What's Up The Street For Next Week?

This is what the Alley Cats are doing this weekend!!!!!

Yup, that's right.

Snoopy Dancing.

BECAUSE...

An Alley Cat FINALED in the Genesis Contest!!!!!

We are SO PROUD of Pepper who finaled TWICE. Once in Contemporary Romance and AGAIN in the YA category.

You can send your congratulations to pepperbasham (at) yahoo (dot) com

AND THEN JOIN IN THE PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's up the street for next week... (besides extreme excitement)

Every writer creates art as a writer. Learn to recognize the talent God has given you with Angie on Monday

Our fiction has weak places, but it doesn't have to stay that way. Stop by on Tuesday to share with Julia on identifying and strenghtening the weak places in our fiction.

Grab those check list, Sarah has tip #7 for you to mark off this time with Point of View on Wednesday

Get Smart, Get Short or Go Home. Creating Succinct Sentences with Wendy on Thursday

Stop by Friday for Score a Well-Rounded Manuscript series, with techniques, including pacing, sentence structure, strong verbs and tone/themes with Cindy.

NewsStand...

The winner of the Art of Romance by Kaye Dacus is... Amanda!! (with many thanks to Kaye for offering the giveaway)

Stop by Pepper's blog post to share in her exciting Genesis News!!

Casey is posting today (Saturday!) at the Pentalk Community blog: Find Your Word Budget and STICK TO IT!

Sherrinda is giving away Breath of an Angel by Karyn Henley on her blog on Wednesday

Stop by Casey's blog for the chance to win Lorna Seilstad's A Great Catch

And MANY congratulations to ALL the Genesis Finalists!!!!!

THE WRITER'S ALLEY BLOGOVERSARY!! (Giveaways inside ↓↓↓)

One year ago today five crazy writers got together and decided to start a blog for other writers. We just wanted to have a bit of fun and share the journey with all of you. WOW! One year later we are twice as big, boast over THREE HUNDRED posts with writing related topics and just as many fans (YOU!).

We're keeping it short and sweet today. And below you'll see a survey we would really LOVE for you to fill out on how we can make the Alley better. AND once you do that, please leave a comment for a chance to be a winner of a book! We don't know how many yet we are giving away (more than one, more than two, probably more than three!).

Don't be shy, we are so grateful for YOU ALL!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY WRITER'S ALLEY!!!

(regular programing will return on Monday with a full slate of posts from the creative minds behind the Alley. :-)

What's Up the Street For Next Week?

The results are in.

Genesis semifinals were announced yesterday.

Now whether we were going for the gold, or just wanted to get some healthy feedback, we all were waiting for the ‘call’. Right? Come on – admit it.

Well several of the Alley Cats are getting to wade a little deeper into those Genesis waters, and we’re going to share some contest tips, clues, experiences, and learning curves this week to help you too. So we’re celebrating. Come on in and enjoy our Party - a Think-outside-the-box party, because as writers, that's what we do :-)

Read on to find out more about our celebration….

But first – we have WINNERS!!!

This weeks’ winners are:

Monday’s winner of The Healer’s Apprentice is Diane Shaw.

Tuesday’s winner of Lady in Waiting is Faith Hope Cherrytea and Joy Tamsin David is the winner of Petra.

Jennie Coughlin is the winner of Wednesday’s Margie Lawson packet.

The winner of Ruth Logan Herne’s novel Winter’s End is Patsy Houston.

Winner of Surrender Bay is lgm52

(contact Pepper at pepperbasham@yahoo.com with your snail mail)

Congrats to all the WINNERS!!!

So What’s our news here on the Alley?

Sherrinda & Angie are semifinalists in the Genesis in the Historical Romance category

Krista & Pepper are semifinalists in the Contemporary Romance category.

We’re so excited for our Alley Cats! And for all the other semifinalists.

For those of you who didn’t get a call yesterday, we send our encouragement. We’ve ALL been right where you are now. (Stop by on Monday & Tuesday to hear more)

Coming up this week?

Pepper, Sherrinda, and Krista are pretty sure their posts will be about contests. The joys, the tips, the disappointments, and the critiques, but to be REALLY sure – you’ll need to stop by on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday to find out.

Mary’s talkin’ about the Rest of Sally Stuart's story on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Casey’s welcoming author Karen Witemeyer who will blog about how she crafted a RITA finalist novel.

NEWSTAND

Wendy has Carla Stewart, author of Chasing Lilacs on her blog.

Siri Mitchell is the author in the spotlight this week on Words Seasoned With Salt.

Mark Your CALENDARS - The Writers Alley is coming up on its 1 YEAR Blogiversary. On Monday, May 2, the Party will begin - so celebrate with us. You know how much we like parties :-)

What's Up The Street For Next Week?

Have you seen it? It's here, it's finally here! And I hope you brought your party horns and dancing shoes because The Ally has officially reached 200 followers!!! Any reason to celebrate right? And I say this a pretty good reason if I do say so myself. We have giveaways and a giveaway winner, so stick around.

We have been blessed, wouldn't you say? I can't write a celebratory post without reflecting on how far we have come and how blessed we are. In just a few short months the Alley has welcomed 201 other people that are just as hungry for writing knowledge (or win a good book, but hey, we won't be segregating here). We started out with five crazy ladies that had a message to share with the world and now our number has doubled to ten, who share the same faith and passion for the written word.

Now wouldn't you agree that we are all blessed? I can say nothing else.

So take a hat, blow a horn and tap your shoes to the beat of music you prefer. There is plenty to go around. Balloons and streamers and smiling faces, the Alley is festooned to the gunnel's and we are so excited to have you here. Thanks for making this a grand journey! May it not end here! :-)

Monday: Angie is your host today, sharing how to beat writer's block, garner inspiration and move fast the doldrums of painstacking writing fears.

Tuesday: Julia welcomes a guest to the Alley in Chris Fabry! Chris will enlighten and move us with his words on inspiration on what makes a writer.

Wednesday: Rejection Stinks...or Does it?? Sarah will explore this concept with her post today.

Thursday: Wendy talks about putting a belt around that sagging middle. No, not that sagging middle, the sagging middle of your story.

Friday: Secondary Characters, Friends/ Family and Sidekicks are the subject of Cindy's post on portraying great backup actors in your story.

Now I promised giveaways right?? Well here they are! Be sure and enter below in the comment section and tell us which one you would like to be entered for. Thanks for making the Alley such a great place to be! :-)

NewsStand

On Monday, Mary hosts award winning author, Lori Scott with a giveaway of one of her books on God Loves Kids

Casey's party starts TOMORROW! So when you leave the fun here, be sure and head over to her blog for the chance over a dozen prizes! And she is sure there is more, but she hasn't counted lately!

Also, check out Casey's sidebar for other contests that are going on at the moment.

On Operation Encourage an Author, stop by to say hello to Heartsong author, Darlene Franklin. A book is being given away too!

And the winner of Cindy Woodsmall's book from last week's giveaway is.... Amber!!!

Be sure and leave a comment to be entered in today's PARTY!  We love to celebrate here on the Alley, so bring a party platter, grab a cupcake and let the fun begin! :-)

Whatya Celebratin'?

So, I was going to have a different post for today, but decided that since we are PARTYING all week long, I didn't want to be Miss Jane Rain Cloud and instead wanted to ask YOU what you have done recently to celebrate your writing life.

Do you celebrate the little things in your writing life?

When you hit the word count goal?

When you've had a bad writing day, but still wrote 100 words?

When you got the story outlined?

Your character's named?

Registered for a conference?

Do you take the little accomplishments and remind yourself that the one little thing you did can be magnified into something truly huge?

How long does it take to eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

I think we can all too often forget that the smallest steps lead to the biggest leaps and instead of being down on ourselves because we didn't reach our goal for the day, how about celebrating that at least you wrote something?

The great wall of China wasn't built in a day.

And neither is your novel.

Take those small moments and remind yourself just why you enjoy writing. If you are stressed and worried about hitting your word count every. single. day, then you are going to miss the fun in writing. And why write unless you are going to enjoy it?

I don't see the point otherwise.

Feel good about yourself at the end of the day and celebrate the small moments of accomplishment in every day.

So what I want to know, what did you do today to move your story one step farther down the road? You didn't have to even have written! Did you jot a note down about your characters? Think of your story? Write a 100 words? Do tell, so we can celebrate with you!!!!!!

It is PARTY week on the The Writer's Alley!!! YEAH!!!!!!!

Take a slice of CELEBRATION cake while you are at it too!!!

What's Up the Street For Next Week?

Good morning everyone. I’d like to welcome you to The Writers Alley celebration week.


Oh yes – it’s a great week for all sorts of news from our Alley to yours, so – to keep you in suspense, I won’t list what’s going on each weekday. Just stop in to find out the news :-)

Also, check in Saturday for Swashbuckling expert, Marylu Tyndal, as she stops by to talk about writing authentic historical characters.

SIDEWALK TALK

August 14 – Stop by to read about author Cara Lynn James

August 21 – Interview with award winning author, Angela Hunt.

August 28 – Interview with Margaret Brownley

September 4 - Amanda Cabot talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of writing a series

It's a BLOG PARTY!!!

Earlier this week, Pepper, Sherrinda, Mary, Casey and I all talked about the Genesis contest. Four of the five of us entered, and we thought it'd be fun to have a blog party to celebrate the finalists, with our fingers crossed that one of us would be on the list.

But, we'd also pre-agreed that we would celebrate regardless. Because we firmly believe that everyone is a winner. Oh, I know that sounds like something a hokey T-ball coach might say to a five-year-old little girl who can't hit a ball to save her life and spends way too much time playing in the dirt.

But in this case, it's true.

It takes a lot of guts to put your work out there in a contest. There's a good chance you won't final, and many people shy away from the thought of "losing" a contest.

As you might have guessed, none of us finaled. But ya know what? We tried. You will NEVER win if you don't try. That goes not only for contests, but for submitting to agents and editors as well. Heck, just writing in general. If you never took the leap and invested the time to write your first book, then what chance to you have to excel as a writer? Yep, you guessed it. Zero, zilch, nadda!

Today, we give a HUGE HURRAY!!! to those who finaled. You deserved it and our hats are tipped to you. I have a large pan of brownies with your names on it!

We also give a big pat on the back to all those who entered but didn't final. You are brave and courageous! Entering was a huge step, and not finaling is just one step on the road to publication. I have some cupcakes with pretend little pencils on top with sprinkles! Chocolate of course... with cream cheese icing (my favorite!)

By next Friday, many non-winners will have received their scores and feedback, still others will be waiting anxiously. Join us here to discuss a little bit on how to digest and use the feedback to get the most out of it.

But today...

How are YOU helping us "celebrate" virtually? Remember, this is on the web. As long as it's wholesome, there are no limits!

In fact, I think we should take this party outside... a cooler of Pepsi (caffeine free for me) and goodies are on the patio table. The pool is ready, and the music is tuned up! Conga line anyone?

**Finalist List**

CONTEMPORARY FICTION:
Cindy Hays
Lynnette P. Horner
Chris Kraft
Mark Lundgren
Christina S. Nelson

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE:
Jeannie Campbell
Sarah Forgrave
Janice LaQuiere
Rebecca Syme
Linda Yezak

HISTORICAL FICTION:
Laurie Benton
Brenda Jackson
Robert Kaku
Lisa Karon Richardson
Katie-Marie Stout

HISTORICAL ROMANCE:
Susanne Dietze
Anne Greene
Pam Hillman
Lisa Karon Richardson
Ruth Trippy

MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/THRILLER:
Rich Bullock
Barbara Early (double finalist with two entries)
Lynda Schab
Chawna Schroeder

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE:
Valerie Goree
Mindy Obenhaus
Leslie Pfeil
Dianna Shuford
Teri Dawn Smith
Terri Weldon

SPECULATIVE FICTION:
Ben Erlichman
Suzanne Krein
Shelley Ledfors
Andra Marquardt
Holly Smit

WOMEN'S FICTION:
Lisa Buffaloe
Jennifer Fromke
Terri Haynes
Fay Lamb
Christina S. Nelson
Melissa Tagg
Michelle Ule

YOUNG ADULT:
Angela Bell
Lin Harris
Kasey Heinly
LoraLee Kodzo
Stefanie Morris