The Phoenix Rattler Archives - Jessica Ferguson

When A Bad Guy Forever won the mystery/suspense/thriller category of the 2011-2012 Phoenix Rattler contest last week, believe me, it was a badly needed shot of encouragement. Sort of like those B-12 shots my mother used to give my old granny. Those shots kept her kicking for a good number of years. I’m hoping and praying to stay kicking long enough to get this manuscript revised and circulating.

For the past three days, I’ve been working nonstop. The first thirty-six hours, I read with pen in hand making notes where things didn’t make sense or where I needed more dialogue or internal thought. I haven’t read my manuscript in its entirety since I “finished” it the first time. Won’t tell you how long that’s been! My score sheets from the contest are invaluable. Much of what the two finalist judges said helped identify problem areas. It’s amazing how different “professional eyes” (should I say an editor’s eyes?) are from our own.

I’ve lived in fear that the rewrites I’ve been involved in during the past year were creating an unfixable mess. I’m tickled silly to say that’s not the case at all. I feel more positive and encouraged than ever! The thing didn’t read half bad. Oh, there are glitches and holes and a few problems, but they’re all fixable. FIXABLE! Hooraaaay!

Now I’m taking the notes I’ve written on the hard copy and I’m rewriting. The only thing that’s truly scaring me is how much I’m doing away with. Entire scenes are being discarded but they don’t work so they have to be dumped. I’m almost half-way through the book. Once I’m finished, I’ll pass it on to mystery writer Barbara Colley and let her mark it up. She’s excellent at spotting holes and asking questions that have to be answered. After fixing what she says is broken, hopefully, I’ll have a marketable manuscript. Do you think I should have more than one reader? Seriously now, cut me some slack. But do you?

I’m still having a few problems adding description and a sense of setting. Why is that giving me fits? I have to make a conscious effort to do it when it seems, at least to me, a lot of that should just appear naturally, then be tweaked. It dawned on me today that maybe in the future, I should plan my setting in detail before I ever start writing. What do you think?

Teach me something about setting and description and revision. My book is set in Louisiana. Am I just making sense of place difficult because I’m not really from Louisiana? Now that’s a thought.

I received some good news.

I’m a finalist in The Phoenix Rattler 2011-2012 writing contest hosted by Christian Writers of the West (ACFW-Arizona) for my entry – A Bad Guy Forever – Suspense/Thriller/Mystery Fiction. There are three finalists in each category. We will be awarded $25, that was our entry fee and an official Finalist award certificate. Call me silly, but I love getting a certificate or trophy or something like that. It’s fun.

The final round of judging began on January 11^th and will conclude on February 9^th. The category winners and overall winner will be announced on February 11^th. The completed scoresheets and any manuscript markups provided by the final judges will be forwarded as soon as possible after the contest concludes. Can’t wait to see what the judges have to say.

The finalist judges in the suspense/thriller/mystery category are:
Sue Brower, Executive Editor for Fiction, Zondervan (And I’ve been wanting to get my book in front of her for a very long time.)
Elizabeth Mazer, Assistant Editor, Love Inspired Suspense…Harlequin (Been rejected by LI on several occasions but I’ll keep on trying.)

Love the word FINALIST. Love the word WINNER too. I chose this contest because of the finalist judges and the big prize:

GRAND PRIZE
2012 ACFW Conference ‘paid’ registration
(member’s fee of $515)

How about you? Do you enter contests? How do you choose which ones to enter? Teach me something about entering contests!

Light at the End of This Writing Tunnel

A Little Good News