Mini Highlights of Fellow Bloggers! and the YA Novel Discovery Contest

logging buddies!

I'm so far behind in comments! Thank you all for coming by and commenting on my last few posts. I'm going to try visiting many of you today and as I do, I thought I'd highlight a few here:

Zan Marie at In the Shade of the Cherry Tree features an interview with brilliant author Joanna Bourne today! I love what Jo says here: "I want happy endings. I want heroes and heroines. I want brave, clever, principled characters who behave well under difficult circumstances. So I write Romance."

Pam at A Novel Woman shares photos, hilarious stories, and makes Montreal look good!

Forgotten Bookmarks gives away a collection of vintage books every week.

Ayak is an English lady living in Turkey; she blogs about her experiences at Ayak's Turkish Life. She's also a rescuer and caretaker of abused street/stray dogs. Please donate if you feel inclined!

Then there's Trisha, who's rescuing cats!

Pop Sensation has a great time showcasing and gently poking fun at vintage paperbacks: 'Page 123 -- "Yes, but the thing is," the medical examiner said again, "where is the other body, and where is the other head?"
My favorite part of that quotation is "again."'


Here's a contest I entered a couple of years ago. I was one of the 20 finalists that year! Now they're in their fifth edition:

THE 5th ANNUAL YA DISCOVERY CONTEST

No query? No pitch? No problem!

Get in front of top YA editors and agents with only the first 250 words of your YA novel!

Have a young adult novel -- or a YA novel idea -- tucked away for a rainy day? Are you putting off pitching your idea simply because you’re not sure how to pitch an agent? No problem! All you have to do is submit the first 250 words of your novel and you can win both exposure to editors, and a reading of your manuscript from one of New York’s top literary agents, Regina Brooks.

Regina Brooks is the CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency and the author of the award winning book Writing Great Books for Young Adults, now available in a second edition.

The top 20 submissions will all be read by a panel of five judges comprised of top YA editors at Random House, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Penguin, Scholastic, Feiwel and Friends, Kensington, Candlewick, Bloomsbury, Simon and Schuster, and Penguin. The top 20 authors will receive a free copy of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks. Of the 20, the judges will pick the top five submissions and provide each author with commentary. These five winners will also receive a free one-year subscription to The Writer magazine. One Grand Prize Winner will win a full manuscript reading and feedback from Regina Brooks.

Please submit all entries via the contest website at one entry per person; anyone age 13+ can apply. Open to the U.S. and Canada (void where prohibited). Entries for the YA Novel Discovery Contest will be accepted from 12:01am (ET) November 1 until 11:59pm (ET), November 30.

And my ROW80 update -- getting through NaNoWriMo by the skin of my teeth. I keep starting scenes, only to be stalled by my lack of research. Here's what I need to learn about:

Telegrams
Encryption/ciphers
Constantinople during WWI
Military ranks
Evacuation of Gallipoli (December 2015)

What research have you been doing lately?

Entered any interesting contests?