[Forward][ Back ]

It's Thursday and it is COLD. The nation's in the grip of an icy blast. Did you know that Thursday is named for the Norse god of Thunder, Thor? It's Thor's day.

I could take that one thing, right there and run with it. Write a story that could go on for days. As writers, do people always ask you the same question they ask me? Where do you get all your ideas? Ummmm, everywhere? From the paper, from the news, from an article on the Internet about a kid using a TV remote to derail a train?

Better question is, how do you stop them from bombarding you night and day? I dream ideas.

But I digress...Grins.

Yesterday I was talking about how a contest got me to an "almost" with a publisher, except I hadn't finished the book. So there I sat, finally, when I finished the book, with a finished book and no one to send it to. Woe is me. A writer pal said, "You should enter the Golden Heart" - this is the prestigious National contest for unpublished authors, sponsored by the Romance Writers of America. They have a published author award called the Rita, as well, analogous to the Edgar or the Hugo or Nebula Awards. So, the Golden Heart, is the unpublished version. I was totally intimidated by this contest. People SOLD by finaling in this contest. In fact, eighty-seven percent of the finalists sell, even if it isn't the manuscript with which they finaled.

So I entered. She dared me to, and I have a hard time resisting a dare and I really wanted to enter. There you go. It became a joke between us. "Dare ya'!" To my surprise, three months later I got a call that I had finaled. It was one of the most amazing things, to get that call. Almost as good as getting The Call from the publisher wanting to buy your book. Almost.

One of the best things I ever did for my writing career was enter and final in the Golden Heart. What did I get? I didn't win my category, but the final got me requests from agents and editors. I eventually sold to one of them, and I sold that manuscript. The other thing I gained was a "year group" of friends who were as serious about writing and making a career as a writer as I was. There are plenty of folks who like to write, but they aren't driven by it. These women were as serious as I was.

Twenty of that group of seventy-two decided to form a blog. We are the Romance Bandits - www.RomanceBandits.blogspot.com - and we've been going strong for three years now. And having a blast doing it. A support system, critique system, advice, power and mastermind group all in one fell swoop. I think I got one heck of a return on my fifty dollar entry fee, don't you?