The BIG day!

Wow, here we are finally. About a year and a half ago I decided I'd give writing a go, to create a little time for myself. I had no idea what I was doing, no idea about conflict, layout, showing NOT telling, pov, my punctuation is still dodgy as hell. It was all a mystery to me, I just wrote. Then while lurking on the eharlequin boards I found Kiwibird (aka Faye/Serenity), she very kindly offered to have a look at my story. And what a great introduction to the craft of writing Faye gave me. She was funny, thoughtful and offered great advice, and most of all she gave me the confidence to carry on. Thanks again Faye :)

 I think I was lucky as I had no preconceived notions on writing, and I just did what felt natural. I'll never be perfect but I hope to keep improving. I'm also glad I had the opportunity to meet such wonderful people through competitions like Mills and Boon New Voices, and I've had such amazing support from my friends and family, I know not everyone has that. Thanks guys, you've been great.

 So tomorrow is the day the world can see what/how I write. It's scary and exhilarating in equal measures. I'm not worried if people don't like it, you can't please everyone, but my fingers are crossed that some people will like it, and when another comes out they'll try that too. Wish me luck.

X M

Competitions

Hi all,
Well the New Voices competition is in it's second phase. Twenty one entries were chosen out of one thousand and ninety. Pretty impressive work by the editors I think. I was not among that glorious twenty one, but I'm totally good with that. I wasn't even overly disappointed, I'm not sure I'm a Mills and Boon girl, but it doesn't mean I'm going to give up! I didn't get one negative comment. I was given good constructive criticism by wannabes like myself as well as Mills and Boon authors. And to be perfectly honest, I'm really thrilled with that. I've met and conversed with many wonderful new people all of whom are in the same boat as myself, but just in different locations, some newer than me (I haven't even been at this a year) others have been writing for much longer.

Towards the end of the first phase I heard of another competition aimed at Breathless Press. This was a 'Pitch Your First Page'. Basically I did a bit of quick editing with my first story 'Feral' to give it a quicker start, and copy and pasted to Let's Talk Romance Blog (The lovely April Dawn who posted the competition is an author with Breathless Press). There were only ten entries in all, but I came third! I was pretty chuffed about this for two reasons 1) I thought there was only going to be one winner. 2) It was the first thing I'd ever written! Oh the prize was getting the full manuscript in front of an editor. I don't know how I'll go with this, because just in case you hadn't heard, it was the FIRST THING I'VE EVER WRITTEN. And what I mean by that is, I knew nothing! I didn't know stories had to have both internal and external conflict, I didn't even know what that meant?! I just sat down and wrote a ten thousand word eleven thousand five hundred word story about shapeshifters, gypsies, and magic. Was it good?! I hope so, I liked it. Serenity Woods thought it/I had enough potential to critique it for me, and she's still talking to me so can't have been all bad. ;-) So within a few weeks I've entered two competitions after thinking I never would have done that. I have to admit I'm really proud of myself. And thankful for the wonderful support I've had from friends and family.

And as for New Voices... I've come out the other side of this competition with a (slightly) better understanding of what it takes to write a Mills and Boon romance, and a bunch of truly lovely facebook friends. Ooh I also managed to win a Mills and Boon Goody Bag which I'm rather excited about (though I don't have it yet?).  I think that's a pretty great pay off for three thousand words ;-)  X M

Kia ora and Welcome

Hi, I've decided to bite the bullet and attempt to write a blog.  For a person who wants to write I'm completely crap at this kind of thing.  I could never keep a diary as a kid, I don't tweet very well, and my social networking is passable.  But here I am to give this a go.

A bit about me.  I'm a Kiwi (New Zealander) living in the UK with my husband and two young children.  I decided at the end of last year that I'd like to give writing a go.  I made a half-arsed attempt many years ago, but like I say it was half-arsed!  I grew up reading my Mum's Agatha Christie's though I wouldn't call myself an avid reader, even though I enjoy it very much.  

I was a TV addict growing up, it was mysteries and action shows when I was a kid, Hart to Hart, The A-Team, Knightrider, that kind of thing.  As a teen I loved vampire things, read Dracula, loved The Lost Boys, watched Fright Night a few times, though I in no way was a fan of horror!  In my early twenties Buffy the Vampire Slayer arrived (on tv) and I LOVED it.

Thirteen years down the line, married, two kids and I decide to write a story, 'but what about?' I ask myself.  Hmm 'paranormal romance' I answer.  I've always had a thing for vamps, but damn they've been done to death, so for a first attempt I decided on shape-shifters, everyone makes up their own rules/lore these days anyway, why don't I.

I then found (stalked) a wonderful author, Serenity Woods, who offered to look at my story.  She gave me some great constructive criticism and kept me in fits of laughter with her comments like 'Yum' about my hero.  So thanks to Serenity's influence and the other wonderful women I've met via her at TMAS, I am hopefully learning to be a better writer.  If you'd like to see a snippet of my work check out my website by clicking on the picture of me with two wonderful Buffy (amongst many other things) actors, Brian Thompson and James Marsters.