New Voices competition

Well we did it! We bit the bullet and sent our babies ‘out there’!

Tracey, Fiona, Roseanne, Dana, and Annie submitted their first chapters to the Harlequin Mills and Boon New Voices competition.

Tracey submitted Vacancy in the Family, a manuscript she holds quite dear, to the Warm and Cozy category.

Fiona submitted a brand spanking new medical to the Contemporary Romance category entitled The Doctor’s Dilemma. 

Intriguing us all, Roseanne has over-come technical difficulties and entered Full Moon Madness into the Romantic Suspense category!

Dana submitted her dark medieval, Porphyria’s Lover, to the Historical category.

And Annie surprised us all with a one minute to midnight entry of her contemporary romance, The Makeover Effect.

Follow the link and enjoy the read; while you’re at it rate our chapters, leaving a comment so we know that you’ve been there!

Good luck ladies!!!

Bootcamper Data File: Dana Scully

Name:  Dana Scully

Writes:  Historical Romance

Call sign:  Danal (Dana + anal...because ‘organisation is key’), Lois (because I’m the average woman tied to Superman)

Current mood:  “In the zone” (my ‘get it done mood’)

Reading:  Scoundrel’s Kiss by Carrie Lofty

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain

Pathophysiology:  Concepts of Altered Health States by Porth & Matfin

Cliffs Quick Review:  A&P; 

The Australian (daily newspaper)

The Week (weekly news mag) 

National Geographic (monthly subscription)

Web hang outs:  currently...any site that tells me what my local political candidates have or have not done

Favourite food when writing:  NOTHING.  I want NO distractions.  (But...there is a jar of pretzels on my desk for tension breakers...”crunch, crunch, CHOMP!”)

Favourite music:  Metallica, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Wagner, Paolo Nutini, Debussy, Sia, Nora Jones, Kings of Leon, Santana, the list goes on...

Watching:  Merlin; Big Bang Theory

Working on:  revisions of Believe in Fairy Tales

Quote:  “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

Dana at work

2010 Romancing the West wrap up

The 2010 RWA Romancing the West Conference took place this past Saturday, 1 May, in Western Australia’s beautiful capital city of Perth.

Four of Bootcamp’s inaugural members, Janine, Nikki, Tracey and Dana, attended the one day event.

Nikki Logan took centre stage mid morning for her presentation on branding and why you need it before you sell.  If you’ve not seen this presentation, you need to!   

Janine & Dana

Tracey & Nikki

Ms. Logan was amongst some of WA’s brightest and best.  Authors Fiona Lowe, Fiona Palmer, and Juliet Marillier also shared their time and talents to help attendees strengthen our opening paragraphs/chapters, heighten our hero and heroine conflict, find our voices, and make our fiction believable.

Although jam packed with brilliant presentations, the day was interspersed with opportunities to mingle and interact with authors, presenters and fellow writers, both current RWA members and those soon to be! 

A special thanks to Romancing the West’s committee members and coordinator!  Ladies, fabulous effort and thank you for this amazing event!

Also, a shout out to our sister campers from 209—Claire and Rachel—who not only attended but also helped organize the day!

I’ll definitely attending this event again and I highly suggest it to others!

~Dana Scully

What we are reading....Dana

It may sound like writer sacrilege, but I’ve sworn off buying another book until my TBR pile is gone, history, finito.  Unfortunately, with the number of books in that pile, it will be the turn of the next decade before I can even venture near the bookstore! 

But, don’t be sad for me, I have made one exception…for Australian authors—anymore that’s no small exception!

                  

Authors such as Bootcamp’s Rachel Bailey, Melissa James, and Nikki Logan go to the top of the pile, as do Australian’s Juliet Marillier, Anna Campbell, Anne Gracie, Denise Rossetti and Kiwi claimed Zana Bell!

                  

Between releases for those fantastic authors I have a stack of classics from Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (I’ve been trying to get through this one for about two months now—man, Henry loves to hear himself talk!!!) to Cervantes’ Don Quixote.  Then there are the non-fiction books on history, psychology, nutrition, OH&S and more!  And don’t forget the plethora of romance!  After all, one can never have enough romance!

                  

But what, you ask, am I reading right now? 

Well, at present, I’m re-reading Nikki Logan’s Lights, Camera, Kiss the Boss.  It’s just too good for a single go!!  I’ve also begun a re-read of Sarah Edelman’s (what do you know, she’s an Aussie too!!!) Change Your Thinking, because alas, even I have habits I would like to change, like re-reading books when I have five dozen in a non-diminishing pile that I haven’t read!!!  Add to these, the university books on pathophysiology and pain management, my weekly news magazine The Week, and my monthly National Geographic and well, I’m pretty read out!

But, in an endeavor to reduce the ever ubiquitous TBR pile, I will continue to read on, and on… and on and on and on.

Until then…happy writing.

Dana


On another note, this blog post makes our 150th!! Bootcampers Rock! And thanks Dana for a fantastic blog entry.
~Eleni

What we are reading....Dana and Alison

Dana

       

                  Highly recommended

               very sensual with original

               & well rounded characters

 

Alison

Book 3 of the King Raven Series (re-telling of Robin Hood tale)

Clayton's Conference

Wow!  And let me say again, Wow!  Ether-attending the 2009 Claytons Conference was an amazing experience!

When I signed up for the Claytons, I hadn’t thought I’d get the same pre-conference jitters that I had attending my first face-to-face conference, but I did.  So many questions raced through my anxious mind…

’Would I know anyone or would I be the silent odd man out?’

‘Would I say the wrong thing and embarrass myself?’

‘Would I learn what I needed to lift my writing to the next level?’

But my fears were for naught!  Sandie, Rhianne, and Diane had it all covered!  I can’t say enough about the organizers!  These women planned, coordinated and ran a successful on-line conference!  Well done, ladies!

The pre-conference eloop helped ease my first fear…’would I know anyone’.  Turns out, I did know a few people—including Bootcamp’s own Neely.  The participants met on-line before the start of the conference and got to know one another.  The coordinators started discussions that pulled us all together, so by the time of the actual conference we felt like old friends! This went a long way to alleviating my second fear…’would I say the wrong thing and embarrass myself.’  With these ladies—and one gentleman—I felt comfortable exploring topics and even making mistakes!

When it came time for the conference to begin, I was astounded at the quality of presenters!  Wow!  My fear that I wouldn’t learn anything to lift my writing was simply nonsensical!  I’ve learned heaps!  I’m still trying to process it all!  Thank you presenters and participants!

But the conference highlights didn’t end there…a few days after the Claytons I was surprised to find in my mailbox a huge parcel of Claytons Conference goodies!!!  And goodies they were!!!    Wow!  And double Wow!

So, next year for those who can’t make the face-to-face conference…sign up for the Claytons!  You’ll meet lots of fabulous romance writers in a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere and learn heaps!!!
 

~ Bootcamper Dana

April BIAM round up

Wow!  What a month!  April was BIAM (Book in a Month) month for Bootcamp 101.  All up we had 11 Bootcampers and one honourary camper (go Cassandra Pennington!!!) participate.  Together we wrote over 112,000 words!!!  We had some star achievers, too!  Nikki Logan took out the BIAM First Place Pro Award with Melissa James taking second place.  In the Semi Pro category newcomer Fiona Gregory took first place and Alison Leake second!   An honourable mention was handed out to Anne Newton, who wrote during amazing hardships and inspired us all!  (Go Anne-you rock!!!)

 Participants include:  Anne Newton, Eleni Konstantine, Rachel Bailey, Fiona Gregory,  Alison Leake, Jacqueline Wilson, Nikki Logan, Tracey Turner, Melissa James, Rosie Smiles, Cassandra Pennington, and Dana Scully.

First place finishers took home Darrel Lea red heart awards.  Chocolate goodness to nourish the writer’s soul!!!

Even those who did not achieve placing are counted as winners, having written more than blank pages and received Bootcamp BIAM bookmarks!!! 

 Amazing accomplishments ladies!!!  Way to go!!!  But wait-there’s more to come…the incomparable Nikki Logan has set another BIAM challenge for May, so look out for further manuscript accomplishments in coming posts!!!

 As always Bootcamp Rocks!!!

~Dana Scully

April is BIAM month

The 101ers have been busy undertaking a BIAM (Book In A Month). Now while it would be great to actually write a book in a month, that may not be realistic. So what it basically means is to try and reach your individual target for the month, whether it be 20K or a page a day. 

Dana is busy keeping us in line ;))

Everyone who is participating is having some great results. So we will let you know how it goes at the end of the month - and who the Champion will be.

Reading in 2008 ~ Dana

Wow!  2008 was a year I’m glad to put behind me…I learned much but at a hefty price-financially, healthfully, and spiritually.  Thankfully, helping me get through the year were the many varied books I read.  

Of course, Stephanie Meyer’s works were on the top of my TBR pile…but no-they didn’t stay there long…  Her unusual vampire hero re-spirited romance for me.  I believe a hero can be strong and sensitive yet have a twisted (somewhat demented) personal trait…and her Edward surely exemplifies this.  

 

  

Another author who isn’t as well known, but should be is Juliet Marillier.  Her young adult romances, Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Gift, made me believe in innocence and beauty.  If you haven’t yet read them-do!  

       

Oh, and who could forget The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Neffenegger!  I’ve never cried so much in my life!  For a brief time (brief because I was so enthralled in this book that I couldn’t put it down and thus I read it in a couple of sittings!), this extraordinary love story blotted out the turmoil in my own life…I was actually bereft when this book ended because I wanted to stay with the characters!  

Also, there are the manuscripts that I’ve been blessed with reading that aren’t yet published, but will be soon…my eternal thanks to Cassie Pennington and Nikki Logan for gifting me with the privilege!  Anyway, that’s a brief wrap on 2008 for me.  What books inspired you?  

~Dana