EARLIER this year, I received an email that informed me that I was shortlisted for the Lindsay Literary Scholarship to the Winchester Writers Festival. At that point, I knew better than to pop the champagne. I had been longlisted and shortlisted before for various mentorships and opportunities. Yet, something had always fallen short. So when, only a few weeks later, another email from Becky at Lindsay Literary popped up on my phone, I expected another ‘it’s not quite right” or “it’s just not there yet” kind of response. Instead, it was an email congratulating me on winning the scholarship. That’s not to say that my writing had improved much between the previous rejections and my being accepted for this scholarship. However, for the first time, the conversation didn’t stop at “It’s not quite there yet.” This time, I was given an opportunity: It’s not quite there yet, but with Becky’s feedback and the lessons to be learned at the Winchester Writers Festival, it can get there. [frame] [/frame] I’d never had the opportunity to attend writing workshops or classes, had nobody teaching me about storytelling techniques or publishing. The only literary conventions I’d been able to attend were book fairs or book festivals, designed for an audience of readers, not for writers. Being allowed to attend a festival for writers, I was not going to let anything pass me by. I signed up for a wide spectrum of events: Workshops specific to my genre, as well as talks and classes that were neither directly related …
