2014 HARLEQUIN SYTYCW (SO YOU THINK YOU CAN WRITE) Writing Contest

You could win the Ultimate Author’s Publishing Prize!

We’re looking for the Next Big Thing in Romance. Enter the Harlequin/Mills & Boon SYTYCW writing contest. First Prize? A publishing contract!

So You Think You Can Write! Harlequin, the world’s leader in romance fiction, is searching globally to find new authors for all our category series. Always wanted to write a romance novel? Be sure to enter our 2014 SYTYCW Writing Contest.

New for 2014! One lucky writer will win the Ultimate Author’s Publishing Prize from Harlequin. The grand prize winner will be offered a two-book series contract with the first book to be published digitally on or around Valentine’s Day 2015—print edition to follow. The winner will also celebrate success in style with a complimentary champagne dinner for two ($150 USD value).

Beginning September 22 at 10am…

*edited September 8, 2014*

This was a HARD list for me to make.  I love to read.  I’ve always loved to read and my taste in books is broad.  I only had one requirement for a book to make my top ten list: I had to have read it more than once.  To me, that’s an automatic way to determine if a book is good.  Do I want to read it a second time?  A third time?  Otherwise, I just went with my gut.

1.) Pride and Prejudiceby Jane Austen.  I know, no big surprise here if you’ve read other blog entries.  I’ve read this book more times than I can count.  I cry every time Darcy says, “You are too generous to trifle with me…”  I used to have “I love Mr. Darcy” as the screen saver on my phone.  I’m such a dork, but I don’t…

In my most recent branding and social media book, I talk about blogging and teach how to do it well. I’m a HUGE fan of the blog for a number of reasons. Blogging is fabulous for platform-building, cultivating a readership, and streamlining our writing. Blogging is the most stable form of social media.

Unless the Internet implodes? Blogs will remain. But blogging offers writers a significant edge beyond the platform.

Getting in THE ZONE

When we’re new, it’s tough to filter out the world and “get into the zone” where words begin to flow. We might futz with the coffee machine, check e-mail, tidy the kitchen and do everything but write. If one looks at a lot of the big name writers, many were originally doctors, lawyers and journalists.

Blogging is journalism of The Digital Age.

Many of the most effective, prolific and most highly awarded novelists began…

To prologue or not to prologue? That is the question. The problem with the prologue is it has kind of gotten a bad rap over the years, especially with agents. They generally hate them. Why? In my opinion, it is because far too many writers don’t use prologues properly and that, in itself, has created its own problem. Because of the steady misuse of prologues, most readers skip them. Thus, the question of whether or not the prologue is even considered the beginning of your novel can become a gray area if the reader just thumbs pages until she sees Chapter One.

So without further ado…

The 7 Deadly Sins of Prologues

Sin #1 If your prologue is really just a vehicle for massive information dump…

In my critique group, one of the first tasks each member must do is they must write detailed backgrounds of all characters. I make…