CLASSES:
Florida Romance Writers is thrilled to offer our September online workshop, Conducting Historical Research Online with Eliza Knight.
Workshop: Conducting Historical Research online
Presenter: Eliza Knight
Dates: September 12-30, 2011
Fee: $20 FRW member & $25 non-FRW member
About the Workshop:
There is a plethora of information available online for anybody who wants to look. As a writer of historical fiction, you will often find yourself needing this information. But how do you go about getting it? This class will teach you the ins and outs of conducting research online. Do you need to find just one little, nitty gritty detail or a vast amount of information that directly correlates to your plot? Do you need to know what street Carlton House was on? Or how many guns were on the HMS Impregnable?
By the end of this class, you should have a grasp on how to get this information. Eliza will also discuss how to mesh your research into your story so it flows and doesn’t feel “textbook.” After each lesson, there will be an assignment, and an opportunity for you to submit a short excerpt from your manuscript in which you’ve used historical fact, for critique.
About Eliza Knight
Eliza Knight is an author of sizzling historical romance and erotic time travel romance. She is a huge history fans. Her favorite time periods are the Regency and Medieval eras of Europe. Growing up with grandparents who lived in Paris gave her many opportunities to explore medieval ruins & historical sites as a child. When she’s not writing or reading, she loves doing research. Eliza also writes the popular blog, History Undressed, where she discusses all the wildly fascinating, and titillating, facts of history.
FMI & to sign up go to: http://www.frwriters.org/workshops.html
Online Workshop: Body Talk: Lying, Loving and the Real Language of the Body
Instructor: Kit Frazier
Date: September 5 – 30, 2011
DESCRIPTION: The use of body language adds a rich, colorful layer to fiction, and invites the reader to participate in the story. Your hero may shield his feelings, your heroine may try to soften an emotional blow. Your villain will often happily gallop into a bold-faced lie. But the body always tells the truth.
With a flick of the eye, a twitch of the mouth and even more subtle clues, your character’s body language subconsciously alerts your readers to your character’s big, black secret. Body language builds reader anticipation—it’s the up-climb on the fiction roller coaster.
Through tools gleaned from FBI research and police personality profiling, you can use body language in fiction to convey to the reader the fall is coming, prepare them for the big finale, even when your characters don’t see it coming.
In this class, we’ll take a look at the human body’s unique language of attraction, from first contact to first love, to the subtle signs of deception. And we’ll build a better story, based on the most basic and ancient language—the language of the body.
BIO: Award-winning author and FBI Special Unit liaison Kit Frazier is a professional journalist and winner of Barnes & Noble Author of the Month and Mystery Guild Pick of the Month.
As a member of Austin Search and Rescue, Kit participates in research and training with the FBI and Austin Police Department, which provides lots of opportunity for murder, mayhem and some really hot guys.
Fee: $20 CRW Members; $25 Non-CRW Members. FMI about the workshops or speakers, or to register: http://crw-rwa.ning.com or email Online Workshop Series Coordinator, Karen Docter, at coloromancewritersonlineclasses. To subscribe to Online Workshop Series mailing list, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CRWOnlineclasses. A minimum of 5 students registered two days prior to class start is required for workshop to remain viable. No refunds after 24 hours prior to class start.
Online Workshop: Corsets, Goggles, Airships, Oh My! Researching & Writing Steampunk
Instructor: Beth Daniels aka Beth Henderson aka J.B. Dane
Date: September 5 – 30, 2011
DESCRIPTION: The skies are filled with airships, the ground crowded with ladies in corsets with parasols and men in top hats or derbies leaning on walking sticks. Everyone owns a pair of brass goggles and is up on all the latest in steam powered clockwork technology, the discovery of new lands, and possibly conversant with the paranormal as well. Or considering ways they can take over the world, or at least get it eating complacently out of their hand.
Is this the Age of Victoria?
Not exactly. It’s definitely the World of Steampunk. And if you are interested in writing for this subgenre, born of the Romeo and Juliet like liaison of the Historical and the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genres, then researching and writing your story will be a melding of the ways as well.
For research you do need – not just into the Industrial Age, but also into the Current Era and the About-To-Be wonders of technology. Steampunk throws them all in the pot and turns them into quite uncommon porridge.
The key is knowing what you can use that actually was and what you can warp, morph, twist, tweak, alter, reconfigure, and dream up in connection with it.
Steampunk is more than merely a pseudo-Victorian world, for it can play out in the future or in an alternate universe just as easily as it can be performed on the 19th and early 20th century stage. But until you know what sort of homework you need to do in preparing to write your story, how can you cook up a lovely steamed meal of fact and fantastic fiction?
This 4-Week workshop tells how by guiding participants through the doors of history and on an excursion into the world of clockwork mechanics as well as highlighting the various elements that make up Steampunk.
For beginning novelists and for those interested in switching to or expanding into a new genre.
BIO: Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well. She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster’s Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her fault), and has a story in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology slated for publication by Dragon Moon Press in 2011.
For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing. Five of her former Novel class students are now published.
Twenty-six of Beth’s manuscripts have appeared in print or e-book format. These have been historical romantic adventures (6), romantic comedies (10), romantic-suspense (3), and young adult romantic comedy (7). Her titles have appeared in 12 different languages in over 20 countries. At the moment she is working on various manuscripts and attempting a collaboration with another RWA member on a contemporary/fantasy/romantic adventure. She also ventured into self-publishing to keep her out-of-print backlist in print, but previous e-books in print, and in frustration, to move beyond a manuscript she’d been reworking for editors for a decade with no bites, released a previously unpublished historical romantic adventure set in the American West.
She is a member of Romance Writers of America, and an active member and volunteer with the Kiss of Death Online romantic suspense chapter. Website: RomanceAndMystery.com
Fee: $20 CRW Members; $25 Non-CRW Members. FMI about the workshops or speakers, or to register: http://crw-rwa.ning.com or email Online Workshop Series Coordinator, Karen Docter, at coloromancewritersonlineclasses. To subscribe to Online Workshop Series mailing list, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CRWOnlineclasses. A minimum of 5 students registered two days prior to class start is required for workshop to remain viable. No refunds after 24 hours prior to class start.
September 2011 – Conceive, Believe, Achieve: Goal-Setting as a Proven Path From Abstract Wish To Concrete Plan
Presented by Amy Atwell
Dates: 5 – 30
Deadline: Sep 2
Fee: $16
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/
Course Description:
Wishes. Dreams. They sound so much more exciting than the drudgery of actions and plans. But writing a novel doesn’t just happen. And selling a book proposal isn’t an accident. Achievements like these require planning and work. Dedication over time. Writers without a plan often lose track of their goals. In this class, attendees start with their wishes and dreams—no matter how big or improbable—and use a systematic approach to uncover the necessary actions to make those dreams a reality. Join us, and move beyond wishing to achieve!
Instructor Bio:
Amy Atwell worked in professional theater for 15 years before turning from the stage to the page to write fiction. She now gives her imagination free rein in both contemporary and historical stories that combine adventure and romance. An Ohio native, Amy has lived all across the country and now resides on a barrier island in Florida with her husband and two Russian Blues. She celebrated the achievement of a lifelong goal with her debut sale of Lying Eyes, a romantic suspense novel, available from Carina Press.
Read more about Amy at her website: http://www.amyatwell.com
You can register for the following on-line class through Sep 2. Each class is $16.
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#SEP
Or email Online Workshop Coordinator, Hope Candieas, hopereneaa using the Subject line: LRWA ONLINE WORKSHOP. To subscribe to LRWA Online Workshop monthly mailing list, LRWAonlinecourses
The Carolina Romance Writers Chapter of RWA is pleased to announce our October Online Workshop:
WORKSHOP: From homeroom to last bell: The Hero’s Journey in YA Fiction
INSTRUCTOR: Linda Gerber & Jennifer McAndrews
DATE: October 3rd to October 28th Standard Workshop
Regular, (Month-long) classes, consisting of at least 2 lessons per week for CRW and HCRW members is $15, all others $25
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
What do a jock, a burnout, a geek and a chav have in common? They can each fill a character archetype as found within the YA heroine’s journey. Take the journey with us and learn to identify the twelve basic steps of the journey, the routes teens tend to take, and the archetypes met along the way.
INSTRUCTOR BIO:
Linda Gerber is the best-selling author of the YA novels TRANCE, THE DEATH BY BIKINI MYSTERIES series, S.A.S.S. NOW AND ZEN, and S.A.S.S. THE FINNISH LINE. Her next book, CELEBRITY is due out Spring 2012.
Linda recently returned to life in the Midwest after four years in Japan, where she served as the Regional Advisor for the Tokyo chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Her books have been honored as ALA Popular Paperback, Junior Library Guild, Women’s Sports Foundation recommended read and Literacy Lab recommended read selections.
She has spoken at conferences and taught workshops both at home and abroad. Currently, Linda lives and writes in Dublin, Ohio, blissfully ignoring her husband, four kids, and one very naughty puppy.
Jennifer McAndrews, mild-mannered New Yorker and fan of oxymorons, is the author of the romantic suspense TRAIL OF THE TUDOR BLUE (under penname Gwen Roman). She has long used The Hero’s Journey as an effective tool for devising story, and even now is working on a dystopian YA – a genre in which the hero’s journey plays a big role. Jennifer is a 2010 Golden Heart Finalist for Young Adult Fiction and has the margaRita glass to prove it. Her next book, DEADLY FARCE, is due from Avalon Spring 2012.
Registration Deadline: October 3rd Register at http://www.carolinaromancewriters.com/october11.htm
*Please Note: If paying by Paypal, please send money to
workshops.
For more information, email Carole at: workshops
September 2011 – Show Don’t Tell Workshop
Presented by Nicki Salcedo
Dates: 5 – 30
Deadline: Sep 2
Fee: $16
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/
Course Description:
This workshop will give you a new perspective on the old admonishment “Show, don’t tell”.
Learn that “showing” and “telling” are partners in creating vivid stories with good pacing.
Bring out emotion, conflict, and sensory details, while blending exposition and dialogue to create a balanced narrative.
Try exercises to improve narrative and examples of when to “tell” and when to “show”. This is an interactive workshop.
Attendees should be prepared to critique examples from their own work and create new examples through class exercises.
The goal is to end storytelling and bring back the lost art of creative writing.
Instructor Bio:
Nicki Salcedo is a graduate of Stanford University where she majored in English and Creative Writing. She has served as the Vice President of Program and Conference Chair of Georgia Romance Writers. Nicki has also served RWA as the Literacy for Life Raffle Chair, on committees such as RWA Leadership, PRO Advocacy, and PRO Steering. She has received the Maggie Award in the Single Title twice.
For more information about where Nicki blogs and tweets, she can be found online at www.8headedhydra.com
You can register for the following on-line class through Sep 2. Each class is $16.
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#SEP
Or email Online Workshop Coordinator, Hope Candieas, hopereneaa using the Subject line: LRWA ONLINE WORKSHOP. To subscribe to LRWA Online Workshop monthly mailing list, LRWAonlinecourses
September 2011 – Microsoft Word for Writers
Presented by Catherine Chant
Dates: 5 – 30
Deadline: Sep 2
Fee: $16
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/
Course Description:
“Microsoft Word for Writers” will focus on teaching you the aspects of the Word program that are most useful for writers.
Lessons included in this workshop are:
Proper manuscript formatting,
Creating headers/footers,
Working with page numbers,
Creating a manuscript template,
Customizing the toolbars,
Understanding/ customizing the Auto-Correct feature, and
Using the Work menu or Recent Documents menu as a shortcut to work with multiple documents at the same time.
Other subjects that will be covered include:
Formatting the query letter,
Creating a query letter template,
Creating envelopes and SASE labels,
Using Track Changes to work with critique partners, and
Backing up your computer files.
This workshop applies to versions of Word from 1997 through 2011 and is for both Mac and Windows users.
Instructor Bio:
Catherine Chant is an award-winning writer from New England. She is a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and webmaster for her RWA chapter, From the Heart Romance Writers (fthrw.com). A graduate of Boston College, she worked for fifteen years at her alma mater as a computing & communications consultant and now provides freelance web editing and design services to other writers and clients such as BC’s Lynch School of Education. Her short fiction and non-fiction work has appeared in RWA newsletters, CharacterS, SchoolArts, MetroKids, Twilight Times, Apollos Lyre, and on websites controlled by SEO content provider DemandStudios.com. Her young adult time travel romance WISHING YOU WERE HERE was a finalist in the 2008 Golden Heart® awards. She is currently working a new young adult novel.
You can find out more about Catherine at her website: http://www.catherinechant.com
You can register for the following on-line class through Sep 2. Each class is $16.
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#SEP
Or email Online Workshop Coordinator, Hope Candieas, hopereneaa using the Subject line: LRWA ONLINE WORKSHOP. To subscribe to LRWA Online Workshop monthly mailing list, LRWAonlinecourses
Juggling Genres
Instructor: Beth Henderson
Class Info:
Some writers settle into one niche and stay there, comfy, and content to write only one type of story. Others do the opposite and write in more than one genre, or niche within a genre. They tend to be more prolific. And prolific equals one very golden result: success.
If you have been tempted to write in a different category or genre or niche lately, this is your chance to see which one – or more – is a good fit for you.
There are the sort of moves one can make sideways…writing much the same thing for a different audience, such as writing romantic comedy for adults and also for the YA audience. Perhaps the move should be one that incorporates another element or subtracts one, such as romantic-suspense-adventure leading to the non-romantic mystery field or even urban fantasy. Or the leap should be daring and unlike anything you ever thought you’d write before.
This workshop looks at all the possible junctions you can find as you stroll along your familiar lane. It also points out how many other authors have diversified, have expanded their writing repertoire, and in what ways
INSTRUCTOR BIO
Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well. She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster’s Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her fault), and has a story (“The Dragon’s Tale”) in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology slated for publication by Damnation Books in December 2011.
For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing.
Twenty-six of Beth’s novels have appeared in print or e-book format, and in 12 different languages in over 20 countries. In April WRITING STEAMPUNK by Beth Daniels was her first non-fiction book length release. At the moment she is working on various manuscripts, some fiction, some non-fiction but related to writing.
Website: www.RomanceAndMystery.com
For more info: www.bdrwa.com click on online classes
Or contact mrsgodiva
WORKSHOP: Is Writing A Series Right For You
INSTRUCTOR: Misty Evans
DATE: September 5th to September 30th Standard Workshop
Regular, (Month-long) classes, consisting of at least 2 lessons per week for CRW and HCRW members is $15, all others $25
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
No matter what genre, series are in demand by readers and publishers alike. But is writing a series right for you? This workshop will help you:
· Examine the pros and cons of writing a series
· Define and evaluate your idea
· Develop a Series Bible to track plot lines, characters and story arcs
· Develop a Pitch Bible that includes blurbs, synopses and a story arc to market to agents and editors
· Turn your series idea into a workable project with tools, templates and one-on-one help
INSTRUCTOR BIO:
Misty Evans was bitten by the writing bug when she won a contest in 4th grade with an essay about her dad. Today, she writes the award-winning Super Agent Series and Witches Anonymous series. She likes her coffee black, her conspiracy stories juicy, and her wicked characters dressed in couture. Her debut novel, Operation Sheba, Super Agent Series Book 1, won a CataNetwork Reviewers’ Choice Award in 2008, a CAPA nomination in 2009, and the New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award for Best Romantic Suspense in 2010. I’d Rather Be In Paris, the second book in her Super Agent Series, was also nominated for a 2009 CAPA for Best Romantic Suspense. She’s currently at work on the next Super Agent and Witches Anonymous books as well as a new series for Carina Press. To learn more about Misty and her books, visit www.readMistyEvans.com or follow her on www.twitter.com/readmistyevans.
Registration Deadline: September 5th Register at http://www.carolinaromancewriters.com/september11.htm
*Please Note: If paying by Paypal, please send money to workshops.
For more information, email Carole at: workshops
WORKSHOP: OMG, I *heart* it: Writing the YA teens will love
INSTRUCTOR: Suzanne Lazear
DATE: September 5th to September 30th Standard Workshop
Regular, (Month-long) classes, consisting of at least 2 lessons per week for CRW and HCRW members is $15, all others $25
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Find out what Teens expect out of a YA novel and how to write the YA story you want to tell in a way that appeals to today’s teens. In this hands-on class, we’ll work on the mechanics of writing YA and how it differs from writing for adults including creating realistic dialogue, characters, worlds, and plots teens can relate to, tone and pacing, and other differences and avoiding common YA pitfalls. All manuscripts are welcome from “I have an idea” to polished and ready.
INSTRUCTOR BIO:
Suzanne Lazear occupies a small corner of the west coast where she lives with the hubby, the tot, a hermit crab, and a praying mantis named Cinderella. She’s a regular blogger at Steamed! (Ageofsteam.wordpress.com). She always plays with swords and is hardly ever described as normal. Her Steampunk Dark Fairytale for teens, “Innocent Darkness” will be released by Flux in 2012.
Registration Deadline: September 5th Register at http://www.carolinaromancewriters.com/september11.htm
*Please Note: If paying by Paypal, please send money to workshops.
For more information, email Carole at: workshops
September 2011 – Romantic Suspense Workshop
Presented by Dee Lloyd
Dates: 5 – 30
Deadline: Sep 2
Fee: $16
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/
Course Description:
To keep the reader eagerly turning pages from the first word to the last, a Romantic Suspense novel needs engaging characters, a believable and complicated plot and fast-moving pace. This workshop will give you some of the tools necessary to achieve this goal. It will also point out some of the pitfalls to avoid. It will conclude with some do’s and don’t's from an acquisition editor’s point of view.
TOPICS
Essential elements of Romantic suspense
Where to begin?
Plotting
Developing real multi-leveled characters
Atmosphere
Pace… escalating suspense
Instructor Bio:
Award winning Romantic Suspense author Dee Lloyd has always loved a mystery and a good love story. She figures she is a natural to write romantic suspense novels. After all, she met her husband, in what could have been the opening scene of a romance novel. She was auditioning for the singing lead in a college musical comedy that he had written. Naturally, she got the part . . . and the man. (Fill in the details. a moody Irishman, an optimistic out-going woman, etc. etc.)
Dee has seven published Romantic Suspense/Mystery novels. TIES that blind won the 2000 EPPIE Award for Contemporary Romance and OUT OF HER DREAMS won the 2010 EPIC Award for paranormal romance. OUT OF HER DREAMS was also a nominee for the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Paranormal Romance of 2009 from an Indie publisher.
She is a popular speaker at Romance and Mystery conferences. She enjoys coordinating her Library In Your Hand workshops in which authors introduce readers to the pleasures of reading novels on their own handheld readers, PDAs and Pocket PCs. She has taught several writing workshops at conferences, writing groups and local centers.
Reviewers applaud her believable and sympathetic characters and fast-paced stories.
Read more about Dee at her: http://www.deelloyd.com. Write to her at dee
You can register for the following on-line class through Sep 2. Each class is $16.
FMI: http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#SEP
Or email Online Workshop Coordinator, Hope Candieas, hopereneaa using the Subject line: LRWA ONLINE WORKSHOP. To subscribe to LRWA Online Workshop monthly mailing list, LRWAonlinecourses
Promotional Items needed
If you would like to promote your book, Fiction Writers’ Boot Camp on the Beach is being held October 21 & 22, 2011 in St. Augustine, FL and is in need of promotional items and goodies. Please contact Kellie Sharpe at summer1565 for the mailing address.
Sponsored by Ancient City Romance Authors (ACRA)
On October 8th of this year, the Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America will celebrate 30 years of helping members take the first step toward their dream of becoming published authors. Through our excellent speaker program, we give our members the opportunity of interacting with bestselling authors. Our online classes and monthly meetings enable our members to learn and get acquainted with other like minded writers.
Each year, our birthday celebration is our major fund-raiser and keeps our educational programs running. Because 2011 is a 30-year milestone for us, we are inviting RWA members to support our opportunity drawing through a donation of books, DVD’s, critiques, theme baskets, gift cards, or monetary contributions.
Thank you for considering our request. All contributors will be gratefully acknowledged at our birthday event.
If you have any questions, please contact us through OCC30years.
CONTESTS:
Looking to sign your first book contract, switch from a small press to a large publisher or simply explore another genre of romantic fiction? Turn up the heat on your writing career with the Hot Prospects Contest.
Valley of the Sun Romance Writers are proud to announce that last year’s Grand Prize winner, Indian Princess by Sarah M Anderson, will be a December 2011 release by Harlequin Desire, retitled A Man of His Word. Our members are eager to read the rest of Dan Armstrong and Rosebud Donnelly’s fantastic romance. For more information visit Sarah at www.sarahmanderson.com
Fee: $25 for Valley of the Sun RW chapter members
$30 for non-chapter members
Chapter website has PayPal capability… www.valleyofthesunrw.com
Postmark Deadline: September 1st, 2011
E-Submit Deadline: September 1st, 2011
Eligibility: Any uncontracted work by an RWA member in good standing, who is able to enter RWA National Golden Heart or Rita contests may enter any category. This includes both published and unpublished authors.
Enter: 3-5-page synopsis and up to 25 pages of story (30 pages max). Entry or synopsis may be shorter, but neither may be longer than specified.
Categories/Judges: Trained judges for preliminary round,
Editors and Agents for final round.
1) Historical/Regency
Editor – Katherine N. Pelz, The Berkley Publishing Group
Agent – Jennifer Schober, Spencerhill Associates
2) Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal
Editor – Deborah Werksman, Sourcebooks, Inc.
Agent – Jenny Bent, The Bent Agency
3) Romantic Suspense
Editor – Amy Pierpont, Editorial Director, Grand Central Publishing
Agent – Paige Wheeler, Folio Literary Management
4) Contemporary Long/Single Title
Editor – Jennifer Enderlin, St. Martins
Agent – Michelle Grajkowski, 3 Seas Literary Agency
5) Series Contemporary
Editor – Johanna Raisanen, Associate Editor, Harlequin
Editor – Leanne Morgena, Senior Editor, Sweetheart Rose, The Wild Rose Press
GRAND PRIZE: The winner can choose between a book trailer, static banner and active banner from Firebird Entertainment for the book of their choice (a $300.00 value) or $100.00 USD.
For More Information, entry form, and rules, see website at www.valleyofthesunrw.com.
**2011 Gateway to the Best – Open now!
Missouri Romance Writers of America (MORWA) is proud to announce the opening of their annual contest – Gateway to the Best. With six categories, there’s sure to be one for your manuscript.
As summer draws to a close, Gateway’s first round judges are waiting for your manuscript.
Contest closes September 9th, 2011
No synopsis needed. Send in the first 7000 words of your manuscript.
Costs: $20 for MORWA Members for 1st entry & $10 for additional entries, $30 for Non-MORWA Members for 1st entry & $15 for additional entries
Eligibility: Open to unpublished authors and authors who have not been contracted in novel-length fiction (40,000+) in last 3 years.
Entry: Electronic entry only. Entry length limited to first 7,000 words (25-28 pages). No synopsis.
Categories: Contemporary Series, Historical, Young Adult, Romantic Suspense, Single Title & Paranormal
Final Judges:
Laura Barth – Harlequin: Contemporary Series
Esi Sogah – Harper Collins: Historical
Adam Wilson – Harlequin Teen: YA
Margo Lipschultz – Harlequin: Romantic Suspense
Katherine Pelz – Berkley: Single Title
Latoya Smith – Grand Central Publishing: Paranormal
Grand Prize: $100 & entire manuscript critiqued by published author.
For more information go to http://www.morwa.org/gateway.htm
This contest was conceived in honor of best-selling author Linda Howard to award excellence in unpublished romance fiction and their authors. The contest is judged by trained judges with PAN and PRO status. The winners of each category are awarded a metal bookmark engraved with the author’s name and the entry’s title. Winners will also be included in the RWR announcements.
Why should you enter the Linda Howard Award of Excellence?
* Everything is electronic, and you can pay via PayPal
* Each category has an agent and editor as final round judges
* No synopsis is required for the first round; the first round entry consists of your first 25 pages
* If you agree to judge a minimum of two entries, you get $5 off your entry fee
Final round judges include:
* Series/Short and Long Contemporary – Susan Litman, Harlequin and Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhil Associates, Ltd.
* Single Title – Deb Werksman, Sourcebooks and Jessica Alvarez, Bookends, LLC
* Romantic Suspense – Kristin Sevick, Tor/Forge and Joyce Holland, D4EO
* Historical – Megan Records, Kensington and Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency
* Unique Genres (Paranormal, Futuristic, Fantasy, Time Travel) – Melissa Frain, Tor/Forge and Marlene Stringer, The Stringer Literary Agency
* Young Adult -Adam Wilson, Harlequin Teen and Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency
* The Write Magic (open to members of Southern Magic) – Debra Dixon, Bell Bridge Books and Paige Wheeler, Folio Literary Agency
The deadline to enter is October 15, 2011 at 10:00 p.m., Central time. Enter before October 1 for a discounted entry fee. Finalists will be announced in January, and winners will be announced at the 2012 Silken Sands Conference (http://www.gccrwa.com/silkensands/) in March.
For more information, contact Heather Leonard, contest coordinator, at HNLeonard or go to http://www.southernmagic.org/lindahowardcontest.html
Chick Lit Writers of the World RWA announces The 7th Annual Get Your Stiletto in the Door Contest.
The contest is open for entries until midnight, EST, Sept. 6, 2011.
Final Round Judges:
Young Adult:
Agent: Susan Hawk, The Bent Agency
Editor: Leah Hultenschmidt, Sourcebooks
E-publisher: Heather Howland, Entangled Publishing
Mystery/Suspense:
Agent: Elaine Spencer, The Knight Agency
Editor: Toni Plummer, St. Martins Press
E-publisher: Kelli Collins, Ellora’s Cave
Paranormal:
Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
Editor: Leis Pederson, Berkley
E-publisher: Jennifer Miller, Samhain
Women’s Fiction:
Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates
E-publisher: Rhonda Stapleton, Carina Press
Single Title:
Agent: Paige Wheeler, Folio Literary Management
E-publisher: Amanda Bergeron, Avon Impulse
**New this year: A “Louboutin Stiletto” will be awarded to the entry with the best chick lit voice, judged by agent Lois Winston.
Enter and more information at http://chicklitwriters.com/stilettocontest/.
CONTEST FINALISTS:
Toronto Romance Writers is delighted to announce the Finalists for The Catherine 2011
Contemporary Series – Final Round Judge: Wanda Ottewell, Harlequin
16 MARSDEN PLACE by Rachel Brimble
MONTANA MAN by Leeann Morgan
A FUTURE FOR ABBY by Rebecca Sampson
Contemporary Single Title – Final Round Judge: Margo Lipschultz, HQN
NO FRAGILE HEART by Kat Latham
RECONSTRUCTING EVE by Lisa Hilleren
THE ANGEL MADE ME DO IT by Shauna Allen
Historical – Final Round Judge: Katherine Pelz, Berkley
MERELY PLAYERS by Margaret Clift McNulty
THE GARDENER’S COUNTESS by Susan Omine
THE TURNCOAT by Donna Thorland
Romantic Suspense – Final Round Judge: Leis Pederson, Berkley
THE LAST EXECUTION by Jerrie Alexander
TANGLED DECEPTIONS by Irene Jordane*
THE SHADOW HOUR by Jacqui Nelson
THE DREAMER by Michelle Sharp
Paranormal, Fantasy, Futuristic – Final Round Judge: Esi Sogah, Avon
A PACK OF TWO by Wendy Anderson
IN THE LAND OF THE VULTURES by Paula Chaffee Scardamalia
A RIP IN TIME by Helen H. Pilz
THE DEVIL OF WHITECHAPEL by Bec Skrabl
Strong Romantic Elements – Final Round Judge: Kathleen Gilligan, St. Martin’s
SO ABOUT THE MONEY by Cathy Perkins
EASY IN THEORY by D. B. Shuster
BREACH OF CONTRACT by D. B. Shuster
BECALMED by Normandie Ward Fischer
Young Adult – Final Round Judge: Karen Chaplin, HarperCollins Children’s
CHEERLEADERS FROM OUTERSPACE by Vanessa Barneveld
WITCH BOY by Yvonne Yirka
GETTING A LIFE, EVEN IF YOU’RE DEAD by Beth Watson
* TRW member
Categories with more than three finalists are due to ties.
Thank you, Elizabeth!