I did it!

I submitted my entry into Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award!

Last night at midnight as my sister sat by answering all my silly questions I uploaded my novel as an official entrant into the contest.

I have since edited the submitted manuscript twice, which is ok because I am able to make changes to my entry until 5,000 entrants are received. But I think the story is on a good place, and I've fixed anything that was lingering in my mind, so now we just wait and see! The round two entrants are announced on February 24th, so that is the next big date lurking in my mind. (Other than February 11th when Matt and Jess get married, yay!)

So now, while I'm waiting, what to do, what to do?? I am going to begin working on a book proposal, which includes a query, pitch, an outline, and what seems like 100 other little things. So I will begin to fill my free time with that so that I have a complete "proposal" to send to literary agents to see if they are willing to represent me.

Once I get the proposal done I will start sending it out to agents, regardless of what the status of the Amazon contest is.

I feel good and productive and so ready for things to start happening! Hopefully things will be looking up soon!

Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award

I am biting the bullet and entering a contest. Not that I have ever thought there was anything wrong with entering contests, it is just kind of intimidating to think about entering one for myself.

So this week I am beginning the process of making sure that I have all my ducks in a row for contest submission and hoping for some good feedback.

As it is called the "Breakthrough" novel award I want to make it clear that I am not entering this because I think I have written a very deep novel that will change the world, etc. But I do think it has some merit, and I am hoping to make it to the quarterfinals where the book where will be reviewed by Publisher's Weekly.

So, what am I doing to get ready?

I am reviewing the manuscript to edit out mistakes just to make sure it is as polished as it can be. This is a harder task than you might think. I had to print out the book because when I was editing it on the computer I found that I wanted to change more than just errors. It kind of became more of a full-on overhaul rather than just editing for mistakes.

I have to figure out my 3,000-5,000 word excerpt. It says it should be the first words, which makes sense, so I am trying to determine how far into the book the excerpt will go.

The "pitch," which I have shared with you here before. It is a 300 word cover letter/summary of the book.

So, those are the 3 easy steps to contest submission. It's a little bit of a daunting task to think about getting that much done, ready, and polished before submitting the work to professionals to review. But I am doing it.

Wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes!