ALWAYS THE BRIDESMAID...

Ok, so the 15th has come and gone, and I've not had an e-mail from SIWC, so that means even though my poetry was shortlisted for their contest for the SECOND time, I've come away again with no prize.

"Pity party of one, Mr. Baker? We have a seat ready for you...it's an electric chair."

So...just a little more self-pity before I move on. My picture book, Joanie Ark: Dragon Slayer scores a 97% at PNWA this year, and still doesn't make finals. I've been shortlisted for poetry at the Vancouver Readers and Writers Festival...and won nothing. I've been shortlisted at SIWC twice now...and won nothing. It's a wee bit frustrating to come so close and still walk away empty-handed.

A small publisher has told me they're interested in my chapter book series for the end of 2012, but I still don't have any contract in hand for The Abracadabra Amulet.

A query I sent out last week to a small publisher for my contemporary YA mystery/thriller, One-Way Ticket, came back the very next day with requests from two of their editors for a full manuscript, which I promptly sent. I'm hoping for a little good news...from somewhere? For some piece of writing I've done?

That's why I'm gearing up for SIWC. I'll be pitching two novels, two chapter book series, and two picture books. I also have two new writing deadlines for novellas I'm working on for novella contests in November and December of this year. So I'm going to turn that self-pity into determination--into making sure that my writings are so compelling that they're irresistible to all who read them.

If you need me, I'll be in Dreamland for the next few months...after all, I'm back to writing! ;-)

PNWA RESULTS--OUTSTANDING!

This year, I submitted a children's picture book, JOANIE ARK: DRAGON SLAYER, and three of my poems to PNWA's writing contests. Each work comes back with critiques...and that's got me excited:

Here are some of the judges' comments about JOANIE ARK: DRAGON SLAYER:

• "The character is a tough little girl with a wonderful imagination--I totally fell in love with her."
• "There is an easy flow, a natural buildup of suspense, and the conclusion is wonderful."
• "Magical and imaginative!"
• "A charming story about a little girl who doesn't want to be a princess."

Now here's the kicker: one of the judges scored it 97%. The tougher marker gave me 89%, which resulted in it not making the shortlist--sigh--but many of the comments given showed me that this is PUBLISHABLE NOW! I fully expect to see this picture book in print in the not-too-distant future.

As for the POETRY, here are some of the judges' comments:

• "The vocabulary of these poems is simple but effective. The author combines words to form unique phrases and images, as in "a marriage of two soles" and "words waking between us."
• "Best lines: "In the daylight, winter wills me to you. I follow" and "startles strangers who wade / into a world where even the weave of seaweed / can't wall us away."
• "Strong images in 'Boys of Summer' deftly place the reader at the center of the action. The reader is invited to experience the poem rather than just observe it."
• "The author has an excellent grasp of form. The two interlocking poems in 'Silver Anniversary' are a great example of this deftness. Similarly, in 'The Swing of Things,' the subtle repetition of the first stanza as the final line of each consecutive stanza is brilliant."
• "The last lines of 'Boys of Summer' appropriately mimic the vanishing footprints that the speaker describes." 
• "Nothing in these poems feels contrived, and nearly every line strikes just the right tone."
• "The spare, energetic imagery of these poems does a great job of showing emotion, rather than telling the reader how to feel. A great example of this is the speaker staring at the fading footprints at the end of 'Boys of Summer.' We are not told directly that the speaker is upset, wistful....We are simply left with an image."
• "The speaker's tone is even-handed and appropriate to the subject matter. 'Silver Anniversary' is tender but not sentimental.
• "The author is adept at both simple, direct lines and more experimental devices. The jumbled lines at the end of 'Boys of Summer' are an enormous risk to take in a poem of such direct imagery, but they end up working very well to slow the reader's eye, catching us in that final image."
• "All in all, these are some truly professional poems."

The bad news? You guessed it--my poems, despite the glowing comments--did not make finals. Arghhh! 

Still, the comments given are food for my poetic soul. I KNOW my poetry is breaking into new levels--reaching places it just WASN'T in years past. I fully expect to see some of my poetry win contests and get published within the coming year. Yes, I do feel that good about it--even with the possibility of having egg on my face and a foot in my mouth a year from now...!

NINE MONTHS OF BUILDING MY WRITING...MY BABY!

Here's what I've managed to keep track of in the past nine months...good chance of missing something, but I'll do my best not to:

• Completed the 50000-word version of my YA mystery / thriller, ONE WAY TICKET
• Joined several writing organizations--SCBWI, CAA, FEDBCW, and PNWA. Have learned a lot from them already.
• Wrote a "dissection" nonfiction book about the writing technique found in the prologue of Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting.
• Wrote a novella called DATESASTERS that I'm aiming at Orca Books hi-lo market.
• Wrote two picture books--one that I changed to a prose form instead of its original verse form, IF VOLCANOES SPEWED TOMATOES, and the other, an updated fairy tale: JOANIE ARK: DRAGON SLAYER.
• Completed NINE new poems and several original mashups of older work.
• Completed major research and the first hundred pages or so of my new novel, a medieval fantasy, ARIETTA: SUMMER OF BLADES.
• Wrote a short story, "Black and White Negatives," and completed four different versions of it--3500+ words, under 3000 words, under 2500 words, and under 2000 words--to ensure it qualified for entry into different contests. An excellent exercise in culling, to be sure.
• Did research in a way I've never before attempted for a new novel I'm planning and have banged out about 10 000 words of: GANGSTER GIRLFRIEND.
• Did research in a way I've never before attempted for a new novel I'm planning and have banged out about the first 10 000 words for... STACK THE DECK: NEW DIRECTIONS.
• Did research in a--well, you get it by now--for another new novel I've been playing with: THE PRIMORPHIANS: MILLA'S STORY.
• Completed a 10000-word chapter book, THE ABRACADABRA AMULET, which is to be the first of a series entitled The Arkymalarky Adventures of Ackamarackus Artleby (Acker, for short!).
• Planned out a girl's chapter book series which I'm calling THE GALAXY GIRLS. First book planned, and in the process of being written now. 
• Wrote a cascade poem--a new form for me--and LOVED the result!
• Created two chapbooks of poetry to enter into contests: KALEIDOSCOPE: Bright Lives Broken, and ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN.
• Took Food Network's Spice Goddess  Bal Arneson's rough notes and story and rewrote it into a compelling memoir, VILLAGE GIRL. 
• Started submitting my work more seriously--my goal in 2011 was to enter at least 12 writing contests, at a rate of one per month. By the end of July now, I've entered 14! 
• Started submitting my poetry to higher level literary journals as of June 29th. I started with four different sets of poems to four different journals I love: Fiddlehead, Event, Capilano Review, and Antigonish Review. I feel it's at a level now where it belongs...maybe those rejections won't be so automatic...maybe some published works may result from it--we'll see...
• Oh, and I have one VERY exciting piece of news, although I'm not sure if it's too early yet to tell it...