Competition or Anthology?

Since April 2019, I have been an extremely grateful member of the Lake Macquarie branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (LMFAW).

After making the decision to commit to writing, I attended my first writers’ festival in Newcastle. There I heard a panel from LMFAW and decided I needed to join. Thank you to TBC for presenting such a persuasive session.

Later that year, they announced their first anthology and I offered my story, Don’t Let Them See. At one of the critique sessions, someone told met that the story would be very suited to the Odyssey House Competition and the dilemma started. My loyalty was to the LMFAW, but I had never entered a writing competition before.

I decided that I would remain loyal to LMFAW and write another story for the competition. So, in December 2019 I came third in my first ever competition and in January 2020 I had my first story published in an anthology, Beneath the Surface. I was hooked. In August 2020, I self-published my first full-length book, Salvation Through the Gift of Help. I had started this book over 20 years before, but was always too scared to finish it.

This year, 2022, I am co-convenor with Olga of the LMFAW’s Alice Sinclair Memorial Writing Competition and one of the editors for its anthology.

From being embarrassed to show my stories, to relishing in the feedback, I thank you LMFAW for the skills, confidence and friendship you have all given me.

Who is your writing family?

What writing choices have you made?