NEWS FLASH on HILLERMAN CONTEST PROGRESS
Oct. 12th, 2007 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shalannaWhoa! Stop working on that Kitty Litter Cake for your Halloween group tonight and listen up!
This morning, I e-mailed the organizers of the Tony Hillerman First Southwestern Mystery Novel Competition (run in conjunction with St. Martin's Press, just like the Malice Domestic contest that has kicked off many careers), and they actually ANSWERED MY QUESTION about how early a winner might be notified!! *fainting*
Anne of Wordharvest replies:
Dear Shalanna,
We would love to have the winner at the awards banquet. Last time I talked to the folks at St. Martin, who are making the selection, they had it down to three manuscripts and hope to have a winner early next week. I was hoping they would have been ready to decide even sooner for the travel reason you mention.
Good luck to all your writer friends who entered. We were so pleased to have more than 200 manuscripts!
Jean Schaumberg and Anne Hillerman
Tony Hillerman Conference: Focus on Mystery
Nov. 1-4 Albuquerque, N.M.
www.hillermanconference.com
!!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG down to three.
She didn't tell me WHICH three. She probably doesn't know. But . . . oh, man. I wish I did have magical powers about now. All I can do is lie on my face and pray. And I could still hear the usual resounding, "No!" *suffers*
Well, not all of y'all like me, and that's fine. Not all of y'all are inclined to ask the Universe for favors for yourselves or others. BUT . . . if you're at all inclined, please put in a good word in your prayers (or whatever you do instead--positive energy send-outs) for my manuscript to be in those top three and even to get chosen as the winner! Heck, I'm pathetic. This is so pitiful. I know there are far more important things to pray for. And who knows what the will of God is in this matter. Still, I think my Marfa Lights novel is good enough. It's the best thing I've done so far, by all accounts. (I think the literary stuff is just as good, but it isn't nearly as marketworthy.) I can't see any reason the book wouldn't build a readership for a series and make the publishing house some money. I'm not in it for the money . . . I'm in it for those crazy personal reasons, as y'all know by now.
Anyway, pray! Pray! Pray! *groveling* If only. I suppose "We'll see" is pretty much the only answer for now.
But isn't it cool that she wrote back? If you are going to be in the area and you're a mystery writer, you ought to register and go to the conference. It looks to be a real winner. Kinky Friedman is another guest--and he's a hoot. It'd be worth going just to hear him jawin' about whatever crosses his mind. He's FUNNY, y'all. Maybe he'll sing a song with his band.
I'm going to try to be calm and not be so invested in all of this.
And here's a gratuitous little story that'll perhaps serve to illustrate why some people are so driven to do X, Y, or Z.
Last night hubby and Mama really got into a shouting match over Hillary Clinton. She's for, he's against. The yelling upsets the dog and it gives me high blood pressure. I finally left the room. But then Sen. Clinton appeared on Keith Olbermann (the channel was turned to his show in the "away" room I escaped to, getting away from all the shouting) and I realized something. She's a b*t*h like me, I'll concede that, but her lust is for power/influence and control in the form of being President, whereas mine is aimed towards seeing my books in print. She is driven because for some reason, since she was a child, she has felt she has a destiny. She really BELIEVES she can Do This. Her destiny, apparently, drives her to seek political power and greatness. I'm very like that, in that I have a drive to seek publication and validation and a readership. If that makes me some kind of exhibitionist or show-off, well, I am what I am. They haven't been able to fix me yet. But anyhow, it's that kind of awful, unbearable longing for the "success" that drives each of us. The trouble is that people sense this drive in her and they hate her anyway . . . they don't admire her for it. This may be the case with me. The drive is a hindrance. It hasn't made it easier for either of us. We're just driven to keep striving for that brass ring.
We know it's not gold. We can see it's brass. Why do we still want it so badly?
Well . . . I don't know. I sure as 3@#!! wouldn't want to be President or Queen or anything of that nature. I don't want to rule the world because I don't want to be responsible for feeding, clothing, employing, housing, and taking care of all those people. (Not that our current rules care about any of that--but that's what it's really supposed to be about.) I just wanted to put my books out there so somebody else can enter a world where things finally make sense and are entertaining . . . the world of the novel.
Still, maybe what we should be praying for is that I get rid of this awful longing to be published. I don't know. However, when I asked a long-churched older person, a person of wisdom, if it was a sin for me to pray for a certain event to take place or not to take place, she said, "No . . . you can ask your heavenly father for anything, just as you would ask your parents or teachers." So I cling to that and I hope that if it *is* wrong for me to be so self-centered that I hope I win this thing, the bargain that I can be forgiven is still in force. That was the deal, if I understand it correctly.
Now, go back and finish that kitty litter cake. Hint: don't use SuperMoist cake mixes. You need a somewhat dry crumbly cake. I think crumb cakes might work better for this, or those premade bakery cakes that you buy all pre-dried-out. The secret is melting the Tootsie Rolls in the microwave, of course. Hope your guests don't get too grossed out!
This morning, I e-mailed the organizers of the Tony Hillerman First Southwestern Mystery Novel Competition (run in conjunction with St. Martin's Press, just like the Malice Domestic contest that has kicked off many careers), and they actually ANSWERED MY QUESTION about how early a winner might be notified!! *fainting*
Anne of Wordharvest replies:
Dear Shalanna,
We would love to have the winner at the awards banquet. Last time I talked to the folks at St. Martin, who are making the selection, they had it down to three manuscripts and hope to have a winner early next week. I was hoping they would have been ready to decide even sooner for the travel reason you mention.
Good luck to all your writer friends who entered. We were so pleased to have more than 200 manuscripts!
Jean Schaumberg and Anne Hillerman
Tony Hillerman Conference: Focus on Mystery
Nov. 1-4 Albuquerque, N.M.
www.hillermanconference.com
!!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG down to three.
She didn't tell me WHICH three. She probably doesn't know. But . . . oh, man. I wish I did have magical powers about now. All I can do is lie on my face and pray. And I could still hear the usual resounding, "No!" *suffers*
Well, not all of y'all like me, and that's fine. Not all of y'all are inclined to ask the Universe for favors for yourselves or others. BUT . . . if you're at all inclined, please put in a good word in your prayers (or whatever you do instead--positive energy send-outs) for my manuscript to be in those top three and even to get chosen as the winner! Heck, I'm pathetic. This is so pitiful. I know there are far more important things to pray for. And who knows what the will of God is in this matter. Still, I think my Marfa Lights novel is good enough. It's the best thing I've done so far, by all accounts. (I think the literary stuff is just as good, but it isn't nearly as marketworthy.) I can't see any reason the book wouldn't build a readership for a series and make the publishing house some money. I'm not in it for the money . . . I'm in it for those crazy personal reasons, as y'all know by now.
Anyway, pray! Pray! Pray! *groveling* If only. I suppose "We'll see" is pretty much the only answer for now.
But isn't it cool that she wrote back? If you are going to be in the area and you're a mystery writer, you ought to register and go to the conference. It looks to be a real winner. Kinky Friedman is another guest--and he's a hoot. It'd be worth going just to hear him jawin' about whatever crosses his mind. He's FUNNY, y'all. Maybe he'll sing a song with his band.
I'm going to try to be calm and not be so invested in all of this.
And here's a gratuitous little story that'll perhaps serve to illustrate why some people are so driven to do X, Y, or Z.
Last night hubby and Mama really got into a shouting match over Hillary Clinton. She's for, he's against. The yelling upsets the dog and it gives me high blood pressure. I finally left the room. But then Sen. Clinton appeared on Keith Olbermann (the channel was turned to his show in the "away" room I escaped to, getting away from all the shouting) and I realized something. She's a b*t*h like me, I'll concede that, but her lust is for power/influence and control in the form of being President, whereas mine is aimed towards seeing my books in print. She is driven because for some reason, since she was a child, she has felt she has a destiny. She really BELIEVES she can Do This. Her destiny, apparently, drives her to seek political power and greatness. I'm very like that, in that I have a drive to seek publication and validation and a readership. If that makes me some kind of exhibitionist or show-off, well, I am what I am. They haven't been able to fix me yet. But anyhow, it's that kind of awful, unbearable longing for the "success" that drives each of us. The trouble is that people sense this drive in her and they hate her anyway . . . they don't admire her for it. This may be the case with me. The drive is a hindrance. It hasn't made it easier for either of us. We're just driven to keep striving for that brass ring.
We know it's not gold. We can see it's brass. Why do we still want it so badly?
Well . . . I don't know. I sure as 3@#!! wouldn't want to be President or Queen or anything of that nature. I don't want to rule the world because I don't want to be responsible for feeding, clothing, employing, housing, and taking care of all those people. (Not that our current rules care about any of that--but that's what it's really supposed to be about.) I just wanted to put my books out there so somebody else can enter a world where things finally make sense and are entertaining . . . the world of the novel.
Still, maybe what we should be praying for is that I get rid of this awful longing to be published. I don't know. However, when I asked a long-churched older person, a person of wisdom, if it was a sin for me to pray for a certain event to take place or not to take place, she said, "No . . . you can ask your heavenly father for anything, just as you would ask your parents or teachers." So I cling to that and I hope that if it *is* wrong for me to be so self-centered that I hope I win this thing, the bargain that I can be forgiven is still in force. That was the deal, if I understand it correctly.
Now, go back and finish that kitty litter cake. Hint: don't use SuperMoist cake mixes. You need a somewhat dry crumbly cake. I think crumb cakes might work better for this, or those premade bakery cakes that you buy all pre-dried-out. The secret is melting the Tootsie Rolls in the microwave, of course. Hope your guests don't get too grossed out!
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 02:02 pm (UTC)This line is so encapsolating and provocative!!!
I will pray, yes I will pray.
I'm almost afraid to ask, but do you have a link/photo of the kitty litter cake? I can almost imagine it (eewww), but not quite.
Don't make the icon's angry cupcakes--the pumpkin is better
Date: 2007-10-13 06:55 pm (UTC)Wiki's version (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Kitty-Litter-Cake)
Isn't it crazy? You have to wonder who thought this up.
I discovered this delicacy back when I was a FidoNet sysop (node 1:124/8107) in the 1980s. We had a FOOD echo and a FOODIES echo--they were the equivalent of a 'net mailing list--and people had these elaborate recipe databases they'd use in trading recipes. This was one of the Halloween ones, or you could use it for other crazy parties. I always thought it was kind of nutty to bake a cake and then crumble it! I thought it would make lots more sense to buy a broken cake at a bakery, or one that hadn't risen properly, or just a bunch of cheapie cakes off the sale table. It isn't really about the taste, but the appearance. *grin*
I hate to ask people to pray for some stupid contest win. Last night on the news there was a story about a sixteen-year-old girl who was the sole survivor of a horrible wreck back in May (her five friends and the other driver were all killed) and is paralyzed from the neck down (*sob*), and the story was about how the family is taking her home now and she needs ramps built at the house and they need some other stuff such as a van with a lift. And I thought, "So who just asked the entire 'net to ask angels and saints to waste time on your stupid contest when THIS is out there . . . if I could trade publication for a complete healing for this kid and others like her, I would. Why isn't that a choice on the menu?" It was just heartrending to see her dad picking her up and putting her into the van, and so forth, and her brave little smile for the cameras. *wail* There is so much suffering in the world, even in our little corner of it, not to mention the war-torn countries and famine countries and . . . *sigh* La la la, I cannot HEAR you . . . I can has this pretty shiny rock to play with *wanders away humming*
But still, somebody has to win this thing. *rationalizing*
I think the Pumpkin Cake is a cool thing to make that won't gross out your dinner table. You just bake two Bundt cakes and cool them and then plop one on the platter upside-down and set the other one right-side-up on it . . . and that makes a "pumpkin" which you frost in orange. Then you get a brown or green ice-cream cone with flat bottom, or you frost a little Dixie cup brown or green, and set that on top of the center of the pumpkin for the "stem." Then you can do a Jack O'Lantern face with candy bits on the front, or just have it be a pumpkin. THAT one is good made as a spice cake. But it's heavy!!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 07:43 pm (UTC)Hate to be so obsessive about this. But, man, I've been at it such a long time, and those young upstarts who get interviewed all over the 'net and say, "I had to work at this SO LONG . . . I wrote a book and it took three months and then almost three MORE months to get an agent and a publisher!" *facepalm* They're tuned into the same vibe as the editors and agents who are their age, though. I think they click more easily.
Love your icon!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-14 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 03:47 am (UTC)Btw, I'm reading a book that reminds me of your BAD HEIR DAY. It's EARTHLY DELIGHTS by Kerry Greenwood. Light cosy mystery, heroine and her voice much like Ari, especially around page 165+.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 04:34 am (UTC)Still a chance that somebody'll hear of that contest win this week. I hardly have a fingernail left. . . .