tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60375734504680075932024-03-18T23:25:01.120-05:00melissa embry's blogthe power of storytellingMelissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.comBlogger1140125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-59276161531604565262024-01-09T12:17:00.000-06:002024-01-09T12:20:06.141-06:00Join the stampede to 2024 writing contests<p> Nothing enforces New Year's resolutions like competition. And time crunches. For some incentives to get those writing muscles back in shape -- or keep them strong -- check out this list of 2024 contests and their deadlines. </p><p><b><i>Now - January 15:</i></b> <a href="mailto:submissions@modernmuseforwriters.com" target="_blank">Modern Muse for Writers First Five Pages Contest </a>seeks entries from all literary genres. Free. Submit your first five pages (up to 1,500 words). Winners receive developmental critiques and line edits of their first chapter, up to 15 pages. See the site for details.</p><p><b><i>Now - January 15:</i></b> <a href="https://writersdigest.submittable.com/submit/267736/short-short-story-competition-2024" target="_blank">Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition</a> seeks stories of not more than 1,500 words. This is an extended deadline -- for this contest only, ignore the deadline posted on the site. Winners receive cash prizes and publication. Fee: $30 for first entry, $25 for each additional entry. See the site for details.</p><p><b><i>Now - January 28:</i></b> <a href="https://dashboard.autocrit.com/start-strong-writing-challenge" target="_blank">AutoCrit's "Start Strong Challenge"</a> opens, using prompts from its community of writers. Finalist entries will be read live on YouTube, with the audience determining the winner. Word limit: 1,000. There's no fee for the contest, but you have to pay to play by joining the AutoCrit community. Luckily, it's offering discounted subscriptions! See the site for details and those all-important prompts.</p><p><b><i>Now - February 1: </i></b><a href="http://www.thefirstline.com/submissions.htm" target="_blank">The First Line</a> magazine's contest requires contestants to open their work with the provided first line, currently: "Mr. Morton needed a new pair of shoes," although non-fiction essay entries may deal instead with writers' favorite opening lines from literary works. Free. The contest repeats quarterly with new opening lines. Winners receive publication and cash awards. See site for details.</p><p><b><i>Now - February 29:</i></b> <a href="https://thecwa.co.uk" target="_blank">The Crime Writers' Association</a> offers two contests for newbie writers: The Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition and The CWA Debut Dagger. Entry fee is £18 for the Margery Allingham contest, £42 for the Debut Dagger. See the site for details. </p><p><b><i>Now - March 1: </i></b><a href="https://dallaslibrary2.org/poetry/youthpoetlaureate.php" target="_blank">Speak Your Truth contest</a> (site). This one's just for Dallas, Texas, residents/students ages 15-20. Apply to become the Youth Poet Laureate of Dallas for 2024-2025. Winner receives a $1,000 scholarship. See the site for youth poet duties. Email libyouthservices@dallascityhall.com for more information.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3m8kmoiZDFOhnQlMTnCQ6DhsULrj4bBuOJTorLKBWPYtoTSgqxN3cioFdjpHQ_lO052UeRace6fWRaGoDKyrR_fbDCTy3oXyZEuIoJM3XxB2yogy6EngMaj08rdA8Fils_kmDEWGHi_e7roiETDconlu6s1r5Ya00vPV-oaPX7CFZHjdzSADAjwKD9DYw/s1280/horses-4034730_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="1280" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3m8kmoiZDFOhnQlMTnCQ6DhsULrj4bBuOJTorLKBWPYtoTSgqxN3cioFdjpHQ_lO052UeRace6fWRaGoDKyrR_fbDCTy3oXyZEuIoJM3XxB2yogy6EngMaj08rdA8Fils_kmDEWGHi_e7roiETDconlu6s1r5Ya00vPV-oaPX7CFZHjdzSADAjwKD9DYw/s320/horses-4034730_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Brigitte Werner for Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table><b><i>Nowish - mid-March:</i></b> ArmadilloCon, Texas' feisty sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention returns with a flash fiction contest. No fee but contests must be the convention's writing students from 2017-2024. (Hint: if you're thinking of joining for the full convention in August, now's the time!) This year, contests will be able to provide input for themes. This information just hit my inbox, with the 2024 website not yet online. Contact writersworkshop@armadillcon.org for information. I'll also update this site as soon as possible.</p><p><b><i>Now - May 1:</i></b> <a href="https://thrillerfest.com/master-class/best-first-sentence-contest" target="_blank">ThrillerFest's Best First Sentence contest</a> is looking for the to-die-for opening of your work of mystery or suspense. This is also pay to play -- entrants must be members of the ITW (International Thriller Writers) or registered for <a href="https://thrillerfest.com" target="_blank">ThrillerFest XIX 2024</a>. See the Best First Sentence site for details.</p><p><b><i>Now - June 30:</i></b> One of my favorite goofy writing contests is the annual <a href="http://www.bulwerlytton.com" target="_blank">Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest</a>, commemorating the 19th century novelist infamous for the opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night. . ." Each entry must consist of a single, unpublished sentence of any length, although the authorities recommend (i.e. plead) for it not to exceed 50-60 words. The winner will receive a certificate and bragging rights. Free. See the site for details and hilarious previous winning entries.</p><p><b><i><br />Now - October 1:</i></b> If every story must have a first line, it must also have a last one. Check out <a href="http://www.thelastlinejournal.com" target="_blank">The Last Line magazine</a> (sister journal to The First Line) for a contest with an ending prompt. For 2024, that prompt is, "I didn't want to admit it, but Lee was usually right." See site for details. Winners receive cash and publication.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Want more contests? Of course, you do! See the likes of <a href="http://www.pw.org/grants" target="_blank">Poets & Writers</a>, <a href="https://blog.reedsy.com/writing-contests" target="_blank">Reedsy</a>, <a href="https://ericaverrillo.com/blog/html" target="_blank">Erica Verrillo's month's lists</a>, <a href="http://www.newpages.com/submission-opportunities/writing-contests" target="_blank">New Pages</a>, <a href="https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com" target="_blank">The Submissions Grinder</a>, and <a href="http://www.writersofthefuture.com/enter-writer-contests">Writers of the Future </a>for inspirations!</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-71683078690245526962023-10-09T13:54:00.001-05:002023-10-09T13:56:24.718-05:00DFWCon Query Gong Show: early morning edition<p> Another great <a href="https://dfwcon.org" target="_blank">DFWCon</a> literary conference in the books, with lots of classes and panels. But probably what readers are awaiting most anxiously are the results of the conference's famous -- maybe infamous -- Query Gong Show. </p><p>For those unfamiliar with the conference this is a riff on the 1970's TV talent show in which contestants performed until judges stopped them by striking gongs. DFWCon's version with anonymous entries is less brutal.</p><p>The rules: writers submit their anonymous literary queries to a panel of agents and editors who strike table-top gongs to signal the point at which they would stop reading if receiving one of these queries in their own emails. Writers can get gonged once, even twice, without stopping the reading by DFW's mellifluously voiced George Goldthwaite. But three strikes and they're out!</p><p>The query contest has typically been the final day's afternoon event of the conference. This year, it was moved to first thing in the morning. Perhaps organizers hoped panelists would be less alert to query faults before they were adequately caffeinated.</p><p>If so, that hope was vain. Of the 10 queries read this past weekend, none survived the final gong.</p><p>Possibly because they read these posts, writers avoided some stumbling blocks from prior years. Queries for gazillion-word books were rare (or at least, less outrageous). Most writers seemed aware of their books' genre. In hopes of preventing still more literary tears, here are the most-frequent issues that doomed 2023's query hopefuls.</p><p>First -- the panelists. These were five agents, and one acquisitions editor: Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong of The Purcell Agency, T.S. Ferguson of Azantian Literary Agency, Lynnette Novak of The Seymour Agency, Jacqui Lipton of Tobias Literary Agency, Sara J. Henry of Crooked Lane Books, and Eloy Bleifuss of Janklow & Nesbit Associates.</p><p>By far the most gongs rang because the query took too long to get to what Lipton described as "the beating heart of the story."</p><p>"What's it about?" Henry asked about a similar query. "It just kept going."<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM6H_we75habSxOfdo9CxH-oPc0vgGLCHip55meBm86QTZFC8Jwd2TCWOzOxFKBgSyXPZF7WHORuCcrkVCsaYdYHEAKMo9EVp_ta1ngvByQUoieTxZWjzBlngAmFYJZEWkkfugbvEF4KG3ScocY0pjPUR6P5IwN7awwFQ1Wb7voRgTBHYs2IGk4Hewqdis/s1280/watercolour-2050755_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1280" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM6H_we75habSxOfdo9CxH-oPc0vgGLCHip55meBm86QTZFC8Jwd2TCWOzOxFKBgSyXPZF7WHORuCcrkVCsaYdYHEAKMo9EVp_ta1ngvByQUoieTxZWjzBlngAmFYJZEWkkfugbvEF4KG3ScocY0pjPUR6P5IwN7awwFQ1Wb7voRgTBHYs2IGk4Hewqdis/s320/watercolour-2050755_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Prawny for Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Writers are understandably eager to get as many words as possible before an agent.</p><p> But as Hedrick-Armstrong noted, she once received 1,000 queries in three days after accidentally opening, even though she posted no notification of accepting queries.</p><p> Even if none of these exceeded the 300-word maximum I once heard a writing coach describe, reading them all would be the equivalent of getting halfway through <i>War and Peace</i> (described as nearly 600,000 words, although that may depend on the translation).</p><p>For literary queries, be short to be kind. Bleifuss suggested using no more than two short paragraphs to describe that "heart of the book."</p><p>This should include what Hedrick-Armstrong noted as the five essentials (also available at her Manuscript Wish List <a href="http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post-cathie-hedrick-armstrong">site</a>):</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Who is the main character?</li><li>What does the main character want?</li><li>What or who is standing in the main character's way of getting what they want?</li><li>What must the main character overcome to get what they want? </li><li>What are the consequences of reaching that goal? What might they gain or lose?</li></ol><div>Somewhat similar to these "stakes of the story" issues were failure to mention the story's genre and word count in queries. (Agents differed -- some wanted this information upfront; others were content to see it nearer the end.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Excessive length was such a major sticking point, some agents said they would have kept reading despite additional issues, if only the query had told them what they needed to know more quickly. Among the tips, despite sheer wordiness, agents noted, "don't start with setting," "cut out filler words," and "no flowery language."</div><div><br /></div><div>Issues gonged less frequently included:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Querying for sequels or series of books. "Don't write the sequel if the first book doesn't sell well," Novak cautioned. (Most panelists were OK if an author mentioned that a first book was a stand-alone "with sequel/series potential.)</li><li>Excessively high word counts for the genre, although agents varied. However, in debut novels, word counts outside of norms may indicate problems with pacing, Lipton said.</li><li>Stories that seemed too familiar/stale/tropey. "Try to find a fresh perspective," Bleifuss urged.</li><li>Objectification of female characters. </li></ul><div>Although panelists realized Gong Show entrants had no way of knowing who they would be addressing, the salutation "Dear Agent" hit sore spots from agents who've received similarly addressed queries too many times.</div><div><br /></div><div>When addressing agents/editors, please use their names. And get them right.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ferguson bemoaned the number of times he's been addressed as "T.J." (He's properly T.S. Ferguson.) And "don't call me Mr.," Henry said.</div><div><br /></div><div>In fact, honorifics are tricky, especially if an agent/editor has not specifically indicated which they prefer, or if they are nonbinary individuals. Better to use simply "first name + last name" as indicated on the individual's or agency's website.</div><div><br /></div><div>Again, all queries were anonymous. So, here's to revamping and sending to appropriate agents. (They probably won't even remember seeing the first version after doing their half-W&P worth of subsequent query readings.)</div></div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-60145452010220221042023-09-28T11:49:00.002-05:002023-09-28T11:53:18.129-05:00Book review: when in Rome, kill as the Romans do<p> I intended to share -- and will -- more writing tools gleaned from this summer's conferences. Then my newsfeed was overrun by ancient Romans. What started as a whimsical TikTok prank opened the aqueduct to demonstrate how often a lot of people -- and not only men -- had been thinking about ancient Rome. For a very long time.</p><p>Long enough for award-winning author <a href="https://lindseydavis.co.uk" target="_blank">Lindsey Davis</a> to publish a pair of decades-long mystery series set in ancient Rome. Davis's books about private informer/imperial spy Marcus Didius Falco and more recently, his daughter, Flavia Alba, start where most stories about the ancients leave off: with the lives of ordinary first century CE Romans. And the dark and deadly crimes seething outside (and sometimes inside) the city's marble halls.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuQdpc6HI1EZUJNUpHlTboC-aR8Xjl2A2qWskn72c4J-giVu2HdaFB5YmURDwCIiMKcyvo4mhozYQyAXYh0is-GayfjZetXMyPUv9F61Q9E5BfD16SGQwm8Ai04tmmtCLZVBvxPdGCdldPfEDU9qMWfw6lX3Dxhnq1t-WWlOloxiia4SKUoQNgsVPU2-Jh/s686/Comedy%20of%20Terrors.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="476" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuQdpc6HI1EZUJNUpHlTboC-aR8Xjl2A2qWskn72c4J-giVu2HdaFB5YmURDwCIiMKcyvo4mhozYQyAXYh0is-GayfjZetXMyPUv9F61Q9E5BfD16SGQwm8Ai04tmmtCLZVBvxPdGCdldPfEDU9qMWfw6lX3Dxhnq1t-WWlOloxiia4SKUoQNgsVPU2-Jh/s320/Comedy%20of%20Terrors.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>My long hot summer was put to use devouring a stack of Didius and Alba books. And while I'm on the waitlist for Davis's latest, <i>Fatal Legacy</i>, here's a taste of another recent volume.<p></p><p>During a long-ago assignment in Britannia, plebian Marcus Didius and his high society wife, senator's daughter Helena Justina, adopted orphan street kid Flavia Alba. Fast forward a decade or so, and Alba is now an informer on her own, bent on muscling in on her dad's line of work.</p><p>(I'm still puzzling over Roman naming rules, but Alba and Didius get testy if anyone other than close friends and family members refers to them by their first names.)</p><p>Informers, also known as delators, functioned as private investigators in Roman society, which had little of what we in the 21st century would recognize as police forces or public prosecutors.</p><p>Informing could be a lucrative profession, but not one in high esteem. Definitely not a respectable job for a woman. In fact, there pretty much were no respectable jobs for women in ancient Rome. Luckily, Alba has a thick skin and an intimate knowledge of the shadier streets of the city. If all else fails, she keeps a sharp dagger handy.</p><p>In <i>A Comedy of Terrors</i>, Alba is recently married and supposedly retired from informing. But the life of a respectable young Roman matron can be stultifying. Worse, she's stuck planning her new family's first Saturnalia holiday with her husband's two young wards in tow.</p><p>Saturnalia is the big, really big, winter Roman holiday, when religious obligations all too often devolve into drunken mayhem and debauchery.</p><p>Still, how much trouble can Alba get into by taking the youngsters to buy holiday toys?</p><p>The answer is, plenty. It's bad enough that she and the kids find their favorite toy seller in a pool of blood with a knife in his back. Then, an organized crime gang starts using the most unsavory of methods to eliminate its rivals for the seasonal market in holiday snacks. How unjolly! Worse, the gang resorts to poisoned treats, murder and arson, and still more, threatening Alba's family.</p><p>With her dad Marcus Didius riding out the holidays in his seaside villa, Alba -- with some help from her new husband -- has no choice but to hit the dirty back streets of Rome herself in an attempt to bring the bad guys to justice. </p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>As if the cases of Didius and Alba aren't enough to feed our thirst for all things ancient Roman, there's more! Readers in the North Texas area can hear classicist Mary Beard discuss her latest nonfiction book, <i>Emperor of Rome</i>, October 24 as part of the Dallas Museum of Art's <a href="https://dma.org/programs/arts-and-letters-live" target="_blank">Arts and Letters Live</a> programming. Beard's book promises to include not only those who ruled the Roman Empire, but their "wives and lovers, rivals and slaves, court jesters and soldiers, and the ordinary people who pressed begging letters" into the hand of those rulers. See the Arts & Letters site for details, venue, and ticket purchases.<br /></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-35869223518627703722023-09-15T15:57:00.001-05:002023-09-15T16:04:47.031-05:00What I learned when it was too hot to blog: part 1<p> Just because I didn't post over the summer doesn't mean I was goofing off. When the outside temperatures hovered over 100 degrees F. for most of the summer, I could barely step outside for more than a few minutes. Except of course, for the multi-hour-long drives to and from one of my favorite small fantasy and science fiction literary conferences -- Austin's <a href="https://armadilocon.org" target="_blank">ArmadilloCon</a> -- from which I returned bearing gifts of insight.</p><p>The first insight is, don't wait until the last minute to write a short story. But the result, messy as mine was, was my ticket to ArmadilloCon's writing workshop, an adjunct to the regular conference. I love this workshop! Comments from its critique group years ago enabled my first published short story to see the light of day. Several more have also benefited from the experience.</p><p>The second insight -- more like a question -- is, how the heck does one writer critique another's writing? For anybody looking to join a writing critique group, or establish a new one, or wondering why those they're in keep going off the rails, ArmadilloCon's offered some help.</p><p>The staple method is called the <i>Milford style</i>. Many of us may already be familiar with this one, but here's a basic review:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Read each writer's story in advance</li><li>Sit around as one by one the readers deliver their critiques without interruption</li><li>Authors take notes of the points made</li><li>Once all critiques are given, the author may respond without interruption</li></ul><div>This can work. But -- it can get repetitive. And boring. And bog down in minutia. And although the form theoretically eliminates arguments, without a strong moderator and time limits, it can go so, so wrong. (I speak from sad experience.)</div><div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5dpOu8XpSydapVgBCylpJpgAXddP4llCjjGCxcUpfDvx0AHRiZkTXwwJCnLVlwSKKBHxtRuPEzFXKVTYoD5_7QKhKPeFeVVaGF6jsFnlW33Q_Nla7oYsec-tg3gQYsFbS8P0eXkpkC-2-dVv4XAlEds4wJlh7d0LrV74zG_Mgt7vk3mRw--w3p2O7KV7/s1280/people-2557396_1280.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG5dpOu8XpSydapVgBCylpJpgAXddP4llCjjGCxcUpfDvx0AHRiZkTXwwJCnLVlwSKKBHxtRuPEzFXKVTYoD5_7QKhKPeFeVVaGF6jsFnlW33Q_Nla7oYsec-tg3gQYsFbS8P0eXkpkC-2-dVv4XAlEds4wJlh7d0LrV74zG_Mgt7vk3mRw--w3p2O7KV7/w200-h133/people-2557396_1280.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by StockSnap from Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>It's also possible to use the Milford style of critique without advance reading, by having each author read aloud, preferably while providing shared copies to the others. But that places more limits on the amount of material each author is able to present. </div><div><br /></div><div>And, honestly, just because you're a great writer doesn't mean you're also an engaging verbal reader. (Cue confusion. And maybe snores.) Reading aloud further penalizes authors who may be shy in groups or not fluent in the language of the group's majority or who may have physical/speech difficulties.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, enter an alternative writing critique method introduced by this year's ArmadilloCon workshop -- <i>Mary Robinette Kowal's ABCD Critique Style. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>Robinette Kowal divides critiques into the three categories of a clinical trial:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Symptom -- "this is the reader's reaction"</li><li>Diagnosis -- "this is why"</li><li>Prescription -- "this is how to fix it"</li></ul><div>Initial critiques, however, will only deal with the "symptom" phase. These include:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Awesome -- "don't fix it!"</li><li>Bored -- a pacing issue</li><li>Confused -- an order of information problem</li><li>Disbelief -- violation of reader's sense of how the world of the story work (hint: extraterrestrials and unicorns are seldom found in the same world)</li></ul><div>(Robinette Kowal adds, "stream of consciousness reactions such as 'don't go there!' are also fair.")</div></div><div><br /></div><div>May readers who are confident of their own writing skills still provide notes about such line editing issues as spelling, punctuation, and grammar? Maybe, in on the copy. Not by alluding to them in the verbal critiques. And no, absolutely no readers should offer diagnoses or prescriptions without being asked.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although the workshop members at ArmadilloCon were writers themselves, the Robinette Kowal method, unlike the Milford style, adapts easily to critiques by beta readers. These are readers who are, preferably, just ordinary people who enjoy reading. That's because the ABCD method is only about the story and its flow. Not about how many spaces the writer put after the end of sentences. Or whether they used American or British spelling. Or, well, you get the idea.</div><div><br /></div><div>And writers, don't argue about the symptoms! They are true. It's our job to address and fix them, not deny their existence.</div><div><br /></div><div>For more information about the Robinette Kowal method, including additional tips to authors, see her site at <a href="http://www.patreon.com/maryrobinette">www.patreon.com/maryrobinette</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Information about the Milford critique style is readily available online. For this post, I followed <a href="https://manchesterspecultivefiction.com/the-milford-system">https://manchesterspecultivefiction.com/the-milford-system</a>. Just don't ask who Milford was. Nobody knows!</div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-18792898457515266512023-09-08T10:29:00.002-05:002023-09-08T10:30:47.510-05:00Writing contests, classes & conferences: welcome to fall!<p> What a summer it's been! I'm back from the hades that is summer in Texas, amazed at how good it felt recently to have days when the temperature didn't top 101 degrees F. (What we in the Lone Star State call a "cool spell.") Even cooler, the new season come with a fresh list of writing conferences, classes and contests. I'm partial to Texas-related events but sometimes include others, especially if they're online.</p><p><b>First: the contests:</b></p><p><b>Now-Oct. 15:</b> <i><a href="https://pulpliterature.com/the-raven-short-story-contest" target="_blank">Pulp Literature's Raven Short Story Contest</a></i> for unpublished short fiction (500-2,500 words). No need to include birds but hurry, total entries are limited to 200. Early bird entry fee (before September 15) $15, regular entry fee $20. Or add an editorial critique for $25. </p><p><b>Now-Oct. 24: </b>A Texas contest! The <a href="https://writersguildtx.org/contest" target="_blank"><i>Kathryn McClatchy Flash Fiction Contest</i> </a>sponsored by the Writers Guild of Texas. Entries must be unpublished, with word counts between 300-1,000. Limited to WGT members but for a fee of $35, non-members receive a one-year membership as well as entry into the contest. Cash prizes for first through fourth (honorable mention) winners. See the site for details, including format and judging criteria.</p><p><b>Now-Oct. 31:</b> How about, from across the pond, <i><a href="https://flash500.com/novels" target="_blank">Flash 500's Novel Opening & Synopsis Competition</a></i>? For novels, whether started or completed, with strong, credible characters, page-turning plots and compelling synopsis. Send first chapters (up to first 3,000 words) of unpublished works only, plus synopsis. Cash prizes. Entry fees: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">£</span>10 for one novel, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">£</span>18 for two, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">£</span>26 for three. Online payment methods will happily translate these amounts into dollars. See the site for details.</p><p><b>Oct. 1-mid-Nov.: </b><i><a href="http://www.carvezine.com/prose-poetry-contest" target="_blank">Carve Magazine's Prose & Poetry Contest </a></i>seeks the best literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry. <i>Carve</i> is based in Dallas, Texas, but accepts writers from all over the world. Cash prizes in each genre, with winners published in the magazine's spring issue. See the site for details.</p><p><b>Dec. 1:</b> Still missing the now-retired PitMad? Don't be sad! Try Cam Cat Books version on X (formerly known as Twitter). Check out details at <a href="http://www.twitter.com">www.twitter.com</a>, #CamCatPitMad.</p><p>Want more contests? Check out lists from <a href="https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Publishing. . . and Other Forms of Insanity</a>, <a href="http://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions" target="_blank">Writer's Digest</a>, <a href="https://blog.reedsy.com/writing-contests" target="_blank">Reedsy </a>and <a href="http://www.writersofthefuture.com/enter-writer-contest" target="_blank">Writers of the Future</a>.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Now, about polishing the craft, pitching, networking, and just plain loving the whole writing and literature thing with <b>Conferences and Classes:</b></p><p><b>Sept. 9-10:</b> Hay Forum Dallas, at indie bookstore <a href="http://www.thewilddetectives.com" target="_blank">The Wild Detectives</a>, 314 W. 8th St., Dallas, features writers from several Latin American countries as well as the United States. The format is based on the original festival at Hay-on-Why, Wales, which has since branched across Europe and Latin America. Free. RSVP at the site for times and details. </p><p><b>Sept. 13 (repeating monthly):</b> Another Texas goodie from <a href="https://writersgarret.org" target="_blank">Dallas Writers Garret</a> and <a href="http://www.thewilddetectives.com" target="_blank">The Wild Detectives </a>-- a monthly poetry series. RSVP at The Wild Detectives site for an evening with featured writer Christine Suggs, followed by a brief open mic session.</p><p><b>Sept. 16:</b> Indie bookstore The Dock in Fort Worth celebrates National Literacy Month with the <a href="https://trinityriverbookfest.org" target="_blank">Trinity River Book Festival</a>, featuring more than 20 local and national authors plus other family-friendly events. At Trinity River Pavilion 1, across from Chuy's Restaurant, West 7th St., Fort Worth. See the site for details.</p><p><b>Now-Nov. 28:</b> <a href="https://dma.org/programs/arts-letters-live" target="_blank"><i>Arts & Letters Live</i> </a>continues its literary and performing arts series, sponsored by the Dallas Museum of Art. Guest speakers include Jonatha Eig, Barbara Kingsolver, Mary Beard, Jesmyn Ward, Zadie Smith and more. Ticket prices and venues vary. See the site for details.</p><p><b>Sept. 26: </b><a href="http://www.cor.net/departments/public-library/richardson-reads-one-book" target="_blank"><i>Richardson Reads One Book Author Lecture</i> </a>at 7:30 p.m., in First United Methodist Church, Richardson, 503 N. Central Expressway in Richardson, Texas, showcases Shelby Van Pelt's <i>Remarkably Bright Creatures</i>. Free, or add on an author interview and luncheon at the University of Texas at Dallas Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center. See the site for details, including how to secure free tickets for the lecture and purchases for the interview and luncheon.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKH-7ag5Uzaw9PJaylBoAmXJuIjzd95HSKYSvCfpe82SLCznGxYPEnWonFBnbfU2EebcklX0vTYOitgJX-cLhCG9lALWcqjJu-gSPFCfXaLotuqaYa6SNQROLTZhiZDq6_mhhr3y5ZpRjp1shlA7i-zWmM_W4zsGZqrA1saF69uiOKHO8Lf37YXazHQW6/s1280/autumn-8113610_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfKH-7ag5Uzaw9PJaylBoAmXJuIjzd95HSKYSvCfpe82SLCznGxYPEnWonFBnbfU2EebcklX0vTYOitgJX-cLhCG9lALWcqjJu-gSPFCfXaLotuqaYa6SNQROLTZhiZDq6_mhhr3y5ZpRjp1shlA7i-zWmM_W4zsGZqrA1saF69uiOKHO8Lf37YXazHQW6/w200-h200/autumn-8113610_1280.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Carlos Villada for Pixabay </td></tr></tbody></table><b>Oct. 7-8: </b>The <a href="https://dfwcon.org" target="_blank">DFW Writers Conference</a> offers more than 50 classes, 12+ agents and editors, and guest speakers Dave Eggers and Evangeline Lilly, at the Hurst Conference Center, 1601 Campus Dr., Hurst, Texas. See the site for full agenda and tickets.</p><p><b>Nov. 1-30:</b> Neither a class nor a conference, but <a href="https://nanowrimo.org" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a> offers a full month of incentives to finish that first draft of a novel. Free. See site for details, including ways to become involved locally and with other writers.</p><p><b>Nov. 11-12:</b> The <a href="http://www.texasbookfestival.org" target="_blank">Texas Book Festival </a>in Austin includes national and regional authors such as Ann Patchett, Abraham Verghese, Time magazine editor Walter Isaacson, political leader Stacey Abrams, and more! Free. See the site for details and venues throughout downtown Austin.</p><p><b>Dec. 9-10:</b> The last few years were big on virtual conferences and the online format's become a staple. So, I can't resist mentioning the <i><a href="http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/2nd-annual-historical-fiction-virtual-conference" target="_blank">Writer's Digest University Historical Fiction</a></i> virtual conference. Contents include webinar presentations from six award-winning, best-selling historical fiction authors, query letter feedback, and more. See the site for cost and details. </p><p>In there more? Yes, indeed! The<a href="https://writersleague.org" target="_blank"> Writers League of Texas</a> offers numerous classes both in person and online. See the site for details.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Still to come: Stuff I learned while it was too hot to post!</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-74097660219950575342023-05-09T07:25:00.001-05:002023-05-09T07:28:39.692-05:00Sun shines bright on summer literary events in Texas<p> As soon as the thermometer hits 90 degrees F., it's summertime in Texas. And summer literary events are off to a blazing start, beginning this week. (Note: some events have earlier registration deadlines.)</p><p><b>May 9-August 16: </b><a href="https://dma.org/programs/arts-and-letters-live" target="_blank">Dallas<b> </b>Arts & Letters Live</a> opens its 2023 season with Abraham Verghese (<i>The Covenant of Water</i>). In-person tickets for this opening event are sold out, but see the site for virtual tickets, $15 for the public or $12 for Dallas Museum of Arts members. Ticket prices and venues vary for additional speaker programs. See the site for details and ticket purchases.</p><p><b>May 10-14: </b>The <a href="https://writersgarret.org/dallas-is-lit" target="_blank">Dallas is Lit! literary festival</a>, courtesy of the Dallas Writers Garret features programs at a variety of venues in Dallas' historic Oak Cliff neighborhood and for a variety of ages, including a Rail Writers field trip, ghost story telling, multilingual poetry performances, readings and workshops. Most events free, but reservations may be recommended. See the site for details and locations.</p><p><b>May 11:</b> The <a href="http://www.dallashistorysociety.org" target="_blank">Dallas Historical Society</a> presents "Blood and Thunder: An Evening with Mark Finn" in discussion about Texas pulp fiction author Robert E. Howard and his place in Texas literary history. Howard's creations -- Conan, King Kull and others -- defined heroic fantasy but the author himself, who died tragically at age 30, has fallen into obscurity. His biographer, Mark Finn, offers a tour of Howard's world as he saw it -- through his incomparable imagination. In the Hall of State, Fair Park, 3939 Grand Ave., Dallas, at 6:30 p.m. Free, but see the site for ticket reservations.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPOoe9m1mpHP4lbKyqZ1_cHH--DzbudSLL_yh15D8SbPHuUu_GsH4EegrW2yxR2dZL_dSl-1pYgtJOZSZz-CXAYI67L0e-A9y_ukEGX-uCxgcPMnVLkg7Rwj85eGuSEd6i36-bdzjUxRefk3SjyZbhpMN5fhHrPiBOpD2jCDLkubB4aWznb3Wg__SAQ/s1920/woman-591576_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPOoe9m1mpHP4lbKyqZ1_cHH--DzbudSLL_yh15D8SbPHuUu_GsH4EegrW2yxR2dZL_dSl-1pYgtJOZSZz-CXAYI67L0e-A9y_ukEGX-uCxgcPMnVLkg7Rwj85eGuSEd6i36-bdzjUxRefk3SjyZbhpMN5fhHrPiBOpD2jCDLkubB4aWznb3Wg__SAQ/s320/woman-591576_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table><b>May 26-June 9:</b> Reservations begin for <a href="http://www.cor.net/departments/public-library/youth/young-authors" target="_blank">Richardson's Young Authors program </a>for kids entering grades 5-9. Classes run June 9-July 28. Children can write and illustrate their own books and receive personal copies with help from children's book author Nancy Churnin and library staff. Free, but participants must be Richardson, Texas, residents with a Richardson Public Library card. Call 972-744-4358 or visit the Youth Services Help Desk at the library to register.</p><p><b>June 3-August 12:</b> Summer reading programs aren't just for kids! Grownups can participate too, through the Dallas Public Library's <a href="https://dallaslibrary.beanstack.org/reader365" target="_blank">SMART</a><a href="https://dallaslibrary.beanstack.org/reader365" target="_blank"> Summer </a>program. Read 60 minutes a day (ebooks and audiobooks count!) and pick up a free book every 20 days. Adults who read at least 50 days by August 12 will be entered to win the grand prize. Readers can also earn challenge badges with STEM and art activities and classes for additional prize choices. Free, but register at the site.</p><p><b>June 7-July 26:</b> The annual <a href="http://www.hpumc.org/library/rejebian" target="_blank">Rejebian Series </a>hosts book reviews and author talks beginning at 7 p.m., in Wesley Hall of Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas. This year's series opens with author Sam W. Haynes' discussion of Unsettled Land, his history of the Texas Revolution and Republic, and the states diverse people. Programs repeat each Wednesday through July 26.</p><p><span>Other authors discussing their own works include Texans Kathleen Kent, Dave Lieber and Marjorie Herrera Lewis, as well as reviews by professional speakers. Free, or reserve an optional dinner at 5:30 p.m. for $15 online through the site or by calling 214-523-2240. Books available for purchase in most cases.</span></p><p><b>June 8-10:</b> The <a href="https://hns-conference.com" target="_blank">Historical Novel Society North America</a> holds its conference in San Antonio, Texas, this year. (There's also a virtual version.) But hurry. In-person registration closes May 15, virtual June 4. Either option offers access to award winning authors, including special guests Lisa Wingate, Jamie Ford, Libbie Grant and James Scott Bell.</p><p>Prices: $589 for in-person HNS members, $639 for nonmembers; virtual attendees $299, students $350. In-person attendees may also book rooks at the Marriott Rivercenter at the conference rate.</p><p>But, you may ask, will there be agents and editors in attendance? Yes, 15 agents and editors will offer virtual and/or in-person meetings with authors. These can include either pitches or advice on honing query letters. Cost is $25 for each pitch or query letter session. See the site for details, agent/editor lists, and registration.</p><p><b>August 4-6:</b> <a href="https://armadillocon.org/d45/writers-workshop" target="_blank">ArmadilloCon</a> returns with its annual writers workshop, at Austin Southpark Hotel, Austin, Texas. Registration for the workshop is $125, which includes workshop, lunch, and membership for the rest of the convention. Note: manuscripts are due June 23. The workshop is only for manuscripts of original, unpublished speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, bizarro, and similar). </p><p>A limited number of workshop places are available to writers of color, those identifying as LGBTQIA+, and those whose financial status might otherwise prevent their participation. Contact the workshop director at www.writersworkshop@armadillocon.org for enrollment and other questions.</p><p><b>August 12:</b> The <a href="https://ntbf.org" target="_blank">North Texas Book Festival</a> offers chances to chat with and buy the books of favorite local authors. Free to the public, at Patterson-Appleton Arts Center, 400 E. Hickory St., Denton Texas. See the site for additional information.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Is something missing? The pandemic, economic issues and, dare we say, climate change, have caused several rearrangements of Texas traditional summer literary events. The annual REH Days, celebrating Texas fantasy writer Robert E. Howard at his hometown of Cross Plains were moved from June to April this year. Most REH programs are outdoors, and June in Texas can get hot!</p><p>FenCon, the Dallas-area science fiction/fantasy convention usually held in early fall has been moved to February 2024, with a new venue. I'm hoping it will also bring back its writers workshop.</p><p>The Writers League of Texas Agents and Editors Conference has turned into a biannual event, next scheduled for 2024.</p><p>And no dates have yet been announced for the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, which has fluctuated between summer and fall in recent years. However, the site says registration will open soon. I'll post when more information is available.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Next up: Yes, there will be writing contests! Stay tuned!</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-11269701363236487722023-04-12T11:59:00.003-05:002023-04-15T10:11:18.131-05:00Butts: the origin story of a Texas book ban<p><i>Updated April 14, 2023, to show Llano County libraries remaining open pending further action</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Given that I live in a blood-red state, book bans are a recurring event. They arouse a few seconds of outrage. Then it's on to the next mass shooting, or the next criminal indictment of our state's chief legal officer, or whatever near-criminal viciousness our elected officials are up to.</p><p>It took a threat by officials of the small Central Texas county of Llano to really shake me up. At 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 13, 2023, the county's governing body will meet to decide whether to close every public library in the county -- all three of them -- rather than follow a judge's order to reinstate 12 books the county had banned.</p><p>Maybe the threat of library closings awakened memories from the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when libraries and many other facilities in my home county of Dallas closed. Or maybe those memories stemmed from growing up in a small rural county like Llano with only a single public library. (At that time, the entire library was housed in an obscure corner of the county courthouse basement, although it's since been upgraded to an abandoned storefront.)</p><p>I wondered what books could be horrific enough to justify closing the entire library system of Llano County. And was astonished to find the entire uproar started with a small volume entitled, <i>My Butt Is So Noisy!</i>.</p><p>Yes, it was a book which Amazon rates as "children's humor," appropriate for ages 4-8, that prompted Llano County real estate agent Bonnie Wallace to develop a spreadsheet of books she considered "inappropriate."</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2ET-_bw6lLN71o1lsJsNAa_j3sZvGcuqePh-BGtmRfIav10a1_XKAhJ0aOX6gueMYvjVAQ0XikY_rVFwy-gLzLxXin-qi9ICzt8CuTFnMR6y6fdH_9Eiff1fzYMUnWM7LlL5cuaOGti9vcpXxwpZtr4gOJ_Iso3vB0NIamMWMDm85aPjX964XmSWaA/s1920/censorship-3308001_1920.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1478" data-original-width="1920" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD2ET-_bw6lLN71o1lsJsNAa_j3sZvGcuqePh-BGtmRfIav10a1_XKAhJ0aOX6gueMYvjVAQ0XikY_rVFwy-gLzLxXin-qi9ICzt8CuTFnMR6y6fdH_9Eiff1fzYMUnWM7LlL5cuaOGti9vcpXxwpZtr4gOJ_Iso3vB0NIamMWMDm85aPjX964XmSWaA/w320-h246/censorship-3308001_1920.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Amy from Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table>Ms. Wallace would go on to send the Llano County commissioners court judge an email about the issue, using the subject line "Pornographic Filth at the Llano County Libraries."<p></p><p>According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/magazine/book-bans-texas.html" target="_blank">The New York Times Magazine</a>, Ms. Wallace, who is active in her local Methodist church, ended the email with, "May God protect our children from this FILTH." </p><p>(In the interests of full disclosure, I am also an active member of a Methodist church. But as far as I, a layperson, can determine, none of the iterations of Methodism have doctrinal issues with butts.)</p><p>Llano County began short-term library closures, ordering librarians to scour their shelves for books that might be considered inappropriate for children barely old enough to read at all. Its county commissioners court, the governing body of Texas counties, dissolved the Llano County library board and appointed a new one that included people who had initially worked on the butt book ban. After community members and librarians started attending the new library board's meeting, the county closed those meetings to the public.</p><p>Eventually, the county decided on a list of books for children and young adults, including those written as part of a series, to be removed permanently. Seven county residents sued in protest, and late last month, a federal judge ordered the books to be reinstated.</p><p>After the county commissioners court announced that its Thursday, April 13, special meeting would consider whether to "continue or cease operations of the current physical Llano County library system pending further guidance from the Federal Courts" dozens of residents -- more than the meeting place could hold -- showed up to plead both for and against the library closure. </p><p>In response, the commissioners court went into closed session. County Judge Ron Cunningham emerged shortly afterward to announce that the libraries would remain open for the time being. The next scheduled court hearing in the case is April 27 for an appearance before a federal judge to determine why the suit's defendants, including Cunningham, failed to appear for deposition. The case so far has cost the county with a population of slightly more than 21,000 approximately $100,000 in legal expenses. Final action is expected in October 2023.</p><p>Perhaps to demonstrate that the county commissioners are not merely humorless asses, besides the potty volumes, the banned books include others dealing with adolescent sexuality, LBGTQ issues, and race.</p><p>The <a href="http://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2023/03/31/judge-issues-preliminary-injunction-on-llano-county-banned-books-case/70069902007" target="_blank">list</a> includes:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents</i>, by Isabel Wilkerson</li><li><i>They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group</i>, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti</li><li><i>Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgendered) Teen</i>, by Jazz Jennings</li><li><i>Spinning</i>, by Tillie Walden</li><li><i>In the Night Kitchen</i>, by Maurice Sendak</li><li><i>It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health</i>, by Robbie H. Harris</li><li><i>My Butt is So Noisy!</i>, <i>I Broke My Butt!</i>, and <i>I Need a New Butt</i>, by Dawn McMillan</li><li><i>Larry the Farting Leprechaun</i>, <i>Gary the Goose and His Gas on the Loose</i>, <i>Freddie the Farting Snowman</i>, and <i>Harvey the Heart Has Too Many Farts</i>, by Jane Bexley</li><li><i>Shine</i>, by Lauren Myracle</li><li><i>Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale</i>, by Lauren Myracle</li><li><i>Gabi, a Girl in Pieces</i>, by Isabel Quintero</li><li><i>Freakboy</i>, by Kristin Elizabeth Clark</li></ul><div>All of these, with the exception of the farting books, are available from the Dallas Public Library System. And all are, of course, on <a href="http://www.amazon.com" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Because the books are so readily available, I wondered what the point was of banning them until I realized they're only available for those with internet access, credit cards, and an address online booksellers can ship them to. Or for those who already have a <a href="http://www.tsl.texas.gov/texshare/card" target="_blank">TexShare Card</a> allowing them to access other libraries in the state, and transportation to those other libraries.</div><div><br /></div><div>In other words, the banned books are not accessible outside Llano County to toddlers, or elementary schoolers, or even teens. The point of threatening to shut down the library system is to keep the banned books out of the hands of those most in need of them.</div><div><br /></div><div>And really, it's not just about kids.</div><div><br /></div><div>The <a href="http://www.llano-library-system.net" target="_blank">Llano County libraries</a>, like most in this country, offer a lot more than books, including internet access and computer use, Wi-Fi hotspots, and meeting rooms for community gatherings. Including meetings such as those in which a group first began to question why kids could read about butts.<br /></div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-9061250698269949022023-04-01T15:50:00.006-05:002023-04-01T15:55:59.903-05:00Coming up for air -- spring literary contests galore<p> In my last post -- if I can remember that far back -- I promised the next would be on banned books. April fool! It's a post about spring literary contests. It's been way too long since I posted about contests, and this will also include information about Twitter pitch events.</p><p>First, the conventional spring contests including Texas-centric events readers may not always find in their inboxes, followed by links to sites of many, many more:</p><p><b>Now - April 17:</b> The <a href="http://www.houstonwritersguild.org" target="_blank">Houston Writers Guild</a> announces its Journey into Art short story contest. Entry fee: $20 for HWG members, $35 for nonmembers. Cash prizes with provision for publication in the Guild's anthology "Journey" series. The contest's focus is on stories that include art -- visual, performance, or literary -- in some form, although art doesn't need to be the main event. </p><p><b>Now - May 5 (early bird) or June 5 (regular deadline):</b> <i>Writer's Digest</i> is now accepting entries for its <a href="http://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/annual-writing-competition" target="_blank">Annual Writing Competition</a>. The May 5 deadline is for early bird submissions with reduced fees. These are $20 for first poetry submissions, $15 for each additional poetry submission; and $30 for first manuscript submission, $25 for each additional manuscript submission.</p><p>June 5 is the regular, drop-dead deadline for submissions: $25 for poetry + $20 for each additional submission and $35 for first manuscript submission + $30 for each additional submission. Cash prizes for winners in a number of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry genres, plus additional recognition. </p><p><b>Now - June 20:</b> The Writers League of Texas <a href="https://writersleague.org/programs/manuscript-contest" target="_blank">annual manuscript contest</a> is now open. Although the WLT changed its agents and editors conference to a biannual format, with the next in 2024, the manuscript contest continues annually. This year's winners in all 10 fiction and nonfiction categories will meet virtually with a top literary agent (the final judges in their category) via Zoom. Also new this year is the WLT Inklist, a catalog of log lines for all winners and finalists to be shared with literary agents and book editors this fall.</p><p>All contestants, winners or not, may opt for a written critique on their entry or entries. Writers may enter up to four entries per category. They may also enter as many multiple categories as they like, with exceptions for memoirs.</p><p>Contestants do not need a completed manuscript to enter. All that's required are the first (roughly) 10 pages of the manuscript plus a synopsis that describes the rest of the book the writer plans. Fee for each entry: $55 for WLT members, $65 for nonmembers. Each of these includes a written critique. For writers who do not wish to receive a critique, the entry fee is $25 for WLT members, $35 for nonmembers. </p><p><b>April 1- to be determined:</b> Dallas literary journal <i>Carve Magazine</i> typically opens its annual <a href="http://www.carvezine.com/raymond-carter-contest" target="_blank">Raymond Carver Short Story Contest</a> in March. This year, the site states the contest opens April 1, with no additional details yet posted.</p><p><b>Now - June 30:</b> Feeling stressed about writing? Try the <a href="http://www.bulwer-lytton.com" target="_blank">Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest</a>, which proudly challenges authors "to write an atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never published." Writers may submit as many entries as they can stomach, each consisting of a single sentence. These may be any length, but judges pray that they may not exceed 50-60 words. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSN5XjRnwVtuP_ds340zjPrR7bghfMlVY6ZQ8duriBp8g0pSDSXtRV29lUMIiy-b_40ZwciKwKwtMmiZZliyAlRjdP6POCB-2kl8RGpiXyt526X5NY-24LFb3PlHlG9k6So3d94W-Mi9-Xg1D0DPGefriH-fjhy70c8SMPj6_SAqH8qSL4hqWTvMvbg/s1920/gold-medal-winner-381749_1920.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1279" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSN5XjRnwVtuP_ds340zjPrR7bghfMlVY6ZQ8duriBp8g0pSDSXtRV29lUMIiy-b_40ZwciKwKwtMmiZZliyAlRjdP6POCB-2kl8RGpiXyt526X5NY-24LFb3PlHlG9k6So3d94W-Mi9-Xg1D0DPGefriH-fjhy70c8SMPj6_SAqH8qSL4hqWTvMvbg/s320/gold-medal-winner-381749_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table>Is there a fee? Next question. Is there a prize? Merely a pittance, plus bragging rights for those who dare. The contest is named for 19th century novelist, Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose opening sentence to his novel, <i>Paul Clifford</i>, began "It was a dark and stormy night," and continued for approximately (I lost count) another 50 words aided by a plentitude of punctuation marks. <p></p><p>As readers may suspect, entrants tend to write with a high degree of hilarity, not the mention nearly unbearable puns. Inquiring writers may wonder, can there possibly be a Texas angle to such silliness? Glad you asked! Texas residents have frequently won honor (so to speak) in the contest's numerous "dishonorable mentions" lists. Check the winning entries and refresh your spirits, dear friends.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>But fee (or fie, foh, fum) on deadlines. The following sources (all free to use) list more contests, as well as regular submission calls, grants, and more:</p><p><i><a href="https://blog.reedsy.com/writing-contests" target="_blank">Reedsy</a></i> includes weekly themed writing prompts with cash prizes in its contest list.</p><p><i><a href="http://www.pw.org/grants" target="_blank">Poets & Writers</a></i> lists both writing grants and contest for more literary competitions.</p><p><i><a href="https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com" target="_blank">The Submissions Grinder</a></i> lists contests as well as general literary submissions. This free resource is similar to the for-pay site, <a href="https://duotrope.com" target="_blank">Duotrope</a>.</p><p><i><a href="https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Erica Verillo's Publishing . . . and Other Forms of Insanity</a></i> posts monthly lists of submissions, contests, conferences and more.</p><p><i><a href="https://writerunboxed.com/author/arthurklepchukov" target="_blank">Arthur Klepchukov's Writing Contests Worth Your Time</a></i> updates seasonally but is currently only available for contests through February 2023.</p><p><i><a href="http://www.writersofthefuture.com/contest-rules-writers">Writers of the Future</a> </i>hosts science fiction writing competitions, repeating quarterly.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>And then, there's the Twitterverse. </p><p>Although Twitter's popular #PitMad is no more, the concept of literary pitch parties has proliferated. These aren't ways to make money, but some can catch the eyes of agents and editors, or at least promote solidarity among writers. They tend to come and go as quickly as a tweet. The most up to date list I found was at <a href="https://writingcommunity.ca/twitter-pitch-parties-for-writers" target="_blank">writing community.ca</a>. Unfortunately, this site is on semi-hiatus, but it still lists Twitter pitch parties through the next several months as well as their associated websites.</p><p>What's missing from all this? Don Hammons, the writer behind the WRiTE Club readers-choice contest says it unlikely to return for 2023. And Ralan.com, a longtime source of writing submissions and contests, also bit the dust in February of this year. </p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p><i>Next up: Will I ever get around to the topic of banned books? Maybe, unless some other bright, shiny object catches my eye first!</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-86601972279199289572023-03-13T16:00:00.000-05:002023-03-13T16:01:42.811-05:00North Texas Teen Book Festival -- be yourself!<p> Teen readers -- and some parents, teachers, maybe even kid brothers and sisters -- packed the Irving Convention Center this month for the annual <a href="http://www.northtexasteenbookfestival.com" target="_blank">North Texas Teen Book Festival</a>. With more than 40 panels, speakers, and events packed into a single day, it's hard to pick even highlights.</p><p>But for those wondering what tales are suitable for teen readers, the answer is almost anything: a spot of mayhem, the darkness of family violence, love-sweet-love, and especially diversity.</p><p>Even the staple of fairy tales drew a huge audience of young readers. But these weren't your grandma's tales. They drew from the "Frozen" canon (yes, Disney is still a fave), pop culture remixes, rediscovered tales from a variety of cultures, even tales in which bad guys could take center stage.</p><p>"I find villains fascinating," said <a href="https://jamesrileyauthor.com" target="_blank">James Riley</a>, author of <i>The Story Thieves</i> series. "A hero would give up love to save the world. A villain would give up the world to save his love."</p><p>(At least, for awhile. . .)</p><p>Taking risks with darkness also played out on the panel "Sidelined: Play by your own rules," with among others, panelist <a href="https://torreymaldonado.com" target="_blank">Torrey Maldonado</a>, the author of books dealing with broken families, domestic violence, and "how absolute power can corrupt."</p><p>"As a teacher for 30 years, toxicity is something I've witnessed and experienced," he said. </p><p>And if this sound too heavy for his middle-grade readers (his books are under 200 words), they've received such real-life accolades from teachers in the trenches of teen life.</p><p>It was the same kind of "be yourself, take risks," advocated by author <a href="http://www.staceyhlee.com" target="_blank">Stacey Lee</a> on the fairy story panel. "I didn't see any books with Asian people in them, so I did a lot of repression (as a teen)." That is, until she had kids and her inner writer demanded books about kids who looked like them. Now she's the author of Reese's YA Book Club pick, <i>The Downstairs Girls</i>, among other books for teen readers.</p><p>And on the "looking like me" issue, what if kids are half and half, like the heroine of<i> The Other Half of Happy</i>, by <a href="https://rebeccabalcarcel.com" target="_blank">Rebecca Balc<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">á</span>rcel</a>, getting flack from both ethnic sides of your family?</p><p>Seeing ourselves in story characters isn't only a matter of race, ethnicity, or gender. Neurodiversity got its due as well. Panelist <a href="https://alysongerber.com" target="_blank">Alyson Gerber</a> told its story in <i>Focus</i>, the tale of a chess champion struggling with her mental spirals. The techniques in the book include those used by Gerber herself, who lives with ADHD.</p><p>But if young readers don't shy from the darker side of life, they also long for stories about love. Like those from <a href="https://elisebryant.com" target="_blank">Elise Bryant</a>, who proclaimed herself a believer in instant love. </p><p>Not incidentally, she's the author of romantic comedies <i>Happily Ever Afters</i>, and others, who said she knew by age 19 who she wanted to marry and made him "pinky-swear" to do so. (Amazingly, despite that he was still willing to ask her out.)</p><p>The filled auditorium who greeted the romance writers with applause seconded Bryant's words.</p><p>Panelists ranged from lifelong "Jane Austen nerds" like <a href="http://www.sayantanidasgupta.com" target="_blank">Sayantani DasGupta</a> who still missed seeing characters who looked like her in romance, to J. C. Peterson who "envied the banter," to Bryant, who dubbed herself "the bad girl here" for never having read Austen.</p><p>The Bridgerton TV series also received shout-outs for its combination of racial diversity, Regency style romance, and gorgeous clothes.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFxuz8ZYODJD5tM6MYaGNWaGXB3OrxBH5y7-vz9DIKy0XfEVWs1fPwEDYDJ7WO4TQMohjCvRDZz-yqW-I5jWZa4V0ii3-KF5s3P_cKEkjbRRqVwwA_1ZWy7XYuoAnDHQxyPWTBcFX9FJMAgQp-dSU7Lhyy3_EJrc8Q6Z4W1MeGsyIbdbSLwe9VAXcmA/s3264/20190323_145312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKFxuz8ZYODJD5tM6MYaGNWaGXB3OrxBH5y7-vz9DIKy0XfEVWs1fPwEDYDJ7WO4TQMohjCvRDZz-yqW-I5jWZa4V0ii3-KF5s3P_cKEkjbRRqVwwA_1ZWy7XYuoAnDHQxyPWTBcFX9FJMAgQp-dSU7Lhyy3_EJrc8Q6Z4W1MeGsyIbdbSLwe9VAXcmA/s320/20190323_145312.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North Texas Teen Book Fest</td></tr></tbody></table>Then there was <a href="https://twitter.com/julianw_writes" target="_blank">Julian Winters</a>, whose opening statement, "I mostly write queer contemporary fiction. Queer teens fall on their face and fall in love," drew wild applause from the audience.</p><p>Love and laughter were in the air, even among the panelists. </p><p>But given that they're writing for young audiences, how far can the romance really go, moderator Gabi Sikes asked. "What's the most challenging part of writing characters falling in love?"</p><p>The hardest part, Peterson said, was "showing real flaws. Letting them see the flaws in characters and saying, yet, I still want to be with this person."</p><p>Winters said, "I don't want to give young readers false hope," noting that for queer people, finding suitable romantic partners can be tough. But the hardest part of writing romance for teens? "It's the kiss."</p><p>(He admitted to keeping a folder of kissing scenes, perhaps for inspiration.)</p><p>"The kissing scenes were so difficult," DasGupta agreed, admitting she turned to her own teen kids for help. Their answer, "Where are the kissing scenes, Mom? More kissing!"</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p><i>Next: What's up with banned books?</i></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-63077448941877018242023-03-03T12:41:00.000-06:002023-03-03T12:42:20.539-06:00From manuscript to published book: Part 2<p> <i>How to keep an agent happy by doing her job for her -- The Query Toolbox Homework</i></p><p>As discussed in Part 1 of <i>From manuscript to published book,</i> the first step to traditional publication (after writing an amazing manuscript!) is to find an agent looking for that type of story. No matter our compelling our romantic comedy is, it's unlikely to catch the eye of an agent who's only interested in books about gardening. But how do we find agents who love rom-coms, or whatever else our heart is into?</p><p>Luckily, agents are more than happy to tell us where their hearts lie -- on their (or their agency's) websites, at sites such as <a href="http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com" target="_blank">Manuscript Wish List</a>, <a href="http://www.mswishlist.com" target="_blank">MSWishlist</a>, <a href="http://www.twitter.com" target="_blank">Twitter</a> #MSWL, <a href="https://querymanager.com" target="_blank">Query Manager</a>, and <a href="http://www.agentquery.com" target="_blank">Agent Query</a>. I'll add, also check the acknowledgement section of books we love. The writers will often use it to thank their agents and editors. And don't overlook other social media sites -- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. -- that are more frequently updated. And follow, follow, follow to get those updates.</p><p>To see what agents are selling to publishers right now, check out <a href="http://www.publishersmarketplace.com" target="_blank">Publishers Marketplace</a>, which is available by monthly subscription. (Agent Amy Collins suggested signing for a subscription, researching it like mad, and dropping it once we've picked all the fruit it has to offer. Not that she admits saying that!) There's also a shorter, totally free version, <a href="https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com" target="_blank">Publishers Lunch</a>.</p><p>Now with our manuscript and a list of potentially interested agents, we're ready to do the hard work of assessing a book's market viability. This is the topic the agent will use to pique the interest of the person at the next level to publication -- a publishing house's acquisitions editor. For this, I'm using copyright-free material Amy Collins provided for attendees at her DFW Con workshop -- <i>The Query Toolbox Homework.</i></p><p>Market viability has three components, all of which should be included in our queries to agents:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Comp titles</li><li>Readership</li><li>Unique selling points</li></ul><div>Our homework, Collins said, begins with a starter list of 12 comparable authors. Who writes the books we love to read, in our genre or a related one? And how much do other readers love them?</div><div><br /></div><div>Her starting point is the free weekly bestseller list from <i><a href="https://booklist.usatoday.com" target="_blank">USA Today</a></i>. It's a list of sales searchable by genre and date of sale. (Please note, at this time the list is on hiatus, with most recent sales only listed as of December 1, 2022. I'll keep checking for updates.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Another of Collins recommendations for author listings is <a href="http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com" target="_blank">What Should I Read Next. </a>This is a subscription service, free for the first five days, and $39.95 a month thereafter. Again, as for Publishers Marketplace, consider researching the heck out of it during free, or initial subscription period.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.goodreads.com" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> also lists books by authors we follow, and books similar to those we've read recently. Access to these requires a Goodreads account, but it's a free service.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not mentioned by Collins, but also useful is Novelist, a searchable service free with many public library accounts. Check with your local library if you can't find it in your account. Or if you need to set up an account! </div><div><br /></div><div><i>We've got authors but what about those comparable titles?</i></div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTlhKA9IjSFJIcxxj8jywqgachqwweSGkRGuHwFiaPiormrldCt3sHQM3KMVel-ALApTaA1ntaSbqA4l1nR-0d8rbXOdLTOFY0NRrGnpCQpgSFVWXSFWsvVKkac-cBI1a71VvDWoVZqNoMBhmS62n6MpUKQ2rMVdpwLbAEIgqvE67sHNM4VDOTBzi1g/s1920/Image%20by%20Davie%20Bicker%20from%20Pixabay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTlhKA9IjSFJIcxxj8jywqgachqwweSGkRGuHwFiaPiormrldCt3sHQM3KMVel-ALApTaA1ntaSbqA4l1nR-0d8rbXOdLTOFY0NRrGnpCQpgSFVWXSFWsvVKkac-cBI1a71VvDWoVZqNoMBhmS62n6MpUKQ2rMVdpwLbAEIgqvE67sHNM4VDOTBzi1g/s320/Image%20by%20Davie%20Bicker%20from%20Pixabay.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Davie Bicker from Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table>Having now compiled a list of 12 comparable authors -- who we're following, right? -- we only need to find three comp titles from their writings to titillate the agents we've chosen to query.</div><div><br /></div><div>What exactly makes a previously published book "comparable" to our manuscript? How "comparable" does it have to be? According to Collins, the three comp titles should be similar in either voice, setting, or POV. No single comp title needs to be similar in all three. </div><div><br /></div><div>And they don't need to be similar in plot because, "who wants to read the same plot?" Collins asked.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, comp titles must be books which have sold well in their categories recently. Collins recommended searching <a href="http://www.amazon.com" target="_blank">Amazon</a> for titles from our authors that possess at least one of the necessary similarities to ours. If we're unsure of the genre of those titles (authors may write in more than one), Amazon also helpfully lists those in its sidebars. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now things get harder. Collins recommends only using as comp titles books that have garnered at least 5,000 reader reviews. This goes to the "readership" component of market viability. Books by best-selling authors are musts as comp titles for our own manuscript -- one of the reasons she recommended looking at best-seller lists.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the other hand, those best-selling authors can't be too familiar. Not iconic, in Collins' words. Who's a best-selling author but not iconic? Collins' suggestion was to think Ken Follett as best-selling but not iconic. Lee Child, however, is iconic. My suggestion is, if the author is someone who's name you see on your grocery store's paperback rack, they're probably iconic.</div><div><br /></div><div>Collins also turned thumbs-down to books made into movies or TV series. If it's just optioned but not yet released, she's still OK with using it as a possible comp. She's also OK with using the latest book in a series, provided it meets all the other criteria mentioned. Be warned, these are Amy Collins' recommendations. Other agents may differ. Again, check what your dream agents are saying.</div><div><br /></div><div>And -- these 5,000+ reviewed comp titles should have been published within the past 18 months, tops, Collins said.</div><div><br /></div><div>At this point, an audience member asked, what if your comparable author publishes a book no more frequently than every two years. Or so. What if your comparable author is, say, Jonatha Franzen? (OK, Collins said. For Franzen, two years. But don't push it any further!)</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, looking back on the first two components of market viability -- comp titles and readership -- we can work that information into a query to an agent who we know from our research has shown interest in our genre. Examples include, "because I love your recently sold (comp title), I believe you'll love (my title)." Or "(My title) is great for people who just finished (comp title)." Note that reference to the agent's own sales can add extra credit. </div><div><br /></div><div>Having covered two of three tests for market viability, what's left is the selling point unique to our book. Think of what the twist would be. Collins noted that loglines are not the same as comp titles, but they can be helpful guides for capturing why our book is similar but different.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is it "Pride and Prejudice" but in outer space? Or "Romeo and Juliet" but in the Old West? "The Three Musketeers" in modern warfare? (Caution -- all these titles are way too old to be actual comps!)</div><div><br /></div><div>So, writers, there's the query toolbox -- comparable authors, comparable titles with extensive readership, plus our own secret sauce. </div><div><br /></div><div>Please note: this isn't the entire query. We also need to introduce ourselves to the agent, explain why we think they're a good fit to represent our book, give a brief overview of the plot (but not the end, unless the agent asks for it), and told the agent why we're the person to write this book. But we have done the hardest part -- next to writing the manuscript in the first place.</div><div><br /></div><div>And for still more information about writing and publishing, note that the <a href="https://dfwcon.org" target="_blank">DFW Writers Conference</a> <br />returns this year, October 7-8. See the site for early-bird registration.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div>Next up: Tales from the North Texas Teen Book Festival</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-26994218560291227552023-03-01T10:33:00.001-06:002023-03-01T10:40:27.678-06:00From manuscript to published book: Part 1<p> If writers think getting a literary agent's eyes on our manuscripts is tough, wait till you hear how many eyes the agent has to get to sell that precious opus. A bunch, according to Amy Collins of the<a href="https://talcottnotch.net"> Talcott Notch Agency</a>, speaking at the <a href="https://dfwcon.org" target="_blank">DFW Writers Conference</a>. (Which, yes, was last fall, but there was so much to cover I'm still digesting it all.)</p><p><a href="https://talcottnotch.net/?page_id=35" target="_blank">Amy Collins</a> herself knows the publishing industry from multiple perspectives -- as agent as well as a book buyer, sales director for a non-fiction publisher, and founder and president of one of the largest book sales and marketing companies in the United States. Oh, and she's also a <i>USA Today</i> and <i>Wall Street Journal </i>bestselling author. </p><p>Here's the trail Collins laid out for her audience:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Author -- wants to convince the agent they can make her lots of money</li><li>Agent -- wants to convince her boss -- the acquisitions editor -- that this book will make lots of money</li><li>Acquisitions editor -- wants an amazing book to take to editorial director of their publishing house</li><li>Editorial director -- wants an amazing book that will make lots of money to take to the house's Pub Board</li><li>Pub Board -- wants positive answers from teams for sales, marketing, production, distribution & art (at least!) before approving that amazing manuscript (which will make lots of money!).</li></ul><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITdTeP1x6mMwDAvC2Zd06U7HjZ8W4w8vXa66NglvbR1qHICPEoKIvLRQywEdhIGJlcWyJ36gP1Uzp9xouGsz-lV4CdemlMc129bb1oOR4svb40bufI6pgJWHIk03TXKuU3u-fmjwjcwyftdD7cdPYt-LJxad5JcQwpaigUOQorMNhUNuk8rber6s5WQ/s1920/Image%20by%20PollyDot%20from%20Pixabay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1281" data-original-width="1920" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITdTeP1x6mMwDAvC2Zd06U7HjZ8W4w8vXa66NglvbR1qHICPEoKIvLRQywEdhIGJlcWyJ36gP1Uzp9xouGsz-lV4CdemlMc129bb1oOR4svb40bufI6pgJWHIk03TXKuU3u-fmjwjcwyftdD7cdPYt-LJxad5JcQwpaigUOQorMNhUNuk8rber6s5WQ/s320/Image%20by%20PollyDot%20from%20Pixabay.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by PollyDot from Pixabay<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Of this chain, Collins noted, the Pub Board is the most important but least known link. Its members spend a lot of time thinking about money (strange how that word occurs so many times!). Because 20 percent of all traditionally published books actually lose money for a publisher, Pub Boards are always looking for something to take up the slack.</div><div><br /></div><div>To that end, the Pub Board will ask questions from the most obvious -- have books like this sold well recently -- to the mundane -- how many of these books will fit in a shipping carton. This last consideration goes to a question writers often ask about the importance of page counts. Books need relatively standard sizes to fit in shipping cartons. Which is one of the prosaic reasons shorter than usual books, such as novellas, as well as much longer than usual tomes can be tough sells in traditional publishing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Only when the Pub Board has received affirmative answers from all the remaining teams does the author's amazing manuscript get OK'd for printing and sales and distribution to bookstores. (Who also want money to keep the lights on!)</div><div><br /></div><div>The point of Collins' talk was that every link in the publishing chain is effectively doing the work of the next higher link.</div><div><br /></div><div>"My job (as agent) is to keep my relations with my (acquisitions) editor happy," Collins said.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that acquisitions editor's job, effectively, is to keep the editorial director happy. And so on, up the line. Each worker bee's job is to do the work of the next higher been in the chain of command.</div><div><br /></div><div>Knowing all this, what can we writers do to help boost our manuscript up the levels? The answer lies in our superpower tool -- the query letter. I've heard a lot, from a lot of sources, about what needs to be covered in a query letter. But what exactly does that entail? And why? </div><div><br /></div><div>Amy Collins had an answer for that, coming in Part 2, The Query Toolbox Homework</div><div><br /></div><div>(And, in case you've wondered, the DFW Writers Conference is scheduled to return October 7-8 of this year!)</div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-6048061339330226022023-02-15T12:38:00.001-06:002023-02-15T12:40:21.778-06:00Thriller reviews: two whodunnits and a how-to-do-it<p>When making New Year's resolutions, always pick those you will love keeping. For lovers of crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writing in particular, here a a few short reviews of books that I hope will whet your reading appetite.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p><i>How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America</i>, edited by Lee Child with Laurie R. King</p><p><i>How to Write a Mystery </i>is a handbook, not a formulaic cookbook. It opens with a section entitled "The Rules and Genres," then cheekily discusses ways to subvert them. Genre rules, it seems, are far from laws of nature. They're subject to being stretched, merged, sometimes even outdated and best forgotten, as in Rule #5 from the 1929 list by British author Ronald Knox: "No Chinaman must figure in the story."</p><p>What? Park your racial slurs far, far away (unless, as a modern Black author states, they're necessary). Crime/mystery/suspense/thrillers are open to all!</p><p>There are, however, gentle suggestions for writing the likes of stories about amateur sleuths, police procedurals, noir, historicals, medical and spy thrillers, as well as the inevitable crossed-genre stories. As well as discussions of how to write mysteries for children and teen, graphic novels, and short stories. And though the writing that most often come mind are fiction, true crime stories -- "nothing but the facts" also claim their due.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKQM1v1Z1Yf55v0yic32V3ntCFp8pcNejIL8rgj4OVNnQiXmRTMqOvIRCYFobwpcg7kJCmrPxrn-tceyrveg7mKtG0vlcJEZfwRi9Wo8pCvVl2Mwyh-Ityr-3muUBG1uOhaMxiWOnK3hPWJ9Y_He-kO9QzSzxrbvsdDF1h5JEMxf5GbY_932BHSHtWgA/s1668/How%20to%20write%20a%20mystery%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1668" data-original-width="1132" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKQM1v1Z1Yf55v0yic32V3ntCFp8pcNejIL8rgj4OVNnQiXmRTMqOvIRCYFobwpcg7kJCmrPxrn-tceyrveg7mKtG0vlcJEZfwRi9Wo8pCvVl2Mwyh-Ityr-3muUBG1uOhaMxiWOnK3hPWJ9Y_He-kO9QzSzxrbvsdDF1h5JEMxf5GbY_932BHSHtWgA/s320/How%20to%20write%20a%20mystery%20cover.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>No discussion of writing can neglect the who/what/where/when/why and how of stories, which are also addressed in <i>How to Write a Mystery</i>. As are the less obvious issues of humorous crime fiction. Or writing in partnership, or even how to write (and learn from) reviews. With suggestions from dozens of modern authors, there's something for anyone writing -- or reading -- in the c/m/s/t realm. Even something like the books whose reviews follow.<p></p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p><i>Razorblade Tears</i>, by S.A. Cosby</p><p>Cops knocking at the door are never a good sign. But for Ike "Riot" Randolph, their news is far worse than he fears. It's not an inquiry into his own past crime, but the death of his son, murdered execution style along with his white husband. Ike and his son had parted on bad terms, Isiah determined not to become a man of violence like his father. Now Ike's tears for all that his son's loss means -- to himself, his wife, and the daughter his son and son-in-law left behind, feel like razorblades slicing his face.</p><p>Ike is not surprised when the cops who brought word of Isiah's death tell him the case is inactive, that nobody wants to talk to them about it. Why would anybody in rural Virginia care about the death of a black man, of a pair of gay men? Nobody except Ike and to his surprise, the white father of Isiah's husband. </p><p>Ike reluctantly agrees to Buddy Lee Jenkin's request for help solving the murders of their sons. He doesn't trust Buddy Lee, an ex-con like himself. But no one else is willing to bring their sons' killers to justice. Or to consider that it might have been Isiah's work as an investigative reporter, not his sexuality, that led to his death. But the trail leads far deeper, into far more dangerous territory than even "Riot" Randolph could have expected.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>From rural Southerners to wealthy, urban Northerners, here's something completely different -- a high-society suspense mystery by Lynn and Valerie Constantine, writing as Liv Constantine.</p><p><i>The Stranger in the Mirror</i>, by Liv Constantine</p><p>It should have been the happiest occasion in Addison Hope's life -- her engagement to the love of her life. But how can she be sure this handsome, wealthy man truly is her only love? She can't remember anything about her life more than two years in the past, when a truck driver found her bleeding beside the highway.</p><p>And although Addison's fiancé insists nothing in her past matters because he knows what a kind and caring person she is, his mother's suspicions have her digging into Addison's antecedents. </p><p>Meanwhile, not <br />far away, a prominent doctor assures his small daughter that the mother who disappeared two years ago -- a mother who bears an uncanny resemblance to Addison -- will return one day. Could the kind, caring, Addison really have deserted her child and loving husband? Just when readers think they've found the connection, the Constantine sisters upend everything. And the twist is more terrifying than Addison -- or the readers -- could have imagined.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Next: Do literary agents really want writers to do their work for them? What I learned during the pandemic.</p><p><br /></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-21421525960503683362023-02-07T16:38:00.000-06:002023-02-07T16:39:52.207-06:00Close-up ready: the author page you didn't know you had<p>I've never been the sole author of a published book. And yet -- I have an author page at <a href="http://www.goodreads.com" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>. Maybe you do as well. When Goodreads notified me that it had set up an author page I was all, like, how can this be? Although I have about 20 short story publications, for which people, mostly, paid me, I'd never published an actual book. You know, something with an ISBN. What I learned was that several editors had published my works in numerous anthologies that were, actual books. (I'll get to what Goodreads considers "actual books" in a few moments.)</p><p>Whenever these anthologies showed up as Goodreads books, with my listed among the contributors, I rated an author page. Exploring further, I discovered that being a "Goodreads" book pretty much mean being an "Amazon" book as well. Except, to my chagrin, this meant that if published books in which my writings had appeared were now out of print with Amazon, well, they were no longer Goodreads books either.</p><p>Goodreads' stated goal is to have a complete record of every book ever published, but this can be tough to prove for out-of-print volumes unless the author can supply the corresponding ISB or ASIN (see more about this later, as well.) In fact, there is a no-longer available anthology on my Goodreads page because I had a contributor's copy with the necessary identification numbers. If only I had kept copies of some of the rest.</p><p>However, several anthologies still in print weren't listed on my original Goodreads author page. In those cases, all that was needed was to contact Goodreads staff of volunteer librarians to have those additional books added. Not to be unduly modest, you can see my current author page <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6926200.Melissa_Embry" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p>So, what does, or doesn't Goodreads consider an actual book worthy of an author's page? Very generally, Goodreads will treat as "books" any content with an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) or ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number). This includes items as diverse as bound comics, workbooks, and many recordings. Goodreads, however, considers as non-book item such as magazines, zines, and short stories only published in a magazine or anthology. Note: the anthology itself can be a "book" even though the story within it is not.</p><p>All of this information and more -- lots, lots more -- is available on Goodreads itself.</p><p>At this point, many readers of this blog are probably saying, wait! I've been published in anthologies, i bound comics, whatever! Do I have (or why don't I have) a Goodreads author page of my own? And if I don't, how can I get one?</p><p>I'm glad you asked! Simply scroll to the bottom of the Goodreads <a href="http://www.goodreads.com" target="_blank">homepage</a> to the question, "Are you an author or a publisher?" and click "author program." You'll need to be a Goodreads member (but that's free), and answer some questions, but setting up your author page is also free, along with numerous other benefits. Plus, you keep your original Goodreads login and password.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcEaZl1nj-eFQC1cCiXk0ErzoKoCJEYze0QL8robdqfkpSvdP0gc-M6c_5p5PL03533YmWbRob7FAHutLL3XNp4pzND4DP3_fqYGi94RmKihb_4u95HyvmBKJ19am1axumL3Qs4Jdkd7JHMCxlci6Tqw0yRb8NjizB6ck9RiswR_qL7XVH8pc9jh9SA/s1920/books-1614215_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1920" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcEaZl1nj-eFQC1cCiXk0ErzoKoCJEYze0QL8robdqfkpSvdP0gc-M6c_5p5PL03533YmWbRob7FAHutLL3XNp4pzND4DP3_fqYGi94RmKihb_4u95HyvmBKJ19am1axumL3Qs4Jdkd7JHMCxlci6Tqw0yRb8NjizB6ck9RiswR_qL7XVH8pc9jh9SA/w320-h163/books-1614215_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Ag Ku for Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table>OK, been there, done that. Now what? How about your Amazon author page? Follow pretty much the same procedure, although Amazon seems less proactive about searching out authors than does Goodreads. </p><p>Sign into <a href="http://www.amazon.com" target="_blank">Amazon</a> (you can use your existing account) and search for your book. Lucky you, if you name already appears as "author" below the book's title. I went to the latest, pending anthology I contributed to -- <i>From the Ashes: An Anthology of Elemental Urban Fantasy</i> (available on Kindle February 28). My name wasn't listed as an author, although it was clearly visible on the book's list of contributors.</p><p>So, onto <a href="https://authorcentral.amazon.com" target="_blank">Amazon Author Central</a>. I signed in with, again, my regular login and password. If you don't already have an Amazon account, sign in as a "new customer." From there, follow the directions. You'll want a picture of yourself, bio, and, if possible, your website's URL. It's the same kind of stuff we've have already provided to the anthology's editor. And to Goodreads author's page. Amazon will do some verification. I'm still waiting on mine and thinking I really need a better photo!</p><p>For anyone not yet ready to dip into full-on publishing, <br />anthologies and the author pages they lead to -- are great ways to start building contact with potential readers. They can also be used to recommend other writers' books, a share-the-love shout-out to your own favorite authors.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Next up: Speaking of sharing the love -- mini-reviews of works by some of my favorite authors!</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-74783542147245104622023-01-30T16:46:00.000-06:002023-01-30T16:47:56.913-06:00Reverse engineering a mystery -- in the end is the beginning<p> Some writers are plotters, some are seat-of-the-pantsers. But if we're going to write whodunnits, one thing we must know from the beginning is -- who done it. So, at last fall's <a href="https://dfwcon.org" target="_blank">DFW Writers Conference</a>, I marked the <i>Reverse-Outline Your Way to an Unputdownable Mystery </i>class by <a href="http://www.jessicasolson.com" target="_blank">Jessica S. Olson </a>as a must-attend.</p><p>Determined to expand her writing chops, Olson told us she had typed "how to write a mystery" into Google, only to find its answers completely unhelpful. She realized she'd have to solve the mystery of mystery writing on her own.</p><p>Like a good sleuth, she performed interrogations -- this time, of herself.</p><p>Q. What were the things she loved about mysteries?</p><p>A. Sleuths! And a puzzle to be solved. And of course, a good villain, aka, perpetrator. And ticking time bombs. And clues. And the opposite of clues -- red herrings. And of course, how to put them all together. All leading to The Big Reveal, which had to be big enough to justify the rest.</p><p>So, Olson started with the crime. Not with the weather, not even the world building. In effect, start with The Big Reveal -- but for now keep that a secret from everyone but yourself at this point, dear writer. Know the ending before writing the beginning. This means knowing:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What happened?</li><li>Who was the victim?</li><li>The perpetrator?</li><li>Why did the crime happen?</li><li>Where, how and what clues were left behind?</li><li>And of course -- who's the main character (sleuth)?</li></ul><div>In most mysteries written for adult and even teen audiences, the happening will be a murder. But it can also be a theft, a disappearance/kidnapping, an act of espionage, assault, extortion, and more. </div><div><br /></div><div>The volume <i>How to Write A Mystery: A Handbook from <a href="http://www.mysterywriters.org" target="_blank">Mystery Writers of America</a></i>, also has discussions of possible nonviolent "crimes" or puzzles that can propel mysteries for younger readers. However, Olson notes that the happening, whatever it is, must involve something compelling enough to be worth investigation, and for teens and older readers, must involve enough components to build a novel-length plot.</div><div><br /></div><div>The victim(s) must also be compelling in their own right. If a mystery contains multiple victims, they need to be connected but also may point to multiple suspects.</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWDcu-9COCHhixtDSqA1h8V5aUU7EvY0rrGHJS6VJRmpfYWTrY4EXOtWAB5UTcXItm_1uRlylJgS9ceR5rnf4Jsqav49IcbEwFB_vbKMzqGvLt5-xPSQXng3OEGasPHJiEFNN8xrGDAxzjd4zOIYvZvslOfpgEJcvNVxIGM8SC1-5tIhMLrRSd1s3jA/s1920/kids-2211604_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdWDcu-9COCHhixtDSqA1h8V5aUU7EvY0rrGHJS6VJRmpfYWTrY4EXOtWAB5UTcXItm_1uRlylJgS9ceR5rnf4Jsqav49IcbEwFB_vbKMzqGvLt5-xPSQXng3OEGasPHJiEFNN8xrGDAxzjd4zOIYvZvslOfpgEJcvNVxIGM8SC1-5tIhMLrRSd1s3jA/s320/kids-2211604_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table>The writer will probably also have an idea of the main character's identity -- amateur or professional -- how they became entangled in the crime and why it's meaningful to them. Even if the sleuth is a professional, it's not enough that they've been hired to do a job (if a private investigator) or assigned to a case (if law enforcement personnel). And if the main character is an amateur sleuth, the mystery must be something that can only be solved by that person.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there's the perpetrator. Who are they and why did they do the crime? This person needs to be as fully developed as the main character, avoiding cliches as much as possible. Preferably, the perpetrator will be stronger, smarter, and better than the main character, who will have to strain every resource of brain -- and possibly brawn -- they possess to outwit the criminal.</div><div><br /></div><div>Knowing what happened, who did it, and to whom, are essential to what Olson termed "the backwards treasure hunt" that that entails compiling lists of:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Clues</li><li>Red herrings (misdirections) and dead ends</li><li>People the main character can suspect</li><li>People the readers can suspect (these last two don't necessarily overlap)</li></ul><div>Clues must be in places the main character can access -- although not necessarily easy of access; and plausible but not necessarily obvious. They should be found in a variety of locations and include details of where and how the crime was discovered and the testimony of witnesses (who also may not be easy of access).</div><div><br /></div><div>With these details in mind, the writer can form a rough idea -- not yet set in stone -- of what the actual plot will entail. And deal with the fun parts of building the world of the story and the characters of both sleuth and villain. Not to mention laying out that Big Reveal that will make all the work worthwhile.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not going to tell you everything Olson covered in her class. For that, see her <a href="http://www.jessicasolson.com" target="_blank"><br />site</a> (www.jessicasolson.com) for questions, insider information, and the location of her next conference. But I will leave with her final admonition: "Read as many mysteries as you can. Find out what worked in those you love, or if less than loved, what went wrong." </div><div><br /></div><div>In other words, we must be our own sleuths.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div>Next up: Do you know you may have an author's page you never set up? I didn't -- until I got hit over the head with it! </div></div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-81823579843453642632023-01-20T12:57:00.000-06:002023-01-20T12:58:36.358-06:00It's not too early to think about spring lit events<p> Information about spring literary events is piling up in my inbox. Most of these are in Texas, but I'm including at least one outside state borders because of an early deadline.</p><p><b>Now - March 10: </b>New this year, <a href="https://thrillerfest.com/registration/scholarships" target="_blank">Thrillerfest 2023</a> offers two writing scholarships, each with a $1,000 stipend and free pass to the Thrillerfest conference in New York. One scholarship goes to a BIPOC author writing a thriller manuscript featuring a BIPOC protagonist. The second goes to an unpublished author writing a mystery/thriller novel (80K to 100K words). This is a heads-up entry. See the Thrillerfest entry later in this post for the conference's dates, registration, and additional details.</p><p><b>February 15:</b> Registration opens for the <a href="https://hns-conference.com" target="_blank">Historical Novel Society North America</a> conference in-person, and in San Antonio, Texas. As far as I can tell, this is the first time the conference has been in our own state. OK, the conference actually runs June 8-10, but I'm hyping this early because, well, it's in Texas. See the site for ongoing details and lists of special guests, agents, and editors so far.</p><p><b>February 18: </b>The <a href="http://www.houstonwritersguild.org/writersroom" target="_blank">Houston Writers Guild's Love Your Writing Seminar</a> includes morning and afternoon sessions, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. The morning session features poet/editor/essayist Sarah Cortez, with thriller writer Ronel Golden in the afternoon. In-person at Bayou City Press Offices, 10303 Scofield Lane, Houston, Texas. Full day and single session tickets ($40-$65) as well as HWG members available through the site.</p><p><b>February 25-November 25:</b> The <a href="http://www.writersleague.org" target="_blank">Writers' League of Texas </a>offers its repeating, monthly 2023 WLT Agent Symposium. This virtual event features presentations, consultations, workshops and more with a variety of literary agents. All writers and genres welcome. Limited registration, with tickets $349 for members, $409 for nonmembers. See the site for full schedule, including a February 9 orientation meeting, and to register.</p><p>WLT decided to change its formerly annual conference to a bi-annual event, which return in-person in 2024. (Note: WLT still holds its manuscript contest, which opens this year March 15.)</p><p><b>March 2:</b> <a href="https://hplitfest.com" target="_blank">Highland Park Lit Fest</a> 7 p.m., at Highland Park High School, 4220 Everson Avenue, Dallas. Keynote speaker is Peter Heller, award-winning author of The River and other novels, as well as a number of nonfiction books. He is a contributing editor at Outside magazine, Men's Journal, and National Geographic. The event is free, but donations are appreciated. See the site for details.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzPzigq_-xOMsgZ8Tw8x4QMhTjI1QPfn9d8NrCax4OlIJDeEGt0WpvcOh-vCfO_K4UuGq_Q6vpf8VJIRPfnxVvwrxWL7X1C2PmdAKKzwc9OJYTfTop24njv2kk-_Gcg438GRhvYNzyIzHDZaQX3u5-UjqhseXanDtDy24y8OJR0wCPvy5nBRhKJssAA/s1920/bicycle-788733_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzPzigq_-xOMsgZ8Tw8x4QMhTjI1QPfn9d8NrCax4OlIJDeEGt0WpvcOh-vCfO_K4UuGq_Q6vpf8VJIRPfnxVvwrxWL7X1C2PmdAKKzwc9OJYTfTop24njv2kk-_Gcg438GRhvYNzyIzHDZaQX3u5-UjqhseXanDtDy24y8OJR0wCPvy5nBRhKJssAA/s320/bicycle-788733_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Jill Wellington from Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table><b>March 3-4:</b> The <a href="http://www.northtexasteenbookfestival.com" target="_blank">North Texas Teen Book Festival</a> has been inspiring middle-grade and young adult readers for years. In-person at the Irving Convention Center, 500 West Las Colinas Blvd., Irving, Texas. Nearly 70 authors are already signed to appear. The March 3 event is for educators -- see the site for registration details. March 4 is for everyone. Free, but parking is $10, or check the site for public transport options nearby.</p><p><b>May 10-14:</b> The Writer's Garret announces its first <a href="https://writersgarret.org/dallas-is-lit" target="_blank">Dallas is Lit! Literary Festival</a> featuring readings, performances, workshops and a book fair. Multiple venues. See the site for upcoming details. </p><p><b>May 30-June 3:</b> <a href="https://thrillerfest.com" target="_blank">Thrillerfest</a> in-person at the Sheraton Times Square in New York City. That's a bit outside the borders of Texas, but I can't resist mentioning it because of the thrilling scholarships for BIPOC and unpublished authors. See the site for schedules, events, pricing, and more.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Next: Just because I didn't write much last year doesn't mean I didn't learn. Check out the upcoming post from the DFW Writers Conference <br />on how to reverse engineer a mystery tale!</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-40584195168209476862023-01-12T12:18:00.001-06:002023-01-12T12:22:41.791-06:00New Year's resolutions, part II: copycat, not copyright<p> As a fellow writer and I chatted about our work, he said dolefully that he'd love to write stories featuring Sherlock Holmes -- except for the copyright issue. </p><p>And I was like, what? Way more than 100 years since publication of the first Sherlock Holmes story (1887's <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>) and the character was still under copyright? So, why has there been a plethora of Sherlock Holmes movies and TV shows? Not to mention Netflix? Were they all copyright pirates?</p><p>Turns out, most of those Holmes vehicles simply bowed to the fiats of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Estate and paid licensing fees. But the case of the copyrighted Holmes didn't end there, with enough twists to make the master detective proud.</p><p>The estate's tenacity matched those of Holmes' greatest villains, claiming that because the final Conan Doyle-penned Holmes stories were published as late as 1927, Sherlock Holmes as a "character" -- apart from the stories themselves -- continued to evolve long after the usual copyright period. Specifically, the estate claimed ownership of any work in which the detective "could express emotion."</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15oDfbBxLn-GcBGNqtQviijMsvrGZLcm7yHtIF2BJbIsCBlZOVdmQkFSCdfPpjl3R2LqUZfLemtj6VG2JoH9ffyZ1oi4Jsm4aemamKlxpvMy4QSQcTYk18ul61UT2bIhFeRq-fCJN4vBvt7j0ZW2NFQWEWAT_PAq_l-SwUzNUs-T5s3ll_srYZFeC6g/s1920/detective-6677956_1920.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15oDfbBxLn-GcBGNqtQviijMsvrGZLcm7yHtIF2BJbIsCBlZOVdmQkFSCdfPpjl3R2LqUZfLemtj6VG2JoH9ffyZ1oi4Jsm4aemamKlxpvMy4QSQcTYk18ul61UT2bIhFeRq-fCJN4vBvt7j0ZW2NFQWEWAT_PAq_l-SwUzNUs-T5s3ll_srYZFeC6g/s320/detective-6677956_1920.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Sam Williams at Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>However, court cases and law changes later, Holmes is now "free to smile," in the words of <a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/why-sherlock-holmes-can-finally-smile" target="_blank">IGN writer Roy Schwartz</a> to whom I'm indebted for a discussion of the new, freer, and possibly sexier Holmes.</p><p>And perhaps that writer I chatted with earlier can now flex his Holmes story muscles.</p><p>To some degree, I can understand the estate's viewpoint. Aside from the monetary benefits of licensing, Doyle's heirs probably wanted to avoid subjecting Holmes to bizarre parodies of other out-of-copyright works as <i>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</i>, or the upcoming slasher version of a childhood favorite, <i>Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey</i>. (Warning -- it's not the Disney version, which still holds the copyright on Pooh's red shirt.)</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">But why should we writers limit ourselves to sequels or parodies? A more satisfying option would be using famous characters as supporting actors for completely different protagonists, with new plots and settings.</p></blockquote><p>Think of the lively <i>Enola Holmes</i> take. (Did I mention a <i>sexier</i> Sherlock?) Or Holmesian characters in modern settings, even those out the British Isles, as in TV's <i>Sherlock</i> and <i>Elementary</i>. Or pick up a secondary character, even a villain, as the main character. Ever wonder what Dr Moriarty's been doing lately? </p><p>And for another writer's suggestion of an unlikely villain hidden in <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>, check out my post, "<a href="https://nojobforsissies.blogspot.com/2014/04/adventure-classics-look-to-femme-not.html" target="_blank">Look to the femme, not the chien</a>."</p><p>Even if you'd had enough about Sherlock Holmes, <a href="https://lithub.com/here-are-the-books-that-just-entered-the-public-domain-2" target="_blank">Emily Temple at LitHub</a> suggests other interesting, newly out of copyright works as jumping off points. It's a new year! Get inspired and write!</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Still to come: Is it too early to talk about spring literary events? Not at all!</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-3865016485976199842023-01-05T09:57:00.002-06:002023-01-05T09:58:35.806-06:00New Year's resolutions part I: read, write, repeat<p> Without meaning to, without quite realizing it, I took a writing hiatus in 2022. There were too many excuses to list. But also without quite meaning to, I read a lot. At least enough to surprise myself. So, for 2023, why not make a resolution I -- and all of us -- can keep: reading.</p><p>(And for writers, reading begets ideas, which give birth to more things to write about.)</p><p>For the reading resolution, I found it helpful to set a fairly low bar with a <a href="http://www.goodreads.com" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> challenge, then effortlessly surpassed it. See the site for simple how-tos. And if you don't already have a Goodreads account, that's easy to set up also.</p><p>With every book finished, the site provides additional suggestions. We can check out our friends' recommendations, make new reading friends, follow favorite authors and see their updates. You can even see what I read <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2022" target="_blank">here</a>, although you must sign in or sign up for Goodreads to access this personal data.</p><p>But, you say you have trouble finding the books you want at your library and your budget won't stretch to buying all those volumes? Nothing against bookstores, online or otherwise, but I'm glad I didn't have to pay for all 59 volumes I read in 2022. OK, I did buy several of them. But also considering I started reading a lot of others that didn't appeal enough to finish, well, reading could have become a very expensive hobby.</p><p>So, especially for readers in my home state of Texas, here's a tip from my local book club: the <a href="http://www.tsl.texas.gov/texshare/libsearch/index.php" target="_blank">TexShare</a> program. It lets readers check out books and other materials from almost any public library in the state. And it's free! You'll need to contact your local library, which will need to see your current library card and some form of identification. Once your TexShare card is issued, that has the materials you want.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm5YRfDyRBI7dmj2GhZJwZIWV75X84m-iYDmt5XRQKdW5dkZnuMpCfHv9B-XVQcU4bfdXClJU8U6EsXvZzoXr0WQg3cNAXM4Jnokrttst1KTay_09YhOeJCzuWoPMAYe47j73hqWbiZ6Ja5nu3GtlEcb2JgbaEFrhUwLPZG0ufEQux9on2mmrj8xM-A/s1920/fireworks-180553_1920.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1389" data-original-width="1920" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm5YRfDyRBI7dmj2GhZJwZIWV75X84m-iYDmt5XRQKdW5dkZnuMpCfHv9B-XVQcU4bfdXClJU8U6EsXvZzoXr0WQg3cNAXM4Jnokrttst1KTay_09YhOeJCzuWoPMAYe47j73hqWbiZ6Ja5nu3GtlEcb2JgbaEFrhUwLPZG0ufEQux9on2mmrj8xM-A/s320/fireworks-180553_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Pixabay<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>This may sound like the long-established interlibrary loan program, but it comes with a few caveats. Unlike interlibrary loans (which I used the heck out of during grad school at a small university) TexShare only applies to in-state libraries.</p><p> Also, readers must pick up and return materials to the library that owns them, following that institution's rules. This may mean a different return date, for instance, that that of your local library.</p><p>Librarians at my local library told me I could have accessed a TexShare card directly from my local account. At least in my state, library accounts are free, easy to set up, and offer an extensive array of goodies, including Novelist Plus, which helps with reading list compilations. For writers, Novelist also aids in compiling those comparative tiles literary agents want to see in our query letters.</p><p>That's it for today. But after tackling that "reading" resolution, how about moving on to the "writing" one? Coming next week, I'll post more about how to make copyright laws a writer's friend!</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-32391861075529034372022-11-16T10:39:00.000-06:002022-11-16T10:40:17.052-06:00Sweat or dare: a writers' guide to polygraphs<p> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpH9PQHDg2Q8z3PC4etp7VPqNIKR3G-2BsWHAH3GSftCHwNwcbwtMQQQamlyukx1XrWBmI6jUFlK6Bv-HXswAye2wf6odG9XOUPOrLRyggodKbqLt3aYWhvfkvnqt71IO03-EhwCV1s_RcnmfT3X7Bpbgu4akmX51l6-y2rMFprmOaVulxoSLllfU_MA/s1920/hand-1502242_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1279" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpH9PQHDg2Q8z3PC4etp7VPqNIKR3G-2BsWHAH3GSftCHwNwcbwtMQQQamlyukx1XrWBmI6jUFlK6Bv-HXswAye2wf6odG9XOUPOrLRyggodKbqLt3aYWhvfkvnqt71IO03-EhwCV1s_RcnmfT3X7Bpbgu4akmX51l6-y2rMFprmOaVulxoSLllfU_MA/w320-h213/hand-1502242_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Barbara Bonanno from Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Soon after I blogged about author <a href="http://www.workman.com/authors/kim-daly" target="_blank">Kim Daly</a>'s <i>The True Crime File</i>, with its cautions about the sometimes-doubtful science behind modern investigation techniques, the <a href="http://www.dallasmysterywriters.com" target="_blank">Dallas chapter of Mystery Writers of America</a> announced a program about polygraphy. And I wondered why <i>True Crime</i> hadn't even mentioned the procedure sometimes referred to as the lie detector test.</p><p>The program's presenters, psychologists Patricia Springer and Jan Blankenship, explained why "lie detector" isn't necessarily an accurate description of what happens during a polygraph examination, why the procedure's results can't be used in courtrooms, and why, despite that, it remains a widely used tool.</p><p>(Surprise -- it's used more often by employers than by law enforcement agencies!)</p><p>Patricia Springer is a former parole officer and author of numerous true crime books who has interviewed dozens of killers and appeared most recently on Oxygen's "A Marriage and a Murder," the subject of her current book. Jan Blankenship is a longtime psychotherapist and instructor in non-verbal communication.</p><p>The polygraph test, Springer said, is designed to observe physiological responses such as breathing, changes in skin conductivity, blood pressure, and body movements during questioning. Its chief use in law enforcement is an aid to interrogation, since its accuracy rate of only 92 percent has led courts to disallow its results as evidence. That and its cost -- an average of $700 -- means it's only used sparingly.</p><p>Lest they seem to dampen their audience's zest for the test, Springer and Blankenship presented an eye-opening video of a polygraph test and its aftermath that helped catch a murderer.</p><p>Springer was allowed to access the video because the criminal case in question had been closed with two convictions resulting from other evidence. No criminal suspect can be forced to take a polygraph but if they choose to do so, they effectively revoke their right to counsel with respect to the results. The defendant in the case in question, accused of killing his wife with the aid of his girlfriend, had requested a polygraph. It was not his wisest decision.</p><p>Each test consists of three parts:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>a pre-interview to confirm biological information and set the subject at ease</li><li>the recorded test</li><li>and a post-interview.</li></ul><div>The entire procedure typically takes 90 minutes, although the post-interview in particular can extend that time to more than four hours.</div><p></p><p>Leads are placed across the subject's chest and abdomen to record respiration. A blood pressure cuff is placed on the arm (or sometimes on the calf of the leg). Leads on the hand are fastened to the ring and index fingers. Finally, a motion detector is embedded in the subject's chair. A penile lead is also used for suspected sex offenders. Fortunately, that was not an issue in the video presented to the MWA audience.</p><p>Video of the test also records the subject's head movements and non-verbal tics.</p><p>Afterward, subjects must be informed whether they "passed" the test or not.</p><p>Those of us in the MWA group audience were not able to see the polygraph screen itself, but the subject's non-verbal tics were astonishing, and were the subject of Blankenship's critique.</p><p>"Two-thirds of human information," she told us, "is non-verbal. Twenty-five percent is voice tone, and only 8-9 percent is the content" -- the actual words uttered by a given person.</p><p>However, she cautioned, all these forms of communication are "contextual." That is, an anxiety response, for instance, can sometimes look like deception. Scratching can be a sign of deception or simply an itch. The observer at a polygraph looks for changes other than those normally used by the subject.</p><p>The subject in the video we saw had been told not to move, but nodded vigorously and repeatedly. He had been instructed not to address the male examiner as "sir," but did so repeatedly -- a verbal tic he did not repeat in the post-interview portion of the video. Most eerily, when asked if he had killed his wife, he said "no" but nodded his head "yes" in a sort of non-verbal Freudian slip. And he was astonished and angry when informed that he had not passed the polygraph test he had insisted on.</p><p>Since the test itself could not be used as evidence at trial, the hints provided by his "tells" had to be corroborated by other evidence. Both he and his girlfriend accomplice in the murder are now serving lengthy prison sentences.</p><p>I would suggest, at the least, that anyone normally prone to body movements -- a chronic foot tapper, finger tapper, or wiggler like me -- not consent to a polygraph if at all possible. (Spring noted that she also would be reluctant to take one.) But are there people who, even if guilty of heinous crimes, can pass a polygraph exam?</p><p>"People who are true sociopaths seem to breeze through them," Blankenship noted, "(although) psychopaths have a harder time."</p><p>She also cautioned that terms such as "sociopath" don't necessarily translate to "criminal," and people with this personality are often able to hold stead jobs. </p><p>So, does her awareness of how much about ourselves we betray non-verbally interfere with life outside of her professional practice? Does a psychologist like her spend every waking hour analyzing everyone she comes in contact with?</p><p>She laughed. "If the clock's not running, I'm not working. . . I have a big mental image (of boundaries) between myself and others. I may tell a family member who's a bonehead, 'hey, you're a bonehead,' but that's not a diagnosis!"</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-55021293928603856802022-10-29T15:22:00.000-05:002022-10-29T15:23:36.453-05:00Review: Short, sweet, and spooky -- The True Crime FileJust in time for Halloween, pop culture writer Kim Daly's <a href="www.crimecon.com/the-true-crime-file" target="_blank">"The True Crime File: Serial Killings, Famous Kidnappings, Great Cons, Survivors and Their Stories, Forensics, and More,"</a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="www.crimecon.com/the-true-crime-file" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Sfkh36Q1nFuSBExGDM-JUcDPPK9LjseQiAwU5f6xLAIVhz7rBW6-BNtwD8UnKUvQImzk35tq4S8Szi9lYEMQU8j5SArR9BPZXncEVj9T8mA24yWSCSWTIDadWNkzsLaNXn46xv8Cx-Bldsw5MUKivxyQaTf_zuMUcodzUYWrGb93d-XJ-6xrP0S71Q/s1240/Scan_0001.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="892" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Sfkh36Q1nFuSBExGDM-JUcDPPK9LjseQiAwU5f6xLAIVhz7rBW6-BNtwD8UnKUvQImzk35tq4S8Szi9lYEMQU8j5SArR9BPZXncEVj9T8mA24yWSCSWTIDadWNkzsLaNXn46xv8Cx-Bldsw5MUKivxyQaTf_zuMUcodzUYWrGb93d-XJ-6xrP0S71Q/s320/Scan_0001.jpg" /></a></div> a pocketbook-sized compilation of criminals and their survivors is the perfect bedtime reading as autumn darkness set in -- or for any time of year. <div><br /></div><div> Daly includes some of the best-known names of her genre -- the likes of Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and John Hinckley, Jr. -- but sprinkles in historic killers and lesser-knowns from around the world, mixes in legislation sparked by outrage over crimes such as hate killings, adds law enforcement goofs and foibles, and leavens the whole with tales of the plucky -- and sometimes lucky -- survivors of violent crimes.</div><div><br /></div><div> Daly also touches on the science that can catch criminals -- or backfire on prosecutors. For those who think science is faultless, consider the troubled record of such clues as hair structure, blood spatter, even fingerprinting. Check out the number of exonerations, sometimes even with supposedly scientific evidence, and often even of those who have pled guilty to the crimes for which they were charged. Then ponder how many actual criminals may still be lurking while the innocent are imprisoned. </div><div><br /></div><div> Most of the more than 200 entries in "The True Crime File" are bite-sized -- not more than two pages in length, leading readers to say, "just one more," before lights out. </div><div><br /></div><div> Readers who long for a break from records of human villainy can turn to the "Antics and Accidents" section for the likes of "Assault with a Deadly Gator" (in which no reptiles were harmed). Or my favorite, "The Bizarre Body Snatching of Gram Parsons, involving an already-dead rock star, a pair of inebriated friends, and a wrecked hearse. "(B)ecause there was no law in California at that time against stealing a dead body," Daly deadpans, the criminals were only charged with stealing the corpse's coffin. Someday I may visit the national park where the friends attempted to follow what they believed was his wish to be cremated, with its unofficial monument to him -- and them.
</div>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-44341489755312642712022-10-10T15:30:00.003-05:002022-10-10T15:37:13.716-05:00Surviving DFWCon's 2022 Query Gong Show<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLl6PRWxf6P5SX-6prGm6w67OYJyh4IOLONDwWRw7jKSKlI34NwVY5IqWTXof5FiWq6yo7GgZdKffCGTcwGh4jivROWQ5K-6f1OY0QrtGnbn8i7JEW_qyb39uZbuwFeOXTNUqCPkeLldcbXbDiVYNIUi873YIzZnLwXBdxZQC1Hziky1GS6BmBp0ml1g/s1920/gong-11485_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1920" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLl6PRWxf6P5SX-6prGm6w67OYJyh4IOLONDwWRw7jKSKlI34NwVY5IqWTXof5FiWq6yo7GgZdKffCGTcwGh4jivROWQ5K-6f1OY0QrtGnbn8i7JEW_qyb39uZbuwFeOXTNUqCPkeLldcbXbDiVYNIUi873YIzZnLwXBdxZQC1Hziky1GS6BmBp0ml1g/s320/gong-11485_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Hans from Pixabay<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> The <a href="https://dfwcon.org" target="_blank">DFW Writers Conference </a>was back in person this weekend for the first time since 2019, with a brand-new Query Gong Show. For those new to this site, the Query Gong Show is a riff on the 1970's TV talent show in which contestants performed until judges stopped them by striking gongs. DFWCon's version is less brutal but still not for the fainthearted.</p><p>Here are the rules: writers submit their literary queries anonymously to a panel of literary experts who strike table-top gongs to signal the point at which they would stop reading if receiving these queries in their own emails. Writers can get gonged once, twice, without stopping the reading (by DFW's mellifluously voiced George Goldthwaite). But three strikes and they're out!</p><p>When DFWCon debuted its Gong Show years ago, no query survived gonging. But over the years, first one query, then more, passed the test.</p><p>This year four -- FOUR! -- of the ten entries made it to the finish with no more than one, two, even in a couple of instances, no gongs whatever from the panel comprised of Cate Hart (Harvey Klinger Agency), Terrie Wolf (AKA Literary Management), Sue Arroyo (ComCat Publishing), Amy Collins (Talcott Notch Literary Services), Kevin O'Connor (O'Connor Literary Agency), and Naomi Eisenbeiss (Inkwell Management).</p><p>Have writers learned from the results of previous Gong Shows? Or, as some viewers suggested, is it simply that there's more information online -- and at conferences such as DFW's -- about how to fashion their queries?</p><p>To help writers survive query ordeals, here's a rundown of panelists' suggestions:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b><i>Don't be generic.</i></b> As Wolf, Collins, and Arroyo mentioned at different point, don't use phrases that suggest recent Netflix shows. And Hart gonged for an entry with a stereotypical logline. Don't use cliches -- be specific.</li><li><b><i>Exercise sensitivity.</i></b> Collins gonged two queries for ethnic stereotypes and problematic racial language. Wolf gonged a children's book for its treatment of disability. (That book did escape a dreaded third gong).</li><li><b><i>Don't do a gross-out.</i></b> Although panelists sometimes admitted their lack of familiarity with the genre of a query, a reference to "rotting flesh" stopped O'Connor as it probably would have stopped even agents who were die-hard horror fans.</li><li><b><i>Be upfront about your book's genre, theme, and wordcount.</i></b> Panelists were instructed not to gong simply because they didn't represent a specific genre. But in real life, be sure those match the requirements listed on the website of the agent you're querying.</li><li><b><i>Make sure those genres and wordcounts match literary norms.</i></b> Both Eisenbeiss and Arroyo noted that the wordcount for one entry felt too light for the amount of worldbuilding its genre required.</li><li><b><i>Write just enough, but don't forget the important stuff. </i></b>Multiple agents confessed themselves lost in queries that were overly long and complicated, but in some cases didn't tell them what was actually at stake in the story. Will the world end in ice, fire, or the dreaded <i>meh</i>?</li><li><b><i>Don't chase trends.</i></b> More than one agent also reported receiving queries that involve viruses. (Wonder where that idea came from?)</li><li><b><i>Finally, for those writing fiction, finish the book before querying. </i></b>A query stating that only one chapter had been completed received the dreaded three gongs simultaneously.</li></ul><div>That's all for now. But there will be more highlights about the DFWCon in future posts, including -- how to write a query!</div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-15211998510318055012022-07-19T09:41:00.005-05:002022-08-02T17:01:13.633-05:00Post-pandemic writing conferences and contests revive<p>Are we experiencing a break in the pandemic clouds? So many literary events have restarted since my last posting, I'm in a hurry to catch up. Here's a rundown of Texas-centric in-person events for late summer into fall as well as virtual events and contests open no matter where you live:</p><p><b><i>July 23:</i></b> Writers loved last year's virtual conference of the <a href="https://hns-conference.com" target="_blank">Historical Novel Society North America</a> so much, the society announces a one-day virtual event this Saturday (July 23). Registration is $49, closing July 22. See the site for details.</p><p><b><i>Now-July 31: </i></b>DL Hammons' reader-favorite <a href="http://www.dlhammons.com" target="_blank">WRiTE CLUB</a> contest has had suffered from a decline in entries during the last two years of the COVID pandemic, and numbers this year were not sufficient to support the contest as envisioned. Here's hoping for a return for 2023!</p><p><b><i>August 5-7:</i></b> <a href="https://armadillocon.org" target="_blank">ArmadilloCon</a>, a science fiction/fantasy convention, will be in-person at Austin Southpark Hotel, Austin, Texas. Registration $65. Entries for the writing workshop are closed but still plenty of chances to meet and hear some of the best science fiction and fantasy writers in the business.</p><p><b><i>Now - September 30:</i></b> L. Ron Hubbard's season <a href="http://www.writersofthefuture.com" target="_blank">Writers of the Future Contest</a> for new writers of science fiction and fantasy. No entry fee, cash prizes. See the site for details.</p><p><b><i>September 16-18:</i></b> <a href="http://www.fencon.org" target="_blank">FenCon</a>, the Dallas-area science fiction/fantasy convention returns in-person at the Sheraton DFW Airport hotel, In Irving Texas. Early bird memberships for adults are $45 through September 1. FenCon will not hold its usual writing workshop this year (2022) but holds out hope for 2023.</p><p><b><i>October 8-9: </i></b>Also returning in-person (for the first time in three years) is the <a href="http://www.dfwcon.org" target="_blank">DFW Writers Conference</a> at the Hurst Conference Center in Hurst, Texas. Three-day registration through September 15 is $399 which includes one free pitch session to an agent or editor. Details about agents/editors and classes still to come.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbi_NSmDRFKZ98n5jj3WjKb-SJrGY3Xaf5zyQg15Ws6Xafue2gQMMKt6HEq47uFV1MuZ-3-c1M--nQyNz8eTdohFRIxIknhoBf_NxMeSLRbmR1dBykETlr4_StleVVa8--_KUvI3XkODYLO3XLS7Tt3rstVYLIKknwO4E3Kx8kAYX6HbOeZhwnxfHOw/s960/2017-06-27%2019.44.11.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="835" data-original-width="960" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvbi_NSmDRFKZ98n5jj3WjKb-SJrGY3Xaf5zyQg15Ws6Xafue2gQMMKt6HEq47uFV1MuZ-3-c1M--nQyNz8eTdohFRIxIknhoBf_NxMeSLRbmR1dBykETlr4_StleVVa8--_KUvI3XkODYLO3XLS7Tt3rstVYLIKknwO4E3Kx8kAYX6HbOeZhwnxfHOw/s320/2017-06-27%2019.44.11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Upcoming:</p><p><b><i>October 1-mid-November:</i></b> Dallas-based <a href="http://www.carvezine.com/prose-poetry-contest" target="_blank">Carve Magazine</a>'s Prose & Poetry Contest offers winners cash prizes and publication. I'll update as more information comes available.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Some of my favorite contests and events bit the dust for reasons pandemic or otherwise. Pitch Wars and Twitter-fav PitMad are no more. The <a href="http://www.wgtonline.org" target="_blank">Writers Guild of Texas</a> has yet to post its annual fall flash fiction contest, although I still have hopes of seeing it now that the Guild is meeting in-person. <a href="http://www.wordwriters.org" target="_blank">Writers Organzations 'Round Dallas</a> WordFest event also seems to be on hiatus, although it managed a virtual event earlier in the pandemic.</p><p>I'll be back closer to fall to see what goodies cooler weather may bring to life. In the meantime, a number of sites are always available online and always free to search for contests and other writing events:</p><p><a href="https://blog.reedsy.com/writing-contests" target="_blank">Reedsy</a> offers a pick of 2022's best writing contests, searchable by genre.</p><p>Arthur Klepchukov's seasonal listings, now of <a href="https://writerunboxed.com/2022/05/16/fiction-writing-contests-worth-your-time-in-summer-2022" target="_blank">Fiction Writing Contests Worth Your Time in Summer 2022</a> are always worthwhile.</p><p>Erica Verrillo's continues her monthly gathering of conferences, contests, publishers and agents at <a href="https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Publishing and Other Forms of Insanity</a>.</p><p><a href="http://Ralan.com">Ralan.com</a> also offers searchable listings of writing outlets, including contests.<br /></p><p><i>(Updated to show cancellation of WRiTE CLUB contest.)</i></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-28567914760658506292022-03-12T14:22:00.001-06:002022-03-12T14:24:21.969-06:00Gems from pandemic's virtual literary events<p> I spent the past two-plus years stuffing myself with more virtual literary conferences and classes than I could have afforded to attend in person. And even as we cheer the pandemic's apparent wind-down, it's hard to deny that the virtual world has its benefits. I written several posts about details of these virtual events, but there are so many gems that couldn't find a place. Until now!</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Hacks to keep us writing: Tie a desired action with a habitual one. . . 'when I pour a cup of coffee, I will spend 10 minutes (doing desired action).' -- <i>Kathy Ver Eeke, Pitch to Published virtual class</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On creating characters: A character sketch is an outline that asks and answers questions about your main characters. Don't skip this step! You'll know how your character will behave and react in any situation. . . Look at the famous people who have the personality types that most interest you. -- <i>Shayla Raquel, WORDfest virtual conference, 2020</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On those 'crappy' first drafts: If you write with somebody looking over your shoulder, you're screwed to begin with. I write like everybody I know is dead. -- <i>Joe R. Lansdale, Writers League of Texas virtual conference, 2021</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Still more 'crappy': I encourage young writers to write without editing. -- <i>Varian Johnson, Writers League of Texas virtual conference, 2021</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Last of the crappies (for now!): Give yourself permission to write badly! -- <i>Shayla Raquel, Writers Guild of Texas online video</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On reading when you're a writer: It can be hard to read a book without picking it apart -- or wishing I'd written it myself! -- <i>Jeffrey Kraatz, Writers League of Texas virtual conference, 2021</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>More reading as a writer: You never know where your next inspiration will come from. -- <i>Kathleen Kent, Writers League of Texas virtual conference, 2021</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On knowing your audience: It's really hard to write books without meeting the people who read them. --<i> Jeff Kinney, North Texas Teen Book Festival, 2021</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On planning a book: The more books you write, the more you need to plan. Or it's all going to end up sounding like the same book. . . You can veer away from the recipe once you know what the recipe is. -- <i>Michelle Stimpson, WORDfest virtual conference, 2020 </i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On getting 'unstuck': If you're feeling stuck, go back to your outline. If you didn't outline, go back and do so! -- <i>Shayla Raquel, Writers Guild of Texas online video</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>'Showing' vs. 'telling': Put the character in situation in which they interact in ways you want to show. 'In the head' is telling. It's the action that's 'showing.': <i>Dan Crissman, Pitch to Published virtual writing group</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On not sweating the small stuff: Clothing descriptions don't need to happen unless it's important to the story. We can assume (the characters) are wearing clothes. -- <i>Robert Dugoni, Thrillerfest virtual conference, 2021</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>On literary agents: I became an agent because I was in law school but didn't want to be a lawyer! -- <i>Kirby Kim, Writers League of Texas virtual conference, 2021</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How to research agents: Get two bowls with 50 marbles in one. Take a marble from the first bowl and put it in the second bowl for each agent researched. Caution -- do not substitute candies for marbles in this exercise.<br />: -- <i>Kathy Ver Eeke, Pitch to Published virtual writing group</i></li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I'll end with this spit in the eye of the pandemic: During COVID-19, I had to find a place to write where it was outdoors but safe -- I went to the cemetery. --<i> Jeff Kinney, North Texas Teen Book Festival, 2021</i></li></ul><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5sD2Gz4lke0Xaex1OMB77YIMBJ8w1IKTkC9cm_oXzeOtzdxNsibjz0epI8ZWulolB8YEhkFRDO77TCDlXAgAE0zQq4kq8Xjcdwjj6hx0nRlGAJ9rUXSoJRmPD9Q71jdINiT-LO1MF2TH8OBXR0CX_Uhs96P4-9eZlZDV-yT2u7LwAHimnVEQBetrOfw=s1920" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1416" data-original-width="1920" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5sD2Gz4lke0Xaex1OMB77YIMBJ8w1IKTkC9cm_oXzeOtzdxNsibjz0epI8ZWulolB8YEhkFRDO77TCDlXAgAE0zQq4kq8Xjcdwjj6hx0nRlGAJ9rUXSoJRmPD9Q71jdINiT-LO1MF2TH8OBXR0CX_Uhs96P4-9eZlZDV-yT2u7LwAHimnVEQBetrOfw=w320-h236" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image by Kaitlyn Millet from Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table>There you have it. Useful tips or at least some that may make us smile. I'm happy to say that some of these events have or plan to go live in 2020. The North Texas Teen Book Festival went live earlier this month, and Writers League of Texas and Thrillerfest are full steam ahead with plans for in-person conferences. The Writers Guild of Texas is still operating virtually out of its Facebook page but sadly, WORDfest, an event of the Writers Organizations 'Round Dallas has disappeared from sight. Keep checking back here for updates. And keep writing!</div><div><span><span> </span><span> </span><br /></span></div><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-26440381120628448372022-02-03T17:31:00.005-06:002022-02-09T11:14:07.609-06:00Weather and COVID can't stop Texas literary events<p> I'm writing this from the land of ice and snow known as North Texas, but neither Arctic temperatures nor a pandemic can keep Texas literary events down. Still, some are hesitating -- will they go in-person, virtual, or hybrid? I'll update as information becomes available.</p><p><i>(Updated February 9 with information about Highland Park Literary Fest, North Texas Teen Bookfest and Dallas Literary Festival)</i></p><p><b><i>Now-February 28:</i></b> <a href="https://writersleague.org" target="_blank">Writers League of Texas Manuscript Contest</a>. OK, I don't mean to turn this into a writing contest post. That will come later. For now, consider it a warmup for the Writers League's big event -- its Agents and Editors Conference, which bravely returns (as of this writing, at least) in person June 24-26. </p><p>In the meantime, the WLT invites us to submit the opening pages of our unpublished manuscripts for constructive feedback and, maybe, a one-on-one discussion with a top literary agent in our genres. All we need are the first, approximately 10 pages and a synopsis of what we have planned for the rest of the manuscript. Fees: $55 for WLT members, $65 for nonmembers (includes written critique). Or $25 for members, $35 for nonmembers who opt out of receiving written feedback. See the site for details.</p><p><b><i>February 15-May 31: </i></b>The Dallas Museum of Arts program of writers, <a href="https://dma.org/programs/arts-letters-live" target="_blank">Arts & Letters Live</a>, returns in-person but with virtual options. In-person tickets start at $30, virtual tickets at $12, in both cases with discounts for DMA members, educators, and students. See the site for details, venues, and ticket purchases.</p><p><b><i>February 23: </i></b>Keynote speaker for the 2022 <a href="https://hplitfest.com" target="_blank">Highland Park Literary Festival</a> is <i>New York Times</i> best-selling writing Amor Towles, author most recently of <i>The Lincoln Highway</i>, as well as A<i> Gentleman in Moscow</i>, and more. Although the event is free and open to the public, please register your attendance at the site. I also opted for $20 valet parking, since parking space is limited. At the Highland Park High School auditorium, 4220 Emerson Ave., Dallas. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Valet parking starts at 6 p.m.</p><p><b><i>March 4-5:</i></b> The <a href="http://www.northtexasteenbookfestival.com" target="_blank">North Texas Teen Book Festival</a> keeps going! Although details are still skimpy, it promises more than 90 authors and illustrators of middle grade and young adult books. Although the educators event March is virtual, the public festival March will be in-person at the Irving Convention Center, 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving, Texas. Free, but additional parking fees apply. (Or try DART, which has a stop within walking distance of the convention center.) 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. </p><p><b><i>March 18-22:</i></b> The SMU-sponsored <a href="http://www.dallasliteraryfestival.org" target="_blank">Dallas Literary Festival </a>presents featured authors Nikole Hannah-Jones, Davie Treuer, and Jelani Cobb. Assistant director Katherine Delony has informed me that the festival will be in-person with most events either on the SMU campus or at the African American Museum of Dallas. Registration information will be on the website as soon as a schedule is available.</p><p><b><i>April 22-24:</i></b> Ready, Set, Pitch -- the annual spring conference of the <a href="http://www.houstonwritersguild.org" target="_blank">Houston Writers Guild</a> is emphatically hybrid. Sessions Friday (April 22) and Sunday (April 24) will be held in person with a Zoom option. Main day programming Saturday (April 23) will be fully virtual, including agent and acquisition editor pitch sessions. Tickets are $50 for a three-day pass, $25 for Friday's marketing options panel, and $35 for Sunday's workshop. Agent pitch sessions are an additional $25 each. A processing fee applies to all transactions. See the site for complete schedule and in-person venue locations.</p><p><b><i>April 29-May 1:</i></b> Also in Houston, <a href="https://www.writefesthouston.com" target="_blank">Writefest</a> returns with a virtual book fair, a conference, and social events around the city. Social events are free and open to the public. Registration and complete schedules are available at the website.</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5iYrIcYXdwAZpogwl98jc36YUVMONXJjaaXB-5_WDPx2uzzE-e1Y2rq5hcaGPSHX3-HMfaJ0-fKJXDe60T3Eqt5cR9z1-vtXLbHTIjhFfZ56PYxKnBZIUNEcDFaBCDIeAeyxbnQG4onoJzHj_KZTSDSHIbz3BGkJmWiLcN7Y-EKSk3l9lplhZG6I0gg=s2668" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2668" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5iYrIcYXdwAZpogwl98jc36YUVMONXJjaaXB-5_WDPx2uzzE-e1Y2rq5hcaGPSHX3-HMfaJ0-fKJXDe60T3Eqt5cR9z1-vtXLbHTIjhFfZ56PYxKnBZIUNEcDFaBCDIeAeyxbnQG4onoJzHj_KZTSDSHIbz3BGkJmWiLcN7Y-EKSk3l9lplhZG6I0gg=w240-h320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Then there are the "save-the-date: and even "to-be-determined" events, including major conferences outside the state.</p><p><b><i>May 31-June 4:</i></b> <a href="https://thrillerfest.com" target="_blank">Thrillerfest XVII</a> plans a completely in-person conference at New York City's Sheraton Times Square hotel. Agents galore, master and craft classes, and more, more, more. Check out the free Best First Sentence contest and examples from 2021's winners at the site. Too many options to list here, so see the site for schedules and prices, and to reserve a hotel room. Note that attendees must follow NYC's COVID-19 vaccination mandates.</p><p><b><i>June ?:</i></b> Will the beloved <a href="https://www.dfwwritersworkshop.org" target="_blank">DFW Writers Conference</a> return for 2022? The best information I can find is that it <i>may</i> take place sometime in June at the Hurst Convention Center, Hurst, Texas. This follows numerous setbacks in 2021, including date changes and a decision to go completely virtual at that time. Again, I'll update. </p><p><b><i>June 24-26:</i></b> <a href="https://writersleague.org" target="_blank">Agents and Editors Conference of the Writers League of Texas </a>at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Austin, Texas. Registration not yet available but note that winners of the WLT's manuscript contest (above) receive free entry to the conference.</p><p><b>July 27-30:</b> <a href="http://www.rwa.org" target="_blank">Romance Writers of America</a> have a date and place for their 2022 conference -- Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center, National Harbor, Maryland, but no other details as yet.</p><p><b><i>September 1-5:</i></b> <a href="https://chicon.org" target="_blank">WorldCon </a>(also known this year as Chicon 8) takes place in Chicago. The festival anticipates starting discussions this spring about public health issues. More to come.</p><p><b><i>September 8-11:</i></b> <a href="http://www.bouchercon2022.com" target="_blank">Bouchercon 2022</a>, the world mystery writers conference, is schedule at the Hilton Minneapolis, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More to come.</p><p><b><i>September 16-18:</i></b> <a href="https://fencon.org" target="_blank">Fencon</a>, the Dallas/Fort Worth science fiction and fantasy convention, will convene at the Sheraton DFW Airport hotel, 4440 W. John Carpenter Freeway, in Irving, Texas. Adult tickets start at $40. No word yet on whether there will be a writers workshop but the site asks us to stay tuned for more information.</p><p><b><i>November 3-6: </i></b>The <a href="http://www.wfc2022.org" target="_blank">World Fantasy Convention 2022 </a>is scheduled for New Orleans, at the Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Ave. Again, details to come.</p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-28017540477112178382022-01-24T16:56:00.001-06:002022-01-24T17:11:11.761-06:00Indie bookstores? Texas has 'em, east to west<p> <i>First in an occasional series about Texas independent bookstores</i></p><p>A Facebook friend posted about a bookseller's West Coast vacation visiting independent bookstores. And I wondered: are there enough indie bookstores in Texas to populate a blog post? Turns out there are enough even within a half-day's drive or less to populate multiple posts. Since I began this indie odyssey a few years back, I've been saddened to see old friends fall by the wayside but gladdened by new startups.</p><p>I'll begin with the east side of the state and work west to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and beyond in later posts.</p><p>I had first headed east from Dallas along the 1-20/1-80 corridor. Originally, I located three independent bookstores in Tyler. Since then, old friends Fireside Books and Once & Again Books are no more. </p><p>However, the venerable <a href="http://www.peapickerbooks.com" target="_blank">Pea Picker Bookstore</a>, 2803 University Boulevard, is still going strong. The selection of romance volumes at this shop near the University of Texas at Tyler is jaw-droppingly amazing. But that's not all, including a section of new books. Hours are 9:30-5:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. I lost track of time during my stay and browsed until closing, buying an early Elizabeth Peters archaeological mystery, Alfred Lansing's nonfiction volume of Antarctic explorer Ernes Shackleton, and an Illustrated Classics version of <i>Treasure Island </i>for my then elementary-aged grandsons.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIRG6_5Wm-5NEYD4VIZRBmVH3DOAmP21HQw5ymXS0_8w6rN7OYDFy_WvOwEm9h-94CdV1NGzVbusAhi2if92mZL8U0wl7eP7ktfgKIEE6lJXihfS8j1-gryf2eX0uwhnNRUzyvN4_ih4YUzeMxiHKg9R8298w-iOy1UmY_PNWJidKF3DtKevVEloAgYg=s640" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIRG6_5Wm-5NEYD4VIZRBmVH3DOAmP21HQw5ymXS0_8w6rN7OYDFy_WvOwEm9h-94CdV1NGzVbusAhi2if92mZL8U0wl7eP7ktfgKIEE6lJXihfS8j1-gryf2eX0uwhnNRUzyvN4_ih4YUzeMxiHKg9R8298w-iOy1UmY_PNWJidKF3DtKevVEloAgYg=w320-h240" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pea Picker books galore</td></tr></tbody></table>Continuing east, I reached Gladewater. Don't be put off by the drab Highway 80 entry to this little town. It has a lovely antiques district, including a bookstore, <a href="http://www.gladewaterbooks.com" target="_blank">Gladewater Books</a>, 109 E. Pacific Avenue. It's open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday - Saturday. The proprietors have turned an antique building -- the pressed tin ceiling alone is worth a look -- into a store filled with used books, toys, and ephemera, with emphasis on books. I bought a hardback copy of Tanith Lee's Black Unicorn with dust jacket. The best contact option is the store's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Gladewaterbooks" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>, since the website is seriously out of date.<p></p><p>Luckily for my search, Texas writer <a href="https://garyborders.com" target="_blank">Gary Borders</a> (who I know from his interest in stories of my great-uncle, Milzie Williamson, lists several newcomer East Texas bookstores. I'll give a list, but for more details, see Gary's full article in <a href="https://texashighways.com" target="_blank">Texas Highways </a>magazine. Stores include:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://www.thebosslight.com" target="_blank">The Bosslight Bookstore</a>, 123 E. Main St., Nacogdoches</li><li><a href="http://www.absolutelyfiction.com">Absolutely Fiction</a>, 903 S. Redditt Dr., Lufkin</li><li><a href="https://the-blind-pig-book-store.business.site" target="_blank">The Blind Pig</a>, 129 S. Main St., Paris</li><li><a href="http://www.thekilgorebookstore.com" target="_blank">T</a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/thebookstoreinkilgore" target="_blank">he Bookstore in Kilgore & The Coffee Cherry</a>, 1023 Houston St., Kilgore, for books with a side of joe!</li></ul><p></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037573450468007593.post-73135098330388909792021-10-20T17:20:00.004-05:002021-11-15T11:19:05.589-06:00Weird & wonderful fall writing contests and events<p><i>(Updated November 15 with information about DL Hammons' WRiTE CLUB contest.)</i></p><p>How long has it been since I posted about writing contests? Well, that's too long! Here's a sampling, both wonderful and weird, to whet your writing appetite. The good news -- they're all virtual!</p><p>First -- WRiTE CLUB, DL Hammons' popular reader's choice contest, has officially kicked off for 2021. Submissions accepted November 15-28. It's fun! It's Free It's got great prizes. See DL's <a href="http://www.dlhammons.com/p/writeclub-2021-tenth-edition.html" target="_blank">site</a> <span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for details.</span></p><p><b><i>Now-October 26:</i></b> The <a href="http://www.wgtonline.org" target="_blank">Writers Guild of Texas annual flash fiction contest</a> offers cash prizes to the top four stories. Entries must be 300-1000 words, original, and not previously published. No poetry, essays or fan fiction. See the guidelines for additional requirements. First entry fee for nonmembers is $35, which includes a complimentary WGT membership through December of the following year, $15 each for additional entries (maximum of three). WGT members may submit one entry at no additional cost. Additional submissions cost $15 per entry. See the site for additional guidelines.</p><p><b><i>Now-November 15:</i></b> <a href="http://www.carvezine.com/prose-poetry-contest" target="_blank">Carve Magazine's Prose & Poetry Contest 2021</a> offers cash prizes and publication for winners in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Writers may submit multiple entries, with maximum wordcounts of 10,000 for prose, 2,000 for poetry. Stories (literary only -- no genre fiction) essays, and poems must be previously unpublished (including on-line publication). Entry fee: $17. No mailed submissions. See the site for full details.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmGx0hbe2vAG7jdCVeIkdsieDui-uJlNJz4bNYox7D79xHMyM35vaA8ncUKGUPYWgBnJi9hwfeZXgLn4pS_SmYORTioOzHqhH4j25TtwBjeeOCcHwtu5qbTDgUEa-1GgO0yLAt13IOnNc8/s1920/argument-238529_1920.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1279" data-original-width="1920" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmGx0hbe2vAG7jdCVeIkdsieDui-uJlNJz4bNYox7D79xHMyM35vaA8ncUKGUPYWgBnJi9hwfeZXgLn4pS_SmYORTioOzHqhH4j25TtwBjeeOCcHwtu5qbTDgUEa-1GgO0yLAt13IOnNc8/s320/argument-238529_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Ryan McGuire for Pixabay</td></tr></tbody></table><b><i>December 2:</i></b> Twitter's quarterly pitch your book by tweet event, #PitMad (brought by Pitch Wars) tempts literary agents and acquisition editors to request manuscripts by "liking" the authors' 280-character pitches. Open to all unagented writers working in all genres. Work must be completed and polished but unagented. Include the #PitMad hashtag and an age sub-hashtag. Writers may also include multiple genre or additional hashtags and may multiple manuscripts. Just don't pitch more than three times for any single work during the day. Not yet ready to query? No fear -- #PitMad repeats quarterly, starting again March 2022. See the <a href="https://pitchwars.org" target="_blank">Pitch Wars</a> site for details.<p></p><p><b><i>Now-December 31:</i></b> L. Ron Hubbard's <a href="http://www.writersofthefuture.com" target="_blank">Writers of the Future </a>contest is for new and amateur writers of science fiction and fantasy. Repeats quarterly. Cash prizes for first through third-place, with each quarter's first place winners competing for an additional annual prize. Original works only, not previously published in professional media, up to 17,000 words. No entry fee. See the site for details.</p><p>Want more? Need more? Of course! So check out Arthur Klepchukov's <a href="https://writerunboxed.com/2021/08/23/fiction-writing-contests-worth-your-time" target="_blank">Writing Contests Worth Your Time</a> and Erica Verrillo's <a href="https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Publishing and Other Forms of Insanity</a> blog. And don't forget <a href="https://blog.reedsy.com" target="_blank">Reedsy</a>'s list of contests as well as <a href="http://Ralan.com">Ralan.com</a>!</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Then there are the writing/literary conferences. Pandemic protocols moved many of what were normally spring and summer events into late autumn, even early winter, so there's till time to catch some old favorites and make new ones.</p><p><b><i>October 25-28, 30-31:</i></b> The <a href="http://www.texasbookfestival.org" target="_blank">Texas Book Festival</a> opted for a hybrid formal. October 25-28 events are virtual, those 30-31 in-person at outdoor venues in Austin, Texas. Free as always, but check the site for details.</p><p><b><i>November 1-30:</i></b> Maybe <a href="https://nanowrimo.org" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a> (short for National Novel Writing Month) isn't exactly a conference. But this self-described seat-of-your-pants creative writing event has gone world-wide. Start a book, make friends virtually or in-person, and give yourself an excuse to let someone else roast the Thanksgiving turkey!</p><p><b><i>November 4-7: </i></b>The <a href="https://wfc2021.org" target="_blank">World Fantasy Convention </a>goes bravely hybrid -- live from Montreal, Canada, or in your living room. Many details still to be hashed out, so see the site and remember to check COVID-19 protocols for international travel.</p><p><b><i>November 5-6:</i></b> New to me is the <a href="http://www.fictionintensive.com" target="_blank">Fiction Intensive Virtual Writing Conference</a>, taught by the likes of of Steven James, Donald Maass, Tosca Lee, and more authors, agents, and editors. As always, see the site for registration and complete details.</p><p><i><b>November 18-20:</b></i> The <a href="http://www.rwa.org/conference" target="_blank">RWA Conference</a> (Romance Writers of America) opted for full-on virtual. Check the site for details and registration.</p><p><b><i>December 15-17:</i></b> Finally on my list of major literary conferences is <a href="https://discon3.org" target="_blank">WorldCon</a>, the international science fiction event, to be held in Washington, D.C. Stay tuned to the site for details.</p><p>As we near the end of 2021, look ahead. Some 2022 events are staying virtual -- which means less expensive. Events like Donald Maass's BONI (Breakout Novel Intensive), going virtual June 13-19, 2022; and Breakout Novel Graduate Learning Retreat January 17-23, 2022. And yes, there are in-person versions of both. See the <a href="https://free-expressions.com/breakout-novel-intensive-hood-river-or" target="_blank">Free Expressions</a> site for details.</p><p><i>(Post updated to include Writers Guild of Texas flash fiction contest)</i></p>Melissa Embryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122707432455812099noreply@blogger.com0