‘When one door closes, another one opens.’

‘Go for it; you don’t know where it will lead.’

‘Follow your passion; the rest will attend to itself.’

There are so many quotes about following dreams, taking opportunities, putting yourself forward for things, that I could fill a blog with them, making them wallpaper for my laptop, workspace, fridge… wherever I need motivation. But there are so many of them because they are true. How can you ever reach a destination, a goal, if you do not start the journey? And likewise, if you do not stop moving, you remain on the journey to that goal, that dream, no matter how far away it feels.

That was my motivation when reading the entries of people who had written stories for our competition. They had started a journey, following their passion; could we keep it going?

They were talented people, after all. But what paths were open to them for traveling?

Once, I had been a competition writer. It was fun, a good way to practise my writing skills, and baring my soul (my work) for criticism on a small scale felt like dipping my toe in the literary pond, preparing for publishing my masterpiece. I placed in some competitions, not in others. The highs gave me confidence; the lows didn’t overly deject me. I learnt. I improved. I moved onward.

But paths ended on deadline day.

And when I stopped, losing faith in my abilities after the influx of rejection letters for a novel I believed in, the break for my mental health lasted twenty years – and did nothing for my mental health as I was no longer working towards the one thing I wanted.

Reflecting on that experience got me thinking: what would have helped in that situation, instead of quitting?

Step forward an idea for a novella. To give talented people the opportunity to continue their writing journey. To offer a challenge that will engage imaginations and stretch ability. To develop bullet points for writing CVs to agents/publishers. To get deserving names into people’s consciousness.

The idea:

Invite twenty(ish) authors, who wrote great short stories in our competition, to create a chapter for a novella. One writer starts it, then passes the baton to the next author, who reads the previous work and continues the story until the project is complete. One chapter each. At least one thousand words. Polished – a minimum of two drafts, but probably more. In a week!

A challenge.

A goal.

An opportunity.

The invites were emailed, and twenty-three writers saw it that way.

Introducing: Michael Speight, Davey Freedman, Liam Randles, Emily Dillistone, Emily Coplestone, Kate Hillmen Adams, Eugene O’Toole, Anthony Mackarel, Jennifer Vennall, Michael Luntley, Joseph Bewick, Lilly Tiller, Andrew Foster, Virginia Matthews, Adam Stallwood, Anne Meale, Maria Valentine, Geoff Copstick, Linda Stevens, Maggie Bartlett, Edoardo Cesarino, Beth Roberts, and Tracy Aspel.

Who knows where the road will lead? But they remain moving, which can only have a positive outcome.

We’ll publish the novella.

We’ll include biographies and promote them.

We’ll provide a path for reaching their goal.

All from entering a competition. Because ‘Follow your passion; the rest will attend to itself.’

If you’re toying with the idea of entering a writing competition, or something else passion-related, do it. You know what paths are open to you if you don’t, but if you do… who knows where that will take you?