Welcome to this week's
And today we're chatting about out contest experience.
I'm a bit short on experience here. If we're talking writing as an adult that is. However when I was the grand old ages of 8, and 9, I entered a Cadbury chocolate competition, where you had to write about how chocolate was made.
Now if there is one thing I'm sort of in love with, it's good old dairy milk, so when my primary school asked if anyone wanted to take part, I was all for it. Sadly it didn't involve just eating chocolate, but visits to the library to look up facts. I think that is when my love of research began.
Anyhow, to my surprise and joy, both years our school entered I won the outright contest, and got rather a lot of chocolate, which was shared in class. I did get a bit cross the second year when the teacher, gave us all one each, and I could see there were some left over, told me I couldn't take any home for my mum and dad. (They were tiny oblongs of chocolate about the size of a postage stamp. They used to come in a box, and I've forgotten what they were called)
I must have been a bit of a arsy B even then because when the headmaster congratulated me, I complained. Strangely, several appeared so mum and dad got a couple, and three for me. As, the head said, I'd won it I deserved a few extra! Guess the staffroom went short then!
Fast forward to around eight years ago, to a write a first chapter for Mills and Boon contest.
Not to put too finer a point on it, I was pants! (and not the nice lacy, sexy sort either.) It was rubbish. Stilted, one-dimensional, cardboard characters. Awful. I wrote as I thought I should not as I could. No wonder I got nowhere.
I went back to this
But as I've said many times, from that competition, I met a group of likeminded newbies, we formed a support group and, I wrote as I could, not as I thought I should.
The next year I got my first contract, and I've never looked back.
Happy reading,
love Raven xx
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