How to Choose a Writing Contest

Recently, I was discussing 2011 writing goals with some of my critique partners, and several of them mentioned that they would like to enter more writing contests, but didn’t know which ones to enter.

The Golden Heart is the biggest annual contest for unpublished authors, but there are plenty of smaller chapter contests, which will give you excellent feedback and credentials to put in your query bio. Stephie Smith has a wonderful chart listing all the RWA chapter contests here.

With so many contests to choose from, here’s how I decide which ones to enter:

Decide what you want to get out of the contest. Your choices will be different depending on whether you hope to final, are just looking for unbiased feedback on a new idea, or need to have that all-important query letter/synopsis critiqued.

Cost: Writing contests are one place where you don’t always get what you pay for. Some of the most expensive contests offer the least amount of feedback. If cost is a problem, choose a less expensive contest which only looks at those all important first few pages, like The Great Beginnings contest. Or look for free contests on writers’ and publishers' websites. The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is a free contest that garners national attention.

Look at the Score Sheet: Most long-standing RWA chapter contests will post their score sheets on their website. Go through it line by line and make sure it’s a good match for your manuscript. Some contests have different score sheets for each category and that can work to your advantage. You don’t want to send your coming of age story to a contest that only judges sexual tension.

Categories: Make sure there’s a category that suits your work. A romantic suspense will probably do better in its own category than lumped in with all the other contemporaries. It’s all about judge’s expectations. If the judge is looking forward to a secret baby story, and you show up with a serial killer in the prologue, you’re probably not going to do well.

Your manuscript may do better in a special interest chapter contest. For example, The Hearts through History Chapter offers the Romance through the Ages contest where categories are divided by historical eras. This allows a manuscript with an unusual setting the opportunity to succeed on its own merits rather than get lost in the avalanche of regency entries, which are the mainstay of the historical category in other contests.

Prestige: Over the years, some contests have built a reputation for consistently providing tough competition and garnering requests from editors; I would put The Golden Pen, The Emily and The Daphne in this category. I’m sure our readers will tell us of other contests which are equally well-known.

Judges: The most important element in any contest is the judges. Check out the first round judges. Who are they? Are they trained? How many are there. Generally, the more first round judges, the better, especially if the lowest score is tossed out. The Winter Rose is one good example of a contest which offers four judges and consistently provides excellent feedback.

The final judge is equally important. Is it an editor who acquires what you write? Or an agent you would like to work with? You may not expect to final, but chances are, if you’ve come this far, you’re better than you think you are. Plan to win and enter accordingly.

Contests change from one year to another. If you enter enough of them, you will eventually have horror stories to tell: The one that lost your entry, the judge who gave all zero’s on a scale of one to ten, or the judge who swore she would personally make sure you were never published in the United States or Canada. But there are also those favorites you come back to year after year, looking for good feedback and hoping to catch the eye of a top notch final judge.

I would love to hear your contest stories. Which ones are your favorites? How do you decide which ones to enter?

5 Tips To Beat Stress When You’re Trying To Do It All

Hi everyone!

I must apologize: I missed last month because I was on a tight deadline. Along with the Christmas chaos, I had a book due to my editor at Berkley by Dec 31. It was one of the most insane months of my life.

So I rushed. I tucked in and hunkered down. I stopped seeing friends. I stopped cooking for myself and grocery shopping. I stopped calling my mom.

I kept telling myself: December 31. Just think of December 31.

I got it done. And now that my book has been turned in, what did I discover about the light at the end of the tunnel?

A whole lot more tunnel.

The things is, as writers, we’re always busy. Even when we’re not writing with a pen or a keyboard, we’re writing with our brains. There’s no turning it off.

So after taking a long, hard look at my "schedule" (aka, working 'round the clock), I wanted to offer a few tips that I discovered to make the sheer insanity of the writing life a little easier. I offer them to you in a spirit of helpfulness and good wishes—and I encourage you to add your own tips in the comments section below!

Make a schedule. Perhaps you already do this, but I’m just newly learning the lesson of how important it can be to create and stick to a schedule. I’ve blocked out each hour of my work week—with allowances for flex time and the occasional funk—and I’ve even left certain hours as “work free” hours. I like knowing that “Tuesday evenings mean I can meet a friend for dinner and a movie.”

Notice things that make you relax. Practice mindfulness. Don’t just take a shower—notice the feel of hot water, the smell of your soap. Don’t just eat; savor. Even foods you don’t love. All time is precious.

Reward yourself. If you’re tracking your progress and work hours with a journal (I’ve started keeping a day timer) then reward yourself when you do well. Your reward doesn’t have to be huge. It can be as simple as: “Tomorrow, I will treat myself nicely and think only kind generous thoughts toward myself.” Or it can be cheesecake. (I like both!) Either way, pause to acknowledge your personal successes and embrace any “failures” with equal love and affection.

Treat yourself as if you were a three year old. This is a silly thought, but so helpful. Talk to yourself like you’re a little kid. When you’re exhausted, tuck yourself into bed. The world will be okay without you for a while. Of course—having a realistic schedule you can work with makes it a lot easier to treat yourself gently.

So…that’s all for now! Now that my books are turned in, I’ll be gearing up to start promoting my April release, Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier.

Can I share this great blurb author Karen White so awesomely offered? (I’m a little proud.)

"Slow Dancing on Prices Pier is a charming and wise tale of second chances and forgiveness, peopled with characters as full-bodied as the coffee Thea brews. This book goes down as smoothly as a cappuccino and is just as satisfying. I loved it!" --Karen White

Thanks for reading!

Lisa Dale

PS—Please feel free to come hang out on my blog, where I give away multiple prizes every month to readers who leave comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts on reading, writing, and living the curious life!

Do You Believe In Second Chances?

It’s funny, but every month just as I think I have nothing to blog about, something pops into my mind when I sit at the computer, and away I go.
This month is no exception. It isn’t directly writing related, but it can have a bearing on it.
It’s about a miracle that happened in my life at the end of 2010. I’d been having a bad time financially, a carryover from 2009, but towards the end of 2010 a shift occurred.
For the past five years I had belonged to an Australian financial education system teaching sound financial strategies. It was expensive and I felt I’d wasted by money because, unfortunately, I had done nothing with any of it. My five years was up and I had no way of ever getting back my privileges. My fault. I take full responsibility.
Towards the end of last year, I was listening to a webinar with a woman speaker known to us all, who said she had just banked money that would take her over the (AUD)$1m mark. I realised as she was speaking that she’d been in the organisation for five years—as long as I had.
It was a wake-up call. But how to find the money to rejoin?
About two weeks later, I got an email, saying that through someone else, I qualified for a FREE five-year scholarship to the organisation. I applied, and within three days had my scholarship confirmed and all privileges would continue seamlessly.
Talk about a miracle.
Now I listen to a lesson every day on the home study course, determined that this time I’ll get it right. I believe I got that scholarship for a reason, and I will make good the faith the Universe must have in me.
It was about that time that I realised that 2010 had gone on to get better as the year progressed. Other little things kept showing up for me—two book sales and a job change for starters.
Has anyone else had things like this happen, when you just know God is watching out for you even though you have been stupid?
Sorry to go off the writing track, but I just had to share with friends who would understand. It’s the kind of coincidence that would be called too far-fetched in fiction.
Thank heaven, it’s twenty eleven.
Jean

Dave Barry's cleanliness: Man vs. Woman

Hi Everyone,
I had my blog for January all written, but I when I saw this Dave Barry post on my monthly calendar, I had to share it. In this post, he makes a case on how much "cleaner" a bachelor is than a good housekeeper. Enjoy!

"There was an article that appeared recently in the New York Times, concerning household cleanliness. The article stated that your kitchen--yes, YOUR kitchen--is basically a festering swarm of potentially deadly bacteria. The most interesting part of the article concerns a discovery by a University of Arizona microbiology professor names Dr.Chuck Gerba. He has found that people who had the cleanest-looking kitchens were often the dirtiest. Because "clean" people wipe up so much, they often end up spreading bacteria all over the place. The cleanest kitchens, he said, were in the homes of bachelors, who never wiped up and just put their dirty dishes in the sink. That's right: You so-called "good housekeepers" with your so-called "cleaning" are in fact smearing bacteria around, while we so-called "slobs" are, by courageous inaction, making the world's kitchens safer for everybody. There is no need to thank us. All we ask is a little respect."


Me again: Ha! Do you agree?

Attitude

I've recently read numerous pessimistic discussions on various writers' loops complaining about the state of the publishing industry. Negativity spawns negativity, and I found myself depressed. Then I remembered an inspirational quotation I kept in my planner during my corporate career. You've probably read the passage somewhere before, but I needed the reminder and wanted to share the wisdom with you.

~~~

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
~
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home.
~
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…
~
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our Attitudes.

~Charles Swindoll~
~~~

One of my goals for 2011 is to maintain a positive attitude.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year--a year where dreams come true. Dare to dream!

Dawn Marie Hamilton

Happy New Year!

With the start of the New Year it’s time for me to launch into my latest creation after taking three months away from writing to work on my daughter’s new home. I am looking forward to changing out the paintbrush for the pen (or computer keyboard).

Lots of ideas have been circulating in my head during my three-month break. Now I have to pin down my favorite idea and make a story out of it. But I’m doubting myself. Despite having written a number of books, a nasty little voice in the back of my head tells me I can’t write another one. When I go straight from writing one book to writing another I am fine, but if I take a break between books the doubts have time to creep back.

Once I get underway with the story the little gremlin in my head who wants to deter me goes back in his cage. I used to think that after I’d written a few books I would get over this but obviously not.

How about you? Do you doubt yourself between books?

LeBron James aka King James

Let me start by saying I’m not a sports fan. Let me add--I’m not allowed to watch the Steelers at all. Every time I walk into the room when they’re playing something bad happens on the field. So, I’m banished.

However, my son-in-law, Rich, is a huge sports fan. When we were visiting over Christmas he mentioned that LeBron James, a former Cleveland basketball player now playing for Miami, made a comment about not wanting to play a game on Christmas Day. Let me say--Whaaaaaaa! Big freaking baby! He's turned his Cleveland fans against him when he went to Miami as a free agent, now he whined about playing basketball on Christmas.

He plays--plays for a living. Sure, it’s a professional sport but it’s still a game. Does he think the firemen, hospital staff, police, and others want to work on Christmas? Did he even consider how many military men and women won’t be home for Christmas--not even in the same country? What makes him so special?

LeBron is still a baby in the game of life and he grew up watching sports on Christmas Day, yet he took basketball as his career. Just as each nurse, cop, and fireman knew they’d be working or called out on that day when they choose their careers but they sure don’t make the money the he makes. As for our military men and women--they live with the knowledge every day they may not even seen another Christmas Day.

I can understand his desire to have the day off but he does have other options. He can celebrate the holiday on another day. Many of us have to do that so we can be together as a family. Is he so special, in the game of life, he can’t see anything but his needs? Our military men and women don’t even get that option.

What’s my aim here, you’re probably wondering? How many of us will feel this way about our fans if we make it big? Do you think Queen Nora (LeBron is King James) ever gets tired of the long lines of fans wanting her signature at the conferences she attends? I see her patiently sitting at the table and signing, signing, signing. I can’t say she’s always smiling but then again, I’m not always smiling either. I have her signature and several others too and I’ve stood in those long lines and yet every author has thanked me, yes--thanked me, for stopping at his or her table and getting his or her signature. Writers are a rare breed. We may do all of our work at home but every writer I’ve met appreciates his or her fans.

Maybe King James needs to meet Queen Nora to learn how to be gracious to his fans and how not to keep offending them.

Denise Pattison

Characterization & Shifts in Focus

Dialog, Focus and Characterization

All of us know those gremlins who like to beat up writers who dare to use passive voice, and we all grit our teeth when those gremlins incorrectly identify passive voice by ruthlessly searching for the word “was”, but did you know that passive voice can be your best friend? Or, maybe not best friend, but at least a hanger-on, because it lets you manipulate the focus of the sentence.


First, I should clarify one thing: passive voice is the focus of the action. If the action happens to the subject of the sentence, it’s passive. If the subject performs the action, it’s active. Passive voice is often used when the writer wants to maintain focus on the subject, rather than the doer of the action. For example: she was hit by a bus. That’s passive, but it’s the best way to frame the sentence because you want to keep the focus on the woman. Who cares about the bus, except in the horrible context of it being the cause of her demise? If you change that to active voice: the bus hit her, then the bus is more important than the woman because it’s the subject and focus of the sentence.


But beyond that, how could passive be good? Lots of ways. But one of the more interesting ways is deflection of responsibility because active/passive voice selections change the focus of the sentence.


How does this impact characterization and dialog…that’s where this really gets fascinating. The use of passive voice is a terrific tool to craft a character’s dialog to show either consciousness of guilt, or simply indicate lying. Let’s look at two examples.


A Good Character Feels Guilty


Let’s say you have a basically good character, but she’s done something she’s not proud of. In fact, let’s say she got involved in something really terrible that she feels guilty about. We’ll call her Clarissa. Now Clarissa is a taxi driver in your story, and she picked up a passenger who was late for a plane. Clarissa wants to get that passenger to the airport, so she’s speeding when she rounds a corner and…runs over a little old man.


When she’s questioned about this, she might say, “We turned the corner and this man came out of nowhere. He stepped right out into the street in front of the taxi and got clipped by the fender.”


If pushed, she might even say, “He got hit by the taxi.” Or possibly, “The taxi hit him.”


The most important points to recognize in that dialog is that, whether its stated in passive voice, e.g. he was hit by the taxi; or active voice, e.g. the taxi hit him; nowhere does she flat out state, “I hit him.” The taxi hit him, as if the taxi was acting under its own volition. She is using both active and passive voice to shift the focus away from herself—to make her seem less responsible.


A good person will do this when the truth is painful and difficult to accept—she’ll try to shift responsibility to either the man (he stepped out of nowhere) or the taxi—so she doesn’t have to admit to herself that she did something so terrible.


A Bad Character is Lying


In a very similar way, law enforcement staff will watch for shifts in focus—and passive voice is a good clue to this—when questioning a suspect. Keep in mind that bad people almost never believe they are bad. If they do bad things, it’s because they were forced to do so by external forces. This means, they will frequently use passive voice, because that reflects their feeling that they were forced to do something—the action happened to them and—not the reverse.


Let’s take the classic: a man who beats his wife. Fred has been dragged to jail because he killed his wife and now the cops are questioning him.


“What happened, Fred? How did she die?”


“I didn’t do nothing.”


“Your wife’s dead from a blow to the head. There were witnesses.”


“So what?”


“You were seen arguing with her. A neighbor called the police. When they arrived, they saw you through the kitchen window.”


“What’d they see? Nothing!”


“They saw you hit her. Now why don’t you tell us the whole story?”


“Nothing to tell. She got hit by that dang skillet, that’s what happened.”


“How’d she get hit by a skillet?”


“Well, she asked for it.”


“Really? How?”


“Well, I’d just got home and was drinking a beer when she started yelling at me for being late and burning the dinner. The skillet was right there on the stove, full of burnt potatoes, and she’s yelling and screaming about it. I was just trying to drink my beer in peace, but she wouldn’t stop. She kept yelling about them burnt potatoes. She got herself in such as tizzy that something had to be done and the skillet was right there. So she got one upside the head. With that damn skillet.”


“You mean you picked up the skillet and hit her with it?”


“I mean she was hit by that damn skillet to make her stop yakking about those burnt potatoes.”


“You hit her with the skillet.”


“The skillet hit her. She asked for it! It weren’t my fault and those cops know it! It was the only way to shut her up.”


“I guess you shut her up, all right. For good, this time.”


You’ll note both active and passive peppered through this dialog. The important thing to notice is how Fred keeps shifting the blame to his poor wife and the skillet. As if the skillet could leap up from the stove and bash her without any action on his part.


Passive and active voice are all about focus, and interestingly, so is characterization!

Goals…not Resolutions

New Years resolutions have turned into a bad joke. Anyone I talk to about them laughs. Everyone thinks they should make them. Everyone wants to make them. After all, we want to lose weight, become more organized, save more money, write more pages. But we all know that New Years resolutions are pretty much doomed to failure. So why make them to begin with?

I don’t. I make goals.

Goals, at least to me, seem more concrete. More than just wishful thinking, I have to write down my goals. List the steps I need to take to reach my goals. Daily or weekly goals are so much easier to comprehend. So much easier to believe we can accomplish them. One thousand words a day means 7 thousand words a week means a category length manuscript at the end of three months. Or a single title length in only another month. If I can make those smaller goals, chances are I can reach my yearly goal.

Of course, sometimes goals change. I’ve found I need to be flexible. If I have submissions out at two different publishers, my goals for the next quarter may change depending on whether I receive an acceptance or a rejection and from whom. Which leads me to another point about making goals.

Don’t make a goal over which you have no control.

I see so many writers who make a goal to get published this year. While you have control over how many words you write, how many manuscripts you complete, how many submissions you send out, you have no control over an editor offering you a contract. While, of course, that outcome is something you are working toward, don’t put it on your goal list.

Now I need to sit back and think hard about my goals for 2011. They need to be challenging, yet still achievable. They need to make me look forward to the year ahead. I have a calendar up on my office wall (Santa brought me the NYC firefighters calendar for Christmas.) I like to write my daily word count on the calendar. It helps me to keep track at a glance whether or not I’ve made my goal for the week.

Good luck making and keeping your goals for 2011.

I had some good news on New Year’s Eve. I signed contracts for a four story series titled Paolo’s Playhouse, with Samhain. The first story, Flaunt It, will be released this spring.

Happy New Year to all. Can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for us all!

Natasha
SEE ME – Available now
FLAUNT IT – Coming Soon
www.natashamoore.com

Christmas in Puerto Rico

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our friends and readers.

Last Christmas my husband and I were on board a ship off the coast of New Zealand. This year we decided to again seek warmer weather but without traveling from the northern to the southern hemisphere.

Though we’ve visited many Caribbean islands in the past, this was our first visit to Puerto Rico and we now see why it’s called “Island of Enchantment.” With no grandchildren to spoil on Christmas Day, we planned this trip on the spur of the moment. We’d fly from Southern California to New York City to stay with our globe-trotting son for a week then arrive in Puerto Rico on December 15th. Our suitcases bulged with winter clothes mixed in with lightweight tropical garb.

After a fun, but chilly (weather-wise) visit with our son, we flew southeast and arrived late in the evening. San Juan greeted us with a downpour and a comfortable 70 plus degree breeze. Quick, throw off your jacket and put on a tank top! In San Juan we viewed beautiful Christmas light displays in all the plazas.

La Fortaleza (the Governor’s mansion) has a charming light and Christmas carols show as well. I have to say Puerto Rico goes all out decorating their public places for Christmas. The lights and colors were awe-inspiring as were the families with small children delighting in the spectacle.

In the west coast city of Mayagüez there is a very different holiday display, what seemed at first an odd theme of an Arabic woman titled La Sultana Del Caribe.

We learned there are several legends on the subject, including one that said that the Sultana was a beautiful woman who was walking through the streets of Mayagüez but no one knew her ancestry. The fact is that the city adopted a tradition from Moorish Cordoba, Spain. Now in the 21st century Mayagüez is known as the Sultan of the Caribbean for marketing purposes worldwide.

Fearing we’d be stuck in a cold lonely hotel room for the holiday I had searched frantically before leaving home for somewhere hospitable and intimate. Luckily, I found lodging for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at a remote location deep in the northwest karst country between Arecibo and Utuado.


We had our own casita (little house) consisting of a bedroom, screened porch and private bathroom. No glass windows, only screens and wooden shutters.


Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) trumps Christmas Day for most Puerto Ricans. Our hosts Joan/Juanita and Tony, a former chef and restaurant owner, served a typical and delicious Puerto Rican Christmas Eve dinner. Tony’s eighty-seven year old mother made pasteles (folded over dough filled with meat and vegetables, and then fried). Lechón (roast pork) followed this hearty appetizer, accompanied with coleslaw and arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas which Tony had harvested from his own garden). Small platters of amarillos (overripe sliced plantains fried until sweetly caramelized) complemented the pork, replacing the standard apple sauce.

Instead of eggnog, you have coquito, or coconut nog (with rum) which is delicious and a lot more potent than it tastes! We spent the evening eating, drinking and getting acquainted with everyone. This included the host’s grown son and daughter along with one other couple, old friends of the family. Tony’s mother was a charmer, speaking only Spanish to us as if we understood every word. But it didn’t matter because the friendliness and joy of the gathering overcame any language barrier.

As if this unique experience wasn’t enough a 5.4 earthquake struck as we stood in the open air “bohio” after our meal.

Our location wasn’t the epicenter. We didn’t learn the Richter scale magnitude of the quake until a couple days later. You are lucky to get cell phone service and don’t expect Wi Fi! This is a no TV or radio type of existence, which we loved.

Christmas celebrations don’t end on Christmas Day here. Before Puerto Rican traditions became influenced by American culture some gifts were received at some houses, but it was not from San Nicolás. Santa couldn't make it to the tropics in his hot wool suit with cap and reindeer. Their holiday gifts used to be from Los Reyes Magos.

On the night before January 6, El Día de los Tres Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day), Puerto Rican children go outside with scissors and shoe boxes to cut grass for the camels to eat. The grass goes into shoe boxes and the boxes are placed under the beds of parents, grandparents, godparents, uncles, aunts, etc. Sometime during the night Los Reyes come and while their camels eat the grass Los Reyes fill the shoe boxes to overflowing with gifts, and sweets, and many wonderful things. The Kings themselves don't get a plate of cookies or a glass of warm milk. All these traditions give Puerto Ricans a separate identity from the rest of the world.

Awash in vivid memories of beautiful beaches, lush vegetation, rugged mountains and boldly colored homes, we returned to Southern California on December 27. But most of all, our hearts overflowed with a sense of peace on earth. The truly special part is the new friends we made during our brief stay and a new understanding of the place named Puerto Rico.

What is your most unusual Christmas experience?