So after obsessively looking at my roses on the New Voices competition website, and being quite happy with both the roses and the comments I finally took the plunge and told my immediate world about both my website and thus my blog!
I mean it's one thing to have strangers staring at your words when they randomly find you, or other writers who are understanding of what it takes to put yourself out there. But knowing that people you know, that you talk to on a (semi) regular basis will see the demons that lurk in your brain, is a pretty scary prospect. What I've learned about myself recently is, I don't care what they think (well not in this regards, I love my friends and family and their opinions always matter to me). But I'm happy and proud of myself for doing this. I've written a short story(approx. 10,000 words), a novella (approx. 25k) and now am attempting a novel which should be about 60k, I'm currently 8,000 words in and I think that's a pretty damn good effort for someone who has no idea what she's doing!
I've been fortunate enough to have support from the people I have told, and I've met a bunch of wonderful people in similar situations to me, all trying their damnedest to make their dreams a reality.
To all the ladies (and one man, I know of) who have submitted a chapter to New Voices congratulate yourself on making it this far. To all the mentors, readers, writers, editors who have taken the time to comment and engage with us, thank you.
Hmm, now I think it's time I got a bit closer to that 60k mark!
x M
