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 :)

Interesting writing contest news...

And not about New Voices :)

Prior to the announcement of the New Voices Top 10, I entered Secrets & Speed Dating in the Romance Writers of Australia "High 5" competition. In this contest, you enter your first 5 pages of a novel aimed at one of the Mills & Boon category lines.

This week, I found out that my wonderful friend, Rachael Johns and the lovely Jackie Ashenden both finalled in the High 5! Awesome! Big congratulations ladies! This is a fantastic achievement as there were more than 70 entries.

But, as you may have guessed, I didn't final. I wasn't even close! 25th, to be exact :)

One of my judges adored my story (scored 100%) while the other two hated it. One even suggested it may be better suited to another publisher :)

So, this has confirmed something for me that I kind of already knew. And that is:

• Everyone who finals in a writing contest thoroughly deserves it. Their writing must be of a very high standard and really draw in readers in order to shine amongst so many entries.
• But - not finalling does not mean your entry is not also fantastic. Judging is such a subjective thing. Some judges mark harder than others. Some judges will think your heroine is neurotic and unlikeable :) :)

It is always a little kick in the guts when you don't do as well as you'd like in a writing contest. But just because you don't final in one contest, doesn't mean you won't do well in another. If you don't believe me, please refer to Secrets & Speed Dating :)

Anyway - I must get back to writing madly - my deadline is fast approaching!

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?