At the January RWA chapter meeting, we were encouraged to enter contests. So when I received the Romance Writer’s Report (RWA’s publication), I scoured it for upcoming contests. I found eight which looked promising with deadlines ranging from March 1 until May 15. I’ve entered two of them today, a third with a March 1 deadline will have to wait until I’m done with the synopsis. It feels good to be getting it out there, though. These particular contests have written feedback, which is almost always helpful, and the final judging is done by editors and agents. You can’t beat that! If I can make it to the final rounds, my writing will automatically get into the hands of said editors/agents and they HAVE to read my work to judge it. And they have to read it by a certain time, as one published author pointed out. No waiting around for six months while they consider your query. Keep your fingers crossed for me and I’ll keep you guys posted!
Hi everyone. I have been posting this everywhere, so I apologize if you’ve seen it before. A friend of mine sent it and it’s just lovely.
Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.
A lovely Authonomy member, JRTurner, recently started a thread called “Page 99″. This title is based on the belief of Ford Madox Ford: “open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.” So I thought I would test it. This is unedited (copied and pasted direct from the MS), so please forgive any typos you might see:
Selina walked up the steps of Lord and Lady Harrogate’s front steps at promptly three o’clock that afternoon for the Society of Amateur Astronomers meeting. The butler ushered her into the large drawing room, where a large number of members mingled and shared the latest on-dit. It was one reason Selina never appeared at the meetings early; she had no desire to partake in gossip, nor did she enjoy the crowds. She was the sort to come to the meeting, sit toward the back of the room, and limit the number of people she conversed with. Several members labeled her as an elitist for these reasons, but few people understood her discomfort around large groups of people. Lady Harrogate waved to her as she took her seat, waiting for the guest of honor to begin his presentation. Eleanor had mentioned that Baron Gillingham would be presenting his observations while he’d been in the country during the winter months.
She felt a tingle up her spine as Lord Gillingham began speaking. She turned her head slightly and watched as Evan was ushered into the room and his eyes found her. She tilted her head in curiosity, and then looked back toward the front of the room. She could not help the telltale blush that spread along her cheeks, but she could try to ignore him otherwise. Though she was not promised to Andrew, she was beginning to feel guilty every time she reacted to Evan’s presence. On the other hand, she’d resolved to find out more about Mr. MacIntosh, since he was determined to plague her with his company.
He slid into the seat beside her, so close his thigh brushed against her skirts. “Sitting in the aisle, again, my Lady Winter?”
She glanced sideways at him, her blush deepening at his reminder of their kiss. “What do you want, Mr. MacIntosh?” she whispered.
“You.”
“THE END” are probably the sweetest words I can hear right now. Why? Because I just typed them on the last page of Gemini. I am finally done with the first draft. I know they say, “Now comes the hard part.” But I’m so happy to have finished it I can’t even put it into words (and here, I call myself a writer–sheesh!).
Now I have to go do some day-job work before I pick up the kids from daycare. (Um…I’ll just do a *little* happy dance first.)
I wrote this for a query, and I’d love to get some feedback on it:
EVAN is having an eventful month. Eight years after rejecting him to marry for a title, MARTHA propositions him for an affair. He agrees, with revenge on his mind. At a masquerade ball, he pulls her into a sweet embrace, except the woman in his arms is her twin sister, SELINA.
SELINA has always been invisible, even standing next to her sister, and she likes it that way. She is torn between outrage and desire when the man she dreamt of for eight years kisses her with passion. When EVAN realizes his mistake, he also sees a different opportunity for vengeance. He begins to court SELINA, never dreaming he might enjoy her company.
Illegal activities, the son of a duke, and an enraged sister are only the beginning of their obstacles. They must decide if love is worth the risks, to follow a path mapped out by the stars.
Gemini: The Twins is the first book of The Constellation Series, a planned set of 13 books inspired by the zodiac constellations.
I’m just about finished with the first draft of Gemini! I have every intention of being finished by the end of this month. So far, so good.
Also, I have a fan page for the series on Facebook! Check it out! I’ve never had a page before (much like my blog), so any thoughts on improvement are always welcome.
See? I told you it would be a quick update! I hope to have an updated chapter 1 (Gemini) in about two weeks. I’ll keep you posted!
*kisses*
This is my new mantra: No More Writer’s Block! I will write whatever comes out and deal with the consequences later, in edits. Very much like I did with NaNoWriMo.
I’m so close to finishing Gemini (my goal was to write 90k words, give or take a few thousand, and I’m at 72k words now). But so far I haven’t had the desire to sit and write. I reread the last few chapters to try and get back into it, but it hasn’t worked.
This past Saturday I went to my Georgia Romance Writer’s meeting and learned of a special opportunity to have a published author critique my writing. Soon after that, the contests will start. I plan to enter Gemini into several of those contests. But to do this, I will need to have a finished manuscript to edit. True, this first workshop does not include the entire novel, but how awful would it be to get all the great feedback, only to have to put the editing on the back burner so I can finish the story itself?
So my deadline to finish Gemini is January 31. That is roughly 1800 words a day for 10 days. I did NaNoWriMo. I can do this.
NO MORE WRITER’S BLOCK! Write-or-Die, here I come!
Well, the first draft of it, actually. It’s a departure from my normal writing, but i still had fun doing it. I’ll post it on here later, but in the meantime, if you want to check it out, you can find it and all the other great stories (as people post them) here: http://biggiesbiganthology.webs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/1919557-first-draft-undone
It’s a great project and the stories are likely to be as varied as the music that inspires them!
[insert horror movie scream here] A friend on Authonomy asked me to participate in a short story anthology, using a randomly selected song for inspiration. I’ve never written a short story before, well, not since high school (and we won’t get into how long ago that was). I heard my music and got an idea. The day went on and I was unable to start it. Then, when I sat down to write tonight, not a single thing I’d planned came out. Well, except that it’s contemporary. This is gonna get interesting…
I’ve heard other writers talk about procrastinating before writing the end of their book because they don’t want it to be over. Done. Finished. As I passed the 70k mark on the first draft of Gemini, I realized that might be what has been happening to me. I’m not blocked, exactly, as I’m able to type in short increments, 100-600 words a night on average. I’m more easily distracted, but I guess that’s not entirely new. I’m having a harder time getting into my characters’ heads.
But the climactic scene is written. Now I’m just wrapping up the loose ends. I have a by-election and a cameo by the Duke of Gordon to iron out, an explanation of the big “misunderstanding” to write, a reconciliation between sisters to finish, and finally, to decide if a wedding should take place or if I should leave it implied. I mean, they’re in 1821 and Selina’s not the “mistress” type. If Evan wants her (and he does), then he’ll have to do the honorable thing and marry her. But I don’t necessarily have to write their wedding.
I digress. The point of the post was whether I’m procrastinating because I don’t want the book to end. Or maybe because I really don’t want to start the editing process? Naw…I’m actually looking forward to editing.
So, how does one break through this issue? Will it get worse as I get closer? I’ll try to keep you updated…
