In this day and age of science and logic, we mere mortals tend to make most of our choices based on what we know in our heads and not what we feel in our hearts. We weigh the options according to the facts, the odds and the projected results and then we select the most rational path.

But what about gut instinct? That nagging little voice whispering in your ear? Have you ever heard it? Surely, you have. The one that urges you to GO FOR IT even when the odds don’t seem to be stacked in your favor.

After my experience with the Writing with the Stars contest, I’ll never ignore MY gut instinct again.

It was about this same time last summer that one of my online RWA chapter buddies posted an interesting link.  The post detailed the requirements for entering RT Book Reviews and Kensington Brava’s Writing with the Stars contest. I read it through and then moved on. It sounded like a great opportunity but I really doubted that my paranormal romance would stand a chance. I’ve always had a bit of a self-esteem problem. Rough childhood. I won’t bore you with the details. My husband has spent the better part of our thirty-two years of marriage building up my confidence. I still tend to irk him at times when I don’t believe in myself. Anyway, I closed the web page and moved on to whatever it was that I was doing at the time.

And then it started.

A stubborn voice “nudged” me. “Enter the contest, Maeve. What have you got to lose?” I told the voice to shut up. I had other stuff I needed to do.

The voice continued harassing me for several days even going so far as to manifest its presence in my dreams. I couldn’t escape the hardheaded nuisance that sounded a great deal like a whining child. Sheesh! I finally decided that the only way to shut the instinct up was to enter the contest. And so I did. I emailed my entry on the very last day that Kensington was accepting manuscripts.

The rest, as they say, is history and also a dream come true. I heard that sassy little voice doing the “I told you so” song when they announced my name at RT in Los Angeles.

You know what? The 2012 Writing with the Stars contest is now taking entries. Heard any voices lately?  ;-)