Shattering the Silence

Have you ever had to keep a secret you were just bursting to shout about? It's hard, let me tell you.

At the beginning of last week I got a telephone call to say that my entry into So You Think You Can Write competition had been selected as a Top 10 finalist. I was just about stunned into silence at that point, but to be told to keep it a secret for a week, until the announcement was made on the website, was torture.

 

I tried so hard to get on with normal life and working on my latest story but I just couldn't settle to anything, not with a secret like that bubbling away inside!

Then finally it was the day, which meant keeping the secret a bit longer until the beginning of the day in New York when the website was updated. Once that was done it was time to tell everyone and anyone.

I have been assigned an author mentor, Maisey Yates, who will be reading my book and helping me to promote it. Also Laura McCallen, a Presents editor is championing my book too and you can find her on the 50 Editors page of the website.

I have worked hard towards the dream of becoming a Harlequin Mills and Boon Presents author, attending courses with Kate Walker here in the Wales, organised by Writers' Holiday and with Sharon Kendrick in Italy, organised by The Watermill.


I have met some fantastic people and made wonderful friendships through my writing and would love to push that dream to the limit and become published through this competition. If you'd like to be part of that dream you can vote each day for my entry Behind the Scandalous Façade until 25th November and my complete book is there for all to enjoy.

If you want to read and vote you can do so HERE!

Happy reading and voting!

Brainstorming Weekend

On the first day of November I left for a weekend of writing with two writing friends. We have found a lovely holiday cottage in the heart of the Welsh countryside. Once we'd arrived and stocked up the cupboards with delicious food and of course bottles of wine, we lit the fire and got started. We read over our work in progress and offered feedback, ideas to improve and even brainstormed new stories, depending on what stage we were at with our stories.

 

Over the course of the weekend, when it wasn't raining, we headed out for a walk. Often talking over our stories as we enjoyed the beautiful views. This is one such view from our Sunday morning walk. Stunning, isn't it?

 

 

As it was also the start of NaNo, which I signed up for at the last minute, I thought it would be a good boost and help me on my way to the target of 50,000 words in a month. I have to confess to being just a bit behind, but I am writing. It should also keep me busy this month!