Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love to introduce readers to people involved in children’s publishing. Today we have Stephanie Scott with us. She’s here to spread the news about a great contest. First, Stephanie, please share a little about yourself.
I’m a pre-published author (don’t you love the positivity of that term?) with a few Young Adult Contemporary manuscripts under my belt. My agent Sarah LaPolla at Bradford Literary is working hard to find those manuscripts a home.
Improving my writing craft is always high on my list. As is networking with writers on blogs and social media. One of my main sources of industry connections is through Romance Writers of America, a group I never imagined I would be a part of even just a few years ago. I attended a regional chapter’s conference, and a light bulb went off when I realized the driving factor of the manuscript I was writing was the romance. That realization actually helped me finish the book! Now I’m an active member of the Windy City chapter and the online Young Adult chapter, YARWA.
I do love the positivity of pre-published author! I need to check into YARWA. Now what’s this I hear about a contest?
In addition to hosting inexpensive online courses almost monthly, YARWA is hosting our annual contest beginning in March. Writers of Young Adult and New Adult of any subgenre (regardless of romance) can submit their unpublished partial manuscript for judging and potential consideration from our final round judges, which include a literary agent and two editors for each category. Though contests are hugely subjective, they’ve been a great experience for me to get my work in front of industry pros, and to receive feedback.
For more information on YARWA’s Rosemary contest, go to: http://yarwa.com/contest-2015/
For our online programs: http://www.yarwa.com/programs/
There you go, YA romance writers. Polish up those manuscripts and take a chance! Okay, Stephanie, now it’s time for The 3’s. Give us the top three answers to the following questions to help us know you better.
- Top 3 books you recommend reading and why you recommend them.
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson: A beautiful book deserving of all its accolades
- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: heartbreakingly earnest, sweet, and deeply emotional. I am completely unlike Cath, and related to her so easily.
- Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. This is my favorite YA book. A plane full of beauty queens crash land on a deserted island and save themselves and each other. It’s wickedly funny, feminist, with sharp, on-point satire.
- Top 3 tools of the trade you couldn’t live without.
1. Scrivener: the learning curve is a little steep, but I absolutely love how easy it is to move scenes around, to make notes, to pull up scenes side-by-side, and to save additional content within the project.
2. Wikipedia: I donate to them yearly. I can’t even imagine being a writer without their seemingly-infinite library to give me direction.
3. The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackermna and Becca Puglisi. Such a valuable resource.
- Top 3 personal mantras or inspirational phrases.
- Bad decisions make good stories
- Life is too short to wear ugly shoes
- Finish the book
Where can our tech savvy readers find you?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephScottYA
YARWA Website: www.yarwa.com
YARWA twitter: https://twitter.com/YA_RWA
Thanks for joining us on this week’s Three Times A Charm, Stephanie, and for sharing the contest news with us. Best of luck to you and your writing. It’s a matter of time J
GUESTS WELCOME! I’m always looking for guests for Three Times A Charm. If you are an author, illustrator or book reviewer, an agent or an editor. If you have something related to children’s publishing that you’d like people to know about, feel free to contact me about a future appearance.