You may remember that I entered my first writing contest at the end of 2019 and placed third. I decided to enter that contest for two reasons. One, my husband encouraged me to do so and said that if I didn’t submit it then he would. Two, because I had that voice inside my head yelling at me to “do it, do it, do it!” If that voice hadn’t been so loud, I would not have submitted. I call that voice my instincts and I learned a long time ago to never ignore my instincts…even though I still do at times.

This morning, I got a newsletter from the company who is currently editing my novel, The Gift of Death. In the newsletter was a link for the “First Chapters” writing contest by “Craft” a literary magazine for fiction. It’s guidelines were simple: submit the first chapter or the first 5,000 words of a fiction novel you have written or are currently writing that has not been published. When I read that they specialize in literary fiction, my current work in progress, Wildflowers, came to mind. What also came to mind was that voice again telling me to “do it, do it, do it!” It was loud as hell too! So, I did it!

First place winner gets $2,000 and a full manuscript critique of their novel by the company who is currently editing my book, The Gift of Death. Second and third place winners get $500 and $300 respectively. All three winners will get a free agent query workshop by a literary agency which includes feedback on their first 5,000 words and query letter AND their submissions will be published in the Craft magazine…which would be awesome because it may generate interested readers before the book is even published! There was a $20 entry fee but I felt that was a small price to pay if you actually win.

The deadline to submit is June 30, 2021. The timeline is as follows: If I’m not going to advance, I will know by mid-July. They will have the “long list” of winners decided by the second half of September. The “short list” of winners will be sent to the judge by the end of September. Winners will be announced by early November. I will be contacted at each stage so I’ll know if I have advanced or not. I don’t know how many submissions they will get but looking at the same contest from 2019, there were 33 submissions total that either won, were finalists, or got honorable mentions.

I don’t know how well I’ll do but if you don’t try, you definitely won’t win. Wish me luck and I’ll keep everyone updated on my advancements!!!! Thanks for reading!!