Welcome to this week's edition of To-Do Tuesday. From what I hear, the ladies who went to the retreat had a great weekend, with many of them meeting their personal goals! Way to go! So much productivity has to wear off on the rest of us, right? Now that the retreat has passed, the countdown is on to Nationals, and we can't wait for THOSE stories too!
I've got a fun exercise for you today, so be sure to check out the bottom of today's post, and as always, keep sending me your news and announcements!
_____________________________________________________________________
Good Luck Paty!
Chapter President Paty Jager will be giving a reading this weekend in Sisters, Oregon. Paty booked this reading at her reading in Baker City, Oregon--proving that promotion begets promotion! A few chapter members plan to come support Paty, so if you go, be sure to look for them! Good luck Paty!
_____________________________________________________________________
Paty Jager recieves 5 Spur Review!
Speaking of Paty, she recently received another stellar review! The reviewer loved Marshall in Petticoats, and raved, "You can't help but fall in love with these two characters." Click the link for the full review. Congrats Paty! I can't wait until the reviews for Perfectly Good Nanny (her upcoming contemporary release) start piling up too!
___________________________________________________________________
Donations for Conference Wanted
You don't have to be a chapter member to help make our conference in October a success! If you would like to donate books, goodies, or other promotional/writing related items, please email me! Our raffle baskets and goody bags are a big highlight of our conference each year. Email me for more information! Chapter members, remember to bring your donations to the July meeting!
_____________________________________________________________________
Rose City Romance Writers Contest Accepting Entries
MWVRWA isn't the only Oregon RWA chapter! I know, shocking isn't it? Our sisters in Portland, the Rose City Romance Writers, are hard at work on their annual contest. The Golden Rose Contest looks at the first 55 pages of your entry--making it one of the longer RWA contests, and giving you an excellent opportunity to showcase your work. The final round judges are all A-list editors and agents. This is also one of the few contests with a YA category! And at 30-35 dollars, it's a bargain! The deadline is August 4, 2007. This year's contest is completely electronic, and you can click here for more information.
___________________________________________________________________
New Market for Spicy Stories
Double Dragon Publishing, long-time publisher of Sci-Fi and Fantasy fiction, is branching out into literary erotica. Starting in September, they will accept queries for character driven erotica. The books will be available as both e-books and paperbacks. Full submission guidelines are available here.
____________________________________________________________________
Exercise of the Day: Put your Heroine to Work
Jen's excellent post on method-writing ties beautifully into today's exercise. With summer in full swing, our memories are filled with vacations, swimming pools, and Popsicles. And summer jobs. Remember summer jobs? $1 an hour for babysitting ? Wearing 50 pound costumes at amusement parks? Getting burnt to a crisp in the life-guard chair? Cringing yet? Good. Your heroine has just applied to work the drive-thru at McGreasy's Deep Fried Tasty Treats. What? Is this is a radical departure from her life as an action heroine? Good. We want her summoning up all that fish-out-of-water angst. If she'd fit right in, we want to know WHY. Take us through her first day on the job. Focus on the emotions she's feeling, and use your own summer job experiences to guide you as you try to step into her shoes (black clod hoppers that match her adorable polyester uniform!). Have fun! And keep sending me your news! If you're meeting your personal goals, we want to hear about it!
5 comments:
"What is that noisy, smelly, horseless wagon sitting at this window?" Maeve turned to the owner who plopped a strange wire on her head and pointed to the window. "And where are these voices coming from?"
She hadn't wanted to apply for a job at this restaurant, but she had no choice. The man who knew her father owned the place and it was the only way to get close to him.
But why did people order these odd foods and drive up rather than come in and enjoy the company of the other patrons?
"I'll have two McSlimeys and a tub of potato sticks." Maeve spun in a circle looking for the person who spoke to her.
BEEP! "Hey lady, where's my food?" The woman in the horseless wagon had long scraggly hair, jewelry protruding from her lip, her nose, and all the way down her ear. Maeve looked around and a paper package was thrust into her hands. She handed it out the window to the woman, who took a look inside, grunted, and roared away from the window.
This was not turning out as she'd hoped. After directing her to this strange tiny room with a window the owner left. Maeve took off the wire and looked around for the man.
"Get back in there, you've got cars piled up into the street." A young woman half her age said, tilting her capped head and tapping a black, thick-soled shoe.
Maeve looked at the angry man at the window. Forget this, she'd find another way to get the information she needed. This was something from another world. Literally!
Thanks for a great blog, and fun exercise. You make these things tough when I have characters from a different time period. But it's good for me to think that hard! LOL
Sorry I'm not playing the greasy-spoon game, I'm in the midst of getting the long-hand edits entered into my story file.
Way to go on the booksigning and the review, Paty.
I took your advice and bought a flash drive at Staples yesterday. How many of you use one?
As always, Wavy, great job on the Tues. blog. Lots of information. I know a lot of people who hop over and read our blog for the vast amounts of info. They just don't all post. Lisa, what does the count look like? I'm curious.
Fun blog, Wavy. 8^) Cute exercise, too. If I wasn't backed up with work, I'd give it a shot.
Danita, I use a flash drive. I don't have my writing on it, though, just work stuff. I'm constantly transferring graphic files from one computer to the other, depending on what I'm working on and if I have to take the laptop to a meeting. Very handy gadget, I can tell you.
Congrats on the great review, Paty! And I'll see you Friday night. 8^)
Paty--Loved yours. Congrats on the review. I'll be thinking about you Friday night. Have fun!
Danita, yeah, I use a flash drive. When I can remember what I did with it!
I'm going to try my hand at the exercise:
Joey Ryder adjusted the silly pink hat atop her red wig before settling the thick black glasses on the bridge of her nose.
"You're late!" the kid at the counter yelled as she walked out of the lady's restroom, uncomfortable in the too short skirt that went with the hat. She took her position in front of the cash register and said a silent prayer none of her student's parents wandered into the Beefy Palace and placed her. Wait a moment -- so what if they did? She'd just smile and give them free fries. Lots of teachers took summer jobs, right?
What she hoped for was that HE would come back today. Hayden Stone. Fugitive, murderer, and corn-dog addict. Also hunk, flirt and creature of habit. Hard to merge one with the other, but that's the way it was. Just ask that nice little nurse he blew up in New York before disappearing out west.
Or had he blown her up?
Punching in orders and making change, she refused to get into another mental argument with herself. It wasn't her problem to assign guilt or innocence. All she had to do was snap a picture with the hidden camera fastened to the snug bodice of her uniform, send it to the client and collect the money.
"I'll have one of everything on the menu," a teenager ordered.
"You must like to live on the edge," Joey said, but as she pushed each color photo on the register (heaven forbid an employee actually have to read) her gaze strayed to the door.
Lordy, lordy, guess who had just ambled into the Beefy Palace?
Thanks, Wavy, that was fun. The hardest part is not going back to edit!
And thanks for another informative Tuesday blog.
Alice
Alice,
So good to "see" you sweetie. I was starting to worry. Now I know how you feel when I'm AWOL for a few days.
Welcome back. Wish you could've made it to the retreat. We thought of you on the lake dock, surrounded by moored sailboats.
How goes the writing?
Post a Comment