A Slice of Orange

My newest book up at Kindle and Nook is Yesteryearâ€™s Love with a new cover by Lex Valentine. It is a western time-travel.

Following clues in her great-grandmother’s diary, lovely Sarah Martin left the big city for Moose creek, Wyoming, hoping to trace her family history. As she stands in the town’s church, Sarah has a strange feeling that the figure in the stained glass window is calling to her. She turns away…

…and finds herself over a hundred hears in the past! It’s 1870, and suddenly Sarah must adjust to frontier life-and meet her great-grandparents. Then their friend, the handsome bachelor Joshua Campbell, arrives. He’s looking for a bride-and thinks it should be her. Sarah knows a dark secret about Joshuaâ€™s future and does not want to give her heart where there is no future. But this stubborn pioneer captures her heart before she can refuse him. Can they hope for lasting happiness-when the force that brought Sarah to Moose creek begins to call her back home?

My newest book, A Chance for Love, is also a western time-travel. It is coming along and I am down to the last 50 pages. There just hasnâ€™t been much time to write, but the current term at school ends next week, so I should have time again. I would like to have the first draft done in August.

The sales for the self-published books has not been as good this spring, but seem to be picking up some. I am actually selling more at Nook than I am at Kindle. I have no idea why the sales go the way they do and why some books sell more than others.

“The Ins and Outs of Pitching” with Julie Hurwitz

OCCRWA Online Class

July 9 â€“ July 22, 2012

This is a two week class

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJuly12.html
COST: $10 for OCCRWA members, $15 for non-members
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com

ABOUT THE CLASS:

Want to learn how to throw a strike when pitching your novel or novella to an editor or agent? Learn the basics of pitching your story at a conference â€“ whether itâ€™s in a formal pitching session or a chance meeting in the elevator.

Class instructor, Julie Hurwitz, who served at the RWA national level as an Editor/Agent Appointment Chair and the Regional 6 director, will discuss the elements that an editor or agent looks for when evaluating a story pitch, how to narrow your story down to a single logline and how to follow up on a request to see your material from an editor or agent. And, participants will learn some invaluable techniques to help relax and ensure a positive outcome.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

With her degree from Indiana University, Julie has worked in the television industry for over 20 years on such series as â€œMidnight Callerâ€, â€œReasonable Doubtsâ€, â€œSilk Stalkingsâ€, â€œPacific Blueâ€ and â€œNorth Shore.â€ She combines a unique blending of television experience with her own writing. Writing as Chloe Devlin, she has sold several short erotic stories to Xcite Books/Accent Press and is currently writing an erotic romance.

Enrollment Information

Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJuly12.html

COST: $10 for OCCRWA members, $15 for non-members

Coming in August 2012

Make â€˜Em Laugh
with Charlotte Lobb w/a Charlotte Carter

Workshop participants will learn the difference between male and female humor, the basic types of humor and how to use the tools that will bring the reader a smile and add a spark to your writing.. (NOTE: This is a four-week class. Cost is $20 for OCCRWA members and $30 for non-members.)

Check out our full list of workshop at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html

Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

July Contest Deadlines

by Donna Caubarreaux and Pepper Phillips

Put Your Heart in a Book Contest
New Jersey Romance Writers
Deadline: Midnight, July 1, 2012
Synopsis plus first chapter, thirty page max. http://njromancewriters.org/index.php?/njrw_contest/put_your_heart_in_a_book_contest/

Get Your Stiletto In the Door – Unpublished Contest
Chick Lit Writers
Deadline: Received before Midnight July 6, 2012
Enter the first 5K words + synopsis of 500 words or less.
http://chicklitwriters.com/stilettocontest/

Indiana Golden Opportunity Contest
Indiana RWA
Received by July 8, 2012
Synopsis up to ten pages and beginning of manuscript not to exceed 55 pages total.
http://www.indianarwa.com/igo-contest/

Dixie Kane Annual Memorial Contest
SOLA
Deadline: July 16, 2012
First five pages + one page unjudged synopsis.
http://solawriters.org/the-dixie-kane-memorial-contest/…
Contest Alert-All the news on upcoming contests, plus Finalist & Winner listings, questions, etc. Sign up now!
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Updated and all sites tested.
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Check out Contests and Contest Winners on: http://contestdivas.blogspot.com/

Updated and all sites tested.

Compiled by Donna Caubarreaux and Pepper Phillips.

May be forwarded with credits.

Donna Caubarreaux is a member of Coeur de Louisiane, Scriptscene Chapter, NOLA Stars, Heart of Louisiana, ESPAN and EPIC. She received a RWA Service Award in 1997.
Pepper Phillips is the author of “The Devil Has Dimples”.

I’m NOT Worthy

Monica Stoner, Member at Large

Recently, a young member of LERA (Land of Enchantment Romance Authors) commented that her writing stunk. She was appalled at the drivel that came out of her head and doubted sheâ€™d ever make it as a writer. Since I was at that time going through an epic battle with my muse, I commiserated, pointing out that I hadnâ€™t produced much but bilge for quite a while.

Then the rest of these very talented writers chimed in. One, a NYT Best Seller, admitted she was afraid of the day readers would realize she really wasnâ€™t all that terrific. Doubts and anxieties spewed forth like a lanced boil. Yeah, pretty ugly imagery but appropriate for those ugly thoughts we all have.

On the whole, artists are a mass of insecurities. For the most part they work alone, with only their own strength of will keeping them at task. Their work goes out to an ambivalent public, and they wait for validation, generally through sales.

Those artists known as writers do not have to suffer the pain of standing with their artwork and watching the world walk by without stopping. Well, unless theyâ€™re at a book signing! On the whole, a writerâ€™s validation is through positive reviews, or well thought out not so positive reviews, and book sales. When sales are good, writers can take a breath but being for the most part not always so secure, we wait for those numbers to drop after the first flurry of sales. When sales are not so terrific, we start scanning continuing education courses for a fall back to our writing non-careers.

Having revealed the disease Iâ€™m not sure I can come up with a cure. Itâ€™s not like we can tell ourselves not to be insecure. Certainly sharing with other writers helps. Getting away from my writing nook out into the real world sometimes helps. Accomplishing something, whether itâ€™s managing to write a full page on a new manuscript or finally nailing in the fencing thatâ€™s been held up with baling twine has made a difference for me.

How about you?

Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh!

Dog on the Roof

Blog by

GVR Corcillo

In two days, June 19th, Simon and Schuster/Touchstone will release Dog on the Roof: On the Road with Mitt and the Mutt by political satirists Bruce Kluger and David Slavin.

Bruce, my friend and sensei of sorts, snuck me a few pages of the book, and I have to say, I laughed my butt off. The verse, the pictures, the wit…and the dog! Seamus, with his spot-on observations and yearnings, will jump on you with both paws, lick you in the face, and have you laughing uncontrollably.

But even more amazing than the book itself is the galvanizing story of its whirlwind creation. In January, Bruce and his writing partner, David Slavin, both regular contributers to NPR’s All Things Considered, decided to write a satirical book designed to come out during the height of the presidential campaign season. But they wanted to do it right. I mean, really right. So, as if the goddess Nike were their muse, they just…did it. No fussing, no fretting. They just got to work.

They pulled a few bestselling satirical books off the shelf to study all the components that made them hits — from length to format to illustrations. Then they buckled down and wrote their sharp and clever fuax children’s book that gets its humor from a universally felt truth. Dog on the Roof’s truth? It sucks to be strapped to the roof of a car! That’s moving!

Dog on the Roof‘s deeper truth for us writers? If you want it, just do it. Mmmruh!

So, I decided to do it. Publish my own book, that is. No more acting like a dog on the roof for me, waiting for someone else (such as an agent or publisher) to set me free, give me what I need, and make me happy. Thanks to the trailblazing bravery of so many OCC authors, I am self publishing my humorous women’s fiction novel She Likes It Rough this summer. Can wild outdoor adventures with an adrenaline junkie give an insecure city girl the backbone she needs in order to make her humdrum life count for something? We’ll soon see.

But first, check out Dog on the Roof. http://brucekluger.com/BOOKS.html