Contest!, Book Reviews, ROW80 and Insecure Writers

ontest!

What better way to celebrate the Insecure Writer's Support Group than by running a writers' contest?

It all started with my new schedule. Everything's going swimmingly, especially the Monday and Wednesday editing nights. Observe!:

That last shot is mainly because I felt badly for Frodo, since all the other photos featured Sam (and yes, that's the cap off a beer bottle on his head).

So that's me editing. Meanwhile, though, I keep having all these shiny new ideas. What to do? If I don't start exploring them right away, they'll disappear or become less sparkly; if I take notes and try to come to them later on, that would make me *gasp* a plotter.

Which is why I've added to the schedule, a la ROW80 (change your goals each week to suit you!): I normally read on the train to and from work, but I'm so excited by this latest shiny new idea (a little tweak on the old beauty and the beast story, involving Druids, a minotaur's labyrinth, an archaeological dig - and romance, of course) that I've got to start drafting.

I promised I'd do at least 250 words each morning, and you know what? It's hard to tear myself away from the notebook once the train ride is over!

In honour of all this steady work, I'm hosting a Show me the Words! contest from now until 31 July.

Are you editing? writing? plotting? Share photos of your progress on your blog, website, Twitter feed, wherever, and post the link here in the comments.

There are prizes!

International: 20$ Amazon gift card (whichever Amazon you prefer)

or

residents of the United States and Canada: you can choose either the gift card

or one of these two awesome books:

Hélène Boudreau's Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath

"Jade begins her summer confused. Yes, there's that whole "will this be a leg-day or a tail-day" kind of confusion, but Jade's got even bigger problems:

It's been three weeks since Mom returned to the ocean with no news of her whereabouts. Plus, it's been twenty-one days since Jade first kissed her mer-boy Luke and now - nothing.

Will Mom find the enchanted tidal pool that will allow her to become human?

And why is Luke acting so weird?"

The second part of the mermaid series - Jade's summer is heating up! I read this book in a day, I was that excited by Jade's adventures.

Her voice (first person pov!) is fresh and endearing; Jade and her best friend Cori are just the sorts of characters you wish you lived next door to.

Kristen Callihan's Firelight

"London, 1881

Once the flames are ignited...

Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity...

Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied.

Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask."

I could go on and on about this book - the Victoriana, the paranormal aspects, how real each and every character is, right down the shortest scenes. But the best part? Well...

You know that scene in a romance where the hero and heroine are finally beginning to admit their feelings for each other, and come that bit closer, and feel their skin tingle, and their fingers briefly touch and they might be about to kiss... Yea, that moment. Callihan's an expert at it. I love rereading those scenes!

Spread the word!

And if you need prompts, Malcolm's got Writing Prompts for the Bold, Insane and Desperate.

Or you can follow Hemingway's advice to Fitzgerald: "That's what dries a writer up... not listening. That is where it all comes from. Seeing, listening. ... write and don't worry about what the boys will say nor whether it will be a masterpiece nor what. I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the wastebasket. ... Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to hurt like hell before you can write seriously."

One last thing, for those of you trying to get children to read, here's a tip from Judy Blume: "First, invest in one with a new cover. Even if you like the old, original covers. Second, don't give it to them. Just leave the books strategically placed around the house and then occasionally say: 'Oh no, you're not reading that – you're not ready for it yet.'"

Oh, and if you need musical inspiration, the Whisky Trench Riders are now on Twitter!