Young Chicago Authors - the Area 17 ceremony

May 25, 2011, the culminating ceremony for the Area 17 Chicago Young Authors celebration was held at the Dr. Alexander Bouchet Math & Science Academy, and I was there as a guest of the coordinator, Tina Franklin-Bertrand. 

Author B. A. Binns and Area 17 Youth Authors Coordinator Mrs. Franklin-Bertrand

Many of the winners were stories I judged last Friday.  

Primary, Intermediate and Middle school students arrived early to read each others books and get their well-earned rewards. It was my pleasure to see all the Area 17 students, Honorable Mentions, Excellent and Outstanding, in the audience and marching across the stage.

Students, teachers and supporters of the young authors.

For the Primary grades,
Trip To The Zoo by C. Patterson took home the Excellent prizeThe Return of Super Marcus by M. Frazier the Outstanding prize.
For the Intermediate grades,
A to Z Math Terms by C. Tareef took ExcellentI Wish Horses Were Blue by A. Burks the Outstanding prize.
For Middle School,
Why Me? by K. Cruse took ExcellentTimes Get Hard by L. Anderson won the Outstanding prize.
Times Get Hard, the Middle School Outstanding book, is a group of poems that I had the pleasure to judge.  Having read it already, I was not surprised when it won the top Middle School honor.  In spite of the title, many of the poems contained in the slim volume showed hope.

 After reading this and a number of the other Honorable Mentions, Excellent and  Outstanding stories, I can honestly call all the writers in the room winners, along with their parents, teachers and supporters. Everyone deserved their medals.  As I was able to tell all the students in the room, welcome to the world of writing. I consider all of them my hard-working companions in this endeavor we call writing.

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Things I learned from being a contest coordinator

I'm in the final stages of being contest coordinator for my RWA chapter's writing contest - I know, I did it before and you'd think I would learn, but for some reason I agreed to do it again. 

We have an all-electronic contest now - last time we tried to allow people to submit either electronic or paper because it was the transition year. I remember the conversion year, and every time I hear people say the RWA Golden Heart, with over a thousand entries, could easily convert, I cringe.

Judging isn't easy - and never unanimous
For 2011 we had 120 entries, everyone found at least one pubbed judge per our rules.  I did see some strange things, we have a system to allow for an extra judge in the face of discrepancies, such as one judge giving a manuscript a 95 and another a 50 (I kid you not, we had that kind of differences in opinion). Thanks to the system, that entry went on to become one of the finalists because our rules  require the opinion of a third judge in those situations.

Contest Results
We had a number of requests from the agents and editors who served as final judges. And that's where I learned most. As the coordinator exchanging emails with these judges, I became privy to something that doesn't often happen with generic rejection emails.  Several of the judges provided reasons for their ratings.  One had excellent writing skills but the work did not feel like a Romance.  Some felt  a particular manuscript had little market potential, or that the dialog was unrealistic.  No one seemed to worry about the dreaded prologue, but they did have problems with too much backstory up front.

ALL-IN-ALL
I've kearned that the things we're told about in workshops and discussions, meeting reader expectations, keeping up the pace and good dialog.  It's not the occasional comma or type; it really is all about the writing and having a strong theme. And recognizing that agents and editors are people too.  

What do you think, should I do this again?

Book Review - On These Silken Sheets

On These Silken Sheets by Sabrina Darby


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My guilty secret - this is one of the books that taught me to enjoy erotic romance. There are four inter-related novellas about the goings on at Harriden House, ont of Regency England's most exclusive gentlemen's clubs run by the secretive Madame Rouge. She, and three of her friends meet men, have sex and fall in love -- in that order.




In Harriden House every possible sexual act between consenting adults can be purchased or observed or both. But its not only about body parts as the men discover when they meet the right woman. Even Madame Rouge herself finds a soulmate. And in the fifth and final vignette, readers get an epilogue that shows that Happily Ever After doesn't always have to mean love and marriage.




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Young Chicago Authors are GREAT writers

I spent today in Chicago judging at the annual Young Chicago writers competition, that includes poetry, fiction and instructional stories by kids from first grade through 8th. I am amazed at the quality of some of the writing there.  My very first read - a book of poetry of all things (I am not usually a poetry fan) blew me away. I would have paid money for that book, the author was that good, and I hope to see her at Printers Row in June as one of the winners.

The competition is divided into three groups, 1-2 grade, 3-5, and 6-8. Every manuscript was a finalist at the local level, what we read were the best of the best. I joined other authors, educators, and administrators in reading and judging the stories. My hat is off to the students of Chicago, and the great writing they exhibited.  I have judged adult contests where the writing did not pull me in as deeply as some of these entries did. Congratulations to all the students who entered and showed they could write interesting and compelling works.  Not to mention cover and interior artwork.

It was nice to see something good coming from today's youth, and I've already marked my calendar to participate again next year.

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Yesterday was my day for stardom. I was a guest on the Laura Dion-Jones Radio Show, WRMN 1410 AM broadcasting from Elgin, Illinois. (Someday I will have to put a radio program in one of my books).   Naturally I alerted all my friends in the area - both of them (haha) - so they would listen in while I promoted myself and my book, PULL.

The people at the station were gracious. I arrived early, good thing because I needed time to catch my breath after climbing the long flight of stairs to the studio.  The Green Room where I waited - well, it wasn't green. It was the employee lunge, that wasn't a lounge, more a combination mail room and kitchenette. I'm detail oriented, always thinking of the next book.

The minute the show began everyone became professional. Laura had a script that she didn't need to use, looks like it was there more to mark off topics as they were covered, probably just something to use "just in case." She never needed it. Only the guy doing the commercials read from his paper - have to get the names and facts exactly right.

I never stuttered once, even with the microphone right next to my mouth. I swear I used to be an introvert, and somewhere deep inside I still am, but I've learned to hide it well.

And I even got a fan email afterward.

What's wrong with bookstores

I h ave a friend who wanted to buy my book. She doesn't like Internet shopping, so don't tell her about Amazon or other online venues - yes, such people still exist. I sent her to the local Barnes and Noble. The didn't have the book in stock and told her to go to the Internet and order it herself.  She went to a second store and got the same answer, no we don't have it, no we won't order it, do it yourself.

In the end I sold her one of my copies, because she wanted the book and I wasn't going to let a fan down. She's an old-fashioned type doesn't purchase online - such people do still exist in droves. She was willing to drive to not one but two different stores to make the purchase, and both stores failed her.

Is it me, or is something wrong with the world? I just can't understand why a brick and mortar Barnes & Noble didn't want to make the sale themselves. Has the world of book selling changed that much?

Book Review - My Invented Life

My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Roz decides to pretend she's a lesbian because she's in love with her sister's boyfriend. There's a lot to like about this story, but a lot is anit-climatic too. As she dips into her pretend world she, and the reader, learn something about being homosexual. She even finds a gay best friend - these guys are all over the place in books these days. The good news is she manages to help him deal with his family issues because of his gay status, and she helps her sister, the real lesbian in the family.

There's a lot of humor in this story involving a drama group and their attemps to put on a show in the midsts of Roz's shenanigans.

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