"In 2013, I entered my YA contemporary
novel, SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW, in The
Writer’s Voice.
I made it through the raffle and into the contest. Monica chose me for her team (yay!), and
helped me rework my query letter and the first 250 words of my manuscript. It
was a great experience, a supportive environment, and ultimately resulted in a
few agents expressing their interest.
After sending it out to a handful of agents,
and having those agents pass on it, I knew I’d need to do some revisions. I
also knew that I needed to take a break from the book in order to gain some
clarity. I was sure I’d get back to it
at some point, I just needed a bit of space.
That space turned into three years.
All through that time, I kept writing. I
worked on several other novels. I wrote a short story that I published on Young Adult Review
Network (YARN). SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW never left me, I still loved
the characters and the story. So when I came across Swoon Reads, a young adult and new adult
romance publisher, in December 2015, I felt like I might have found the perfect
place for it.
Swoon Reads gives readers the opportunity
to rate and comment on manuscripts, helping to select the books that will be
published. I uploaded my novel and I started to get great feedback from the
community of writers and readers on the site. At the very least, I figured I’d get
some advice on how to revise. And I did.
But, in the end, I also got more than that. Because SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO
KNOW was recently selected
for publication!
The encouragement I received through The
Writers Voice contest definitely helped strengthen my belief that I could do
this, that if I kept at it I would eventually get there. So thank you to Monica
and all the coaches who organize this contest!"
Find Jennifer on Twitter and Facebook:
@Honeybourn
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferhoneybourn
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferhoneybourn
Congratulations on your upcoming publication, Jennifer. It's always encouraging to hear success stories from those who have stuck with it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Jennifer!
ReplyDelete