The opening chapter (plus synopsis) of one of my unpublished novels was long listed in a major competition.
How exciting to see it there with 49 others.
I was happy!
Then to open my emails and see the shortlist announced only a few days later… with absolutely zero expectation (you learn about that when you’re trying to get your books out there) I opened the list. There it was, with the longlist cut to a mere 15 books. Over the moon?? You bet!
Getting a book out into the wild is a long process, but competitions have much shorter timeframes to know whether you’ve been successful or not. So as well as helping your writing by giving practice opportunities, competitions can also provide that occasional boost which tells us that others (apart from our friends and families) believe our writing is worth reading.
That’s an excellent motivator!
And on that note, I’m preparing a blog post on trad vs self-publishing, as I’m going down both routes at the moment. Lots to think about, and when I’ve gotten my thoughts in order, I’ll share them. It might help someone out there.
