OK. So maybe it isn't the final countdown until the "start" of New Voices 2011, but the Facebook page would get me thinking that way. I entered last year and made my way into the Final Four. (My book is still under consideration by M&B.) I'm not sure exactly when I started writing that first page, but I'm thinking it wasn't until Sept. I'm a procrastinator of epic ability.
I did say in an FB post on the NV page that I didn't have much a plan when I started that first chapter. Looking back, I realize that I did have some vague plan, but honestly, it was vague like Rose Nylund (of Golden Girls fame) vague. I knew I wanted to write about therapeutic horseback riding from there I came up with characters and I went to work.
So, my advice to those entering still holds. Don't get your chapter 2 and pivotal moment too polished because you will have a tough time making the changes that will need to be made.
