first disappointment

so i entered my novel (first draft done only) into a novel writing competition.

it was foolish to think that i could actually get the manuscript done in time. but i enjoyed the challenge.

however, sadly for me, i didn’t make the first round of cuts. 806 people submitted into the contest and only 23 were selected to make the long list. however, after a day of being sad i’ve come to realize that they only read our first 5000 words and our synopsis. doesn’t mean that what i wrote wasn’t good. doesn’t mean its not great. it just means that in that panel of judges it wasn’t desirable.

so now i’m back at my second draft full force but taking a step back. i’ve ordered everything in the order i want the novel, deleted over 10,000 words and added new scenes. now i’m doing the notes i added while re-ordering and then i’m going old school and printing the baby up. i much prefer to sit and read with paper in hand and making notes like that. but since i don’t want to stop my daily writing i’m going to scale back to 15 minutes a day working on a second novel and then 30 minutes a day working on my second draft. i’m hoping to get it to a good enough stage to submit it in another contest that is looking for ideas, novels and screenplays to become feature films and that hopefully by summers end it’ll be ‘finished’ enough so i can start looking for an agent.

i know that there is more disappointment ahead, but i won’t let it discourage me. this book is meant to be seen by many and somehow, i will find a way.