Many of my romance writing friends are counting down the days until March 26th when the finalists will be announced for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious contest the Golden Heart. Trust me, even if we didn’t enter, many of us romance writers will sit on the edge of our seats, eyes glued to the computer screen, fingers tapping the refresh button, waiting to see who finaled. Yeah, it’s that big of a deal. It’s like Grammy nominations.
While I’m waiting for that date to roll around I’m also watching many of my Christian fiction writing friends prepare their entries for the Genesis, another huge contest, one for Christian Fiction writers.
Those contests are for the unpublished. Those who have yet to sign on the dotted line.
The Ritas and the Carols are for the published, but only for those who have a copyright date, a book in hand.
Since I have a signed contract, and I’m not complaining by any means, I’m ineligible for the unpublished contests. And since my book doesn’t come out until early 2014 I can’t enter the published contests.
So, what’s the big deal? They’re just contests, right?
If you’re published the awards are totally like winning a Grammy or an Oscar. Of course, I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I’ve been told. People pay attention to Grammy winners. They’re often sought after by producers and directors for their movies and movie goers flock to see them on the big screen.
Prestigious unpublished contests, get a writer noticed when they final. I’ve heard of many romance writers being contacted by agents as soon as their names are posted to the Romance Writers of American site for the Golden Heart. It’s not just writers sitting on the edge of their seats. As far as the Genesis is concerned, putting Genesis fianlists on your cover letter is says something about your writing ability.
But you have a contract.
Yes, I do. And I’m still over the moon about the whole thing. Some days it does not seem real. However, it would still be nice to get my writing in front of acquiring agents. I’m sure this holds true for other non-agented writers as well. *sigh*
But that’s okay. Next year I’ll be able to enter all the published contests I want. In the meantime I’ll just keep writing and participating in things like Seekerville’s Speedbo. Kind of like NaNoWriMo that occurs in November.
Here are my goals:
1.) First three chapters of Her Greek Pirate’s Heart (No, that’s not the real title)
2.) Complete Hope. As you can see on the side bar I’m over halfway there only 27,500 to reach 70k.
2 responses to “Stuck in the Middle: No Contests for Me-Speedbo Here I Come”
Glad you’re joining us, Christina!
Me, too, Missy! I’ve already completed one book this year. With the help of Speedbo hopefully I’ll have two, possibly three.