Am I a real writer now?
Earlier this year, before Coronavirus I attended a writing Master Class with Jaye Ford and Fiona McArthur at the Newcastle City Library. At that point I had one idea, 5000 words, and a tremor within my whole body at the thought I might have to write and share my work with not only them but the other people in the group.
I’m pleased to say that the tremor quickly disappeared and within five minutes I felt like we were old friends and I was an accepted peer to them! There were many great things I learned from both Jaye and Fiona (I will fill you in as each one comes up I promise) but the ones that stuck out the most were write every day, take every opportunity to write and then enter your writing in competitions if you want to publish your work.
I’ve failed to write everyday, although I am definitely approaching that now, but I have thrown myself into looking for competitions and have put forward three pieces of work now. The first was short, under 500 words, and I don’t expect to hear back until October for that one. The second was up to 1000 words and had to be titled after a crossword puzzle in the Audrey Daybook magazine, for which I earned my first form letter rejection of my work being of high standard but not quite enough to earn the prize, and please try again in the next quarter (I am definitely going to do that – and every quarter after that until they say YES).
The third is under 500 words for the Furious Fiction monthly competition where you get 55 hours and a few rules. I came up with two stories for this and entered the second. I took my time with this one and was quite proud. I would love to say that it doesn’t bother me if I win or lose it’s just about the practice, but if I’m being completely honest that loss will hit harder than the second piece. Maybe though that’s a good thing? If it hurts more I will only be more determined to keep doing it, and each time I write I get better, and it brings me closer to my goal…. published work!