Tag Archives: Beginning Writers

Dragon’s Mark 2009 Beacon Unpub – 2nd Place Finish

Posted on February 22, 2010 | 5 comments

Okay kiddies, Results are in as the title of this blog outs, Dragon’s Mark came in Second to Bad Girl.  Congrats to Bad Girl author for her win.  Those of you who have followed this blog know we struck up a conversation cheering each other on to the finish.  When I said I was hoping for a one two finish I was more thinking me one, you two?? **grin**  Next time babe’  lol.

One of my judges shared that if she picked up a book and found that it had a me’nage theme she would put it down.  What can I say?  This is not the book for you.  I have two heroes and one heroine.  There’s no cliff hanger on how this is going to turn out. At least she/he didn’t say she/he would throw it at the wall.

No judge bashing here.  For the most part judges work very hard to make their comments relevant and educational.  And in all fairness, just because our tastes in literature differ she/he had some important helpful things to say in her specific comments.

So Yeah, Dragon’s Mark 2nd Place.  First contest for this book.  Second contest for me.  I’ve put this piece two more contests with more up to date edited versions.  We’ll see how it goes!

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Contest Final

Posted on January 4, 2010 | 7 comments

I am so thrilled.  Word just came through that Dragon’s Mark has finaled in the Beacon Unpublished Contest hosted by First Coast Romance Writers a chapter of RWA.

It is the third book I’ve written.  This is the second contest I’ve entered.  Last year I entered the Beacon with a Contemporary Suspense manuscript.  This year I wrote Dragon’s Mark and entered it into the Beacon contest as well as the Golden Heart.

I am doing the happy dance and squeee like a fan girl.

Fingers and toes and eyes crossed for the final round to be announced in Feb, 2010.  Not to mention how much I hope it will do well in the Golden Heart.
Squeeee!!!

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The Beacon Contest Calls to Me.

Posted on October 4, 2009 | 7 comments

Like the Aztec gold on “Pirates of the Carribean”.  The Beacon contest calls to me.  It is sponsored by my home chapter of Romance Writers of America, the First Coast Romance Writers.  http://www.firstcoastromancewriters.com/

I entered the contest the first time last year and had a ball.  My writing sucked big time and the judges let me know that in the kindest, most constructive way imaginable.  Don’t look at me like that, I’m serious!

The contest organizers did a great job of selecting and training judges to score fairly and say meaningful things, picking their battles and not overwhelming this rookie writer with EVERYTHING that SUCKED about my writing.  They managed to do a wonderful job of focusing on what SUCKED the most, concentrating on the GRAND SUCK of the contest piece if you will.  Their positive comments gave me hope and their realistic suggestions of how I could suck less were an inspiration that guided my self education this past year.   Truthfully, I really don’t think they said sucked even once.

A few weeks ago, I went back and looked at the piece I submitted last year, to help me think about preparing for this year.  I had to laugh.  Were the judges BLIND.  OMG  they gave me a FOUR for THAT?  Did they think it was freaking CHRISTMAS?  I wouldn’t have given that a two!

Now another year has passed.  I have a new Work in Progress that I have just finished the draft on.  I’ve polished the first 30 pages as much as I possibly can given my level of expertise, or in moments, my lack there of.

There is good and bad with that.  Every other day the WIP is utter brilliance, the likes of which rival . . . well everyone, anyone you would ever want to rival.

I am so ready to submit this new baby in the contest.

Which means, every other day from brilliance/dazzling/ wow I’m so Cool, my WIP is utter bull cookies, cracker, chips. . .  Can this woman write a grocery list?  She probably dictates her shopping needs into her phone!  well you get the idea.

I’m so not ready to submit this new baby in the contest.

Hope springs eternal. Wouldn’t it be cool to finale or. . . squeeee!!! WIN?

Despair is forever. Wouldn’t it be cool to get comments that aren’t embarrassing, even if the embarrassing ones are actually true.

Each fledgling manuscript leaves my hands a hatchling baby trying to spread its wings and become a soaring eagle instead of a dirt bag suckyopolis with lousy conflict, unbelievable plot,  flat one dimensional characters, and confusing meaningless dialog that drops a goose egg in the cosmic karma of the universe.

*big sigh*

I’m not leaving my day job anytime soon.100_1178

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The Story

Posted on March 11, 2009 | 9 comments

The story is the foundation of your novel.  I was amazed at the workshop how many people didn’t get the concept of story.  When asked about story people want to tell you everything their characters are doing and what is happening to them.  That isn’t story.  That is plot.  What they do and what happens to them is all about plot.

Next workshop participants wanted to say it’s a story about how courage leads to redemption.  Sorry no, that’s not the story.  That was a great job of identifying the theme.  What we search for we already possess.  Courage leads to redemption.   Good stories have a theme.

Anne McClaire taught us at the writer workshop last week that the story is the engine and GPS of your novel.  Once you know the story everything else falls in place and you won’t get pulled off track in the progress of your plot.

The story is that central idea the little kernel that probably started with “What if?”  the story begins with that flash idea.  Once you get your “What if?” started you begin to ask “Why does it matter?” “and because of that. . . ”  These questions lead to plot development.  Through that “What if?”  and following questions leading to plot, theme, character, and then setting pulls out of that.  The “Why did that happen?” gives you the backstory to mix in as little snipits here a little and there a little.

Story is the Sun of your novel.  Everything revolves around the story.  From the story you can discover the structure, the time and duration of the novel, the POV, the tense.  All those things that create the envelope or framework of the novel and yes the theme and plot components.

Take the challenge to describe your story in 25 words or less.  Doing that exercise will pare away the plot and all the extras that while essential are not the kernel of story.

What you have when you are finished is the answer when an agent or editor asks you “What is your story about?”

It’s the story of:  “A sexy forestry firefighter falls for single mother D.J. who is afraid to trust that love and committment can be forever with a dangerous man.”  25 words.

Take the challenge.  What do you come up with for your story?images1

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Novel Discussions: A Workshop for Writers

Posted on March 5, 2009 | 1 comment

I attended Novel Discussions:  A Workshop for Writers as part of the Jacksonville Library Much Ado About Books celebration on Friday February 27th.  The day began with Anne LeClaire (NYT Best Selling Author/ Listening Below the Noise)  speaking with the group about ‘Story:  Building It’s Foundation’.  I can’t possibly give a moment by moment report of the entire day in this blog.  You just had to be there.  If I ever have the blessing of attending more of her classes or workshops I will jump on board, nuff said.   Carla Neggers (NYT Best Selling Author / Betrayals) continued as the next speaker teaching ‘Plot, Character and Pace:  The Three Essentials’.  How can anyone possibly wrap those three essentials into a twenty to thirty minute presentation?   She did a great job of nailing the basics, tight and concise.  While still sharing her witty perspective on the creative process.  I have notes highlighting absolutely golden nuggets that will help me improve areas in my writing.  

A bonus lunch time panel discussion of Writing into the Next Century was well attended.

The afternoon sessions began with a question and answer session by David Baldacci ( NYT Best Selling Author/The Whole Truth) and continued with a wrap up by Steve Berry (NYT Best Selling Author / The Charlemagne Pursuit) going over ‘Eight Rules of Writing’ which I believe we expanded to a nice round ten before the afternoon closed.  These guys packed the one two punch for the afternoon to be a total knock out.  Ok, awful pun, but what more can I say.  I was thrilled with the quality of the presentations and wealth of information I gathered that will improve my writing.   Four New York Best Selling Authors, prolific writers, facinating people and the entire thing was FREE.  The event was sponsored by the Jacksonville Library and local businesses.  

Over the next few months I’m going to share on this blog some of the insights I gained attending this workshop.  Did you get to attend this event?  What were your impressions of the day?  Let’s talk about it

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