Next week I’ll be announcing the launch date for my latest book, Publication Guaranteed (well, almost!). Here’s an extract from the beginning of the chapter on writing competitions:

Is it a dream of yours to win a writing competition? To have your writing truly recognised? To know your story was the best? As a winner of several writing competitions, I know first-hand how special writing competitions are. Doing well in a competition changes how you think about your writing. It gives it authority, whether you’re shortlisted or a winner. It’s something to put at the top of your writing CV and it can lead to other work. Succeeding in competitions made me realise I could write and if my writing was good enough to win such well-known competitions, it was good enough to send out to editors. 

Another attraction of writing competitions is they’re great fun to enter. Many…