PACIFIC NORTHWEST WRITERS ASSOCIATION
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FEBRUARY 2013 E-NOTES:
E-Notes is your monthly electronic newsletter full of the latest news about the literary world. Our newsletter is a PNWA Member Benefit.
Please send us an email if you would like to place an announcement in next month's E-Notes: enotes@pnwa.org
(However, please note that this email address is not regularly monitored. For any questions or comments, please email pnwa@pnwa.org)
(Announcements must be received by the 19th of
the previous month to be included).
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PNWA NEWS: February Member Workshop and Meeting Thursday, February 14, 2013 @ 7:00pm
Chinook Middle School (@ Ringdall Junior High)
11650 SE 60th St Bellevue, WA 98006
Speaker: Nathan Everett Topic: Catching and Keeping an Agent's Attention
Author and publisher Nathan Everett will discuss how to enter your fiction or nonfiction entry in the PNWA Literary Contest. Finalists in each category are read and judged by an agent or editor to determine the top two in each category. Nathan will share tips on how to polish your entry so that you grab an agent/editor's attention.
Nathan Everett lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest beneath a gray and dour sky. Fortunately, he doesn't usually let that color his mood. Nathan has been a writer and publisher for over 30 years. (We're not saying how much over!) He writes fantasy, mystery, thriller, and literary fiction for both youths and adults. Nathan shares the life of a starving artist with his wife, daughter, and two rescued greyhounds. He is active in local theater, book arts, writer's association, and service.
He only writes when it rains. This meeting will be open to PNWA members only. --- BONUS Writer's Event and Reception with Bestselling Author Thursday, February 21, 7:00 - 9:00pm @ Writers' Cottage (open to the public)
Join us for a night of fun, music and insight into an author who is a modern master of urban fantasy.
Charles de Lint has won numerous awards and honors including the World Fantasy Award, the Canadian SF/Fantasy Aurora Award, and the White Pine Award. With 36 novels and 35 books of short fiction to date, Charles de Lint writes for adults, teens and children. His most recent adult novel, The Mystery of Grace, is a fantastical ghost story and a heart-wrenching tale of love, passion and faith.
Newer work includes Under My Skin, book one of his new series, The Wildlings, from Penguin Canada, and The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, a novel for middle-grade readers.De Lint is the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He has also served as a judge for several prominent awards, including the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award and the Bram Stoker Award.
--- Winter Workshop this Saturday! We have just a couple spots left in Jason Black's class on February 9, so sign up soon! Space is limited. Chapter Polishing Speaker: Jason Black Saturday, February 9, 10:00am - 2:00pm Your story may be solid, but does each chapter do its part? Does each one serve its role in a way that pulls readers in, keeps them turning pages all the way through, and makes them eager to dive into the next? Or are your readers telling you that the structure is there, the story is good, but it isn't quite pulling them in? Just like gemstones, chapters need polishing if they're to grab anybody's attention. In this workshop, we'll look at several strategies for making your chapters -- and your story -- shine.
The class will take place at the PNWA Writers' Cottage in Gilman Village. Click here for the workshop registration form. --- 2013 Summer Conference July 25 - 28, 2013 Seattle Airport Hilton Online registration for PNWA's 2013 Conference is now open! Visit pnwa.org/conference for details. And don't miss out on our exclusive early registrant specials: - Pre-book your agent and editor Power Pitch appointment.
- Special extra class for early registrants attend the FIRST PAGE conference session taught by: agents Paul Fedorko, Sally Harding, Pooja Menon, Gordon Warnock, and editor Michelle Richter. Session panel will choose random submissions to read out loud and review. Learn what grabs their attention and what lands you in the rejection pile.
- Early registrant conference fee of $425.00 (PNWA member price).
These benefits are available only for those who register by April 1, 2013, so sign up soon! --- February Drawing The winner of this month's drawing for a free entry into PNWA's Literary Contest is Dalien Cable. Congratulations, Dalien! And thank you to all who entered this month. Keep checking our website for future drawings. And don't forget, there is still time to enter the Literary Contest! Our deadline is February 22 (entries received). Click here for the entry form and guidelines.
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MEMBER NEWS:
PNWA member Rex T. Olsen announces that three of his poems have been published in the Northern Colorado Writers 2012 anthology, Pooled Ink, which includes poetry, short fiction and nonfiction essays.
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PNWA member Nancy Miller has been invited to present her book, Griefland: An Intimate Portrait of Love, Loss and Unlikely Friendship, at the Search for Meaning Conference in Seattle on Saturday, March 9th at Seattle University.
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PNWA member Judith Kirscht announces the publication of her second novel, The Inheritors, by New Libri Press.
Raised in Chicago's Latino working class community during the Sixties, Alicia Barron uncovers her mother's Caucasian roots when she inherits a time-worn mansion, the remnant of the estate of a Chicago industrialist who, she discovers, is her grandfather. Her search of the house takes her into the lives of past generations of women whose love carried them across forbidden boundaries, and into the conflict of class, nationality, and race that is the history of the city itself. The identity she finds there, however, leads to increasing conflict with her first great love, Ricardo Moreno, who wants Alicia to reject her gringo roots.
For more details, visit Judith at www.judithkirscht.com
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PNWA member Anne Sweazy Kulju's flash-fiction piece, "The Dog Sniffer-er," (Honorable Mention winner of The Source Fall Fiction Contest, 2012) was chosen as U.K.'s Flurries of Words' feature story, in their new Flash Fiction at Five show. Visit Anne at www.historical-horse-feathers.com
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PNWA member Lois Brandt has signed a contract for her picture book manuscript, Maddi's Refrigerator, which received second place from the 2012 PNWA Literary Contest children's picture book judges. Visit Lois at http://loisbrandt.com/
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Conference Success Stories:
Congratulations to the following PNWA members, who signed publishing and/or agent contracts as a result of attending last year's PNWA conference!
PNWA member Tracy Weber has signed with Margaret Bail of the Andrea Hurst Literary Agency after a successful Power Pitch session with Andrea Hurst at the 2012 PNWA conference. Read more at www.wholelifeyoga.com/blog
PNWA member Stephanie Cole signed a contract with Champagne Books for her novel Compass North, which she began writing in a writing class taught by PNWA President Pam Binder, which she then pitched at PNWA's summer 2012 conference. The book tells the story of a woman who is presumed dead in an accident in Alaska and assumes a new identity.
Sign up for PNWA's 2013 conference today!
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CONTESTS/SUBMISSIONS:
PNWA's 2013 Literary Contest (deadline: Feb. 22, 2013)
The PNWA Literary Contest presents an opportunity for writers to showcase their unpublished work.
Contest categories:
1. Mainstream
2. Historical
3. Romance/Erotica
4. Mystery/Thriller
5. Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Paranormal
6. Young Adult (ages 12-18)
7. Middle Grade (ages 8-12)
8. Nonfiction/Memoir
9. Poetry
10. Short Story
11. Children's Picture/Chapter Book
12. Adult Short Topics (Article/Essay/Short Memoir)
Awards and Benefits:
- The eight finalists in each category will be notified June 2013 prior to the PNWA Summer Conference (July 25 - 28, 2013).
- Award winners will be announced at the conference.
- Every entry accepted in the contest will receive two critiques - a useful tool for any writer.
- Finalists who attend the PNWA Summer Conference will receive a Finalist ribbon for their name badge, giving them high visibility to the agents and editors at the conference. Finalists' manuscripts will be made available to agents and editors during the conference.
- In addition, finalists' entries are read and judged by an agent or editor to determine the top two in each category.
- Winners are given the opportunity to attend the Agents and Editors Reception at the PNWA Summer Conference.
For more details, visit our website. Click here for a copy of the entry form.
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Chanticleer Book Reviews Writing Competitions 2013
More than $20,000 in cash and prizes! Enter at chantireviews.com/contests
Each contest division accepts published novels and manuscripts. All of them have at least six categories within the contest genre.
Bonus: CBR is offering PNWA members a 25% discount on entry fees! The discount code is: PNWAMDC
Cozy Mystery Novels - Mystery & Mayhem (the M&Ms) Awards, Deadline: April 30th, 2013
Romance Genre - The Chatelaine Awards, Deadline: May 31st, 2013
Historical Fiction - The Chaucer Awards, Deadline: June 30th, 2013
Western, Pioneer, & Civil War, Pre-1900s - The Laramie Awards, Deadline: June 30th, 2013
Young Adult Novels - The Dante Rossetti Awards, Deadline: July 31st, 2013
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Novel Contest - The Clue Awards, Deadline: July 31st, 2013
All first place award category winners will be eligible for the CBR Grand Prize Blue Ribbon Awards 2013 writing competition. The 2013 Grand Prize Blue Ribbon Winner will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize. Five prizes of $250 will be awarded to runners-up (1st Place Awards for Category/Genre)
For more information on prizes, please visit our website.
PNWA Members who received awards for 2012:
Janet Oakley was our 2012 Grand Prize winner
Mark Reutlinger, Finalist 2012
Louise L. Wallace, Finalist 2012
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