Laurel Wanrow

I’ve Moved

laurelwanrow — Sat, 22 May 2010 13:36:41 +0000

As of today, I’ve moved my website to WordPress.org. I’m still using the same web address, www.laurelwanrow.com, but I’m now on a part of WordPress I can play with more. Read about my move and check out my new look. Then bookmark it, please!

An article and a freebie ARC contest

laurelwanrow — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:35:49 +0000

One of my other writing goals this year was to write an article for my chapter’s, the Maryland Romance Writers, monthly newsletter, The Pulse. Today I drafted a “should your chapter include a YA category in your writing contest” piece entitled To Offer or Not To Offer. I’ll post when it comes out. I knew our category winners had entered multiple contests and two had sold, so I put out an email to catch up with them and ask about their contest experiences. It was fun to hear the news and all had valuable tips for contest coordinators and judges in the YA arena, which I received permission to include.

One gal, Lisa Desrocher, has had her YA book Personal Demons inserted into Macmillian’s fall list. It’ll be released September 14, 2010. She’s hosting a contest, with one prize option an ARC of the book.

He …heck, I’d love to read more than the 20 pages I read of her contest entry. I’m in on the contest. Click over to her blog and enter.

Cross-post

laurelwanrow — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:21:42 +0000

My Daphne finalist placing was noted in a post on Science Fiction Romance Brigade. The brigade members have a friendly running points contest going and one of the ways to earn points is by finalling and placing in contests – with your SFR manuscript, of course. When I sent in my win to grab a point, the officer on deck kindly posted.

The Daphne Finalists List

laurelwanrow — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:35:18 +0000

THE KISS OF DEATH CHAPTER’S 2010 DAPHNE DU MAURIER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN
MYSTERY/SUSPENSE IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE ITS UNPUBLISHED CONTEST FINALISTS

FINALISTS: CATEGORY SERIES ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

Orchard County Killer by Deborah L. Kaufman

His Reluctant Witness by Christine Keach w/a Lexi Connor

Rescued by D’Ann Linscott-Dunham

Kira’s Keeper by Jan Schliesman

Blue Ridge Fear by Robin Weaver

FINALISTS: HISTORICAL ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE

A Lady’s Revenge by Tracey Smith w/a Tracey Devlyn

Her Secret Flyboy by Jeanne Dickson

Vengeance is Mine by Linda Friar

Deception by Jennifer Ramirez w/a Jennifer Beane

Sweet Enemy by Heather Snow

FINALISTS: INSPIRATIONAL ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE

Illusion of Safety by Dianna Benson

The Shadow of Heaven by C.J. Eernisse Chase

Nightshade by Debra E. Marvin

Submerged by Dani Pettrey

The Peacock Throne by Lisa Karon Richardson

FINALISTS: PARANORMAL ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE

Last Wishes by Caroline Dunsheath

Last Chance by writing team Ann Fischer & Linda Baxter

Hearts of Darkness by Ciara Stewart

Lost Paladin by Tracy St. Hilaire

Passages by Laurel Wanrow

FINALISTS: SINGLE TITLE ROMANTIC MYSTERY/SUSPENSE

He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not by Lena Diaz

In For a Penny by Kathy Franklin

Misdirection by Linda Lovely

Safe in Enemy Arms by Joan Swan

From Baghdad with Love by Gail Zerrade

FINALISTS: MAINSTREAM MYSTERY SUSPENSE

Insight by Polly Iyer

Death Benefits by Arlene Kay

Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Wendy Kunkle-Munk w/a Ann Charles

Pineapples in Peril by Cheryl Linn Martin

Solstice of Death by Robin Weaver

The winners and placement of each unpublished subgenre will be announced on
July 29th in ORLANDO!!! at KOD’s Death by Chocolate. Congratulations to
the finalists, to the entrants, to the judges and to our hardworking
coordinators. Stay tuned for the Published side of the contest as we
announce later on in May.

So there it is folks. According to one of my chapter mates at MRW, the finalists are seated with with the final round judges at the party. KOD is providing finalists’ ribbons to wear on our conference name tags and asking for a picture to be used in a yet-un-named manner. What a nice set of ways to be recognized and treated; the contest and chapter organizers have done an excellent job. Thank you, Donnell Ann Bell, Daphne Coordinator, and all the volunteers working with the contest and award ceremony.

Passages finalled!

laurelwanrow — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:49:52 +0000

Woo-hoo! I’m doing the happy dance here.

Passages finalled in the unpublished division of The Daphne du Maurier Contest sponsored by RWA’s Mystery /Suspense chapter, Kiss of Death.

I’m thrilled. The Daphne was the first RWA contest I entered four years ago as a newbie romance writer. I entered both times in the Paranormal / Time Travel / Futuristic Mystery/Suspense category. Passages is a futuristic or science fiction romance mystery.

This was one of the limited word contests I posted about back in March – 5,000 words for the manuscript and 675 for the synopsis. Yes, I trimmed my 5 page synopsis to 2 pages for this contest, a worthy exercise by itself. I now am allowed to send up to 25 pages (mine was 18) to the final judges, who are … *drum roll* … Heather Osborn, editor with Tor Publishing and Paige Wheeler, agent with Folio Literary Management.

I’ll post the finalist list when available.

I Wrote the Blog!

laurelwanrow — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:37:31 +0000

Please check out my post at SFR Brigade and weigh in with your unusual H&H.

I’m in a blog again…

laurelwanrow — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:15:07 +0000

and it looks like it may happen more. In my innocent, not-up-to-snuff-with-blogging way it appears I’ve joined the SFR Brigade blog, as a blogger.

But hey, it’s a good thing. My little post from a few days ago was acknowledged in yesterday’s post … right alongside other authors, including Linnea Sinclair. Now to get Passages on the bookshelf alongside …

Ok, enough with the fantasy. Passages has jumped another hoop on its way to querying; The last of its critiques through my FF&P crit group have arrived. In this large on-line group affectionately known as The Mud Puddle, a half-dozen readers traded crits with me over the four months I posted and two stuck with me the entire book. Many thanks to Brenda Davis and Bart Palamaro for their valuable insights and contributions to the continuity of the novel.

I have a few things to fix, but should be shopping it by the end of the month. Thanks to contest entries, I already have a fresh two page synopsis and a short query-worthy description. I’m looking forward to typing “Passages is a Science Fiction Romance complete at 95,000 words.”

SFR Brigade

laurelwanrow — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 02:18:01 +0000

I ran across the SFR acronym a month ago on another writer’s website, discovered what it meant–Science Fiction Romance– and today found a new blog community for writers of SFR. I joined and may even figure out exactly how to describe Passages, my latest manuscript I’ve been calling a futuristic fantasy. The site boasts a nice list of sub-genres of science fiction on the welcome page.

Check out SFR Brigade at http://www.sfrcontests.blogspot.com/

My First Public Reading

laurelwanrow — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:12:40 +0000

A week ago I was asked by my former Girl Scout co-leader to talk to the troop about writing for their Reader badge. I actually jumped at the chance–my first request as a writer to speak to a group. I went over the bare bones of what a writer needed to do to transform an idea into a full-length novel, skimmed the surface really since I had only thirty minutes and the group ranged from 6th to 12th graders. They didn’t mind that their speaker is pre-published and listened attentively to my first read (ever!) of the first scene of my YA novel Wildflowers and Winged Boys.

Needless to say, I was nervous and thought afterwards I had read too much and the girls had gotten bored. But …

My leader friend emailed her thanks with the note that three girls had asked about reading the rest of the book. Wow. Made my day, no week. I think I may have some Beta readers for the revisions I’m just finishing.

As part of my prep I put together a short list of resources that have helped me along the way:

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

Who the different characters are in a story and what different stages the story goes through. Go to the articles under Hero’s Journey.

Screenplay Mastery by Michael Hauge

Movies have a bit of a different structure, but still works for books. Go to the articles section and read them, especially Screenplay Structure.

National Novel Writing Month

It’s in November. Sign up, it’s free. They will send you encouraging messages from popular writers on how they write.

Cynsations

The blog of New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitch Smith on which she shares what’s happening in the world of children’s and teen literature. Lots of book reviews, author interviews and links to current happenings.

Go to any author’s website and see what tips and articles they have.

And lastly, write, write, write and read, read, read!

Contests by the word

laurelwanrow — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:32:29 +0000

Contests, contests. Writing ones of course. I’ve entered a 5000 word, a 2500 word and now a 200 word still open until Sunday, March 14 at Guide to Literary Agents‘ “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest. Only problem? My MACbook seems to count the words differently than the same MS WORD program on PC.

Over, of course.