Lynn Slaughter Novelist
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I’m so delighted to welcome Pam Meyer to my blog today! Pam is not only a gifted writer but is extraordinarily supportive of other authors in our online Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime. If there’s a place in heaven for talented authors who are also really generous people, Pam will definitely be there! Below is Pam’s guest essay about writing contests:

 Writing Contests as Islands and Silver Linings

I waited two years and over eighty agent queries before one landed. I kissed the ground on that one. And now I’m waiting for an offer of a book deal. Each query, each editor submission, is like tucking a note into a bottle and tossing it out to sea. There’s hope in that. My hope remains afloat.

 

Take a breath. Look to the horizon. Strive toward something else.

For me, that something was unpublished writing competitions. When I felt adrift, these contests became my silver linings. Each one offered a goal, a deadline, and a different kind of hope—more immediate, more tangible than the elusive book deal. Many offered feedback, which meant someone out there would read the words I’d labored over and loved, and I’d finally get an answer to the question that haunts every writer: Did my words move you?

I entered my first writing contest in 2021. Devoured each word of the feedback. Got better through the a-ha moments that feedback provided. Learned how to listen to my subconscious when something they wrote to me about my story or my writing of it rang true. Fixing it in light of their feedback felt difficult at times, nigh impossible. Yet, I soon found myself setting out towards that next goal—improving my work before moving on to another contest.

I learned. I grew. I entered more contests.

Then, one day in early 2024, I got a phone call from someone on the Daphne du Maurier Award Committee. My manuscript was a finalist. My bottle had landed on an island. Compared to my sea-level drifting, this felt like I’d reached a mountaintop. And my, was that mountain air exhilarating. Judges had read my first pages and had liked what they read enough to bump it up to the next round. That confidence boost? Unforgettable. I was now a writer who could say: I’m an award finalist. I added it to my bio. Shared it on my social media. Then I set my sights on the next island.

The Daphne Award announcement came, and I danced for days. I couldn’t sleep, I was so excited. I was a Daphne du Maurier Award winner. For a moment, I forgot about the bottle bobbing out at sea. That’s what mountaintops do to you. Thank you, RWA’s Kiss of Death Chapter, for that island, for that mountaintop. I won a Daphne award. I got at least that far, reached that silver lining.

And the wins kept coming:

The Chesapeake Romance Writers Rudy Award

Runner-up in Book Pipeline’s 2024 Unpublished Mystery/Thriller Contest

And the biggest thrill of all— learning at MWA-NY’s Revels Holiday Party that I won the Leon Burstein Award. Judges read my entire manuscript and liked it. I even gave a speech. Soar-oar-ring.

Weeks before the close of 2024, I received a phone call from RWA’s president congratulating me for making it to the final round of the 2024 Golden Heart Awards. Another invaluable contest, the Golden Heart judges had also read the full manuscript. I eagerly awaited the virtual awards ceremony. All the finalists waited in a separate ‘room’ as each category’s award winner was announced. I wonder, upon reflection, if you can break your fingers from crossing them too hard. If it had not been for that beloved committee member pushing the button that put me up on the stage in the virtual ‘big room’ to make my thank-you speech, I wouldn’t have been sure I’d actually heard my manuscript’s name as the winner. I was truly awed by this silver lining’s light.

Here’s the good news for anyone feeling adrift:

In 2024, the sun I longed to bask in was still behind the clouds, but there were these silver linings along the way. Silver linings that helped me grow, stay afloat, and paddle forward. They reminded me, like Thomas Edison, to try just one more time. It might be corny, but I’m thinking: If you’re looking for hope, look to the horizon. Writing contests might be your next island. Your next mountaintop. Your silver lining.

And here’s another: the honor of being invited by Lynn Slaughter to share my story on her blog. Lynn, a fellow Sister in Crime and Claymore Award finalist, knows the value of these milestones. Thank you, Lynn, for lifting up another writer.

Bio:

Pamela Ruth Meyer writes historical mysteries interwoven with love stories. As a high-school forensic science teacher, she discovered inventive ways to solve crimes, inspiring her to write adventurous tales about a crime-fighting duo like no other. Pamela is a member of Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime, and Romance Writers of America (RWA).

In 2024, her manuscript, DEATH IN MINIATURE, won the MWA-NY Leon Burstein Award, RWA’s Golden Heart Award (Love Across Genres), the Daphne du Maurier Unpublished Romantic Suspense Award, the Rudy Award for unpublished romantic suspense, and was Runner-Up for Book Pipeline’s Unpublished Award (mystery/thriller).

Pamela is represented by AKA Literary Management’s Terrie Wolf.

Pam’s website and social media links:

Website: https://pamelaruthmeyer.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pamelaruthmeyer
Instagram: www.instagram.com/pamelaruthmeyer

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pamelaruthmeyer.bsky.social