Some New Additions

First off, are the two sisters we added to our family. Rescued from a hoarder before they found a home where they lived happily with a family for a year before their Mama passed away from cancer, now the Griffon Fauve de Bretagne girls have found their forever home with us.

Chloe

Sophie

They are so good with Pippin, and we couldn't ask for sweeter, more well-behaved dogs. Sophie is unfortunately showing signs of a portosystemic shunt, so we're trying to get her health issues sorted out. But look at those eyes!

The other new addition is a project I've been working on since my birthday.  It's a literary signpost for the garden! You can click on the images to see them larger.

The signpost in its natural habitat

One side of the post

The other side of the post

Can you identify all the novels? We didn't try too hard to be obscure--they're books that I've loved since childhood and into adulthood (or as adult-y as I'm going to get). It was so much fun deciding which ones to include.

Also wanted to say, stay tuned for some news on an addition to the Crow's Rest book family at the end of this month!

RTW and some news!

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: Who are your favorite literary couples?
You know -- the ones you like by themselves, but LOVE together!



First, some nominations in adult titles: Sookie and any of her many lovers (but especially Eric), Claire and Jamie in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander, and Jack and Eliza in Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson.

For YA: Mary "Jacky" Faber and Jared in the Bloody Jack books, Blossom and Alexander in Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck, and Aislinn and Seth from Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series.

What do all these various couples have in common? Each half of the whole is a fully-realized character, with a "real" life taking place offstage. No sitting by the phone waiting for a call for these love interests!

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And now for some news! My video pitch was chosen to be critted for Pitch University's Pitch Evaluation Lab! What's more, I impressed agent Christine Witthohn so much that she asked me to send her the full manuscript of my book!

I would really encourage people to dive in and submit a video--it's a great learning experience, and it just may lead to a request!

P.S. for another example of my burgeoning mad video-ing skills, check out this special video for Valentine's Day

Memoir (and) Contest and Submissions

The literary journal, Memoir (and), is offering a $500 prize "to the most outstanding prose or poetry memoirs—traditional, nontraditional or experimental—drawn from the reading period."

That means that all regular submissions are eligible for publication and the prize. Deadline is August 16, 2010. They consider poetry, prose, graphic memoir, and photography, with 1st through 3rd prizes in prose/poetry, and separate prizes for graphic memoir and for photography.

And no entry fee! Good luck!

WOW! Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest

Still a few days to enter (deadline is midnight May 31) the WOW! Quarterly Flash Fiction Contest Entry fee is $10, but it's being judged by literary agent Jenny Bent.

Jenny Bent has a great post on Rookie Mistakes that made me cringe; I've been guilty of a few of these--and close to doing some others before I came to my senses.

BTW, the Summer contest will be opening in June, so there are new chances to enter each quarter.