Do you believe in signs?

Life is crazy at the moment and with so much supermarket stuff to focus on, writing has been taking a back seat :( But I got the best writing boost the other day when I found out I placed second in the Romance Writers of Australia Single Title and Loving It contest.

I was actually gob-smacked cos this story is what I call pseudo Aussie rural romance and therefore I thought it was miles away from what Diane Moggy (final judge and high up person in Harlequin) would like. But she obviously thought it had something worthy in it :)

Anyway this placing got me thinking. I've had a bad run with my category attempts lately.

*Rejection after full with revs.

*Rejection after partial and direction to sub via slush pile again

*Not placing after finalling in the RWA Oz High Five (at category aimed) contest

*Not placing after finalling in the RWA Selling Synopsis with my category aimed wip

Yet, I got great feedback from all the first round judges for the Single Title contest and lovely feedback and a fab placing from the final judge.

IS THIS A SIGN?

Is it the universe's way of telling me I should focus on my contemporary single title and let my category attempts take a back seat for a while? I'm not sure!

So I'd love your thoughts... do you believe in signs!?

x

Rach!

TRIFECTA

Not sure TRIFECTA is exactly correct cos I've just looked it up and apparently it's to do with horse races and betting which horses will come first, second and third in correct order but I liked the sound of it.

Now I haven't come first, second and third in anything in any order but I have finalled in THREE Romance Writers of Australia contests in the last week.

With my experiment in ST, I finalled in the STALI contest - Single Title and Loving It.

With my New Voices entry, I finalled in the High Five - a contest in which you enter the first five pages of a category mss.

With the New Voices entry again, I finalled in the Selling Synopsis contest - which is exactly as it sounds, a synopsis competition.

All entries are currently with really fabulous editor/agent judges and I have my fingers crossed that more good news comes from them. But whatever happens, this was a MUCH-NEEDED boost for my writing at the moment.

People have mixed opinions about contests. They can be great for one's writing mojo if you score well and get positively constructive comments but they can also be really damaging if you let them.

I LOVE the thrill of entering contests and I've had luck in some and have placed dismally in others. But they are SO subjective. What one judge/contest loves another might hate.

An interesting tidbit - my mss which came Runner-Up in Mills & Boon Feel The Heat contest a few years back, placed really low to the bottom of the rankings in an RWA contest the same year. So don't let contests weigh you down and stop you reaching for those writing STARS!

HUGE congrats to the fab Jackie Ashenden who also finalled in the High Five.

The Importance of a Deadline

I know I've been VERY quiet of late. It's cos I'm working to a self-imposed deadline.

I entered the Romance Writer's of Australia Emmy award with my current mss (the one subbed with Richmond) because I wanted to make sure I finished the full. I've been good at starting mss' this year but we all know to actually become a published author, you need to Finish The Damn Book!!!

The second round of the Emmy will be announced end of January/begining of February and any one who gets through will then have to send in the full mss within a week. On the off chance that I make it through, I wanted to have the mss finished at least a few weeks before so I have time to let it sit before doing a first edit.

I've given myself the deadline of December 31st 2009 to finish TMMCF and I'm posting it on here so you guys can all keep me honest. I'm almost at 40k so have about 10k (give or take) to finish.

I think I can... I think I can...

Yesterday I cheated, jumped ahead and wrote the epilogue. It was a LOT of fun :)

Anyway before I sign off just wanted to say a HUGE congrats to those four winners of the iheartpresents writing contest! As a runner up from last year I can't rave enough about the opportunity. From that contest, I'm lucky enough to still be working with an editor. And those editors know their stuff. Like this year's MH Winner, I didn't even get feedback in the first contest a couple of years back. So congrats to EVERYONE who entered and don't feel disheartened if you only recieve a form email!

Instead... be even MORE determined to succeed!!!

A Brand New Me!!!

So if you're reading this I guess you made your way over... welcome to the blog of Rachael Johns, aspiring romance writer of quirky characters and plots.

After discussions with various people of note, I've decided that WHEN (yes, that's right, I'm thinking with the positive part of my brain) I get published, I'd like to write under the pen name of Rachael Johns.

There are a number of reasons why people choose to write under a pen name and I'm not gonna broadcast mine here but will tell you that I've chosen it for a reason. I think I'd find it too confusing to go by anything other than Rachael, so I'm sticking with my first name. I tossed up with a number of options for a second - hubby's middle name, his real surname (long story), my maiden name and my dad's surname (another long story) but in the end, they either didn't sound like a romance writer :) or they didn't look good as a .com and let's face it, in this day and age, you want a sexy looking .com

I went with Johns because John was my grandpa's name - he died just before I started writing category romance and was my all time hero. My granny was one lucky lady. I also dedicated one of my stories to him as he was a magician (in his spare time) and I created a magician hero thanks to his inspiration. So, I think Johns is fitting and http://www.rachaeljohns.com/ wasn't taken and looked good. I've now bought the domain name so am a step further to setting up a website! One day...

So aside from fantasing about getting published enough to decide on a pen name, what have I been up to these last few weeks?

I've just finished the final (hopefully) rewrite of ''For Love Or Ratings'', the full mss requested by Harlequin Superromance. I'm letting it sit for a week and will then give it one more read through and proof before sending it off.

I've giving myself a little break before getting stuck straight back into my current wip, a mss aimed at M&B Modern Heat. I've just subbed the partial of this to M&B but have polishing to do in case they request the full. Fingers crossed.

I've also entered the Romance Writers of Australia High Five contest and the ''Feel The Heat'' contest on the iheartpresents site.

Phew... and have just hit the third trimester of my pregnancy and am feeling all those fatigue hormones taking over my body again. Even typing all this was tiring.

I'm gonna be fixing up the settings on this blog over the next week or so, so please forgive me if you're not on the blogroll yet and know you should be... I promise to get there.

So... leave a comment and let me know you made it over! Welcome!