Saturday, October 25, 2008

Contest Update . . . and an Explanation


October's been an exciting month! First, The Kissable Companion won the Historical Unpublished Maggie. The way I've been wearing my medallion everywhere (i.e., the grocery store, soccer games, to the mailbox) you'd think I was Michael Phelps or something. Then, The Trouble with Twilight took second place in the Indiana Golden Opportunity. Both stories are new, and it was the first contest placement for each. And I feel like I need to explain.

Waaaay back in the beginning of summer, in the midst of that exhilarating, just-out-of-school rush, I had two story ideas. Both had heroines who were companions, but with personalities that were polar opposites. I decided to write the first three chapters and a synopsis for each story and see which one I liked better.

But I was still torn. So, I submitted each to a couple of contests. I figured the judges could give me a sense of which story had more potential. Unfortunately, neither story emerged as the clear winner. I decided to finish The Trouble with Twilight first.

I'm still writing, but I'm on track to finish the first draft of TTWT by Thanksgiving. After that, I'll have lots of revising to do (which I'm actually looking forward to). But then I'll finally get to finish the The Kissable Companion. Unless I decide to write the sequel to The Trouble with Twilight first . . .

4 comments:

Keli Gwyn said...

Anne,

Congrats again on your contest wins. Taking first in the Maggie is quite an impressive accomplishment since that's one of the top notch contests. As for wearing your beautiful new necklace--you betcha. You won, so enjoy the thrill.

I had to smile when you said "Unfortunately, neither story emerged as the clear winner." Nope. They're both winners. But, that's no surprise. You write very well, so I guess you'll have to deal with the fact that two of your award-winning stories are racking up wins on the contest circuit. Now you'll have to finish them both and get them published so you can give Regency readers a double treat as they discover a great new author.

Anne Barton said...

Gosh, Keli. Were you *trying* to make me cry? Because that's one of the sweetest things anyone's ever said to me! :)

I'm so lucky to have a CP who's both amazingly supportive AND talented. Thank you!

JenBC said...

Anne! I'm so proud of your accomplishments and LOL on your medal wearing. Feel free to post pics of yourself wearing your writer bling all over the DC area -- hey, where you live you could actually run into Mr Phelps!

What a great problem you've worked to have -- too many good ideas. So glad you blog!

Anne Barton said...

Jen, you *really* shouldn't encourage me to flaunt the medallion. :) Hmmm, I guess it's possible I'd run into Michael Phelps since we live in the same geographic area. I'm going to keep my eyes open in case he shows up at a PTA meeting or my hair salon. :) Thanks for your encouragement, Jen!