A few weeks ago I responded to a writing gig posted on Craig’s list.  Last week, I got a reply.  It seems I’d been picked as one of an elite few the company invited to submit a sample blog entry about the topic of Human Resources Recruiting.  What I know about that subject might fill a teaspoon with an 1/8 tsp left over.  I almost blew it off, thinking: “It’ll take you too long to figure out what to say and then too long to write it, it’s probably a scam anyway just to get free blogging, surely you don’t expect to be paid for this, and you probably don’t want the gig anyway because who are you kidding you know nothing about HRR.”

But something in me wanted to have a go at it, to pick up the proferred gauntlet, take up the challenge.  I surfed the web and found some info on recruting employees that sparked an idea on the subject.  I fanned the spark with a few memories of my own job-hunting experiences: getting laid off, getting hired, wishing applications had room for essays explaining the erratic ins and outs of my work experiences.  I actually had fun writing something totally out of my usual zone.  When I e-mailed it to the company, I wasn’t concerned about whether or not I got the gig, just glad I’d given it my best shot.

This week, I got another e-mail.  They found my sample blog entry “interesting” and wished to publish it.  On the other hand, they had decided not to hire a writer to produce weekly blog entries.  So I didn’t get the gig, but they liked my submission.  And they’re going to pay for it!  Cool. 

Because I let myself write outside the lines of my historical article / technical how-to / fiction addiction box, I had fun affirming my professionalism and versatility as a writer, renewed my hope that not every writing gig is a scam, and I made some money.

That reminds me … have you entered the Whyte Dove Press writing contest yet?  No entry fee.  Cash prizes.  What have you got to lose?

Maybe I could give you $325 instead, or even $375. 
You would never have to pay me back.

Seriously.

But you have to act now.  Deadline for this offer is 6pm July 4th.

My web site, Whyte Dove Press, is having a writing contest.  NO ENTRY FEE.  You can enter as many times as you want.  See www.whytedovepress.com for details.

First prize for an essay 750-1500 words is $100 and second prize is $35.  First prize for a story 750-1500 words is $100 and second prize is $35.  First prize poem is $40 and second is $15.  If you’re between 13-19 years old, you can compete in the Youth category and win $50 for an essay of 500-1000 words.  Children ages 12 and under can win $25 for an essay 250-500 words.

If you’re a beginning or lesser known writer, this could be your chance to get a published clip to attach to the next query you e-mail to a magazine editor or book agent.  If you’re the parent, aunt/uncle/ grandparent, brother/sister, friend of a young person who has writing aspirations, this is that young person’s big chance to see what it’s like to be published; we will publish every entry, winning or not, in the Youth and Children categories as a reward for the effort involved.    

Winning entries will be published on the Whyte Dove Press web site.  Non-winning entries of quality could be published on the site as well.  Publication on WDP is non-exclusive; so you can showcase your efforts elsewhere as long as WDP can post your entry, too, any time between August 2008 – February 2009.

Why not give it a try?  We’ve got to give the money away to somebody.  It may as well be you!

What makes me think I have the right to judge others?

Because I’m the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Whyte Dove Press, that’s why.

Whyte Dove Press is having its First Annual World-wide Web Writers’ Contest.

$400 CASH PRIZES

NO ENTRY FEE!

This contest is open to anyone on the planet except me and the Associate Editor of Whyte Dove Press. Entries must be in English, but it doesn’t matter if English is your first, second, or humpteenth (a SE TX expression meaning a very large ordinal number) language.

Categories are Non-Fiction, Fiction, Poetry, Youth (ages 13-19 only), and Children (ages 12 and under).

There’s no limit to the number of entries you can submit, and since there is no entry fee, what have you got to lose? The only stipulation is that we have the right to publish winning pieces and the option to publish non-winning pieces on our web site for a limited period of time. That’s it.

For details, click on this link: CONTEST.

Best wishes!

My story collection is finally taking shape. My mini-story, “Heirlooms”, and two short stories, “Violets are Purple” and “Blurdays” are on the Whyte Clouds page of the Whyte Dove Press web site (See My Publisher link in sidebar). And … deep breath … the prologue to my novel in the works is there, too. If any of you are novel readers and want to glimpse a dual novel in progress, I plan to let my publisher post excerpts periodically. I’d love hearing what you think.

Some mothers and daughters have such a tenuous, fragile, fractured relationship while others are closer than twin sisters. There’s hardly any in-between mother-daughter relationships. The stories in my Mothers and Daughters collection is fraught with the ambiguity and undercurrent of emotion so often found in the relationship–or at least, I hope my stories convey these things to readers.

Is the ending to “Violets are Purple” too abrupt?

I’m not a best-selling writer, but I live in the (watch out, cliché crossing!) lap of luxury.

I slept in a bed last night. Under warm covers. My house is heated in the winter (propane heaters and wood stoves) and cooled in summer (window units and ceiling fans). I have indoor plumbing. My roof doesn’t leak when it rains. The only time I know the pains of hunger is when I get too busy to notice lunchtime passed me by or when I’m voluntarily fasting. Neither happen often, and a pantry and ‘frig filled with real food (nutritious, clean, non-fake) invites me to satiate my appetite at will. There are even fruit trees and berry vines growing on my property. My closets and drawers are filled with so many nice clothes (no one guesses from thrift shops and garage sales years ago) that I can go for weeks without doing laundry. And when I do, I have an automatic washing machine. And books, lots of books, and electric lights so I can read late into the evening. And something I never even knew as a teenager, I have a computer that lets me work from home and make friends with people I may never see–in other states and even in other parts of the world! Telephone enables me to speak to my son as if he were in the same room, though he lives five hours away. If I want to visit him, I have not one car but two, and my husband has a truck (all three combined costing less than a motorcycle costs new, leaving us money to put gasoline in their tanks). I have the freedom to go nearly anywhere I might choose.

Through the ages, kings haven’t had it so good. The world’s richest people may have a greater quantity of what I have, they may have more expensive versions of what I have, but they don’t essentially have more. And I’m not even considering those non-physical aspects of life that are most important.

I woke up this morning in my comfortable bed, thinking about perspective. When a writer creates a character, places that character in a setting, and plots to tell that character’s life for the length of the story, everything hinges on perspective. When I read a story, fiction or non-fiction, to truly appreciate and understand the truth of it requires that I have the proper perspective. What is the proper perspective? I may be wrong, but I think it’s simply the truth … in all its simplicity.

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to edit a blank page?

Unlike snow-covered fields and icicles hanging from trees, a blank page and a totally clear mind are not conducive to waking the muse. Inspiration shies away from the perspiration of putting thoughts down as words. But once you let your fingers race across the keyboard, leaving their prints all across the page like children’s shoe-prints in the snow, anything goes! You look up and see the whole world reflected in the clarity of an icicle.

There’s got to be a vision before there can be any re-vision. So put it on the page!

Every writer needs a platform. So say my how-to-be-a-writer books. Gone are the days when a writer can be published on the merit of her manuscript. Now, before most agents will consider her she’s got to have a platform. (And as for being published without a platform or an agent, only the small press–like Whyte Dove Press, publisher of my children’s novel, Man in the Moon–offers the novice her only hope of having someone even read her manuscript–or just her query–rather than toss it in the can.) So what’s a platform anyway?

Platform … like shoes, subways, scaffolds, soapboxes? Hmmm.

The 1970’s platform shoes (and more recent comebacks) elevate a gal to a level where she can look most guys straight in the eye. Does that mean having a platform will elevate me to the stature of literary greats and bestselling authors? Probably not. But it may let me look an agent straight in the eye when I’m trying to convince him/her to represent me.

Is an author’s platform like standing next to the fast track in a subway station, poised to leap on the next train bound for success? Something like that perhaps; one false move might be fatal. Or maybe it’s like a scaffold. From my platform I could spray paint my name on billboards or bulletin boards all across America–or the world–via the web. Can I build enough name recognition that mentioning K. A. Young at an office party will get as many knowing nods (as opposed to blank stares) as the names Shakespeare and Steven King? Probably not. But I may be able to use my platform to get an agent to remember my name after I’ve introduced myself.

Maybe a writer’s platform is more like a soapbox. By having a blog and a web site, I can have my say in cyberspace. People will rally ’round as they hear the beating of my drum and the blowing of my horn. If they like what I say and how I say it, an agent may see the dust of many browsers clicking on my horizon and come see what all the fuss is about. Maybe I’ll be offered a book deal.

Eeeks! As soon as I get my web site finished (next week I hope), I better hurry up and finish my next novel. Just in case my platform in the Gulf hits oil.

My first professional blog. Feels like moving into a new apartment. As an author with more ideas than time, I plan to use this blog to try out novel ideas (pun intended).

The view in the wordpress neighborhood promises to be inspiring. Perhaps, once I’ve settled in, I can contribute to the literary environs here. If anyone stops by to see the new face, thanks for your interest; I soon hope to have something worth reading about.

If you’d like to recommend a blog by or about writing, please leave a comment.