Competition Time for Novelists!
We interrupt our scheduled blog posting (involving a fantasy series) to bring news of a new competition from Mslexia for budding female novelists.
Whilst on the way home from work today I received an email from women's writing magazine Mslexia. This is usually a nice surprise, more often than not containing some thought-provoking survey about how some aspect of life (mental state, viewpoints on adult material, etc) affect my writing. Oddly enough, they are fun to do when I have a few minutes free, and like I said, they can be thought-provoking. As a bonus, participants in the survey will have the satisfaction of knowing they contributed to the next issue of the magazine.
But this was a different email. Like all good writing publications, Mslexia regularly holds good writing competitions for its readers to participate in. This time they are holding a Novel-writing competition, offering a first prize of £5,000. Three finalists will also be offered free professional feedback on their work, and twelve short-listed authors will be invited to meet literary agents and editors at a special networking event in London. The deadline for entries is 23rd September - not an impossible target.
Full details of this excellent competition can be found by visiting the magazine's website. The beauty of this competition is that there are very few restraints, apart from entrants needing to be previously unpublished and - most importantly - women. It's a really good opportunity to get your work pushed in the right direction. True, you will be entering your work against innumerable other women, but they are also putting their work against yours. Maybe the judges will like yours better, but the only way that can happen is if your work is entered.
50,000 words is a lot to write, but a good idea can bring you up to that target fairly quickly and there is no maximum word count. Happily fantasy entries are also being considered, although non-fiction and fiction for young readers are not. Maybe you'd like to give it ago.
On a closing note, watch out for my next two updates! I have some things planned for them - and I am very excited to share them with you. Hopefully the first will be finished before Monday (provided I don't have any more exciting distractions like this one!!) for you all to enjoy.
~*HW*~
Whilst on the way home from work today I received an email from women's writing magazine Mslexia. This is usually a nice surprise, more often than not containing some thought-provoking survey about how some aspect of life (mental state, viewpoints on adult material, etc) affect my writing. Oddly enough, they are fun to do when I have a few minutes free, and like I said, they can be thought-provoking. As a bonus, participants in the survey will have the satisfaction of knowing they contributed to the next issue of the magazine.
But this was a different email. Like all good writing publications, Mslexia regularly holds good writing competitions for its readers to participate in. This time they are holding a Novel-writing competition, offering a first prize of £5,000. Three finalists will also be offered free professional feedback on their work, and twelve short-listed authors will be invited to meet literary agents and editors at a special networking event in London. The deadline for entries is 23rd September - not an impossible target.
Full details of this excellent competition can be found by visiting the magazine's website. The beauty of this competition is that there are very few restraints, apart from entrants needing to be previously unpublished and - most importantly - women. It's a really good opportunity to get your work pushed in the right direction. True, you will be entering your work against innumerable other women, but they are also putting their work against yours. Maybe the judges will like yours better, but the only way that can happen is if your work is entered.
50,000 words is a lot to write, but a good idea can bring you up to that target fairly quickly and there is no maximum word count. Happily fantasy entries are also being considered, although non-fiction and fiction for young readers are not. Maybe you'd like to give it ago.
On a closing note, watch out for my next two updates! I have some things planned for them - and I am very excited to share them with you. Hopefully the first will be finished before Monday (provided I don't have any more exciting distractions like this one!!) for you all to enjoy.
~*HW*~
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