Pauline's News

The Alaska chapter of RWA is now holding its annual Break Up Contest. Because after all, the happily ever after is what we all want and what we’re all hoping for, but it’s the break up that keeps us reading the book…

ALASKA CHAPTER of ROMANCE WRITERS of AMERICA presents: A Contest for Unpublished Manuscripts.

The 4th annual
Alaska Break-Up Contest
Every year, here in Alaska, we undergo a phenomena we lovingly call Break-up. It’s when the ice and snow finally melts away, and the darkness of long winter nights gives way to even longer summer days. Do you have a break-up scene or dark moment in your romance manuscript? If so, we would love to see it.

1: Submitted manuscripts must be unpublished, and must be received by midnight May 1st. 2011
2. Enter your best break-up or darkest moment scene. Entry must not exceed 10 pages. All categories and heat levels welcome.
Please include a set-up scene (1-3 pages) to assist judges in understanding entry selection. Set-up scene will not be judged.
3. You may submit more than one entry. Each entry must be separate and complete with appropriate fees and signed agreement.
4. All submissions will be judged by AKRWA trained judges, RWA PRO members, and published authors. Final winners will be judged by Ellora’s Cave Publisher Raelene Gorlinsky
 . Winning entry will be submitted for a personal critque by New York Times Best Selling author Cherry Adair.
5. All submissions will be returned to author with judges’ comments.
6. Submissions must be accompanied by signed agreement and payment by PayPal.
7. Winners will be announced on the AKRWA Web site by July 1, 2011.
8. Entries received after May 1, 2011 will be disqualified and returned unopened.
9. See Submission Guidelines for details on how and where to submit entries.

PRIZES:
Winning manuscript will be submitted to: New York Times Best Selling author Cherry Adair.
• All entrants will receive a beautiful certificate of participation.
• All judges are trained, PRO members and/or published authors.
• All authors will receive at least three score sheets with valuable judges’ comments.
• To see examples of the score sheets, visit the contest page on our Web site at:
http://www.akrwa.org
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Manuscript Requirements:
• Entries must be prepared in accordance with common publisher’s standards (double
spaced, one inch border, 12 point type e.g., Courier/Times New Roman/Arial).
• Header on each document shall include title, category and page number.
• Please do not include author’s name anywhere on the actual entry.
• Your entry must represent a break-up or darkest moment scene.
• All entries must meet the RWA standards of romance writing.
• Entries that do not comply with the listed requirements will not be scored.
Submit:
1)Electronic submissions only:
2)Manuscript and setup scene in RTF. In addition, your completed entry form and entrant’s agreement in a separate file.
3)Payment by PayPal. Each entry, $30.00. Submit PayPal orders to: treasurer@akrwa.org.

E-mail submissions to: contest@akrwa.org

I’ve been waiting to hear from my editor to see if they are going to buy my third book. The deadline was back in October. Nothing. Several follow up phone calls, emails, rescheduling and…still nothing. I’m trying to be patient; this isn’t unheard of in print publishing.

And honestly, I think I get why the decision may be particularly hard. On the one hand, it’s a really good book. Probably the best of the three. On the other hand…the first two books aren’t selling very well. Sales for the first one, FALLING IN LOVE, shrinking may have been anticipated. But sales for the second, FALL INTO ME, have never been good. Mind you, I know why. Because of the situation I was in when the second one came out, I wasn’t able to market it well at the time. Sales have always shown that. *sigh* Industry standard is that it would be very difficult to market it in mainstream venues at this late date. So, I’m marketing it here. And over at Facebook. And twitter. And anywhere else I can think of.

So go ahead, click here or here or, yes, even here. Buy books! Leave comments! You know you want to…

These are my best friends:

.

The guy is Zay. We’ve been friends since he was 21. We are an odd pair and we will both admit it. After all, I do this for a living:

He does this for a living:

But we work in our own weird way. Today is his 30th birthday.

Happy Birthday.

May 2011 bring you peace and happiness.

This isn’t just one of my favorite Christmas carols of all time; it’s one of my favorite songs of all time.

Every year, I get a pap smear and, since turning 40, a mammogram. The original Pauline Trent, the woman I was named after, died of breast cancer before I ever even met her, so it’s something we take seriously in my family. This year, I was at a new clinic so had to fill out all the paperwork from scratch.

This year, I am the same age Polly was when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. I admit; it threw me. All will be well. There is absolutely no reason to think otherwise; this was simply another yearly exam. And it was a good reminder.

Women, get your annual exams. Men, remind the women you love to get their annual exams. It’s too easy to catch early. There’s no reason not to see your doctor once a year. Stick around to celebrate many more holiday seasons.

If you look at the lower left at the beginning and end of the song, it reads “The Incomparable Nat King Cole.” Truth in advertising.

But there’s always time for music.

Did you survive? We did. In a delightful way. Continue to enjoy the season!

From my family to yours.