Discover Mystery contest

Poisoned Pen Press, a small but well-thought-of indie publisher, has a new contest this year for unpublished authors. It is called the Discover Mystery contest and I have decided to enter AN UNTIDY AFFAIR.

The mystery manuscript must be between 60,000 and 90,000 words, and the winner will be offered a publishing contract with a small ($1,000) advance. The submission deadline is April 30, with the winner being announced one month later on May 31.

Though I like Poisoned Pen Press, I have never submitted a manuscript there before, mostly, I think, out of fear of rejection. The publisher prides itself on the fact that it accepts and considers authors without representation. And I know a local author who has had several of her mysteries published through Poisoned Pen and has enjoyed some success them.

As you may remember, I originally wrote AFFAIR in November 2009 during National Novel Writing Month and it has gone through numerous rewrites. I think I am up to 12. Because it is polished is one of the reasons I decided to submit it. That and the fact that I have another work currently in the Amazon contest. The Poisoned Pen rules state I can't enter the same mss to another publisher at the same time it is being considered in the Poisoned Pen contest.

So this is two contests this year -- Poisoned Pen and Amazon -- with different novels. Way to go, me!!

One of my stated goals was to enter four contests this year for novels or short stories and so I am nearly half way there. Plus I am looking around for other contests to enter. Both AFFAIR and THE LAST TONTINE SURVIVOR are good works which are completed and edited (as best they can be by an non-professional editor). So I am prepared to shop them around and hope for the best.

Your prayers would also be helpful.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

The first step is to admit your addiction

I have met so many wonderful people through the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest over the years. The way you meet your fellow contestants -- and well, anyone, really -- is primarily through the community forums. And while Ammy monitors the conversation threads, they can, and do, cover virtually any topic.

And they are addictive. So much so, you can get lost reading and commenting on the various conversation threads that you don't get any of your work do.

The topics cover everything from the serious, such as questions about the contest, writing suggestions and information on other contests; to the silly, such as bad song lyrics, and posting stupid questions.

This year, I promised myself that I would stay away from the threads as much as possible or, if I went there, I would merely 'lurk' and not comment on any topics.

I failed on both counts.

I tend to visit the threads everyday, though to my credit, I have commented less this year than in previous years. I am lurking more. Viewing and not commenting is made easier because many of my friends from years past are not in the competition this year, so I don't see them commenting much. And I don't know most of the regulars who are commenting this year and they don't know me. I posted an excerpt from my novel this year seeking comments but didn't get any.

This is the fifth year for ABNA and unfortunately something that generally happens later in the contest has started to occur, although the first round eliminations aren't due for more than a week. The problem is negativity.

When you pour your heart and soul into your work and then have it eliminated from competition is often hard to take. Most people accept it quietly, although it hurts. Others do not. There can be whining and crying and lashing out, saying the contest is unfair (which it isn't) or that the contestant was unfairly targeted for elimination (which also doesn't happen). Plus, some people take shots at the non-professional Vine reviewers who act as judges in the second stage of the contest. And the Vine reviewers sometimes fire back.

The problem this year seems that the Vine reviewers are complaining amongst themselves and to some degree on the ABNA threads even BEFORE they have any of the materials to judge. And there is one self-righteous, myopic SOB who takes pride in -- and indeed seems to get a perverse pleasure out of -- writing harsh reviews. Many of the contestants are afraid of him. I am not but I also avoid reading any of the comments on the contest or its contestants that he writes. He is a cancer, vile and ugly. He ruins the contest for many people and I don't understand why Ammy continues to use him.

That is another reason I am trying to stay away from the threads this year. There are 10,000 entries in the contest and there will only be two grand prize winners. They rest of us will eventually face our disappointments. Before that happens, I'd like to keep my dreams of winning alive and not have them killed prematurely by people who take joy in the misery of others.

I hope this doesn't sound like I am whining because I'm not. I have nothing to whine about. I wrote a good novel and wrote a good entry into the contest. Now, it is out of my hands and I will just have to wait and see what happens.

So, I'm going back to lurking, and working on my next novel.

Thanks for reading and you also, get back to writing.

My Muse Can Beat Up Your Muse: The Road to Publication: Part Three

My Muse Can Beat Up Your Muse: The Road to Publication: Part Three: [ This is part 3 of a summary of Spookygirl’s journey toward publication. Use the Progress tag to access all related entries. ] ...

Hello. It's me again. Finally.

I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest again this year. I first entered in 2009 with A MURDEROUS DISPATCH. (I should have kept the original -- and once again -- title, "Death at the Jungle-Bunny Journal.") I didn't make it past the first round.

Last year, I entered A NASTY AFFAIR. and again I should have kept the original -- and once again -- title, "An Untidy Affair." The original title is a better fit for the story. It implies something both sexual and non-sexual.

I made it to the quarterfinal round last year, which was farther than 95 percent of all the entrants. And though I got a reasonably positive review from someone at Publishers Weekly, I failed to advance to the semifinals. Unfortunately, the review was vague and I couldn't get much out of it.

AFFAIR was written during National Novel Writing Month in 2009 and my entry this year, THE LAST TONTINE SURVIVOR, was originally written during NaNoWriMo in 2010. (It's original title was merely, "The Tontine," but this time, I like the change.) It is a good story and I think the writing is strong. I have gotten three critical reads of the manuscript, including an edit. But I have no idea how it will do in the contest.

So much of ABNA comes down to luck, particularly in the first round. I have no idea whether I have any of that. But I have done my part. I have written a good novel with an interesting plot. I have done what I could. Now, I just have to while until the first round results are announced on Feb. 23. The finals will be in late May. I hope I make it that far.

There are two categories in ABNA -- general fiction and young adult. I am entered in general fiction. There is a grand prize winner in each category.

And while I don't believe the best novel always wins, I certainly believe a deserving, well-written novel always wins. And the winner last year in the YA category was a delightful novel called, SPOOKYGIRL, PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR. And its author is a wonderful woman named Jill Baguchinsky.

Jill just started a blog on what it is like to win ABNA. And if I do things correctly, there should be a link to her blog in this blog posting. You should go check it out. I enjoy reading it and look forward to her next posting.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading and, always, keep writing.

Hello

I know I have been away for months -- since last June. But my focus has been on other things and, frankly, I didn't have a lot to say.

But I am trying to get back on the stick.

Look forward to coming posts, starting with when I entered ABNA this year.

Bye for now. Chat you up again soon.

Dashiell Hammett

Today is the birthday of Samuel Dashiell Hammett, who was born in 1894 and died on Jan. 10, 1961.

Hammett is one of my favorite fiction authors. His hard-boiled detective novels are full of interesting, three-dimensional characters who are both cynical and romantic. My favorites are Nick and Nora Charles from THE THIN MAN. The novel was published in 1934 and there were six movies based on Nick and Nora, starting with "The Thin Man", also in 1934.

He only wrote five novels -- all in five years with THE THIN MAN being the last -- but also wrote a host of short stories. The other novel for which he is well known today is THE MALTESE FALCON, which was his third novel and which introduced the detective character Sam Spade. However, his first novel, RED HARVEST, published in 1929, was listed by Time magazine several years ago as one of the top 100, English-language novels in the 20th Century.

In many ways, Hammett's character Sam Spade inspired David Blaise, the protagonist in my 2009 novel, AN UNTIDY AFFAIR. I read THE MALTESE FALCON for the umpteenth time in 2008 and while the timing and settings of Hammett's novel and my novel are different, as I wrote I often thought of what Spade's office would look like and of the characters on the street he would meet.

Blaise is a struggling detective and a bit of a loner. Solitude is probably his greatest vice.

Blaise is not hard-drinking and heavy smoking like what you find in Hammett's work -- or in his life. But I think those vices are more a product of Hammett's time. Given the traits of his characters, it is hard believe they would have as strong a cultural impact or have the lasting appeal if they were written that way today.

Hammett was a veteran of two world wars. And though jailed in the 1950s for failing to name names during the Red Scare, he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The cemetery is large and I generally just go to the Kennedy gravesite because it is the easiest to find. But this summer when we are vacationing in the area, I plan to visit Hammett's grave.

Thanks for reading and, like me, keep writing.

Writing . . . and quitting

Just last week, I was talking to a friend from high school who is a lawyer by training. Several years ago, he tried his hand at writing fiction. In fact, he tells me he wrote eight -- yes, I said eight -- novels. He even joined Mystery Writers of America after getting a short story published.

He said he tried unsuccessfully for a while to get an agent but then just quit.

And I asked myself, how in the world could you just quit?

Writing is hard. Getting published is even harder. Neither is for the faint-hearted. But why quit, not just trying to get published but writing as well?

I can imagine a time when I might stop trying to get published, whether I ever publish a book or not. But I can't imagine not writing. I daydream all the time and, to me at least, writing is just an extension of daydreaming. A short story or a novel is a daydream written down.

I encouraged my friend to take up the pen again, and even to come sit in on my Wednesday critique group. Perhaps it will inspire him to write. (Then again, the frank honesty of my group may turn him off from writing forever.)

It just seems to me that if you have written eight novels, you had something to say. I can't see how you could give that up.

Thanks for reading and get back to work.

Nathan Bransford, Author: Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which ...

I like this. Author Nathan Bransford really breaks down the financial question as whether to self-publish or go the traditional route.

Very informative.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.


Nathan Bransford, Author: Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which ...: "It's author monetization week! Monday through Thursday this week I'm going to have a series of posts on a crucial topic for the modern write..."