Mother of two competes in global competition
Shannon LeClair – Times Reporter
Laura-Jeanne Lehr who also goes by L.J, will find out next week if she will continue to the second round of the Next Top Spiritual Author.
The final day to send in votes is May 3. Lehr recently found out there are over 2,800 authors from 16 countries in the competition. The support each author is giving to the other contestants amazes Lehr.
“Everybody is kind of working together which is unique,” said Lehr.
She said just last week, a few members sent out an email saying, ‘why don’t we all send an email to friends and family saying these are my three favourites please vote for them.’
“Everyone is thinking bigger too, even if some people don’t move on, they are saying how can we still work as a group to get noticed by publishers.”
Members of the contest are also collaborating on creating a blog radio. Only 250 contestants will make it to the next round. The second round is writing a proposal and then the group will be down to 25, at which point they send in the first two chapters. After that, it goes to the final five. People in the top group will be given publishing contracts.
“The nice thing about the way they set up this contest and the reason there are four parts, is because they are the steps you would need, to actually get ready to go to a publisher,” said Lehr.
Every week the organizers of the contest list who is in the top 100 for that week, and for two out of the three weeks Lehr was in it.
“It’s really exciting to think that editors and publishers are going to be looking at my work.”
Hampton Roads Publishing is one of the few publishing houses that still read through all of the manuscripts sent in.
Lehr writes anywhere from an hour up to five hours a day, and always carries a notebook to jot down ideas as they come to her. This is the first year of the competition and it has far surpassed the expectation of everyone involved.
“I didn’t anticipate how it would push me just so much further along. The support has been amazing. It’s really nice to see everyone else working together. It’s just been a really fun experience and really exciting,” said Lehr.
She did not always know she wanted to be a writer, but said looking back through some school writing, she thinks she always had a few books in her, just never knew which form they would take.
Her book is about relationships and making people aware that a healthy relationship is individual work. Lehr is a life coach and mediator, and through her work began to notice common patterns and mistakes people are making in their own relationships.
“I was noticing every time I would coach someone in a relationship, they would say, ‘I have never thought of that, or that’s really different.’ I started to think, maybe I am thinking differently than others, and maybe there’s something that I really have to contribute to.”
She said one of the most common mistakes she has noticed is that people are looking to their partner to fulfill something inside of them.
“If something goes wrong we are really quick to think it’s their fault, or they need to do something to make us feel better, or we need to do something to make them feel better,” said Lehr.
When she started writing the book she was single. She is now in a relationship, and has noticed when she applies some of her theories, things go really well, and when she doesn’t, then she is making some of the mistakes she is coaching other people through.
Her sister Leanne Van der Burgt has been very supportive and helpful with marketing ideas. Lehr also plans to set up a webpage but wants to wait until she is sure of the title of her book. Until then, she is still blogging.
Even if a she doesn’t make it in the top five she will still follow the deadlines along with the contest, so she will still be ready to send it off.
“I know the book will definitely be published, I just don’t know when or how”
To follow along and see how Lehr is doing or to cast a vote for her go to www.nexttopauthor.com