Happy Halloween!

NOR Under The Mistletoe First Kiss Contest

NOR (Night Owl Romance) Under the Mistletoe - Kiss Scene - Writing Contest

Please Carefully Read The Entry Information

* Free To Enter - 400 Word Max - Romance Novel Kiss Scene - those submissions that are over 400 words will be cut down to meet our requirements

* There Is Only Space For Up To 50 Entries. 1 Entry Only Per Person.

* Published and Aspiring Authors Can Enter

* Entrants Need To Promote The Contest To Readers & We Will Promote The Contest As Well

* First Round Voting Will Start 11/12/2009 and end 11/30/2009 (The top 10 Entries will go onto the finals)- Readers Will Vote.

* The Finals will start 12/3/2009 and end 12/20/2009- Readers Will Vote.

There will be 3 Main Prizes!!!

* First Place - ($50 Cash or $70 in NOR Promotion Credit)

* Second Place - ($30 Cash or $50 in NOR Promotion Credit)

* Third Place - ($20 Cash or $30 in NOR Promotion Credit)

* Cash paid out by check* You need to be 18 or older to enter.

* Entries Must Be In By 11/08/2009. When we hit 50 no more will be added.

Go here to learn more and to enter.

Night Owl Romance
NOR Blog

Contests

Below is a list of contests I've run across that I thought looked interesting.  If you decide to enter any, please make sure you check them out throughly. I haven't entered any so I can't vouch for them. The reason I've listed them here is because they are contests I might consider entering if I were going the contest route.

Good Luck!

~Carol

VIEW HOUSE PUBLISHING SHORT STORY CONTEST

 $8 ENTRY FEE

The theme is open to short stories from all genres. We are looking for original, creative, and poignant pieces featuring convincing characters and great plots. Each story can be no longer than 2,500 words and must be written in English. Deadline November 17, 2009. First place $250.Second place $150. Third place $50.
http://www.viewhousepublishing.com/contest.html

 FAILBETTER NOVELLA CONTEST

NO ENTRY FEE

Deadline May 15, 2010. Prize $500. One entry allowed per person. Stories must be at least 8,000 words but less than a novel. Send only the first 5,000 words. All entries will be considered for publication.
http://www.failbetter.com/Novella.php

 WRITING CONTEST FOR STUDY ABROAD

$25 ENTRY FEE

The University of New Orleans, the pioneer in writing programs abroad, is pleased to announce the sixth annual writing contest for study-abroad, Summer, 2010. This year the contest is co-sponsored by The Pinch Journal, who will judge the entries and publish the winners in Fall, 2010. Full fee waivers, including housing allowance, will be granted to one writer each in the genres of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction. Partial awards and honorable mentions may also be granted. Winners may attend any of UNO’s 2010 study-abroad writing programs:

• Writing Workshops in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico  
• The Ezra Pound Center for Literature, Dorf Tirol, Italy

Deadline: January 31, 2010. Open to anyone writing in English who has not yet published a book of 45 pages or more in the genre of application. Prose submissions should not exceed 4,500 words (about 15 pages double spaced). Poetry submissions should not exceed 5 pages and may include a maximum of 3 poems.The submitted work must be unpublished at the time of submission.

http://lowres.uno.edu/contest.cfm

WAG'S REVUE - FICTION, POETRY, NONFICTION

 $20 ENTRY FEE

Wag's Revue invites you to enter its second round of biannual contests in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Submissions of electronic writing are also encouraged in any of the above genres. First prize in each category receives $500 and publication in Wag's Revue, and all submissions are considered for publication. The contest deadline is November 30, and winners will be announced December 21. Submissions of poetry may include multiple poems but should not exceed 10 pages. Fiction and nonfiction submissions should not exceed 8,000 words.
http://www.wagsrevue.com/submit.php

 WINTER 2010 24-HOUR SHORT STORY CONTEST

The WritersWeekly.com Winter 2010 24-Hour Short Story Contest is now open for entrants! Each contest is limited to 500 entrants so don't delay if you want to participate.

• 1st Place: $300 
• 2nd Place: $250
• 3rd Place: $200

Start time is January 23rd , 2010 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) central time. Held quarterly and limited to 500 entrants. Don't miss out on the ultimate source for creative stress...and tons of fun!

Entry fee is $5. You can see the complete list of 85 prizes and sign up here:

http://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.php

WOW-WOMENONWRITING FLASH FICTION CONTEST

$10 ENTRY FEE

We are limiting the amount of entries to a maximum of 300 stories. Deadline November 30, 2009. Maximum: 750 words. Minimum: 250 words. The title is not to be counted in your word count. The contest is open globally; age is of no matter; and entries must be in English.
http://wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php

First Paragraph Writing Contest For Unpublished Writers

PERMISSION TO FORWARD:

Are you an unpublished writer with a complete romance manuscript?

October 28th Kensington Romance Author Lori Brighton will be accepting first paragraphs from unpublished writers for her contest, The First Paragraph Writing Contest. Participants will be allowed to enter the first paragraph of their romance manuscript. From these first paragraphs, twenty finalists will be picked to send in their first page. Those finalists will be narrowed down to five who will send their first chapter to KENSINGTON EDITOR MEGAN RECORDS. Megan will pick one winner from these five.

Completed manuscripts only. Author's who are presently contracted with a NY print publisher are not eligible.

Visit Lori's blog for complete contest rules!

http://www.loribrighton.blogspot.com/

Good Luck!

Just The Facts, Please

A friend sent me this list of goofy "facts" and I thought I'd share. I haven't checked to see if any of these things are ture or not, so you're guess is as good as mine. If by chance you happen to know if something on this list is actually true, please leave a comment and let me know.

~Carol

1.) A shrimp's heart is in its head.

2.) The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

3.) Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.

4.) Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

5.) If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969 make it illegal for U. S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles?

6.) In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

7.) A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

8.) 23% of all photocopier faults world-wide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts.

9.) Most lipstick contains fish scales

10.) Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

11.) If you sneeze too hard you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force they can pop out.

12.) In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single ca se where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.

13.) It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

14.) A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

15.) More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

16.) Horses can't vomit.

17.) Butterflies taste with their feet.

18.) In 10 minutes, a category three hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.

19.) On average 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.

20.) On average people fear spiders more than they do death.

21.) Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.

22.) Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

23.) Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

24.) Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

25.) It's possible to lead a cow upstairs... but not downstairs.

26.) Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

27.) It is physically impossible for you to lick your elbow.

28.) The Main Library at Indiana University sinks ov er an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.

29.) A snail can sleep for three years.

30.) No word in the English language rhymes with "MONTH."

31.) Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

32.) The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

33.) All polar bears are left handed.

34.) In ancient Egypt , priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.

35.) An ostrich' s eye is bigger than its brain.

36.) TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.

37.) "Go," is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

38.) If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand 7 feet, 2 inches tall.

39.) A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

40.) The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

41.) Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

42.) Almost everyone who reads this email will try to lick their elbow.

CJ Lyons Query Contest

In honor of her upcoming release URGENT CARE,  Author CJ Lyons is hosting a contest where one lucky person will WIN a critique of your query package by Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency!

PRIZE: one lucky commenter will win a critique of your query letter, two page synopsis, and first three chapters from Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency.

HOW TO ENTER: leave a comment on this post, including your name, email address, and a short blurb of your project. If you want to say something nice about CJ's books, that’s fine as well, but the winner will be determined by a random drawing.

RULES: Odds of winning depend on the number of entries. Entries must be posted prior to midnight EST on November 8. The winner will be announced on November 9 and contacted via email by CJ and Barbara Poelle.

Good Luck!

CJ Lyrons
Irene Goodman Agency

Comment SPAMer's - Grrrrr!

It seems I've been spammed on several posts in the comments section(s) here on my blog, therefore, I've been forced to change my comment settings to moderation. It's a darn shame people do this, but I guess it comes with the cyber-territory.

This particular idiot SPAMer happens to have a "Website Design" site and a Blogger account, but their blog is set to private so I couldn't find out any information on them. Ironic, isn't it? :) But, I went to their so called design site and found their contact information and sent an email instructing them to STOP SPAMMING MY BLOG! We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I went through the spam comments (I know which ones they are because I have my account set to send me an email every time someone comments), and I manually deleted the idiot's SPAMer's posts. What a bunch of aggravation. Grrrrr!

Since they have a Blogger account, I'll notify the Power's That Be about the idiot SPAMer as well. I could alert the domain site their page is located through, too.  I believe that's just about all I can do.

Below is a link to a brief and awesome blog post on the blog Lorelle on Wordpress  entittled What is Comment Spam? The post explains what Comment Spam is, and the different types.

According to the post, there are Pittiful Time Wasters, Link Needers, Comment Spam Robots and Sneaky Comment Spammers. It seems my idiot SPAMer falls somewhere between  the category of a Sneaky Comment Spammer and a Link Needer.

*snipped from the post:

The sneaky comment spammers are the ones you really have to look for. They require more work to determine if they are legitimate. These are the nice comment spammers. They say things like:

• “I really like your site, keep up the good work.”
• “This is a beautiful site.”
• “It looks like you worked hard to create this site. Good work.”
• “I like what you have to say. I’m going to tell my friends.”
• “This is really good information. I’m going to mark it as a favorite.”

These are the kinds of spam comments are usually get here on the blog (and I immediately  delete).

I will say, I don't get a lot of spam (knock on wood). Email or comment-wise, but when I do get them, I get angry!

So, any suggestions? Anyone else getting spammed on their blog?

What is Comment Spam?
Wiki Article: Spam in Blogs
Six Part Guide to Comment Spam

WOW! Fall Flash Fiction Contest W/ Judge Noah Lukeman

WOW! (Women On Writing) Fall 2009 Flash Fiction Contest

DEADLINE: November 30, 2009 Midnight, Pacific Time.

GUEST JUDGE: Literary Agent, Noah Lukeman

About Noah: Noah Lukeman is President of Lukeman Literary Management Ltd, which he founded in 1996. His clients include winners of the Pulitzer Prize, American Book Award, Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Award, finalists for the National Book Award, Edgar Award, and Pacific Rim prize, multiple New York Times bestsellers, national journalists, major celebrities, and faculty of universities ranging from Harvard to Stanford.

Mr. Lukeman is also an accomplished and bestselling author. His books for writers include: The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying out of the Rejection Pile (Simon & Schuster, 1999); The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life (St. Martins Press, 2002); A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation (W.W. Norton, 2006 and Oxford University Press in the UK, 2007); How to Write a Great Query Letter (free e-book); How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent.

We're thrilled to have him as our honorable guest judge this season!

PROMPT: Open Prompt

WORD COUNT: 750 Max; 250 Min

LIMIT: 300 Entries

Don't wait until the last minute! Enter Today. Visit our Contest Page and download our terms & conditions ebook.

Good luck!

WOW!
Contest Page
Noah Lukeman

New Young Adult Line At Sourcebooks, Inc

Good news for those of you who write YA. Sourcebooks will launch Sourcebooks Fire, a new young adult imprint this spring 2010.

SOURCEBOOKS FIRE will officially launch with seven titles, including a bestselling paranormal romance series from the UK, a novel based on the true life story of teenage sisters who invented the séance in 1848, a romantic mystery set against the backdrop of the civil war, and a YA supernatural thriller set in New York City, among others.

Three years ago they launched their children's imprint, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. The line has since had three New York Times Bestsellers.

FYI, the following was posted on their Casablanca Submissions (Romance Line) page:

We are actively acquiring single-title and single-title series Romance fiction (90,000 to 120,000 actual digital words) for our Casablanca imprint. We are looking for strong writers who are excited about marketing their books and building their community of readers, and whose books have something fresh to offer in the genre of Romance.

To learn more about Sourcebooks and their new line(s) and/or guidelines see the links below.

Sourcebooks Home
Sourcebooks Blog
Sourcebooks Fire (YA Line Info)
Sourcebooks Casablanca (Romance)
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (Childrens Line)

Happy Writing!