Meet Guy Baldwin - SWF22 First 5 Pages Romance Genre Winner
Guy Baldwin, romance genre winner in the SWF22 First Five Pages Prize.
If you’d like to connect with Guy or follow and support his work then here are the platforms on which you can find him:
Website/Blog: sweatshopinthesky.substack.com
Personal Instagram at: @guyjoshuabaldwin
Novel’s Instagram at: @sweatshopinthesky
Personal Twitter at: @GuyJBaldwin
Novel’s Twitter: @sweatshopinsky
Guy Baldwin is the winner of the SWF2022 Romance Genre prize. The competition for our 5th anniversary prize genre categories and for the grand prize was fierce, and Guy came out on top of the Romance genre with the first five pages of his novel Sweatshop in the Sky, a humorous but romance driven take on work as a lawyer in a big law firm, which practically makes it legal tender.
We wanted to check in with Guy and get a status update on his novel, but also to hear how winning the SWF22 Romance Genre prize has impacted him and his work.
Since Guy was able to journey to Stockholm to take part in the Stockholm Writers Festival 5th Anniversary celebrations, and the festival itself, we were also very interested to get the perspective of someone that traveled to Stockholm to not only receive the prize and recognition, but also to get his impressions of the Stockholm Writers Festival itself.
And just a reminder, the Stockholm Writers Festival 2023 First 5 Pages Prize opened on January 2nd, 2023 and will close for submissions on Sunday, March 12th, 2023. Be sure to enter with your first five pages and secure your chance to win $1,000 USD, a weekend stay in an elegant Stockholm hotel, a full festival pass, and an agent pitch session!
First of all, congratulations on your win! What an absolute thrill it was for us to see the sheer number of quality entries for the SWF22 First 5 Pages Prize, and then for us to finally get the results of the top five genre winners, and the grand prize winner was incredibly exciting. We’re really interested to find out how it impacted you, and your writing. So, let’s start there: How did you feel after submitting your first five pages and officially entering into the contest?
I felt quite nervous, though I was cautiously hopeful enough to start Googling Stockholm travel recommendations.
During the judging period, were you feeling confident, or were you plagued with doubts?
I was definitely not confident! I know there are a lot of very talented writers out there. And I was excited just to be longlisted, and then shortlisted.
Guy Baldwin and Catherine Pettersson at the Stockholm Writers Festival Award Ceremony
What went through your mind once the long and shortlists were announced, and your entry was included?
It was really such a thrill to receive that kind of recognition. Writing can be a solitary business, and though the manuscript was reviewed positively in a professional appraisal and by some friends who read it, to make the longlist – let alone the shortlist – of a prestigious writing competition is an incredibly encouraging thing.
Finally, when the prize winners were announced, how did you learn the news, and what was your initial reaction?
I received the email from the festival just as I was stepping out of Madame Butterfly at the Royal Opera House in London. It was a very exciting moment (and lifted my mood a great deal from the pathos of the opera). I couldn’t be more grateful to the Stockholm Writers Festival for the recognition.
How did you come up with the idea for the piece you submitted?
Sweatshop in the Sky is a humorous take on working as a lawyer at a big law firm, and tackles the many absurdities of big law firm life. I came up with the idea while working in legal practice myself a number of years ago. I entered the first five pages in the romance category because the story is driven by a romance that is very important to the main character’s arc.
What inspires you in your writing?
Even though the novel is entirely fictional, with a made-up main character who is almost an archetype of lawyer apathy, in writing I do draw inspiration from my own observations and experiences.
This competition is tough, because it comes down to grabbing the judges attention within those first five pages, and that means top-notch writing and editing - can you talk about your editing and revision process?
Guy Baldwin receiving the SWF2022 Romance Genre Prize from SWF founder and president, Catherine Pettersson
I’m a big believer in the importance of editing, and after I had a first draft of the novel, I spent a lot of time re-reading it and thinking about how it worked both line by line and as a complete work. Thankfully I also had some friends who read it and gave me valuable feedback.
How has winning this prize and the recognition from the Stockholm Writers Festival influenced your writing in the following months?
Currently, I am working to get the novel published, and I think the prize has been a real asset as I have been receiving requests for the manuscript after querying. Things are still in motion and we will have to see how things pan out over the next few months in terms of getting it published. Beyond this particular novel, the prize has encouraged me to continue pursuing my writing aspirations, and I’m preparing to resume work on a fantasy novel as the next project.
We’re curious about the status of your novel now, as part of the prize, you were able to meet with an agent for a pitch session - how did the agent pitch meeting go?
The pitch meeting went well I think, and I got a lot of useful feedback from the agent!
You were able to attend the festival itself in 2022 - what were your main take-aways and impressions of the festival?
I was really impressed with all aspects of the festival. I learned an enormous amount about the craft of writing and the publishing process by attending the various sessions, and meeting so many other talented writers was also a great experience. I have to admit I drank a bit too much coffee though (free coffee is a dangerous thing for me).
Will you be returning to the festival in the future?
I hope so! It was great. It also doesn’t hurt that Stockholm (which I hadn’t been to before) is a truly lovely city.
Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring writers on entering the SWF First 5 Pages Prize?
Write concisely!