Contest Season

A lot of people ask me why I still enter writing contests. After all, I've published 19 books, and written plenty more that will never come out from under the bed. Am I a glutton for punishment or what?

It takes a great amount of courage to enter a contest.After all, you're asking for people to tear into the story you've poured yourself into for months and find things wrong with it.  I'm not a trophy collector and don't really care if I win. But I would like to be a finalist, since that means my work gets read by someone in the industry. However, even if I don't make it into the top three, I can count on getting some really helpful feedback about my entry. That's the real reason I enter contests. Since I moved to North Carolina, I lost my critique group. And it doesn't matter how many books you've written, another set of eyes on your work is always a good idea. Often the author is too close to the work, knows exactly what the story is about, even though it hasn't translated entirely to the page.


Such is the case with my current WIP. The idea sprouted from a scene in another book I was working on and I decided to run with it. But, while I was running, I kept one of the characters from the original manuscript and he kind of was like the headless horseman in this instance. I didn't really think about him in this manuscript, since it worked in the other book, but the contest judges were left scratching their heads. Needless to say, the man is gone now. He hit the cutting room floor with a resounding thud.

I've taken the comments from the first contest and improved the opening scenes of the book. And I have even more ideas on how to improve it further. Since a book is never done, even after it's published, I'll keep working on this one.

Watch this space.

How Selling A House Is Like Revising A Manuscript

Most everyone who reads this blog is aware I've been trying to sell my house for some time now. Lately, it's been off the market, but the idea remained in the far recesses of my mind. Kind of like an idea for a story. You know how it is. Your idea begins with a lightbulb moment,

a big what if? Same with putting a house up for sale. The house is too big, too many stairs, so why not sell it? What if I could move to a warmer climate? And so it begins. You toy with the idea for a while, weigh the pros and cons, come up with plot points, action to be taken, create one list after another and finally, decide to put pen to paper.

And just like with writing a manuscript, sometimes you need to step back and revise your work. Often times, in my case. I'm taking a workshop right now that's making me look at my writing in a completely different way, try out new approaches to the work. It's making me a better writer, one scene at a time. As for the house, I did a thorough edit of each room, removing clutter, making it as clean and polished as I could before I let anyone see the place. And it worked! I thought I had a completed transaction, or nearly so. The couple had visited multiple times, they mentally placed their furniture in the various rooms, they were ready to go. We were at lift-off. But then, it all fell apart.

So what do you do? As I see it, there are two options in both writing and selling a house. You can give up, shove the manuscript under the bed, take the house off the market and continue on, unfulfilled on both counts. Or, you can hire a professional who can ease the way for you, show you where you're having trouble, guide you to a finished, polished manuscript which will garner you an agent who will obtain a nice contract with maybe an advance. Same with the house, hire a professional who will obtain a solid contract on your house that will result in enough of a profit to buy something smaller and more suitable.

I choose to go full speed ahead on both counts. I've got one week down on the two-week workshop which is making my manuscript sellable. And I've hired a realtor to help me sell the house. I have high hopes for both projects and hopefully, by summer time, I'll be writing a killer sequel to this manuscript from a warm and sunny locale. Stay tuned.