stood out. They get so many applicants and they saw some promise in my writing. This is so good to hear.
Winning would have meant going on a ten month development programme where they get you ready to submit to agents. They also circulate awardees writing to 300 agents on their behalf. It would have been a dream come true.
But I have to make my path a different way. I have to treat the next ten months like my own development programme - reading, writing, rewriting. Then submit to agents myself. It’s still a perfectly plausible plan.
It just wasn’t meant to be, but that doesn’t mean my novel isn’t meant to be.
So the plan is to continue to work on my opening and submit it to further competitions this month. Then I’m taking most of February off. Then it’s full speed ahead - next stop getting a polished manuscript fit for a literary agent. Here we go!