Wanna be my coauthor?

While my husband and I were busy moving from Pennsylvania to Maryland, other members of the Bethlehem Writers Group were busy as well. Bernadette DeCourcey and Jerome W. McFadden spearheaded efforts of the Bethlehem Writers Group LLC to start a new literary magazine, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. On another front, the BWG also decided to put out a second anthology, tentatively entitled Seasonal Pursuits: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales.

Most recently, these two exciting ventures came together to form a third, possibly even more exciting venture, the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award. Fellow writers, were you aware of this opportunity? Fellow readers, do the writers in your life know about it?

First prize of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award is $200 and the possibility of being published in Seasonal Pursuits. The only other way to get into the anthology is to join the Bethlehem Writers Group, work endless hours peer-editing members' submissions, work more endless hours putting the anthology together, and write a submission that meets the exacting approval of the BWG editors. Oh how I wish I could just enter the contest.

But you can. Well, so long as you don't live with a member of the Bethlehem Writers Group, so most of you can. I'm hoping to get into the anthology, and I can't wait to find out who wins the contest. Perhaps you and I could be coauthors!

You can find the nitty gritty details at http://www.bwgwritersroundtable.com/ but here's a quick summary:

First place = $200 + print publication

Second place = $100 + publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable

Third place = $50 + publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable

Deadline = January 31, 2012

Celebrity Judge = Jonathan Maberry

Genres = Fiction and/or Memoir

Wordcount = 2,000 words or fewer

So, that's it, get writing everyone, I wish you all the very best of luck.

Happy writing, future coauthor!

NaNoWriMo and Nails

Well, it's Monday and the 7th day of NaNoWriMo, which means everyone should have 11,669 words under their belts by midnight. How many do you have? I have roughly 6,000. I'm not sure I've ever been this far behind this early in NaNoWriMo before. But then, I've never been quite this far behind in life at this point in November before.

I didn't get any words in over the weekend, in spite of the added hour to write. Instead, my husband and I spent the weekend unpacking from our most recent move. Did I mention that we moved? We're in Maryland now. This was our fifth move in 4 years, and I've had about enough. We actually moved at the end of September, but October was insane with travel including a trip to the JASNA AGM in Fort Worth, Texas, and a trip up to Massachusetts to attend my cousin's wedding. So, this was the first weekend my husband and I actually had time to stay home and open some of the boxes piled around us.

As I peeled tape off of cardboard and removed labels from empty plastic bins, I noticed something. My nails still look pretty good. Now, fellow writers will appreciate how difficult it is to keep a manicure looking nice when your life revolves around your computer keyboard, and anyone who has moved will attest to the unlikelihood that nail polish will withstand the double assaults of tape and cardboard, and yet I repeat, they still look good.

I'm not one to get regular manicures by any means. In fact, this is probably the fourth or fifth I've ever gotten. The first was the day before my wedding and required a touch up by the time I was through the rehearsal dinner. Even when I'm not moving, I'm hard enough on my nails to make a manicure an unwise investment. I'll get a pedicure once or twice during the year, but that's more for the pampering than for the polish. Plus, I don't type with my toes… although that would be a good way to increase my word count. Maybe next year.

I decided to spring for a manicure for two reasons. First, the aforementioned cousin's wedding, second, my fingernails have been through the ringer after spending months packing, and now, unpacking boxes. I opted for a French manicure because it's not something I can do for myself, so in my mind that makes it more worthy of the expense.

When I told the nail technician what I wanted, she suggested I try nail shellac instead of polish. The cost was only minimally more, but she claimed the manicure would last two weeks longer. I figured two weeks was a significant increase over an hour, so I went for it. That was October 29th, and, 8 days, 6,000 words, and untold boxes later, my nails still look good. Significantly better than they would be an hour after a manicure with polish.

Still, I won't become a regular at the nail salon. While nail shellac certainly has a lot of value for longevity, I'm concerned that the shellac needs to set using a UV lamp similar to a mini tanning bed (a fact I did not know until I was halfway through the process). A quick internet search confirmed that getting regular manicures with this process probably isn't healthy for your cuticles and fingertips. I'm not sure how bad the process is for a person as a whole, but since I rely on my fingertips for my job, I'd rather not take the chance of doing it regularly.

Still, for my highly irregular manicure (every couple of years or so) it might be a good solution.

(By the way, if you like my little writing raisin, be sure to check out Writertopia to get your own!)

November already?

Where has the time gone? Am I alone in my utter astonishment that it November already? Part of me thinks the latest it could possibly be right now is September, and that's just because it's too cold outside to be August.

Well, since the calendar seems quite insistent that it is now November, I can't let the moment pass without a quick shout out to NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. This will be my sixth year participating in NaNoWriMo, but this is the least prepared I've ever felt in November. Since the rules prohibit working on an established story, and I'm deep into the editorial phase of my current projects, I have absolutely NO idea what I'm writing this month. So, I'm just going to put my fingers to the keys and see where my muse takes me. Either that, or I'll succumb to all of the "everything else" that is demanding my attention.

But no, let's focus on the positive. Wonderful stories can come out of the ramblings of the NaNoCrazed mind. Right?

Which reminds me. Even if you're not writing great prose, the key to completing the NaNoWriMo challenge is to increase that word count. From here on out, NaNoWriMo will no longer be something I can't do, rather National Novel Writing Month will be something I can not do. See? More words.

But I did say "let's think positively," didn't I? Or rather, "Did I not say let us think positively?"

I firmly believe that good modern dialogue should contain plenty of contractions, but in November, all bets are off. Not only will I advise against "don’t," "can't," and "I'll," I will also humbly suggest the use of such anachronisms as "let us" and "of the clock" (three words when o'clock gets us only one). Characters from the south will suddenly switch from "y'all" to "you all,"or better yet, "all of you all." Hey, what else is the editing process for but removing such awful and disgraceful turns of phrase?

Another writing rule I will gladly relinquish in November is the prohibition against adverbs. Instead of "I'm confused" a character ought to say "I am completely, utterly, and horribly confused."

"That" is another word that comes out in November. Rather than "We all know we should avoid contractions," I will gladly proclaim, "We all know THAT we should all avoid contractions." It's not pretty (or it is not that pretty) but it does increase that word count.

Now, good writers are cringing to hear such advice (and would probably be even more upset to know that my mother-in-law becomes my mother in law during November) but not all good writing practices need to go out the window. For example, it should be noted that beats require far more words than tags. Rather than, "Eloise said," I humbly suggest, "Eloise slammed her saddle shoe clad foot down on the ceramic tile floor, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and stuck her lower lip out in a pout." See? Far more words. Oh, and it tells us a bit more about the character. That's important too I guess.

Also, were you aware that a properly typeset ellipsis (...) contains spaces between the three dots? ". . ." is three words with many word count programs while "..." is only one. What better time than NaNoWriMo to start typing correctly?

In the long run, none of this will make up for having absolutely NO idea what one should write this November, so I definitely have some brain storming to do. Still, in the meantime, as I type whatever random gibberish that comes to mind, at least I will be making those audaciously, horribly . . . umm . . . whatever . . . words count!

What tips, tricks, and strategies do you have that will help you through NaNoWriMo? I'd love to hear them all.

For more information about National Novel Writing Month, please visit www.nanowrimo.org.