Contest for Aspiring Paranormal Authors: FIGHT CLUB!

Romance in the Back Seat (which has great author interviews, if you didn’t know) is hosting a contest for unpublished paranormal romance authors. The set up is similar to the American Title or the Next Best Celler: parts of the story are published online for the audience to vote on. The stories with the fewest [...]

In New York? Brush elbows with Oodles of Great Agents

The Backspace Writers Conference in New York is unique. There are no pitch sessions: no sweaty palms and nauseated tummies. There are no workshops on plot, character or dialogue. The entire weekend is devoted to the business side of writing with some of the best agents in the business as the teachers. Thursday, you will [...]

I’m a 2009 Golden Gateway writing contest finalist!!!

Yesterday I awoke to happy news that my apocalyptic dark paranormal romance entry is a finalist in the 2009 Golden Gateway writing contest. Sponsored by the online Romance Writers of America chapter From the Heart, the Golden Gateway contest judges the first 50 pages of a manuscript plus a synopsis. Three judges, at least one [...]

Fairy Tales and Writing Workshops

What is your favorite fairy tale? Do you prefer the dark originals or the Disney retellings? In Neil Stevenson’s THE DIAMOND AGE, he writes that the original fairy tales encourage “subversiveness,” and that this lesson is imperative to grow an inquisitive, free-thinking mind. I had always thought of the original tales as being cautionary, not [...]

Blake Snyder 1957-2009

The writing world is shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of well-known script writer and writing coach Blake Snyder yesterday. A guru of story structure, Mr. Snyder gave workshops to both the Greater Seattle RWA and at the Romance Writers of America National conference last year in San Francisco. His book, Save the Cat!, [...]

New Harlequin writing contest: I Heart Presents

Many big name authors started out writing for the Harlequin and Silhouette category lines, including Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockmann, Cherry Adair and Susan Mallory. Do you aspire to join their ranks? The Presents line features ruthless billionaires, greek tycoons and many secret babies. Alpha males at their brawniest and the women who tame them. I [...]

Agent Opportunity: Pitch via Twitter

Calling all aspiring authors with polished manuscripts to sell! The lovely ladies at BookEnds Literary Agency have joined twitter. To celebrate, they’ve announced a new opportunity to pitch your book in 140 characters. Follow @BookEndsJessica and @BookEndsKim this week and be ready for the windup when they ask you to “Start Twitching!” Respond to the [...]

Publishing Opportunity: Be the Charles Dickens of the Electronic Age

Dorchester, the publishing house that brought you the American Title and Mr. Romance contests, is again looking to social networking for their next publishing contract. (Marie Claude Bourque, the winner of American Title V, will be published in February 2010.) Dorchester is bringing cell phone novels–popular in Japan–to America by inviting aspiring authors to post [...]

Opportunity to Pitch to 3 Agents Online!

Musetracks is hosting “Agent Shop” this month with the chance to pitch to three great agents online. Romance writers are invited to stop by on MAY 30th. Only the first thirty pitches that come in are accepted, so don’t be late. Check out the rules page for more info. You must be pitching a completed [...]

13 Reasons to attend the Emerald City Writers Conference

The list is long, but here are 13 highlights of why you–aspiring author that you are–should come to the Emerald City Writers Conference this year:

EMERALD CITY WRITERS CONFERENCE
20th Anniversary
Sponsored by the Greater Seattle Romance Writers’ of America
October 9-11, 2009
Bellevue Hilton
Bellevue, Washington

Speeches by Lisa Jackson, Christine Warren and Claire Delacroix (aka Deborah [...]