Can you see little hearts floating out of me?

Last evening, I took my Blackberry back and purchased a Samsung Galaxy S4. Before the purchase, I checked to make sure I could do all of the things on the device itself that my old Blackberry Torch could do ... and that my new Blackberry Z10 could not do. It did.

As an Android-based phone, I was under the assumption that I would have to sync it to an online Google calendar. Something I didn't want to do, but had nevertheless resigned myself to having to do. Still, I needed to get my data out of my pc Outlook client and onto a Google client. As I looked around online for a solution, I discovered ... to my sweet and utter delight ... that my new phone CAN sync directly to Outlook on my pc!

I was sooooooooooo happy!

After the tears of joy subsided, I downloaded the programs, configured them, and set about syncing all of my contacts and calendar items to my phone. I have a LOT of data on my calendar, so it took a while to accomplish ... but it worked!!! The only thing left to do was sync my Outlook Memo's to Evernote.  (Note: Evernote appears to be available for every platform except Blackberry.)

It was after midnight before the calendar finished syncing, and my alarm was set for 4:15, so I had to get to bed and get some sleep. However, I do have the Evernote/Outlook Add-in downloaded. I'll install that on my pc this evening, transfer my notes, and then sit back and relax ... finally!

My contacts are synced, each with a category specific ringtone, my calendar is synced all the way back to 2003, and I was able to customize the device and download apps I had wanted but were unavailable to me on my Blackberry! Tonight I will have my memo's at the tip of my fingers, and ... once again ... all will be right with the world :)

I had that horrid Blackberry for almost a week and failed to find anything I was satisfied with on their much-anticipated new operating system. After only a few hours with my Galaxy, I was as giddy as a teenager dating the coolest guy in school!

Bye-bye Blackberry :(

I was willing to wait on Blackberry to come up with the syncing tool I so desperately miss, and I could have lived with some of the other "upgrades" that make my life more difficult ... but I just discovered I cannot search my memo's.

And that's a deal-breaker of the highest magnitude.

I have 405 memo's in my phone, which I search dozens of times a day. I don't have the patience to scroll through hundreds of memo's searching for what I need. I could have lived with it if I could have downloaded the Evernote app, but ... surprise, surprise ... it's not available for Blackberry.

I have a friend with an Android-based phone that he is quite pleased with. I'll find out what he has and switch to that one.

To the geniuses at Blackberry who created the new operating system ... I don't care what the new Blackberry can do as long as it can also do what my old one did ... and it can't ... so I'm bidding adieu to Blackberry.

Soooo, after spending almost a week trying to transfer my data, searching for ways to make my Blackberry work like I assumed it would, of buying third-party apps that suck (fortunately I can get my money back on those), and of beating my head against the wall, I'll get to spend the next week doing the same thing with my new phone ... except I already know someone who has made the switch and can tell me how he made his Android do all the things (and more) that his old Blackberry did.

I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders!! With this stupid phone gone ... I will finally have my life back!!!

Why are "upgrades" rarely better?

My Blackberry Torch was on its last leg. The "Back" button was cracked, so it was sometimes difficult to go, well ... back! Then the cover for the buttons fell off, revealing the naked, nameless white buttons underneath. I taped them back on, but it was only a temporary fix until I figured out what phone I wanted to replace it with.

After a trip to the cell phone carrier, then researching online, I bit the bullet and "upgraded" to a Blackberry Z10. I could have gone with an iPhone. I could also have shaved my head or joined a cult. I know people who love their iPhones more than they love their kids. I have an iPad, and while it's handy, I love it about as much as I love my neighbor a block away ... whom I do not know and have never seen! I did love my Blackberry Torch ... almost as much as I loved my Palm Treo. I still miss my Treo (sob!).

When it came time to part ways with my Treo (sob!), I did so reluctantly. I had waited impatiently for well over a year for my cell carrier to carry the Palm Pre Pro so that I could stay with the Palm platform and transfer all my data to my new Palm. What a JOKE that silly phone was! Palm, who started the smartphone craze with their world-class calendaring options, forgot what made them so desirable when they created the Palm Pre. After spending a small fortune on the phone, and another small fortune on third-party programs to transfer all my data to my new Palm, I realized I had put a doctor appointment on the calendar on the wrong day. I went to search the calendar and couldn't figure out how. I ended up calling tech support ... who informed me that you cannot search the calendar. I had to scroll through several months worth of appointments, one day at a time, to find the errant doctor appointment. I then boxed up the phone, took it back, and bought a Blackberry. Palm turned it's back on what made it famous ... it's calendaring ... and now they no longer exist.

With my latest Blackberry "upgrade", I'm wondering how well Blackberry knows it's market. When I have a problem with the phone, I search the internet for a solution (naively thinking it's just something I'm not seeing, not that Blackberry was foolish enough to get rid of a key feature). When I hit a link that has the exact same problem, I read through pages and pages of people complaining about the exact same thing ... trying to figure out a workaround, and praying Blackberry fixes it rather than leaving us hanging.

After five days with this phone, I am still fighting with it to get it to do the things I assumed it would do, because, you know ... it's a smartphone and I assumed it would do all the cool, smart things my Torch could do. I don't know why I thought that, but I did. I've finally managed to get all my data transferred (in many cases, three times ... which I have to delete ... only to have them reappear ... Grrrrrr!), but I can't seem to get it to sync with anything. It's obviously syncing with something if the contacts keep multiplying, but then why isn't it syncing the calendar? If I add an appointment to my calendar on my Blackberry, it shows up on my online calendar ... but no the Blackberry (Grrrrrrrrr!) I'm waiting for the Blackberry to Outlook on the pc snyc to come out. They say it's coming, but they also said the Z10 was coming "soon", and I had to wait well over a year for that. There is no "Go To Date" selection in the calendar. Navigating to a different date, unless it's withing a day or two of the current date, is cumbersome and time consuming.

With each new day, I am growing more and more frustrated. I'm not so sure I'm going to stay a loyal Blackberry customer for much longer. If they had kept the features everyone uses and added new ones, they'd never lose a customer! But, like Palm, they don't seem to have a very firm grasp as to how people use their phones or why they loved (note the past-tense) their old Blackberry so much.

Blackberry has always been considered a "business" phone. Unfortunately, with their new phones, it's easier to post a picture to Facebook or send a Tweet than it is to find an appointment on the calendar. I originally got on Facebook to stalk my kids. I don't post very often. Facebook is not a necessity in my life ... but my calendar and memo's are critically important to me.  I access them many, many, many times a day!!!! I know Blackberry is trying to compete with Apple's iPhone, but screwing up the calendar and syncing options are going to kill their market faster than my daughter can post a selfie on Facebook or send a silly tweet with her iPhone.

There are several key features the Z10 is missing. I NEED to be able to go to a certain date on my calendar. I NEED to be able to sync it with my Outlook on my desktop ... not a web-based calendar. I NEED to be able to categorize contacts and set-up notification profiles for specific categories. I WANT to display only the name of a memo, not the name and the first line (which is often sensitive data!). I WANT to be able to move a picture from one folder to another without attaching to my computer via Blackberry Link and doing it through Windows Explorer. You're supposed to be able to do it on the device with their "File Manager" app, but I can't even find my pictures when I'm on that app! I work in technology, and if I can't figure out this stuff easily, how hard is it for those who are not as technically astute?

At the moment, I am NOT a very happy customer ... and if they don't address these issues in future updates, I won't be a customer ... at all ... for long.

Heartbreak and Triumph

Sometimes I am amazed at what makes the headlines, and the pat on the back celebrities are given for doing even the most mundane of tasks. One celebrity mother was called "Super Mom" for walking her oldest child to some kind of lesson, all while ... get this … pregnant!! Wow! I'm not sure, but I'm guessing she was even chewing gum! Wouldn't it be incredible if she were?! I know … I, too, am amazed at the feat she was able to accomplish. Sacajawea ain't got nothin' on that woman!!

One of the top headlines on another website was that so-and-so and her child were in Paris … having lunch! I don't know about you, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that so-and-so eats food … just like me! I suppose that makes us, in effect, kindred spirits! That juicy tidbit was also shared with its equally amazing co-headline … another celebrity went to an awards dinner … commando! I can see why thatmade the headlines. Can you imagine going through life and never knowing so-and-so didn't wear underwear to dinner on April 24, 2013? Scary, isn't it?

(P.S. It wasn't officially reported, but she was wearing a bra, either!)

At this point, I feel it necessary to defend this poor, helpless celebrity … she didn't realize the dress that the dress her stylist selected, purchased, and altered to fit her precise frame was sheer from hem to neck ... on both sides ... until she put it on right before the ceremony.

To avoid this little "oopsie" in the future, perhaps she should have her stylist send the dress over a few days before the event, then she would know beforehand what undergarments would … or would not … be required. In the event her stylist is too busy deciding what other celebrities will be wearing, the celebrity could always send one of her servants to fetch the garment … and, of course, send a bill to the stylist for the inconvenience having to send her own servant. That sounds fair, doesn't it? I mean, these celebrities hire people for specific tasks … cooking, cleaning, landscaping, grocery shopping, etc. If you're paying someone to do your shopping, and they have to run an errand for your stylist, the stylist should pay for that … wouldn't you agree?

I used to have servants. To those on the outside looking in, they called them "children", but I preferred to think of them as my "staff". Unfortunately, they weren't good at much besides swinging and making plastic food in their Little Tikes kitchen, but when I wanted one of them to bring me a cold soda … they foughtover who would get to serve me. I know they would sneak a drink of the soda before it got to me, but I'm quite certain the thrill of serving me was the motivator … not a sip of the forbidden soda.

Unfortunately, the "servants" you give birth to become less and less helpful as they become more and more capable. When they wanted to help me, they were of no use at all … they created more messes than they ever cleaned … and they created a bigger mess while "helping" clean a smaller one! Now that they are old enough to be a real asset to my team, their desire to help is long, long, looooooong gone!

It's nice, though, that I get to live vicariously through these wealthy celebrities. I can rejoice with them when marry the perfect mate … and I can cry with them when they divorce a few years later and walk away with a paltry 30 million dollars. (Sometimes, I don't know what a judge is thinking … how are they supposed to fly to Paris for lunch whenever they want cheese and croissants if they only have 30 million dollars in the bank?)

I can empathize with their embarrassment when they flash their panty-less crotch getting out of a chauffeured limousine. (I don't know about you, but I hate it when that happens to me!).

I can share their indignation when the sordid details of their life are picked over and speculated about. (Just because they tweet every detail of their life doesn't give anyone the right to intrude upon their privacy!!)

I, too, can share the disgust of these young women when they are leered at by "old men". (These young women parade around in little more than lingerie or pose for a photo shoot naked … save for a few props to cover their modesty … because it was their job, not to give men something to drool over.) Just because a celebrity walks around in stripper heels and shorts that barely cover their underwear (if they bother wearing any), doesn't give anyone the right to stare at them lustfully!!

I think the most heart-wrenching thing I ever read was when one celebrity, after the birth of her first child, was forced to do something she had sworn she would never do … she had to hire a nanny. To make matters worse, when she and her husband flew (I can't remember if they flew first class or chartered a private jet) from their spacious New York penthouse to their sprawling mansion in California … they had to bring the nanny with them.  (All these years later, it still hurts when I think about it.) I can only imagine the pain that poor woman felt when she got to sleep all night or take a shower without worrying the baby was crying.

The hardships celebrities endure just breaks my heart, but when I see the courage and strength they show by getting up early enough to have their make-up team get them ready to take their children out for ice cream (all by themselves … except for the security team following them), my faith in humanity is restored.

Well, it's official

I did not make the Semi-Finals in the Amazon contest, but after the review from my PW reviewer, I didn't expect to. I read three or four (of the five) who made it through to the Semi-Finals in romance, but I didn't leave a review for any of them ... so that tells me they were not books I would be interested in reading. Even if the novel seemed to be extremely predictable, if the writing was good, I left a review. I didn't leave reviews on the ones that were boring, poorly written, or that had plots that were (in my opinion) just plain ridiculous.

I tried to leave only reviews that were positive. If I had nothing positive to say, I didn't leave a review ... with two exceptions ... and those two were so offensive I felt obligated to leave bad reviews. They were not just offensive, but darkly, deeply disturbing. The love interests in one was a child and her pedophile molester. Am I to assume we are supposed to hope the pedophile "gets the girl"? The other was one writer's attempt at "Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-Mommy-Porn", and fell far short. It was really just expletive-ridden, vulgar language by promiscuous women who were rather mean. I didn't like them, so I didn't really care if they found love or not ... and I kind of hoped they wouldn't! Even so, I was kind when I left reviews for them. I don't see any point in being cruel or hateful, even if I was repulsed by their stories.

None of those I enjoyed and rated highly made the Semi-Finals. I hope those writer's understand that the PW reviewer who judged their entry (most likely quite harshly) isn't necessarily their target audience ... I am ... and I liked their work. The PW reviewer read their romance novel because they were paid to, not because they have any expertise in, or the desire to read, that genre.

I am disappointed that I was eliminated, but not as much as I thought I would be. According to one PW reviewer (per his blog), Publisher's Weekly hired reviewers on a contract basis to judge the entries. This judge did not mention that they were given entries in their preferred genre. I've said it before and I'll say it again ... you cannot accurately judge a book properly if it is a genre you do not enjoy. If you were to give me the Twilight manuscripts, I wouldn't be able to give them bad reviews fast enough. I do not enjoy paranormal romance ... at all ... and I will be the first one to tell you not to ask my opinion on one, because I already know you won't like what I would have to say. Don't give me horror, either, because I'd rather read paranormal/fantasy than something like that! I cannot accurately judge those types of work because I do not read them, do not enjoy them, and have no way of knowing if I'm reading a plot that's been done ad nauseam.

My review was written in a way that leads me to believe the reviewer does not enjoy reading romance. While not overtly hateful, it was definitely mean-spirited, and got a few key facts very wrong. They either did not read the book (skimming rather than reading), or I did a very poor job of getting my message across. Since this person seems to be the only one who came away confused on basic facts, it doesn't appear they read very carefully. I realize not everyone will like it, even those who enjoy romance, but this reviewer almost seemed angry that he/she had to read "another romance novel".

Although I wanted to win (of course!), I honestly never expected I would. More than anything, I wanted to make it to the Quarter-Finals (and I did!) for one reason ... to get a PW review that I could use when querying an agent. Well, I got my review, but I don't think I can twist it enough to make it usable.

Okay, enough grumbling! It's time to look on the bright side ... now that I'm no longer in this contest, my manuscript if freed up and I can concentrate on finding an agent and getting published. Not winning did not dampen my spirit, and I still believe I will be successful and that my dream will be attained. As long as I have tomorrow, my dream will live on :)

Tomorrow Amazon Announces the Semi-Finalists

I wish I felt better about my odds at progressing into the Semi-Finals, but my gut feeling at this point is that I will not. I think I wrote a great book that appeals to more than just fans of romantic fiction, and I will work to get published if I fail to make it to the next round of ABNA, but it takes more than a good story and great writing to continue on ... you also have to be lucky enough to have your work read by someone who reads ... and enjoys ... the genre in which you write.

Some of the Publisher's Weekly reviews are available to contestants, privately. It is my understanding that all Quarter-Finalists get two PW reviews.  (Note: I was incorrect ... we get one PW review). I have one review posted to my account, and it isn't glowing. It wasn't horrible or scathing, but it was definitely not kind. If they are correct in their assessment, then I have some things to work on. For instance, they said Larry was constantly talking about his past, his dreams, needs and wants, and that Tara had a crippling self-esteem issues and "never had anything to say, so she said nothing at all".

What?

If that's what they took away from the story, then I did not write it well. Yes, Tara does have self-esteem issues, but they are hardly crippling ... and yes, Larry talks about his past, etc., but every book has characters who talk/remember their past ... and since Larry is quite content with his life, his past is a very minuscule part of the book.

The way they referred to "the genre" in the review makes me feel like this is not someone who reads romance novels. I received two amazing reviews from the Amazon Vine Reviewers, who both chose to read from the romance category, and they both loved the excerpt. These are the people who buy books, so I'm choosing to believe their comments are closer to what a romance reader would feel.

I had heard that the PW reviews were notoriously brutal, and yet I wasn't worried ... I was actually looking forward to their reviews! Oh, how naive I can sometimes be! I will read my book again, and try to see it through the eyes of the PW reviewer.

I am very curious to see who makes it through to the Semi-Finals. I read a good many of the excerpts in the romance category, and wasn't impressed by any of them. There were a few that I might pick up at the library, but I didn't read any that made me want to finish them badly enough to purchase them.

One more day and I will know if I'm one of the lucky 5% to continue on ... or if I will be one of the disappointed 95% that will be eliminated.

Author Book Signing in Franklin, TN on May 18, 2013

I'm a member of Music City Romance Writer's, the Nashville, TN chapter of the national organization of Romance Writer's of America, of which I'm also a member.  I will be there with eight other MCRW members who are published authors.  I haven't met all of the authors, but  ha've met a few and am looking forward to meeting the others.  I recently attended a Writer's Retreat in Natchez Trace National Park in Tennessee, and all of the women I met there were amazing writers and very nice, and I  had a blast at the retreat with them!

Information on the Author Signing is available on the MCRW website by clicking here Music City Romance Writers Meet & Greet.  If you're in the area, stop by and say hello ... and perhaps pick up a good book or two!

I've been a little neglectful of my blog :(

In my defense, I have been very busy, just not online.  I had new flooring laid in most of my house, and have been busy painting, cleaning, and decluttering.  I'm contemplating putting the house on the market and downsizing.  I really don't need this big, old house any longer.  It was a great place to raise my children, and they have wonderful memories of growing up here, but it's just too big now.

I'm doing all of the projects I always wanted to do.  It seems quite sad that I'm doing all these things and won't get to enjoy them.  I have completed a long, long, LONG list of things, but my list of things still to do is just as long, and I'm running out of steam.

I come home from work, change into my work clothes, and get to work on my list.  I work as quickly as I can until it's time to sleep, and fall into bed exhausted ... only to wake up, go to to work, come home and put on my work clothes and start all over again.  As I'm working I remember things I need to add to my list or discover another "project" that will make the house more attractive to buyers.  Hence, my roster of things to do seems to be an ever-growing list.  Fortunately, my list of things I've done is growing, too, which bolsters my spirits and gives me energy to continue.

When I bought this house in 1999, the kids and I moved from a tiny two bedroom bungalow to this rambling, giant house with more room than we dared dream of.  Even though we had long since outgrown that small bungalow, we'd been there a number of years and leaving was emotional.  We've been in this house three times as long and have many more memories here.  I know I need to sell this place and get something smaller, but leaving will be very difficult.

I'm trying not to think about how hard it will be to leave, and concentrate on the next young family that will move in and make their own wonderful memories here in this grand home.  As I clean, paint, and mark off task after task, I'm working on my next book in my head ... and dreaming of what my office will look like in my next home :)

My stomach hurts!

My stomach hurts, and it has for well over a week now. When it started I figured it was because Amazon was just a few days away from posting those moving to the Quarter-Finals. A week later, I began to think maybe it wasn't nerves at all, but a stomach bug. Now, a week and a half past the onset of my upset tummy, I'm back to thinking its nerves. 

Every time I get ready to look at the ABNA forums on Amazon's website, my stomach twists into knots. There are some really nice people posting there, but there are also some pretty hateful ones. The ones I loathe, however, are the ones who are blatantly promoting their work under the guise of a question. Promote your work if you want. Ask people to read and review your excerpt (most everyone does) … but don't pretend you're asking for advice when you just want to draw attention to your excerpt. Nearly everyone is asking others (particularly unbiased strangers) to read and review their excerpt. The ones that leave a bad taste in my mouth are the ones who pretend their embarrassed by their work and what others will think of their excerpt. I find it less than a coincidence that those are always the ones with overly-foul language, written to shock rather than entertain.  I can understand why they would be embarrassed to have others read it, but look ... you don't enter an international contest of this caliber ... in your own name ... if you don't want your family to know! Even if they had written under a pen name, how are they going to explain the prize money ... or the trip to New York for the awards ceremony ... if they were to win?

I downloaded all the Quarter-Final entries of the romance genre, and have been steadily making my way through them. A few were quite good, and I would have happily continued reading the rest of the novel if I could. A few were written well, but not my kind of romance (paranormal). Nevertheless, I would probably have finished them, if for no other reason than I'd started them.

Some, however, are beyond bad. There is a splattering of poorly written "mommy porn" in the Quarter-Finals, and that really bothers me. Erotica is not romance. Like all pornography, erotica is created with the intention of selling a lot of books, not with telling a compelling story. It doesn't belong in this contest any more than porn movies deserve to be showcased with mainstream movies at the Oscars. I don't believe it requires explaining … we all know there's a reason pornography holds its own award ceremonies, away from those of "real" movies.

Fifty Shades of Grey is touted as an erotic romance, but there's really very little romance to it. It's basically an older man subjugating a young, impressionable woman. It has sold a LOT of books, but not because people want to read about the love between Christian and Anastasia, but because they want to read about the perverted sex between them! There's nothing wrong with that, but trying to pass it off as a romance is.

A lot of people bought the book to see what all the hype was about and were disappointed in it. I know at least one woman who saw a group of housewives on morning television claiming "this book changed my marriage". She bought it thinking it would help hers, and was shocked to find out she had bought an x-rated, bondage book. I know someone who reads erotica. An avid reader of all types, she bought the book, but can't force herself to finish it. The plot is implausible and the writing is mediocre at best.

Mommy porn sells, and I'm fine with that … just be honest about what it is … and don't try to pass it off as romance. If you take out the sex, all you're left with is a couple of poorly written passages that no one would bother buying or reading. Without the sex, there is no story, and if there is no story without the sex, it's neither a romance nor literature. Let's just say that anything a twelve-year-old boy would hide under his mattress has no literary merit.

There is also a book about a young girl abandoned by her father after her mother dies. She's raised by an aunt, who leaves her in the care of her teenage sons and a neighbor boy. As she grows up, they molest her. As she grows older, she's beaten, raped, and impregnated … more than once … by these three boys, one of which, is her "love interest". Really? A love story between a victimized six-year-old child and her abusers? I find this one to be very disturbing, as did many others (per the reviews).

If you uploaded your entry with Internet Explorer, it uploaded the excerpt as one, long, unformatted paragraph, which makes for very difficult reading. If you were one of those people, your writing had better be spectacular to make up for the difficulty in reading such a passage. I read one that was formatted like this, and I hope English was not their first language (all entries had to be submitted in English). The story may have been well written in another language, but the translation made for some very stunted, confusing sentences … the kind you read a couple of times to make sure you read it right, then think "Hmmm, that's really what it says. Wonder what they meant to say!"

These are just a few of the examples, and they temper my enthusiasm at being one of the "chosen" Quarter-Finalists, and once again, cause me to question the overall quality of the entries submitted in the romance category.

Everyone believed in the piece they entered, myself included. I realize others could read my entry not care for it, but they won't walk away scratching their head or feeling like they need a bath … or antibiotics. I have been told I should be more graphic with sex scenes, but I don’t' think it's necessary. I'm not writing a sexual "how-to" … it's a love story. As far as I'm concerned, the sex is irrelevant and it is a by-product of their love. The sex is not the story, so it's left to the imagination of the reader. The sexiest movies I have ever seen are the ones that have no sex scenes in them!

I'm certain that by the end of the contest only the well-written stories will remain. In judging this round, Publisher's Weekly reads and reviews the entire manuscript. They are blatantly honest in their reviews because it's what they do. They aren't in business to make writer's feel warm and fuzzy inside … they are paid for their honest opinion, which can be brutal at times.

There are numerous typo's and grammatical errors in my submitted entry, and I can only hope that it is written well enough that the reviewers will understand I can write well, even if the piece still needs some editing. The reviews I got from Amazon reviewers/editors were very positive, so obviously the typo's didn't bother them or get in the way of the story I was telling, and I can only hope that's the case with the Publisher's Weekly reviewers.

Like all the other writers who entered this contest, I believe I write well and told a compelling story. The reviews I've garnered on the Amazon website for my entry are all very good and give me hope that I'll continue on, but there is certainly no guarantee. I'm not exactly worried about what Publisher's Weekly will say about my work, although I am somewhat anxious. I hope if they are critical of something, it's done in a way that I can use their criticism to make the story and/or writing better. If their only criticism is that it needs editing, I will take that as a glowing review … everything has to go through an editing process before it's published.

There are twenty-nine days until Amazon releases the twenty-five entries lucky enough to continue to the Semi-Finals. Out of the one hundred per category in the Quarter-Finals, only five per category move on.

Ninety-five percent of the Quarter-Finalists will be eliminated … and I can only pray that I am among the five percent deemed worthy enough to move forward.

On April 16th, the pool of entries moving forward will have gone from 10,000 to 2,000 to 500 to 25. Regardless of the odds, I will remain hopeful … and, most likely, dehydrated and nauseated!

My Judges Reviews

Those who made it to Round Two had two top reviewers from Amazon read the excerpt, score it, and answer three questions. Those who judge the excerpts are only human, and their bias plays into their scoring, but I think they all tried very hard to do a good job and be fair. It's a lot of work for them, with very little compensation. I have a hard time believing any of them would take on this responsibility if they weren't committed to the task. I believe they were honestly trying to be helpful, in both their criticism and praise.

The reviews are posted privately, but some entrants are posting theirs on the contestant forum boards. Some posting their reviews were cut this round, others are continuing. Only a few are openly complaining. Most seem to think the reviews were fair and honest, even the ones with less than stellar comments.

To my complete and utter amazement, both of my judge's reviews were excellent. I'm still blinking back tears that two complete strangers loved my work so much! I guess I'm having what many would call a "Sally Field Moment" ...

You like me! You really, really like me!  

I have lived my whole life dreaming of the day I would become a published author, and with these two amazing reviews, it feels possible that my dreams may actually come true!

So, to the anonymous reviewers whose words filled my heart with joy, validated my passion for writing, and give me the courage and drive to continue ... thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Here are my reviews, copied and pasted verbatim:

ABNA Expert Reviewer

What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?

Amazing prose. Perfect flow and delivery. It's like being with Chuck and Tara, being a part of their story. Well done!

What aspect needs the most work?

Honestly there was nothing that I felt really needed a lot of work. Sadly the excerpt was a little short, I would have liked to read a bit of the 'present' Tara. But I won't hold it against you since we only get 10 pages!

What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?

I admit that I am not a huge romance novel reader, but I enjoy the literary romance novels, especially those with something beyond the interaction of a young, troubled couple (looking at you Nicholas Sparks!). I enjoyed the memories and the way it all played out. The reader gets a feel for how much Chuck loves Tara and then 'poof' he's gone and the reader is left with a sense of loss and a sense of sadness and sympathy for Tara. We are hooked into her story just with the near death memories of Chuck. I would very much enjoy reading more!

ABNA Expert Reviewer

What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?

This is an absolutely breathtaking excerpt and the strongest part is the snipets of life that Chuck is seeing in his dying moments. It is written very well and easy to follow and lovely to read.

What aspect needs the most work?

There is nothing that needs any work. Great story in my opinion.

What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?

Overall, I can't wait to read the finished product. This was a very good excerpt. The story of a woman who goes back to where she grew up with her father and grandmother and where her father drowned just months after her last visit, seventeen years ago. Tara and her father had a very close relationship after loosing her mother when she was just a little girl. It is beautiful to see the way this burly cop melts in the presense of his daughter. The "pitch" tells us that Tara is going to learn things on this trip that will surprise her and she will meet a man. This promises to be a good read to the end. Well written!!