Aside from the myriad of activities, parties, workshops and fabulous speakers (so I've heard about through #RWA13 on twitter), there was one open house I would like to have attended... the Boroughs Publishing Group event. On Friday night, they revealed the winners of the "What's in a Name?" competition. There were actually two winners - one by popular vote from the finalists and one by Editorial Staff pick. Both of these wins provided the opportunity to work with them to publish a FULL LENGTH manuscript. I only have one of those. Ozark Angel is finished, has been through an editing service, been submitted twice. One of those submissions resulted in The Call... only to have the editor drop the ball. Odd thing is, I've submitted first chapters in competitions since then with less than stellar (not bad) scores. So I really need to go back through that story again before moving forward.
What does all this mean for me? How do I have a 'foot in the door'?
Well, for starters, the people at Boroughs Publishing Group have had my name in front of them multiple times over the past eight weeks. I have signed with them to be a ARC reviewer (putting my name in their sights repeatedly), I'm on their newsletter mailing list and I comment on their monthly blog. (though I really wish they would take that off 'moderated'. Really?)
But one thing I failed to publicize before is that ALL FINALISTS will be offered a contract for their contest novella, with editorial assistance to make the book shine! So in the coming months you may see five great stories available in digital format - Somewhere Down the Line included!
I also want to take a moment to congratulate Marilyn Puett. She was also one of the finalists and the story I mentioned in an earlier post that I really liked. Marilyn googled my song title + Boroughs publishing and found me. I was the only one out of four other contestants she was able to find. She emailed me, wishing me luck. We now keep each other company on FB, twitter and you'll see her link on my sidebar. So if you have a minute, please pop over to her site and congratulate her. She's pretty cool and very talented.
On to the next phase and the next project. I have twelve days to finish up my submission for the WETA Nichols competition. The chapter is with my crit partner and I should have his input tomorrow. If nothing else, I'm learning to work with deadlines LOL
Happy Writing & Reading!
Angela
Congratulations to all the finalists and winners! What an honor! And what an interesting journey you're taking with your work. I need to follow your lead and get myself in front of more eyes. Thank you for the inspiration!
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