My Call Story

I just have to mention again how amazing the past few days have been :) The congratulations I have received from members of the romance community - both blogland and through Romance Writers of Australia have just blown me away. Romance writers really are the best!

So, I guess I'd better tell you what happened after the end of New Voices way back in November?

Well - it turned out winning the competition was the easy bit.

My original deadline for my book was Christmas. So off I went, typing madly away, and sending chunks of my book off to my editor for feedback. All was going well... right?

By the end of November, and 19K into the book, my editor called - there were issues with my story. So I
threw out at least half of what I'd written, and tried again.

This time I got stopped at 27K words. This was about ten days before Christmas, and the email and subsequent phone call telling me all that wasn't working...well, they were just awful. Of course my editor was right (If I was honest, I knew it wasn't working), but I was very low and felt like a complete failure.

Surely by now Mills & Boon regretted choosing me as their winner?

With my editor's encouragement, I took a break over Christmas, and didn't start writing again until 2nd January. Amazingly, my editor still seemed to have faith in me!

This time I threw out everything - leaving less that 3000 words from the original book. If you read my competition entries, both the pivotal moment and 90% of chapter two is gone. My hero has totally changed. The book is SO much better for it.

I was determined to write my way this time, and while still taking on everything I learnt from my mentors during New Voices (and my editor subsequently), to trust my instincts.

The feedback on my first few chapters was very positive, as was the feedback on the first half of the book a few weeks later. We decided on a new deadline - 10th Feb.

I wrote like a mad thing, with my support team (including Nikki and Rach) getting me through. But I did
it - I subbed the book on time. A whole book in five weeks - this was amazing for slow typing, procrastinator me!

I got my revisions back quick smart (via phone call), which I managed to turn around in four days, and then had some final tiny sentence level tweaks to make. 

Then, on Friday, I got "the email". My book is to be published, and they want my next one too :)

So while I didn't get "the call", I'll claim my revision stage call as my call :) 

My editor called me yesterday with more details about release dates and so on - my book will come out as part of a New Voices anthology in the UK in October this year, and then as a Harlequin Romance in the US and M&B Sweet in Australia in 2012. My next book is due later this year!

It was hard - much harder than I anticipated when I won New Voices - but absolutely worth it.

And no... it hasn't sunk in yet :)

It's official!!

I found out today that my New Voices book is definitely going to be published. Yes - Leah Ashton, published author. OMG.

PLUS - Mills & Boon want to publish my next book. To say that I am excited would be a complete understatement :)

I don't have many details yet, but I will be published (there's that word again!) with Riva in the UK, and Sweet/Romance in Australia/US.

I'll share more of my journey since winning New Voices in the next few days, but for now, I will take another sip of my pink champagne, another hug from my super proud fiance, and enjoy this moment :)

I'm at Romance University today!

I sincerely apologise (grovel, grovel) for my extended absence from blogland. Sadly... it will continue for a few more weeks until this book is finished.

If you'd like to know what I've been up to, please visit Romance University where the lovely Carrie Spencer (and New Voices Top Four!) has interviewed me and Heidi Hormel (another member of the Top Four!):

Mills & Boon New Voices - What's Next?

Please come and say hello, I'll be popping in to answer any questions in the comments.

Otherwise - I'll see you all in a few weeks :)

Winner - Mills & Boon New Voices 2010

Even writing this blog post title is surreal. How did this happen again?

I won't write much now... still too tired, too shocked, too euphoric and too terrified (ohmygod what if the rest of the book is rubbish and they decide not to publish it!) to even attempt it.

But I did want to say a huge big massive THANK YOU to everyone who entered the competition. There were so many talented writers who entered - Heidi, Lindsay and Carrie from the top 4 included, but also all the lovely ladies who read this blog - and without you there would have been no New Voices.

Thank you also to everyone who took the time to read my entry, to comment and to vote. You have quite literally made my dream come true. Thank you.

Voting time again!

I am a funny combination of excited, relieved and very very scared at the moment - because my New Voices Pivotal Moment is up!

Secrets & Speed Dating - Pivotal Moment 

Please have a read, and if (as always) you liked it, I would love your vote!

As with Chapter Two, this scene didn't come easily. I had started writing my pivotal moment (about 1500 words), and when I made the top 4, my lovely mentors asked what I planned to write for the PM. So I told them.

The didn't think this was a good idea. Basically (they didn't say this!) I'd chickened out - I'd chosen a significant moment, but not THE pivotal moment in the book. The scene they suggested I wrote happens much later in the novel, and was much scarier to write.

So, I threw out what I had (ie filed away carefully for use later) and started afresh. I had less than 48 hours to get this new scene to my mentors for feedback, so it was a slightly frantic time. Once again, having to go to work was Very Annoying :)

After some excellent feedback from my mentors, I made more changes over the weekend, and subbed on Monday.

This scene was by far the most emotional one I've written, and I seriously hope that I've done the moment justice.

But regardless of what happens next, I am beyond thrilled to have made it this far, and I know I've done the absolutely best I could. Which, I guess, is all I could do!

Thank you all for your support throughout the competition - you are all totally and completely awesome :)

PS And a special thank you to Lacey Devlin - button maker extraordinaire! -->

Top Four!

Wow:

Uh. Yeah. Am most definitely still in shock :)

Thank you SO much everyone who voted for me, and has supported me so far in this competition. It means the world to me.

And big commiserations to the other six. I thought all the other nine entries were of an incredibly high standard, and had no idea who would make the Top 4. It must have been so so close. 

A special thank you to Rachael Johns, who called me with the fabulous news. I was at a family dinner so was forced to suspend my obsessive email/New Voices web site checking frenzy. Was a lovely way to find out!

Now, off to get this pivotal moment sorted!

My RWA Interview (or, I'm famous!)

I'm not sure how I managed it, but I forgot to mention that I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Sandie Hudson from Romance Writers of Australia (an incredible organisation!) earlier this week. About my New Voices experience, of course :)

You can read the interview here: Author Spotlight: Leah Ashton.

By the way - if you haven't read the Top 10's second chapters yet, you don't have much time - the Top 4 are announced on Monday! Of course, if you like my chapter: Secrets & Speed Dating - I would LOVE you to vote for me :)

(Hey, how subtle was that!)

Second chapter voting has begun!!!

This is terrifying. My second chapter is right here: Secrets & Speed Dating, for anyone to read and comment about. It was scary enough posting chapter one, but this - this is something else.

I'd like to tell you how I was quietly determined to do my best this last week, and methodically worked my way through the chapter. Very calm, very controlled.

Of course, that would be a massive lie. I want this so badly and I got SO frustrated with myself that I couldn't get the chapter right first time.

On the plus side, I learnt I can write a lot when I set my mind to it. Here was my week:

• Monday - submit Chapter Two draft to Team Jessica
• Tuesday - get feedback
• Wednesday - totally misinterpreting feedback, come up with an idea to address the areas of weakness.
• Wednesday night - Team Jessica politely tells me that my idea sucks
• Wednesday-Friday - Write almost totally new chapter, convinced that draft was awful
• Friday - CPs tell me (very nicely) that there are some problems with my new chapter, and ask what happened to that good stuff from the draft?
• Saturday - Take all the good bits of the draft and the new chapter, and create new chapter. Get some excellent feedback from Team Jessica and my amazing CPs.
• Sunday - Make final tweaks and polish polish polish! 

Throughout all of this my incredible CPs kept me going with phone calls and emails (and one very timely calming cup of tea :) ), and my lovely partner even brought me cups of coffee without being asked :) I also managed to squeeze my full time job in somewhere, too.

I would love it if you could read my chapter, and if you like it, it would be super awesome if you voted for me :) To vote you need to register and log in, and you can only vote once.

Ohh - and did you see the very lovely button Lacey Devlin made for me (on the right)? How nice is she?

New Voices - 1 week on

I thought some of you may be interested in my New Voices journey so far.

I'm on Team Jessica - so my mentors are Jessica Hart and Meg Lewis. I feel so incredibly lucky to have these women helping me. Even if I go no further, making it to the Top 10 has been worth it for the experience of working with Jessica and Meg.

After the initial euphoria of receiving my Top 10 email, I received my feedback on my chapter about a day later. As all I had written was the first chapter (the perils of entering something brand new), I then asked lots of questions as I wanted to make sure my h/h conflicts were strong enough, and that my plan for the external plot was on the right track. As it turned out (not surprisingly) both my conflicts and plot needed some tweaking, and I've got no doubt that my story is stronger thanks to Team Jessica brainstorming!

I've finished Chapter Two, but it will need some further revisions following Meg and Jessica's feedback.

So far I've found this past week pretty overwhelming. This opportunity it SO incredibly huge that it is scary to think what I'm throwing away if I screw this chapter up :(

But - I wouldn't swap it for anything in the world :) All I can do is my best, I suppose!

I made the New Voices Top 10!!!!!!!!

I went to bed last night - at 2am (thank you jetlag) a little disappointed that I hadn't received an email, and therefore sure I'd not made it into the next round of New Voices.

And then I wake up this morning to the fabulous subject line: You are through to the New Voices Top Ten!!

I didn't even read the email, just ran to my fiance (who was having a shower) and told him, while shaking :) Then ran back to get the laptop, and read the email to him (hands still shaking).

My mentoring team is Jessica Hart and Meg Lewis. I feel so incredibly fortunate!

Now, I just need to start Chapter Two...

Well done to everyone who entered - so many of you are super talented and I was surprised not to see your names in the Top 10. Please still submit your partials!

I just discovered something mildly terrifying (New Voices related)

Look!

Heidi Rice's blog that says the New Voices top 10 have been chosen

The Top 10 will be announced on Monday. For some reason I had thought the announcement was on Wednesday, not Monday. Argh! It is no longer reassuringly far off.

In other news, I'm home! My holiday is over :( I'm currently in a strange exhausted-but-can't-sleep limbo,  after arriving home this afternoon from London. That's 13 hours London -> Singapore than a stop over, then 5 hours Singapore -> Perth. It's about as pleasant as it sounds. In London it is currently 3pm, so I guess I'm experiencing my first bout of jet lag - lucky me :)

New Voices entries are, however, brilliant to read when your brain is too mushy to comprehend an actual novel - a chapter is perfect. So, back to reading (and eventually, I hope, sleeping) I go...

Lacey Devlin rocks!

The lovely Lacey has put me on her New Voices Wall of Fame! I feel very special :) I've also added her you-beaut New Voices badge to my blog -->

If you haven't already, go read Lacey's first chapter - it has some fantastic, snappy dialogue and a seriously page turning ending!

New Voices - entered!

Well, I did it! My entry is up: Secrets & Speed Dating.

I would love to hear what you think!

Writing at the beach in Croatia

Thank goodness that's done :) It was written over the past week, while I've been in Vela Luka, Croatia. However, it turned out to be a little frustrating to write. My first version, I liked. After writing the first 2000 words, I happily emailed it to my amazing crit partners, confident that I was on the right track. I kept on typing, and by the time I heard back from them the next day, I had a good 3500 words down. For me - Captain Slow Writer - this was super sonic speed!

Sadly, what I'd written was crap. This took me a few hours to digest, as I'd been told in the nicest possible way :) But basically I'd lost my voice, it just wasn't "me".

Where had I gone wrong? I think the problem was I was trying to write what I thought Mills & Boon wanted. I think I figured that with the changes from Sweet/Romance to Cherish and Riva, that I was more a Cherish writer, so I need something a bit gentler than my normal style. Clearly, this was a stupid mistake - I'm not capable of this style, and my chapter featured a neurotic, unlikeable heroine and a plot that was going nowhere.

So, I started again. I was able to salvage much of the first scene, but the rest - thrown out. Almost 3000 words! And only three days to go before the deadline!

But, I managed it. I know it isn't perfect, but it's me. It is in my voice. So if it crashes and burns in the competition, and least I've got that.

At the beach with my own hero :)

Due to lack of consistent Internet (I need to buy it in 24 hour blocks) I've been lurking a bit on the New Voices web site, but there are some very impressive entries there. Including the work of some of my favourite bloggers! Here are their excellent entries:

• Rachael Johns
• Jackie Ashenden
• Janette Radevski
• Joanne Pibworth
• Lorraine Wilson
• Joanne Dannon (okay, not a blogger, but a friend :) )

Sorry if I've missed anyone!

Also, I must mention how sad I was to lose all of my (possibly overused) italics when I pasted in my entry. Poor italics :)

Real life romance (and New Voices)

Sorry to have been so absent - I will write a long, detailed, many-pictured blog post soon that covers my fabulous time at the Romance Writers of Australia conference.

But I DO have a good excuse. On arriving home from Sydney I immediately launched into last minute panicking (and packing) prior to leaving on a one month holiday to the UK and Croatia. Getting everything sorted at work, and the house half-decent for our house sitter, took up a stupid amount of time.

And then... on the Saturday afternoon before we left (our flight was 1am Sunday), my boyfriend and I took our dogs down to the park for a walk. We read the paper, ate fish and chips, and the dogs ran around in circles. Then I look up - and my boyfriend is on his knee, with the most incredible ring (box upside down). I cried for about a minute, so he had to ask me again... but of course I said yes.

It was at the park where we first met 3.5 years ago. He'd intended to ask me in Croatia, but thought that I'd want to be able to share it with my family and friends before we left. Plus he wanted the dogs to be there.

So I'm feeling incredibly happy, and incredibly lucky.

The last week has been a bit of a blur, can't quite believe I've been in London more than a week! But my visit to London turned out to be very timely, as I was able to attend one of the New Voices workshops. It was this afternoon in East Sheen, which is absolutely nowhere near where I'm staying with my sisters. So I was super brave and battled the tube strikes to take a combination of buses and the overland train to actually get to the library - and even be on time!

The editors gave a great overview of how to write for Mills & Boon, and I even got to take home some books - yay! It was great motivation to sit down and get my new chapter together and enter New Voices, which I'll do over the next week or so.

I've been very absent from blogland the past 10 days, I can't wait to read everyone's entries - it looks like competition will be fierce!!