Here, have some writing contests

Planning on making 2019 the year your writing career gets a boost? Here are some options for getting your work seen, judged, hopefully rewarded, and maybe even discovered.

As I mentioned here, not only did I have a lot of success with Moondance International Film Festival, but they have a boatload of submission categories, so whatever you're writing, there's probably a category for you. Plus, they're already accepting submissions for 2019, so here's your chance to get a jump on the new year.

ScreenCraft has fifteen different competitions including a fellowship, so again, pretty much something for everyone. They have produced a nifty interactive calendar showing the opening date, early deadline and late deadline for each contest.

Some others: Fade In Online has a bunch of competitions, TrackingB has TV and feature contests, PAGE International has contests for features, shorts and TV pilots, and Writer's Digest has their usual slate of annual competitions.

Happy writing!

'Twas two weeks before Christmas...

It's exactly two weeks until Christmas! Hope everyone has their shopping done. Stores are going to be insane between now and the 25th.

This popped up on my Facebook page and I couldn't resist posting it. I once attended a charity Christmas event where a friend's husband was Santa Claus. It was years ago, but I still remember his comment after that, "Every man, at least once in his life, should play Santa Claus." This particular Santa really knocked it out of the park.

H/T to Tropical Life, Food and Fun on FB.

It's a holiday hat trick for Foamy the Squirrel

"Tis the season to shut the fuck up and stop being a whiny little bitch!" Gotta love Foamy.

Full Metal Christmas

I've posted this before, but watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer this year made me want to drag it out again. Behold! Full Metal Jacket dialogue dubbed over a scene from Rudolph.

This one has me in tears every darn time

What a gift, to have voices like this and share them so beautifully.

Christmas with Mommie Dearest

Quite a performance from everyone involved.

Words hurt

Think it about it, indeed.

Interesting factoid: While Boris Karloff is well-known for narrating How the Grinch Stole Christmas (OG), the songs were actually sung by noted voice-over artist and singer Thurl Ravenscroft, also known as the longtime voice of Tony the Tiger.

H/T to Trish Martin for sharing this on the Fame is a Bitch Obsessed FB page.

We have a winner! And a finalist! And a couple of semi-finalists! And a new writing plan for 2019!

As I posted in August, I had submitted four entries to the Moondance International Film Festival, three in the short story category and one in the short screenplay category. Last week I was looking over old submissions and realized I'd never received any notice from Moondance, and since it's been months I assumed that meant my entries hadn't placed. I tried checking their website multiple times for results, but the results link only led to a page that appeared to be down.

I decided to check again and not only does Moondance have their website issues resolved, but all four of my submissions were listed in the results:

All the winners can be found here.

Needless to say, this was very good news. I needed some encouragement with these stories. Bahama Bobby was written for the St. Petersburg Bouchercon anthology but didn't make it. It did score an Honorable Mention in this year's Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition (in the Short Story/Genre category), so I figured it wasn't a total waste. Plus, I just love it. It was inspired by this meme, which I thought was hilarious:

Christine Thirteen was written for the most recent Sisters in Crime/LA anthology but wasn't chosen, and Deja vu, which has been around forever. was rejected by the SinC Guppies 2017 anthology (I received that news shortly before Crime Scene/Do Not Cross was accepted for LAst Resort, the 2017 SinC/LA anthology). Chick Stuff was something I wrote years ago and been filed away and forgotten. Nice to see it still has some life.

I haven't done submission posts for October and November because I haven't submitted anything recently. There were several anthologies and markets I wanted to submit to, but ultimately couldn't come up with stories for. I've also been reconsidering my "two submissions per month" plan because it's keeping me from working on larger projects while spending a lot of time and energy on markets that don't pan out. There is one more competition with a December deadline (for cinematic short stories) that I'll submit to and that will be it for 2018.

So the plan for 2019 is to work on a couple of novels. I have an A project that's been kicking around for years and a B project that's a more recent idea that will be my fallback when I hit a wall with/need a break from Project A. I also have a play that I'd like to spend some time on in the next couple of months, in the hopes that it will be ready for 2019 competitions.

There are a couple of upcoming crime anthologies (2019 Bouchercon and the San Diego Chapter of Sisters in Crime) that I definitely want to submit to since these are right up my alley, but other than that I decided I need to try to market my completed short stories to publishers, rather than trying to keep coming up with new ones whenever a theme is announced. Since most of them have placed in competitions, I'm going into 2019 with the mindset that they're worthy of publication if I can just find the right fit for them.

Happy writing everyone!

Are you a woman? Are you oppressed? The BBC knows what's up, and what's keeping us down.

It's been so long since I've been able to blog something like this. Reminds me of the glorious days of Attack Watch. Seriously, I kinda miss the Twitter of days gone by, and by days gone by I mean circa 2011.

Luckily this priceless piece of crap popped up on my Twitter feed this fine Monday evening and brought back the good times:

Because shoes, brow pencils and much needed (for those of us so blessed) upper-body support are clear evidence of The Patriarchy (TM) keeping us girls from succeeding in life. I'm sure the victims of female genital mutilation, women stoned to death for being rape victims, and those girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram and forced into sexual servitude are so thrilled the BBC is at the forefront of identifying what's really victimizing them. Take that, men!

Of course, I had to contribute. Sorry if TMI, but Orwell was right, some bras are more equal than others:

Have at it, Twitter Nation!

Click to biggify (HELLO AGAIN 2011!!!) if you can't read on the page. Totally worth the clicks. Twitter at its finest.

By the way, speaking of female empowerment, I recently found the best freaking lipstick ever. Bless you, Besame. You will be hearing from me again. Besame mucho!

Have a beachy Christmas

Image from The Beach is Calling on FB.

November Words of Wisdom

I live by the ocean. I find that whenever I need something more than what I have inside, that the ocean gives it to me. I walk to the stairs that lead down to the beach. I don't eve have to put my toes in the sand...I can just stand on the cliff..watch the waves lapping at the shore...the sunlight hitting the top of the crests...and there is something very energizing about it, something very calming...It renews my sense of wonder and renews my sense of spirit, and my sense of myself. --Jill Alman-Bernstein

Dance with the waves, move with the sea. Let the rhythm of the water set your soul free. --Christy Ann Martine

The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul. --Robert Wyland

There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life. --John Lennon

It has been said, "time heals all wounds". I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens. But it is never gone. --Rose Kennedy

Growth is painful. Change is painful, but nothing is as painful as staying the same. --Dr. Sebi

Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul. --Alice Walker

Screenwriting is the most prized of all the cinematic arts. Actually, it isn't, but is should be. --Hugh Laurie

To escape and sit quietly on the beach - that's my idea of paradise. --Emilia Wickstead

To sit in silence at the shore, watch the waves and hear the surf, is to appreciate the very breath and heartbeat of the earth. --Doe Zantamata

Just because everything is crazy around you , doesn't mean it has to be crazy within you. --Courtney Carver

Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take the step. --Unknown

How to begin rebuilding life from within? Love yourself, unconditionally. Release your bottled up emotions. Make time for long walks, alone. Avoid living beyond your means. Nurture your inner strength. Stop apologizing for being you.Surround yourself with positive people. --Melissa Zoske

Not all girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Some girls are made of the beach and wine and everything fine. --Unknown

Sometimes we need fantasy to survive the reality. --Unknown

Sometimes I get frustrated when I'm trying to write and my mind keeps flying off on tangents. Then I realize if my mind didn't fly off on tangents, I probably wouldn't be a writer. --Rick Riordan

It's fireplace weather!

But alas, no more fireplace. Because I am the queen of bad decisions.

Sorry, Sophie.