Participating in Publishable

My rural romance was long-listed for the 2021 Publishable manuscript development program with the Queensland Writers Centre.​ This story has been with me for a long time so I'm glad it received this recognition and feedback. As part of the long-list, I was provided with a consult on how to improve my work and participated in three online workshops.

Here's just a little post about my experience with the Publishable program. 

The Beginning

I decided to enter Publishable because I'm addicted to feedback and competitions. I submitted two manuscripts to the program and would have submitted a third, but alas, there was too much else to do. My Own Worst Enemy is the new title for my Strawberry Book. This was my fresher piece and still needs work, but I thought I'd give it a go. But Home Among the Palm Trees has been with me for almost ten years now, so I'm thrilled that the readers of the program have considered this manuscript 'Publishable'.

The Program

I received some lovely feedback about this story during my online consultation, with a few suggestions about what I can tweak to enhance the story. This was very positive and I got to work.

Our first workshop was about finding a work life balance with Natasha Lester. It was an interesting informative workshop about goal setting, motivation, and making time to write. It was fun to participate in, but considering this is what I do for a living, I've got it down. I write every day the moment my afternoon walk is complete, this gives me 1-2 hours depending on the day to sit down and work with my book until dinner is ready. Then it's TV time! It's important as a writer to establish a routine and get the book done. If you don't make a plan, it doesn't happen, which is what I tell people when I'm encouraging them to exercise.

The second workshop was about finding an editor and what editors can do for your work. This was similar to the third workshop provided by Ally Blake about working with an editor. Both were interesting and helpful sessions to set us all up for what is to come in our writing careers.

After that, I tweaked the manuscript and resubmitted the first fifty pages.

The Result

Considering Home Among the Palm Trees has already been rejected by the major publishers who currently print rural romance, I didn't see where else I could go with this program, so wasn't surprised when I wasn't shortlisted. However, the Queensland Writers Centre did offer me a Writers Surgery, a wonderful program that can be very helpful for writers to develop their novel and work out where to go next.

Overall, I enjoyed this experience. I am still working on Home Among the Palm Trees ​and have a solid plan in place.