A few announcements for those of you who are writers and book lovers - so, basically anyone who reads this blog:
Chuck Sambuchino is currently hosting the Dear Lucky Agent Contest on his awesome Guide to Literary Agents Editor’s Blog. I’m not just calling it awesome because he might be reading this... no, really, it has nothing to with sucking up, though *cough, cough*, couldn’t hurt.
I’m guessing most of my writer friends already have him bookmarked, anyway. But there’s always great information over there so, if you haven’t checked it out, you really should.
This contest is specifically for middle grade and YA authors who have a finished manuscript. There will be more contests, for other genres, so if your work doesn’t fit into this one, keep him bookmarked for future reference. The contest is open until Sunday, February 21st, so get your hustle on and go enter. The Koala will be pleased.
My Second Announcement:
Linda Weaver Clarke dropped me a line to let me know she’s having another book giveaway in honor of St. Paddy’s Day. And really, is there anything better than free booksies? (Okay, fine, books made of chocolate that you can devour both figuratively and literally, but still). Here’s the announcement:
In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, a review of the final book in the Family Saga series, "Elena, Woman of Courage: A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho" is being reviewed at Suko’s Notebook. Drop by and enter the contest, which ends March 7th, just in time for St. Patrick's Day (March 17th). Remember the luck of the Irish! Perhaps your luck will double if you find a four leaf clover. Good luck, everyone!
Showing posts with label writing contest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing contest. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Monday, December 07, 2009
Christmas Songs, Writing Style...
Me loves me some bloggy contests. Over at Miss Snark’s First Victim, there’s a Christmas Song Parody Contest right now. You can follow the link to see the rules posted at her place, and the comment section is open to submissions today and tomorrow (Dec. 7 & 8) – she’s actually shutting comments at 8 am est on the 9th. Oh, and there’s a great prize – agent, Lauren MacLeod, will be offering a query letter critique to the winner.
Personally, I just love the fun. There are a lot of awesome entries if you get time to do a little reading. Here is mine, in case you’re interested, to the tune of Silver Bells:
Query Hell
Busy writing
Keyboard fighting
My tenth draft took its toll
Sent it out
To my beta’s
Sharp scalpels
Then there’s tapping
Keyboard rapping
Fixing hole after hole
‘Til it’s good as this writer can get.
Query hell, query hell
Rejections come, what a pity
Email pings, damn this thing
When will it be a request?
Made my prose tight
Got the voice right
Through each perfect-paced scene
Followed each
Agents’ wish to
The letter
Got the format
Query’s down pat
She won’t know that I’m green
Yes, it’s good as this writer can get.
Query hell, query hell
Rejections come, what a pity
Email pings, my heart sings
My God, I got a request!
Personally, I just love the fun. There are a lot of awesome entries if you get time to do a little reading. Here is mine, in case you’re interested, to the tune of Silver Bells:
Query Hell
Busy writing
Keyboard fighting
My tenth draft took its toll
Sent it out
To my beta’s
Sharp scalpels
Then there’s tapping
Keyboard rapping
Fixing hole after hole
‘Til it’s good as this writer can get.
Query hell, query hell
Rejections come, what a pity
Email pings, damn this thing
When will it be a request?
Made my prose tight
Got the voice right
Through each perfect-paced scene
Followed each
Agents’ wish to
The letter
Got the format
Query’s down pat
She won’t know that I’m green
Yes, it’s good as this writer can get.
Query hell, query hell
Rejections come, what a pity
Email pings, my heart sings
My God, I got a request!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Getting Naked With Josie - er, umn... I mean posting my entry...
As some of you may have noticed, Moonrat is holding a competition that you can learn about: here and then updated, here and here.
Josephine Damian has bravely posted her entry for open comment on her blog, which she commented somewhere or other made her feel naked... so I thought I’d be, gulp, brave enough to do the same. Comments and crits are welcome – I’m closing in on query time so anything that helps me tweak is always appreciated.
The following is my entry for Raskin’s Wings, my middle grade novel.
Headline:
Why Benny is the only boy who can see Raskin remains a mystery, but helping the wayward fairy to win back his wings may just earn them both salvation.
Back Cover (133 words):
Raskin is not your average fairy. His affinity for mortals gets him in trouble more often than not, culminating in his being clipped as a punishment for his crimes. Now he’s in a race against trolls and a fairy on a power trip to right his past misdeeds and win back his wings.
Benny Sherman doesn’t need the hassle. First, he and his mom are crammed into Grandma’s overcrowded bungalow after his parents’ separation. Then he’s forced to attend Catholic school, where every day promises to be as much fun as church. Meeting a wingless fairy in need of his assistance isn’t likely to help him fit in and, if he had to be caught up in such nonsense, why couldn’t he at least get cool creatures? Instead, Benny gets girly fairies!
Jacket Copy (353 words):
When Raskin’s impetuousness leads him to trust one mortal too many, he has no idea it will mean the loss of the Tuatha De Danann, or his own wings. Recovering the talisman before it falls into the hands of trolls is his only chance of regaining the kingdom’s forgiveness, but how can one fairy hope to accomplish such a lofty goal without wings or magic? Raskin’s journey takes him across the ocean and onto the path of the only boy who can see him.
Benny Sherman’s sixth grade year is heading in a less than stellar direction. His parents’ separation forces Benny and his mom to move in with Grandma Sicola, where play dates are unheard of and chores are expected. Rounding out the series of changes, Benny is sent to St. Michael’s Catholic school – he can’t even remember all of the prayers, how can he fake being a real Catholic all day long? His mother’s preoccupation with her new job means that Benny needs to navigate his surroundings on his own... but it’s not all bad, new responsibilities come with an exciting independence the eleven year old has never known.
While fleeing from Branaugh, the neighborhood miscreant, Benny and his buddy John find themselves falling into a fairy den, where they come face to face with Raskin and his companions. When Raskin realizes Benny can see and hear him, the fairy is convinced that the boy is meant to help and, more than that, he’s a balm to the fairy who has missed human companionship more than any of his magic. Once the boys determine that they are neither dead nor hallucinating, they agree to bring the fairies home and aid in their search, but keeping the whole thing secret means alienating friends and a whole lot of creative lying. If they can outsmart the troop of fairies trying to thwart Raskin, stay away from the nefarious trolls, and retrieve the talisman, Benny’s life can go back to normal...
When the trolls set their sights on the boy rather than the fairy, Benny steps into more danger than he bargained for...
Author Bio (word count: rather short, but I can puff it up with a little creative fibbing ;-):
Merry Monteleone has been weaving stories since she was a small child, though persnickety adults often referred to it as ‘fibbing’. Most of her fiction is set in the Chicago land area, where she grew up and is now raising her three children. Raskin’s Wings is her debut novel.
Josephine Damian has bravely posted her entry for open comment on her blog, which she commented somewhere or other made her feel naked... so I thought I’d be, gulp, brave enough to do the same. Comments and crits are welcome – I’m closing in on query time so anything that helps me tweak is always appreciated.
The following is my entry for Raskin’s Wings, my middle grade novel.
Headline:
Why Benny is the only boy who can see Raskin remains a mystery, but helping the wayward fairy to win back his wings may just earn them both salvation.
Back Cover (133 words):
Raskin is not your average fairy. His affinity for mortals gets him in trouble more often than not, culminating in his being clipped as a punishment for his crimes. Now he’s in a race against trolls and a fairy on a power trip to right his past misdeeds and win back his wings.
Benny Sherman doesn’t need the hassle. First, he and his mom are crammed into Grandma’s overcrowded bungalow after his parents’ separation. Then he’s forced to attend Catholic school, where every day promises to be as much fun as church. Meeting a wingless fairy in need of his assistance isn’t likely to help him fit in and, if he had to be caught up in such nonsense, why couldn’t he at least get cool creatures? Instead, Benny gets girly fairies!
Jacket Copy (353 words):
When Raskin’s impetuousness leads him to trust one mortal too many, he has no idea it will mean the loss of the Tuatha De Danann, or his own wings. Recovering the talisman before it falls into the hands of trolls is his only chance of regaining the kingdom’s forgiveness, but how can one fairy hope to accomplish such a lofty goal without wings or magic? Raskin’s journey takes him across the ocean and onto the path of the only boy who can see him.
Benny Sherman’s sixth grade year is heading in a less than stellar direction. His parents’ separation forces Benny and his mom to move in with Grandma Sicola, where play dates are unheard of and chores are expected. Rounding out the series of changes, Benny is sent to St. Michael’s Catholic school – he can’t even remember all of the prayers, how can he fake being a real Catholic all day long? His mother’s preoccupation with her new job means that Benny needs to navigate his surroundings on his own... but it’s not all bad, new responsibilities come with an exciting independence the eleven year old has never known.
While fleeing from Branaugh, the neighborhood miscreant, Benny and his buddy John find themselves falling into a fairy den, where they come face to face with Raskin and his companions. When Raskin realizes Benny can see and hear him, the fairy is convinced that the boy is meant to help and, more than that, he’s a balm to the fairy who has missed human companionship more than any of his magic. Once the boys determine that they are neither dead nor hallucinating, they agree to bring the fairies home and aid in their search, but keeping the whole thing secret means alienating friends and a whole lot of creative lying. If they can outsmart the troop of fairies trying to thwart Raskin, stay away from the nefarious trolls, and retrieve the talisman, Benny’s life can go back to normal...
When the trolls set their sights on the boy rather than the fairy, Benny steps into more danger than he bargained for...
Author Bio (word count: rather short, but I can puff it up with a little creative fibbing ;-):
Merry Monteleone has been weaving stories since she was a small child, though persnickety adults often referred to it as ‘fibbing’. Most of her fiction is set in the Chicago land area, where she grew up and is now raising her three children. Raskin’s Wings is her debut novel.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Contest, and Challenges, and Blog Posts, Oh My!!!
Moonrat – Where it’s at!
First, I have to point out a contest that our dear old moonrat is hosting. Moonie, also known as Editorial Ass, is hosting a contest to win a tee shirt with a Robert the Publisher gem of the winner’s choice. For those of you unfamiliar, go check out her blog, it’s fantabulous. The first contest is to write up your own jacket copy, author bio, and back cover copy, as you would for your publisher if your novel was accepted for publication... it’s a great exercise to zone in on your pitch, for those of us getting ready to query, and it is being a judged by an editor so it’s a nice opportunity for the aspiring masses...
She has a secondary contest for those who don’t have a book or are already with a publisher to write her an ode in iambic pentameter... you can enter both contests just for shits and giggles, if you prefer...
On to My Own Silliness:
I have no prizes, except pride in a job well done.... okay, there are no prizes. My last post was a meme and I tagged Travis Erwin, who had already completed the same meme and therefore declined... sorry I missed your original post, Travis (bad blog buddy). And I told him in comments that I’d come up with another just for him... ‘cause I’m evil that way... but on thinking about new memes, I decided a Writing Challenge would be far more fun...
Here’s the skinny:
Write a satire for your blog. It can be on any topic you like, and can be written as essay, news story, what ever mode you prefer. If you need an example, Stephen Parish recently posted a satire of his own volition that was a pretty good play on Swift’s A Modest Proposal. You can also look to The Onion or things of that nature for a good example... and if thoughts fail you, just get sarcastic.
It’s open to all; I’d love to read them. There’s no judge, no voting, and no prize, but it does make for a nice break to get to read a lot of creative, humorous writing by your friends in blogland, so pass it on to anyone who might want to play. If you drop me a link or let me know you’ve posted, I’ll drop by to visit and later put up a post with links to all the great satires floating about...
So, Travis, this one’s for you... It’s not a meme, but I think you might enjoy it anyway.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Writing Contest for Moms
I ran across a link to this writing contest at another blog and thought I would pass it on. Letters From The Heart is hosting a writing contest. If you follow the link, all of the rules and guidelines are there.
Basically, they are looking for heartfelt letters from mothers to daughters. Though it's not exclusive to traditional mothers and daughters, it can be from mothers to girls they mentor, adopted daughters, daughters-in-law, or spiritual daughters. I thought I'd pass it on here, as I know a lot of the bloggers who visit are moms and writers.
I hope it's of use, and good luck to all of the entrants.
Basically, they are looking for heartfelt letters from mothers to daughters. Though it's not exclusive to traditional mothers and daughters, it can be from mothers to girls they mentor, adopted daughters, daughters-in-law, or spiritual daughters. I thought I'd pass it on here, as I know a lot of the bloggers who visit are moms and writers.
I hope it's of use, and good luck to all of the entrants.
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