Well, Round One of the New Voices contest is now closed. They recevied over a thousand entries! Wow. I feel sorry for the poor judges who have to wade through all those chapters.

Having read a good few myself, I have to say how impressed I am by the quality of entrants, especially (and I am probably a bit biased here) from the ROSA group of which I am a proud member.

ROSA are the Romance Writers of South Africa and despite being situated on the southern-most tip of Africa, are a busy group of professional women and talented writers. To view the ROSA entrants, click here.

While we all wait with baited breath to find out who the lucky twenty entrants are that get through to the next round, I’m trying to focus on implementing the changes to Chapter 1 from the excellent feedback I received from Mills and Boon author and New Voices mentor, Heidi Rice.

In a nutshell, although she loved my ‘voice’ (yippee!) there were a few valid suggestions for improving the chapter and to think about going forward. Firstly, Heidi pointed out a few pace lags in the chapter which could be addressed. She suggested removing some information that the audience didn’t need to know at this point and layering it in later in the book.

She also commented on the internal conflict and made a few suggestions on how to show how this influences the character’s reactions and the situation, thereby driving the plot forward. I must admit, a light bulb went on in my brain when reading her constructive criticism, and now I’m excited to be implementing the changes in my chapter.Criticism is only constructive if it’s put to good use, right?

As an aspiring writer you cannot underestimate the power of useful feedback from authors or editors who’ve been there before. Thanks Heidi for your input, and thanks to all the other commentators who loved my chapter and rated me!

If you’d like to read my entry, please click on the New Voices icon below.

Good luck to all who entered!