The 20th Annual Writers Conference hosted by American Night Writers Association, Inc. (ANWA) had a number of wonderful innovations, but one of them impacted the lives of the writers listed below in a different way. They were all winners in the First Annual BOB Contest.
What does BOB stand for? That's Beginning of Book, or the first 500 words of a book-length work in the seven categories below. Entries were each evaluated for quality against a list of fiction
techniques by three judges, and the results were derived according to points received. Each contestant received scoring sheets from the judges. The entry with the highest point total received the Grand Prize, a Kindle e-reader.
Over sixty entries were turned in for the contest, and the results were announced at the Luncheon on Saturday, February 25th. Congratulations!
ROMANCE
1st Prize: (TIE)
Tina Scott, FAREWELL, MY DENMARK
Tiffany Brown, APRIL JUNE MARCH
2nd Prize: Debra Erfert, BUCKET LIST OF HOPE
3rd Prize: Debra Erfert, CHANGES
WOMENS/GENERAL FICTION
1st Prize: Theresa Sneed, ESCAPE
2nd Prize: Chava Cannon, THE BEGINNING
3rd Prize: Tanya Parker Mills, LAPS
CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK
1st Prize: Jan Martin, MISS MOUSIE AND MRS. McGREGGOR'S CLOSET
2nd Prize: Britney Gulbrandsen, I’M AWESOME
3rd Prize: Kathy Atwood, MAYBE IT’S A ZEBRA
HISTORICAL FICTION
1st Prize: Susan Aylworth, ALL THAT GLITTERS
2nd Prize: Della May Olson, TANGLE CREEK
3rd Prize: (3-WAY TIE)
Diane Post, BLOOD AND HONOR: A MOTHER'S HERITAGE, A DAUGHTER'S REVENGE
Peggy Shumway, WHEN STRANGERS CALL
David Haynes, THE LEGEND OF GEORGE STAPLES, BOY AMONG THE SIOUX
NONFICTION/MEMOIR
1st Prize: Ramona Zabriskie, WIFE FOR LIFE: THE POWER TO SUCCEED IN MARRIAGE
2nd Prize: Heather Hunter, STEALING ASHES (MEMOIR)
3rd Prize: (TIE)
Stacy Whittemore, IT DIDN'T COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS
Christi Hibbert, THIS IS HOW WE GROW: Insights on losing, living, and loving from the psychologist, the mom, and me
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
1st Prize: Megan Oliphant, FAIRY GODFATHER
2nd Prize: Tanya Parker Mills, THE SCHOOL OF GUARDIANS (Mid)
3rd Prize: DeAnn Huff, MASTER OF EMOTION
SPECULATIVE FICTION (SCI FI/FANTASY, ETC.)
1st Prize: Peggy Urry, PROVIDENCE
2nd Prize: Jennifer Griffith, PANDORA
3rd Prize: Kristy Carlton, MEMORY CATCHER
GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Bonnie Harris, ENCODED SECRETS (YA)
Mar 4, 2012
Mar 3, 2012
My Day to Blog Ends in 10 Minutes
by Cindy R. Williams
It just dawned, or dusked on me for that matter, that today is my day to blog and it is way past my bedtime. In fact I have ten minutes until this blog site belongs to my friend, Marsha. I had planned all week to tell you all wonderful things about the ANWA Conference, but my mind is now mush. I do have a few things rattling around that I will share.
I learned that the ANWA conference is one of the best things about being a writer.
I learned that I meet wonderful writers that inspire me at the ANWA conference.
I learned that it is a magnificent blessing to serve on the ANWA conference committee.
I learned that it takes a bunch of go-getter, mover and shaker, fearless women to make the ANWA conference happen.
I learned to experience a new level of mental and physical exhaustion after this ANWA conference.
I learned that "exponential" is not just in math, but is also how the Lord blesses us with mighty miracles at the ANWA conference.
I learned an incredible amount of writing tips to improve my writing at the ANWA conference.
I met and hob-nobbed with some of the most incredible agents, editors and authors in the business at the ANWA conference.
I learned that the time, money and effort to be at the ANWA conference will come back to me ten fold.
I learned that the ANWA conference is not to be taken lightly . . . it can and will change lives.
If you had the great fortune of attending any of the past ANWA conferences, what did you learn?
It just dawned, or dusked on me for that matter, that today is my day to blog and it is way past my bedtime. In fact I have ten minutes until this blog site belongs to my friend, Marsha. I had planned all week to tell you all wonderful things about the ANWA Conference, but my mind is now mush. I do have a few things rattling around that I will share.
I learned that the ANWA conference is one of the best things about being a writer.
I learned that I meet wonderful writers that inspire me at the ANWA conference.
I learned that it is a magnificent blessing to serve on the ANWA conference committee.
I learned that it takes a bunch of go-getter, mover and shaker, fearless women to make the ANWA conference happen.
I learned to experience a new level of mental and physical exhaustion after this ANWA conference.
I learned that "exponential" is not just in math, but is also how the Lord blesses us with mighty miracles at the ANWA conference.
I learned an incredible amount of writing tips to improve my writing at the ANWA conference.
I met and hob-nobbed with some of the most incredible agents, editors and authors in the business at the ANWA conference.
I learned that the time, money and effort to be at the ANWA conference will come back to me ten fold.
I learned that the ANWA conference is not to be taken lightly . . . it can and will change lives.
If you had the great fortune of attending any of the past ANWA conferences, what did you learn?
Mar 2, 2012
“The walls have fallen”—figuratively speaking!
By Debra Erfert
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s okay. It
just means you’re not a Star Trek fanatic, specifically—the Next Generation
series. In this one particular episode Captain Jean-Luc Picard finds himself
stranded on a planet with the ambassador of another world who Picard can
understand through their nifty universal translator, at least he understands
the English words he hears, but the ambassador seems to speak in nonsense. Of
course they don’t trust each other, but there is a common threat nearby. An
invisible monster attacks without warning, injuring the ambassador. Picard must
protect both himself and the injured man through the night, and in doing so
they establish a bond. Over time, Picard begins to realize the ambassador’s
world communicates in metaphors. He recount tales of great wars, of hero’s
triumphantly winning, of sad, life-changing events. After listening to the man spin
tales, “the walls have fallen,” for Picard, or in other words, he now
“understands.”
What does this have to do with writing? I’m glad you asked. I
so love questions!
I went to the ANWA Conference on February 23, 24, and 25th,
and for the first time ever my husband actually went with me—to a writer’s
conference. Yes! He did! And although I couldn’t talk him into taking any
classes, he did want to attend the luncheon on Saturday because he knew I had
three BOB submissions. Two of them were in the same Romance category and one
was a general fiction. And after my name was called—twice, in the same category,
I really wished he could’ve attended, even if only to see me get my picture taken with my awards. At least I
have the 2nd and 3rd place certificates to show him.
But more than that, I had all you wonderful ladies to show
him that I am not a fluke of nature. That women like me do write, and although
there may not be a dozen Stephanie Meyers walking among us, that doesn’t
matter. We all have our dreams, and writing is a huge part of who we are.
After our three-day stay at the beautiful Hilton, my dear,
sweet husband’s attitude seems changed. It has gone from, what? Disbelief? His
unwillingness to accept the part of me he can’t necessarily see, to becoming
involved in it in ways I’d only hoped. Peggy Shumway’s class on writing an
ancestral biography had me so pumped up that both my husband’s and my computers
are bookmarks to two different sites were I can get information on my GGGG
Grandfather Edson Whipple, including The
Mormon Overland Travel database. Click here
and you too can find out if your pioneer ancestor has been noted in one of the
companies’ journals. My husband even is considering co-authoring Grandpa Edson’s
memoirs with me. I’d say that is complete understanding, or “the walls have
fallen.”
Mar 1, 2012
Snapshots in Writing
By Susan G. Haws
A written scene is like a photo or painting, a moment captured. A novel is like a scrapbook or movie, selected moments, arranged and combined to tell a story.
Just as the photographer or painter chooses a subject and composition, lighting and colors, a writer chooses characters, dialogue, actions, point of view, conflict and setting to compose a story. Each scene must reveal key information and move the plot forward.
I have read some books where the author painted a setting, and unique characters in just a few sentences and paragraphs; then kept me caring about the characters as if they lived days and years after I have closed the book. I marvel at this skill and think: this is how I want to write.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I recently I started a book with a promising scenario on the back cover, but the characters have no color and the dialogue and internal dialogue continually rehash--boring. One thing I want to keep in mind is: while in real life we may get into a rut and say the same things repeatedly, a novel is a series of snapshots and the reader got the message about the verbal rut in the first scene and doesn't want to read it repeatedly.
Another thing I need to remember is that while I need to know the back story of the characters and the history of the setting the reader doesn't need to know everything and what they do need to know can be revealed gradually. Like habanero peppers, just a sprinkle can spice things up.
Sometimes when I snap a picture I have jiggled the camera and I need to delete the pic. Other pics, the person or pet looks fine but the background is cluttered or the size of the picture is too small. I can fix these things by cropping or manipulating the picture in the computer. Editing pages allows a writer to tighten a story.
I hope that by thinking of my writing as pictures in a scrapbook or sketches that when flipped through make an animation I will remember to select only details significant to the story I want to tell.
Just as the photographer or painter chooses a subject and composition, lighting and colors, a writer chooses characters, dialogue, actions, point of view, conflict and setting to compose a story. Each scene must reveal key information and move the plot forward.
I have read some books where the author painted a setting, and unique characters in just a few sentences and paragraphs; then kept me caring about the characters as if they lived days and years after I have closed the book. I marvel at this skill and think: this is how I want to write.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I recently I started a book with a promising scenario on the back cover, but the characters have no color and the dialogue and internal dialogue continually rehash--boring. One thing I want to keep in mind is: while in real life we may get into a rut and say the same things repeatedly, a novel is a series of snapshots and the reader got the message about the verbal rut in the first scene and doesn't want to read it repeatedly.
Another thing I need to remember is that while I need to know the back story of the characters and the history of the setting the reader doesn't need to know everything and what they do need to know can be revealed gradually. Like habanero peppers, just a sprinkle can spice things up.
Sometimes when I snap a picture I have jiggled the camera and I need to delete the pic. Other pics, the person or pet looks fine but the background is cluttered or the size of the picture is too small. I can fix these things by cropping or manipulating the picture in the computer. Editing pages allows a writer to tighten a story.
I hope that by thinking of my writing as pictures in a scrapbook or sketches that when flipped through make an animation I will remember to select only details significant to the story I want to tell.
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