The first five pages of your work must stand out if you hope to be published. While I didn’t succeed in earning myself an agent, I did come close, and for me, that is enough! I also gained a few writers with whom I now continue to workshop the novel. In February, I was accepted into the First Five Pages Workshop, where after several weeks of working and re-working the first five pages of my newest book, I ‘won’, and had an agent from New York ask to see my full manuscript. It also provided some unique and wonderful opportunities. So, this year I took up the challenge and it helped stead me through this pandemic. In a contest, if you don’t win, it could still mean you received fourth place! I have gone by that motto for the latter part of my writing journey! It is often an easier way to learn one of the harder parts of getting published: rejection. When presenting writing workshops, I always encourage participants to seek out contests as a place to submit their stories and poetry. That endeavor proved fruitful, with a win and several poems being published over a two year period. I revisited that practice after my cancer diagnosis, rekindling my desire to be ‘a writer’, with submissions to, ‘the rag’ which was a local magazine printed in Mission, BC. I entered my first writing contest when I was in Grade 10 and won third prize for my short story, HOW THE SKUNK GOT ITS SMELL, a story I wrote after reading Rudyard Kipling’s, JUST SO STORIES.
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