"Two wrongs may not make a right but a thousand wrongs make a writer.”

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Writing is not for fools

I came within a hair of winning Andrea Cremer's paranormal haiku contest for one of her "signed" NIGHTSHADE arcs. This, hot off the Cremer Express:

THE NOMINEES ARE:

Best Drama:

Yvonne

A night bird twittered
at the window, tapped the sill.
A chirp then a claw.


The competition was stiff as a pair of jeans hung out to dry so I'm considering the finalist category the winner's circle. She promises more of these giveaways so check her blog out. She's one of my oldest blogging friends and is about to be famous worldwide!

Another contest I want to mention this morning is Lady Glamis's short story contest. It runs until June 1st so plenty of time to hone that short and the prizes are very much worth your effort.

Tomorrow is Good Friday with a Flash 55 to conjure up. I have stories and poems out on submission and a nifty rejection in my inbox from Ploughshares. I've recovered from my blog transformation, and I just backed up my novel by emailing it to myself which I thought a pretty good idea since I keep my flashdrive in the vicinity of my laptop and hardcopy is somewhat combustible. And the query letter? Umm, yeah, it's here staring me in the face like a albatross.
Albatross n, 2 a: something that causes persistent deep concern or anxiety.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know this is a generic comment, but I love that poem. (the only thing is that "twitter" is a ruined word now because of the social media connection. grr).
Love. that. poem.
love it. okay, enough. love it, bye.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Oh...I didn't even make that connection. Maybe because I don't "Twitter". I guess it's like the word gay, which has lost it's original meaning.

Thank you so much.

Unspoken said...

The last line made me laugh :). perfect! Oh, good luck on all that you have going!

Anonymous said...

Nice job, Yvonne. Nice new look on the blog, as well. Best on all your submissions that are out there right now.

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

I love the dark twist in that haiku, Yvonne. You're right there was some stiff competition. And I soooo wanted that ARC.
Good luck with your submissions.

Nessa said...

Your haiku ends quite ominously. Cool.

Talli Roland said...

I love the claw bit at the end. Brilliant twist.

Good luck with the querying!

Andrea Cremer said...

Thanks so much for your entries, Yvonne. I adored your haiku. Keep the entries coming in future contests!!

mary.anne.gruen@gmail.com said...

I like your dark twist too! This is something I could never write. There would just be too much backstory on the bird. LOL

sarahjayne smythe said...

I am in awe of your wicked mad haiku skillz. :) It's something I could never do.

Jemi Fraser said...

Nice :) And congrats on being a finalist - that's awesome!

Yvonne Osborne said...

Amy,
Hi. And Thanks!

Cat,
Thank you! Glad you like my new look.

Tricia,
Thanks! You came pretty close too! I loved yours.

Nessa,
Hi there. Thanks. There's something creepy about a bird at the window in the night. It actually happened to me recently.
(but not the claw)

Talli,
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it.

Andrea,
Thank you and thanks for the awesome contest. It was neat that you picked haiku for the competition. I will keep an eye on things over there!

Hi Mary Ann,
Thanks! Your comment made me smile. Yeah, backstory and haiku don't go too well together!

Sarahjayne,
Thank you so much!! It's a neat format to play with and I like the history behind the form.

Jemi,
Thanks! I felt pretty happy about it and considered myself almost a winner!