Asking for Help to Keep the Contests Running

It's that time of year when I have to screw up my courage and stick my neck out. Asking for help is daunting and difficult. 

I delayed starting my annual fund drive waiting to see the donations from Query Kombat. While many people donated to support our hours of work (so appreciated), it was less than hoped. And that amount was split three ways after ten percent went to Flint Kids. We really did not want to make a fee mandatory to enter, so I was totally fine with that number. Unfortunately, that means back to my summer fund drive. 

I very much love running contests and helping authors come together with agents. You might say I'm addicted to it. It's so gratifying to have a blog that people visit when they are doing something other than writing. Interacting on twitter and meeting new writers is so much fun. There's nothing I like better than being able to help.

And speaking of help, I also love my day job working with children, specifically special-needs children. I want to go on doing this forever!

Unfortunately, we don't always get what we want as the Rolling Stones said.

Due to various economic influences, I'm resuming my donation campaign to see if I can continue doing what I love. The hard facts of life are I either have to do this or cut back on my activities. Let me lay out the facts again.

As you can guess, hosting contests and doing daily posts on this blog as well as writing my own stories is very time consuming. During a submission week I can easily spend thirty hours just on contest work. For the first three weeks of Query Kombat I didn't have time to write a thing. Even a mini-contest like the Picture Book Party takes so much time to coordinate, not to mention answering questions and finding agents. There's no way I could manage that and still have time to write if I'm forced to look for another job. 

True, most contest hosts have day jobs, but you might notice that the various contests don't tend to last many years. Most contests vanish after two years or so. I've helped run three plus contest a year for over four years.

A (very) little background information:

-I'm an aide, not a teacher.
-I don't get paid over the summer.
-Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (which I support), my hours were cut back two years ago by over ten percent, reducing my pay further.
-I have two kids in private colleges.
-My husband is unfairly left with all the burden of our bills on his shoulders during the summer. 

It's seek out donations to support my blog or give it up to work full time. Because if I have to pick my writing or the blog, the blog has to go.

Rather than require a fee of ten dollars to enter my contests and perhaps making it impossible to enter for some, I'm turning to crowd funding again. 

What I have to offer:

-Numerous contests per year: Query Kombat, Nightmare on Query Street, New Agent, Sun versus Snow, PB Party. I'm also a PitchWars mentor.
-Mentors from those contests providing feedback.
-Critique workshops and critique blog hops to help with query letters and first pitches.
-Posts with advice for querying Writers
-Posts with editing advice on such things as filtering and plot holes
-A newsletter giving early notice of submission dates for contests
-Inspirational posts from guest authors about their Call with agents
-Interviews about query slush from over thirty agents
-Fun parties and chats on twitter

Each of my contests averages three success stories from just my picks. That doesn't include all the writers who have met and found critique partners from my twitter parties.

My contests often close out in minutes. Writers recognize the value of these contests.

I promise one hundred percent of any donations will go toward expenses that keep me working for you, such as electricity for my laptop, a roof over my head, internet to keep blogging. It will not be used for buying books or going out to dinner or anything frivolous.

Through careful saving I was able to make my donation goal half of what it was last year. $1200 instead of $3000. I do receive royalties from Grudging now; sadly it's only enough to take my family out for ice cream once a month. Maybe when a couple of more books are out this will be a different story. It's pretty much a fact that you earn pennies when you're starting out, however. 

This was not an easy decision, nor a happy one to ask for help again. If you have entered one of my contests or plan to in the future I'd love your support. If you find my blog a valuable resource and wish to see it continue in full, consider helping out. This is totally your choice. I'll do my best to continue as much as I can of my activities no matter what because I love being your cheerleader so much. 

Sometimes we all need a little help from our friends.

Thank you everyone.

There is a donation widget in my sidebar or you can use this link to donate. Some have asked about PayPal. In order to help by PayPal you can use my email address listed on this blog on my bio page. 

Update on A Little Help From Our Friends

Just like a believable main character, I'm very good at procrastinating on any tasks that are difficult. But I did want to give a short update on the behind the scenes here with my attempt to keep the blog and contests running. As you might have seen, I have to decide whether to keep doing this blog and the contests, or lend a hand and help support my family more by finding a better paying, but also more time consuming, job.

For the next six weeks until school ends, I'm trying a compromise that will allow me to do both, without charging people to enter any contests I host. I've entered the unknown land of crowd funding. 

I want to thank everyone who has donated so far and/or has supported me as I dive into this personal subject. You might notice that I raised the total goal a bit. That was to cover the house payment (And yes Indiana has a wonderfully lower mortgages than the west or east coasts!) and my internet cost all three months of my layoff. More on that and where to donate here.

That goal is over halfway met! 

My hubs was very impressed with such an outpouring of support from the writer community. He hasn't mentioned job hunting since I embarked into this unknown territory, but we both know it still hangs over us. I'd like to imagine that my manuscript out on sub will sell and make all this unnecessary, but until that happens, I'm asking for a little help from anyone who finds this blog useful.

So if this experiment in crowd funding fails... well, I try not to think about that.

Enough doom and gloom. I'm happy to report that two writers got agents from Sun versus Snow and another two got offers from Picture Book Party! Four writers now with agents! That's the best news indeed and it happened extremely fast!

I've also had many kind notes and comments through this difficult period. It's been so gratifying to find that so many people find my blog and contests essential to their own writing journey. I just want to hug you all.

I look forward to hosting Query Kombat; my only anxiety being whether we get sixty agent requests or seventy plus!

Watch for a free pass opportunity to bypass the slush and go straight into Query Kombat coming your way on May 1st! And if you are considering entering, please consider donating. 

A Little Help From Our Friends

Once again I'm trying something new to see how it turns out. Here goes...

It's come to the point where I have to reach a decision. I very much love running contests and helping authors come together with agents. You might say I'm addicted to it. It's so gratifying to have a blog that people visit when they are doing something other than writing. Interacting on twitter and meeting new writers is so much fun. There's nothing I like better than being able to help.

And speaking of help, I also love my day job working with children, specifically special needs children. I want to go on doing this forever!

Unfortunately, we don't always get what we want as the Rolling Stones said.

It's time for a decision. Due to various economic influences, I've started a donation campaign to see if I can continue doing what I love. The hard facts of life are I either have to do this or cut back on my activities. Let me lay out the facts.

As you can guess, hosting contests and doing daily posts on this blog as well as writing my own stories is very time consuming. During a submission week I can easily spend thirty hours just on contest work. Even a mini-contest like the Picture Book Party takes so much time to coordinate, not to mention answering questions and finding agents. There's no way I could manage that and still have time to write with two jobs. True, most contest host have day jobs. One I have managed. Two would be impossible.

A (very) little background information:

-I'm an aide, not a teacher.
-I don't get paid over the summer.
-My school system is in a pinch. They expect to be twenty million in the red in the next few years. We have numerous leaks in our building roof that they can't afford to fix. Needless to say, they haven't given raises in seven years. Seven years at basically the same pay.
-Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (which I support), my hours were cut back a year ago by over ten percent, reducing my pay further. 

It's only fair to my Hubs and family that I do more than I am. Especially with two kids heading to college this fall. It's seek out donations to support my blog or take a second job.

Rather than require a fee of ten dollars to enter my contests, thus making helping me out mandatory, I'd rather see how a crowd funding campaign for my contests and blog goes. 

What I have to offer:

-Numerous contests per year: Query Kombat, Nightmare on Query Street, New Agent, Sun versus Snow, PB Party, other mini-contests. I also take part in Pitchslam and PitchWars.
-Mentors from those contests providing feedback.
-Various giveaways of new books
-Critique workshops and Critique blog hops to help with query letters and first pitches.
-Posts with Advice for Querying Writers
-Posts with Editing Advice on such things as filtering and plot holes
-A newsletter giving early notice of submission dates for contests
-Inspirational posts from guest authors about their Call with agents
-Interviews about query slush from over thirty agents

Just in the last month, four former contest picks of mine have signed with agents. Last year's Query Kombat had almost ten success stories alone. That doesn't include all the writers who have met and found critique partners from my twitter parties.

My current contest drew 200 entries in less than a minute. The contest before that closed in under four minutes. Writers recognize the value of these contests.

I promise one hundred percent of any donations will go toward expenses that keep me working for you, such as electricity for my laptop, a roof over my head, internet to keep blogging. It will not be used for buying books or going out to dinner or anything frivolous.

This was not an easy decision, nor a happy one. If you have entered one of my contests or plan to in the future I'd love your support. If you find my blog a valuable resource and wish to see it continue in full, consider helping out. This is totally your choice. I'll do my best to continue as much as I can of my activities no matter what because I love being your cheerleader so much. 

Sometimes we all need a little help from our friends.

Thank you everyone, and I hope I haven't offended anyone--but no one is perfect. Everyone is free to disagree with my choice, respectfully.

I'll add a discrete donation button in my sidebar, but until then here is the link to donate.    

Giveaway for NOVA

I'm calling in a favor!

Check out this huge giveaway on Goodreads of twenty-five copies of Margaret Fortune's NOVA from Penguin DAW. The cover art is being revealed tomorrow.



The clock activates so suddenly in my mind, my head involuntarily jerks a bit to the side. The fog vanishes, dissipated in an instant as though it never was. Memories come slotting into place, their edges sharp enough to leave furrows, and suddenly I know. I know exactly who I am.

My name is Lia Johansen, and I was named for a prisoner of war. She lived in the Tiersten Internment Colony for two years, and when they negotiated the return of the prisoners, I was given her memories and sent back in her place.

And I am a genetically engineered human bomb.

Lia Johansen was created for only one purpose: to slip onto the strategically placed New Sol Space Station and explode. But her mission goes to hell when her clock malfunctions, freezing her countdown with just two minutes to go. With no Plan B, no memories of her past, and no identity besides a name stolen from a dead POW, Lia has no idea what to do next. Her life gets even more complicated when she meets Michael Sorenson, the real Lia’s childhood best friend.

Drawn to Michael and his family against her better judgment, Lia starts learning what it means to live and love, and to be human. It is only when her countdown clock begins sporadically losing time that she realizes even duds can still blow up. If she wants any chance at a future, she must find a way to unlock the secrets of her past and stop her clock. But as Lia digs into her origins, she begins to suspect there’s far more to her mission and to this war, than meets the eye. With the fate of not just a space station but an entire empire hanging in the balance, Lia races to find the truth before her time—literally—runs out.

Finally on Bookshelves

Kindar's Cure might not be available in bookstores, but thanks to my CP and friend, Carla, I get to see it on bookshelves. And the ebook version went online last weekend.

In other news, there will be a new Query Questions tomorrow featuring Molly Jaffa. It will feature some new questions about ... well, come and see. 

WriteOnCon Reading Room Contest

Hey all, remember that contest from #WriteOnCon where the winner gets $1,000 and a session with a literary agent? Well, I really need your help!

Friend and fellow writer, Amy Trueblood made the top five of that exciting contest with her story Fighting Chance. Now she needs your help to pull out on top. 

What can you do?

Go vote here! Check out the top five entries and see if you believe Fighting Chance should be one of the winners. Voting for the winners will continue until September 8th.

We're always talking about standing with our fellow writers. Here's your chance to do it. 

Cover Reveal for KIN SEEKER

I'm so happy to be part of the cover reveal for KIN SEEKER the first release from Naomi Eccles-Smith. This is a book for everyone who still believes in the beauty of unicorns and the bravery of dragons. KIN SEEKER is available now for pre-order!

Book Blurb:

As the last dragon, Laeka’Draeon holds the key to finding his missing kin and restoring the magical barriers of the towers of Klonnoth Aire. The problem is he has no memory of his past, or what happened the fateful day the dragons disappeared and the towers fell silent.

With the surrounding kingdoms in disarray, and strange terrors spreading across the lands, Laeka’Draeon has no choice but to take action. If the barriers of Klonnoth Aire are not restored, the consequences could bring about the return of an ancient and devastating enemy.

Finding aid in the unlikeliest of allies, including a spirited unicorn filly, a colossal forest guardian, and an eerie-eyed phantom, Laeka’Draeon braves unknown and often dangerous realms in search of answers, and quickly finds himself swept up in an adventure far bigger than he could have ever imagined.

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Author Bio:

Naomi confesses the best word to describe her is: whimsical. Forget “the girl next door” and think more along the lines of “the girl from the next galaxy over” and you’d be closer to the correct personality categorization. She is an unequivocal day-dreamer, anime enthusiast, partisan of fantastical things, and unshakable devotee to story-telling.

In addition to writing, Naomi sings, draws, reads, plays console games, does the occasional concept art commissions, and works with rescued animals. Her love for absorbing fabulous, unforgettable stories is only out-shined by her love for creating her own.

Currently, she lives with her equally peculiar sister, two wild but wonderful nephews, cheeky little niece, her adorable, fun-loving cats, Kyo and Yuki, and blessedly tolerant housemate on the Gold Coast, Australia.

Link to website: http://dragoncalling.wordpress.com/

Link to Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dragon-Calling/1403886873156200

Link to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18271993-kin-seeker

Link to Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/342932

Nerves and the Agent Greeting Contest

Another sweet friend sent a picture of her copy of Kindar. It's getting a little easier to believe it's real now, and the pretty background suits the cover! I'd love to post more pictures if anyone else would like to share.

Now to business. I need to get some work done on Monday morning. (It's kinda hard to concentrate on writing when email notification of comments keep rolling in.) So the post for the Agent Greeting Contest will go live about noon on August 5th.

There's no need to rush. The contest will stay open until 5:00 pm EST on August 7th. Then I will randomly draw the winners.

As a reminder, there will be five winners of agent query critiques on the line. All the information about the contest is here and the agents are listed here. You do need to be a follower of this blog. And that is all. 

If there are any questions, leave a comment and I'll get right back to you.  

In Which I'm a Prize

I'm pleased to announce that I'm a prize in Amy Trueblood's 1K Follower Blowout Celebration. Or to be more truthful, my critiquing skills are the prize. To celebrate Amy's 1,000 (wow! I'm impressed.) blog followers, she is giving away the critiques of five authors on the first five pages of the winners' manuscripts, plus some amazing books. So if my tearing apart your query just isn't enough, here's a chance for me to rip your manuscript a new one. *evil laugh* 

You'll know Amy's blog, Chasing the Crazies, for its super First Five Frenzy agent interviews, Writer Odysseys, and contest roundups. So bring your thick skin and follow Amy. Your manuscript will be stronger for it. 

Cover Reveal for Query Kombat Judge Lizzy Charles

I'm thrilled to reveal the cover for EFFORTLESS WITH YOU of our dedicated Query Kombat judge, Lizzy Charles. This lady has gone out of her way to ensure Query Kombat is a success, including encouraging her agent to take part. She is one of those writers that loves to give back and help her fellow writers. I'm so glad to be able to do something for her in return. And her cover is simply beautiful.

Effortless With You:

School is out and Lucy is ready for the perfect summer: lazy days at the pool, invitations to the most exclusive parties, and romantic dates with her hot new boyfriend. That is, until she lands in trouble one too many times and her parents issue the ultimate punishment: a summer job. Suddenly, the summer can't end fast enough.

To make matters worse, the job is painting houses with Justin, the most popular, egotistical guy in school. Spending all summer with Justin might be other girls' dreams, but definitely not Lucy's. After all, Justin is cocky, annoying, and a jerk. So what if he's the most beautiful jerk Lucy's ever seen? Or that his grin makes her forget she’s mad at the world? Or that maybe, just maybe, there's more to Justin than Lucy realizes. Only one thing is certain: it won’t be the summer she wanted, but it might be exactly the one she needs.

About Lizzy Charles:

When Lizzy Charles isn’t scrambling to raise her two spunky toddlers or caring for premature and sick babies as a neonatal intensive care nurse, she’s in a quiet corner writing or snuggled up with a novel and a few squares of dark chocolate. Black tea keeps her constant and she loves guacamole. She married her high school sweet heart, a heart-melting musician, so it’s no surprise she’s fallen in love with writing contemporary YA romance novels. 

Social Media:

Lizzy Charles on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lizzy-Charles/398829673547005?ref=hl

Blog: https://twitter.com/LizzyCharles_

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LizzyCharles_

Effortless With You on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18129111-effortless-with-you

Snow and A Little Catch Up

I promised snow pictures for my friends in those warm climates who never see any of the white stuff. (Grumbles under breath about lucky SOB's in warmer climates. You know who you are!) We got our first snow fall on Boxing Day, not that we celebrate Boxing Day, but it's such a cool name. It was only a small amount of snow for us in Northern Indiana, about three inches. I'm sure we will get plenty more. So if anyone wants more pictures, shout out in the comments. I could mail you a few boxes of it, but they'd be soggy.

Here are some equal time pictures for my two dogs. The brown one is Robin--not named for the superhero, but for the bow and arrow guy. He doesn't like the wind. The black one is Pippin--yes named for LOTR's Pippin. And he is a pretty princess who doesn't like to get his feet wet. He also wouldn't look at me until I took twenty pictures. My fingers were freezing. You might be able to see Pippin is sticking his tongue out at me.



I did get to see the Hobbit movie. I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it. It seemed like they stretched the material a bit. Three hours is pretty long even for LOTR. We went the Saturday after the tragedy in Connecticut so that might have been on my mind also. I will definitely see it again and maybe it will strike me more favorably. 

In other news, I'll be starting the contest to win a copy of a Wheel of Time book this weekend, either the Eye of the World or A Memory of Light. I'll let the winner pick which one they want and whether an ebook or a paper version. Not sure whether the post will go up on Saturday or Sunday because my motivation is as uncertain as the weather. So stay tuned for that.

Oh, and Kindar's Cure is now on Goodreads in anticipation of a March 2013 release. I'll probably do another announcement about that. You can friend me here  or add Kindar to your 'to be read' list here. My editor is healing up after some surgery so there hasn't been much movement by the publisher. I wish her well and healthy and back to work soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the release date gets pushed back a little bit which give me more time to prepare.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Cover Reveal for Grave Intentions

Who wants some eye candy, ladies? I'm so happy to share with you the cover of my friend Lori Sjoberg's debut romance novel, Grave Intentions. This one is on my wish list for Christmas. Aside from holding the first royalty check or the first hard copy in your very own hands, I'd imagine getting the cover art has to be the biggest thrill of a writer's life. This is when it actually starts to feel real, when the truth sinks in--I'm about to be published. So here it is with Lori's words of what the experience was like:

A lot of thought goes into cover art. Not only must it appeal to potential buyers perusing bookstore shelves, but it also has to catch the eye of anyone scrolling through books via online merchants. In a matter of seconds, the cover needs to convey genre and mood in a way that makes the reader think "MUST. BUY. NOW!" 

In general, authors have little say about what goes onto their covers. That was the case with Grave Intentions, and I was a little anxious when I finally received the artwork from my publisher . Would I be saddled with a butt ugly cover? Would I be embarrassed if my friends or family found it on Amazon? (As you can see, I'm a glass half empty kind of gal.) I clicked the jpeg with trepidation…and was pleasantly surprised!

All of the necessary elements were present: the scythe to indicate the book is about reapers, the bare-chested man candy to show the novel is a romance, the dark blue background to accentuate said bare-chested man candy, and the vivid text to highlight the title and author. It catches the eye in both full and thumbnail sizes. And most important of all, my name was on the cover of a book! The thrill of seeing that for the first time was indescribable.

Grave Intentions:

He’s handsome, reliable, and punctual—the perfect gentleman when you want him to be. But this dream man is Death’s best agent—and now he’s got more than his soul to lose…

One act of mercy before dying was all it took to turn soldier David Anderson into a reaper—an immortal who guides souls-of-untimely-death into the afterlife. But the closer he gets to atoning for his mortal sin and finally escaping merciless Fate, the more he feels his own humanity slipping away for good. Until he encounters Sarah Griffith. This skeptical scientist can’t be influenced by his powers—even though she has an unsuspected talent for sensing the dead. Her honesty and irreverent sense of humor reignite his reason for living—and a passion he can’t afford to feel. Now Fate has summoned David to make a devastating last harvest. And he’ll break every hellishly-strict netherworld rule to save Sarah…and gamble on a choice even an immortal can’t win.

The youngest of three girls, Lori never had control of the remote. (Not that she’s bitter about that. Really. Okay, maybe a little, but it’s not like she’s scarred for life or anything.) That meant a steady diet of science fiction and fantasy. Star Trek, Star Wars, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits – you name it, she watched it. It fed her imagination, and that came in handy when the hormones kicked in and she needed a creative excuse for being out past curfew.
After completing her first manuscript, Lori joined the Romance Writers of America and Central Florida Romance Writers. Now she exercises the analytical half of her brain at her day job, and the creative half writing paranormal romance. When she’s not doing either one of those, she’s usually spending time with her husband and children of the four-legged variety.

Her contact info is: www.lorisjoberg.com

www.facebook.com/AuthorLoriSjoberg

@Lori_Sjoberg (Twitter). 

I've Been Slashed by a Big Black Cat!

My query for Dodge the Sun has been hacked by the amazing YA writer, Mindy McGinnis. (You can read her Getting the Call story here.) Mindy or Big Black Cat as she's known around AQC slashes query letters every Saturday, and I'm this week's victim volunteer. There's nothing harder then getting your query perfect and so much rests on their three or four short paragraphs. Read her comment to me on her blog: Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire. She had some great suggestions for my query and clarified exactly where I need to tinker. Off to tweak.

Getting The Call: Guest Blogger Angie Sandro

I asked my talented friend and fellow writer, Angie Sandro, to give us a taste of her success.  She graciously wrote a post describing what it was like for her getting the call to be represented by an agent. Angie writes YA paranormal and her manuscript, Juju's Child, is currently on submission to publishers. Please check out Angie's blog for more.

Thank you for inviting me, Michelle. I am honored to be able to share how I found my amazing agent, Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

I happened to be on Joyce Alton’s YESTERNIGHT’S VOYAGE blog in which she listed a new agent who represented young adult. I clicked the link and presto, I was at LOVE YA blog reading Monica’s interview with Kathleen.

Kathleen said,” Topics of particular interest to me include reincarnation, the occult, the supernatural (not in a zombie or vampire context, more psychic, or witchy, or fey), ghosts (a scary ghost story? yes, please), and psychology.” She also disclosed that her guilty pleasures are Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl.

Hot diggidy dog! Her interests covered the various plots of all five of my manuscripts.

I was so excited. I immediately queried her and received a full request for the manuscript half an hour later. That night we emailed back and forth, and learned we had common interests in books and movies. It felt surreal. I didn’t want to get my hopes up because I’d faced rejection in past. But I liked Kathleen so much (insert whine to the heavens).

I thought, “This is a person I would like to work with forever.” And isn’t that what we all want in an agent? A partner. A friend.

By the next morning, I was losing my ever-lovin’ mind. To distract myself from refreshing my inbox every two minutes, I went on a ten mile mountain bike ride. THE CALL came while I was in the middle of the woods. I almost crashed my bike into a tree trying to dig my phone out of my tight bike shorts.

All poor Kathleen heard was screams, and finally, when I actually heard her say how much she loved Juju’s Child, and her offer of representation, she had to listen to more screams. Although, when I think back to that moment, I like to pretend I was dignified. In actuality, my brain totally shut down.

The list I had made of “things to ask if an agent offers representation” was at home while I still huddled in blissful euphoria beneath the tree that had almost decapitated me.

When I returned home, I gave Kathleen a call. We had a lengthy discussion about revisions and our ideas for improving upon the existing story after I returned home. Her revision suggestions and mine meshed. I notified the other agents who were considering the manuscript and those that I had queried, and informed them I would be making my decision in a week.

It was kind of predestined thing. Kathleen was meant to be my agent. The reason it took so long for me to find her was she wasn’t representing YA when I first started my agent search. Thank goodness, I found her because I can’t imagine being with any other agent. Not that there aren’t a whole lot of awesome agents out there, but because I feel like I’m going through this process with a friend.

http://www.marsallyonliteraryagency.com/about_kathleen.asp

http://yesternightsvoyage.blogspot.com/2011/06/interview-with-angie-sandro-newly.html

http://anjeasandro.blogspot.com/2011/05/year-of-fun-may-month-i-found-my-dream.html

More Treasure Hunt Fun

Check out J.W. Troemner's answers to the Treasure Hunt questions  here.  She has an excellent blog with all kinds of useful writing tips.

Blog Treasure Hunt

Wanna play?

Clippership or Joy Alton’s one year of blogging celebration is tomorrow, Saturday, March 24. She will be starting her treasure hunt in the morning which will travel through a variety of other blogs, including this one. The fun will continue in the evening to the big finish with a grand prize of a writing critique by Joy.

Her critiques are simply amazing.  I’m not talking just a work over of your word choice or grammar, but a full-blown plot scrutiny and evaluation of the logic of your chapters.

Check her out here at Yesternight’s Voyage.

Guest Blogging

Check it out. I’m a traveling poster.  I’ve got a spot up on Angie Sandro’s blog, Oh, The Things I’ve Learned.  She asked me to wax poetic about how culture or environment can shape a writer.  Angie is a very talented writer of YA urban fantasy, who will be published soon. And big news— editors read her fantastic blog! 


Doesn't traveling poster sound more exciting than guest blogger?  At school, we call substitutes, guest teachers now. Yuck. So politically correct. 

Treasure Hunt

So Moonshade, fellow fantasy writer, has tagged me to take part in the celebration of Joy Alton’s full year of blogging at Yesternight’s Voyage. Joy is a real treasure, and the best moderator for writers around. I’ll do my best.

The rules are as follows:
1) Answer the questions on your own blog.
2) Tag three other speculative fiction blog writers to participate.
3) Each participant needs to link their blogpost with their answers back toYesternight's Voyage.
4) Leave a comment in the original post (on Yesternight's Voyage) as to why you love, write, or read speculative fiction and a link to your blog.
5) Stay tuned to Yesternight's Voyage this month for a mad treasure hunt (later on) that will connect all the participating blogs.
6) Make sure you post these rules on your blog when participating.
7) Please note that the blogging part of the treasure hunt will only run between March 6th - 19th. So have your answers posted by then. If you are posting your answers on the 18th or 19th, don't worry about tagging anyone new.

Questions:
1) Who are your favorite speculative fiction writers?

My favorite writers would have to be Brandon Sanderson, Kristen Britain, and Robert Jordan.

2) Write a two or three sentence writing prompt to inspire your readers today. (Encourage them to post their responses in your comments section.)

Writing prompt, hmmm? Imagine you were dumped in a world occupied by only five year olds with you the lone adult. What would a day be like and what would you have for lunch?

3) List three favorite industry blogs/websites that you've found helpful.

Pub Rants- lots of useful stuff

AQC- lots of fun people

Bookends- a great place to ask questions of an agent and get quick answers

4) Give us the low-down on your main character (or one of your main characters) in the story you're working on right now, regardless if it's finished or not. Describe his/her personality, situation, and what his/her biggest problem/obstacle is.

Little Bit is a shy, humble sort of girl. She’s in love without knowing it. Adventure is not really something she wants, but she gets it anyway. She is trying to find out the truth about herself and discovers her very life is a lie. The supernova of a nearby star wiped Earth’s ozone from the atmosphere. Now the sun’s radiation hits the planet unfiltered, bringing death to those who survived. Little Bit must venture out into this nightmare to get her answers.

5) What are your favorite speculative fiction movies from the last five years?

It’s so hard to think of favorite movies. I’m looking forward to seeing the Hunger Games soon. Tangled is a favorite I can watch again and again. All the Lord of the Rings from ages ago. The last Harry Potter, I think that was less than a year ago.

6) If you were suddenly thrown into another world where magic existed, what is something from the real world you'd want to take with you? (Limitations apply on energy sources and such.)

A hairbrush and contact lenses! Is that odd?

7) List the first type of these things you think of:
a) color: blue
b) number: 9
c) made-up name: Becky
d) an adjective: pussy-pants

That wasn’t too hard. Now to tag three people. Everyone is already tagged, plus no one reads my blog. Let’s see. Carla R. in hopes she will start a blog. Angie S. in hopes she hasn’t been tagged already. Brandon Sanderson in hopes he will ask to read my work. HeHe!

I look forward to the treasure hunt.