Cutting to the Chase
I’m aware you’re not supposed to get your hopes up. But, it feels like a time to celebrate! I submitted my novel, A Collection of Wanderers, to the New2theScene Summer Novel Competition 2026 and have got into the final 100! To quote the email I got from Richard Howitt:
Your novel has made it through another round of judging, and we’re delighted to let you know that you’re one of just 100 entries still in contention.
With an exceptionally high number of submissions this year, reaching the Final 100 is a real achievement. The standard has been remarkably strong, making the judges’ decisions far from straightforward. You’ve given us plenty of reason to keep turning the pages, and now the journey continues!
This post is going to be a short one because I’ve got another chapter to write for my next project. I wanted to make this post if only to announce that this happened. Have it set in stone. If I don’t get further, at least I got this far. To any of you submitting to competitions, make sure you draft a lot beforehand. Ironing things out really helps, even if you think your initial idea is great. There’s also the problem of dealing with rejection. Keeping at it is one thing, but you also need to take time and refocus. Get hobbies and use those to cope with the stress. You shouldn’t feel the need to work all the time. Write every day, sure, but break days are a thing for a reason. I know we all take the mick out of George R. R. Martin for not finishing the book, but that’s less him taking a break and more him being tired of the work. Presumably. I don’t like that he didn’t finish his work. At least Miura passed away and left his best friend to continue it (RIP, he made a manga I’m still influenced by to this day).
If you want more info on the people I submitted to, click here.
- Thanks for reading! If you like this, please check out my published work:
- The Spider and the Moths, on Impspired.
- A Model Dwarf, Wolf in Sheep’s Therapy, on Impspired.
- Cramped Quarters, on New Contexts 4.
- Endure, Reclaim, in New Contexts 5.
- Lost and Found, in New Contexts 7.
- The Cleaner’s Burden, in Apocalypse Now?.
- The Last Man Standing on the Ash Heap, on Impspired.
- Fragile, in New Contexts 8.
- The Cleaner’s Clean Slate, in New Contexts 9.
- Or, you could have a look at my last blog post, which you can find here.
- Also, I have a Fiverr page, check it out if you need proofreading or copywriting work done. Link here.