Book Promotion Tips and Writing Contests

Cathy Yardley's "How to Create a Promotion Plan 'Story'" and Sharon Bially's "Simple Promo Tip: Call Your Book By Its Name" are two excellent posts about book promotion. They definitely gave me some good ideas, and I hope they do the same for you.

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The deadline for the WOW! Women on Writing Winter 2015 Flash Fiction Contest is coming up soon - February 28th! With a literary agent as the guest judge and lots of great prizes, why not give it a try? Good luck!

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I admit it. Since my story, "The Empty Nest," appeared in the original Hint Fiction anthology (ed. Robert Swartwood, 2010,) I have a special place in my heart for the form. So this contest, sponsored by West Hartford Libraries, really drew my attention. The deadline isn't until May but why wait? Give it a shot!

Motivational Monday!

Usually, September gives me some extra oomph.  Maybe it's all the back-to-school hoopla...although the kids here are back to school in August.  Maybe it's the leaves starting to go gold and red and the crispness in the air and...oh, wait.  The palm fronds are still green and the temps are in the 90s.  Hmm.  Maybe this explains why I don't have much oomph after all.

At least I'm not alone.  Apparently, a lot of writers suffer burnout.  Just check out Nathan Bransford's post, "You Tell Me: Have You Faced Writer Burnout? How Do You Escape It?"  The comment section is full of good ideas and suggestions.  And step right up to the Creativity Carnival for Writers in the newest issue of WOW! Women on Writing.  Good timing!  

Congratulations go out to pal Stacy Post!  Her story, "Sister Calamity," was nominated for Best of the Net by the fine folks over at Referential Magazine! 

Also at Referential Magazine, poet Laura McCullough referenced my story, "If This is Crazy," in her poem, "When Wonder."  Love when that happens!

Have a great week!

Motivational Monday!

August feels like it's creeping by but I'm not buying it.  I'm racing to write, revise, and polish a project before a September 1st deadline.  August 31st is looming!  I can see it and it's already making me nervous...wait, stop.  This is Motivational Monday, not Moaning Monday.  Okay, so here goes -   

Agent Rachelle Gardner's post, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, is about how she decided not to "record" her family vacation but to "experience" it instead.  A good read for all of us considering "unplugging" for a bit.  

I loved the post, "Lost" and The High Narrative Price of WTF, by agent Nathan Bransford.  This is for readers, writers, die hard "Lost" fans and those of us who gave up somewhere in the first few seasons.  It's about what happens when you tease the reader/viewer with a WTF moment borrowed from the end of a story but then don't deliver on it.  Really good stuff here.  (In case you didn't know, WTF means "What the F***?" or, according to Phil, from the TV show "Modern Family" - you're a fan of the show, right?  If not, you should be! - it can also mean "Why The Face?")

And I just want to say thanks again for everyone who emailed or commented about my interview over at WOW! Women on Writing.  I really appreciate it.

And now, back to work...

Interview Up at WOW! Women on Writing

An interview with me is up at The Muffin, the WOW! Women on Writing blog.  My story, "The People We Used to Be," made the Top Ten of their Winter 2010 Flash Fiction contest and being interviewed was one of the prizes.

I've been interviewed by the WOW! ladies before - they must be sick of me by now! - and they always do a great job and ask lots of good questions about writing.  Thanks to Anne for doing this one.  She made me sound smarter than I really am.

So, if you want to check out the interview, head on over. (If you want to read the story again - it's one of my favorites! - click here or on the link at the top of the interview itself.)   

Hope you like it!

If You Write Fiction, You'll Want to Read This

The July/August issue of WOW! Women on Writing is out, and let me just say, it's a good one!  The Fiction Writer's Toolkit is stuffed with all kinds of great articles about everything from scenes to setting to structure.  Oh, and did I mention the "Voice:  Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are" article?  Hmm, well it seems someone named Cathy C. Hall (yeah, I know she's my writing pal and yours!) wrote a fun and informative piece about voice.  I definitely recommend it...and not just because she quoted me in it. :)

The People We Used To Be

I'm thrilled to tell you all that my story, The People We Used to Be, placed in the Top Ten of the WOW! Women on Writing Winter 2010 Flash Fiction Contest! 

Now, I like/love all of my published stories (and a number of unpublished ones, too, including novel manuscripts) but this one really touches me...and I'm not exactly sure why.  It's one of those pieces that when I read it (or re-read it, in this case) instead of saying "Man, I wish I had written that"  I say, "Wow, I actually wrote that."

I don't know if that makes sense to any of you, and I hope it doesn't come across as braggy because I certainly don't mean it like that.  I think what I'm trying to say (where's a writer when you need one?!) is that I'm proud to have written this story, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.