contest links

News and Stuff

Back from vacation just in case you wondered where I was last week and so this morning’s post will, I admit, be a little rushed. I had some interesting tidbits of news and a few links I wanted to share. (Yes, I meant to do this last week. Sigh.)

First off, anyone who has read classical Chinese literature is aware of a series of stories called “Journey to the West.” Even if you aren’t familiar with the title, you might have seen a Chinese mythical character called The Monkey King hooting and throwing his weight around. Well, it turns out this story has been opted by Hollywood and Neil Gaiman is the author. Gaiman wants Guillermo Del Toro for director. The mere thought has me itching with excitement. My only concern is that they have someone in charge of authenticity, but I look forward to seeing it. If you want more information, check out the link.

Many thanks to Tessa for this link to an excellent blog post on writing. It’s well worth your time.

Carolina Valdez Miller got AN AGENT (Woo hoo and throwing up confetti for you, girlfriend!) and has this amazing contest at her site. Also, be sure you check out the WHOLE site because after this one, there are interviews and one of them is with an agency sister who ALSO has a blog contest. It’s a blogosphere contesty world, folks. Enjoy!

What news have you heard that’s excited you recently?

As an Addendum to what I just posted, Janet Sumners (and Vicki Rocho) have a great contest going with prizes including a $40 Amazon gift basket or a 10-page critique by agent Sarah LaPolla, who took over from Nathan Bransford. Get thee over there and check it out!

Contests for Writing and Books, Oh My!

It’s contest season, folks. Let’s see what’s cooking:

At Margo Berendson’s “Writing at High Altitudes” you’ve got an awesome contest to help push yourself and a fellow author. Margo is offering a commenter a $30 Amazon giftcard for their comment regarding her New Year’s resolution word count  goal. Read her post, get inspired.

Many of you know I entered and won second place for fantasy in the 2010 Sandy Writer’s Competition last year. It’s time to send in your chapters for 2011 and I can’t recommend doing this enough. Seriously. For $30, you get constructive criticism from three published authors AND if you place in the top three positions, your ms goes before an agent. Ginger Clark was my agent-judge last year and she requested my first 50 pages. Pretty darn cool. Check out the competition’s guidelines and get your work in. The deadline is February 13th.

Unless you’re dead or uninterested in writing, you’re aware the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition opens on January 24th and closes to entries on February 6th OR when they receive 5,000 entries in a given age range (adult or YA). This competition is FREE and as I posted a few days ago, there are communities at the site who will critique your opening chapters for you while you await the judges’ decisions. Two years ago they helped me polish my opening and made winning second place in the Sandy possible. This contest is well worth your time and you have nothing to lose.

The annual Chase the Dream contest (for you Romance authors) will be rescheduled this year. Make sure you check their website periodically for more information, but if I hear when it will be, I’ll try to post the dates here, too.

Addendum! Maria Zannini was so kind as to let me know about her critique contest! Be sure to go there next for a chance to win a free critique!

Good luck and God bless you all!

A Great List of Books, Publishing Opportunities, etc.

Courtesy of Christina Farley, I just found the most awesome list of books for kids. Check it out.

Courtesy of my friend Christine Taylor-Butler, check out the following links:

April 29-May 9: Manuscript Critique Auction!
If you’re looking for feedback on your fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, young adult or middle grade novel, or picture book, then Hunger Mountain’s spring ebay auction is the thing for you. This is our last biannual auction—there won’t be another until next spring. So hurry to bid on manuscript critiques with literary agent Adia Wright, Jedediah Berry , Meliss Febos, Allegra Huston, David Jauss, and other poets, fiction writers, literary agents and editors. For more information, visit Hunger Moutain.

April 30: postmark deadline for Hunger Mountain Young Writer’s Prize.
If you know talented high school students who would like to enter their poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction in our new contest, let ‘em know as soon as possible! Winners receive $250 and publication! The prize is judged by National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson. The postmark deadline is only ten days away—April 30th! For full guidelines, visit this contest’s prize page.

June 11-16: Stage and Screen Conference at Vermont College of Fine Arts Script writers and playwrights, here’s your change to work on your craft! There are a couple spots still open, and the deadline has been extended, but only for a limited time. Interested? Visit the link above for all the details.

June 30: postmark deadline for Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction PrizeThe judge of this year’s Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize is Steve Almond! Winner receives $1000 and publication. Please see the link above for guidelines.

June 30: deadline for Katherine Paterson Prize for YA and Children’s Writing Enter your young adult and middle grade writing, or your writing for young children. Winner receives $1000 and publication. Runners-up in each category receive $100. This year’s judge is Holly Black, author of The Spiderwick Chronicles series. The guidelines are at the link for the contest above.

And this was so good, I had to come back and add it. It just arrived in my inbox:

Your Novel or Short Story a Movie?
In the spirit of great marketing, that is always give people a little more than you promised, here’s something new: If you have a novel you think would make a good movie, check out this media release. This BooksforFilm exposure is a service of iFogo Village headed by Gene Cartwright. My novel This Is the Place is listed on the site, and I have my fingers crossed.

Links, Links and MORE Links

Iya. It’s been a week, folks, so this will be short and sweet.

Check out another interview here with author Laura Manivong about her book, “Escaping the Tiger,” which I reviewed earlier this month. There are also great examples on how to use authentic cultural details to define your setting.

For some great news and contests links, take a peak at Julie Dao’s blog.

Addedums: This is a wonderful list of words to search for and remove from your ms where possible. I have a longer list here. Keep in mind, no list is definitive, but they are great tools.

Thanks to Jeannie Lin for this site. Kung Fu action theatre does audio podcasts and readings. I’ve read my book aloud enough times, I know I should never try to do a reading for a crowd. I’ve got a nice voice to listen to, but I DRONE when I read. I don’t sound like that in my head…. Does anyone else have that problem?

Lastly, I swear, I really do plan to get back to a more normal blogging schedule soon. Somehow everything got thrown OFF this month and I’ve just waded through over 200 emails. I’m still backlogged, but things have improved. I even wrote a note for my next book (joyful clapping) and a REAL blog entry. LOL.

More to come soon. 🙂