Tag Archives: Golden Heart

Craft Resources

Posted on March 27, 2010 | 1 comment

This week has been fraught with emotional ups and downs. Coming down from the Writers Retreat last weekend, high high high point of the year. Many ah ha moments.

Lightening did not strike me on Thursday. I have a heart but it won’t be golden this year.

It caused me to think about resources for writers. I’m not really thinking of self help type books but more resources that helped you along the way. No not really the big book of paranormal creatures that’s on my shelf. I can research on the internet. No not an alphabetical listing of all the big “R” little “r” rules to remember.

What are your resources as a writer?

Mine are the FCRW chapter I belong to. Also the couple of yahoo groups I maintain membership in.

My FB friends are great. Danica and I have had fun bracketing the week with me sponsoring Fantasy Man Monday and she offering Fantasy Man Friday. Friday’s are hotter.

Ink Plots, the live critique group I’m a member of helps. My Critique Partner is my life line.

I just received the Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines; Sixteen Master Archetypes. Great resource book by Tami Cowden, Caro LaFever and Sue Viders. It is outstanding.

Does anyone have that book on plot archetypes? I saw it on amazon.

What are your resources that help you both in the actual mechanics of writing and surviving the tough times?

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Golden Heart Finals Announced Today

Posted on March 25, 2010 | Comments Off on Golden Heart Finals Announced Today

How do you measure a year?

Today thousands of unpublished romance writers are all waiting for a phone call telling them they made it into the final round of the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart writing contest. I’m one of them.

Last December I and all the others sent the first fifty pages of polished finished manuscript along with a CD containing the entire work to RWA headquarters for the Golden Heart Romance Novel Contest for unpublished authors.

That act of faith represented an entire year of plotting, writing, revisions, editing. I have an active full time day job. Most of my writing happens between 9p.m. and 2a.m.

Today I’ll try to not glare at the phone every five minutes. I’ll try not to have an anxiety attack. I’ll try to make it through the next five hours.

Good luck to all my FCRW Chapter Friends in the contest and my online cyber buddies. Here’s reaching out to squeeze your hand with a hope that you get your phone call today.

How do I measure a year? I think I’ll write another book.

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Write the D@$! Manuscript Challenge

Posted on March 2, 2010 | Comments Off on Write the D@$! Manuscript Challenge

The FCRW (First Coast Romance Writers) sponsor a contest for members of the chapter each year.  It’s called Write the D@$! Manuscript Challenge.  Members are encouraged to just write the D@$! Manuscript.  We try to do fun things along the way to help keep participants encouraged.

So often the more we as writers know the less we are able to do.  We fill our time with all kinds of things.  After the basic rudiments of living, family, home, job, we find other time suckers to keep from writing the D@$! Manuscript. . . my space, face book, twitter, email, research, BLOGGING. oh my.  And frankly we let the Internal Editor from He(( shut us down way to often.

So the Write the D@$! Manuscript challenge is an opportunity to take the time to make writing your priority again.  Rather than the psychological suicide of NaMoWriMo in 30 days, our version gives you an entire year…ok ten months technically, to write a complete story arch accomplishing at least 40,000 words to a finish, the end.

We aren’t even so tough to expect the WIP to be finished and edited, polished and pretty.

So if you’re not convinced that this is a great activity for your writing group, here is what I got out of the D@$! Manuscript challenge of 2009.  I wrote my WIP Dragon’s Mark.  I finished the entire book in draft form between Feb and early October, some 100,000 words of the beast.

I had time to edit the first 30 pages and enter the Beacon Unpublished contest. I edited a little more and entered the Golden Heart.  Edited a little more and entered the Winter Rose.  Now a year later the work is finished, edited and polished pretty and I am beginning to Query and search for Agented Representation.

The entry in the Beacon 2009 won second place.  Still waiting to hear from the others.

The point is I wrote the D@$! Manuscript.  Didn’t matter that I didn’t win the grand prize drawing.  I wrote.

So, now I am beginning the D@$! Manuscript Challenge 2010.  I’m sitting here immersed in social networking and blogging.  I haven’t started work on my manuscript entry.  However, I know I have to have a word count for our meeting in two weeks to report with the other Challenge Participants.  I sure don’t want to be standing there saying well I haven’t really started yet….  So, I’m going to get busy and Write the D@$! Manuscript.

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