Short Story Contest. No Entry Fee!

Now that you’ve blogged about what you are thankful for and stuffed yourself with Thanksgiving goodies, now that you have finished your NaNoWriMo entry and celebrated your success, now that you have survived your Black Friday shopping and have not yet gotten into the Christmas mood (or have already gotten out of it)...

Think Spring!!

Second Wind Publishing is sponsoring a short story contest. The theme is . . . you guessed it! Spring. Spring and renewal to be exact. Your stories do not have to be light and uplifting (which should be welcome news for all of you writers who pen dark fiction), but they do have to fit the theme. The story should be your own work, no more than 5,000 words, and must not have been published anywhere, not even on your own blog.

There is no entry fee.

The contest is open to anyone in the world, 18 or older, though the entry must be written in English. The deadline is December 31, 2011. The best entries will be posted on the Second Wind Contest Blog for everyone to read and comment.

The winning entry will be published in the upcoming Second Wind anthology, Change is in the Wind. This anthology is a collection of stories by the authors of Second Wind, so you will be in good company. The winner will also receive a coupon from Smashwords.com for an unlimited number of free downloads of the anthology for one month. The coupon can be sent to as many people as you wish during that month. The winner will also be able to purchase an unlimited number of print copies of the anthology at half price plus shipping costs. And the winner will receive a one year free VIP account from Angie’s Diary, the online writing magazine to help you get even more exposure for your writing. ($99.95 value).

So what are you waiting for? Encouragement? Then here it is: you can write a wonderful short story! Please send your story as a Word .doc or .docx to secondwindpublishing@gmail.com. We are looking forward to reading it!

For more information, click here: Second Wind Contest Blog.

Inviting You to Enter a Short Story Contest

Second Wind Publishing invites you to submit an entry to their short story contest.

Stories are to be about spring or renewal.

Contest entries must be your own original work. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Self-published stories are acceptable, but the story must not exist in print form or in any other anthology. The story must be no longer than 5,000 words.

The contest is open to anyone in the world, 18 or older, though the entry must be written in English. All entries will be posted on the Second Wind Contest Blog for everyone to read and comment. The authors and management of Second Wind Publishing will choose the three finalists, but reader comments will be taken into consideration. Entries will be judged on originality, readability, writing skills, characterization, and plot. Spelling and grammar count. The decision of the judges is final.

Everyone is welcome to vote for the winner, which is to be chosen from the three finalists.

The winning entry will be published in the upcoming Second Wind anthology, Change is in the Wind. (Title subject to change.) The winner will also receive a coupon from Smashwords.com for an unlimited number of free downloads of the anthology for one month. The coupon can be sent to as many people as you wish during that month. The winner will also be able to purchase an unlimited number of print copies of the anthology at half price plus shipping costs.

All entries will be deleted once the contest is over.

The contest begins today, October 3, 2011 and ends December 31, 2011.

Schedule:
December 31, 2011 at 11:59 pm: Contest ends.
January 1 — January 15, 2012: Judging of entries by 2W (and 2W authors) to pick top three entries
January 15 — January 31, 2012: Judging of the three finalists by blog readers to pick the winner
February 1, 2012: Winner announced
April 1, 2012 Book on Amazon for sale (In an ideal world …)

Please send your entries as a Word .doc or .docx to secondwindpublishing@gmail.com

Best of luck to all of you!!

Why Should I Read Your Novel? Why Should You Read Mine?

Why should I read your novel? Why should anyone? Only you know the answer to that, and you tell us by the story you choose to tell, the characters you choose to create, the themes you choose to develop.

We read not so much to escape our lives but to add meaning, understanding, and depth to our days. If we find nothing but the same old stories told in the same old ways, we come away from the experience intellectually and emotionally unsatisfied. If the characters don't change in a fundamental way, if they don't struggle with an idea bigger than they are, we don't change either.

Too often when I finish reading a book, I wonder why I bothered. The story is stale, the characters undeveloped, the stakes trivial, the theme banal. This is particularly true of books written by prolific authors. After three or four books, they plagiarize themselves, using the same basic characters and plots they did before. Perhaps their first book was fresh, with something new to say, but that something becomes stale with each succeeding book.

This is especially true in today's traditional book market where an author is expected to churn out a clone every year. And aspiring authors are being steered into that same pattern. They're told to write in the genre they read because obviously they like the genre and because they are familiar with its conventions. But perhaps the opposite is true. Perhaps they should write in a genre they don't read so they don't keep perpetuating clichés. They might unwittingly rehash old stories in the unfamiliar genre, but there is greater chance of saying something new.

My current work-in-progress is developing into a whimsically ironic allegorical apocalyptic novel, which is bizarre because I don't read that particular type of book; I don't even know if that is a type. What isn't bizarre, though, is all I am learning by writing in an unfamiliar genre. I may very well be writing a clichéd story -- I have no way of knowing -- but at least I am coming to it from my own unique viewpoint, not the distilled vision of all the authors who have gone before. And I am learning more about writing from this novel than any of my previous ones because I have to pull what comes next out of the creative ether, not from my memory of the stories I have previously read.

Without a mystery at its core as in my previous works, I have to search for other ways of adding tension to the story such as the inner conflicts that beset my hero. How much freedom is he willing to give up for security? How much security is he willing to give up for freedom? How much of freedom and security are illusory? And I am becoming cognizant of theme, symbols, and other mythic elements as ways of unifying disparate parts of the story.

So why should you read my book when it's completed? Because, if I do it right, it will be an entertaining way for you come to terms with one of the major dilemmas facing us today, and it will take you into the life of a character whose conflicts and choices will help make sense of your own life.

At least, that's the way story is supposed to work.

Update #5 on the suspenseful work-in-progress Remote Control

“Be careful what you wish for,” they say, but for forty-four-year-old Harold Fielding, who unfortunately isn’t one to listen to such good advice, those words will come back to haunt him.

Harold―Harry―always rebels against the norm. In fact, he says, “Wishes are like saying grace―something to be said before every meal.” So he wishes at least five times a day, while growing exceedingly fat.

However, good ole Harry has an excuse.

“If I wish hard enough,” he tells his wife Beatrice, “my wishes will eventually come true.”

Harry’s a TV fanatic and, surprisingly, very intelligent. He spends about ten hours a day parked in front of his ten-year-old Sanyo television with the remote control in hand, while watching shows on just about everything. The next day, he can tell you all about it; his recall is nearly perfect.

He never once contemplates actually working a forty-hour week and earning money. He’s already maxed out the VISA and MasterCard, plus a small bank loan that Beatrice knows nothing about. And now he’s waiting for his fortune to fall in his lap. Sadly, there’s no room there, so whatever good luck finds him usually ends up in a puddle on the floor.

Harry’s good with puddles. He’s a plumber by trade, when he bothers to do a job. The truth is, he’s been having trouble maneuvering under kitchen sinks; his stomach keeps getting in the way. Six months ago, he was depressed, which made him eat more. He’d almost lost faith that there is something better for him…somewhere…out there, and then fate stepped in. After a chance run-in with an old classmate (Harry nearly knocked him down a flight of stairs when they passed on a landing), who happens to be very wealthy and who recommends one book, Harry’s life changes forever.

The Secret sits on the shelf behind the toilet. Harry reads it every day while relieving himself of the pounds of food he’s eaten that day. Since he’s always there a while, he can usually get through five or six pages a visit.

“I’ve read it now from beginning to end at least five times,” he boasts to his friends.

Of course, he hasn’t quite figured out that one must work towards receiving the good things in life, whether by deed or thought. He just figures that if he wishes for something, he’ll attract it. Eventually.

Be careful what you wish for, Harry.

...

Read the work-in-progress so far.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, Canadian suspense author

Check out my 'work-in-progress' - Remote Control

I've added a "work-in-progress" to my site. I'll be posting additional paragraphs to it as I have time, up to the conclusion. I hope you check back every week or so.

Ironically, a TV game show came out in '87. It was called 'Remote Control'. I never heard about it until today when I did some research. Also, in 1988, a movie was released with the same title. I never saw that either. There's also another movie--one that is more current and probably better known. I'm sure you'll think of the title when you read my story. Keep in mind, I had this concept and wrote about it in 1987.

The story you're about to read was originally written in early 1987 by Cheryl Y. Kaye, in the small town of Chatham, New Brunswick, now known as the Miramichi. It was written as a 2700 word short story. However, it looks as if it will be closer to a novelette, about 10,000 words, when finished. This story was never published.

I am cleaning it up now, adding to it, changing the tense and tone and I quite like where it's going. It's not the exact original--I think now it's even better. I welcome your thoughts, so feel free to leave me a comment.

I can't recall what made me write the original story, but it has always been a favorite of mine. Perhaps it was inspired by that old saying...

"Be careful what you wish for."

And now....

Remote Control

I used to say: 'When I grow up, I want to be an author.'

When I was young I always thought, 'When I grow up, I want to be an author.' At about 3 or 4, I was caught scribbling lines in my Dr. Seuss book. When my mother asked me what I was doing, I told her I was writing the story.

At about 14, I took my first writing job. I was a journalist for a small newspaper in BC. I made $5.00/week.

At 16, I wrote my first novel, took it to school to show my LA teacher and someone broke into my locker and stole the manuscript. This was before MS Word! I had typed it out on my mother's typewriter. The only copy. I was devastated.

When I graduated high school, I knew I needed a career that paid money...and I knew that a new writer--even published--doesn't make much. So off I went to hairdressing school. At the age of 23, I owned my own salon, becoming the youngest salon owner in BC at that time. And between cutting and perming, I wrote a Health & Beauty column for a military newspaper.

I got married and moved to the east coast. There, I took a Journalism & Short Story Writing course and graduated with Highest Honours and a 96% average. I went on to write another novel.

Shortly after my daughter was born, we moved to Vancouver, BC, and I became a motivational speaker for a well-known international company. Every week, I held 3-4 sessions where I spoke to hundreds of people. I was dedicated to helping them overcome certain obstacles in their lives. I loved this job--and it became a way of life for me and it also involved writing. I loved seeing people transform, seeing their lives so enriched, and it challenged me to be a better speaker every week.

After almost 2 years with this company, I had some health issues plus another opportunity, and I made one of the hardest decisions of my life. I decided to leave Vancouver, and my job, and my family moved to Edmonton, AB. Before I left, everyone from one of my weekly sessions gathered together and gave me a going away party. I was very torn between wanting to stay and continuing to help motivate these people or leaving.

The move to Edmonton turned out to be the best thing--for me and my husband. After homeschooling my daughter for a year, I decided to go into home childcare so I could stay at home with her. At the same time, I wrote 2 children's picture books and illustrated them. I had them printed and bound into prototypes, but was unable to find a publisher. I continued with childcare for over 15 years.

During the last 5 years of this career, I began a childcare consulting business and then wrote and published The Edmonton Childcare Directory. This lasted a year. Then I wrote a romance novel and newsletters about my dayhome. I sent the latter to all our neighbors. And in the back of my mind, I kept saying, 'When I grow up, I want to be an author.'

I quit childcare and went on to be a Pampered Chef consultant. I really enjoyed the parties and cooking in front of people. I loved it. I loved visiting with adults. I was still doing this when I wrote my first novel, but once it took off, I quit Pampered Chef.

I am now a full-time author with 3 bestsellers--Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention. And I couldn't be happier. I am doing something that makes me feel so fulfilled, so...me. I am never short for ideas. I have a list of books I want to write.

I live in Edmonton now, where I am considered to be a bit of a "celebrity". It is fun seeing my name and photo on the front cover of a newspaper or watching myself on TV or listening to a radio interview. But even that little natural 'high' is nothing compared to the joy I feel when I complete a book. Or when I hear back from fans.

I always used to say, 'When I grow up, I want to be an author.' I guess you could say... I finally grew up. :)

I invite you to check out my novels. If you read and review any of them, please let me know and I'll write about it on my blogs and link to your site/blog.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, bestselling author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention