May 1st is the DAY for Writing Contests!

 

My Check List Tomorrow:

• Set up to Pitch my MG at the #JustPitchIt contest on Twitter. (I'll probably use HootSuite.) I'm still trying to decide whether my NF picture book fits.
• Enter the Rafflecopter for The Writer's Voice contest hosted by this blog, and this one, and this one, and this one too!
• Get my first pages ready for the First Five Contest this Saturday (May 3rd) and keep my eye out for more info on the First Lines Contest on this blog.
• Tweet about the Writing Course, Contest, and Free Webinar available at The Children's Book Academy.
• Write a Picture Book for NaPiBoWriWee.
• Get my new play ready for the next round at Chameleon Theatre Circle (since it won't be ready to submit today). 
• Look Forward to entering the upcoming contests in May 

Can I Hook an Agent with a Question? (A rhetorical blog of questions)

Why should you read this blog of questions?

Is it possible to make a point by not only answering every question with a question, but also taking this argument to the point to absurdity in this very blog post?

Do you want to see if I can do it?

Writing Contests - More than Just Sweepstakes

So, my friend just wrote an awesome blog post about why entering writing contests is a good idea, even if you don't win. I was going to blog my thoughts on this, but she put it so well, I'm just going to link to hers:

Lisa's Take on Writing Contests
 
But I have to add to number 2: don't make your pitch too similar.

May Speaker Event at Placerville Library

Eva Lisle: "Writing Your Inner Voice"

Guest Blog By Krystal Owens

   Finding your inner voice is considered to be an important factor in successful writing. But how do you find your inner voice? And, once found, how do you express it in your writing? Writer Eva Lisle addresses these and other questions at 1:00 pm on Saturday, May 3, at the Placerville Library, 345 Fair Lane.

Parable of God's History

First what is God's History? Where is it written?

One place is in the scriptures. So let us turn to the scriptures for a piece of history:


1 And the ^athird day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; it was well attended.

 9 Refreshments were served; the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

 10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

 

Dating That Agent: First Contact

On this journey of an aspiring author, I keep hearing the dating to marriage analogy.






The query is that first contact. It's like passing the Check Yes or No* note that says, "Do you want to go out sometime?"

So here's some DO's and DONT's I'm learning when it comes to that first contact (and sending a query):

Aha Moment - The Difference between MG and YA

Now, for those who don't know, MG is Middle Grade and YA is Young Adult.
 
Got that out of the way? Good. Now the problem.
 
MG and YA overlap. Yep. You can have a 13-year-old protagonist in both MG and YA. Take Harry Potter (yeah, yeah, I know not Harry Potter anything but that! Bear with me...)
 
Harry Potter starts the series out at 11 years old. Well, that's clearly an MG, right? Nope. Harry Potter, even just the first one, is YA.

Those Facebook Social Graces

Let me tell you about my high school. I was late for the social class. I embarked on the public high school scene after being homeschooled until my sophomore year, and I was so socially backward…

Wait don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t think I was socially backward because I was homeschooled. My friend Teresa was the most un-socially backward person I know, and she was homeschooled all the way through high school. She could out-trend the top of the public school totem pole. I’m sure of it. But I was socially backward for different reasons.

Two Books that Are Officially on my Wish List

Beyond the regular writer prompts, this book invites you to use your own imagination to help the author finish this book. Tied together with a story about random pages found in the woods, Finish This Book looks like a great read... er... write. 

Now, I've never had trouble filling a diary with story upon story, yet I absolutely want this book. Each page give you a suggestion to creatively destroy this journal, and there by infuse it with your creative juices. According to the preview, among the ideas were to "Rub this page on a dirty car," and "Attach this page to another."I so want to destroy my own copy of Wreck This Journal. Knowing my history with journals, I may need two. :)


Now, I obviously haven't read either of these books, but this is one of those rare occasions that I'm breaking my own rule of "Read it before you Recommend It."

I'll be telling you if it was a wise decision when I have my copies.