Monday, May 12, 2008

Collages and Contests

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

So, Saturday Groovy asked me what I use the collage for. I actually post the collage of whatever my current WIP is as wallpaper on my computer and use it to remember what my characters look like! LOL...

I'm only partly joking about that. As I've mentioned before, I frequently travel from one story to another, so it's easy to forget what color hair someone has. I also like to remember some of the important things in a story, and that's easy to lose sight of.

So, I have collages for most of my WIPs.

Return to Stiller Creek:



The Possibility of Forever (Formerly Camilla's Critters):


One Love for Liv:



You saw what I have for Kitchen Matches. I'm still working on one for "Playing House" and "Queen and Assassin" (that one will undoubtedly be the toughest, since it's a fantasy).

Yes, I do use the pix of the H/H and pets to send to the art departments of both publishers. But, mostly I do it for me.

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~~~permission to forward granted~~~


The Long and the Short of It's First Annual Short Story Contest

It's said everyone has at least one story inside them. This is your chance to let yours out. The Long and the Short of It is seeking the best new short story 1,000 words or less.

So... put on your thinking cap, dial up your muse, and give it a shot. The story must be a romance and must end with a HEA. PG-13 or less, please. You can see samples of the types of stories we're looking for by checking their short story archive here.

The Grand Prize Winner will receive, in addition to publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner for their blog or website, one year free book cover/banner advertising, six months author pages, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.

First prize will receive publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner for their blog or website, six month author page + three month free book cover/ banner advertising, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.

Second prize will receive publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner for their blog or website, three months book cover/banner advertising, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.

Five honorable mentions will receive publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.

TWELVE DOOR PRIZES (randomly drawn from all participants):

One copy of Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress

Six autographed books

Six goodie bags

Please send your entry via email (lasrcontests @ gmail.com-- no spaces) with the subject line: Short Story Contest: NAME OF STORY

Your entry will be provided to our judges with all identifying names removed and will be scored by a rating system.

Deadline for this contest is June 14, 2008. The winners and runners up will be posted July 1, 2008. By entering the contest, you agree to allow The Long and the Short of It to publish your entry on the LASR website. All stories chosen to be published will be archived for a period of six months following publication. All rights revert back to the author at that time and, at the author's written request, the story will be pulled from our archives.

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What's Important to You... And What Isn't:
For you, primal needs like eating and sleeping are your top priorities.
You don't mind having things to get done... as long as they don't pile up on you.
You have trouble giving time to any of your priorities. You life is too busy and chaotic.
You want thinking to be a high priority, but you don't take enough time for yourself.

10 comments:

Sarita Leone said...

Your collages are very attractive and sound like they work well for you. I'll bet they're a lot of help with covers, too.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Love the flower pics!

Judy said...

OMG... that test has you spot on! Off to take it myself now....

Melissa McClone said...

What's Important to You... And What Isn't:

For you, sex is usually your number one priority.

You find getting things done to be incredibly stressful. You don't like having things to do.

Your most important priorities get your attention. You are happily able to let the less important things slide.

You want thinking to be a high priority, but you don't take enough time for yourself.


I have to admit, this is pretty spot on.

Dru said...

For you, primal needs like eating and sleeping are your top priorities.

You don't mind having things to get done... as long as they don't pile up on you.

Your most important priorities get your attention. You are happily able to let the less important things slide.

You want thinking to be a high priority, but you don't take enough time for yourself.


it's pretty accurate.

Dena said...

Lots of Author's do collages, so they must work and yours are really good.

My Quiz is the same as Dru's

Jen said...

It was so much fun to see the collages!

Anonymous said...

I always say I'm going to try a collage, but never get around to it. Yours are so neat, though! Great work. Aside from helping you keep track of hair color and stuff, do you think they help you keep the "feel" of the story in mind while you're writing?

===============

For you, entertainment is usually your number one priority.

You find getting things done to be incredibly stressful. You don't like having things to do.

You have trouble giving time to any of your priorities. You life is too busy and chaotic.

You want thinking to be a high priority, but you don't take enough time for yourself.

Anonymous said...

I swear I'm not anonymous! Cripes, mistype one stinkin' key....

Brandy said...

I thinm the collages are very smart, it keeps you on track as far as your characters are concerned, so they're doing their job. *G*

My quiz was the same as Melissa's. I'm not sure how on target it was.

Have a nice monday!

Diane Craver said...

I love your collages. I've never done them but definitely can see how beneficial they are to authors. Maybe I'll do a collage for my new WIP.