Hello, writers.
Now and then we find news on a debut author (below) that touches on how ya get to be that — in this instance, alluding to BIC HOC TAM*,a contest, a writer’s organization or two, and other familiar stations on the route to becoming professionally published (did that sound a little like the Twilight Zone? :D ).
Hopefully, folks at WriteOn who’ve been published for $ in the past several years will comment on their journey to there and expand our view of the roadmaps.
July 8 — Harper McDavid’s debut novel Zapata [“interview edited for brevity & clarity”] —
has been announced as the winner of the 2020 Colorado Book Award in the romance category, and recipient of a 2020 Writer’s Award from the Colorado Authors League...
...a blend of suspense and romance along the Texas/Mexico border where engineer Avery McAndrews’ new job runs athwart local drug cartels, besides all the challenges women in STEM fields routinely face in the professional world.
Tell me about Zapata?
The beginning of the book comes right out of the job I had in Zapata. I do environmental work with oil companies, and at this site, we discovered a strange problem - crude oil disappearing, and no one knew why. Eventually, we learned of the murder of someone previously working there, and the cartel diverting the oil. I went with that.
The book didn’t start out as a romance, though - more like a suspense novel with romance elements, begun in 2017. Eventually I joined the Romance Writers of America, entered one of their contests, made it to the finals, and one of the judges offered me a contract.
You received two awards for your debut novel -
It’s just started to sink in, and it’s very humbling. I’ve followed The Colorado Book Award for years, so I entered “Zapata’ in the romance category. The pandemic made it very different this year — we did online readings instead of in-person at the Bookbar, and the award ceremony was kind of like Hollywood Squares on Zoom. The Colorado Author’s League award was the same way. It’s all very surreal.
What’s your favorite part about the Denver literary scene?
Denver and Colorado have the best writing communities. There are groups like the Lighthouse Writers Workshop and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers which provide support that is just great. I have a fabulous critique group that really made a difference for me. Colorado is full of readers and writers...
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<big>Very belated Happy Birthday to the metamorphic Franz</big>
*BIC HOC TAM = Butt In Chair, Hands on Keyboard, Typing Away Madly.
Surprise! A shorter diary from me than usual. ;-)
Challenge:
based on your WIP or anything you please:
Write a scene where a character becomes something or someone s/he wasn’t before…
“Extra Credit” ...while somewhere s/he wasn’t before!
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h/t uploader Tortmaster
![Desert locusts have two phases, the solitary phase and the gregarious phase. This is a type of polyphenism. It has been shown that solitary locusts nymphs and adults can behave gregariously within a few hours of being placed in a crowded situation, while it takes gregarious locusts one or more generations to become solitary when reared in isolation.[9] There are differences in morphology and behaviour between the two phases. In the solitary phase the hoppers do not group together into bands but move about independently. Their colouring in the later instars tends to be greenish or brownish to match the colour of the herbage. The adults fly at night and are also coloured so as to blend into their surroundings, the immature adults being grey or beige and the mature adults being a pale yellowish colour. In the gregarious phase the hoppers bunch together and in the later instars develop a bold colouring with black markings on a yellow background. The immatures are pink and the mature adults are bright yellow and fly during the day in dense swarms.[8]
The change from an innocuous solitary insect to a voracious gregarious one normally follows a period of drought, when rain falls and vegetation flushes occur in major desert locust breeding locations. The population builds up rapidly and the competition for food increases.[10] As hoppers get more crowded, the close physical contact causes the insects' hind legs to bump against one another. This stimulus triggers a cascade of metabolic and behavioral changes that cause the insects to transform from the solitary to the gregarious phase. When the hoppers become gregarious, their colouration changes from largely green to yellow and black, and the adults change from brown to pink (immature) or yellow (mature). Their bodies become shorter, and they give off a pheromone that causes them to be attracted to each other, enhancing hopper band and subsequently swarm formation. The nymphal pheromone is different from the adult one. Whe](https://images.dailykos.com/images/767282/large/DesertLocust.jpg?1581860807 "Desert locusts have two phases, the solitary phase and the gregarious phase. This is a type of polyphenism. It has been shown that solitary locusts nymphs and adults can behave gregariously within a few hours of being placed in a crowded situation, while it takes gregarious locusts one or more generations to become solitary when reared in isolation.[9] There are differences in morphology and behaviour between the two phases. In the solitary phase the hoppers do not group together into bands but move about independently. Their colouring in the later instars tends to be greenish or brownish to match the colour of the herbage. The adults fly at night and are also coloured so as to blend into their surroundings, the immature adults being grey or beige and the mature adults being a pale yellowish colour. In the gregarious phase the hoppers bunch together and in the later instars develop a bold colouring with black markings on a yellow background. The immatures are pink and the mature adults are bright yellow and fly during the day in dense swarms.[8]
The change from an innocuous solitary insect to a voracious gregarious one normally follows a period of drought, when rain falls and vegetation flushes occur in major desert locust breeding locations. The population builds up rapidly and the competition for food increases.[10] As hoppers get more crowded, the close physical contact causes the insects' hind legs to bump against one another. This stimulus triggers a cascade of metabolic and behavioral changes that cause the insects to transform from the solitary to the gregarious phase. When the hoppers become gregarious, their colouration changes from largely green to yellow and black, and the adults change from brown to pink (immature) or yellow (mature). Their bodies become shorter, and they give off a pheromone that causes them to be attracted to each other, enhancing hopper band and subsequently swarm formation. The nymphal pheromone is different from the adult one. Whe")
<big>Two phases of desert locust becoming something it never was before that many somewheres around the world fervently wish it wouldn’t.</big> h/t uploader pakalolo
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Before signing a contract with any agent or publisher, please be sure to check them out on Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write and/or Writer Beware.
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