Wednesday, January 4, 2017

IWSG and Anthology Contest Winners!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.


The awesome co-hosts today are Eva @ Lillicasplace, Crystal Collier, Sheena-kay Graham, Chemist Ken, LG Keltner, and Heather Gardner!

Prompt question for today - What writing rule do you wish you’d never heard?


Today is the big day – the announcement of the IWSG Anthology Contest 2016 winners!


First, thanks to my awesome IWSG Admins for reading all of the entries - Lynda Young, L. Diane Wolfe, Michelle Wallace, Chrys Fey, Susan Gourley/Kelley, Joylene Nowell Butler and Joy Campbell.


Next, a big thanks to this year’s official judges:

Elizabeth S. Craig writes cozy mystery series for Penguin Random House, Midnight Ink, and independently. She curates links on Twitter as @elizabethscraig that are later shared in the free search engine WritersKB.com.
Richard Harland finished his first novel in 1993 and resigned a university lectureship to become a full-time writer. With seventeen fantasy, SF and horror novels published since, he went international with his steampunk fantasies, Worldshaker, Liberator and Song of the Slums. He has won six Aurealis Awards and the A. Bertram Chandler Award in Australia, the Tam Tam Je Bouquine Award in France. Writing Tips
Laura Maisano has an MA in Technical writing and is a Senior Editor at Anaiah Press for their YA/NA Christian Fiction. She’s excited to release her debut YA Urban Fantasy SCHISM, and she’s finishing up the sequel UNITY.
Russell C. Connor has been writing horror since the age of 5, and has been in the self-publishing industry for a decade. He has published 8 novels and 4 novellas in both paperback and eBook, including the Box Office of Terror Trilogy and "Whitney," an epic horror novel about hurricane survivors fighting a washed-ashore sea monster. He also designs books for clients and assists them with self-publishing endeavors.
Dawn Frederick is the founder of Red Sofa Literary, previously of Sebastian Literary Agency, and she brings a broad knowledge of the book business to the table—with multiple years of experience as a bookseller in the independent, chain, and specialty stores; sales, marketing, & book development at a YA publisher, a published nonfiction author, and an agent associate literary agent at Sebastian Literary Agency.
Ion Newcombe is the editor and publisher of AntipodeanSF, Australia's longest running online speculative fiction magazine, regularly issued since January 1998. His qualifications and employment range from horticulture through electronics into literature and communications.
Lynn Tincher,  author, public speaker, and executive producer, was born just outside of Louisville, Kentucky in the beautiful city of La Grange. She has written four books, with the fifth one currently in the making. Her first book, Afterthoughts was optioned for movie production by Kilted Pictures and Dancing Forward Productions in Los Angeles. It is currently in pre-production with plans to shoot in Louisville, Kentucky very soon.


And now, the winners of the 2016 IWSG Anthology Contest – Hero Lost:

L. Nahay – Breath Between Seconds

Roland Yeomans - Sometimes They Come Back

Elizabeth Seckman - Mind Body Soul

Olga Godim - Captain Bulat

Ellen Jacobson - The Silvering

Erika Beebe - The Wheat Witch

Yvonne Ventresca – The Art of Remaining Bitter

Sean McLachlan - The Witch Bottle

Sarah Foster - The Last Dragon

Renee Cheung - Memoirs of a Forgotten Knight

Tyrean Martinson - Of Words and Swords

And the grand prize winner:

Jen Stanton Chandler - The Mysteries of Death and Life

Congratulations to the winners and all who entered – we had a record number of entries this year. Look for the anthology, Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life, late spring.

Did you enter the IWSG Anthology Contest? What genre would you like to see for the next contest? And what writing rule do you wish you’d never heard?

44 comments:

Lan said...

Congrats to all the winners! Can't wait to read the anthology!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Alex - congratulations to all the winners and particularly Jen with her entry - looking forward to Spring when the anthology is released. As long as the writing engages and convinces ... just let your thoughts flow ... I'm not a good rule follower - cheers Hilary

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations to all the winners!

L.G. Keltner said...

Congratulations to the winners! It sounds like a great read!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Congrats to the winners and I look forward to working with all of you.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Yeh! Congrats everyone! :)

Heather M. Gardner said...

Awesome!
Congrats everyone!
I can't wait to read the stories!
Heather

Pat Hatt said...

Congrats to everyone on your winning run!

Jen said...

CONGRATULATIONS to ALL the winners!
And a huge, humbled, still-in-shock THANK YOU to all the judges and IWSG admin readers for the big news. I'm still a bit dazed. Yesterday I ran circles around the house in front of my computer. Yep, it's that big of a deal for me.

As for rules? Anything that tells a writer what readers ARE or ARE NOT reading "right now". Those are easy to dismiss on the surface but they dig down inside and nest. Then, as I work, I hear tiny voices whispering, "No one's going to read that, you know. It's not what the market wants right now." Not that this would be a hard and fast rule, but it's one of those "Thou Shalts" that get on my nerves.

CHEERS!
Jen

Bob/Sally said...

Congrats, all! Well done.

The Cynical Sailor said...

Many, many thanks to the admin team and judges for all of your time and effort. I'm thrilled to have been picked and honored to be among such great company! I'm really looking forward to reading all of the stories.

Cheers - Ellen

Fundy Blue said...

Congratulations to all the winners! And a big thank you to all the judges and IWSG administrators for their hard work! I can't wait to get my hands on this anthology! I've read last year's anthology several times; I expect I'll do the same with this year's. It's so much fun when you read the stories of IWSG blogging buddies!!

Chrys Fey said...

CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners! And a big thanks to our judges. :)

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

Congratulations winners! Your stories are wonderful. Thanks to the judges for taking the time to read them all. Great way to start the new year.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Thank you to all of the judges for letting me sneak in somehow. They are all so busy with their own lives that it was gracious for them to do this for us. Congratulations to all the other winners! I am dying to read their stories.

Sandee said...

Congratulations to all the winners.

Have a fabulous day. ☺

Jessica Therrien said...

Congrats to all the winners!! I like my adverbs, so I'm not a fan of the no adverbs writing rule. I think following too many writing rules takes the spirit out of a person's writing. Write freely!

Sandra Hoover said...

Congratulations winners! And congrats and thank you to our judges for a job well done!

Liesbet said...

Big congratulations for to the winners! What a feat!! And, also for the judges and admins, of course. What a fantastic group this is...

Debra Renée Byrd said...

Congratulations, you all!

Unknown said...

Congratulations to all the winners! It is an incredible honour to be included and I am so excited to read everyone else's stories.

Thank you to the IWSG Admins and the judges for taking the time to run and judge this contest.

cleemckenzie said...

What a great lineup of winners! This will be a super anthology.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Congrats to the winners. It's going to be a great collection.

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Congrats to all the winners. So happy for you! Happy New Year IWSG Team.

Gail M Baugniet - Author said...

Congratulations to all the anthology winning entries, an honor for all of you. Happy New Year, everyone.

diedre Knight said...

Congratulations to the winners! And many thanks to the charitable judges who helped make dreams a reality, and to Alex and all the admin. folks who provided the opportunity to try. Can't wait for the release!

Juneta key said...

Congrats Winners! Can't wait to read. I'm excited for you all. Thank all those for putting this together and making it happen.
Juneta @ Writer's Gambit

Dihiwi said...

How exciting and what a great way to begin the new year! I've been greatly encouraged by this group since joining and I look forward to keeping up in 2017. Congratulations to the winners! www.dianeweidenbenner.com

Yvonne Ventresca said...

Excited and honored to be a part of the anthology!

Victoria Marie Lees said...

Many congratulations to the winners. I love the individual titles of the stories. Good luck with the new release, everyone! As for a genre for the next anthology, how about adventure or memoir? As for a rule I wish I’d never heard, it has to be that memoir must be told in story format with all the twists and turns to keep the reader reading. Man! Is that tough. Happy New Year, everyone!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to the winners.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Congrats to everyone!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to the anthology winners!

Karen Baldwin said...

Wow! Congratulations to all the winners!!!!

Karen Baldwin said...

Thanks Alex for your comment on my blog today.

Angela Wooldridge said...

Awesome, so cool to see so many names I recognise! Well done everyone :)

Pat Garcia said...

Congratulations to all who have been chosen for the anthology. Wishing each of you an awesome 2017.
Shalom aleichem,

Michael Di Gesu said...

CONGRATS to the winners!!!

HOW EXCITING!!!!

Looking so forward to reading these amazing stories!

Elise Fallson said...

Congratulations to all the winners! This is going to be one hell of an anthology! Great job everyone. :)

J.Q. Rose said...

Congrats to the winners! Thanks to the judges! And Hugs to those who will put these stories all together for us to read them this spring!!
JQ Rose

Magic Love Crow said...

Congrats to all the winners!

Empty Nest Insider said...

I'm very excited about the anthology and would also like to congratulate all of the winners! Everyone deserves a round of applause for all of the hard work they put into this!

Julie

Sherry Ellis said...

A big congratulations to all the winners!

Michelle Wallace said...

The stories were amazing! The IWSG has such talented writers.
Congrats to everybody who entered!
Happy New Year!