Link-a-Palooza: Contests and Questions and Book Releases, Oh My!

Back for another installment of LINK-A-PALOOZA, in which I give you the lowdown on some great places to go instead of working.

First I bring you Writing Out The Angst, joint blog of Amanda Bonilla and Suzy Haze (who are totally follow-worthy, by the way). To celebrate their new venture, Amanda and Suzy are hosting a CONTEST.

All you have to do is follow their blog(s) and leave a comment. When they reach 100 followers, they're going to offer up Query Critiques to ten lucky followers. Easy right? Go for it.

The same two lovely ladies have a new feature at their blog. Ask an Agent. You can leave one question for an agent (the first is Julia Kenny at Markson Toma Literary Agency) in the comments of the introductory post, then Amanda and Suzy will compile the questions into an interview and post the answers straight from Ms. Kenny's mouth. This could be invaluable, people, so start thinking about your #1 question.

Next up, we have an announcement. MJ Heiser, who kindly let me interview her right at this very blog, is available for pre-order! That's right, CORONA, previously only available in e-b00k format is now rarin' to go in Hardcover. Get yours now!

I just finished listening to Stephen King's Under the Dome and I have to say it did nothing to relieve my literary crush on The King. Whether you love him or hate him, you gotta give the man he's prolific. And I adore him (for many reasons) because he continues to innovate. He's using his clout in the publishing industry to push the envelope. Graphic novels, small publishing houses, audio-only, serial format--the man has done it all. Personally, I loved the book and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Particularly in the audio format. This is an undertaking, people. Forty hours, I think it was, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed the reader, and he did a masterful job of creating unique voices for the whole cast of characters.

I downloaded it from Audible.com, and if you like audiobooks at all, I can't recommend this place highly enough. We have a subscription, which earns us 12 credits a year. A credit gets you a book (sometimes longer ones cost 2 credits), and the subscription gets you a discount on all books, even if you don't use your credits. Best of all, you can download it right to your iPod or several other formats.

And I think that's about all you need to hear from me today.

Have an awesome link to share? Hit me in the comments.

- Liz

A New Critique Contest

C.A. Marshall is hosting a contest at her blog for a critique of the first ten pages of her manuscript. Easy rules to follow and a new source of great information and entertainment.

Check out her contest here.

She also mentions a great service I was previously unaware of in the post for this blog. A service that gives you books to read in exchange for reviews! A great idea for voracious readers who would read their way through the budget of a small country in a year.

Good luck in the contest!

- Liz

A Query Critique Contest!

Kathleen Ortiz of Lowenstein Associates is hosting a query contest at kortizzle.blogspot.com!

All you have to do is spread the word about this contest to enter!

If you want to learn more about what she's looking for, try here.

Contests! Getcher Contests Here!

Salaam and good evening to you, worthy friends....

Actually, Happy New Year! I’ve decided to refer to 2009 as my rebuilding year. I learned A LOT, wrote A LOT, started building my presence on-line and didn’t really get very far in my Quest for the Holy Publication Grail. But, you know what? I actually did, because everything I did and learned brought me a step closer to where I want to be.

On the news front, I have finished revisions on A Game of Risk and with just a bit more tweaking I can’t wait to put it back in the big bad world and query, query, query! It’s probably bad luck to be as hopeful as I feel right now, but it would probably be worse luck to be as pessimistic as I could be.

Elsewhere in the literary world, I have found a number of contests that I’m going to enter, and I thought I’d share them here. If any of you are writers, please jump on in the competition ring, the water’s fine! If you’re not writers, prepare to get out your pompons and cheer for anyone you know who’s entering. So here’s the breakdown:

First, Nathan Brandsford, super blogging agent at large for the Curtis Brown Agency is hosting his first ever contest. Check it out at: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/ All you have to do is write a letter or diary entry from the perspective of a teenager. See his blog for full details.

Next, Georgia McBride announced the first steps to take if you want to participate in the Sourcebooks Fire launch contest. This is for Young Adult writers as well, and requires membership in the #YAlitchat Ning community--which you should totally join anyway if you’re interested in Young Adult. Go to:http://yalitchat.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sourcebooks-fire-yalitchat

Next, Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency is sponsoring a contest at kidlit.com (another great blog to follow if you’re a children’s literature writer of any type). The contest is for the first 500 words of a novel, and has very specific rules. One of those rules is to spread the word by posting contest info in at least two places on the web. So, here’s one of mine! Go to http://kidlit.com/kidlit-contest/ for full details!

So, that, my dear readers, is the roundup. I’m planning to enter all three right now, so stay tuned for results.

Until next time, I bid you all a fond farewell.

- Liz