Wow. So what a crazy summer this was. And a big part of the craziness was really the whole Golden Heart thing, and how that became an absolute game-changer for me.
I had no idea how big a contest it was. I’d heard of it, of course, around the Romance Writers of America (RWA) classes that I took from time to time, or from my romance-writing friends who are members of RWA. My critique partner Patti had mentioned the Golden Heart several times, and what a boon it would be to final, and I’d seen the designation on several writers’ signatures over the years, or even on their books.
But I’d never joined RWA (mostly because I worried that going to meetings or getting involved in a club would take too much time away from my writing, and I had very little time as it was, narrowed down to just a couple of weekends a month).
So last year, my crit partner suggested I enter “Earning Wings,” since it was finally done and I’d had it beta read extensively, and I thought … meh. I didn’t know if it would be worth the trouble. I didn’t have a synopsis for it yet, and I thought my time would be better spent sending out query letters to agents.
But my query letters were getting me nowhere. A big part of breaking into any kind of publishing is getting your manuscript read by people who can sign you. And man, that’s hard. … Continue reading
