When I was ten I entered Toronto’s “I love my daddy because . . .†Contest. The catch? Write it in twenty-five words or less. Actually, only twenty by the time you count that opening phrase of the contest’s title. When the call came that I’d won, you’d have thought it was the Pulitzer. The prize I did win was a shiny new two-wheeler.
I’ve been trying to write twenty-five meaningful words ever since. I’ve had some success, some – practice (I won’t call it failure). When I decided to write my first novel in ninth grade, a historical western romance, I felt free, unrestrained by the petty word count dictated by high school English teachers. Whee!! The words flowed, and flowed . . . And flowed. I had great fun.
Much later, I joined RWA and the Orange County Chapter. My, uh, practice continued and I thought I learned everything there was to know about writing through the chapter’s fabulous meetings, workshops, on-line classes, contests and networking. And hey, I was still having fun, even though I had to tame that unrestrained flow of words. It was not until the chapter announced its first anthology of short stories Romancing the Pages that I gave serious thought to not only counting each word, but making each word count. My story, “The Guy with the Dragon Tattoo,†started out at 2,500 words. After many edits, it came in around 2,000. Gone are most of the dialogue tags, unnecessary description and background information, and a whole lot of narrative. I had a blast writing it, too.
The experience of writing and editing that short story got me thinking about my novel-length WIP. I’m still on my first draft, but you can bet as I edit I’ll be analyzing each scene, paragraph, sentence and word to make them count. That’s what powerful writing is all about. Yes, you can write sparingly and still convey powerful emotion. Hemingway can attest to that in his book consisting of only these six words: “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.†My eyes tear, my heart breaks every time I read them.
I challenge Hemingway! I will now sum up the most important thing you need to know about writing in one word: WRITE!!
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
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 – whether it’s in a formal pitching session or a chance meeting in the elevator.
With her degree from Indiana University, Julie has worked in the television industry for over 20 years on such series as “Midnight Callerâ€, “Reasonable Doubtsâ€, “Silk Stalkingsâ€, “Pacific Blue†and “North Shore.†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.
COST: $10 for OCCRWA members, $15 for non-members
Make ‘Em Laugh
with Charlotte Lobb w/a Charlotte Carter
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/
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✧༺♥༻∞Retelling of a classic with a Happily Ever After! ∞༺♥༻✧
More info →Will greed prevail, landing the Vitality Gem in the hands of an unpure soul or will Johnny Tanzer stand in his way with the wrath of the Gods?
More info →Before Dr. Eric King was with Kyla, he chased Olivia Bennett.
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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