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Things to Consider When Writing a Second Chance Romance #amwriting #MondayBlogs

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Second chance romance is one of my favourite romance tropes to read. It’s also the trope I once thought would be relatively easy to write. *Sigh* I was delusional when I first started writing.

A good second chance romance relies on character growth and that’s something which needs to be mastered. You also have to create a tangled past relationship which ended and you have to not only untangle it over the course of the book but you also have to show what’s changed since then.

Here’s a list of the things I always consider when writing a second chance romance novel:

How did they initially connect? Were they childhood sweethearts? Maybe they met at work? The secret here is readers need to see and feel how good that connection was between these two beautiful characters.

This breathtaking romance has to be unforgettable for both readers and the characters.

Why did they split up? What made them walk away from each other? Were they too young? Was it a case of bad timing or did one hurt the other? What broke them?

Readers need to understand what made these characters go blubber into a box of Kleenex, wedge chocolate into their mouth and go for long solitary walks in the rain.

What personal growth have they experienced? What has life taught them in the years they were apart? What did other relationships teach them?

Have they thought about why they have never connected with anyone on the same romantic level as they did with each other?

What made them want to give their relationship another chance? Why can’t they disentangle from each other’s lives? What has made them come together again? Why salvage a broken relationship?

The reader must understand and agree with these decisions. There must also be that old connection and the chemistry.

What stuff have they overcome? Have they resolved the old conflict? Readers need to see how these two characters might have had different priorities that caused their breakup. But now that those priorities have changed, so, maybe there is still a chance for them to work it out. It could also be a case of these two characters making mistakes and generally causing an emotional mess.

The reader needs to believe these two have changed for the better.

I hope you have found that useful ❤️

In other news last week:

I am over the moon and can’t wait to work with Bloodhound Books. This is a dream come true for me.

Things to Expect When Writing Your First Draft #MondayBlogs #writers

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Hello, thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

If you are getting ready to write a first draft please check out my list of things to expect along the way:

  1. The food inside your fridge will become very appetising the second you start to write. Be prepared to spend a large amount of your writing time with your head stuck in your fridge.
  2. Don’t expect your characters to keep their names you gave them in the planning stage. You will either come to detest them by 20k words or you will forget what they were supposed to be called and refer to them as something totally different by the end.
  3. Plot holes are to be expected. Let them appear. In subsequent drafts you will fix them. There is nothing more satisfying than finding a fix for a gaping plot hole.
  4. The songs you keep listening to whilst writing your first draft will always make you recall that particular story in the future. Depending on how your writing process goes you might not want to listen to all your favourite hits whilst you write your first draft. Let me tell you there are good songs I can no longer listen to now because they remind me of a painful first draft.
  5. You will end up expecting your first draft to be perfectly formed and sound like a best selling novel by the end. Remember your first draft’s only purpose is to give birth to your story. Births are beautiful but also are messy and chaotic.
  6. You will expect your first draft writing process to be similar to the last book you wrote. It won’t be and that’s just how things are with this wonderful craft we call writing. I have had first drafts which have gushed out of me, I have had first drafts which have coughed and spluttered their way onto the page and I have had first drafts which have been like disobedient children and have run away back into my head laughing at me.
  7. There will be unplanned breaks from your first draft along the way. The words will dry up and you will find yourself cleaning the house for a 4th time in a day just to avoid writing.
  8. Your future writing self will thank you for persisting with your first draft. They will be cheering you on and giving you a side eye when they watch you happily scribble ‘huge plot hole for my future self to correct’ in chapter two.
  9. Thirty to fifty thousand words will feel like you are lost in a wilderness with no tent, no food, water or firewood. Here are some lifesavers; a character name change can brighten things up and trick you into thinking you are writing something else. Be generous with the phrase, ‘bla bla bla’ and sometimes let go of the novel plan and see what happens. Creativity hates being fenced in on the first draft.
  10. You might use a lot of naughty language whilst you are writing your first draft. Plan ahead and set up a ‘curse draft swear jar.’ Every time you swear at your first draft make a payment into your curse draft swear jar. Use the money at the end to treat yourself. Writing a first draft and getting to the end is an achievement.

Have fun!

Things to consider when querying your novel #amwriting

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Hi there, thanks for popping onto my blog.

You will be glad to know a few weeks ago I swan dived into the querying pool with my latest romcom. At the bottom of this blog post is an image of me in the querying pool, chilling and thinking about querying. For noting I am the cool one with the shades.

In my experience querying a draft novel with agents can be a reflective time for the writer.

It’s a process which will make a writer question everything- their creative purpose, their own writing, their writing dreams, their writing life since primary school and ALL the astrologers who predicted that something BIG and WONDERFUL was on its way for their star sign.

If you ever feel like doing six months of intense soul searching – write a novel and query it!

Here are some things to consider when swimming in the querying pool:

  1. Diving into the querying pool is an achievement in itself. You have finally finished that beloved novel of yours after months / years of wrestling with it whilst the world descended into yet more chaos. You should be PROUD of yourself no matter what happens to your novel.
  2. Rejections are like insect stings. Some will hurt for a couple of hours and some will take longer. If only Amazon sold Rejection Insect Repellent which we could all order and spray ourselves like mad after hitting send on our queries. Sigh!
  3. There ARE magical moments in the querying pool. It only takes one agent to cast their literary net and scoop you up. Never give up hope.
  4. Always clap and cheer when fellow swimmers in the query pool get scooped up. You never know what writers have been through or the struggles they have faced. They will one day clap for you ❤️
  5. Querying is a process which the best authors have all gone through. Some will have experienced first time success and some will have kept going no matter what. There are some great motivational author stories out there.
  6. Brace yourself – I have a new way of looking at rejected novels. Are you ready? Your novel might get rejected by all the agents you approach. After the tears have dried up and you feel like facing the world again, don’t build a bonfire using your rejected novel. Instead think about WHY your novel came into your life. Every story has a life purpose and that purpose MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN to clinch an agent or a book deal – GASP! Let me explain.
    • I wrote a novel which allowed me to process my dad’s passing. It came into my life to help me process my grief. It didn’t get bought at submission because that was not it’s purpose. That was not the reason that novel came into my life. After I finished writing that novel I could go for a weeks without crying about dad.
    • The novel I have just submitted came into my life after a painful period of not enjoying my writing and losing my confidence. This novel was so enjoyable to write and it also forced me to break free from some of the things which were not working in my life last year. If this novel doesn’t do well in the querying pool I will know that was not its purpose. It came into my life to cheer me up and show me how much I still loved writing.
    • I wrote a novel a few years ago which I self published because I was having a wonderful midlife rebellion. I did a ton of things that year which took me out of my comfort zone. I got a new job after 10 years doing the same thing, I went on holiday with some friends, I cut my hair, I bought my own car, I sorted out my mental health and I put my writing out into the world. 2019 was one hell of a year for me. Again that novel was rejected in the querying pool but its purpose wasn’t about me getting taken on by an agent. That novel came into my life to shake everything up.
    • If your novel gets rejected – think about why that story came into your life. It could be that rejection by agents and publishers makes you self publish that novel. Your belief in the story takes hold of you and propels you into self publishing and you become very successful. That novel came to you for that purpose – to make you take another path.
    • We always think stories come into our lives because they are going to get us book deals. Sadly, stories come into your life for other reasons. A friend of mine started writing her first novel before her marriage ended. She believes the process of writing helped her to find herself again. Sometimes we are quick to dismiss rejected novels and we let ourselves spiral into negativity. Wouldn’t it be great if we could take a step back and reflect on why that story came into our life. Was it teaching us something or was it allowing something else to happen. Was it a catalyst for other things?
  7. Querying a novel forces you to play the long game. It’s a good skill to learn in this age of instant gratification.
  8. It’s not the end of the world if you stagger out of the querying pool with your rejected novel. Look around as there are many of us all queuing behind you to get out of the pool. It’s part of the process and guess what? It makes you a stronger writer.
  9. You will forget about the pain and the rejection stings.
  10. Change your astrologer 🤣

If you are in the querying pool at the moment – give me a wave or swim with me for a lap? Before you ask – no you can’t have a go on my inflatable ring!

Hate Your Writing? A Few Things To Remember… #MondayBlogs #AmWriting

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Hello, thanks for dropping by my little corner of the World Wide Web.

One of the things I love about being a writer is how quickly my views on my own work can change over the course of a day. I can be loving what I am writing before lunch and a few hours later I will hate the sight of it. I can wake up thinking my WIP is a pile of literary wrongs and go to bed later that evening hugging my laptop.

I have been thinking about why our feelings about our writing change so frequently and why sometimes we rant and rave about hating what we have created.

How can we hate something we spend so much of our time working on?

Here are some things for you to ponder:

  1. There are always two stories being written – one on paper / the laptop screen and one in our head. The one we read on paper / the laptop screen never matches to the story in our head. The story in our head is to blame. We need to accept whatever we write will never match the story in our head.
  2. Hating our work could be a sign our old friend, fear, has joined us. Fear makes us overthink our work, create false scenarios of reader reactions to our work and feel like the best thing to do would be to crawl away. Fear encourages us to hate our work.
  3. Take a note of when you start hating your work. Always check to see whether your writing mood sours after reading another author’s polished book which will have gone through hundreds of revisions.
  4. Pushing through the hatred can be very rewarding. Fact.
  5. Sometimes ‘hating your work’ is your writer brain over reacting about an issue. Think of your writer brain as someone who is dramatic. When there is a problem they throw up their arms and announce the world is ending. Your writer brain spots an issue and rather than pointing it out to you it hits the alarm bells and gets you to throw a hissy fit which results in you yelling, ‘I hate my draft novel.’ There is an issue with what you have written. It could be small and easily fixable or it might require some work. Take some time away and go back when you are ready to sort out the issue.
  6. Read my last post on learning to live with an imperfect draft.
  7. We all signed up for bouts of hating our work when we decided to become writers. It goes with the territory.

Have fun out there!

Learning to Live Alongside Your Imperfect Draft Novel #amwriting

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Hello, welcome back.

Today I am going to talk about something which I am starting to get my head around.

Note: I’ve not nailed this yet but I am trying. 🤣

So, I am talking about – the ability to coexist with your imperfect draft novel and be at peace with all its flaws. You can go about your daily life and not be plagued or tortured by your draft novel sat there with it’s saggy middle, flat ending and cast of chaotic characters. You can even smile naturally at your imperfect draft novel. There’s no gritting of teeth or sleepless nights. You don’t delete it, quit writing it or quit writing altogether because of it. You accept it needs work and you learn to live with it. For me this is a next level writer mindset.

We get obsessed with trying to make everything about our stories perfect. I am guilty of this. We grit our teeth a lot and make change after change but our draft novel never matches that ‘perfect’ vision in our heads. It’s like someone is dangling a carrot in front of us.

Is there a perfect novel out there? Yes, I have read great books but it’s hard to label them as perfect. Also my idea of perfect might be different to yours.

The trouble with chasing perfection with writing and I am GUILITY of this is that it is super easy to fall into the – ‘this story will never be perfect so I might as well not bother,’ mindset. This results in half finished draft novels and long term writer disappointment. Trust me on this – ha ha! I have been down this road.

I have recently experienced a new kind of writer peace and calmness. It comes from accepting a draft novel has faults and telling myself over time I will work on them. *Gasp* I swear it’s peaceful.

You tell yourself its never going to be perfect but it will be crafted to the best of your abilities. Living with a draft novel which needs work is ok. You have to say this on repeat 🤣

I am learning to say, ‘yes, I am working on a draft novel and it has issues..but I am ok with that. *deep breath and force out a smile*

Here are my top tips for learning to live alongside your imperfect novel:

  1. Bring your flawed novel in from the cold. It wants to be loved and not hated.
  2. Remember stories don’t have to be perfect to be powerful or captivating.
  3. Try sitting next to your draft novel and think light fluffy happy thoughts about it…🤣
  4. Try to get to the end of each revision cycle and then take a break from it.
  5. Keep saying to yourself, ‘there’s no such thing as a perfect novel.’

Good luck out there.

Writing Summer Romcoms in the Winter #amwritingromance #mondayblogs

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I am about to enter my summer beach romcom writing era. A fabulous new story is tugging on my winter coat tails. It came to me while I was delving into the frozen fish section of my local supermarket and precauriously balancing on the edge of a giant freezer. I was forced to drop my bargain priced fish fingers and tap the idea into my phone. As a result I never did buy those fish fingers. This idea better be good!

You know I like to keep up with modern trends, well I am a new fan of the term – era. Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus all seem to be entering new music eras so I thought it would be good to have the same in the book genre writing world. I am offically leaving my travel based contemporary romcom era and entering my summer beach romcom era. Please let me know what sort of writing era you are in or what you are about to enter?

It’s time for me to cuddle up under a thick blanket (UK heating cost crisis), sip a steaming cup of tea, with fingerless gloved hands, reach for my laptop, dust away the icicles and write away the January blues by creating a fictional summer Romcom.

Here are some things I love about summer romances:

Grumpy heroes and bubbly heroines who are like walking rays of sunshine.

The level of passion rising with the temperature.

Moonlit walks along beaches.

Fruit picking.

Romantic picnics

Writing hot and sexy beach romcoms in winter can result in several emotional highs and lows:

1. Writing about finding romance on a sun drenched, idyllic beach can feel like you are on your own mini break. The bonus here is that you don’t have to dig out your bikini, bathe in fake tan and run the risk of turning salmon pink.

2. Writing about warm summer evenings, sipping delicious cocktails by the sea, paddling in azure blue water and dancing the night away under the stars (without thermal underwear, many layers and a big coat) is very pleasurable. It can certainly make you forget the size of your heating bill, your teenager’s inability to wear a warm coat in all weathers and your cat’s low mood.

3. You also don’t have to go abroad for your summer romcom either. There are some gorgeous beaches around the U.K. complete with idyllic coastal villages, beach facing guest houses, cute boats bobbing in a harbour and seaside town hustle and bustle. My goodness as I sit here and type I can taste delicious ice cream and hear seagulls overhead.

4. When I said writing a summer beach romcom can feel like you are taking a mini break – your trip length will vary. Some of us don’t have the luxury to escape and write for hours. Some of us are distracted by family, pets, delivery people, car problems, loved ones who are incapable of making themselves a cup of tea and social media. This can result in your fictional mini break lasting a good half hour at most. Before you know it you are back to moaning about the heating and shivering in your chair.

5. If you are writing a beach Romcom you will need to brush up on your swimwear clothing trends and think about things like – what type of bikini or speedos would my character wear and what’s in trend? This will inevitably lead you to browsing some swimwear clothing online sites and getting agitated as you compare the array of golden tanned legs with your own which resemble two pints of semi skinned milk and are buried beneath layers of clothing. This will only reinforce the hard truth – summer is still a long way away!

6. There’s a higher chance of you getting annoyed with your cast of romance characters in a beach romcom while writing it in the middle of winter than any other time of year. In view of it being cold, grey, damp and miserable (in the U.K.) you will have zero patience for moaning fictional characters basking in the sun, dipping their painted toes in the sea and feeling tipsy after too many cocktails. At least in a winter based holiday romcom you can shove them in a snow drift if they irritate you but you don’t have that luxury with a beach romcom. This can cause unwanted author / character tension. Before you know it you will end up writing a beach based grizzly thriller.

My new summer beach romcom era has begun! Hurrah.

Things My Draft Novel Made Me Do Last Week #amwriting

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Here are the things my draft novel made me do last week. Do you like how I am blaming everything on my draft novel? I knew you woiuld – ha ha!

I am not going to say the title of it or the premise as it will take away the excitement. I will say that it is a forced proximity romcom (where circumstances throw the main characters together) and it’s crammed full of comedy, chaos and some touching romantic moments. I am currently doing several rounds of edits. This book has been continually revised since last September. It has had more revisions than I have had hot dinners. I am about to swan dive gracefully into the literary agent query pool so I am just dusting off my frilly costume,

Here’s what my draft novel made me do last week:

  1. Add more conflict. I am changing as a writer. In some of my early novels I shied away from conflict. With this book I have had a little devil on my shoulder whispering, ‘make them suffer more,’ and for once I have listened to it. You should ask yourself as you write – am I making life too easy for my characters?
  2. Hack away pointless scenes. I have been a lot tougher with this book than my others. This was something I also used to avoid. I have found the more you hack the deeper you get into your story because you end up being left with scenes which all serve a purpose.
  3. Experience a range of strong feelings 🤣 – frustration, anger, happiness, joy, sadness and hope were all felt last week as I knocked this story into shape.
  4. Ignore my inner critic at certain times of the day. I should NOT make crucial decisions on my book before 6.30am. My mind is not rational before 6.30am. Even better I should not think about changes until after I have eaten. About 9am I start thinking clearly. This week I saw how my mind and perspective shifts after breakfast. Also I should not make book decisions after 10pm as I am always tired and I will go for the easiest option. A big shout out to all my past stories which suffered because of this.
  5. Go for more walks. Fresh air is a writer’s friend
  6. Cry. I have found that the books you write which make you cry whilst writing they have something special about them. Last week I cried. Historic moment.
  7. Get impatient. I do hate it when draft novels try to hurry you up. They want to be out in the world seeking their fortune but you know there’s more work to do.
  8. Accepting the following with editing: editing can be soul destroying, there will be some chapters littered with typos and incorrect character names but structurally they will work, there will be some chapters where there will be no typos but structurally they will be a wreck and some chapters where even I, the author, won’t have a clue about what’s going on 🤣
  9. Skip some household chores. I do love novel writing when it makes me do this.
  10. Wear a bolder lipstick – hot pink for writers in 2023 👏🏻

Have a good week 🤩

Lucy x

Hello My Blog – I’m Back! #Writer

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Hello, Happy 2023!

Come in and make yourself at home. Excuse me I need to switch on the lights and dust away the virtual blog cobwebs. It’s been over a year since I have been here. I haven’t had a chance to buy in some virtual milk or tea bags so I can’t make you a virtual cuppa.

Well, here I am. Back home on my blog. During 2022 I was lucky enough to work with a fabuloius literary agent. A book I wrote in 2021, Missing You, went on submission in 2022 and whilst it received lots of positive feedback it didn’t find a forever home. I knew the chances of a first book selling were low so I banked the valuable experience I had gained.

I will be swan diving back into the querying pool in 2023 which is exciting.

I won’t give up on my dream to be published. I know I can do this. Just got to keep writing!

For those of you who don’t know what I write – I create funny romances with real life characters who try to navigate their way through the minefield of dating as well as juggling parenthood, dysfunctional families, wayward pets, social media and dead-end jobs. I send my characters on wild journeys of self-discovery and I like to add a little bit of romantic chaos.

I missed my blog in 2022. It’s my little creative home. A year long blogging break was good though and it’s made me appreciate my corner of the world wide web.

What else did I do in 2022 apart from experiencing the submission process:

  1. I started a TikTok account (@lucymitchauth) which was an experience. I do like TikTok but it’s not my creative home. My blog is my home and TikTok is like a second holiday home.
  2. I wrote 2 new full length first draft novels.
  3. I am on the 3rd draft of a 3rd novel I also wrote last year. This is the one I am going to swan dive into the querying trenches with.
  4. Sticking parts of myself back together after each rejection. I am out of sticky tape so if anyone has any please send my way 🙂
  5. I alternated between letting out dreamy sighs at my characters and a few hours later hissing with intense malice at them.
  6. I drank a lot of coffee and I bought a passive aggressive coffee machine. Seriously this machine has issues. It starts it’s automatic descaling process during very stressful times and we are gasping for a coffee. We then have to wait an agonising hour. It spits, gurgles and splutters if we complain about it . The thing knows we are moaning about it and does it’s best to delay our coffee.
  7. I have been collecting funny things people say about writing. Here are some of my favs:

You’re not a real writer if you don’t have an existential crisis about how you’re not a real writer on a regular basis.

Sherry’s World tumblr

The hardest thing about being a writer is convincing your partner that lying on the sofa is work.

John Hughes

Select-All + Delete is an equivalent to crumpling the page and tossing it into a fireplace

Unknown

I am going to be here every Monday from now on. Join me in my journey towards one day getting traditionally published.

#AmWriting #GuestPost – My Unsupportive Ex, Imposter Syndrome @elodiegarroway

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I am thrilled to bring you a super guest blog post from a romance author who I think is brilliant – Élodie Garroway. I am a fan of her romance stories and I am excited she’s here today on my blog putting a unique twist on Imposter Syndrome.

Please welcome Élodie Garroway.

Hi everyone.

If you’ve ever tried to create something, you’ve heard the term “Imposter Syndrome.” Imposter Syndrome is feeling like your skills and talents are in doubt, not by others but by you.

I’ve been having a not-so-secret affair with imposter syndrome since I was seventeen.

I had secured an audition for a school of music I wanted to attend. It wasn’t a perfect audition but I got in. I was proud until I realized I was one of two trombone players. I got in because of what I played, not what I could do– quantity over quality.

And that is how I met my unsupportive Ex, Imposter Syndrome. It didn’t matter if everything it said was lies. I believed it. It ate at my confidence. It invaded my speech, my actions. In spite of it, I graduated top five.

I made it. Right? That ish was over?

I wish.

This Ex invaded every aspect of my life and I unknowingly made it room, questioning how I was raising my son, teaching my students, and yes, my writing.

And I am not its only relationship, maybe you know it too?

So how do we do ensure we never get back together, even though they keep coming back?

Keep telling yourself you are amazing until you believe it.

There is nothing more powerful than positive self-talk. Remember it’s you. You feed the syndrome and let it pay rent in your mind. Naturally only you can keep it at bay. You have to decide to not feed it anymore. Just like you tell that ex that you aren’t getting back together, you have to tell yourself, “I’ve got this. I can write. My words are worth reading.”

Surround yourself with positive people.

It’s hard to make headway if the inner voice doesn’t match the out voices. Maybe those who love you can’t get on board with your “hobby.” That’s okay because we exist. Who’s we? Why the writing community of course! Trust me, if you have a genre, there is a group for you. Just find us. We want to meet you and support you!

Prove yourself wrong over and over again.

The Ex won’t stop calling with nasty comments? Fine. Prove it wrong. Do you doubt your world-building abilities? Take a class or ask a fellow writer for help, find a way to learn and improve. Then what can the voice say? Challenge that voice and make its argument worthless.

Do what scares you.

Don’t be the one holding you back. It is scary to put yourself out there. I put it off for years. I didn’t hit the top of anything the first time I published solo. Heck, I still haven’t. That doesn’t mean I should give up. What I should do is put myself out there again.

You should too. Even if you get a negative response. Then go back to number three and now prove them wrong. Keep doing what scares you, it’s the only way to move forward.

And break up with Imposter Syndrome. It never did anything for you anyway.

Author bio

Élodie’s first taste of reality came from her Southern upbringing.  She climbed majestic Dogwoods, chased fireflies, and ran from mosquitoes and no-see-ems.  This idyllic world helped her see beauty, love and magic all come with a cost.  That never stopped her from dreaming big!

Life continued to reinforce its duality – she overcame personal trials that would threaten her life and her vision.  Dreams don’t die easily, so she pushed through and found a way to share the love stories that kept her on the lighter side of life.

She also managed to find her brooding prince and against all odds, have the most wonderful son with an imagination that rivals hers.  Proving once again, the price of love is always worth it!

Grab a mason jar of lemonade and let Elodie Garroway show you the ups and downs of real love, so you can Capture the Feeling.

Élodie’s contact links

Élodie’s Website: https://elodiegarroway.com
Learning to Love Again: https://books2read.com/u/mYZGQM
Joyeux Noël, Elinor: https://books2read.com/u/3yeadL
Falling for Farris: https://books2read.com/u/b6OvW0

The Writing Competition That Changed My World In Unexpected Ways #AmWriting

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If you follow me on twitter you will know of my pinned tweet. It is about how I got through to the final round of the Penguin Michael Joseph Christmas Love Story Competition and my strong urges to cartwheel with joy on zoom calls at work.

According to the competition FAQs last week was when the winner was going to be notified. At the start of last week I knew of just 4 other writers who, like me, had got through to the next round. I wasn’t looking forward to a tense, nail biting and lonely week which would mostly be spent watching my email with hawk-like eyes, jumping everytime my phone rang, eating far too many penquin biscuits and overthinking every possible competition outcome.

Well, my week did include all of the above (especially the penguin biscuit binge) but it wasn’t a lonely week and it did change my writing world in unexpected ways.

I think it was Audrey Niven, on Twitter who kickstarted things at the start of the week. She tweeted about wishing all the Penquin finalists lots of luck. Then the magic started. Fellow finalists joined in by liking her tweet and by the end of Monday there was a small gang of us on Twitter all sharing writer love and support with each other. By Tuesday our gang had grown some more as a few more finalists had found us. We all started tweeting funny snippets from our days and what we were doing to distract ourselves from the competition waiting game. By Wednesday we had grown from a small gang to a collective and this was when ideas were shared on what we could call ouselves. Bettina Hunt suggested the Penguin Collective and a Twitter list was created by Amy Gaffney. Everytime another finalist made their way onto Twitter and found us we’d all welcome them in.

It was a very different writing competition experience for me. We all tweeted and laughed our way through the week talking about the anxious wait, how we felt like we were in the Big Brother House (Lily Joseph), how some of us had turned to playing Europe’s pop classic, The Final Countdown (Jake G Godfrey) to get through, how some of us were busy ordering Penguin biscuits (Sarah Shard) how we were all looking forward to cracking open the wine on Friday at 6pm and how lucky we were to find each other. There were so many funny tweets over the course of the week, from Jenny Bromham’s thought provoking GIF ‘one more dawn’, Donna Dobbs’s hiring of a geeky IT student, Joanna Knowles Author’s tweet about how she was starting to waddle like a penguin, Rebecca Duval’s obsessive email refreshes, Hayley-Jenifer’s Benedict Cumberbatch’s GIF and Jackie Morrison’s caravan holiday which was spent checking for a phone signal. As you can imagine when Sarah Louise Robinson started a Facebook group for us we all flapped our penguin wings and waddled over there too. It wasn’t just laughter, there were also ideas from Kimberly Adams, Sarah Shard and Amy Gaffney on how we could work together in the future.

There were other finalists still joining the Pengin Collective on Friday; A Novel, tweet by tweet, Writtenbymisshm, Tallie Samuels, Helen Hawkins, Katy George.

The end of the story is that no one we knew about heard from Penguin Michael Joseph on Friday. Someone probaby has heard and we wish them the best of luck. I also hope they come on my blog and talk about their new book in the future.

For me, that’s okay. I got WAY more from this writing competition than I ever imagined; a story idea validated by Penguin Michael Joseph (which is now at 23k), new romance writer friends in the Penguin Collective group and a lot of happy twitter memories from last week.

As Breea Keenan said, ‘this chat has made my week’ and I couldn’t agree more.

Writing competitions which give you so much more than you expected are priceless.