It’s all about perseverance, right? About hope and resilience in the expectation of rejection. (Which reminds me to submit a few short stories again…) About keeping at it, not giving up, and finding someone who likes the writing. The pages, the synopsis, the style.

In the first quarter of 2025, I send out my short stories, a few poems AND submitted my YA manuscript to a few novel competitions:

1. The Edinburgh YA Novel Award,
2. The Stockholm Writers Festival’s First 5 Pages Prize,
3. The I Am In Print Writing Competition 2025 and, a bit later,
4. The Bath Novel Award.

After submitting, it’s all about waiting. Crossing fingers. Manifesting.
And then came the NOPE! for Edi’s YA Novel Award longlist. (Though one of my dear writer friends got in and I am STOKED for her.)
And then…completely as a surprise because I had totally forgotten about the date, the I Am In Print competition’s shortlist. I’m so so SOOO exited that I made it!

So far, so good. The results for Bath and Stockholm are still pending, but no matter what happens with those, being on this shortlist is such a confidence boost.