Magna Cum Murder

Going to a crime fiction writers conference this weekend downtown at the Columbia Club (an old GOP stomping ground. No matter). Magna Cum Murder is an annual conference that until four years ago was held in Muncie, Indiana, at Ball State University. It's a relatively small conference -- a couple hundred people at most -- but always well-attended by crime fiction writers from around the world.

It goes from Friday to Sunday.

Sisters in Crime is represented there by our Speed City chapter. We are sponsoring a luncheon on either Saturday or Sunday.

As with most conferences, it's a great way to network with other writers at the receptions and dinners to talk and exchange ideas. And, of course, there are the panel discussions and booksignings.

The chapter has a table to promote our books which I will have to staff some time on Saturday morning. And, for the third year, we are sponsoring a flash fiction contest. We provide a prompt for a 250-word short story. Members of the chapter judge the entries on Saturday night and I will announce the winner at the closing luncheon on Sunday.

I never stay downtown at the conference. Hotel rooms are too expensive, particularly since the conference itself is a little pricey. So I come home every night. But it's still a great time and well worth the time, effort and expense.

Looking forward to a great weekend.

Thanks for reading.

Rejections III -- Update

I wrote and posted a blog five days ago on rejections. Specifically, I mentioned an award I had submitted to and was waiting to hear the decision, fearing the inevitable rejection.

The e-mail rejection arrived today.

Amazingly -- and quite gratefully -- I don't feel bad about it. I must be getting old. (Stop laughing out there. I see you.)

Though I edited some of it down, back in late June I submitted the first 5,000 words of An Untidy Affair, a detective novel with private eye David Blaise, for the 2016 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, which is sponsored by the national office of Sisters in Crime. This is the third year for the award, which grants $1,500 to its recipient.

The winner this year is Stephane Dunn, whom I don't know. But congrats to her. I'm sure she is more than deserving.

The award is named after Eleanor Taylor Bland, a pioneer in crime fiction who passed away six years ago. As it says on the SinC website, the goal of the award is "to support the recipient in activities related to crime fiction writing and career development." I can use some support in both those areas. And it is all the more important given that the latest survey of SinC shows fewer than 5 percent of its members are black.

I knew it was a longshot but I had nothing to lose. And I'm sure the organization, of which I have been a member for nearly a decade, would have preferred a woman, since the stated goal of SinC is the advancement of female mystery and crime writers. But one of my favorite things about Sisters in Crime is that the organization supports and promotes female writers but doesn't discriminate against us Mister Sisters. I am proud to be a member of Sisters in Crime and currently serve as vice president of the Speed City chapter of SinC. Speed City covers all of Indiana and our next short story anthology, The Fine Art of Murder, comes out in early October.

But rejection is common in writing, as it is in more creative areas. So I'm okay. I will just keep on keepin' on. There are more novels and short stories to write and more agents and publications to submit to.

So watch out world. I'm still coming for you.

Thanks for reading.

Rejections III

It's been a while since I have touched on this subject. Probably the last time was in 2010. But that's not to say it hasn't happened or deeply touched me since then because it has. Query letters to agents and publishers, a manuscript submission, awards and contests -- lots of rejections.

I am thinking about it now because I am expecting another rejection soon, perhaps as early as Monday. I submitted the beginning of my detective novel An Untidy Affair for an award. I should probably hear by Monday. It's not for a publication, but there is a cash award. Hooray. The submission was some time ago and I have managed not to think about it much until now.

 Now I know this is getting the cart before the horse. (Where have I heard that before?) But while the submission was strong -- it's a good book and even in rejection at the end of last year, a publisher said it was a good piece of work -- but I'm sure the competition is strong. And I guess it is easier to be pessimistic at this point so I won't be as disappointed when the news comes. (Kind of like Donald Trump has started to say the November is rigged just in case Clinton beats him.)

The novel reached the quarterfinals in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest back in 2010, so I know it has potential. That was the reason I submitted it to this award.  (No, I'm not going to say which award right now. You will have to wait.)

Since in the publishing industry luck is nearly as important as talent, wish me luck. I already have the talent part handled.

Thanks for reading and don't give up.

ABNA

Read the announcement today that Amazon this year is not hosting its annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. ABNA is probably now gone forever.

That makes me sad. It was a fun contest that not offered a slim chance of getting a publishing contract, but it also was a great gathering place for authors like me to meet and befriend each other. A large number of my Facebook friends are from ABNA. Only one have I ever met face-to-face -- and then only once and briefly.

I will miss that -- getting ready for the contest, chatting with the others, offering and receiving advice on my writing, offering and receiving encouragement when the inevitable comes.

There are forums with former participants but it won't be the same as during the late winter and into the spring when the contest unfolds. It was a gathering of like-minded people who cheered each other on and cried with each other when elimination came.

Last fall, Amazon announced a "reader-powered publishing platform" called Kindle Scout and encouraged past contestants to consider that as a publishing option. In today's announcement, Amazon mentioned Kindle Scout again.

I'm assuming the company feels that is a better and more cost-effective method of finding new authors and new voices. And now, without the contest, I guess I may pursue that.

But regardless of the outcome, I doubt it will be as much fun as the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Sorry to see it go.

But onward and upward

Thanks for reading and keep up the writing.  

ABNA Finalists to be announced tomorrow

Tomorrow, July 8, is a Big Day for those still in the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. ABNA administrators will pare the list of 25 semifinalists down to only five finalists, one in each of five categories in the contest (General fiction, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, Romance, Mystery & Thriller, and Young Adult Fiction).

While the public won't know the results until tomorrow, the 25 semifinalists actually already know their fate -- and have since last Wednesday. On July 2, ABNA started contacting the finalists, who had some procedural matters to address -- contracts to sign and whatnot -- before the public announcement. Therefore, if you were a semifinalist and didn't get a call last Wednesday, you knew you didn't advance to the finals.

The Grand Prize winner, who gets a $50,000 publishing contract from Amazon, will be selected from the list of five finalists, with each of whom getting a $15,000 contract.

While I only made it to the quarterfinal round, I think this would be the last truly emotional announcement to anticipate because, win or lose, you get a publishing contract with Amazon if you are a finalist.

 I haven't read many of the semifinalists' excerpts, except for the five in the M/T category (which was the category I entered). I have a favorite and have expressed that to the author and can only hope that they make it through. Theirs is a great work and deserving of being selected as a finalist.

So best of luck to the 25 semifinalists and the five finalists to be announced tomorrow.

I, as always, am laboring away on my WIP, which is currently titled The Deadly Game, and I will probably enter it in the 2015 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition next winter. And I will query my 2011 ABNA quarterfinal novel, An Untidy Affair, to agents and publishers throughout the rest of this year.

Thanks for reading.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The finalists were announced and The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley was selected as the finalist in the Mystery & Thriller category. And while it wasn't my choice in the category -- I was pulling for Hart Johnson's A Shot in the Light --  Pulley has a fine, well-written novel. We will see if a mystery is the grand prize winner. It has never happened in the seven years of the contest. mbd

ABNA

Tomorrow is March 12, and it's the day Amazon will announce the quarterfinalists in this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The contest will be down to only 500 contestants out of 10,000 entries. I know those who made it through Round One are sitting on pins and needles right now waiting to learn if they advance or if they go home.

I entered ABNA this year with The Last Tontine Survivor, the same novel I entered last year. I was knocked out in the pitch round last year and so I re-wrote and improved my pitch this year. Or at least I thought it was much-improved. I was quite hopeful for this novel this year.

However, I was eliminated again in the first round this year.

But as usual, I met a lot of wonderful aspiring novelists on the ABNA discussion boards, which is a rich benefit of the contest. And it seemed like a lot of others are self-published, through Create Space or through one of the other many platforms.

My brother asked me last week whether I was really to be self-published. I told him of course I am ready because frankly it doesn't take much. With as little as a couple hundred dollars and manuscript, anyone can get published.

What I want is some editorial and marketing help to get my writing career beyond the starting gate. For me, I'm not sure self-publishing can do that for me right now.

Anyway, back to ABNA, I have a friend from my writing critique group who made it past the pitch stage this year and he is hoping to make the quarterfinals. It's a good novel with some great promise.

So, Good Luck, Michael. I hope you go all the way.

As for me, I will try in again next year with an all-new novel, which I am still working on. Perhaps next year at ABNA will be my year.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
My friend Michael Eldridge made the cut today and is a quarterfinalist in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. His novel is called Bad Karma, and if you go to Amazon.com, you can find an excerpt of the beginning of the novel that you can download and read.
Another interesting note. Our critique group, In Mysterious Company, has had an ABNA quarterfinalist in each of the last three competitions. Michael made it this year, Marianne Halbert made it last year and I was a quarterfinalist in 2011.
mbd

Contests

Ok, so I have been away since October. It's hard trying to be interesting on a regular basis when you don't have a lot to say. At least I don't think I always have a lot to say. How to other bloggers do it -- blog everyday?

Anyway, I'm back, thanks to the inspiration of my great friend, Sharyn. Thanks, babe. You are the best.

In entered two contests over the weekend, with two separate novels. The first is the James Jones Fellowship Contest at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. This is the 22nd annual contest for an American with a first fiction work in progress, and is sponsored by the James Jones Literary Society.

"The award is intended to honor the spirit of unblinking honesty, determination, and insight into modern culture exemplified by the late James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and other prose narratives of distinction," sponsors of the contest said on the Wilkes University website. The top prize is $10,000, with two runner-up awards of $750.

The deadline, which originally was set for March 1, is March 15. To enter, you submit a two-page summary and the first 50 pages of the novel. An author who makes it past the first round will be asked to submit the original 50 pages along with pages 51-100. novel The winner will be notified in September and must attend the society's annual conference in early November. They normally set around 600 entries. Last year it was 558. 

For obvious reasons -- well, at least they were obvious to me -- I entered An Untidy Affair. It's a strong work and it's set in Pennsylvania, specifically in Philadelphia. I feel comfortable about my chances but that certainly doesn't mean I think I will win. Just that I think I have a legitimate shot.

The second contest I entered last weekend is the Dundee International Book Prize, sponsored by the City of Dundee in Scotland, and the University of Dundee. This is the ninth annual award.

I really like this one, if only because if I win I would travel to Scotland to pick of the award, which is 10,000 Pounds, or about $16,000 U.S. And unlike the James Jones, Dundee also awards a publishing contract.

The novel must be in English, which isn't a problem, and unpublished, although a work on Kindle or in an e-book format are acceptable.

"The winning books have showcased a diverse range of writing talent in a variety of genres," the contest website said.

While the contest is open internationally, the first three winners are from Dundee or have direct connections there. The others seem to be from Ireland, Scotland or England, except for last year's winner, New Yorker Jacob Appel. All of them seem like heavyweights compared with me and I would think this year's entrants will be the same. But I don't care. I have a good novel and I entered it.

The novel is The Last Tontine Survivor. I entered it because it is good and strong, and it is finished. Plus it isn't under consideration anywhere at the moment. (As an aside, I entered Tontine in ABNA this year and last year, and was shot down in the pitch stage. So, no one has actually looked at the entire manuscript.)

I also decided on Tontine because, while the novel is mostly set in New York, the climax is in Alexandria, Virginia, which, as it turns out, is a sister city to Dundee.

Angela helped me edit the 500-word summary, to get it down from 700 words. They required the summary and the entire mss.

The winner will be notified by June 1.

In the last day or so, I have given thought to entering Poison Pen Press' second Discover Mystery contest, which is open until March 30. I would enter an entirely different novel there, probably Death at the Jungle-bunny Journal. But I'm not sure. It would require a lot of work in a short period of time, it probably wouldn't get a second read by anyone and would require I come up with another title. So, I probably won't enter. But I may.

Well, that's it from me for now. I hope all the people in Russia who have been viewing my blog are enjoying it. And everyone else, too.

Thanks for reading.

Discover Mystery contest, Part II

The winner and four finalists for the Discover Mystery contest of Poisoned Pen Press were named today, and needless to say, my name wasn't among them. I'm a bit bummed, of course, by not winning, though I knew, with nearly 200 entries, it was a longshot. But I'm not hatin'. I'm proud of my novel, An Untidy Affair, and I know there are other publishers. Affair one day will find a home.

The winner is Ronald Sharp, whose novel, Human Pest Control, will be published in October. (That struck me as a particularly short publication schedule but what do I know.) Congratulations Ronald, and best of luck. (I'm assuming Ronald reads my blog, although I have absolutely no evidence that is the case. But I put my congrats out there anyway.)

The other finalists are:

Slone's Last Dance by Bill Butler; In the Market for Murder by Dawn Marie Fichera; Who Killed Julian Emery by Susan Lumenello; and Mortgaged to Death by Bruce Rolfe.

Congrats also to the finalists.

On Poisoned Pen's website, I asked publisher Jessica Tribble whether those who didn't win would have any feedback as to why. Given the likelihood that there'd be a large number of entries, she said no, we wouldn't hear anything from them -- only who the winner was. She wouldn't have the time to provide much of anything else.

So once again, I face rejection and don't know why. But I'm going to keep writing. I enjoy it and know that one day, lightning will strike.

Thanks for reading and keep writing and submitting.

ABNA finalists for 2012

The three general fiction and three young adult fiction finalists in this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest were announced yesterday. Congratulations to all six of you. Enjoy the next two weeks as Amazon customers read your excerpts and vote. And good luck to you all.

The finalists in the general fiction category are: Alan Averill (The Beautiful Land), Charles Kelly (Grace Humiston and the Vanishing), and Brian Reevers (A Chant of Love and Lamentation).

You will notice all the finalists in this category are men. But women, keep the faith because the finalists in the young adult category are: Cassandra Griffin (Dreamcatchers), Rebecca Phillips (Out of Nowhere), and Regina Sirois (On Little Wings).

And you noticed only females made the finalist in YA this year.

Not sure who I favor in general fiction. Haven't read any of them. (And they had all better be better than my entry this year.) But I have a favorite in YA, though I won't say who.

We will just have to see.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Discover Mystery contest and Schrodinger's Cat

I was thinking today about Schrodinger's Cat, the thought experiment in quantum theory -- stay with me on this, please -- as it might apply to my entry into Poisoned Pen Press' Discover Mystery contest.

As with Schrodinger's experiment (and this is the short version, and I hope I get this correctly), the live cat is placed in a sealed steel box that also contains a vial of acid. If the vial breaks, the cat dies. But since we cannot observe anything inside the steel box, according to quantum theory, the cat is both alive AND dead in what is known as superpostion of states. When we open the box, the superposition is lost and we know if the cat is dead or alive. In essence, there is no single outcome unless it is observed.

I entered the Discover Mystery contest months ago, and the winner will win a small cash prize and a publishing contract with Poisoned Pen Press, a small indie publisher in the mystery genre. They specialize in finding new talent and new voices in the genre (which sounds a lot like me, by the way). The submission period ended on April 30 -- they had nearly 200 entries -- and Poisoned Pen hoped to declare a winner by the end of May.

We are a little past the middle of the month and there hasn't been a word. And I am still sitting on pins and needles. I sometimes look at my entry, which is An Untidy Affair, and some days all I see are its strengths and other days all I see are its potential weaknesses. Emotionally, I am all over the way.

But today I thought of Schrodinger's Cat. Since the announcement of the winner hasn't been made, and in any event, I haven't observed an outcome, I can say I have both win and lost the contest. And if I stay with having won, I make my life a lot happier.

So that's what I'm going to do, choose the happier choice. And it should serve me well, at least until someone opens that damned box and looks upon that stupid cat.

Thanks for reading and don't give up on writing.

ABNA: A quickie

Tomorrow is the day the guardians at the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award announce the winners in the second round of this year's contest. A select 500 -- 250 each in general fiction and young adult fiction -- will move on to the quarterfinal round.

I was on pins and needles last year at this moment hoping against hope that I would advance. I know the tiny nerves that support ones hopes and dreams. And last year I made the cut, advancing to the quarters, though I was cut after that.

I don't have such worries this year, having been cut in the first round about a month ago. (And with an even better entry this year than I had last year.) But I still truly support this contest and congratulate all the brave souls who enter it each year.

This year in particular, I have a couple of friends I am pulling for -- Jeff, an online friend from Kansas City, and Marianne, whose a member of my critique group. Both are in the YA category.

Jeff keeps coming back to the contest year after heartbreaking year, always funny and cheerfully honest. He has played it cool this year, not venturing onto the ABNA threads to comment very much. He is a good guy and it would be nice to see him advance. I'm not sure if her has ever made it to the quarters before.

And Marianne. What can I say about Marianne? She's a lawyer and a suburban mom. Not very scary, really. But as a writer, she is truly creepy. And she loves writing that sort of stuff. Her brand, which she has printed on her author business cards says, "Wake up and smell the creepy." That's excellent. And so is she.

Her writing is crisp and clean and compelling. Though her YA novel in ABNA this year isn't creepy, which is a surprise, the story is interesting and original. I can see her going far this year on talent alone. But as always, she will also need some luck.

So good luck Jeff and Marianne . . . and everyone else in the contest this year. I'll see you on the other side.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Editor: One friend made the cut and one did not. Well done, Marianne! And best of luck in the next round. mbd

One final read through

It's taking much longer than I expected to do one final read through of An Untidy Affair before I ship it off to an contest. A lot is riding on the contest but there is always a lot riding on a contest. So that isn't what is slowing me down.

I am tweaking it here and there, tightening the writing and spotting problems that I should have seen months ago. But the novel itself is still strong. I guess I just want to put the best foot forward. Yet at some point you have to conclude you have done the best you can do at the moment and let it go. Not there yet but am probably close.

Once I completely finish the read of Affair and send it in, I will concentrate re-writing the query letter for The Last Tontine Survivor, and compile the list of agents to send it to. That means lots and lots of reading -- on query letters and on the interests of particular agents. I am tired of doing that but I have no other choice. It is the nature of the industry.

So, I wanted to give you an update. You will also notice I have changed styles once again on book titles. I will boldface and italicize them. Perhaps it will make them jump off the page.

It's a beautiful day outside and I'm going to enjoy some more of it.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Black on Black in Black

I entered the 81st Annual Writer's Digest competition today with a short mystery story called Black on Black in Black. (If you don't understand the title, I'm sorry. It's a black-thang.)

A friend at The Philadelphia Tribune asked me a couple of years ago to write a mystery with her as the main character and we actually came up with the name for the protagonist together. But that was the extent of her contribution.

It's a murder mystery that I started two years ago but didn't get around to finishing it until last fall. It's not long -- just over 2,000 words -- but has a nice feel to it.

I had forgotten about this competition, which costs to enter but has really nice prizes. There are 10 categories, including magazine feature articles, rhyming and non-rhyming poems, movie scripts, and short stories. The maximum word word is about 4,000 words.

They offer cash prizes for first through 10th place in each of the categories and a $3,000 cash prize and a trip to New York for the Grand Prize winner, who is selected from all entries. Hard to see how I could win that but you can never tell. And you can't win if you don't enter. Since I entered, I could possibly win.

I haven't entered this contest in several years. But in 2007, a got an honorable mention in the television/movie script category for my screenplay, Loss of Consortium. But I decided to enter this year as part of my goal of entering more contests, and writing more short fiction. This is the second contest I have entered this year, after ABNA, and I am working on one final edit of my novel, An Untidy Affair, for a competition next month. No final decision on other competitions or contests but I'm looking around. There are lots to choose from. I just have to find the ones that are a good fit for me and for them.

So that's it for today. I have to get back to editing. But thanks for reading and I will see you next time.

Smash -- a new show on television

I discovered a new show on television this week. It's called SMASH and airs on NBC, I think on Monday nights. I remember seeing lots of ads for it several weeks ago before its premiere but I missed seeing it and the show fell out of my mind. And I don't remember seeing any ads for it recently.

But my daughter was watching in On Demand one morning this week as I was passing through the family room and I sat down for a moment and was quickly hooked.

That is what good writing and an interesting story can do.

There were several storylines introduced in the first episode -- I think four episodes have aired so far. At least that is how many I have now watched -- but they didn't seem crowded. The characters were interesting, though not always likeable, and the plots and sub-plots were believeable and fun. The writing was crisp and enjoyable. And the songs, both lyrics and music, were wonderful.

(Made me wish I had studied drama when I first went to college, which what I wanted to do in the first place. But I ultimately studied history, which, fortunately, I do love. But being on stage would have been wonderful, too.)

I really enjoy this show and plan catch it at its original time next week. And despite the great performances, it is the writing that pulls me it. It is so good, I rarely venture outside the universe the writers have created. It is crisp, which I said before, and moves at a good pace so that the viewer never gets bored. That is a real gift -- it put everything needed in a scene into that scene without extraneous material. It was well done.

Good writing always inspires me to work harder. It may not lead me to getting published any sooner but it truly doesn't hurt.

Gotta run. I'm reading through AN UNTIDY AFFAIR once more before I submit it to a contest. But in the meantime, thanks for reading.

Eliminated, Part II

What I hate about being eliminated in ABNA's first round is that I have no idea why. Could be a poor plot and a badly written pitch, or I could just put it down to bad luck. I don't know. But a couple of hours ago, a friend whose debut novel was published nine months ago to wonderful reviews reminded me that her novel was eliminated in the first round a few years back. You just pick up and move forward.

So I will pour over the pitch again, shorten it to query-length -- about 250 words as compared with about 300 -- and start querying agents.

Then, perhaps, I will get some answers.

As for now, I am playing sad music, as is fitting my mood, and preparing for what's next.

Thanks again for reading.

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.

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.

ABNA -- I'm out

I haven't blogged but once since I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest this year, and I made it a point not to post about the contest. I didn't want to become consumed with ABNA or have people asking me how it was going.

I first entered in 2009 with DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL, though I went with a name that was more PC. I was eliminated in the first round. I just missed entering AN UNTIDY AFFAIR in the contest in 2010, missing the cutoff deadline by mere minutes.

This year I entered Affair under the title A NASTY AFFAIR by M. Stewart Dunn.

To enter the contest, you submit a 300-word pitch, which is judged in the first round, a 5,000-word excerpt from the beginning of the novel, which is judged in the second round, and the entire manuscript, which is used to determine the semi-finalists, finalists and the two eventual winners.

Since I didn't do well in 2009 and I spent hardly any time writing the pitch this year, I was surprised (and pleased) to make it through the first round. Plus, I got two wonderful Amazon Vine reviews of the excerpt -- with one reviewer saying, "The author's talent is there in spades" -- as I advanced to the quarter-finalist round. (Wasn't sure how I felt about the 'spades' comment but decided to take it on face value.) And I got five customer reviews. Four of the five were very positive.

I felt quite hopeful of being named a semi-finalist but, alas, it is not to be. Ths list of semi-finalists was announced less than an hour ago and my name isn't on it.

I was well-aware of the possibility, of course. The competition was very strong this year. But I had confidence in my writing, and in the story. Where I lacked confidence, however, was in my self-editing.

I read through the novel line by line before I entered the contest but, since the submission period was already open, I didn't think I had time to have someone else proof it for me before I entered. Afterwards, I was surprised and embarrassed at the spelling and other errors in the ms. But there was nothing I could do about it but hope. In the end, I'm sure the errors hurt my chances of advancing, perhaps fatally hurting them.

I feel about as bad as I thought I'd feel but life goes on. I plan to go over the manuscript completely again and have someone else do a final read. Then I plan to let the query letters fly again and see where it all leads.

And I am on the third draft of the novel I wrote last November during National Novel Writing Month. It is stronger that Affair and I plan to enter it in next year's ABNA competition.

So that's it for me at the moment. Sad but resolute.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

ABNA -- brief update

I finally did it this evening. I entered ABNA.

I also did something I said I wouldn't do. I commented under my real name on one of the threads. I'm sorry but I couldn't help it. The threads are addictive and sometimes destructive. So, from now on, I plan to avoid the whole thing and let my writing stand on its own.

I entered under a pen name, and used the name of a male child that my wife and I never had. (We have daughters.) She smiled when I mentioned to her the name I used.

I haven't been very productive this month with my blog. Lots going on. But I should be back on the horse next month.

Have a good weekend and thanks for reading.

A contest to enter

I generally don't post twice in a day but I learned about this contest this afternoon.

So if you are an aspiring novelist like me, this is something to think about.

Thanks for reading and good luck.

M

___

http://bethanyray.blogspot.com/2010/09/query-submission-party.html