Entering the Golden Heart contest is a great goal. For some, it may be the only goal, and that’s just fine with me; as other Ruby Slippered Sisters have mentioned, pursuing your own vision for your career is vitally important. But regardless of whether you’re using it to speed up your writing or to try for an illustrious credit for your query letters, know why you’re doing it – and don’t let it distract you from your longer-term plans.

For me, the decision to enter the Golden Heart was simple. I had a manuscript that was ready (or at least ready enough to feel confident in those all-important first three chapters), and while I’ve never been a contest junkie, the allure of finaling in a national contest was too strong to deny.

At first, I was off to a great start. I built a timeline around the GH deadline, using it as a piece of my broader career plans.  As soon as the manuscript was in its expensive next-day-air FedEx box (yes, I procrastinate), I started working on my query letter and my second manuscript. I stayed focused throughout the winter, writing, querying, researching, and writing some more.

And then, on March 25, 2009, I learned that I had finaled in the Golden Heart. That day was truly blissful. My immediate dreams had come true, and the future lay before me like an gleaming, unspoiled field of opportunity, where agents would throw themselves out of the lilies to offer representation, where manuscripts would flow unbounded through my fingers to the bookstore – where best-sellers lists and Oprah appearances and the first Nobel Prize in Literature for romance all awaited me.

I think writers have a special tendency to get caught up in daydreams. If we didn’t dream, we wouldn’t have stories to tell. But the point of all of this is that getting caught up in the dream can distract from the fact that this is also a business. And my mistake this summer was that I fell victim to the Curse of the Golden Heart.

I know, Gentle Reader, that you are thinking I sound like an ungrateful wench for thinking that this is a curse. I don’t really think it’s a curse; without a doubt, it opened doors, introduced me to a fabulous group of fellow writers, and helped me to sign with my dream agent. But I let myself get distracted in the months leading up to Nationals – I fiddled with my website, designed and redesigned my business cards, explained the publishing industry endlessly to my non-publishing friends – in other words, I did everything but focus on my writing.

For me at least, Nationals made the situation worse. Yes, like nearly everyone, I left feeling inspired, incredibly blessed to be part of such a strong community, and eager to tell my stories. But I also felt a lot of pressure. I ultimately won the Golden Heart for Regency, which turned into a lovely round of congratulations – followed by a conversation with virtually everyone I have ever met that went something along the lines of:

Well-meaning friend: “So you won! That means you’ll definitely sell, right?”

Hapless writer’s external comment: “It helps to open doors, but it’s by no means definite.”

Hapless writer’s internal monologue: “If I have to have one more conversation about how I’m going to be the next Danielle Steel when I don’t even read Danielle Steel and have never sold anything and may never sell anything and could very well be a failure and currently feel like a fraud, I’m going to cry.”

Admittedly, I may be a little hard on myself. I’m working on that. But my biggest piece of advice to anyone entering contests, or joining a critique group, or even sharing her manuscript with her best friend, is to not get so hung up on the reaction, either positive or negative, that it stalls your writing. While the last six months have been painful in terms of my written output, I’m glad that I’ve learned this lesson – better to develop strategies for staying focused now, rather than failing to meet an editor’s deadline down the road because I can’t rein in my inner monologue long enough to put words on the page.

I’m happy to say that, six months after finaling in the Golden Heart and two months after winning at Nationals, I’m getting back into my writing groove. I’m excited about my next project, writing every day, and working with my agent to develop a long-term plan. And if I enter the Golden Heart again, I will know what to do – final or not, win or not, the day after I get the news, I won’t obsess over it. I’ll get back to work.

I would love to hear your stories of how you stay focused through good or bad – or where you’ve fallen off the wagon. One lucky commenter will get a choice of a lovely Ruby Slippered Sisterhood mug OR a first-chapter manuscript critique!