It's time for Spring Break on Unpubbed Island!!
We're breaking out our Beach Boys music and having a party to celebrate the end of winter.
You're invited to join us for a little Beach Blanket Bingo
and maybe some Gidget and Moondoggie.
Oh and by the way, Camy's heading up the volleyball teams to the north of the island, Sandra has a biking trip scheduled for noon and Ruthy is making virgin margaritas at the bar.
I'm using the island's natural resource, coconut to make a great Coca Casa Cake. 
And Be Sure to Check Seekerville News
and Our Exciting Schedule of Events.
and Our Exciting Schedule of Events.
Here's special update on the 2009 Touched by Love Contest.
Manuscripts are judged by 3 judges in the first round, one of which will be published or PRO. Those manuscripts that make the final round will be judged by 5 published authors. The overall winner will receive a critique by Ami McConnell, Senior Acquisitions Editor at Thomas Nelson Inspirational Romance Categories: Short Contemporary, Long Contemporary or Historical Romance.Eligibility: Participation is open to all unpublished authors and to any author not published in the past three years. Deadline: Midnight, April 1, 2009. Categories: Contemporary (under 75, 000 words), Contemporary (over 75,000 words) and Historical. All manuscripts are submitted electronically.
An entry consists of up to the first 30 pages of an unpublished manuscript and an unjudged synopsis (no more than two pages double-spaced). The total attached submission is to be no more than 32 double-spaced pages with up to 30 pages of the beginning of the manuscript and a synopsis of not more than two pages. (synopsis is not judged)
There will be three finalists in the three categories. There will be a winner in each category and an overall winner from the three categories.
Remember, TBL is the only RWA contest where inspirationals are broken up in three different categories. This year they are all electronic and you get your scoresheet back! There are cash prizes too!!
Remember, TBL is the only RWA contest where inspirationals are broken up in three different categories. This year they are all electronic and you get your scoresheet back! There are cash prizes too!!
Here's What's Happening in Seekerville This Week:
Monday: Multi-Golden Heart Finalist, Pam Hillman is your host.
Tuesday: Avon Inspire Editor, Cynthia DiTiberio is in Seekerville today!
Wednesday: Steeple Hill, Love Inspired author, Merrillee Whren will be sharing.
Thursday: Beacon Award Winner, Cara Slaughter posts today.
Friday: Golden Heart and RITA Tribute Day
Guess Who's Coming To Seekerville in April?
April 30, Agent Natasha Kern, of Natasha Kern Literary Agency will be in Seekerville. Natasha has 24 years of experience in the publishing industry. Before founding her own agency in 1986, she worked as an editor and publicist for New York publishers (Simon & Schuster, Bantam and Ballantine). Natasha has personally sold more than 850 books as an agent and worked on close to 1,000 books during her career in publishing.
Date TBA: Jeff Gerke, author, editor and now publisher of Marcher Lord Press is going to drop by in April as well. Jeff recognized Christian fiction’s reluctance to publish fantasy/science fiction and/or speculative fiction, and jumped into the chasm to fill a niche.
Date TBA: Jeane Wynn, President, Wynn-Wynn Media, LLC will be in Seekerville to answer your PR questions. Jeane and husband, Tyson, founded Wynn-Wynn Media in 2001. Jeane began in publishing in 1989. Clients include The WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, Thomas Nelson, DC Cook, and Hachette, serving authors such as Max Lucado, Karen Kingsbury, Robin Jones Gunn, Melody Carlson, Liz Curtis Higgs, Lisa Samson, Tina Ann Forkner and many others.
What better way to enjoy Spring Break than a RITA nod or a Golden Heart nom. If you are a friend of Seekerville, and you final, be sure to stop by and let us know when we celebrate on Friday, March 27.
Countdown is 5 days until announcements!
More News From Seekerville:
We have winners!!
The four winners from Cheryl Wyatt's Scene Index Example : Ready-made Family and Giveaway are,
Deb H
Patricia Grau
Sheri
Mareva
If you were in Seekerville on Wednesday you read Debby Guisti's post, Up the Ante To Build Suspense. The winner of Protecting Her Child, the second book in her Magnolia Medical series on sale May 12th is Barbara Early
Debby will be contacting you. Congratulations!
Ruthy has just launched her new webpage. Go say hi and be sure to bring food.
Mary Connealy has a loaded book tour coming up:
- Family Christian Stores-March 30-Battle Creek MI
- Family Christian Stores-March 31-Holland MI
- Baker Book House-March 31-Grand Rapids MI
- Family Christian Store-Apr 1-Grandville MI
- Apr 2nd-Holland MI-location TBA
- Family Christian Stores-Apr 3-Lansing MI
- Family Christian Stores-Apr 3-Kalamazoo MI
- Family Christian Stores-Apr 4-Walker MI
Be sure to take a look at the Christian Book Expo: Mary Connealy is there right now along with several friends of Seekerville.
Kudos and many thanks to Kathy Bacus over at Killer Fiction for the I Your Blog Award. Thanks, killers!!
Industry and Professional News:From the RWA March Board Meeting notes:
RWA accepted an amended contract from the New York Marriott Marquis to modify the dates of the 2011 RWA Annual Conference from July 27-31, 2011 to June 29-July 3, 2011 due to renovations scheduled during the original conference dates.
ACFW Conference 2009 Denver , September 17 to 20th, 2009. Highlights include Debbie Macomber and Donald Maass.
From GalleyCat:
The online publishing site Scribd.com announced a growing list of partnerships today, including arrangements with Random House, Simon & Schuster, Workman Publishing, Berrett-Koehler, Thomas Nelson, and Manning Publications. According to TechCrunch, the company has raised $12.8 million in funding. Read the article here.
What is Scribd?
"Scribd began with a simple observation – that there’s a writer in all of us. And that even more fundamental than our desire for self-expression is our need to learn and be inspired.
Today, Scribd is the place where you publish, discover and discuss original writings and documents. More than 50 million people each month are finding or sharing fun, functional or fantastical writings and documents on Scribd.com and tens of thousands of other websites that have embedded Scribd’s document reader."
An A - Z Guide to Publishing
"It's a natural impulse. You want to write a book.
How hard can it be? Rockheaded jocks write books. TV talk show hosts write books. Dogs write books. Why not you?"
The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction is pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for our fourth annual First Novel Prize. Established in 2005 as the Sargent Prize, the award was created by the Center as part of its mission to promote the art of fiction in the United States. The award continues to include a $10,000 prize. The shortlist for the award will be announced in September 2009 and the prize will be given at the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction’s Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner on November 9, 2009.
From Publisher's Lunch:
Jenny Bent has left Trident Media Group to form The Bent Agency.
Platinum-selling country recording artist Sara Evans' debut novel, the first in a series, written with author Rachel Hauck, an "emotional, Southern-flavored, multi-generational tale, featuring a compelling love story," to Thomas Nelson, in a four-book deal. Congratulations, Rachel!
From PW:
By Sally Lodge -- Publishers Weekly, 3/19/2009
Harlequin is set to broaden its presence in the young adult market. Harlequin Teen, a fiction line, debuts in August... The imprint will initially consist of trade paperbacks, hardcovers and digital publications, and it will encompass a spectrum of genres including fantasy, contemporary, historical, science fiction and—no surprise—romance. Read the story here.
Seekerville hopes you have a great Spring Break!
Tina, This is becoming my favorite post. I love all the concise info. Thanks and have a great weekend.
ReplyDeletebtw. Since it is spring break, the bike tour will include lots of stops.
We'll pass by the volleyball game and give a cheer.
Then we'll stop in my favorite cove I've named "pearls of ideas" and poke around the tidepools. Who knows we may come across a pearl of wisdom for our next wip.
Then we'll cruise along the sand, park our bikes and play in the surf to cool off. Maybe even catch a wave.
By then we'll be thirsty so we'll pass by Ruthy and have a virgin margarita.
Another awesome, info-packed weekend edition, Tina. Thank you! You rock!
ReplyDeleteTina,
ReplyDeleteGreat info.
Thanks for all the hard work you put into your blogsite.
Rose
Oh, yeah, I mentioned the Coca Cosa cake..here's the recipe.
ReplyDelete1 box cake mix (yellow,banana, white) I use yellow.
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can Coca Cosa (cream of coconut found by the drink mix stuff at the grocery store)
1 ctn Cool Whip (large size)
1-2 cups flaked coconut (I like lots)
Bake cake per box directions. Immed. after removing from oven punch holes all over with a fork. Pouring slowly over cake while HOT, alternate milk and Coca Cosa. Let stand 30 minutes then refrigerate overnight. Top with Cool Whip and coconut before serving.
Thanks for the kind words ladies. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteRuthy, get that web page up dude.
ReplyDeleteCoconut?! Blech. Tastes like fried grasshoppers.
ReplyDeleteI'll see if there are any danishes leftover from yesterday.
Oh, regarding the TBL contest, this year because it's electronic, entrants will get back their scoresheets AND ENTRIES. We're highly encouraging judges to make comments on the entries.
Oh, and on a side note, I entered a contest last year or maybe before. Was electronic. The contest, not me. Well, I didn't start putting in hard page breaks until recently. Just didn't think about it.
So in that contest, I got a note back from a judge, "Chapter headers begin on a new page. I'm going to be nice and overlook this one line from chapter one that you have on the top of chapter two's first page."
What she didn't realize was the comments she typed onto my entry shifted everything down a line. Thus whereas my first chapter, let's say, was 12 pages, with her added words, it made it 13.
Had I included page breaks, that wouldn't have happened.
Explain this hard breaks thing to me again. I read it on the contest yahoo group but for some reason it is just flying by my brain.
ReplyDeleteI just want you all to know that I am the only contest entrant in the history of contest entrants where the judges tell me that I need to tell more and show less. And they give me permission..literally to add MORE backstory.
ReplyDeleteI tell you, I couldn't be normal, noooo I had to be a freak of writing.
Tina! You've prepared another great post for Seekerville Weekend. I'm with Sandra, this is becoming my favorite day of the week : )
ReplyDeleteThanks for receipe. I have all the ingredients except the Coca Cosa. I'll put it on my grocery list.
This whole week has been great stuff for contest entrants. I love it.
LOL! Tell more, show less. What a hoot : )
I'm off to Ruthy's part of the island for the debut of her fabulous website...
Woo Hoo! I enjoyed this post - especially since it is so cold this morning - I'd love to be on a warm sunny beach.
ReplyDeleteTina (and the other Seekers), I wanted to let you know that have I listed your site as an award recipient on my blog. Thank you all so much for the wonderful information you provide. God bless you!
Lynn, thanks for being a friend of Seekerville. And thanks for the award.
ReplyDeleteHappy Weekend and Spring Break to you!!
I just found this blog from Faith, Fiction, Fun and Fanciful. I can see why Lynn's impressed. THanks for all the information.
ReplyDeleteAnd once you visit, you will never want to leave. We talk, we eat, we contest, then we some more.
ReplyDeleteWELCOME SHEILA!!
YaY! Spring break! I need some beach time. If I had a bikini like those chicks you might actually see me in one. not. Loved those pics, Tina! Too fun.
ReplyDeleteTina, I hope you're not a freak of nature because then I am, too. On my revisions I just finished I had to add in a good bit of backstory. Some I already had but had to move forward. But some just wasn't there and needed to be. So you're not alone!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post! Can you imagine winning 10k in that contest you mentioned??!!
Missy
Tina, the cake sounds YUMMY. Thanks for the recipe and all the great info.
ReplyDeleteAnne, that cake is awesome.
ReplyDeleteBTW I make it in a 9 x 11 Pyrex pan.