I started the year with my usual writing goals of: 1) Get a publishing deal and 2) Get an agent with my more achievable aims of finish current novel to first draft, edit previous novels 1-7 and picture book, plus enter more competitions, undertake more workshops and submit more of my writing following my successful networking year thanks to Zoom in the strange non-year that was 2020. I also wanted to read more books, which I did both on writing and of fiction and I am sure I read at least 17 fiction and 6 writing books during 2021 but my main aim was to concentrate on my writing.
Having started work on my new novel (number 8) and picture book that I started during Lockdown, I was determined to hone the picture book, finish to first draft the romantic comedy that I was enjoying writing (I figured if it made me laugh/smile, it might do so for a reader) whilst editing my previous novels and submitting them, be it for competitions (I'd never placed in any competitions other than winning workshops or agent meets) or for agents/publishers (I had received good feedback and was now receiving personalised rejections which I knew from my writer friends was a good sign that I was close), so I was even flirting with the idea of self-publishing one of my novels to try it out, though the dream was to have an agent and publisher.
So I started well in JANUARY by submitting to a literary agent and working on my new MS in the first week. I then shared my picture book with my SCBWI group getting invaluable feedback, continued work on the MS and began editing novel 7 as I submitted to another literary agent. I secured an agent 1-2-1 through my GEA membership and sent 10 pages, a synopsis and covering letter to the agent ahead of time. Meanwhile I continued working on the WIP for the rest of January.
I carried on writing the WIP in FEBRUARY, finishing it by the 15th and also submitted to another agent with novel 5, and entered my first 1k words and mini synopsis of my MS into the Penguin Michael Joseph's Christmas Love Story Competition as my romantic comedy was set at Christmas. Other competitions I entered were RNA Books in the City Simon & Schuster with novel 5, NWN The Northbound Book Award, NWN TLC Award and the Owned Voices Novel Award, plus I entered twitter giveaway competitions from Jericho Writers, #CBNPitch and a Neema Shah mentoring opportunity. I also joined GEA Club and attended Zooms with BFI, HarperCollins, RNA and How To Get An Agent.
In MARCH I attended an excellent Write MAGIC Goal-setting workshop and I have found their Facebook groups, events and the whole writing community invaluable this year. I would recommend joining if you can. Also, my competition entries began to pay off.
First I found out I had won the Neema Shah Marketing Writers course which would take place for 4 weeks in April. This is a course I cannot recommend highly enough. Neema's course is suitable for writers at any stage of their career and is very knowledgeable about marketing. Her course makes this complicated topic accessible and she is generous with her time and skills. @NeemaMShah and check out her novel, the fabulous Kololo Hill which won #TLCPenFactor S/list: Bath Novel Award & First Novel.
I attended a Hachette Workshop, a RNA Saga Zoom and took part in #PitMad which garnered a like and submission to Champagne Book Group of my FULL rom com novel.
Then I found out that I had been shortlisted for the Owned Voices Novel Award 2021 with the rom com and although I wasn't one of the two eventual winners, I cannot tell you how wonderful and validating it is for a writer to be shortlisted (or indeed longlisted) for a writing competition. Plus it is great to put on your writing CV and the Owned Voices Novel Award means an excerpt of your winning novel and your details are put on their website for agents/publishers to view. I recommend entering if it runs again this year.
Shortlist Announcement - The Owned Voices Novel Award 2021
We are delighted to be announcing here the shortlist for the Owned Voices Novel Award 2021. We wish to commend all shortlisted authors on the strength of their submissions, particularly given the quality and volume of submissions this year.
“The quality of the submissions has been very impressive, making it a tough but fun competition to judge. When reading the submissions, the two key things I was looking for were a stand-out pitch and strong writing to support that. It’s been brilliant to see so many writers delivering both of these things. I have high hopes for the winners and cannot wait to see how Leodora and the Owned Voices team nurture them further.”
“It has been brilliant reading such a wide variety of submissions. Not only have I been blown away by some of the superbly thought-out pitches, I have also been impressed to see so much raw talent in the writing, with many writers demonstrating a spellbinding and masterful command of their narrative voice. At Owned Voices, our commitment has always been to bringing under-represented voices to mainstream audiences, and with the strength of concepts and writing here, I’m hopeful that the novel award will generate new success stories.”
The shortlisted writers for the Owned Voices Novel Award 2021 are as follows:
Andrew Stevens
Bruce Aiken
Cathy Cole
Elspeth Leadbetter
Harry F Rey
Julie Farrell
Karen Naylor
Kitty Edwards
Nusrat Zar
Ulka Karandikar
Our shortlisted writers are invited to our ‘Routes to Getting Published’ Q&A panel on the 21st April. On our panel is Katie Fulford, who has over thirty years of publishing experience and is currently an agent at Bell Lomax Moreton; Keshini Naidoo, co-founder and publishing director at the forward-thinking Hera Books; and RNA Agent of the Year, and Bookseller Rising Star of 2020, Hattie Grünewald. Together, they have an invaluable amount of knowledge, and we look forward to talking all things publishing with them and our attending authors.
Entering NWN A Writing Chance I was pleased to be offered a place on a Zoom with Michael Sheen and other fantastic writers of stage, screen and more. I ended the month with another Goal-setting Zoom and entering a query critique twitter competition.
I began APRIL by making a start on the first draft of my rom com sequel (novel 9). I also entered the Killing It Crime competition with my crime novel (novel 2), submitted my picture book to the SCBWI Writers Digest MS Award 2021, my YA novel (novel 4) into SCBWI Late Bloomer Award and started work on a new picture book idea. I also applied for a creative job and to the CBC Breakthrough Writers Mentoring plus proofread and typeset another writers work by the end of the month.
Continued tomorrow...
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