2011 Rainbow Awards Still Open for Entries

Posted on July 6, 2011 by SloanParker

For all my author friends out there, this year’s Rainbow Awards are still accepting entries for LGBT fiction and non-fiction.

Awards Guidelines re-posted with permission:

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Books submitted for consideration will be accepted between March 15 and September 15. Winners will be announced in December.
A book can be submitted only by its author or by its publisher. Submit a book in the category most appropriate: please indicate Gender (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Transgender) and Genre (Coming of Age / Young Adult, Contemporary General Fiction, Contemporary Erotica, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery / Thriller, Paranormal / Horror, Sci-Fic / Futuristic, Non Fiction).
The commision can include some books at their own expenses, if they are eligible, especially in those categories with not enough submissions.
Books are submitted in electronic version (PDFs); exceptions will be considered (please contact me). Submitting the ebook, authors/publishers agree for its distribution with the only purpose of being read by the commission (from 3 to 5 judges). It’s recommended but not mandatory, that the PDF file has some kind of protection, like a specific disclaimer or similar.
No submission fees required.
Books (PDF format) have to be sent to the following address: elisa(dot)rolle(at)libero(dot)it

CATEGORIES

A book can be submitted in only one category.
If a category receives fewer than five (5) submissions, the category will not be active in this awards cycle. The submitted books will be reassigned to another category if appropriate.
Gender Category: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Transgender
Genre Category: Coming of Age / Young Adult, Contemporary General Fiction, Contemporary Erotica, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery / Thriller, Paranormal / Horror, Sci-Fic / Futuristic, Non Fiction
Length Category: Novel of more than 41,000 Words. Novellas and Short Stories will be considered only on the following conditions: Novellas (between 18,000 and 41,000 Words) only in Collection of 2 or more collected together; Short Stories (<18,000 Words) only in Collection of 4 or more collected together. A single submission has to be of more than 41.000 Words. Exception will be considered if a single category will have not enough submissions.

Thank you to Elisa and all the volunteers for continuing this award to celebrate LGBT fiction and non-fiction. Good luck to all who enter!

MORE is a finalist in More Than Magic RWA contest

Posted on June 22, 2011 by SloanParker

I’m thrilled to share that MORE was selected as a finalist in the First Book category of the More Than Magic RWA (Romance Writers of America) contest.

As I posted before, MORE and BREATHE were finalists in the Passionate Plume Contest and BREATHE won third place in the New England Reader’s Choice awards. (Final results for the More Than Magic and the Passionate Plume contests will be announced in July.)

I cannot tell you how blown away and thrilled I am with those results in this year’s RWA contests for my highly erotic m/m/m and angst-filled high-drama m/m love stories. Well done Luke, Richard, Matthew, Lincoln, and Jay!

A special thank-you to the New England, Passionate Ink, and Romance Writers Ink chapters, their contest coordinators for putting together the awards, and the judges. I was very impressed by the organization and professional communication from all. Also a huge kudos to these chapters for hosting contests that recognize digital-only books in electronic formats.

Editor Friend & Prof Guy

Posted on June 20, 2011 by SloanParker

Check out the new book I just got: The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby

No, I’m not having a baby. I just get wickedly excited when I find a writing resource that’s a gem (at least for me).

Lately when it comes time to give my secondary characters their names, I’ve been drawing a blank, selecting the same ones over and over or not finding something that fits the character. For my current works in progress I had two secondary characters whom I affectionately called “Editor Friend” and “Prof Guy” for far too long. For a while I was afraid I’d get so dang used to “Editor Friend” and “Prof Guy” that I’d send it off to my editor like that. It was nice to finally pull out my baby name resources and search for actual names for these guys.

Lists that are organized or searchable in specific ways (by first letter, sounds like, meaning, popularity per year, etc.) are the most helpful. So far The Baby Name Wizard is the best naming book I’ve used, along with these websites:

And for last names I almost always end up using a printed phone book.

For any writers who are interested, these links have also been added to my website on the Resources for Writers page.

I’m off to work on revisions for my next installment of More Than Just a Good Book. Hope you all have a great week!

“Arrr! Lick Me Nipples”

Posted on June 10, 2011 by SloanParker

Hi all. Hope everyone had a great week.

I’ll explain the title of this blog post in a moment, but first a brief writing update:

As I mentioned on Wednesday I finished a new short story and sent it off to my critique partner. Now that it’s done (or close to it) I realize I feel like I’ve spent months with those two guys, writing a novel, not a short story. Hopefully that means something good. I don’t know.

Since then I’ve been focused on TAKE ME HOME. Now that I have all the revisions in place I’m working on another read-through to polish the dialogue and descriptions. Today I read the first 5 chapters, and I think they are ready to go. I still need to do my final checklist of common mistakes and get my critique partner’s input, but other than that, I finally feel like this book is close to submission-ready.

Now on to review the next 20+ chapters again.

Before I get back to it, I wanted to share a link. This week I blogged at Loose Ends, the Loose Id author blog, where I talked about the importance of having someone else proofread a story. The blog is titled: “Arrr! Lick Me Nipples” Or the Importance of Another Set of Eyes. I’m curious how much errors bother readers. I’d love to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment here or at Loose Ends.

Hope you all have a great weekend. My little baby nephew is getting married tomorrow. I guess that means he’s not a baby anymore. When did that happen?

For the Love of: Reader Emails

Posted on June 6, 2011 by SloanParker

I only have a minute to post today, and I know I’ve posted on this topic before, but I wanted to give a shout of thanks out to everyone who has taken the time to write and let a romance author know when you’ve enjoyed one of their stories. Please know, authors really do appreciate the effort.

I’ve received some amazing emails lately, and no matter how often it happens, there is nothing sweeter and more rewarding than knowing when one of my stories was an enjoyable experience for someone. And even better is knowing that story touched the reader in a meaningful way. Your words of appreciation and encouragement mean more than I can say.

Thank you!
Sloan