Well, I did not final in the Golden Heart. *Sighs* Not that I’m surprised, mind you. When I found out how the entries are judged, I pretty much knew I was doomed. Apparently, judges are asked to read only the synopsis and the first twenty-five pages of the manuscript.
My synopsis sucked.
I’m not being overly critical here, either. My synopses tend to reek pretty bad, especially considering I’ve written all of two, and my Golden Heart entry was the first of those two. Note to self: Practice Synopsis Writing. (I’ll approach it like I did my Dialogue Practices, which I still need to find and post. Another note to self: Stop being such an idiot. 
)
But I’d paid my entrance fee, and I figured, why not? It’ll be a learning experience. You can’t learn to swim without getting your feet wet, right? It’s the same way I’ve worked on my queries. I know this is a huge no-no in the writing world, but I sent out a query for a manuscript that I figured didn’t have much of a chance of being sold since it was a novella. But I wasn’t sure what I was doing, and I figured the best way to figure it out would be to jump on in. That’s how I got the rejection thing over and done. I figured out pretty quick that those little “no thanks” don’t burn so much as irritate since they mean more research and more tweaking. Patience, grasshopper. Patience is the way to publication.
Well, patience, perserverance, and a willingness to hone your craft.
But I digress.
So my first Golden Heart entry is over and done with, and all that means is I now have the opportunity to hone and tweak and research some more. I hate writing a synopsis, which means I’m going to make myself write a helluva lot more. My writing can show no sign of weakness! I will become a lean, mean writing machine! Hi-ya! Adverb chop and character kung-fu kick!
All strangeness and bad marital arts references aside, will I enter the Golden Hearts next year? You betchya. Will I expect to final then? Eh–probably not, but who knows? Besides, it’s the journey that counts, right? I haven’t planned my pit stops. GH might be one, it might not. That doesn’t mean I can’t use it as a springboard to practice technique and execution.
My biggest regret with the results is that I don’t know any of the finalists personally. I wanted an excuse to cheer my head off at the award ceremony. *Martyred Sigh* I suppose I’ll just have to stick with being an overexuberant fan… Though I do have an excuse now to go book shopping. I should read the RITA finalists for research, right? Right? Because I’m not looking for an excuse to buy more books. No, not me…
