Boise Novel Orchard is sponsoring a contest! With prizes! For North-West writers and artists!
What do you need to do to win? First, you need to enter. To enter, you’ll need to write something using the theme “bridges.” Fiction and non-fiction should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words, poetry no more than 22 lines. We’re looking for black and white cover art too! There’s a $10 entry fee, with one entry per person.
What are we offering up? Winners will be published in a chapbook, due to be released in May. There’s also a cash prize. Entries are due no later than March 20, 2010.
Just finished my first term with Kaplan University Online and (though its not official yet) will be getting A’s in both classes. Ya me. I’m 70% done with Christmas stuff and am ramping up for the online class I’ll be teaching for Popular Fiction about exposition.
Hope everyone is having an awesome month! Happy Chanaukah.
I’ll share a few recommendations but don’t leave me hanging. What are you listening to, reading or watching that I should be checking out?
Any fans of obscure movies? Check out the RoughCuts on YouTube.
The Decemberists. A musical group self described as victorian punk. A co-worker and fellow Smith got me listening to them.
Chart Jackers Project. A group of British YouTubers decided to use the internet and their subscribers to create a song to raise money for children’s week, a big event in UK. I’ve been following since day one and love the final version of the song.
Carlotta and Saving Abel still on continuous loop.
Rediscovered Bookshop. Okay, if you are within 20 miles of Boise you should be a regular customer. They know their stuff and promote the stuffing out of local authors and events. 2nd year in a row voted Boise’s Best.
Castle – A tv show about a writer who plays poker with other best selling authors and shadows a NYC homicide detective. Great dialog and Nathan Fillian (Mal from Firefly and Captain Hammer) is perfect for the role.
Twitter. Does it work? No clue. But it is so easy to text a short pithy comment once in a while from my cell phone.
Mt. Dew Horde. I’ve tried the Alliance flavor too but the cherry Horde is better. Don’t tell my husband. His level 80 can kick my can. Last year when he was still job hunting, he created a character named Drhorrible and I had a Captnhammer. We pvp’d War Song gulch like nobodies business. So a kid dressed as Arthis for Halloween, did a spot on good job with the costume.
As a fiction addict I’ve been getting my fix via Castle, Mentalist and Doll House all of which I totally recommend. I can DVR them on my Directv Receiver and watch at my leisure when the kids are sleeping. But I’d like to read more. Whose on my pile and whose been knocked down?
ZA Maxfield – soooo good at the gut twisting emotional impact with a side of sex.
Suzanne Brockmann – never makes it to the actual pile. I read her the first week they come out.
Jan Hambright’s – besides just being an all around great chapter mate she’s the guru of plot twists.
Right now I’m reading a ton of Silhouette Nocturne because I think my Amazon series would be a good fit with that line and I’m ‘researching’.
Books knocked off the pile unfinished?
I’ve tried to read (name with held to protect the writer) Again. There is no story question. If I hadn’t read the back of the book, which I never do, I would have no clue there was supposed to be some great world ending conflict. They do the dead on page 55, it should have happened on page five, and then what? Why should I continue? She is often placed on my pile, I’m intrigued by the story concept or a friend recommends a series by her but I have yet to finish one.
Harry Dresden, which is a dorky, wizardly version of Elvis Cole. I have a strong geeky side and I like the first person detective series. But there were soooo many characters and I haven’t decided if I care enough about any of them to read book 2.
So if you are one of the two people still reading this blog, tell me what’s just been placed on or knocked off your to be read pile and why.
