2018 Achievements

2018 has been my most successful year of my writing career so far. As a board member of the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre, facilitator of the Popular Fiction Writers Group, and entering many competitions, I have been very busy while also working on my three manuscripts. It has been a very overwhelming year with plenty of ups and downs, but I have learned plenty from competition feedback and writing workshops. Again, I feel like I've grown as an author this year and cannot wait to see what 2019 will bring me.

This blog post will share some of my writing achievements and memorable moments of 2018.

Stuart's White Knight, my rural romantic suspense, had a lot of work done on it this year after submissions and competition feedback. I completed two full edits on the novel, which were edits 12 and 13 (I honestly don't think I could self-edit this novel again) and entered it into various competitions, including HarperCollins' new competition The Banjo.

Stuart's White Knight's biggest achievement this year was placing 5th in Romance Writers of Australia's Ripping Start Contest. It also received great feedback in Romance Writers of New Zealand's Pacific Hearts Contest. 

Rivenhall Manor, my contemporary romantic fiction novel set in the beautiful English countryside, was one of my main projects for 2018 as I prepped it for the Romantic Novelist's Association's New Writers Scheme. After critique from my friends at the TWPC, I added more depth and conflict to one of the couple's storyline and did a lot of tweeking before I sent it into the scheme.

The feedback I received through the New Writers Scheme was very valuable and positive. I cannot wait to get back into this story as I feel it is ready for submission.

​I think Rivenhall Manor will be one of my main focuses again for 2019.

2018 was Almost a Princess's year as Romance Writers of Australia's Emerald Award winner. The manuscript also went through eight 'first chapter (or so)' contests in America. With this feedback, I have worked a lot on the beginning of this novel while also conducting four full edits as the year has progressed.

Almost a Princess will be my main focus for submissions and maybe some more competitions in 2019.

After throwing away many ideas for the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre's 'Infection Anthology' earlier in the year, I finally settled on this one - Malady takes the Castle. This short story is the only new piece I have written in 2018 as I've focused on continued editing of my three main manuscripts.

Malady Takes the Castle will be included in the TWPC's 2019 anthology 'Infection'. It is a prequel to Almost a Princess ... by about eight hundred years. So not really a prequel at all, but set in my same fictional country. 

To fit the theme, the story is about influenza in the year 1291.

Scribblerz has been one of the highlights of my year. In January I assisted in running a workshop on narrative writing for children, where the participants produced a short story to be printed in the TWPC's first Scribblerz Anthology.

In July, we hosted our second workshop where we taught children about microfiction and printed their 50-word stories on cushion covers.

I love helping out at these workshops, assisting children in building their writing skills, and publishing their anthology was a big learning curve and great fun. One thing I learned during this process is that I definitely don't want to self-publish. 

I love attending workshops, meeting new people, and working on improving my writing craft.

In May, I attended a short story clinic with Angela Slatter, where my short 'Little Gem' story was read and critiqued. I learned a lot at this workshop and it was a great experience, especially as I am definitely not a short story writer.

I also attended the Romance Writers of Australia Conference, including the writing workshop with Rachel Bailey, which was one of the most informative workshops of the year. And thanks to the Townsville City Council and Libraries, I got to attend a workshop about romance novels presented by Christine Wells.

As facilitator of the Popular Fiction Writers Group, I conducted 10 workshops throughout 2018. I really enjoy this role in Townsville's writing community and am really looking forward to continuing in 2019 with exciting new topics.

This year, we discussed many aspects of genre writing. We looked at tropes and how to mix them up, how to create credible and flawed characters, and even dived into authentic settings. I hosted one workshop on 'How to Write a Novel', which was probably the most popular workshop of the year, and also hosted a meeting about 'Sex in Fiction', which was lots of fun.

2019's workshops can be found here.

This year, I volunteered to organise my first writing retreat with the TWPC after suggesting the haunted Imperial Hotel in the historic outback mining town of Ravenswood.

After promoting the event, setting up accommodation, and putting together workshops, we took the two hour drive west of Townsville to Ravenswood. There, I joined fellow local writers for two nights in the haunted pub where we toured the cemetery, told ghost stories, and then got down to business with critiques, workshops, and writing time.

I had the pleasure of receiving kind critique, reading some amazing work, and having fun with plenty of my friends and new acquaintances. 

When the line up for the Burdekin Readers and Writers Festival was announced at the end of 2017, I was super excited. Enough that I booked my accommodation in Ayr that evening. When I later had the chance to sign up as a moderator, I was even more excited.

This was perhaps the best event of my year (except for the RWA conference, of course). At the festival, an hour's drive south of Townsville, I had the pleasure of interviewing best-selling author Fiona McCallum, who is an amazing writer and person. I also enjoyed the talks by Natasha Lester, Tess Woods, and Michael Robotham.

Needless to say, I cannot wait for the 2020 Festival!

So that's a wrap for 2018. Here are some of the events I'm looking forward to in 2019:

- Rainforest Writing Retreat on the Gold Coast Hinterland in June with a writing masterclass presented by Anna Campbell.
- Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Melbourne - flights are booked and so is half of my accommodation.
- Launch of the TWPC's Infection Anthology

My writing goals for 2019 are:
- Actually submit manuscripts. I've been a little slack in this area lately. But then again, I've been putting a lot of work into them.
- Submit, again, to the RNA's New Writer's Scheme. This is a very valuable opportunity.
- I've got the plan, the idea, and many scenes, so hopefully I will start on the sequel to Almost a Princess. 

2019 is going to be a big year and I cannot wait.

Until then!

​Rachel