Lucky UK?

Two chances to get your writing noticed in the United Kingdom!

First is Penguin (yes, the publisher) over in the UK. Until the end of the month they are accepting queries (along with a synopsis–no word on the preferred length). Generally, big publishing houses such as this one do not allow writers to query them directly as they prefer their queries to come from agents–it lessens the load. So, regularly if you query–they ignore, shred, or simply dump your query in a slush pile where someday someone might actually find your submission and get back to you–but most likely not.

More details on this chance here. (The good news on this one is that it doesn’t matter where you call home–you can submit!)

Good luck!

Second up is also UK centered. Transworld Publishers (another publisher) is seeking full length novels in their Terry Pratchet contest. The clicker is that you must be a citizen of the UK  or a Commonwealth country. That includes CANADA!!!! Yipee!

The deadline is December 31st, 2010. More details here.

Best of luck!

WEbook Challenge News

So, guess what?

My finely edited piece that I entered in the WEbook Page To Fame Challenge was ixnayed. However, my not-so edited piece (which does have a slightly flashier and more interesting first page) has been elevated to the next level. I’ve been asked to submit the next 5 pages for level 2 and two literary agents will be reviewing the first page. A critique partner of mine has already had her first page elevated on her submission as well as rated by literary agents. She says they just click the button–just like the average joe reviewers–and that you don’t get personal feedback. Nuts.

If this image is blurry, you need to drink less. I’m not judging, I’m just saying….

Still, cool beans! It’s been worth the $5 entry fee in entertainment value alone.

WEbook Contest Update

Whew, what a week! I love it when weeks streak by, and that one certainly did. Let’s see, we bought a larger second-hand vehicle this week, I started a new job, did a hefty pile of good things for friends and acquaintances (working on my sainthood here), and we put my beloved Dodge Shadow up for sale. (sniff, sniff) I even almost destroyed my computer this week. And then I discovered, it wasn’t actually me or the computer, it was Windows and a bad update. Whew! I thought I had lost everything. That would have really sucked bo-bo. In a big way.

Speaking of updates, I remembered to check on my WEbook Page to Fame submissions today. I tell ya, I’ve gotten a lot of entertainment out of those $5 submissions.

Anyway, here’s a screen shot of how I’m doing at the moment:

I’m doing much better since they’ve removed all the ‘bad’ votes. It turns out some folks were going on there and lowballing submissions that weren’t theirs. I had kind of wondered why I had the almost exact same crappy marks for two very different projects–one that had been very much edited and one that hadn’t (at all, really). Now, there is a variety in marks which is relieving and expected. The edited project is doing 4% better (it’s the 2nd one in the above image). Interesting, isn’t it?

I may have already mentioned this, but I love the fact that this contest (which allows you to submit the first page–about 250 words if I recall correctly) has opened my eyes to things I need to improve. Looking at my first page and looking at the marks that were coming in, I quickly realized my story was not showing how it was different right up front. It was, well, kind of average in its topic, if you know what I mean? Thanks to this contest, combined with a few bits of agent feedback, I have since improved my opening with a few tweaks to let the reader see that this might not be your typical girl-getting-married-and-having-second-thoughts kind of story.

I sure do love it when feedback helps me see what I need to do to push my writing to the next level.

How about you? Have you gotten a tidbit somewhere lately that’s opened your eyes to what you need to do to make your work better or make it stand out?

P.S. I’ve blacked out the contest submission titles as I don’t want folks I know inflating my marks out of the kindness of their dear little hearts. Just in case they might be tempted….

Crazy Rejection Reactions

As a writer, sometimes rejections make us do crazy things. I have personally reacted all over the spectrum when it has come to the rejection of my pages, from the indifferent shrug to the all out breakdown/tantrum.

Now, I just want to take a moment to say that all my agent rejections have been exceedingly kind and complimentary–it is NOT the agent. In the reasons for my rejection, there is always that little something missing in my stories that will make it jump out in the tough market I am seem to be drawn to writing for.

Once the sting of rejection passes, what does a writer do? While I briefly consider the idea of giving up, I always return to the worn out keyboard more determined than ever. (Well, maybe not more than ever, per se, but pretty darn determined.) However, today I took an ‘extreme’ approach. I decided to go ahead and enter WEbook‘s PageToFame contest (entry fee $4.95 per entry). I didn’t just enter once, I entered twice. Yes, you heard me. I even entered things nobody else has read before. Scary. I know. Not yet tried, tested or edited.

Why did I do this? Because I want to know how a blind reader sees my work (okay, they only actually get to read the first 250 words). Yes, there are big prizes involved if you do well, but I’m not in it for the prizes. I need to know whether my pages (okay, okay, first 250 words, 200 shy of when the caca hits the spinning blades in my story, propelling everything in chaos) have the potential to stand out. And I am learning that they do not.

Story 1: 2 rankings
Story 2: 6 rankings

Reading through some of the PageToFame submissions, I can say that I feel as though I am at least average (even though my marks above say I’m below reader expectations). However, I should add that I can be a little delusional about my own talent, varying from ‘this is brilliant’ to ‘this blows multi-coloured chunks.’ As well, if someone you know has entered PageToFame and you want to judge their entry, you have to sift through quite a bit of slush until you land upon it. While readers may be tempted to say they don’t like the work just to move through to the next submission which may be the one they are looking for, there is also the very real realization that they are clicking low numbers because they aren’t grabbed by the story (or they are trying to take out their competition–women can be sneaky that way. I say women because I entered in the women’s fiction category, which is mostly written by women). Then again, I may just be making up excuses and need to get a life.

Have you been rejected? What is the craziest thing you’ve done to combat the sting and self-doubt?

Catch Up Time: Blog Contests

I took a few days off and almost forgot to update you lovely folks on what happened in the online ‘stuff’ I was involved in last week.

Over on Nathan Bransford’s blog and his Agent For a Day contest, I was query number 15. (I offered to have my query tossed in the slush pile for his readers to get a taste of what it is like to be an agent.) I just checked and there are 325 comments with an 8% request rate. I did learn through this process that my query is repetitive. Believe it or not, this query was looked over/critiqued by others. But seeing it through these generous fresh eyes, I see all sorts of things I didn’t before. It was a great experience and I am pleased to be a part of it, even if I did get rejected almost 300 times.

Over on the Miss Snark’s First Victim Blog, I was part of Authoress’s Secret Agent Contest (Entry #34). Sadly, I didn’t hook the secret agent (Kate Schafer Testerman–I guessed it was her. I read her blog all the time and recognized her voice in the comments section.). She didn’t totally discount my entry, but she wasn’t hooked either. And I learned from the wonderful readers who left comments on my 250 word piece that I did overdo the ‘breathing’ thing in my opening. I guess I was kind of banging the issue over their head. Oops! Sorry guys. I will fix that!

The interesting thing with this contest was the fact that the changes I made (based on judge feedback from a different contest) were the very things that turned off these readers as well as the agent. Ack! Another writer, Judith, noted this in her piece as well. I guess we both learned to be ourselves, now didn’t we? Either that or you can’t win no matter what you do. Ha, ha. Groan.

Oh, and I also entered two pitch contests last week. One I’ve heard back on Query Tracker. I wasn’t picked out of the 500+ entries. It was good practice though. Try summing up your work in one line. Wowzers! I won’t hear back for the Knight Agency’s pitch contest for some time yet, but I don’t have my hopes up too high on that one. I’m sure they’ve had at least 2000 entries and while I am pleased with my pitch, I’m not confident I can knock 2000 other folks out of the ballpark. Know what I’m saying?

All the contests were great experiences for me, but they also wore me out. Combine that with the mind bending online class with Shannon Donnelly and my brain is a big, messy, mashed up pile of swirling neurons.

Either way, I’ve learned an incredible amount in the past week…leading me to admit that my trip to Vegas and LA last weekend came just in time. I needed a break and distraction. Not thinking about writing or even checking email for 3 days was just what the doctor ordered. But now I’m back…so let’s hit it!

If you are curious, these were my pitch contest entries (long, convoluted and well, the best I seemed to be able to come up with at the time):

For Query Tracker (one line only):
When Beth breaks up with her fiancé as a way to solve her mounting problems, she also breaks up with her dreams of starting a family; however she doesn’t count on the new man in town waltzing over to offer her dreams on a platter or that following her dreams will only add to her mounting problems.

For the Knight Agency (you are only allowed 3 sentences):
After an accident takes her future father-in-law’s life, Beth breaks up with her fiancé and their mounting problems, not to mention her dreams of starting a family. While she waits for her ex to recover from his debilitating guilt due to causing the fatal accident as well as dry out, Beth meets a fresh-from-the-city doctor who provides exactly what she expects: a steady shoulder to cry on as well as an unbiased ear. What Beth doesn’t expect is the dazzling engagement ring she can’t seem to refuse nor the fact that her ex is suddenly speeding down the path to recovery—just in time to make Beth question whether she should utter the words ‘I do’.