I got the contest results back this morning from the RSJ Aspiring Authors contest, and…
I didn’t place, but I scored much better than thought I would. In fact, the feedback was very encouraging. I’ve recently been battling writer’s block with this story, and the judges’ feedback, along with my CP’s, have helped spark the muse.
So I’m off to increase the word count.
I had the pleasure of interviewing two very lovely ladies, up & coming Christian author, Sherri Lewis and Genesis Press author, LaConnie Taylor-Jones, for this month’s Rising Star feature over at Romance In Color. Both ladies share their journey to author-hood, how personal tragedy and challenges affected their writing, as well as, some great advice for authors.
Also, we are hosting a great book giveaway this month, featuring goodies from our April Rising Star authors. One lucky reader will receive:
An autographed set of Sherri Lewis’ published works, to include:
An autographed set of LaConnie Taylor-Jones’ published works, to include:
Plus, to top it all off, LaConnie is throwing in a $50 Amazon gift card, so you can pick up a few additional titles 
.
So head on over to www.RomanceInColor.com to read the interviews and to get the contest details.
And while you’re visiting, check out the new reviews & vote for your favorite authors and books from 2008 in our Reader Favorite Awards.
I just started a new workshop titled Empowering Character’s Emotion that Margie Lawson is teaching this month. I raved about two of Margie’s workshops when I got back from the Moonlight & Magnolias conference last October. I was soooo impressed , and taken aback with, the information she presented, that I immediately began to apply some of my new found knowledge to my wip that night.
I also realized that I could use a bit more “face time” with Margie, so I registered for her Empowering Character Emotions workshop this month. Just let me tell you, we’ve only had 3 lesson so far, and the sheer amout of info I’ve learned is astonishing, and a bit overwhelming. But I know that when I start the polishing phase (the last step in getting my manuscript ready for pitching to editors), that I will be ready. With the things I’ve learned, I’ll be able to put my best foot foward by making sure my manuscript conveys the essence and soul I want it to.
So, for any writers out there, published or unpublished, I highly recommend you check out Margie’s website and sign up for one of her online workshops, or get one of her lecture packets. It will be an investment in your writing that you will be able to see immediate returns on, in the way of stronger, fresher writing.
I’ll be back soon to post an example from my work.
’till then,
~La-Tessa
Ok, I found out this morning that I was not one of the 8 weekly winners of the Chase The Dream Contest. This was the first contest I entered this year & it consisted of the first 1,000 words of my manuscript. This contest is unique in that winners are chosen weekly, so if you don’t win one week, you can re-enter the next. There was stift competition and my opening for Love Worth Fighting For (the working title of my manuscript) was not among those chosen.
Not to worry, I’m still hard at working on this story. I have faith in it
~La-Tessa
Happy New Year’s to everyone. I wish you all a successful, safe, and prosperous year.
I love January 1st, it’s one of my favorite days of each year. The new year is always a time for reflection and goal setting for me. When I look back on 2008, I see that I spent a good deal of time actively pursuing my goal of becoming a published author. And for me, that entailed a lot of time spent reading, contemplating and learning about the actual craft of writing– with not so much actual writing getting done 
. But I wouldn’t call that a waste of time. On the contrary, I now have a pretty solid base of knowledge and a good feel for both what I want to do, and what I need to do.
Now, on to my goals. My primary focus for 2009 will be on actual production. Getting published is still my dream, but it is more of a long term goal at this point. My immediate goal is to finish a completed manuscript or two. So with all this in mind, I set my 2009 writing goals with actual production in mind.
By working towards 100% acheivement of these goals, I hope to learn more about myself as a writer, and as a person. I will tag all future entries concerning my writing goals [the achievements and lack there ofs ] with the Goal tag so you can easily get pull them up from the tag cloud.
~La-Tessa
“Someday I’ll fly, someday I’ll soar”
It’s Dec 1, 2008, and I am checking in with my final NaNoWriMo word count. So for the month of Novemeber, I wrote a grand total of….. (you ready for this?)… 3,980 words!!!
No, it’s not the 50,000 needed to actually “win” NaNoWriMo, but it is almost 4,000 words that I wouldn’t have ordinarily had if I had not participated. So I am actually proud of my modest accomplishment; with all the things I had going on in November, it’s a wonder I got more than 100 words written.
So, what did I learn by participating in NaNo this year? I learned the importance of setting a daily writing schedule and being disciplined enough to stick to it. Another thing, and probably the most important, I learned is to just write. This is something I have to train myself on, and literally would not have done it if not for NaNo.
Published authors have been drilling this mantra into my head the entire year; be it at conferences, reader events, or in my local RWA chapter meetings. When you’re trying to crank out 50,000+ words in a month, you have NO CHOICE but to tell your inner editor to take a hike. Not only does this help you get your word count, but for me, it helped to spark my creativity. I was able to pull some things together that really helped me with my overall story. And if I could do this with just 3,980 words, imagine what I could do with 15,000, 30,000, or even 60,000+ words.
So NaNo was not a total lost for me this year. It was a fun exercise that taught me quite a bit about being a writer and all the intangibles needed to be a successful one.
~La-Tessa
Someday I’ll fly…
Ok, half of November has officially gone by, which means I have about 2 weeks and 3 days left to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge this year. I am somewhat embarrassment to post about my progress thus far, but here goes. As of today, this minute, I have a grand total of…. 2,933 words. Now, I admit this is a FAR cry from the 50,000 words I need to complete the challenge, but I still got 2 weeks and change to go, so don’t count me out just yet .
Ok, enough procrastination, back to the writing desk.
~La-Tessa
“Someday I’ll fly, someday I’ll soar”
Ok, since I decided to get serious about my writing this year, I have signed up NaNoWriMo next month. In case you didn’t know, November is National Novel Writing month, and NaNoWriMo serves as a fun, supportive way to help writers get their butts in gear and complete a 50,000 word novel (in one month–yikes).
A dauting task, I know, but with emphasis being on quanity, not quality, , I figured why not! I have been working on the structure & outline for my story, and I should be done by the end of October. So I am accepting the NaNoWriMo challenge as a way to jump start my first draft.
So know you all have a goal to hold me accoutable for. And for any of your nursing the desire to put pen to paper, sign up and add me as one of your writing buddies so we can keep tabs on one another.
Lata,
~La-Tessa
Someday I’ll fly, someday I’ll soar
Friday night during downtime, I went to the historic section of Norcross, GA. My travel companions and I enjoyed it so much, that we went back the next day during the Arts Festival. Anyone who loves one of a kind art would absolutely LOVE this festival. The short time I was there made enough of an impression on me, that I am making tentative plans to visit again next year. Hopefully, it will be held during the same time as the Moonlight & Magnolias conference, and I can do both again.
We enjoyed the food and atmosphere so much at the Norcross Station Cafe, that we had dinner there both Friday and Saturday night. Let me tell you, the food was excellent and portions were huge. I have never tasted carrot cake as good as what I had there. And believe me, the resident dessert expert, that cake is worth another trip there all on it’s own.
Norcross Station Cafe
I loved the art work on the door, the cafe sits directly behind a working railroad.
Here are some pics I took at the festival:
Wine Caddy
I love this wine caddy
Metal Butterflies
I LOVED these ornamental metal butterfies as well. The pic doesn’t do them justices, but they were the brillantly colored. They were also huge-LOL. It’s a good thing there was not enough room in my luggage for one
Artwork
I loved the colors in this set. That blue was soo bright, it actually looked like it was moving.
The Clock
I took me forever to get a decent picture of this clock, it reminded me of the clock tower in Back To The Future from some strange reason. Check out the harpist and the recorder player
Unfortunately, because of the booths, I could not get any clear pictures of the store fronts. Also we were short on time, so I did not get any pictures of the beautiful, vintage homes in the area.
Oh well, there’s always next time.
Lata,
~La-Tessa
I attended my first writer’s conference, Moonlight & Magnolias, this past weekend. For those not familiar with this event, it’s sponsored annually by the Georgia Romance Writerschapter in Atlanta. The conference consisted of several excellent workshops, editor and agent appointments, and a host of networking opportunities. The jewel of the event was the Margie Award presentation and dance.
As a newbie in the writing game, I was blown away by the amount of information I received that actually impacted my writing. For me, the highlight of the conference was Margie Lawson’s workshop on Empowering Characters’ Emotion. This one workshop is so powerful, that it made an immediate impact. If you get a chance, visit Margie’s website and checkout her conference/online workshop schedules and her lecture packets. Any author serious about making their writing more powerful and taking it to the next level would definitely benefit from one, if not all, of her courses. Heck, maybe I’ll “see” you in one of them.
After the workshop I was able to get a picture with Margie. Ok, I am not looking the cutest here, but it was a long day and I my mind was full of all the great info I’d just recieved-LOL.
me w/ Author Margie Lawson
Another workshop that made an impact was Winnie Griggs’ presentation on backstory. This was a true “wow” moment for me. I left this workshop armed to handle all my backstory and exposition in much more favorable way, without bogging my story down and losing my message. And last but not least, Stephanie Bond presented an awesome workshop called Write Fast, Write Well. She passed along some wonderful time management and discipline tips.
On Saturday, I attended the book fair and autographing session. I must say, Borders had a very well stocked bookstore there. I was very impressed with the amount and variety of craft books they had on hand. During the bookfair, I was able to chat with some more authors and get a couple of pictures as well:
Author Carmen Green
If you’ve never read a book by Carmen Green, you a missing a treat. The next time you are in the bookstore, and you want a good read, pick up one of her novels. Of course, I was in networking mode while I was there, and hopefully I will get the opportunity to interview Ms. Green for RomanceInColor.com. If I do, I will let you know-lol.
Author Jenna Petersen
Ok, I hate to admit this, but I have been admiring the cover to one of Jenna’s books for the better part of 4 months or so. Whenever I go into Borders, which is quite often mind you, I somehow come across Lessons From A Courtesan every time(<–cover shown in photo). And every time I take it off the shelf, look at it intently, read the back, then place it back on the shelf. For some reason, I didn’t purchase it, even though it constantly caught my attention. Now I know why. Somehow the psychic in me knew I would be meeting her this year and that I would get the chance to get the book in person and get it autographed-LOL.
Author Teresa Mederios
I was honored to meet Teresa Mederios, the featured Keynote speaker, during the book fair. She was so nice and down to earth, it was a pleasure getting a few minutes to chat with her. She delivered an awesome address during the luncheon, I actually paid attention through her entire speech; and anyone who knows me knows how my attention wonders a bit at times-LOL. So that, in itself, is a testament to how great her talk was. I look forward to reading her latest Some Like It Wicked.
All in all, I had a wonderful time at the conference and came away with a renewed vigor, passion, and drive for the craft. I look forward to returning next year.
