One of the silly things I keep fighting lately is technology. Ironic, huh. I'm a software engineer! For real! They pay me like money and stuff! Except, not to administer websites.
So, I tried to be smart and set up a giveaway. I found a snippet of my book, set up a post on my website, scheduled the post....and....I forgot to allow users to actually comment on it. Oops. Well, technically, any registered user could post a comment, but since I'm the only registered user and I don't think the login page was set to allow new registered users, that was kind of useless.
But! I think I'm all fixed. Er, my site is. For now :) Want to win an Amazon Gift card? Click over here and leave a comment. That's it. Your comment can be "enter me in the contest."
Teaser and a $10 Amazon giftcard giveaway
(Maybe I should just switch it to a nice static set of html pages and a link to Blogger. I'm more comfortable over here. But, you know, having my name in the domain is kind of cool, right?)
Showing posts with label Contests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contests. Show all posts
Monday, January 16, 2012
Friday, March 25, 2011
Congratulations to all the Golden Heart and Rita finalists!
Especially to Pat Rice, from my home chapter of MORWA for her nomination for The Wicked Wyckerly.
It is also cool to see that not just one but two sci fi romances are up for the GH in paranormal. Maybe it's because I pay more attention, now that I have a completed one that I'm shopping, but I am hearing more and more buzz about sci fi romances the last year or so. Maybe aliens, or at least starship captains, are the next vampires. No, I didn't submit my aliens to the GH this year, so there was no competition.
For myself, it's back to writing. And editing. And submitting. And yes, I did end up baking a cake this morning to help calm my nerves...
It is also cool to see that not just one but two sci fi romances are up for the GH in paranormal. Maybe it's because I pay more attention, now that I have a completed one that I'm shopping, but I am hearing more and more buzz about sci fi romances the last year or so. Maybe aliens, or at least starship captains, are the next vampires. No, I didn't submit my aliens to the GH this year, so there was no competition.
For myself, it's back to writing. And editing. And submitting. And yes, I did end up baking a cake this morning to help calm my nerves...
#RitaGH
Today's the day. Are you nervous? I totally am.
I don't think I have much chance of getting the call. I'd love to, but all the various contest feedback on my entry was so mixed last year, that I'm not holding my breath. (And trying hard not to hyperventilate either).
I do, however, have high hopes for a couple of dear friends and crit partners. Two of them are out of town or I'd suggest a little Happy Hour tonight to drown our cheers & sorrows.
Silly, silly Kristi. I tell myself that I'm not worried, or interested, and that I'll just wait till 2 and scan the final list looking for names I know. But all morning long I've had my cell phone in my hand or in my pocket.
See, this is why I've mostly sworn off contests for the year. Here I am on spring break with the kids, and I haven't managed to write two words all week. I did a little bit of querying, but that's like scouring an open would with rubbing alcohol and salt. The waiting is a total motivation killer, and the letdown afterwards is almost worse.
I'd love to settle my nerves with chocolate, but I gave it up for Lent. Or wine, but it's not even 9AM and I have two small children in the house. I'd go for a brisk walk, but it's snowing outside. (Yes, snow. Giant softball sized hunks falling from the sky. In late March. Grr). Maybe I should go bake something. And have a cup of tea. I think I have a box of Tazo Calm around here somewhere...
I don't think I have much chance of getting the call. I'd love to, but all the various contest feedback on my entry was so mixed last year, that I'm not holding my breath. (And trying hard not to hyperventilate either).
I do, however, have high hopes for a couple of dear friends and crit partners. Two of them are out of town or I'd suggest a little Happy Hour tonight to drown our cheers & sorrows.
Silly, silly Kristi. I tell myself that I'm not worried, or interested, and that I'll just wait till 2 and scan the final list looking for names I know. But all morning long I've had my cell phone in my hand or in my pocket.
See, this is why I've mostly sworn off contests for the year. Here I am on spring break with the kids, and I haven't managed to write two words all week. I did a little bit of querying, but that's like scouring an open would with rubbing alcohol and salt. The waiting is a total motivation killer, and the letdown afterwards is almost worse.
I'd love to settle my nerves with chocolate, but I gave it up for Lent. Or wine, but it's not even 9AM and I have two small children in the house. I'd go for a brisk walk, but it's snowing outside. (Yes, snow. Giant softball sized hunks falling from the sky. In late March. Grr). Maybe I should go bake something. And have a cup of tea. I think I have a box of Tazo Calm around here somewhere...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
I'm not sure it counts...
Judging contest entries is not quite the same as reading a book. But when I read 6 55-page entries, I start wondering if maybe it does count.
Woo hoo Golden Heart judging is done, and I'm not even right at the deadline. It is interesting to see how the entries lay out. Last year I had a range that I scored from fairly low to fairly high (though none I judged ended up finalling). This year in a different category they were all fairly close together. All good, but none really jumped out at me. I wish this batch of writers luck though. There are a couple that just might find a publisher, and a few more where the writer shows some serious talent but is obviously a bit of a newbie at writing novel-length fiction.
On other RWA-related things, when I entered the scores into the website this morning, I saw the notice about rooms for the 2011 convention being mostly full. I am still on the fence about whether I'm going or not--it is a bad time this year for me as as both the change in month and the change in days make it harder to arrange the vacation time. I keep hoping that I will have a reason that I have to go since the last two years it has been a lot of fun and a good learning opportunity, but I'm not banking on it. And now I'm hoping that if I do decide to go, that I will have somewhere to sleep.
Woo hoo Golden Heart judging is done, and I'm not even right at the deadline. It is interesting to see how the entries lay out. Last year I had a range that I scored from fairly low to fairly high (though none I judged ended up finalling). This year in a different category they were all fairly close together. All good, but none really jumped out at me. I wish this batch of writers luck though. There are a couple that just might find a publisher, and a few more where the writer shows some serious talent but is obviously a bit of a newbie at writing novel-length fiction.
On other RWA-related things, when I entered the scores into the website this morning, I saw the notice about rooms for the 2011 convention being mostly full. I am still on the fence about whether I'm going or not--it is a bad time this year for me as as both the change in month and the change in days make it harder to arrange the vacation time. I keep hoping that I will have a reason that I have to go since the last two years it has been a lot of fun and a good learning opportunity, but I'm not banking on it. And now I'm hoping that if I do decide to go, that I will have somewhere to sleep.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Focus and finish
Some of the buzzwords floating around the day job lately have to do with working efficiently. "Focus and finish" has to do with not getting yourself distracted. Switching between different tasks too often can make you a very unproductive worker. Its true for us as writers, too.
Yes, you heard me. *grumble grumble*. Losing focus and being distracted is not efficient for a writer. And yes, I'm the queen of the distraction.
What all am I distracted with at the moment? Well, there's NaNoWriMo, where I am attempting to write 50,000 words in the middle of my longest work in progress. It's a fantasy romance, possibly an epic fantasy romance. Before my NaNo'ing, I had about 15,000 words. Yesterday I added another 1800. Well, I made a brand new file just for NaNo and it has 1800 words. Yay me. I chose continuing existing work rather than starting something new. Yay me, again.
Today, not so focused. I'm way off track because of cleanup work for our chapter contest. I was helping to coordinate one division and entered two others. And after I got done checking for failed emails and forwarding judge thank-you's, I looked at my scores from the other divisions. Talk about distracting.
I entered Leap with a new beginning, my NaNoWriMo WIP Unbreakable, and my contemporary series. Apparently I made Leap worse with its new start. Joy. Unbreakable was a bit of a heartbreaker--once I sorted the scoregrid (they send it out with anonymous scores so you can see how you rank), I was fourth. Fourth. This, for the record, is the second contest this year where I've been 4th. Not even a finalist, but close enough to really annoy me. I don't have my scores on Helmut and Claire's story, but I'm not quite as interested in that one.
The worst distraction is the fact that I'm signed up to read at our chapter crit group tomorrow night. And I don't have anything ready. I have this lovely beginning to a new contemporary romance all started, and I thought I would write it for NaNo, so I should easily have 10-15 pages by now. I've got 5 if I really stretch the margins and I can't get a handle on the hero. And I've been futzing around for an hour now and managed to write about 50 new words.
So, no NaNo progress tonight, or probably tomorrow either. No NaNo cheating progress either. I'll be lucky to write the basic daily ration on Thursday and Friday, so not counting on catching up. Which means I'm like a week behind by the time week 1 is up. Joy.
And now, back to focusing and finishing something. For now, I've got to choose 15 good pages of some writing (preferably my own) and print.
Yes, you heard me. *grumble grumble*. Losing focus and being distracted is not efficient for a writer. And yes, I'm the queen of the distraction.
What all am I distracted with at the moment? Well, there's NaNoWriMo, where I am attempting to write 50,000 words in the middle of my longest work in progress. It's a fantasy romance, possibly an epic fantasy romance. Before my NaNo'ing, I had about 15,000 words. Yesterday I added another 1800. Well, I made a brand new file just for NaNo and it has 1800 words. Yay me. I chose continuing existing work rather than starting something new. Yay me, again.
Today, not so focused. I'm way off track because of cleanup work for our chapter contest. I was helping to coordinate one division and entered two others. And after I got done checking for failed emails and forwarding judge thank-you's, I looked at my scores from the other divisions. Talk about distracting.
I entered Leap with a new beginning, my NaNoWriMo WIP Unbreakable, and my contemporary series. Apparently I made Leap worse with its new start. Joy. Unbreakable was a bit of a heartbreaker--once I sorted the scoregrid (they send it out with anonymous scores so you can see how you rank), I was fourth. Fourth. This, for the record, is the second contest this year where I've been 4th. Not even a finalist, but close enough to really annoy me. I don't have my scores on Helmut and Claire's story, but I'm not quite as interested in that one.
The worst distraction is the fact that I'm signed up to read at our chapter crit group tomorrow night. And I don't have anything ready. I have this lovely beginning to a new contemporary romance all started, and I thought I would write it for NaNo, so I should easily have 10-15 pages by now. I've got 5 if I really stretch the margins and I can't get a handle on the hero. And I've been futzing around for an hour now and managed to write about 50 new words.
So, no NaNo progress tonight, or probably tomorrow either. No NaNo cheating progress either. I'll be lucky to write the basic daily ration on Thursday and Friday, so not counting on catching up. Which means I'm like a week behind by the time week 1 is up. Joy.
And now, back to focusing and finishing something. For now, I've got to choose 15 good pages of some writing (preferably my own) and print.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Perfect Scores
I am helping coordinate our chapter contest and began thinking about contest scores. Specifically, perfect scores. No, I'm not going to give previews about if/how many entries in my category have received them.
But in previous contests, it seems that the winning entries are those that receive the most 100's. And that makes sense, mathematically. But is it fair?
But that made me wonder how many judges actually give perfects. I don't think I ever have. I have given close--scores in the high 90%'s. I gave one high 8 in last year's Golden Heart (it was an 8.8 or an 8.6, and to my disappointment, it didn't final). Are my standards just too high? Or am I not getting the good entries?
I have gotten a few perfect scores. Ironically, I have not finalled in any contest where I got one of those, because it's usually accompanied by a couple in the 60-80 range. And I am proud to say that I got both a 9 and an 8.8 on my Golden Heart entry last year. That netted me top quarter, not finalist. Given that history, I'm not sure I trust those 100%'s.
If you judge writing contests, do you ever give perfect scores? Have you ever received one? Would you rather have a 100 or a finalist spot?
But in previous contests, it seems that the winning entries are those that receive the most 100's. And that makes sense, mathematically. But is it fair?
But that made me wonder how many judges actually give perfects. I don't think I ever have. I have given close--scores in the high 90%'s. I gave one high 8 in last year's Golden Heart (it was an 8.8 or an 8.6, and to my disappointment, it didn't final). Are my standards just too high? Or am I not getting the good entries?
I have gotten a few perfect scores. Ironically, I have not finalled in any contest where I got one of those, because it's usually accompanied by a couple in the 60-80 range. And I am proud to say that I got both a 9 and an 8.8 on my Golden Heart entry last year. That netted me top quarter, not finalist. Given that history, I'm not sure I trust those 100%'s.
If you judge writing contests, do you ever give perfect scores? Have you ever received one? Would you rather have a 100 or a finalist spot?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Contest News!
My category-length contemporary (formerly titled The Appearance of Impropriety...new title TBA at some point) placed 2nd overall in the Passionate Ink's Stroke of Midnight contest! I was thrilled to just final and fully expecting honorable mention.
Very cool.
The Passionate Ink cocktail party was also fun. Two very interesting speakers. And I managed to get a table with a couple of editors that I have (or am planning to) submitted to. Almost accidentally. Almost. Of course, I was too chicken to really say much. But maybe, just maybe, they'll vaguely recall the silent blonde who placed in a contest and sat at their table with a dopey grin on her face all night.
Or maybe not :) But I am proud of myself for at least going that far. Heck I'm proud of myself for going to a party where I knew no one :)
Ok, I'm off to meander through the hotel bar, or possibly over to the Boardwalk in search of someone to talk to (or souvenirs to buy). If nothing else, I ought to catch the fireworks from the Disney Parks tonight.
Very cool.
The Passionate Ink cocktail party was also fun. Two very interesting speakers. And I managed to get a table with a couple of editors that I have (or am planning to) submitted to. Almost accidentally. Almost. Of course, I was too chicken to really say much. But maybe, just maybe, they'll vaguely recall the silent blonde who placed in a contest and sat at their table with a dopey grin on her face all night.
Or maybe not :) But I am proud of myself for at least going that far. Heck I'm proud of myself for going to a party where I knew no one :)
Ok, I'm off to meander through the hotel bar, or possibly over to the Boardwalk in search of someone to talk to (or souvenirs to buy). If nothing else, I ought to catch the fireworks from the Disney Parks tonight.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
A Sci Fi/Romance giveaway
I'm all about reading up in in the genres that I'm writing. Over at Expanding Universe, they're giving away 36 copies of a 3-book e-book collection from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller called The Dragon Variation. If you're interested in Sci Fi Romance, go enter. My name's in the ring. And if I don't win, then their books are still in my TBR list.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Contests, Contests, Contests
I'm all about the contests lately.
In case you haven't noticed my "work in progress" bars on the left side of this blog,
<========== Over there
I have a new entry, currently titled "Unbreakable" for lack of a better name. This one is a fantasy romance, as in dragons and magic and curses and the-world-might-end-if-the-romance-fizzles. Fun, fun, fun.
Don't worry, I'm still loving contemporaries, and the secondary characters from my Sci Fi Romance keep pestering me about *their* books.
My local RWA chapter hosts an in-chapter, 1st page contest every year called the Chocolate Rose. The winners get chocolate and roses, duh. Our published authors judge the first page submissions from unpublished writers.
I wrote the first page of Unbreakable specifically for the contest, and it won Second Place out of (I think) twenty or thirty entries.
No, that wasn't First Place, but I'm still proud. Doubly proud because I submitted it without a single word of feedback from my trusty critique partners. So I got a little recognition all by myself. And I'm feeling a little smug. Actually, most of the reason my crit partners didn't see it first was because two of them were judges in the contest, and I didn't want any bias for or against it.
Now I will probably have to start sharing my new baby, and let them help me improve it. I am cautiously optimistic that I could finish most of the first draft of this one by the end of the year. Wish me luck!
In case you haven't noticed my "work in progress" bars on the left side of this blog,
<========== Over there
I have a new entry, currently titled "Unbreakable" for lack of a better name. This one is a fantasy romance, as in dragons and magic and curses and the-world-might-end-if-the-romance-fizzles. Fun, fun, fun.
Don't worry, I'm still loving contemporaries, and the secondary characters from my Sci Fi Romance keep pestering me about *their* books.
My local RWA chapter hosts an in-chapter, 1st page contest every year called the Chocolate Rose. The winners get chocolate and roses, duh. Our published authors judge the first page submissions from unpublished writers.
I wrote the first page of Unbreakable specifically for the contest, and it won Second Place out of (I think) twenty or thirty entries.
No, that wasn't First Place, but I'm still proud. Doubly proud because I submitted it without a single word of feedback from my trusty critique partners. So I got a little recognition all by myself. And I'm feeling a little smug. Actually, most of the reason my crit partners didn't see it first was because two of them were judges in the contest, and I didn't want any bias for or against it.
Now I will probably have to start sharing my new baby, and let them help me improve it. I am cautiously optimistic that I could finish most of the first draft of this one by the end of the year. Wish me luck!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Guide to Literary Agents - ''Dear Lucky Agent'' Contest: Fantasy and Sci-Fi
I love a free contest, and over at Guide to Literary Agents, they're running a series of them. Up this week is one for Sci Fi/Fantasy, and you can bet that Leap will be a contender. And if you're not writing Sci Fi or Fantasy, still check out the blog. They're always interviewing agents across all genres (not just Romance) and educating us about publishing and writing.
Here's the contest link:
Guide to Literary Agents - ''Dear Lucky Agent'' Contest: Fantasy and Sci-Fi
Here's the contest link:
Guide to Literary Agents - ''Dear Lucky Agent'' Contest: Fantasy and Sci-Fi
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Good News X 2
The Appearance of Impropriety finaled in the Passionate Ink RWA chapter's Stroke of Midnight contest!
I am so excited. My first contest final! And I totally missed the email that was sent out Sunday night about it.
I arrived tonight at Borders for my weekly crit group meeting, and my partners jumped into congratulations. I was sooo confused. And happy for the free wi-fi, so I could read the email for myself.
At first i thought the congratulations were about my Golden Heart scores, which I'd posted to the crit group by email. That's my second piece of good news this week--Leap placed in the top quarter in the paranormal category of the GH. And received one perfect 9!
So, two sets of good news in one week. And now I have a ton of work to do. Luckily, the crit group gals are awesome--they critiqued a sex scene for me tonight. That is way harder to share than regular chapters, but given the final in that particular contest, this is something I want to nail. Ahem, pun totally intended :)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
2010 Golden Heart
Nope, didn't final in the Golden Heart. My goal all along has been to do better than last year's scores. Guess I'll find out in a couple of months whether I achieved that.
Am I disappointed? Sure, some. But not suprised. I get such a mixed bag of feedback on all of the contests I enter--usually one or two judges love it to death, and at least one thinks its utterly crap.
I'm kind of noticing that the contest circuit is a bit of a crap shoot. The feedback from most contests is great, but there's no guarantee that the same manuscript will be judged the same from one judge to the next, or one contest to the next. I've heard of manuscripts that win with perfect scores in one lineup score only middle of the road in the next.
And judging this year shows it too. I scored one Golden Heart manuscript fairly high (high 8's out of 9). It didn't final. Either all the finalists were pretty much perfect (which is possible...they don't release the finalists' scores, so we don't know how many 9's and 8's they actually receive), or taste varies widely among the judges.
So, how did I celebrate my non-remarkable afternoon? With leftover birthday cake and about 400 new words on my current work in progress. That's a pitiful amount for me, but I fully admit that I was having attention trouble :)
Congrats to the finalists!
Am I disappointed? Sure, some. But not suprised. I get such a mixed bag of feedback on all of the contests I enter--usually one or two judges love it to death, and at least one thinks its utterly crap.
I'm kind of noticing that the contest circuit is a bit of a crap shoot. The feedback from most contests is great, but there's no guarantee that the same manuscript will be judged the same from one judge to the next, or one contest to the next. I've heard of manuscripts that win with perfect scores in one lineup score only middle of the road in the next.
And judging this year shows it too. I scored one Golden Heart manuscript fairly high (high 8's out of 9). It didn't final. Either all the finalists were pretty much perfect (which is possible...they don't release the finalists' scores, so we don't know how many 9's and 8's they actually receive), or taste varies widely among the judges.
So, how did I celebrate my non-remarkable afternoon? With leftover birthday cake and about 400 new words on my current work in progress. That's a pitiful amount for me, but I fully admit that I was having attention trouble :)
Congrats to the finalists!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Just Breathe
Over at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog, they're talking about getting the Golden Heart call.
No, I'm not a finalist (I wish). Well, I might be. Though I guess I don't know for sure till next Thursday. I'm really trying to talk myself down so I won't be too disappointed when I don't get the call. And its really killing my writing mojo this week.
Well, that and a trip to Vegas, a mountain of laundry, my birthday, my son's birthday, my mom's birthday, our chapter RWA meeting, and is there some kind of alignment of the planets this week or what? I think I forgot to mention the birthday party my daughter's attending tonight, and her soccer game (right in the middle of RWA), and the enrollment forms due back to her school today (which I totally forgot about until I was already at work), and a little incident at work involving excrement and fans (no, not literally, thank goodness).
I had this trouble last fall around the time of the local chapter contest. See, I got a hint that my MS was scoring really well. In fact, it was given one perfect score. But it was also given one "pretty good" score and one not great at all one, which meant that I didn't final. The whole waiting killed all my motivation to write something. Now, darnit, the Golden Hearts are doing the same thing to me. See, the results could go several ways: lots of judges love it = finalist. Lots of judges hate it = lucky to be in the top half. I'm trying to keep my expectations low. Really really low. Top half. Seriously, that's all I'm aiming for. Top quarter would be a bonus. And I won't even know that until late spring.
It doesn't help that I am honestly rooting for several other writers I know. Including one of my crit partners, who's in the same category. And a chaptermate, whose manuscript finaled in our contest (yes, ahead of mine, and the parts of it I've read were really good). What are the chances all 3 of us would final? About zero. So I'm thinking that this is not going to be my year :)
Besides, aliens and a hot male nurse. I almost can't write that without giggling. And sobbing that I'm incapable of a dreaming up a sexy cowboy vampire or werewolf or something *normal*.
Correction: For some reason I was under the impression that finalists were announced on Sunday the 21st. Nope. The date is Thursday the 25th. Even longer for me to drag my feet and wring my hands. Just what I needed to hear. (Now what on earth is happening on the 21st, because that date is circled in my cerebral calendar but I appear to have lost the accompanying mental sticky note...)
No, I'm not a finalist (I wish). Well, I might be. Though I guess I don't know for sure till next Thursday. I'm really trying to talk myself down so I won't be too disappointed when I don't get the call. And its really killing my writing mojo this week.
Well, that and a trip to Vegas, a mountain of laundry, my birthday, my son's birthday, my mom's birthday, our chapter RWA meeting, and is there some kind of alignment of the planets this week or what? I think I forgot to mention the birthday party my daughter's attending tonight, and her soccer game (right in the middle of RWA), and the enrollment forms due back to her school today (which I totally forgot about until I was already at work), and a little incident at work involving excrement and fans (no, not literally, thank goodness).
I had this trouble last fall around the time of the local chapter contest. See, I got a hint that my MS was scoring really well. In fact, it was given one perfect score. But it was also given one "pretty good" score and one not great at all one, which meant that I didn't final. The whole waiting killed all my motivation to write something. Now, darnit, the Golden Hearts are doing the same thing to me. See, the results could go several ways: lots of judges love it = finalist. Lots of judges hate it = lucky to be in the top half. I'm trying to keep my expectations low. Really really low. Top half. Seriously, that's all I'm aiming for. Top quarter would be a bonus. And I won't even know that until late spring.
It doesn't help that I am honestly rooting for several other writers I know. Including one of my crit partners, who's in the same category. And a chaptermate, whose manuscript finaled in our contest (yes, ahead of mine, and the parts of it I've read were really good). What are the chances all 3 of us would final? About zero. So I'm thinking that this is not going to be my year :)
Besides, aliens and a hot male nurse. I almost can't write that without giggling. And sobbing that I'm incapable of a dreaming up a sexy cowboy vampire or werewolf or something *normal*.
Correction: For some reason I was under the impression that finalists were announced on Sunday the 21st. Nope. The date is Thursday the 25th. Even longer for me to drag my feet and wring my hands. Just what I needed to hear. (Now what on earth is happening on the 21st, because that date is circled in my cerebral calendar but I appear to have lost the accompanying mental sticky note...)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Contest Promo
Ok, so I'm querying Leap, my sci-fi/urban fantasy/paranormal romance (btw, I have a hard time classifying the whole concept of aliens and midwest cornfields...but that's a whole 'nother post). And totally not giving statistics how many queries or what the results are. Just saying, query(ies) have been sent.
Right now, entering a contest on QueryTracker.net for urban fantasy/romance. I believe I qualify (is "rural fantasy" an label option here? hmmmmmm...maybe I'm starting a new subgenre). If you're writing something similar check it out.
Right now, entering a contest on QueryTracker.net for urban fantasy/romance. I believe I qualify (is "rural fantasy" an label option here? hmmmmmm...maybe I'm starting a new subgenre). If you're writing something similar check it out.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Contest Judges
My writing buddy Amanda Berry is talking about contests on her blog. She has some great points about the pros of entering writing contests and what you might get out of them at different points in your writing career (or development of a career).
But what about judging? This is a new one for me. I volunteered to judge the Golden Heart for this year. My entries are scored and I'm not revealing what category I judged, so there's no use attempting to bribe me or anything :) But for me it was an interesting process.
This is actually the first contest I've had a chance to judge. And it was very revealing. I received five entries, each 55 pages long, and re-read the scoring instructions about twenty times. One number. No feedback goes to the entrant. And this is a contest that can help launch careers. Gee, there's no pressure on the judges or anything :)
For each one, I wrote a page full of notes about things that I thought worked for the author and things that I didn't, as well as a score range that I thought to give. That score range was purely a gut reaction, and until I read the last one in my pile, I was afraid I was being way too harsh.
I was picking up entries in a fairly random order and it just happened that I picked up my lowest scoring one first, and the highest last. I have my fingers crossed for that last author--I'd have kept reading all the way to "The End", and I hope to see the entry in the finals. Two of the middle-scoring ones were also really promising, but I could see where they needed work.
And, I could see exactly why I got the scores I did on last years entry (those scores were not particularly great, and I re-wrote most of that work after that..and mostly shoved it under the bed as well). Its amazing how much I've learned in the last year, and I hope some of those middle-of-the-pile authors keep working to improve their craft, because they have some awesome ideas.
As I went back to type my scores into the RWA website, I re-read all of my notes and skimmed bits of the entries to see if I still agreed with my original assesment of scores. Yep, just like the SAT's, I think my first instincts were solid.
Judging is like critiquing. The more you do it, the better your own writing gets. I'm glad I did it. And I'll definitely be doing it again.
But what about judging? This is a new one for me. I volunteered to judge the Golden Heart for this year. My entries are scored and I'm not revealing what category I judged, so there's no use attempting to bribe me or anything :) But for me it was an interesting process.
This is actually the first contest I've had a chance to judge. And it was very revealing. I received five entries, each 55 pages long, and re-read the scoring instructions about twenty times. One number. No feedback goes to the entrant. And this is a contest that can help launch careers. Gee, there's no pressure on the judges or anything :)
For each one, I wrote a page full of notes about things that I thought worked for the author and things that I didn't, as well as a score range that I thought to give. That score range was purely a gut reaction, and until I read the last one in my pile, I was afraid I was being way too harsh.
I was picking up entries in a fairly random order and it just happened that I picked up my lowest scoring one first, and the highest last. I have my fingers crossed for that last author--I'd have kept reading all the way to "The End", and I hope to see the entry in the finals. Two of the middle-scoring ones were also really promising, but I could see where they needed work.
And, I could see exactly why I got the scores I did on last years entry (those scores were not particularly great, and I re-wrote most of that work after that..and mostly shoved it under the bed as well). Its amazing how much I've learned in the last year, and I hope some of those middle-of-the-pile authors keep working to improve their craft, because they have some awesome ideas.
As I went back to type my scores into the RWA website, I re-read all of my notes and skimmed bits of the entries to see if I still agreed with my original assesment of scores. Yep, just like the SAT's, I think my first instincts were solid.
Judging is like critiquing. The more you do it, the better your own writing gets. I'm glad I did it. And I'll definitely be doing it again.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Looking back, looking forward
November was a slow month, writing wise. Well, word count wise. I did write new words, mainly on Leap. But I also did a lot of editing, and hand-wringing. I entered the Golden Heart with Leap, and owe my crit partners about a pound of chocolate for the help in polishing. One in particular (Amanda Berry, soon to be world-famous Silhouette Special Edition author) proof-read my entire entry, catching way more comma mistakes than I ever believe I'm making. Commas are the bane of my existence.
Preparing for, and angst-ing about my GH entry ate up about 3 weeks of my creativity. And then we went on a week-long vacation and I wrote NOTHING. Well, one lonely blog post on my other blog. I did lots of reading though (its research!) and even found enough of a wireless connection to read blogs and tweets a few of the days.
Now, I need to re-gain my momentum. Get back on schedule. Because its December, and there are fewer distractions. Right?
Ok, stop laughing.
So, yesterday I submitted my completed contemporary manuscript to an e-pub. I'm not holding my breath, but at this point, it really can't hurt me to try. If they say no, there are a few other e-pubs I have kicked around (though I'm limited because it was a sweet contemporary, not erotic...) And I keep trying (and failing) to draft a query letter for Leap (though I need to edit pages 51+ in case someone should actually request it...). I have Claire and Helmut waiting (though I suspect they've been keeping busy, seeing as how I left them alone in a hotel room...). And Jessica, from my suspended romantic suspense story, has boarded a grayound bus, and is taking a really really long ride.
And last night I penned about 400 words of another idea that's been brewing for the last two years. Something different. Historical. I haven't tried a historical yet. (Please refrain from rolling your eyes at the sheer number of sub-genres I've tried out so far). I've been dithering for a while whether to write it as a straight historical or a paranormal (magic, not aliens). I think I'm going steampunk. Late Victorian era with gaslights, telegraphs, steamer trains, clockwork. I have some ideas to warp some modern technologies into the technology of the era, and it would gain me that "magic" aspect that the story needs. I think I'll have to research this one, and probably plot it more than I usually do. So, dont' expect a word counter to appear just yet.
Besides, I have Claire and Helmut, plus Noah and Jessica to keep me busy for when I need to just pour out a story.
Here's hoping that I'll get my grove back over Christmas!
Preparing for, and angst-ing about my GH entry ate up about 3 weeks of my creativity. And then we went on a week-long vacation and I wrote NOTHING. Well, one lonely blog post on my other blog. I did lots of reading though (its research!) and even found enough of a wireless connection to read blogs and tweets a few of the days.
Now, I need to re-gain my momentum. Get back on schedule. Because its December, and there are fewer distractions. Right?
Ok, stop laughing.
So, yesterday I submitted my completed contemporary manuscript to an e-pub. I'm not holding my breath, but at this point, it really can't hurt me to try. If they say no, there are a few other e-pubs I have kicked around (though I'm limited because it was a sweet contemporary, not erotic...) And I keep trying (and failing) to draft a query letter for Leap (though I need to edit pages 51+ in case someone should actually request it...). I have Claire and Helmut waiting (though I suspect they've been keeping busy, seeing as how I left them alone in a hotel room...). And Jessica, from my suspended romantic suspense story, has boarded a grayound bus, and is taking a really really long ride.
And last night I penned about 400 words of another idea that's been brewing for the last two years. Something different. Historical. I haven't tried a historical yet. (Please refrain from rolling your eyes at the sheer number of sub-genres I've tried out so far). I've been dithering for a while whether to write it as a straight historical or a paranormal (magic, not aliens). I think I'm going steampunk. Late Victorian era with gaslights, telegraphs, steamer trains, clockwork. I have some ideas to warp some modern technologies into the technology of the era, and it would gain me that "magic" aspect that the story needs. I think I'll have to research this one, and probably plot it more than I usually do. So, dont' expect a word counter to appear just yet.
Besides, I have Claire and Helmut, plus Noah and Jessica to keep me busy for when I need to just pour out a story.
Here's hoping that I'll get my grove back over Christmas!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Patience
One of the things in contest entries that drives me crazy is where a judge deducts points because they have questions about where the plot is going. If picked up a random book off the shelf at the bookstore, and read only the first 25 pages, with no cover picture and no back cover blurb to help out (i.e. no synopsis), I’d probably have questions too. If I didn’t, I’d put the book down. If I know in 25 pages exactly where a story is going and how its going to get there, I’m bored. With my Sci Fi, you really can’t guess on page 1 or 25 where the book will head. I hope that’s a good thing because I had no idea exactly where that would be until I got there, but I know the characters ended up in the right spots. Yes, I’m a pantser :) And some parts of my plot are kind of unexpected (I hope). I like it that way.
These aren’t short stories, folks. You don’t get the whole scoop in 25 pages, and nor should you. In my opinion, the first 25 pages should be starting the action, starting the conflict, starting the plot. Not handing it to you wrapped in dancing snowmen and ribbons. I do think that the suspense judges were kinder about not knowing everything on page 1 (or on page 25).
I also get a lot of questions on romantic conflict. And I think its related to how I’m showing my stories and the same comments about wanting to understand where the book is going. I don’t necessarily delve into every romantic conflict on page one. I’ve been trying to uncover them, layer by layer. For example, in my single title, its clear from page 1 (or maybe 2) that the hero is engaged to someone other than the heroine. But you have to get much further in the book to understand why he’s rather adamant about staying engaged, despite events that keep leading him elsewhere. Nope, I don’t feel like speeding that up. I’d kind of like it to be frustrating to the reader until they get a little aha moment where things really click into place.
Again, don’t think I had any questions about it on my suspense entry—I guess FBI agent vs someone on the run makes the romantic conflict pretty darned clear, even though as the author, I know that there is more to come.
I also had entered Leap in the Daphne last spring, which is a suspense contest that has categories for various flavors of romantic suspense. Leap didn’t final, but I got rather consistent feedback (I forget the actual numbers, but they were all between 80-90% of total points, and I’ve made improvements since then). I wonder if the storytelling I’m doing is leading me down the suspense road. Its definitely something to think about.
Oh yeah, my scores for Leap: 100, 85, 70 Interesting spread, if you ask me...
These aren’t short stories, folks. You don’t get the whole scoop in 25 pages, and nor should you. In my opinion, the first 25 pages should be starting the action, starting the conflict, starting the plot. Not handing it to you wrapped in dancing snowmen and ribbons. I do think that the suspense judges were kinder about not knowing everything on page 1 (or on page 25).
I also get a lot of questions on romantic conflict. And I think its related to how I’m showing my stories and the same comments about wanting to understand where the book is going. I don’t necessarily delve into every romantic conflict on page one. I’ve been trying to uncover them, layer by layer. For example, in my single title, its clear from page 1 (or maybe 2) that the hero is engaged to someone other than the heroine. But you have to get much further in the book to understand why he’s rather adamant about staying engaged, despite events that keep leading him elsewhere. Nope, I don’t feel like speeding that up. I’d kind of like it to be frustrating to the reader until they get a little aha moment where things really click into place.
Again, don’t think I had any questions about it on my suspense entry—I guess FBI agent vs someone on the run makes the romantic conflict pretty darned clear, even though as the author, I know that there is more to come.
I also had entered Leap in the Daphne last spring, which is a suspense contest that has categories for various flavors of romantic suspense. Leap didn’t final, but I got rather consistent feedback (I forget the actual numbers, but they were all between 80-90% of total points, and I’ve made improvements since then). I wonder if the storytelling I’m doing is leading me down the suspense road. Its definitely something to think about.
Oh yeah, my scores for Leap: 100, 85, 70 Interesting spread, if you ask me...
Friday, November 6, 2009
Trickling In
My contest scores have been arriving, one at a time, all week. I mentioned that I entered 4 different manuscripts, right? 4 different categories :) No finals :(
Its been interesting to read the comments and the scores that I've received. I apparently average about 80% across the board. Occaisionally, I get one judge who dearly loves me and/or one who hates me. I think that's just the way it goes. I'm taking a bit of a chance here and posting my scores. These are out of 100. For final rankings, they drop the lowest score and total the other two (the 3rd score would be a tie breaker if needed).
Hold on to the Knight (Single Title): 94 71 64
Accomplice (Suspense): 95 79 80
The Appearance of Impropriety (Category): 54 89 83
I don't have scores for Leap, though I hear (informally) that it recieved one rather high mark, and two that were not so exciting.
The contest coordinator sent along a spreadsheet showing the scores of all the manuscripts, including which judge judged which ones. No names, just code numbers, so you have to read all the scores to guess which code number your own manuscript was.
I find it interesting to compare what my 3 judges scored me vs other manuscripts. On two of these (I think HOTK and Appearance), I had exctly one judge who judged any of the 3 finalists. The other ms was NOT judged by any judge who judged a finaling ms (say that three times fast). That doesn't mean much, but it is interesting. Actually, on Appearance, the one judge who also judged a finalling entry scored me higher (that was my 89).
And, I entered the GH. Rather, I've paid to enter the GH. With Leap. So, I have a couple of weeks to polish and print. Oh yeah, and maybe add an ending :) I'm hoping for the contest feedback on it by sometime this weekend, so I can see if there are any repeat comments on things that need to be improved before I send it off.
Its been interesting to read the comments and the scores that I've received. I apparently average about 80% across the board. Occaisionally, I get one judge who dearly loves me and/or one who hates me. I think that's just the way it goes. I'm taking a bit of a chance here and posting my scores. These are out of 100. For final rankings, they drop the lowest score and total the other two (the 3rd score would be a tie breaker if needed).
Hold on to the Knight (Single Title): 94 71 64
Accomplice (Suspense): 95 79 80
The Appearance of Impropriety (Category): 54 89 83
I don't have scores for Leap, though I hear (informally) that it recieved one rather high mark, and two that were not so exciting.
The contest coordinator sent along a spreadsheet showing the scores of all the manuscripts, including which judge judged which ones. No names, just code numbers, so you have to read all the scores to guess which code number your own manuscript was.
I find it interesting to compare what my 3 judges scored me vs other manuscripts. On two of these (I think HOTK and Appearance), I had exctly one judge who judged any of the 3 finalists. The other ms was NOT judged by any judge who judged a finaling ms (say that three times fast). That doesn't mean much, but it is interesting. Actually, on Appearance, the one judge who also judged a finalling entry scored me higher (that was my 89).
And, I entered the GH. Rather, I've paid to enter the GH. With Leap. So, I have a couple of weeks to polish and print. Oh yeah, and maybe add an ending :) I'm hoping for the contest feedback on it by sometime this weekend, so I can see if there are any repeat comments on things that need to be improved before I send it off.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Debating
I'm still debating whether to enter the Golden Heart. A week ago, I was thinking Yes. With both of my latest creations. Today, the answer is no. To either.
I'm running out of time to decide, and definitely running out of time to finish my category romance if I decide yes. So I've really got to choose.
I had both manuscripts in the local RWA chapter contest, and I did not final with either. And now, I just want to know the scores. Because not finalling might mean I was one point away from sitting in front of an editor. Or it could mean I was forty points away. I have no basis to guess. Especially with the category romance. An intra-chapter 1st page contest yielded scores that range from perfect to less than half of hte possible points. So, yeah. I'm just stuck there.
And I've started re-reading and editing Leap, starting at page 1. I have close to 80k words on it already--it is not too far off of a state I could deem "finished" and mail off to RWA. Much closer than the other story, which sits at 50%. The problem isn't lenght or relative completeness. Is Leap a romance? I keep thinking that it straddles the fence with plain ol' sci fi. Sure, there is a romance between the two main characters, and conflict that keeps them apart until the very end. But as I go back and re-read the pages starting at 26 (i.e. one page after my contest entry), I see the story begin to focus on the rest of hte plot. You know, all the stuff that's happening when Dominic & Myrrah aren't pining for one another.
I just don't know. Part of me asks, "what can I lose?" And the other part answers "$50, postage, paper, ink, and many hours of precious time." And I know already that waiting for contest results doesn't exactly make me a happy person. Nor does the not-hearing my name announced.
So, what am I doing now? Preparing for the Golden Heart? Polishing a manuscript and query letter? Nope, I'm surfing the web and wringing my hands.
I'm running out of time to decide, and definitely running out of time to finish my category romance if I decide yes. So I've really got to choose.
I had both manuscripts in the local RWA chapter contest, and I did not final with either. And now, I just want to know the scores. Because not finalling might mean I was one point away from sitting in front of an editor. Or it could mean I was forty points away. I have no basis to guess. Especially with the category romance. An intra-chapter 1st page contest yielded scores that range from perfect to less than half of hte possible points. So, yeah. I'm just stuck there.
And I've started re-reading and editing Leap, starting at page 1. I have close to 80k words on it already--it is not too far off of a state I could deem "finished" and mail off to RWA. Much closer than the other story, which sits at 50%. The problem isn't lenght or relative completeness. Is Leap a romance? I keep thinking that it straddles the fence with plain ol' sci fi. Sure, there is a romance between the two main characters, and conflict that keeps them apart until the very end. But as I go back and re-read the pages starting at 26 (i.e. one page after my contest entry), I see the story begin to focus on the rest of hte plot. You know, all the stuff that's happening when Dominic & Myrrah aren't pining for one another.
I just don't know. Part of me asks, "what can I lose?" And the other part answers "$50, postage, paper, ink, and many hours of precious time." And I know already that waiting for contest results doesn't exactly make me a happy person. Nor does the not-hearing my name announced.
So, what am I doing now? Preparing for the Golden Heart? Polishing a manuscript and query letter? Nope, I'm surfing the web and wringing my hands.
Friday, August 28, 2009
I have three works in progress. Three. That's probably two more than I ought to have, accordign to every teacher/parent/manager who's ever told me to focus on one task at a time and finish it. But its way fewer than I would probably have if I gave my fingers free rain to listen to my idea-generator-brain.
I have to have a game plan, even though I don't always follow them. Right now, Leap, my sci-fi, is nearing Draft-1-Completion. The happy couple are even in the getaway spaceship, preparing for blast off. And I'm a little stuck as to how to wrap it up. I think I may have to stop here, and do an editing pass from the beginning. That worked for Chivalrous--I wrote 3 endings before I was satisfied with the final plot. My brain does a lot of its writing and plotting subconsciously, and providing time for it to churn out ideas tends to help a lot.
At the same time, I have beginnings to my romantic suspense, Accomplice, and a contemporary category, The Appearance of Impropriety. I think I'll be working on those next, and letting Leap simmer.
I also entered 4 different MS's in a contest--all 3 in progress, plus Chivalrous. In fact, I entered 4 of the 5 categories that the contest offered (the only thing missing was Historical...maybe next year LOL). I'm expecting good feedback on all 4, Hoping for an honorable mention for at least 1, and secretly wishing to final on any one of the 4. Time will tell.
Then, depending on my contest feedback, and general progress on Leap, I have to decide on the Golden Heart. Chivalrous was entered last year, with a less than stellar finish, but the beginning's MUCH better now. But, if it doesn't read well in this contest, it might go back under my proverbial bed. Leap, well, I just don't know. Again, it might depend on how well it scores in the current contest. And the ms has to be complete. Complete enough to save to a disk for a quick verification, anyway--I am fairly certain most entrants (and finalists) continue to revise long after they send in the entry.
Anyone else? Whatcha working on?
I have to have a game plan, even though I don't always follow them. Right now, Leap, my sci-fi, is nearing Draft-1-Completion. The happy couple are even in the getaway spaceship, preparing for blast off. And I'm a little stuck as to how to wrap it up. I think I may have to stop here, and do an editing pass from the beginning. That worked for Chivalrous--I wrote 3 endings before I was satisfied with the final plot. My brain does a lot of its writing and plotting subconsciously, and providing time for it to churn out ideas tends to help a lot.
At the same time, I have beginnings to my romantic suspense, Accomplice, and a contemporary category, The Appearance of Impropriety. I think I'll be working on those next, and letting Leap simmer.
I also entered 4 different MS's in a contest--all 3 in progress, plus Chivalrous. In fact, I entered 4 of the 5 categories that the contest offered (the only thing missing was Historical...maybe next year LOL). I'm expecting good feedback on all 4, Hoping for an honorable mention for at least 1, and secretly wishing to final on any one of the 4. Time will tell.
Then, depending on my contest feedback, and general progress on Leap, I have to decide on the Golden Heart. Chivalrous was entered last year, with a less than stellar finish, but the beginning's MUCH better now. But, if it doesn't read well in this contest, it might go back under my proverbial bed. Leap, well, I just don't know. Again, it might depend on how well it scores in the current contest. And the ms has to be complete. Complete enough to save to a disk for a quick verification, anyway--I am fairly certain most entrants (and finalists) continue to revise long after they send in the entry.
Anyone else? Whatcha working on?
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