When You Simply MUST Finish

I just returned from the Romance Writers of Australia National Conference. (It was held at a hotel within walking distance of my home, so I use the word “returned” loosely!) What a great weekend! If there is one thing that will get your creativity flowing and your motivation recharged, it’s hanging out with lots of like-minded people!

I was trying to decide the best way to share all the wonderful information and inspiration from the conference and I decided I’d let other people tell you about it, too. I think you might find some of their blogs have not only fun and interesting posts, but truly helpful thoughts on helping you finish your own manuscript.

Caitlyn Nicholas has several posts about topics covered on Published Author Day (A-Day as she puts it). Anne Whitfield also talks about it on her blog. Paula Roe shares some of what she learned at the conference, including great stuff from Deb Dixon, author of Goal, Motivation, Conflict, and our all-day Friday speaker.

One fun fact: there were about 250 attendees – 249 women and 1 man! Daniel got his own write-up in the Sydney Morning Herald: “Daniel Puts the Man in Romance”.

My personal highlight was pitching my superhero book to an editor and getting a request for a full manuscript! Hurray! Now to re-read it, polish it and get it out!

I want to get my routine machine kicked into a higher gear because I also want to take advantage of Harlequin/Mills & Boon’s New Voices contest. It begins September 6, and the first round(s) are judged by readers – the end-users of our industry. The winner will be published by Mills & Boon, have a M&B editor for a year, and receive an iPad! Have you ever thought that if only you could get your work in the hands of readers, you’d be able to prove you had what it takes? Well, if you write category romance, this is your chance! (Let us know if you enter so our readers can check out your entry!)

If contests get you excited to finish your work and submit it, the Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Short Story Competition is now open. Send in your romance, mystery/crime, science fiction/fantasy, thriller/suspense, or horror by November 1. There is also the A Piece of the Sky first line contest – and it’s free to enter!

Not interested in contests? Just trying to get your work out? Here is a blog on the Writer’s Digest site about how to get agents to request your material.

Or maybe you’re tired of the agent hunt and want to find ways to get your work straight to an editor. Penguin UK is opening up their submissions policy to unagented, unsolicited manuscripts from now until the end of October. Hurry to the web site and check out the details!

Too tired/busy/<insert your reason here> to write today? Then check out this blog on 23 (More) Websites That Make Your Writing Stronger and keep feeding your brain writing-related information. Or go to Booklist Online and sign up for a free webinar on writing, or watch one of the past webinars at their site. They’ve got great topics like romance fiction, crime fiction, comics in schools, non-fiction, teen literature, inspirational fiction and much more.

That’s all the information I remembered as I was trolling through emails from various writing loops this past week. I have to go now – I have a manuscript to polish and submit!