Six Sentence Sunday - Episode Three

Bleh.

So I have not done very well this week on Twitter or Facebook or blogging. However I did get other stuff accomplished and I managed 1000 words every morning on my rewrite of RESET.

Celebrate the little wins, right?

I learned that my first 25 (again, RESET) ended up as Runner Up (4th out of the 5 finalists) in the NTRWA Great Expectations Contest. I could let myself be disappointed with not "placing", especially when I was hoping to be able to at least write "contest winner" in my Query Bio instead of nothing!

(I read on an agent blog - of course can't find the link now -that (agents) don't want to see "my manuscript was runner up in the such and such contest", they want to see "my manuscript won the such and such contest". Not sure how true that is?)

However, for my first stab at a novel, and with zero writing credentials and learning about craft as I bumble along, I'm pretty proud! The Great Expectations contest organizers informed me that there were a record number of entries in my category (Specialized), and that the competition was fierce.

But yeah. I'm so entering more contests!

Okay, on to Six Sentence Sunday! Don't forget to browse through all the other participants' entries. Go HERE for list. Who knows? Perhaps' you'll catch a glimpse of a future million dollar best seller!

Last week, Lewis Hunter (a half human, half... )was just about to serve an unknown customer in his butcher shop. Read back two weeks to see the beginning of Lewis' story.

A woman bundled in hat and scarf was leaning over the refrigerated display case. “What do you suggest?” she asked, turning.

And suddenly my haven was no longer safe.

A hundred images flipped through my mind like an insanely-paced slide show. Lilly lying beside me on the little pebbled beach by the river; Lilly laughing as she chased her dog, trying to pry a ball from his jaws; Lilly standing on tiptoe so she could reach my lips.

Lilly dying.

Happy reading and writing!

Six Sentence Sunday!

I stumbled across this blog a couple of weeks ago. It's not really a contest, per say, but more a place to share and comment on little snippets of writing. And hey, we can all learn from each other. Though I am not sure how to participate officially, I thought I might participate unofficially, just for fun.


I am struggling to keep up with writing, social networking, our farm and animals and a new job, but I hope I'll get back into the groove again when I've got my new routine down. (Gah, someone please give me Twitter tips - I really, really suck at Twitter!) In the meantime, this will be an easy way to ensure at least a weekly blog post!

This week's Six Sentence Sunday "entry" is from RESET (currently undergoing huge rewrite #3). This one tells us something about Lewis Hunter, the hero (who in my head looks exactly like Alex Pettyfer *swoon*).


Melvin Hunter’s Butcher Shop, established 1934, was both haven and prison.

It was a haven for my anonymity; this was not a place a girl like Lilly took a second glance at a man. Even if she ever set foot inside the door, which was about as likely as me turning vegan, she would just see a guy in a green ball cap and a bloodstained apron.

It was a prison for the very same reason, and I was on self-directed lockdown. At least I had an unlimited supply of steak. Yesterday, I hadn’t even bothered cooking it at all.


Thanks for reading! Hey, why not give Six Sentence Sunday a try yourself? Comment and link your SSS below!

Daily Word Count Targets and Goals

Yep, it's Saturday, so this post is seriously tardy.

I think I have set an unrealistic goal for finishing RESET. I wanted to have Ginormous Rewrite #3 finished by the end of March. (Note I say rewrite as opposed to revision, of which there has been more than I can count on my own fingers.)

Now I have a good reason for pushing myself. I never had a brother in the Boy Scouts, but the motto Be Prepared seems like a good, general one for every writer.

Be Prepared.

Since my first 25 pages made the finals in the NTWRA Great Expectations contest, I feel it would be very imprudent to not have Rewrite #3 complete in the event that all the stars align, they discover life on Mars, and I actually get a request.

Yes, I could submit Rewrite #2 but lots has changed in my plot since I began asking the right questions!

However, I am about to enter the land of the employed again, much to my relief and chagrin. Yes, I'll get a paycheck again (kind of important) but it will leave less time for writing.

Rewrite #3 is currently at 62,000 words. I have a lot of scenes that won't require more than a "simple" POV change, but others that are sitting empty. I have written the new awesome ending, but have to answer a lot of my questions in the next 30,000 or so words.

Can I do it?

What goals do you have for yourself and what drives you to push yourself everyday?

My Name in the Big Bright Lights!

Er. Well.

I'm late posting to my blog this week. I have a good excuse! (Brag to follow, you can bail now)

I am a finalist in an honest to goodness writing contest!

I entered my Query and First 25 in the North Texas Romance Writers of America GREAT EXPECTATIONS contest with the hopes of getting some good feedback. Of course I was floored when I found out it made the final cut.

I had a week to revise both the pages and the query, and getting it all critted and fixed up. THANK YOU QUERY TRACKER FORUMS and my super awesome Beta Reader, Yannik!

Oh man, queries will be the death of me, really! (Someday, I may post the farce that was my first query!)

Anyway, my final entry is all polished and ready to go.

Whatever happens in the final judging, this contest is a really good one to get useful feedback. I got 2 pages of score sheets back from each judge (every entry was assigned 3 judges) and the comments really told me where both my strong and weak points are.

If you have a query-ready manuscript but are nervous of taking that first step in sending it out in the big bad world, enter a contest! It's fun and highly motivating!

A great, complete list of writing contests can be found at Stephie Smith's site.