Trouble With Vacations

...is that they come to an end.

Home. Tired. Glad of three-day weekend before I again must apply nose to grindstone.

Happy Memorial Day.

Gila Queen Market Guide Celebrates

Friday, May 23, will be the 150th issue of Kathy Ptacek"s The Gila Queen's Guide to Markets, and it will also be Gila Queen's 20 year anniversary.

If you don't know what the Gila Queen Guide is, allow me to define. It's a great resource for writers and artists with market listings (including those that have bit the dust so you shouldn't waste your time), articles, industry info, contests,
anthologies, and a whole lot more.

When I first heard of Gila Queen, it was a print publication. Now, it's a subscription E-mail newsletter, and worth every penny of the very reasonable price.

The anniversary issue is extra big, and you can get one for a measly two bucks without subscribing to the whole year (though a year subscription isn't much more) so check it out.

If you want more info, contact Kathy at gilaqueen @ att.net.

Congratulations, Kathy!

Country Pop Culture

I hope you can see the detail in this picture. The mother duck is swimming with her babies - all 12 of them!

I first saw Mommy Duck and her ducklings as they were walking to the water. She was leading the parade with all her little ones waddling behind. I snapped a pic with my cell phone, but it didn't come out very well so I ran for my camera.

By the time I returned, they were all in the water with two Mexican whistler ducks on the bank, a heron, and a family of turtles in the water.

The funniest thing is that 11 of the ducklings are dun-colored like their mother and blend easily into the environment. The 12th duckling is straight out of Hans Christian Anderson. It's larger than the others and a very pale yellow. It doesn't blend at all, but stands out from the flock like a changeling. You can easily identify it in the picture.

I'm pretty sure it's not from the same DNA pool as the other 11. Was Mother Duck fooling around or did someone play a trick on her and insert an extra egg into her nest?

Regardless, she and the others accepted it. Guess that's unconditional love in the feathered kingdom.

Living Large Country-Style

Guess you've figured out already that I am not in mi casa since there was no blog posted Monday.

I'm visiting my mom who is having a birthday tomorrow and my brother and his family.

It's May, and there are miles and miles of corn everywhere. The photo is just that across the road. Travel any road and both sides are planted in corn. Cotton once was king in this parish but that was before ethanol. It won't be long before it's "higher than an elephant's eye."

This month before summer's heat takes over is hay hauling time. Today, more than thirty bales were added to what was left from last year in order to feed the cattle when grazing isn't enough. The new hay is the lighter, blond at the back.

Farming in this country helped create our prosperity and our ready supply of food. For most, it's a thankless, back-breaking job with no 401K plans, no corporate perks, and no big profits. Remember that the next time you gripe about the cost of a steak or a head of romaine.

Sling Words out to go sling some fresh blueberries from my cousin Carolyn into a bowl with some ice cream.

Orphan Works Bill: Important Issue For Writers

If you follow the legal issues that may have a great impact on your writing career, then you probably know about the history of the Orphan Works Bill which failed to pass last time but has again been introduced. This issue is important. I blogged about it at Performancing and decided to post it here too.

The first alert was sounded by Jonathan Bailey of Plagiarism Today

What is an Orphan Work?

An orphan work is one that is believed to be protected by copyright law but whose owner can't be located. Anyone who wants to reuse such a work can't find the owner to ask permission from or contract with in order to use the piece. Therefore, the piece lands in a legal limbo - no one can use it or reproduce it because they may be sued for copyright infringement.

Supporters of Orphan Works legislation say this isn't what the ideals of copyright law intended. So the Copyright Office wants to draft new rules to make these orphan works available for use so anyone who wants to use them won't incur any legal liability.

The problem is what if you are a copyright owner, alive and well, but for whatever reason can't be contacted as the legal holder of the rights to a work. Can it be declared an orphan and you forfeit your rights? This is just one of the issues that may have to be confronted along with other dangers the Copyright Office may unwittingly create for creative copyright holders.

Draft Letter To Congress

Read more at Jonathan's blog to gain an in-depth understanding of the issue. If you agree with his points, copy the Plagiarism Today Draft Letter, make it your own if you are so inclined, and send it to your Representatives and Senators.

PASIC: Another Notable Writing Contest

Why am I listing contests this week? Because these are opportunities to bring you and your writing to the attention of agents and/or editors.

Today's listing is about the contest sponsored by PASIC, the Published Authors Special Interest Chapter of Romance Writers of America.

Several years ago PASIC started a Book of Your Heart Contest, a place for those manuscripts that writers felt just had to be written even though they didn't meet marketability theories of major publishers.

The 2008 PASIC Book of Your Heart Contest is now open. It's for published or unpublished, and it may be the contest you've been waiting for.

Sponsor: Published Authors Special Interest Chapter

Fee: $20 for PASIC members, $30 others

Postmark deadline: May 15th (must arrive by May 21st)

Eligibility: published and unpublished writers

Enter: First chapter (25 pages max) and synopsis (10 pages max) of unpublished manuscript.

First round judges: booksellers and librarians; published authors
used for emergencies.

Final judges: Editors

Categories & Judges

Series: Diana Ventimiglia - Silhouette Desire

Single Title: Latoya Smith - Grand Central Forever

Historical: Leis Pederson - Berkley

Paranormal: Heather Osborn - Tor

Mainstream: Becky Vinter - NAL

Young Adult: Megan McKeever - MTV Books

Erotic Romance: Hilary Sares - Kensington

For more information, visit PASIC

Good luck!

LONESTAR: Notable Contest For Writers

Contest season is open. Does it ever really close? But this week, the Lone Star Writing Competition, sponsored by the Northwest Houston Chapter of Romance Writers of America, gets under way.

What makes this contest different is that most winners and even finalists have gone on to publish their books.

Here's the info hot off the press.

------------------------

NORTHWEST HOUSTON RWA Presents The Sixteenth Annual LONE STAR WRITING COMPETITION

ENTRY FEE: $20 NWH members; New lower fee! $25 non-NWH members

ELIGIBILITY: Competition is open to published and unpublished authors.

ENTER: First 25 pages, including prologue, if any.

BOTH POSTAL AND E-MAIL ENTRIES ACCEPTED

All entries will be sent to three first round judges: two published authors
and one unpublished author. The lowest score will be tossed and final round
contestants will be chosen by the combined total of the final two scores.

Finalists will be sent to both an agent and an editor for placement.

Final judges:

Inspirational Category:
* Editor: Charlene Patterson, Bethany House Publishers
* Agent: Mary Sue Seymour, The Seymour Agency

Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Category:
* Editor: Ami Russell, The Wild Rose Press
* Agent: Taryn Fagerness, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency

New this year! Young Adult Category:
* Editor: Karen Chaplin, Puffin Books
* Agent: Rachel Orr, Prospect Agency

Single Title Category:
* Editor: Lindsay Nouis, Penguin Group
* Agent: Carolyn Grayson, Grayson Literary Agency

Romantic Suspense Category:
* Editor: Patience Smith, Harlequin Silhouette
* Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency

Contemporary Series Category:
* Editor: Faith Black, Avalon Publishing
* Agent: Pam Strickler

Historical Category:
* Editor: Hilary Sares, Kensington Publishing
* Agent: Michelle Grajkowski, 3 Seas Literary Agency

Important Dates:

Deadlines:
Sent via postal service, must be Post marked by June 6, 2008
Sent via e-mail: by midnight CST June 6, 2008.

Finalists: Announced August 8, 2008.

Winners: Announced October 25, 2008 at the Lone Star Conference, Houston, Texas.

For More Info, visit Northwest Houston RWA

Next time, more contest info.