Last week I was partying; minimal alcohol and lots of happy times with writer friends.
Wednesday was Awards Night followed by the Christmas Party with Nottingham Writers' Club.
It's lovely seeing members receive their certificates for placings in the quarterly prose and poetry competitions; and then it's the trophy presentations for the annuals.
This year, among the trophies, was the bi-annual presentation of the Mary Street Memorial Shield for a Romance Novel - though it's not the complete novel, just the synopsis and first three chapters.
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| The Mary Street Memorial Trophy winner 2018... (image courtesy of Dennis Apple) |
What a shock. It did!
I have to say my entry was not as good as it will be sometime in the future- when I've worked out how to tie up the various strands in the latter half...
The comments I received from the judge (a published romance writer and member of the RNA) were very encouraging:
"The judgement call for this competition was very close, as there were excellent qualities overall, but the winning entry was the one I felt had more shape, confidence of writing style, and clarity of direction, with an intriguing opening. It is a historical mystery romance set in the late 1920s and the writer has created the appropriate period style and ambience well, and worked on making it convincing."
The story was one of those ideas that interfere in what you're working on and has to be written down to get it out of the way (to carry on with the work in progress). I only needed to tidy up the first three chapters and write a synopsis for it.
It's a reassuring way to end a year that has had a lot of disruptions and unexpected demands on my time (that have now set back my intentions for next year).
For now the 1920's story can carry on brewing in the depths of my sub-conscious, while I get back to Serena's 1802 setting and the rewriting; I still have a target to get it out next year, but it won't be June...
