…goes a long way! I had an incredible one-to-one with Mills and Boon editor, Anna Boatman on Saturday at the Festival of Romance. After my disappointing non-placement in the M&B New Voices contest  I was feeling a little disillutioned and prepared myself for the worst. So you can imagine how overwhelmed I was when she told me she loved my first chapter and requested a partial.

We then launched into a fast discussion (the sessions were only ten minutes a piece) on the synopsis and character conflict. Anna made some excellent suggestions (but then she is the expert) regarding a secondary character and the conflict central to the story. I wish I’d recorded the session now – note to self: record all future sessions with any romance writing expert so as not to forget key points afterwards!

So now it’s time to focus. I plan on using NaNo to complete the novel, as I’ve only written 23,000 words. I know it’s not strictly what Nano is for, but hey, whatever works. Last November I wrote more than I ever have in a month before, which definately says something.

I know it’s only a foot, or half a foot in the door, but I needed some encouragement. I was about to drop this whole writing malarky – so it came at the perfect time.