If you've found yourself checking out Writersdigest.com and Chuck Sambuchino often, there's a good reason. It's a great place to find new agents and now a FREE contest for writers of YA Fiction.

                                     It's  the 19th Dear Lucky Agent Contest, but it's new to me. 

                                                         Hope Springs Eternal, right?

Go for it if you're a YA Fiction writer. But hurry, the contest closes Oct. 29th. That's this Thursday.

  

Pay attention to the social media instructions too. You have to post the contest via two different social media places as part of the submission process. 

Why not enter? You or I might just be one of the top three winners and get our first 10-pages critiqued by Agent Judge Eric Smith of P.S. Literary, an agency I've been reading a lot about lately. Plus winners get a free one-year subscription from WritersMarket.com and a choice of one of any of Chuck Sambuchino's three new books. 

Wishing you good luck with your writing and with the contest.  

Check it out:

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/19th-free-dear-lucky-agent-contest-young-adult-fiction

http://tinyurl.com/nz6n2p8

                      Time to send out more queries instead of sticking this book in a drawer.

                                                   Think about persistence.

Susan Banghart's article in the Fall 2015 SCBWI Bulletin says it all. 

 In Never Stop Believing, she writes about how for writers, "Doubt steals persistence from your toolbox." And how "You must steal it back." She writes about a way to "fight negative thoughts" and "not to do alone." She writes about critique group support and how important it is to be "fortified by  your writing tribe."

Susan is such an important part of our Skyway Writers' writing tribe that her words arriving in print yesterday gave me inspiration and motivation to spend today researching agents. I'm sure she reached many other writers who might be low on their persistence levels. 

Thank you Skyway Writers for being  my tribe. And thank you Susan for reminding all writers to carry on and Never Stop Believing. 

September days spent at Highlights were relaxing and productive. My second year there and  it felt wonderful to return. Time spent with Janet and Augusta was special too, as it had been last year. Plus we met up with a group of Un-workshop writers and just clicked. We exchanged email addresses and plan to keep in touch from time to time. Maybe even meet up again next year.
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But this year I found something special behind my cabin. Although I've grown up with orange trees in easy reach and the scent of orange blossoms floating through the Florida air is my all time favorite, I was in for a fruitful suprise.

I saw a half rotten apple on the ground and figured someone took a bite and pitched it. Not too cool, but hey it's fruit and the woods across from my cabin were probably full of animals that might enjoy a snack.

Then I spied another and another and looked up and spied an apple tree. That was a first for me.

                                        

                                          Apples trees are kind of magical.                 

So, I snapped several photos. Nope, I didn't eat a one. But for me and probably others who've stayed in cabin #18,  that little apple tree was the lovely start of another magical Un-workshop.