Last week I received my first writing review with some serious professional clout. As you know if you've been following this blog, I was a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards this year for my novel Moonlight and Oranges, which is a huge honor and a nice pat on the back. I'd never made it this far in a large contest before. After the quarter-finals, comes…
This is the excerpt for my novel Moonlight and Oranges, currently a quarter finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. After reading this, go to the Amazon page and review it. Thank you so much! _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER ONE: Orange and Vodka 1) Find a guy. 2) Strike up a witty conversation. If she could get that far. Lorona swallowed her bravado and felt sick. She was beginning…
Marketing myself as a writer is a lesson I've been gradually learning over the past few moths. Usually I'd grit my teeth about this. Many writers absolutely hate marketing. It feels uncreative, its exhausting, it feels like bragging, etc. But it teaches us how to talk to others about our writing. That's essentially what marketing is--a way to clearly communicate what we're about to the greater world. The time the…
Give a song lyric and a one sentence pitch for what your story is about. This was the prompt that lead me to enter the writing contest hosted by Larry Brooks at www.Storyfix.com The idea inspired me. Writing contests are great practice for presenting yourself, but it's even better when they stir something inside you. A week later I was in for a delightful surprise. I sifted through the words…
All right everyone, put on your thinking caps. I'm considering the ways we prefer to be inspired. At a WOTS steering committee meeting last night we were debating the theme for our next year's writing contest. Entrants are given a word or phrase which they must use to form their work of fiction, poetry or non-fiction. Last night we narrowed our choices down to two words, which for now shall be locked away in my secret…