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An Evening with Author Sylvia Day

February 4, 2014 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Ingenious Travel, Maria Stefanopoulos, OCC/RWA, Sylvia Day

I was one of 40 lucky people to spend Friday evening with Sylvia Day at Redondo Beachâ€™s Mysterious Galaxy bookstore. Here she answered questions from the audience about the Crossfire Series, how she writes, where her inspiration comes from, and how she does some of her research.

Maria Stefanopoulos and Sylvia Day

Sylvia started the evening by answering the main question on most of the audienceâ€™s mind, when is Captivated By You, the next Crossfire book, coming out? Her answer: sometime later this year. She wants the remaining two books to come out within weeks of each other, so she needs to finish working on the last book. As Iâ€™m sure many of you can relate, Gideon – her hero, doesnâ€™t want her working on any more projects until his is done.

For those of you who missed the event, it was recorded. You can find the entire Q&A session here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpPngWsO18o&feature=youtu.be

This was a ticketed event that included her new release Spellbound, Little Black Dress wines, and Xocia healthy chocolates.

â€“ Maria Stefanopoulos

OCC/RWA Vice President

Celtic Hearts RWA Author Trip

http://celticheartstour.com

http://ingenioustravel.com

https://twitter.com/IngeniousTravel

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Special Workshop: “Before You Hit Send” with Angela James

January 2, 2014 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as " Angela James, "Before You Hit Send, Carina Press, OCC/RWA, Special Workshop

Saturday, January 18, 2014

A One-Day workshop Sponsored by OCC/RWA

â€œBefore You Hit Sendâ€

Presented by Angela James

Where: The Embassy Suites â€“ Brea

900 E. Birch St. Brea, CA 92821

When: Saturday, January 18, 2014

Doors Open at 8:30 a.m.

Class Begins at 9:00 a.m.

Lunch* at 12:00 p.m.

Class Resumes at 1:15 p.m.

Class ends at 4:30 p.m.

What: A Self-Editing Workshop

The course, updated and enhanced with new material and information each time itâ€™s offered, will guide you from the basics of self-editing and grammar in a clear, conversational manner with examples, to more advanced topics such as show versus tell and passive voice. Through it all, Angela will be available for clarification and questions in order to help you on your way to a cleaned-up manuscript and understanding the basics of editing your manuscript.

Cost: $55 OCC Chapter Members

$70 All Other Attendees

*The cost includes lunch at the hotel. There is only one meal choice and if you have dietary restrictions, please email lunchorders@occrwa.org

Registration can be done by payment via Paypal. Please visit the OCC/RWA event page. You can also pay by check at the January OCC/RWA meeting.

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Calls for Submission — Happy New Year’s

December 31, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Writing tagged as Calls for Submission, Louisa Bacio, OCC/RWA, short story

Start your New Year with some new creativity. Here’s a sampling of recent calls for submissions.

Resolutions

How perfect is this new call from Loose Id? Sometimes, such a teaser causes the perfect stimulation, and my brain’s been tingling with this one.

Every year, millions of people make resolutions for the new year. Most of them fall by the wayside within a few weeks, but what about the ones that don’t? Resolutions is an open collection focusing on what happens in the wake of someone’s New Year’s resolution.

Did they resolve to be more adventurous and meet the hunk of their dreams finally going on that skydiving trip they promised themselves? Did they resolve to compliment at least one stranger a day, and pick the just right day to compliment a down-in-the-dumps billionaire? Did they resolve to buy at least one dress that isn’t black, or a pair of pants that isn’t leather? To try out for The Voice, or the local production of Grease? Did they take their artwork into a gallery? Put their profile on a dating site?

Resolutions features the commitment and the sexily ever after that somehow grows out of it. Anywhere and anyway that the tradition of making resolutions exists, even if it’s a place that only exists in your imagination, a Resolution story could take place. A Resolutions protagonist can be anyone. The sky’s the limit.

Specifics: stories must be at least 30K and preferably not longer than 80K; all genres you can work a New Year’s resolution into will be considered. To be considered for publication as a Resolutions title by the end of 2014, we must have your submission by no later than August 15th, but they can be submitted at any time before that for earlier publication dates. Follow the guidelines below for submitting a proposal, and include “Resolutions” in your email’s subject line.

For more information, visit Loose Id

Science Fiction – East of the Web

We’re seeking imaginative, idea-filled science fiction and fantasy short stories. Stories should be accessible, with strong plots and compelling characters, written with a good knowledge of the science fiction or fantasy canon.

We pay for selected stories starting at $0.05 per word or a mix of an advance and a royalty. Stories should be at least 7,000 words. Stories will be published under a new electronic imprint from East of the Web, one of the world’s leading publishers of short stories.

We encourage the submission of previously published as well as new stories. If you’re looking for a way to make some money from your back catalog or to get those stories in front of new readers, we would like to hear from you.

For more information, visit East of the Web

Love Me Tender

Scandalous Submission call for stories from the 1950s

As you probably know, our regular submission guidelines stop at 1949. We thought it might be fun to see what you creative types could do with some pomade, pencil skirts, and rock-n-roll music, so we invite you to submit a story that takes place anytime from 1950-1959.

Word count 15-20k

Heat level: any

Happy Ever After- please!

Submissions end March 31

For more information, visit Entangled Publishing

Any of these calls sound good? Have one you’re working on?

Until next time,

Louisa Bacio

http://www.Facebook.com/LouisaBacio

http://www.Twitter.com/LouisaBacio

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That Finished Feeling

December 5, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as 2013, December president's message, Louisa Bacio, OCC/RWA

I hit submit. On the last weekend of November, when so many members in our chapter were finishing up their NaNo works, I completed my latest novel.

And let me tell you, it feels good.

First, major congratulations go to those members who â€œwonâ€ National Novel Writing Month, which means completing a 50K novel in one month.

Christina Alexandra

Kim Baccellia

Alison Diem

Nancy Farrier

Rebekah R. Ganiere

Rose de Guzman

Claire Hoffman

Mary Kowsloski

Debra Mullins

Samantha Oughten

Jesse Pearle

Nikki Prince

Maria Seager

Tiffany Tran

Beth Yarnall

Joyce Ward

Those same people also finished their Book in a Year! (If thatâ€™s what they were counting as their book.)

For those who signed up, but didnâ€™t finish â€“ think of all those new â€œwordsâ€ you got that you didnâ€™t have at the beginning of the month! If I missed someone, it wasnâ€™t intentional, send me a note and plan to be recognized at the December meeting.

For me, this book was the first time I was late on a deadline, and not by just a few days. I communicated with my publisher, and everything was all right on that end, but personally: Ugh! That backlog seemed to clog up all the other writing I was supposed to do, and it became a mental chant of â€œonce I finish.â€

Funny enough, I liked this book, too. Itâ€™s not that the writing process was particularly difficult this time around, it was the time to do it in. The challenges of the past year, family members and friends lost, and my work schedule, finally caught up. Honestly, it felt like it would never get done. So howâ€™d I eventually push through? Basically knowing that I hadto complete it, bundled with Thanksgiving weekend and a few 2 a.m. nights.

The key is getting that butt-in-the-chair, as they say. Many people talk about writing being an isolated experience. For the most part, it is. The wonderful thing about organizations such as our chapter, and RWA, is that common unity and support.

Thank you to everyone who made 2013 such a great year, and Iâ€™m looking forward to seeing whatâ€™s in store in 2014. Hmmm, and maybe how many of those finished projects will get published!

— Louisa Bacio

http://www.Facebook.com/LouisaBacio

http://www.Twitter.com/LouisaBacio

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Naked Sushi, Harlequin, and Cosmo, oh my! by Jina Bacarr

September 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as August, Cosmo, Cosmopolitan, erotic, erotic romance, espionage, Gail Chasan, Harlequin, Malle Vallik, naked, OCC, OCC/RWA, Red-Hot Reads, romance, spy, sushi

The hot, lazy days of summer heated up last month when Harlequin editors, Gail Chasan and Malle Vallik came to speak at our August OCC meeting.

I was especially thrilled to see Malle Vallik. I’ll never forget the excitement racing through me when I found out that Malle wanted my NAKED SUSHI novella for the new Cosmo Red-Hot Read line from Harlequin. Not only did the Harlequin team have to approve each manuscript, but also the team from Cosmopolitan. This was a story I loved because I used my own experiences producing video podcasts as well as working for a computer magazine and a video game company to create her character.

A selfie of Malle and me — somehow the OCC Chapter sign got reversed when I put it up on Instagram.

In Naked Sushi, Pepper O’Malley is a tech-head but under that flannel shirt, she’s just itchin’ to find the right guy and fall in love. And she wants to be a spy:

Here’s the cover copy:

A Delicious Mistake

One day I’m getting canned from my job as a computer programmer for having wild copy-room sex with a guy I thought was the new game designer. The next, I’m crashing my ex-boss’s business lunch in a creative attempt to get my job back and men are eating sushi off my naked body!

That’s when I realize a) My ex-boss is a hiding corporate secrets b) Hot copy-room guy is an undercover FBI agent c) I would make a kick-ass spy!

Then Special Agent Hottie brings out his cuffs, and things get really interestingâ€¦

——————

Here’s a fun Instagram video I made with the opening lines from Naked Sushi:

Coming in October 2013 from Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin:

NAKED SUSHI is available for pre-order on Amazon!

Â® and â„¢ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies,
used under license. by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.”

Music:

He’s So Sexy

Dream Valley Music

Composer: Michael Stephen Decker
Publisher: Shockwave-Sound.Com

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