Get Your Writing Off Your Computer (Fun Writing Contests and More!)

The best way to improve your writing is to write...and write and write and write!  At some point, however, you need to practice submitting your writing.  Today, I'll share four fun places to do just that!  First, I have a little personal announcement:


I entered the MeeGenius Author Challenge and would love your votes!  The challenge is to write a picture book.  Finalists are chosen by votes and the MeeGenius team.  You can read my entry and vote here!

Now, four fun writing contests that are happening right now!!  And, none of them have an entry fee!  


1 - NaNoWriMo First Line Contest.  You finished your novel, right?  Well, you certainly finished one line!  This fun, not NaNoWriMo-affiliated contest ends December 4th.  All you need is the first line of your new novel.

2 - NaNoWriMo First Chapter Contest.  Yes, two NaNo-related contests...tis the season!  To enter, you need your first NaNo chapter--other projects don't count. Do it soon--the deadline is today!  Visit Scribophile for more details!

3 - Holiday Story Contest.  Hosted by the brilliant Susanna Leonard Hill, this holiday contest hits the blogosphere December 19-22.  Honestly, I'm most excited about this one!  Check out the details here (scroll down past the Thanksgiving Story finalists!).


4 - GE Appliance Giveaway.  Put your blogging skills to the test to win a $5000 appliance from GE!  Your entry is a submitted blog post on one of their five topics.  Visit GE for details before December 30th!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a wonderful week with your family and friends!

Define Crazy

Crazy is...

A.  A state of mind.

B.  A chemical imbalance.

C.  An imaginary place to go when reality is too difficult.

D.  Participating in some of these November writing-themed challenges.

Picture Books, Postcards, and Pitches

I have enough to tell you that I'm beginning to feel like a volcano so full of fabulous things to share that I'll just have to let them fly out!

Picture Books
The best thing you can do if you want to write picture books is to read and study them!  Here are three excellent examples of very well-written picture books.  Children love them and adults (at least this one!) can enjoy reading them over...and over and over.  They all have a creative story line with an unexpected ending.

1. Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems
2. Troll Teacher by Vivan Vande Velde
3. There Was a Coyote Who Swallowed a Flea by Jennifer Ward and Illustrated by Steve Gray

Postcards
I am organizing a Postcard Exchange for my preschooler and still have several openings.  If you would like to be involved, please email me!  It will involve sending at least six postcards throughout the United States and to a few other countries.  If you want more details, please visit my family blog here.

Pitches
Susanna Hill, a children's book author, hosts a weekly Would You Read It? meme where she posts a pitch and her readers comment on whether or not they would be interested in the book.  Today, my unpublished story, Witches Don't Dance is the pitch for the week!  I'd love to read your comments on her blog about your reaction to my pitch!

How often do you post on your blogs?  I'm considering posting more than once a week.  How often do you like to see new posts on the blogs you visit?  I love to hear from you!

Imago For A Moment (Challenge 2 From Rach Harrie)

Rachael Harrie has issued her challenge and I decided to participate!  It was actually a lot of fun...I learned a few new words and wrote outside of my element!  The challenge instructions are:


Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title.  It can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc.  The blog post should include the word "imago" in the title and include the following four random words: miasma, lacuna, oscitate, synchronicity.  If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional and included in the word count), make reference to a mirror in your post.  For those who want an even greater challenge (optional), make your post 200 words EXACTLY!

I chose to write flash fiction...it is inspired by a little man I know.  And, I decided to be crazy and take on all challenges--so yes, it is exactly 200 words with a mirror.  I'm posting pretty late in the challenge, but if you enjoyed it, I'd love a vote here...I'm #166!

Here we go...

Imago for a Moment

“Fire! Fire!” I donned the extra gear reserved for a call.  In perfect synchronicity, I raised the garage door, flipped on the siren, and adjusted the mirror.  We were off.    

We arrived at a horror scene.  People burnt.  Children crying.  A woman screaming about her dog, still inside the house.  This was my moment.  I was ready. 

I threw open the door and choked on the smoky miasma that tried to suffocate me.  I dropped to the floor and found a decent lacuna with air I could breathe.  I crawled.  I reached.  I hit the ground and clapped my hands.  Finally, I heard a puppy-like whimper. 

The dog was hiding under a couch.  I wiggled left.  I rolled right.  I dodged burning pieces of furniture as they fell towards me.  I resisted the urge to oscitate.  One yawn now could be disaster.

I finally had the dog.  “It’s a good thing you’re a little guy,” I whispered.  This time, I decided to fly out of the house.  It was much faster. 

I dropped the dog.  My hat came off by itself.  The scene changed to my bedroom.  “You can be a fireman again tomorrow.  Right now, it’s time for bed.”

Editing Exercise and Blog Awards

Editing can be a beast, but this writing editing exercise can make it a bit more exciting.  I'm calling it, The Chopper!  Follow the steps and enjoy the freedom that comes from detaching yourself from your writing!


The Chopper:

1.  Start with your manuscript for a picture book, article, or one chapter from a longer work.  Write down the total words.

2.  Cut the total words in half.  Yes, you read it right...in half!  This is your target word count.  Write it down!

3.  Start chopping!  You will need to chop because just plucking a word here or there won't do it.  You can always add things back in if you feel like you've changed too much, but wait a few days.  Do you really need that description, that conversation, or that detail?  Remember your goal is to show as much as possible with as few words as necessary.  It's  a lot of fun to see how different your work can be when it's forced down to half the original length.  It's also good practice to help train yourself to be able to say more with less!

Let me know how it goes!  I'd love to cheer for you!


In other news...

I want to shout out congratulations to Jo and Dawn for taking on the 50-Word Challenge last week!  I totally enjoyed their stories!  If anyone else wants to try it (just for fun!), feel free--I rarely close comments!


And now, for some awards!

Last week I received two blogging awards!  Stuff like this brings out all sorts of silly grins--it brightens my day and makes me want to learn how to turn cartwheels!  I am delighted to pass them on, too!

First, thank you Abby at Something To Write About for the 7 x 7 Award!  Her blog is full of wonderful posts related to writing and things that might interest writers. 

For this award, I choose a blog post for each of seven categories...so, here you go! 

MOST BEAUTIFUL:  Beating a Fear of Success 

MOST HELPFUL:  Writers, How Well Do You Know Your Audience?

MOST POPULAR:  eReaders For Kids

MOST CONTROVERSIAL:   Lessons/Morals in Picture Books

MOST SURPRISINGLY SUCCESSFUL:   P is for Al Perkins

MOST UNDERRATED:  What Do Kids Read?

MOST PRIDE-WORTHY:  Dreaming Big

I would like to pass this award on to the following blogs: 
The Writing Nut
Wavy Lines
Kelly Polark

Next, thank you to Elizabeth at Elizabeth Anne Writes for the Versatile Blogger Award!  Elizabeth writes in many genres and has lots of information for writers on her blog! 

For this award I tell you seven things about myself!  So, here you go:

1.  I signed up to run a half-marathon in February on the beach!  Woo hoo! 

2.  I love to try new things...especially food!  This week, I've tried three new recipes and loved them all...Mmmm!

3.  I'm slightly germaphobic.  I used to be extremely germaphobic, but then I had a little boy who seems to desperately want to cure me. 

4.  I have a small in-home daycare.

5.  I'm a serious science nerd.  College only encouraged me. 

6.  My favorite places in China are probably gardens, Yellow Mountain, and the Great Wall area.  It's no coincidence that they're all outdoors.

7.  Laughing makes me happy.  Life is funny.  It feels good to laugh about it.

Well, there you have it!  I'm going to pass this award on to the following bloggers: 
 (note: Original Versatile Blogger Rules say to pass this on to 15 others...but, since I'm versatile, I'm passing it on to 5!)


Lauren Boyd
Imagine Today
The Restless Writer
Of Thoughts and Words
Children's Books Heal

Blogging Awards

Last week, Mgudlewski gave me two awards, and this week I am happy to pass them on!

                            

Thank you so much!  I am truly flattered!  

In receiving the awards, you're asked to tell seven random things about yourself, then give the awards to five deserving bloggers and let them know.

Here are seven random things about me:

1.  I am far better at Ping Pong than Basketball, though I enjoy both.

2.  I have visited all the western states (United States), but none of the Eastern, unless you count Minnesota and Louisiana.  

3.  I like to get a necklace when I travel to a new country.  One of my favorites is an opal my husband bought me from Lightning Ridge in Australia.  We were just friends when we traveled there with a study abroad group from college, but he bought it with the intention of giving it to his future wife.  About two years later he gave it to me.  We're still best friends, and I think he is the most handsome, romantic, creative man on Earth!

4.  I absolutely love Butterscotch Cookies.  I have a fabulous recipe for Butterscotch Bars that uses wheat flour and butterscotch chips and brown sugar.  Mmmmm....I might need to go get one right now!

5.  I enjoy mowing our lawn.  I especially enjoy it if I have time to trim the edges.  

6.  I want to learn to play the guitar and speak Spanish.

7.  Today I climbed a mountain, did some dishes, played at a park, ate some oatmeal, and read most of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  The Lightning Thief came highly recommended by a 14-year old whose opinion I value.

Now I'll pass the awards on to some bloggers I like.  While I could easily share over a dozen, the rules say only five!  These five are wonderful ladies, and I truly enjoy reading their posts!  


Kenda
Jessie
Julie
Laura
Tiffany

Writing Advice: Quantity (and a game of tag)

During the last month and a half I joined other writers and bloggers in online challenges.  I learned lots of new things and wanted to share one with you.

The advice is simple: If you want to be a better writer, write lots more!  It's always wonderful to revise and edit a manuscript into perfection, but if you want to improve your basic writing skills and enjoy a higher volume of fabulous ideas, you simply need to write more.

NaPiBoWriWee (say that five times fast!) really helped me learn this.  I wrote seven picture book manuscripts in seven days.  I am really in love with three of them.  I am preparing three of them to submit to publishers.  If I had not been producing so much writing, I am sure I would not have created these three stories.  Yes, there are still four manuscripts that I am not in love with.  That's okay.  Sometimes you have to produce the less exciting material to find the gems you're hoping for.

I've changed some of my writing goals to include more new drafts in addition to revisions and submissions.

Enough advice.  Now for the game! 

Rachel Morgan "tagged" me and I'm excited to play along.  I will answer the following questions and "tag" three other bloggers I've recently met.  If you're reading, I'd love to hear the answers to any of the questions in the comments!

If you could go back in time and relive a moment, what would it be?
The moment I stood on the ground after being life-flighted off a cliff in the Rocky Mountains.  It would be such a fresh reminder of how beautiful life is.

If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
I would have taken writing classes in college!  I LOVED my major (Biology and Teaching), but didn't indulge my inner author as much as I could have.

What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality?
Don't laugh too much.  My cousin actually pointed this out and I think she was really right.  I am an awful lot like Rapunzel in Tangled. 

If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would it be?
This is a really hard one.  I kind of cringe if I joke about sending people to their deaths.  Maybe a cartoon character?  I was okay when Gaston knocked himself over a cliff. 

Name one habit that you want to change in yourself?
I'm seriously germaphobic.  My baby is working really hard at changing that one for me!

Describe yourself in one word.
Curious.

Describe the person who named you in this meme in one word.
Creative.

Why do you blog? Answer in one sentence.
I blog here to meet other people with similar writing interests, to explore the world of children's literature, and to discover discover my inner author and publication.  Writing is a journey, and I love sharing it!  (I know, I know...clearly the instructions on this need a little change...)

Name at least three people to send this meme to, and inform them.
Madeleine
Melissa
Sheila


I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little better!  I would love to know your answers to any of the questions too--I always respond to comments!