Happy New Year!

Apologies for being AWOL.

In the last few months of 2015, I wrote 2 women's fiction novels, 75000 words each, plus the general manic pace of my kids' lives, hence my silence.

I aim to rectify that in 2016, starting with wishing you all the best of everything in the year ahead!

Young Writers Award

The State Library of Queensland is running an annual Young Writers Award competition.

About the Competition 

The short story competition is open to Queensland residents aged 18-25 with a cash prize of $2,000.

It’s a great way to get your foot into the industry, or even getting your material read. 

You can find out more info at www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/awards/ywa. 

Writing category romance

Check out my short article on writing category romance today over at FRESH FICTION and leave a comment to be in the running to win a copy of NOT THE MARRYING KIND.

GUEST BLOGGER: Sue Moorcroft

A warm welcome to Sue Moorcroft today.

BESIDE THE SEASIDE

When I decided to bring Honor Sontag from Connecticut to England, I could have planted her anywhere. I thought about Middledip, the middle-England village where some of my books are set; I thought about London, because a lot of Americans seem to love it. But neither of these seemed quite right for Honor.

It was Robina, a secondary character, who made me decide on Brighton, the small seaside city on the south coast of England. Robina’s an aging hippy, and Brighton has an eclectic and eccentric population where an aging hippy would fit in nicely.

It really wasn’t because my son was going to university in Brighton and I’d have a lot of excuses to visit the area … No, it wasn’t! I knew Honor would love Brighton. She’s an Anglophile and her dad used to take her to England almost every summer vacation, when she was a child. Brighton, with its shingle beach and typically British Palace Pier, would intrigue her. She’s a history major and as well as the Palace Pavilion, where the Prince Regent used to hold outrageously good parties in the early Nineteenth Century, there are castles and historic buildings scattered around surrounding East and West Sussex. But the fact that my son was going to university in Brighton was handy. Not just because I could see more of him than I might otherwise, but because when I was working at home (a three-hour car journey away), he would take photos I needed or check out details.

My editor, who knew the area, queried whether Honor would be able to see the derelict West Pier from the entrance to the Palace Pier, and I was certain that she could. But I sent him a text and he wandered down to the pier to investigate. He rang me: ‘Is she nineteen feet tall? Then, no. There are kiosks in her way.’ I grumbled a bit because I’d really wanted Honor to be able to see the West Pier from the Palace Pier, but at least he stopped me from writing one of those scenes that readers send you messages about, because you’ve got it all wrong.

I did a most of my research myself, of course. I didn’t actually find a tall, dark, hot local guy on which to base Martyn Mayfair, he came out of my imagination. But I spent a lot of time walking along the Undercliff Walk between Rottingdean and Eastingdean (the latter only exists in the book) where Martyn and Honor run together – arguing, mainly – and checking out the coffee shops, because Honor goes to work in one. I chose her a nice little bungalow, overlooking the sea – it belongs to Martyn’s sister – and made myself familiar with the landmarks (the fish and chips are fabulous in the White Horse Hotel) and then …

… I set the rest of the book in America. Where my brother lives.

I love research!

Sue Moorcroft writes romantic novels of dauntless heroines and irresistible heroes for Choc Lit. Love & Freedom, won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011 at the Festival of Romance.

She's a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner, has written a ‘how to’ book, Love Writing – How to Make Money From Writing Romantic and Erotic Fiction (Accent Press), short stories, serials, articles and courses and is the head judge for Writers’ Forum.

Check out her website www.suemoorcroft.com and her blog at http://suemoorcroft.wordpress.com/ for news and writing tips. You’re welcome to befriend Sue on Facebook or Follow Sue on Twitter.

Thanks for stopping by, Sue! 

Young Writers Award competition

Got a way with words? State Library of Queensland Young Writers Award is now open! If you’re 18 to 25 and live in Queensland, enter your short story today for a chance to win $2000. Entries close Friday 13 July. Get all the details here

I've sold to a 4th publisher!

In late March, I had a surreal week.
Within 5 days, I had offers from 3 different publishers for 3 different books.

After negotiations, I'm thrilled to announce I've sold a category length contemporary romance to CRIMSON ROMANCE (the new romance division of Adams Media, a long-standing publisher of non-fiction titles including Writers Digest books.)

The tentative title is FALLING FOR FLYNN and it's a returned soldier/reunion romance set in my fabulous home city Melbourne.

Release date to be confirmed (but will be within the next 6 months.)

Stay tuned to hear loads more about this story!

And if you're a writer, Crimson Romance are actively acquiring manuscripts (I'm thrilled I encouraged a friend of mine to submit and she has been contracted too!)

They're after talented authors with fresh voices and engaging stories: smart, heartwarming romances for the sophisticated reader.

So what are you waiting for?
Check out the submission guidelines here

Getting there

Thanks for being so patient with me.
I'm getting there with my PC stuff...picked up Mac yesterday and I'm in love!

For everyone who told me once I had Mac I'd never go back? Yep, you were spot on!
Even though it's taking me a while to figure everything out, I absolutely adore it!
Utterly fab!

So I will resume normal transmission here soon...as soon as I catch up.

Quickie interview

The lovely Donna Newton invited me to do a quickie 30 second interview over at her blog (which has loads of fab articles.)

Check it out here

Want to write for Harlequin Romance?

Want to write for Harlequin Romance?

Here's your chance.

The Mills and Boon UK team are fast-tracking submissions!

"...we’ll be launching a fast track submission period! Anyone who sends us their first chapter and synopsis between 14th March and 23rd April will hear back from us less than ONE MONTH after the closing date, before the 18th May.


"The email address to send your submission to is romancefasttrack@hqnuk.co.uk.

"Please attach your first chapter and short synopsis to the email as well as a short query letter, letting us know how much of the manuscript is complete. Please note, we’ll be looking at only one submission per person."
 
So there you have it.
What are you waiting for?

Valentine's Day Pitch the Book of your Heart winners!

Thanks to everyone for entering the Valentine's Day Pitch the Book of your Heart contest.

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce the winners:

LORI WILDE'S winner (critique of a partial & synopsis): Bronwyn Stuart's Mixing Business with Pleasure.


LIZ PELLETIER'S winner (Partial critique): Mustang Sassy by DL Snow
(and a bonus! A full request for A Quirkey Affair by Michelle Stuart)


LIBBY MURPHY'S winner: (critique first chapter) Live to Tell by Marisa (Winner)
(and another bonus request: Head Over Wheels by Danielle Dreger)

ALETHEA SPIRIDON HOPSON'S winner: (a full manuscript request) Julie Rowe's Molly Gets Her Man

KERRI-LEIGH GRADY'S winner: (5 page critique) Iron Guns, Blazing Hearts – Heather Massey 
(and a bonus request Project Shadow – Rachel K)

NINA BRUHN'S winner: Eve's The Waiting Game
(Nina has also emailed several participants inviting them to submit with the idea that she can bring them closer to the word count during revisions!)

A HUGE thanks to the wonderful editors from ENTANGLED PUBLISHING who generously offered their time in this contest. Much appreciated.

For the winners, you can find editor email addresses here at EP's website.

Editor's wish-list: Liz Pelletier

First up we have Liz Pelletier, senior editor at Entangled Publishing.

Liz judged my first pitch contest a few months ago and from that contest one of the winners is now published with Entangled!

So what are Entangled acquiring and interested in seeing during this contest?

Novels in the following subgenres of romantic fiction for our Entangled Books, Entangled Select, and Entangled Teen imprints:


•Contemporary

•Upper YA/New Adult (17-22 yo protags) that will appeal to crossover audiences

•Historical

•Romantic Thrillers

•Science Fiction

•Paranormal and Urban Fantasy

•Fantasy

-Manuscripts must have strong romantic elements.

-Adult and New Adult novels should be 70k to 120k words in length for all genres except contemporary romance, which should remain under 90k.

-YA novels should be 50k to 100k words in length.

What's on Liz's Indulgence (category romance series) wishlist:
 
Best friends, misunderstood heroines, ugly ducklings, revenge plots, CEOs and secretaries, really just about any common category trope except sheiks and royalty-related. Personal preference is for heroines with snarky voices, but a sweet-natured heroine who makes a cold millionaire smile can win me over.
 
You can also pitch for their Ever-After & Flirt imprints.
 
For all submission guidelines, check here
 
Liz is generously donating the same prize as last time, a partial request!
(Though last time, she ended up requesting 3 from pitches that caught her attention!)
Thanks Liz.
 
Stay tuned for another editor's wishlist and prize on offer tomorrow.

NANOWRIMO

I've heard the term NANOWRIMO bandied around for years, have never participated, vaguely aware it involves writing a book in a month (or 50 000 words?)

This year has been manic for me.  In addition to writing my usual Harlequin books, I've written a YA adult novel and revised my first mainstream contemporary romance BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD 5 times!

Now, I'm reaching the end of the year, and I have another Harlequin book to write (no idea of plot yet!) and an 'out of the box' YA idea that won't be denied.

So just for the heck of it, I signed up to NaNo.

Why?  Because I've had great motivational success participating in #1K1hr on Twitter (where a bunch of random writers see if they can write 1000 words in an hour) lately.
Usually, I don't need the motivation. When I'm on deadline, I sit down at the PC every night and make sure I write 2000 words a day.
But after a busy year, that extra little boost can help and that's what I'm hoping NaNo will provide.
Frankly, without it, I don't think this book would get written. And if I even get 10 000 words out I'll be happy, because it's better than a blank page.

Some writers don't like the idea of speed writing. And that's just fine, we all work at different paces.
But if you do want to get those words flowing so you can go back and edit your draft later, NaNo is for you.

There's a fantastic series of NaNo tips over at STORYFIX.

And I have a SPEED WRITING article on my blog.

Whatever you decide to do, NaNo is all about the words.
Getting the words out, whether you achieve your goal or not. It's not about pressure or competing with people (though some do thrive under those conditions!)

It's about switching off your internal editor, getting creative, letting the words flow and having fun!

I wish you all flying fingers and many words over the next month.

So who's NaNo-ing alongside me?

Critique winners!

I'm thrilled to announce the critique winners from my pitch contest last week.

With an added bonus!

The amazingly generous Liz Pelletier (originally offering to critique the first 5 pages of one winner) has requested the FULL manuscripts of 3 entrants!

-BITERS (the winner) by Sarah Shade
-MR RIGHT NOW by Kristina Knight
-FREEFALLING by Robyn

I'd love to critique all entrants but with time constraints (I barely sleep as it is!) I've had to choose one, and that winner is:

-TOKYO DARE by Anne Van.

If you didn't win this time, please don't be disheartened.
I loved reading all the pitches and I know Liz had a really difficult time narrowing the field too.
I hope to see your books on the shelf real soon, or stay tuned for more pitch contests!

Congrats again to the winners.

It all starts with an idea

Most of my book ideas have come to me in a flash.

Maybe a spark of an idea from a magazine article, an expression of a movie-star captured in a photo, a first line of dialogue or a hint of 'what-if?'

Alexandra Sokoloff has a fantastic post on how to get the ideas flowing.

Writers out there, how do your stories come to be?

Poor prose

Heard of the Bulwer-Lytton annual contest for poor prose?

If not, go check out the results for a good laugh.

Sue Fondrie won with this gem:

“Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.”

Never give up

Just spotted this in the New York Times: a 74 year old author who never gave up.

He submitted his novel for 25 years and gathered 162 rejections before finally having his book published.

That's persistence!

Pineapple book

All you writers out there, ever had a pineapple book?

Trish Wylie coined the phrase a few years back when she likened writing a difficult book to giving birth to a pineapple-excrutiating!

While my current Harlequin Romance isn't quite that bad, it's nudging into pineapple territory.

Because I write a clean first draft in one continuous go, leaving COMING HOME after starting it last year (for a variety of reasons) and returning to writing it now is causing problems.

The characters aren't as fun and flirty as my usual ones.
The book is too angsty.
And there's a kid.

I haven't written a kid for 15 books. And he's only serving to complicate matters...

So while I'm determined to make fruit salad out of this half-pineapple, this is one book I can't wait to reach the end of.
Revisions, here I come!