The Mslexia Women's Novel Competition deadline is 23 September,

How’s your novel entry coming along? The Mslexia Women's Novel Competition deadline is 23 September, so there’s still time to polish your draft…

So easy to say – but we do know how difficult that can be. That’s why we’ve commissioned award-winning novelist, and creative writing lecturer at the University of Manchester, MJ Hyland to devise some free writing workshops to help you. The first workshop, 'Take a closer look', is designed to help you consider your prose, style and authorial sensibility, and is especially useful if you're working on a second draft. Two more workshops will be available online in the lead up to the deadline.

The competition first prize is £5,000, for novels of at least 50,000 words in any genre for adults, written by previously unpublished women novelists. The high-profile judging panel is made up this year of arts journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Lang, award-winning novelist, journalist and short story writer Val McDermid and literary agent at Aitken Alexander Associates Charlotte Robertson.

As well as the substantial monetary prize, this year we have teamed up with The Literary Consultancy, who will provide free professional feedback for the three finalists – and the 12 shortlisted novelists will be invited to meet literary agents and editors at a special networking event in London. Being placed in the competition really does give your work a head start with agents and publishers. Can you afford to miss this opportunity?

Visit our website (www.mslexia.co.uk/novelcompetition) for all the information you need to submit your entry online, and more writing workshops and articles to help you edit and develop your work.