In 2009, I attended my first RWA National Conference. Until that point, I had no idea just how important the Golden Heart contest was. Then, on the final night of the conference, everyone got dressed up to watch the awards ceremony. It was truly an eye-opening experience. In that moment, I realized just how prestigious and career-changing a Golden Heart could be. In my heart, I set a goal to work as hard as I could to become a Golden Heart finalist. The scary part is that there’s a whole lot of luck involved. Each entry gets five judges, and...