This Month’s PAW Meeting
December 6, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category ArchivesJanuary 2013 OCCRWA Online Class
November 27, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Laurie Schnebly Campbell, Online Class, writing motivation“New Year, New You“
with Laurie Schnebly Campbell
January 2 – January 29, 2013
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJan13.html
COST: $20 for OCCRWA members, $30 for non-members
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com
Whether it’s the first rejection, the 50th-book slump, or just not getting the story you want, frustration is part of every writer’s life. For some, it’s a nuisance; for others, it’s the end of a career.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:Back when Laurie Schnebly Campbell was getting her master’s in counseling, she’d never heard of writer’s block or bad reviews. A few years later when she began writing novels — including one that beat out Nora Roberts for “Best Special Edition of the Year” — she realized that all those lessons came in handy for everyday life. Now she’s been writing and teaching for 15 years, and still loves every minute of it.
COST: $20 for OCCRWA members, $30 for non-members
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Does Book Promo Really Work?
November 19, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as A Question of Honor, Black Opal Books, Mona Karel, My Killer My Love, Teach Me to ForgetMonica Stoner/Member at Large
We’ve all heard the quote “50% of advertising is effective, but no one knows which 50%.” I’d say for books it’s more like 25% and we really don’t know which 75% is just spinning our wheels. In an ideal world we would be able to write the best books ever created, and the world would beat a path to our door. Of course in that same ideal world I could have a bagel smothered in butter every morning and lose five pounds a week.
Yeah, that’s not happening either.
So we blog and Facebook, we Tweet and we join Triberr to help ourselves by helping others. And we sigh in wonder at the success of other writers who don’t seem to be doing anything yet doggonit their Facebook page has 1258 followers.
Some people are a whiz at promotion. I hope you took advantage of Tara Lain when she was there earlier this month. She’s amazing at promo. And the rest of us stagger along.
In an attempt to come a bit closer to mainstream I took advantage of a current blog hop/tag, The Next Big Thing blog, which turned out to be a lot of fun, since it’s about our WIP instead of the ones already in print, and aren’t we generally far more enthusiastic about what we’re writing than what we’ve written?
Even better, this hop/tag lets us help promote our fellow writers, so I was able to give a shout out to Lex Valentine, as well as several other exciting authors. You can check it out here: Mona’s Next Big Thing
Yeah, I don’t use Monica when I write, funny story about that. Then again my name has been a funny family story for most of my life and I ended up sharing that on the Black Opal Blog But Who Am I?
And of all things, Skhye Moncrieff invited me to blog about the inspiration for my first book, and it ended up publishing today.
So it looks like I’ve managed to be in four places at one time. Maybe one of these will be the tipping point for my fabulous success at promotion. Just in case I’m going to keep on with my NaNo book.
Miss you all
In Memorium: Janet Quinn Cornelow
November 16, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn, OCCRWA, tribute
All of us here at OCC were shocked and saddened by the sudden death of our friend Janet Quinn Cornelow, and I want to dedicate today’s post to her memory.
Janet joined OCC in 1988 and quickly volunteered to take on the newsletter, a board position. Computers weren’t as sophisticated in those days, so the newsletter was still printed at a local print shop and snail mailed to the membership. Janet would collect the information and compose each story or column on her computer and print it out. Then a bunch of us would gather at her house once a month to literally cut and paste the final proof. Afterwards, we’d have lunch at a local coffee shop and talk writing. Later, Janet did other volunteer jobs like Lunch Coordinator, in addition to judging in the Orange Rose, manuscript critiques and hosting Ask-An-Author.
For those who didn’t know Janet as well as I did, here are some additional details about her.
Janet was a native Californian who grew up in the Riverside area. She attended Call State Fullerton and earned a B.A. and a Master’s Degree in Journalism. In addition to her writing career, she taught for many years and worked as office manager to a Sylvan Learning Center. In recent years, she taught online classes for two private universities.
Janet and I joined the chapter the same year, we sold our first books to New York around the same time, 1997-98, and when the 21st century came along, we went on a crazy e-book journey together. Last year she plunged into the Brave New World of self-publishing. No one can ever say Janet was afraid to take a chance or try a new idea. She had just finished another book, and I hope her family will be able to see it published.
The photo above, from a signing at Bearly Used Books, shows Janet as I like to remember: surrounded by books and with a big smile on her face.
Janet Quinn has always been a story teller. She has put her love of stories into her writing. While honing her craft, she earned a B.A. and an M.A. in journalism. Then she took up teaching high school English and writing. She has also taught novel writing classes at the Learning Tree University in California.
Her first novel, Yesteryear’s Love, was published by Berkley/Jove under their Time Passages imprint. It placed in the finals of the Romance Writers of America/Orange County Chapter’s Orange Award Contest for published writers for best historical.
Wild Honey placed in the finals of the Romance Writers of America/Orange County Chapter Orange Rose Contest for unpublished authors. Also, her manuscript, The River’s Treasure, placed in the finals for best historical in the PASIC Book of Your Heart Contest. The Irish Countess, a historical romance, was a finalist in the 2007 EPPIEs.
At her memorial service, Janet’s family handed out cards in her honor that said:
Janet Marie Quinn
August 14, 1949 – October 26, 2012Janet was the mother to three exceptional boys, Nana to two wonderful grandchildren and an accomplished author.
There are no words to properly sum up such an amazing woman or such a life well lived. She played many roles: mother, teacher, author, friend…
She left far too soon and far too suddenly. There was so much that she still had to give to the world. We will mourn and miss her–but in the same moments that we find ourselves with heartache, we must celebrate her life. We must remember the laughter and humor that she brought and the love and warmth that she always offered.
No writer could have expressed it better. Janet was a good friend and I will miss her, as we all will.
Please feel free to share your memories of Janet in the Comments below.
Linda McLaughlin
PRO-Motion
November 12, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as OCC/RWA PRO, Ottilia Scherschel, writing inspiration
Featured Books
THE FALLING OF THE MOON
In the gloomy mountains of Shadowvale, Ascot Abberdorf is expected to marry a somber Count and settle down to a quiet life terrorizing the villagers.
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