ABNA 2011 ENTERED

Entered the ABNA contest for this year late Sun night. I stayed up until it was midnight EST but of course I would have been up anyway being the night owl that I am. I couldn't fill out any of the entry form until I had made a last minute check of all my files, even though I had already checked them a dozen times for the right formatting, as if I thought it would somehow change when I wasn't looking. I spend way too much time checking things several times. Maybe I do suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder. But that's a whole other subject entirely.

Now we all play the waiting game as they read and critique our pitches to see if we even move forward to the next round of the contest when our excerpts will be read. I'm hoping to make it that far at least.

I plan on working on my works on progress while this contest is going on. Now we'll see how far I get on any of that stuff. If things go the way they usually do around here it won't be as far as I think or I'd like. I'm working on four or five projects, so with any luck I'll get one of them finished this year.

Today I got sidetracked unloading and moving the contents of a storage building. All that physical labor about wore me out. I went and had Mexican food after that and don't have the energy for anything else today. I was starving after that ordeal as I'd only had a bowl of cereal this morning.

Once home again, I fed the cats and hopped on the computer to do my email. Then had to doctor my problem child. This one cat I have chews on herself and always gets a rash. I thought I needed to post on this blog too before I'm neglecting it again. My main intent right now is posting updates about the contest for anyone reading this.

There seem to be a lot of entries in the fantasy or sci-fi category from all the excerpts I read before the contest started. The competition seems to be fierce in those genres. I'm not sure how well those are liked by the judges either. We haven't had a fantasy or sci-fi piece win the competition in the last three years of this contest, but every year is a new contest so way too early to give up hope on that.

I've got to go and get my butt to bed after I drink a pitcher of water. I'm so dehydrated after the storage building ordeal today. I'm not used to going that long without water. I feel like I'm spitting cotton balls tonight (as my grandmother used to say.)

Blessings all,
Sunni

Proofreading Now Available

I have added proofreading to my website and will be offering my eyes to read your work. I know a second set of eyes can be invaluable after you've read your novel a jillion times. Its easy to skip right over things that someone else will see. I will check for punctuation and consistency as well as spelling errors.

I want to especially help the indie writers out there in your goal to become published authors. I'm offering my services for below the average price for proofreading to keep it affordable. I hope you will check out my website for more info: http://www.faeriemoundbooks.com/

Blessings to all,
Sunni

It's Contest Time Again

Well its contest time again. I've been working on that for the past month and ignoring this blog again. Shame on me but this time of year all of us are eating and breathing this contest. Getting all my stuff in order as well as helping others with theirs and answering questions. In less than a week now we'll all be sitting back waiting to see if we made the first cut.

I feel fairly confident in my entry but you never know from year to year how things will go. As we all know, writing is very subjective and sometimes it seems like it just takes the right person seeing it. So you could have something fantastic and if it isn't the reviewers cup of tea, you get the boot before the thing gets started. You definitely have to have something unique and interesting to along with superb writing skills.

Fantasy is what I write and it has never won this contest. Will this be the year for a fantasy manuscript to take the prize? We can only hope so. I thought about writing in a different genre but fantasy is what I do best, however I have started a couple of other novels. One is a literary fiction piece and the other is a mystery. I have no idea if and when I'll finish them and what shape they'll be in when I do. You never know what genre the publisher is looking for from year to year, but it seems so far a human interest story has taken the top prize except for the first contest when it was a mystery story. But we can't give up hope. I'll be happy if I just advance a few rounds in the contest even if I don't win. You meet a great bunch of people on the boards and we all share with each other, so its also about camaraderie as well as entering the contest.

I'm entering last year's novel "Saving the Rainbow." I feel confident its a fairly original idea and that counts a lot. And I didn't have anything else ready anyway. I wasn't about to put myself through the stress of finishing and polishing in a months time. I did that last year and it was very hectic.

I'll keep updates posted here as things go along.

Blessings everyone.
Sunni