Drum roll, please . . . ! ! !
Marcia Gaye (our very own famous Marcia Gaye, not the other one) had a poem of hers included in the Top Fifty contest in connection with Writer's Digest. The judge/blog master is their poetry columnist and editor of Poets Market. His April Poem a Day challenge received more than 5,000 poems with more than 1,000 making the cut to the final judges. From that group he chose the best 50, and Marcia was in that top 50. Although we don't critique poetry, we do encourage poets, and according to Marcia, "being in our group is such a good push for me."
Claudia Shelton received two major awards for her romance novels:
*Courage and Azaleas took First Place in Mainstream w/Romantic Elements from Finally A Bride Contest sponsored by OKRWA (Oklahoma Romance Writers of America).
*Please Be Careful was awarded Second Place in Romantic Mystery/Suspense Contemporary Series (Unpublished) for the Daphne Du Maurier Award sponsored by KOD (Kiss of Death Chapter, Romance Writers of America).
*Please Be Careful was awarded Second Place in Romantic Mystery/Suspense Contemporary Series (Unpublished) for the Daphne Du Maurier Award sponsored by KOD (Kiss of Death Chapter, Romance Writers of America).
While announcing her good news on Tuesday, Claudia thanked our critique group for helping her improve her manuscripts. She also spoke about how encouraging our critique group has been to her and her writing.
Now, that's what friends are for!
To wrap up today's post, I welcome my newest follower, Conda V. Douglas I hope you will stop by often, Conda, and feel free to leave comments. Please check out her blog when you get a chance.
That's all for today. Hope you're staying cool in this hot July weather.
