Post RWA and a Daphne Update

So, this happened:

Early pages of my Historical romance, HIDDEN DEPTHS, earned third place in the unpublished Daphne contest this year. YAY!! Cue the confetti cannon :) I'm pretty thrilled that a story I started fiddling around with just to get my writing brain engaged once again, while trying to get past Hashimoto's brain (and I've got the oversized face to prove it), won a prize. Any prize. As you can see, I got a spiffy certificate, a voucher for a Coffin class offered through the Kiss of Death chapter and even a check that will buy me more than a few cups of coffee. On top of all that, the competition in the Historical category was serious. I mean, the talented lady who won the category has either been in the finals or won a bunch of other contests, so...Good on me for even making a showing. Progress my friends, progress.

The rest of the conference was also pretty awesome and once I've had a chance to decompress, I'll come out and share some of the highlights.

GOOD NEWS and a month of Sundays

Hello friends!

I know, it's been too long since I came out to update you on any happenings and for that I apologize. I hope you can forgive me.

I've been writing pretty steadily thanks to a spate of good health and the Panera weekend writing club of Shannyn, Julie, and Kelly. It's nice to have people who keep each other on track and provide a sounding board for plot ideas and issues.

 My historical spinoff that started as a novella with a character who was only mentioned in my time slip series now has a full novel devoted to him and his POC lady love and their happily ever after. Who knew? Does anyone else have characters that go in directions that you never planned? Only me? Okay. Well, this wastrel second son decides that a wealthy and titled young lady who doesn't want to get married, just like he doesn't, is the perfect partner for his scheme to evade getting the banns read. Of course, things don't go as planned. Actually, there are full on shenanigans and did I mention that the charming, beautiful aristocratic lady was a woman of color? Yep. And to be clear, there were PLENTY of non-white people in Regency England because they were there long before then. Anyway, you didn't come out for a history lesson. Feel free to enjoy the photo of Queen Charlotte Sofia, reputed to be mixed-raced. I named another character in this book Sofia as an homage to her majesty.

The good news I wanted to share is that early pages of this tale have landed me in the Historical finalist category for the Kiss of Death RWA chapter's Daphne Du Maurier contest for Unpublished writers. So, yay for me and yay for Ned and Cecile! Wish us luck :-)

RWA Kiss of Death/Daphne

Happy Friday

Things have been BUSY, my friends, and to make up for neglecting you here for so long, I thought I'd share Grace Potter's (usually with the Nocturnals) song STARS which serves multiple purposes in its beauty--pleasure, inspiration and reflection:


Early pages of Book One made the finalists list of the RWA's Kiss of Death chapter Daphne Du Maurier Contest for Unpublished writers and landed Honorable Mention accolades for me. Was I sad at not winning? Of course! Those who know me can see my competitive streak, plastered across my forehead like a tattoo ;-). Remember when I wrote this? Also, the winner of my category took the overall winner's prize, so things must have been tight down in paranormal town. BUT, I'm thrilled to have made it to the last five standing and console myself with thoughts of being just a little bit closer to my goals. Fingers crossed that if I continue to work hard, things will work out fine, as the song says. Happy Friday!

A Bridesmaid Once Again

Remember back before Spring Fling 2010 when Chuck Sambuchino, the editor of the Guide to Literary Agents blog, allowed me to post this little opinion piece on writing contests? Well, it appears that I'm in the wedding party again.

I'm a finalist in the First Coast Romance Writers Beacon contest for unpublished writers and couldn't be happier. Now I understand those folks who say things like, it's awesome to just be nominated. Right now, I agree wholeheartedly. Right now, I'm on cloud nine just to be among the last three standing. But check back with me in a few weeks to see if there might be tears if I end up in the ugly pink dress instead of the white Dior satin.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Guest writing and the Friday wrapup

Chuck Sambuchino, editor of the wonderful and informative Guide to Literary Agents blog, graciously agreed to post a link to Spring Fling for June and me. He also offered us the chance to post a guest blog which sent us both into fits of panic, outbreaks of hives and a general anxiety attack. We can barely concentrate on writing the resident blog posts let alone guest ones. However, I won the roll of the dice and did my best to not embarrass me/us. Here's the link to my post on writing contests. Take a look and see if you agree with my assessment.

We're really pleased to have Sarah Wendell of the extremely informative, wildly popular and generally hilarious Smart Bitches Trash Books website, as one of our many talented workshop presenters. She'll be talking about online marketing and if anyone knows from the internets, it is Sarah. She blogged earlier today about how Chicago's going to rue the day if the weather falls into the "inclement" category when she makes the Spring Fling scene. Folks, things aren't looking good for the City of Big Shoulders because in the almost twenty years I've lived here, April is not the month where the heavens break open and decide to play nice. I got married in July long ago and the California wedding guests were buying overpriced sweatshirts on Michigan Avenue because they were cold. Sweatshirts!! In July!! All I'm saying is that the weather gets kind of crazy and very atypical sometimes around these here parts. So, I might need to start an extra special basket of awesome for the out of town presenters to counteract the probability of it being messed up during conference time.

I can hardly believe that Spring Fling is almost here but I'm truly excited for it to arrive.

Show and Tell

This post isn't about that perennial grade school favorite, but about the literary feature of 'show don't tell.'  I signed up for an online class focused on that very subject and I'm really excited about it.  

Even though I've been writing since I could actually write-- songs for my kitty, poems for the dog or the odd boyfriend here and there, short stories during the college years and the journal that died a swift and sudden death the day I found my husband reading it while nursing a beer, I've never focused much on the craft except when forced by a classroom setting.  I just wrote what I wanted to without much thought about the form.  Style ruled my inner thoughts and the way they came spilling out onto paper, not the structure.   I've covered my shortcomings in that area in an earlier post, so won't reminisce or restate my newfound dependence upon the Elements of Style and Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

As  mentioned before, I entered some of my writing into two contests.  I didn't final in either, but I think the feedback was really valuable and most of the comments were complimentary and encouraging.  Not so much so for judge number three, who should be glad of her anonymity lest she find a tall woman with a stocking cap over her face and a coke bottle in her hand waiting outside for her.  Judge number three gave some good advice liberally spliced with a heaping helping of things judges should be trained not to say.  Oh well.  I'm off topic as they say.   This post isn't about murderous rages--I'm saving that for Tuesday, hehe. 

The feedback from one of the judges who was more stringent in her scoring but still seemed to like my story very much,was that it needed to show a bit more than I was telling.  So, in my effort to take the advice of the writer Kelly Gay, I'm listening to all criticism, even the harsh undeserved kind, as something that pulled the reader out of the story and therefore a point to be examined.

So, off to Show and Tell land.  Let's hope that at the end, I'll have a manuscript that draws the reader even deeper into my twisted fantasy land.

Off to Flushing Meadows

The USOpen started today, so it will be tennis madness around these parts, elbowing all the other resident manias for space.  I haven't been able to attend the open for a few years now, but I hold out hope every year that I might be able to attend once again.  Instead, I'll be parked in front of the USA network following my usual regime of screaming, cheering, frowning and biting my nails while my favorites contest  the last Grand Slam of the season.

Between matches, I'll be polishing my latest nemesis, also known as 'the synopsis,' so that I make my manuscript a compelling read.  For the contest that had the earlier submission date, I'm just glad that the synopsis is not judged because I'm sure that the judges might feel the need to suggest a prescription to help improve my writing.  But, my lovely friend Marilyn, rode to my rescue and sent a wonderful guide sheet that outlines getting all of the principal characters GMC and resolution down.  Fingers crossed that I can encapsulate my complicated plot and make it flow.

Wanted to swap: My undying gratitude and/or cookies for a decent Synopsis

I'm combing the first fifty pages of my manuscript, making it bright and shiny with the intention of entering said pages into two writing contests.  Life was peachy and I was happy with all of the revisions--the revised opening paragraph and beefed up middle all made me smile.   I checked, once again, the contest rules to make sure that I'd formatted correctly and removed anything else that might bounce me from contention before a single word is read by a judge.  That's when I saw it.

The word 'optional' was GONE from in front of the word, 'snynopsis.'  I've been working most of the summer to come up with the pithy, snappy, witty and complete blurb, hook or whatever you want to call it.  So you would think that the freedom to spill my guts for up to five pages about my story would make me happy, practically giddy.  But no, such is not the case.  I'm terrified because I fear that I'll sound like a mental patient when describing my torturous tale.  I have some time before the submission deadline and hopefully with a bit more hard work and some praline ice cream, I can get the dreaded synopsis put to bed.

Wish me luck and cake.