Exciting news this week. I received a call from the contest coordinator at Pikes Peak Writers,  letting me know that I placed second in the young adult category of their writing contest. It's funny that I almost didn't even enter. Being the self-conscious writer most of us are, I had serious doubts about my entry, which was a brand new project. Only the encouragement of my critique group got me to enter. That's another reason everyone should be in a critique group!

When the conference rolls around in late April, I'll have the opportunity to sit down with one of three agents: Kristin Nelson, Weronika Janczuk, and Taylor Martindale. I'll be using the next two months to polish my current manuscript in case I need to send some pages to an agent.

So the moral of the story is to join a critique group, and overcome your hesitancy to enter a writing contest. You never know what will happen!

I'd love to hear some of your experiences with writing contests!