Write Any Genre

 

The submission period for the NOVEL CLUE CONTEST on my website is May 1st to 9th at http://www.writeanygenre.com/writing-competitions.html

 

Watch for our POETRY Contest to be announced soon.

 

Good luck, everyone!

 

 

http://www.writeanygenre.com now offers flash fiction and poetry contests. Some contests will relate to my novels. Prizes will be cash or lavish gifts. While we build publicity, those who've read my novel, River Bones, will enjoy our kick-off competition and NO FEE. You'll want to bookmark the page or use the RSS feed to be notified of on-going competitions. Gook luck!

 

Mary Deal

2009 Pushcart Prize nominee

 

 

 

It’s every serious writer’s dream to have a story nominated for the coveted Pushcart Prize, one of the highest honors in the writing world.

 

Publishers who publish stories and poetry can nominate up to six pieces of published writing per year to submit for a Pushcart Prize. While many publishers do this, being chosen out of all the pieces each publishes per year is, in itself, an honor.

 

I received a message this morning from Silver Boomer Books that they have nominated my flash story, “The Last Thing I Do,” for a Pushcart Prize. They also published my flash piece “Rituals” in this anthology.

 

“Last Thing” was published earlier this year in their anthology, Freckles to Wrinkles: http://www.frecklestowrinkles.com.

 

An explanation of the Pushcart Prize: http://www.pushcartprize.com/index.htm.

 

Mary

http://www.writeanygenre.com

 

 

 

In October, I spent ten glorious days in California at various book signing parties and functions.

 

Later, Susan Reeve, Supervising Librarian at the Rio Vista Library, sent this letter:

 

 

The next evening after the library function, I attended a class reunion with one hundred sixty-eight people in attendance. Not only was I allowed to sell books, I had previously sent two hard copies of River Bones, along with two Hawaiian gifts, for a raffle.

 

The Delta Daze Inn in Isleton, California, where I sometimes stay, now carries River Bones. They have a mystery club that comes through several times a year.

 

After that, it was on to other friends' homes and then to my brother's place southeast of Placerville in the foothills. While there, I finally met a friend with whom I had been exchanging writing and editing for quite some time and never met. We clicked, like cherished sisters.

 

I sold one hundred twenty-four books during this trip. Wow.

 

By the time I reached home, I was tired from so many months of planning this trip and finally going. I went to Honolulu for a week of R&R, to purchase some necessities not available on Kauai, and to, of course, promote River Bones even more. But alas, while standing in line in a store, a man behind me coughed. I felt his breath roll past me. He kept coughing. I covered my nose and mouth but by then it was too late. I woke with the next morning with the worst sore throat in memory. It took another week at home before I could get out of bed to learn that another strain of flu from Asia had hit the Islands.

 

So that's my trip in a nutshell. The good far outweighs the illness. I have new friends, got to know former friends even better, and many more are reading my novels. Yes, novels, plural. Some have already purchased one or more of my previously published books.

 

Now it's time to get back to work. Watch for some pictures to show up on my
Web site: http://www.writeanygenre.com .

 

Let it be known that I never have the dreaded writer's block. But sometimes I do get stuck. It may be from working on too many projects at once.

 

I usually work on more projects than I can complete, though my main focus is on one or two at a time. When I'm stuck I play a trick on my mind. I begin working on a different project. Seems my mind can't help throwing out random bits and piece of information for lots of different stories. So all I have to do is work on something else and what I need for the story I prefer to work on then comes to mind.

 

When I'm stuck writing anything to do with a character - maybe dialogue -  I stand in front of a mirror and practice gestalt. That is, I speak the dialogue to myself in the mirror until I sound like the character. Then I include those words verbatim in the story. It also helps to gesture like the character when I speak. Including those mannerisms, too, enhances the character's personality.

 

If anyone were to watch me and not understand, they would think me nuts!