Writing Competitions

I've been entering a few writing competitions this year as another avenue of hoping to get that all important break. No luck so far - close but no cigar as they say.

I recently heard about the Baileys First Chapter competition and was really unsure as to whether I would enter this one. Taking someone else's start and building on that was quite different to anything I'd done. The other thing was the closing date.

By the time I saw this, actually on Twitter (a good source for discovery, I've found), it was only a couple of days until closing. Whilst the competition was only to write 800 to 1000 words, it wasn't a case of not being able to get it done. It was more a case of  'Eek! Where can I go with this?'. I ummed and aahed and almost didn't enter but in the end, sat down in the afternoon and got an entry done. It's gone in. I'm not sure that it's any good but either way, it was a good exercise, both on doing something a bit out of my comfort zone, and also on short deadlines.

Next on my list to enter is this one. Bit of a longer deadline on this one and as I've already had several attempts at Mills and Boon, this is another chance for some practice, if nothing else. I'm just trying to decide as to whether to use an existing idea from a couple that I've noted down, or think of something entirely new. I think I'll probably have a proper look at the ideas I have and see what I think - if I'm not totally in love with them, then it's probably best to start afresh.

Meanwhile, the agent hunt still goes on...

Happy writing

Research On Hold and Reading

Well, the project I was working on has (hopefully) temporarily been put on hold as I wait for the contract to come through. It's later than expected and I'm wary of putting a whole lot of time into something, only to find that when it comes to the crunch, there's no deal.

I've found myself in this situation once before, and I really don't want to end up there again. Hopefully things will come together very soon and I can get back on with the project. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about e-books. I read an interesting post from Carol recently, which mentioned the fact that you can download a sample of the book onto your kindle, or kobo or whatever to get a taste. I've done this myself in the past, although I still haven't got around to reading it yet! I'd rather forgotten about this useful aspect of e-books.

Sometimes in a bookshop you can read a bit, and decided immediately whether it's grabbing you or not but having the luxury of reading a sample in the comfort of your own home (or wherever you are travelling with your trusty reader!) does come in useful. You can get more of a feel for the book when you've got a bigger sample to try. The other benefit is that you can try authors you might not normally gravitate towards in a book shop. For free! And of course, should you find that you can't wait to read on, with a few buttons pressed, the whole book is sat there waiting for you.

I have to admit the ease with which e-books can be purchased is both useful and possibly dangerous. Impulse buying has a free reign in these situations I find!

As mentioned, I do have an e-reader but I'm not a great user of it - at the moment. I love the feel of a 'real' book in my hands. I love going to library and coming out with a little pile of goodies to start working through and I would absolutely hate to see the demise of the real book, the bookshop or libraries. Any loss of these would be tragic. But I can see the advantages and it's useful to be reminded of some of them from time to time.