The Knight Agency/Deidre Knight Super Big Mega Contest Announcement!

Shopping around for an agent? If so, here's a GREAT opportunity to get your work in front of Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency! Deidre is running a contest to find a fresh new voice to add to her client list.

Snipped from the website:

Knight Agency president and founder Deidre Knight is on the hunt for a fresh, unique voice to add to her personal client roster. Are you the one she's looking for? Find out by joining us here on The Knight Agency blog for "Speed Dating with Deidre." Beginning Tuesday, November 30th, Deidre will whittle down the first 125 entries to one lucky winner.* The contest opens at 8:00am ET right here on the blog, so set your alarms!

Oh, and there’s a special bonus, one randomly drawn winner will receive a first chapter critique from Deidre – drawn from all entries.**

Contest is for completed manuscripts only. For more info, rules and guidelines go to: http://knightagency.blogspot.com/
Good Luck!

BLOGMANIA 2010

BLOGMANIA 2010 is here! Today (Wednesday) & Tomorrow (Thursday) 170 blogs are having contests, huge giveaways & lot's and lot's of prizes.

What is BLOGMANIA, you ask? Welll, a bit of a description is below:

Snipped from the Blogmania site: 

Each blog will have published a post describing their giveaway theme and prizes and clearly letting you know how to enter their giveaway. At that end of that post, you will find a link list containing all BLOGMANIA giveaways. Read each post carefully , as how to enter will vary blog to blog. Each blog is responsible for drawing and notifying their own winners and handling the prize distribution, in partnership with their sponsors. BLOGMANIA and Parker PR Online are not responsible for any claims, opinions, or prizes offered by any participating blog/blogger. We do expect blogs to have announced their winners on their blogs by or around September 20, 2010 and for the prizes to be distributed within a timely manner upon receipt of shipping information.

You can start here – http://www.parkerpronline.com/ – or on any participating blog.


Bitten by Books is a participating blog, and they're giving away an Amazon Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, and man would I LOVE to win it! I've been wanting one for a long time, but being unemployed the past two years just doesn't allow for it. I have a ton of ebook's on my computer, but I haven't read any of them because I have a hard time reading on my desktop. A Kindle would certainly remedy the situation, don't ya think?  :)

I couldn't resit, and I entered the Bitten by Books contest. If you'd like to enter, too, just click on the bbb badge below, and take it from there.

Wish Me Luck!

Leah Michaels and Rochelle Chases' Chase The Dream Contest

Tomorrow, January 1st, is the official start date for the fourth annual 2010 Chase The Dream Contest presented by Romance Author's Leah Michaels and Rochelle Chase.

This is an awesome contest and a great opportunity to get your work in front of Agents and Editors, and the best thing about it is, it's FREE!

This year (and every year) they have a great panel of agents and editors. Just look at the lineup!

• Alex Logan of Grand Central Publishing
• Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks
• Theresa Stevens of Red Sage
• Susan Swinwood of Harlequin/Mira/Spice
• Esi Sogah of Avon Books,
• Kelli Martin of Kumani
• Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency
• Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency
• Elizabeth Pomada of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency

and more yet to be announced.

Also, they've added a new feature to the contest website, which I think is pretty cool. Videos from each of the agents and editors on the panel, telling what makes them request more after reading a contest entry.

To enter, submit the first 1,000 words or less of an unpublished romance, chick lit, or mainstream fiction with romantic elements novel/novella. Each Wednesday, from January 13, 2010 to March 3, 2010, Rachelle Chase will select a finalist from that week’s entries and post it on the Finalists page. Visitors are invited to post comments.

So, even though the official date to enter your submission begins tomorrow, you can submit your entry every week until March 2, 2010 (as long as it doesn't get chosen).

I entered Dangerous Desire in the 2007 contest, and although I didn't win, I was the Week 6 Mini Critique Winner and I received some great critiques from Leah and Rochelle.

So, if you're interested in entering, go here for rules and guidelines.

Best of Luck, and Happy New Year!

Chase The Dream Contest
Rochelle Chase
Leah Michaels

NABBW Your Age of Elegance Writing Contest

The National Association of Baby Boomer Women, is proud and excited to sponsor the... Entering YOUR Age of Elegance - Writing Contest Ah, Baby Boomers. Look who's entering the Age of Elegance... According to author Chloe Jon Paul who wrote, Entering the Age of Elegance - A Rite of Passage & Practical Guide for the Modern Maturing Woman, this second adulthood reaches us around age forty and if this "rite of passage" isn't done with style and grace, we can become disoriented and lose our way. We want to know what the Age of Elegance means to you. Fulfillment? Exploration? Discovery? Tell us! To enter this contest, simply follow these short and simple guidelines before submitting your story. CONTEST GUIDELINES: Using 500 words or less, and using these helpful questions below, tell us;

• What does the "age of elegance" mean to you?
• Have you embraced this time in your life? If so, how?
• Have you used this journey to define yourself as a new woman?

Please submit your entry in a WORD document AS AN ATTACHMENT. Include your name, email address, and short bio (no more than 75 words) INSIDE the WORD document NOT IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL.

• SUBMIT to - contest@nabbw.com with Age of Elegance in the subject line.
• DEADLINE - May 31, 2009PRIZE
• MONEY - 100.00 and F-R-E-E membership or renewal in the NABBW. Plus your story will be published in the Our Voices section at http://www.boomerwomenspeak.com/. Also . . . TWO LUCKY RUNNER-UPS will receive a framed copy of The Litany of Elegance plus easels, compliments of author Chloe Jon Paul!

Visit the NABBW Website NABBW on Facebook

Miss Snark's Secret Agent Contest

*Below info snipped from Miss Snark's First Victim Blog Please note: THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS. Anything emailed prior to the opening of the submission window will be deleted. Without further unwarranted tangents: 1. The call will be for the first 250 words of your COMPLETED, EDITED novel. 2. This month's genres are limited to the following: Suspense, mystery, thriller YA and MG mystery/thriller, adventure (no SF/F) 3. I will take the first 50 submissions. Period. The "24 hour window" is a thing of the past, as submissions generally fill up in less than 2 hours. Granted, this is a narrower genre pool. I'm not sure how many mystery and thriller writers will come out of the woodwork for this round, but I'm sure you're out there! Just make sure you submit something polished. 4. Format of submissions (same as ever): SCREEN NAME TITLE GENRE Excerpt 5. Submission email address: facelesswords(at)gmail.com. DO NOT SEND YOUR SUBMISSION TO MY AUTHORESSMAIL address. Email subscribers pay special attention to this, please. Your email subscription comes from the authoressmail account, which is not the submissions address. Full submission guidelines will be posted when submissions open on Monday. PLEASE NOTE: There will be a new time for the start of submissions! This is an experiment, as we're dealing with so many time zones. (Bear in mind that, while I'm sure you'd like to be awake when submissions open, it's imperative that I am awake, too, so I can, yanno, run the contest. In short, I can't accommodate everybody, much as I'd like to.) Submissions will open at 8:00 PM EDT on Monday, March 16. That's 1:00 AM Tuesday morning, London time. For the rest of you, go HERE to determine the start time in your time zone. I'm not sure if this will work for me, since it robs me of Monday afternoon for creating posts. But let's give it a whirl and see what happens. If I drop from exhaustion, you can revive me by sending all sorts of gourmet goodies wrapped in pink cellophane. Please drop your questions in the box!

Enter the 2009 Chase the Dream Contest

Leah Michaels and Rochelle Chase are getting ready to host their 3rd annual Chase the Dream Contest . They’ve got a great lineup of agents/editors and prizes so hurry and get your 1,000 word unpublished romance novel entry ready. If you follow my blog, you'll remember that I entered Dangerous Desires in last years contest (I sold nearly three months later). I didn't win, but I did receive a very helpful Mini-Critique from both Leah Michaels and Rochelle Chase. This is an awesome contest, and believe me, you don't want to miss it.

Leah Michaels gave a great critique of Dangerous Desires. Here's one thing she said:

"And this is a delightful piece of writing – it’s well-constructed, and it gives us a wonderful portrait of a character."

They'll be accepting entries from soon, so hurry! To learn more about the contest and for contest rules and guidelines, visit Rochelle's blog or the Contest page. Good luck, everyone! Chase the Dream Contest Rochelle Chase's Blog Leah Michaels Website If you're interested, go here (October 23rd Post) to see my blog post about the contest & Mini-Critique I won. *The contest pages says to check back on December 8th for updated information.

Rachelle Chase's Mini-Critique

Today Rachelle Chase posted her mini-critique of Dangerous Desires on the Chase the Dream Contest site. Like Leah Michaels did yesterday, Rachelle Chase made my day. She gave me a treasure trove of advice, as did Leah, and I absolutely appreciate every bit. Here are some of the very nice things she said:

"You’re very welcome, Carol. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your entry - the writing is smooth, with a nice balance of narrative and action, which gave it just the right pacing. And, I love forced marriage stories. In fact, in my first class with Leigh, I wrote a modern day forced marriage story, and she pointed out the many ways it was not believable. (She was correct). LOL Well, you obviously do not have this problem, as yours is believable."

I loved this. Rachelle went on to explain the reason she'd have my opening scene in the heroines POV and WHY. And that's the best part. She explained why and how it would make the reader more sympathetic with my heroine. The biggest problem (and ONLY problem) both Leah and Rachelle had with my entry was the opening character POV. Needless to say, I took their suggestions to heart and I will absolutely apply them to my WIP. Here's what else Rachelle had to say in addition to the very nice comment below: "this was a well written scene":

"At any rate, much success to you with this story. You’re a talented writer with a great story idea and I’d love to find out what happens to Mairin at Don Garcia’s house. "

I've been doing the Snoopy Dance since yesterday. My DH is beginning to think I'm going crazy. Do you blame me? If you'd like to see Rachelle's (and Leah's) critique, click here. I'm off to apply my changes. Wish me luck!

I'm A Chase the Dream Contest Mini-Critique Winner!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I entered Leah Michaels CHASE THE DREAM CONTEST. In this contest, if your entry isn't chosen, you can re-submit as long as you haven't been picked as a finalist or mini-critique winner. I've entered every week since they began accepting submissions six weeks ago and I've finally been chosen! Not as a finalist, but as a mini-critique winner! Yes, Yes, Yes! I'm so excited! Leah Michaels gave a great critique of Dangerous Desires. She said, "And this is a delightful piece of writing – it’s well-constructed, and it gives us a wonderful portrait of a character." How nice is that? What a great boost to the ego, ay? I'm a very happy camper, to say the least. The comments and suggestions she provided were a HUGE help and what's even better is she answered some questions I've been struggling with. I just wish I'd have been picked a week earlier, before I entered Karin Table's First Line Contest, then I could have made changes to my entry before I submitted. Oh well, it's done and I made it to the second round in that contest, so my entry can't be all that bad. :) If you'd like to see Leah's critique of my 1,000 word entry (actually, it's more like around 750 words), click here. And if you'd like to add any suggestions of your own, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment. :) Now, I'm off to read Leah's writers guide CREATING ROMANTIC CHARACTERS and WRITING THE ROMANCE NOVEL (maybe I should have done that before entering her contest) and apply her suggestions to my WIP. Happy Writing!