It’s been a busy and eventful two weeks on the writing front. About three weeks ago, a colleague recommended a writing competition called Ink and Insights and after checking it out, I decided to enter.
The contest asks for up to 10,000 words, which for me is the first seven chapters of my urban fantasy. This also meant editing those words again and fine tuning every sentence until I was satisfied.
Happily, manuscripts don’t have to be finished for this contest. All entries will receive feedback from judges who are interested in my genre (the organizers match you up with judges, based on genre). The top three placements will earn a trip to the agents round but that won’t be decided for some time. Yes, there’s prize money, but what excites me is that I’ll receive detailed feedback about my plot, setting, characters, and so forth from four knowledge people, for a reasonable fee of $40. This is the early-bird fee for entries submitted by March 31st. My critique group’s been extremely helpful, but they are not fantasy writers, so it’ll be interesting to see what type of feedback I’ll receive. The contest is open until the end of May, and the fee is only another $5, I think, so if you’re interested in submitting your work, check out the link HERE.
The other exciting thing is that I’ve completed the suggested changes by beta readers and my editor for my Casey Holland mystery novella, so I’ve now hired a jacket designer who’s already sent me seven designs to choose from. I worked with this fellow a few years ago and liked his work. Although I also liked my previous designer, they’ve increased their prices and their timeline is usually about six months. So, things are moving ahead. I’ll keep you posted!
Meanwhile, Happy Easter, or Ramadan, or Passover, however you celebrate. Or just enjoy the long weekend 😊
Mystery Deb 
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