Texty Ladies » Contests

Hello :)

Jane E. — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:23:57 +0000

Hi everyone!

The Textyladies are still busy regrouping and getting our busy lives in order, but we are talking about coming back to post when we can at TL.

I have a new book out. It’s called Sanctuary and I wrote it under the pseudonym Cassidy Hunter. Come by my website for more information, reviews, and for a chance to win a copy

I hope to see you there!

~Jane

Next Week

Jane E. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:43:31 +0000

Hi everybody! So sorry I’ve missed posting this weeks prompt. I’ll be back next Tuesday with either a picture prompt, a word prompt, or an article.

I hope everyone will participate in the eBook challenge Pam has set up. She’s a whirlwind, that woman! It’s mainly thanks to her that we have a new look to our site. Thanks, Pam, for all your hard work!

I’ll see you all next Tuesday!

Jane

Changes & Challenges!

Pamela Sweet — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:35:34 +0000

On what was to be the day of our big reveal, we experienced formatting issues that made it impossible for us to continue using our chosen new template for this site. Over the next few days, we’ll reselect a template and make the necessary adjustments so please bear with us.

In the mean time, I can tell you about a new feature here at Texty Ladies…the book challenge! You have noticed them on other blogs or might even be participating in one more more yourself. It seems that people can get quite addicted to them!

We’ve created our own challenge and if it’s successful, we might consider hosting one quarterly. Our first challenge is the:

Rules:

The challenge runs from August 10, 2009 to December 10, 2009 (4 months).
The goal is to read at least 1 ebook each month for a total of 4 ebooks (or more if you’d like). These can be read all in one month or one each month; it’s up to you.
You do not have to have a blog to participate.
It is okay to use ebooks you’re using for other challenges but at least 2 should be specific to this challenge.
If you do have a blog, it would be great if you posted the books you are reading on your site, perhaps even writing a review for each one or post one wrap-up post about all the ebooks you’ve read for this challenge. If you do not have a blog, please comment on this article listing your name and how many ebooks you plan to read. You may also list their titles if you know them.
To sign up, please leave a comment for this article with the above information. We’re having Mr. Linky issues right now but plan to use it for future challenges.
Prizes, you say? But of course! We’ve got a Texty Ladies basket of goodies for the challenge participant whose name is drawn at the end of this challenge.

If you have any questions about the challenge and its rules, please leave your question in the comments or use our contact page and we’ll answer promptly. Oh, and please help yourself to the button we’ve created for this challenge.

That’s all there is to it. Easy as pie, right? We do hope you’ll participate and we look forward to hearing about your ebook experiences (and hopefully get to read some reviews as well)! Happy reading!

We appreciate your continued patience with the many changes occurring here at Texty Ladies. We sincerely hope our efforts will provide you with a much better organized site.

Poetry Play Thursday

Pamela Sweet — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:29:26 +0000

Welcome to Poetry Play Thursday!

Many of us have a birthday coming up and I thought we could find another way of celebrating it. Hot dogs and fireworks are tons of fun but I thought we could look a little deeper into the USA’s Independence Day holiday. Today’s prompt is:

INDEPENDENCE

For today’s poem, try writing about independence in any of its many forms: national independence, personal independence (from parents, a lover), the City of Independence… It’s up to you.

OF HISTORY AND HOPE

by Miller Williams

We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.
But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we meant to be,
to keep on going where we meant to go.

But how do we fashion the future? Who can say how
except in the minds of those who will call it Now?
The children. The children. And how does our garden grow?
With waving hands—oh, rarely in a row—
and flowering faces. And brambles, that we can no longer allow.

Who were many people coming together
cannot become one people falling apart.
Who dreamed for every child an even chance
cannot let luck alone turn doorknobs or not.
Whose law was never so much of the hand as the head
cannot let chaos make its way to the heart.
Who have seen learning struggle from teacher to child
cannot let ignorance spread itself like rot.
We know what we have done and what we have said,
and how we have grown, degree by slow degree,
believing ourselves toward all we have tried to become—
just and compassionate, equal, able, and free.

All this in the hands of children, eyes already set
on a land we never can visit—it isn’t there yet—
but looking through their eyes, we can see
what our long gift to them may come to be.
If we can truly remember, they will not forget.

I do hope you’ll share your poem, or a link to the poem, in our comments. Have a spirited 4th of July weekend!

~ Pamela

Poetry Play Thursday & Contest

Pamela Sweet — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:28:03 +0000

This week’s Poetry Play Thursday poetry form is:

Free Verse

free verse

n. Verse composed of variable, usually unrhymed lines having no fixed metrical pattern.

Anything goes this week….well, almost! We’re an R rated (or less) site so anything more than that will have to be posted on your site with a link left in our comments.

I was going to post a different form with its accompanying rules but thought it would be fun to see what you’ll do with no restrictions! Please share your poems with us in our comments or leave your name with a link to the site where your poem is posted. We’d love to read them! Have fun!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Just a reminder that the deadline for our poetry contest is this Sunday, April 26th. The winning entry from each category will be posted here on Thursday, April 30th. Thanks to all who have already submitted entries!

Oh, and don’t forget we’ve got a running renga going that could use a few more stanzas. You can find it here. I’ll post the final renga next Thursday along with our contest winners.

A big thank you to everyone who has participated in Poetry Play Thursday so far. We’ll try a little something different next month.

~ Pamela

Poetry Play Thursday – Short & Sweet

Pamela Sweet — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:35:28 +0000

Welcome to PPT! (That sounds like a home pregnancy test!)

I’d like to thank Genie, Lucy and Pamela for helping out with our renga poem from last week. Here’s where it’s at right now:

a wispy violet feather
tucked between her breasts
bounced gaily as she strolled the walk

intensely she looked away
ignoring the gentle play

the jealous wind
tugged upon her precious prize;
she could no call it back.

buoyed by new found freedom,
it flitted just out of reach

It sounds great so far but I think we can do more with it. I’m going to keep this open until the end of the month so if you’d like to add to our renga, please post your stanza in our comments. Remember, the stanzas are 3 lines, 2 lines, 3 lines, 2 lines and so on…

Now, on to this week’s poetry form.

Senryu (or Human Haiku)

A senryu is like a traditional haiku in that it is 3 lines long and holds 17 syllables, 5-7-5. (Modern hybrid haiku can have varying lengths.) It distinguishes itself from the haiku by focusing on humannature or human artifacts and has no reference to the natural world or seasons. Both senryu and haiku can have humor. Here are examples of haiku and senryu:

HAIKU SENRYU

               at the ancient pond                                              soft, sultry whispers
               a frog plunges into                                               tickle the skin and ruffle
               the sound of water                                               the senses, desire

~ Basho ~ Pamela Sweet

Some people will write a stand-alone senryu or put several together for a longer poem. It’s your choice. You know you’ve been waiting for a form like this, so here’s your chance to blow us away with your spectacular senryu!

I hope you’ll give this fun poetry form a try and consider sharing it with us by posting it in the comments section, adding your name and URL in the Mr. Linky below, or leaving a link in our comments to where you’ve posted it at your blog or website. Have fun! (and don’t forget to claim your place in history by adding to our Texty Ladies renga! ;) )

P.S. If you haven’t yet checked out the poem entries for our Poetry Contest, just click on the “Contest Entries” tab on the very top of our site or at the top of our sidebar OR you can simply click here. It’s going to be so difficult choosing the winners!

NOTE: If you read this post before 6:00 a.m. Thursday, April 16th, my senryu was completely mangled due to the late hour and my state of alertness. It has since been corrected.

~ Pamela

Poetry Play Thursday & Poetry Contest

Pamela Sweet — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:58:19 +0000

Welcome to Poetry Play Thursday! In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Texty Ladies are hosting a POETRY CONTEST! Here are the rules:

1. There are three categories: Love/Friendship/Family, Spiritual/Inspirational, and Dark/Humorous.

2. Each person may submit a total of two poems.

3. We’re not trying to stifle your creativity but please refrain from excessive use of profanity or overly explicit language.

4. Entries may be in any poetry form.

5. Submit by sending your poems in the body of an email to textyladies@gmail.com.

6. Be sending in your entries, you are giving Texty Ladies the permission to publish your poems on our website.

7. The deadline for submission is Sunday, April 26, 2009. One winner from each category will be announced on Thursday, April 30, 2009.*

8. If you are a winner, we will contact you by email for your snail mail address.

PRIZES will include:

A Texty Ladies t-shirt, pens, notepads and a beautiful book of poetry. Who knows what else might find its way into your package!

We do hope you’ll enter our contest and we look forward to reading your entries! Good luck!

*The Texty Ladies are not eligible to win this contest.

*********************************************************************************

If you’re looking for another poetry form to inspire you, here is the Poetry Play Thursday form selection for this week:

Pleiades

This form was invented 1999 by Craig Tigerman, Sol Magazine’s Lead Editor. Here are the rules:

1. The title must only consist of one word.

2. A single, seven line stanza follows.

3. The first word in each line must begin with the same letter as the title.

Here is an example from Craig Tigerman:

Mything

        Men who are from
          Mars perhaps come
         Masking insecurity by
          Mything dreams in
          Midas-power, touching
          Much in hopes of gold, yet
          Missing Venus’ point.

I’ll be adding my own to Mr. Linky below. I hope you’ll give the Pleiades a chance and share your results with us in our comments or add a link to where you’ve posted your poem!

~ Pamela

TT: Winner and More

Jane E. — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:50:42 +0000

Hi everybody!

I was going to post a tutorial with step by step instructions on how to make bookplates, but I’ve decided to save that post for our new ezine, which should be up by the middle of April. We’ll have more on that later!

I do want to post a link and some information about a new blog my friend Kiki Howell is starting. If you’re a writer, contact her if you’re interested. If you’re a reader, please visit the site in the next few weeks for in-depth information about authors, interviews, and much more! I’ll also be pairing with Kiki soon, and I hope to see more writers joining and a lot of readers stopping by!

~Jane

From Kiki:

There is an exciting new blog called Authors By Authors starting up soon. It is a unique place where readers can come to learn about books and authors through the minds of other respected authors.

There will be two different types of posts with the authors working in pairs: “book” posts, in which authors will talk about each other’s books; and “author” posts where authors will interview each other. These posts will give a reader a creative take on the stories, and personal look inside the life and mind of an author.

If you are a reader, stop by http://authorsbyauthors.blogspot.com in the next few weeks to read the first posts. If you are an author interested in being featured on Author By Authors, stop by to find out how to sign up.

Hope to see you there!

****

Now on to the winner of my Puppy Love contest!

I printed the names out, cut them up, and put them in a bag. A completely uninterested person (okay, okay, my son) reached into the bag and pulled out the name….

AFSHAN N from New York!

Congratulations, Afshan! Contact me with your address and I will get your box out to you asap! My email is janejane07 at gmail dot com.

To all who entered, thank you! Keep an eye out because I’ll be doing a contest each time I have a new release.

~Jane

Don’t Forget!

Jane E. — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:10:32 +0000

There’s still time to enter the contest! You have until Monday night to either blog or buy.

I’ll announce the winner Tuesday, March 24.

Click here to read the rules and view the prizes.

Good luck and have a great weekend!

~Jane

TT: Interview with publisher Marci Baun

Jane E. — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:26:33 +0000

Hi everyone! Today I’m posting the interview I did with Freya’s Bower publisher, Marci Baun. Enjoy!

Thanks so much for doing the interview, Marci, and welcome to Textyladies!

~Jane

******

JJ: Are you a writer as well as a publisher?

MB: Yes, although I don’t have a lot of time to write. I have three pseudonyms: Rosa Orrore for horror, Kit Wylde, and Alyce Brown. I have a few books on Freya’s Bower by Kit and Alyce and a free story as well as a story in Weirdly by Rosa.

JJ: What kind of attitude within the industry does FB receive, as an ePub? Have you seen much of a change in the way the publishing world reacts to ePublishing?

MB: Honestly, I haven’t had any issues with attitude, at least amongst other ePublishers. I have had a newspapers interested in interviews until they discovered I was an ePub. (shrug) As the popularity of ebooks grows, that will change. Education and patience will change this…I hope. And with the big NYC pubs jumping on the bandwagon, there’s no doubt it will change.

JJ: How do you think eBooks will compare to print books in the future?

MB: I don’t think print books will ever go away, but I do think, especially as the younger generations come up, eBooks will become more dominant than print. That won’t be for a number of years, though, and probably won’t happen until we have an ereader that’s affordable.

JJ: What are some important things you’ve learned about the publishing industry, especially ePublishing, since you became publisher of Freya’s Bower?

MB: How wonderful the Internet community really is. I have made some lifelong friends as a result of becoming a publisher. These are people I never would have met without this experience.

JJ: What are your goals for the company in the next five years?

MB: Big plans. (grin) Dominating the industry. (grin) No, but certainly a force to be reckoned with and where when people think of romance and erotica, they think of Freya’s Bower.

JJ: What can Freya’s Bower authors do to make the process, from submitting to release, easier for everyone involved?

MB: For submitting, follow the submission guidelines. If your editor tells you to submit to them, do it, but format it properly. Make sure you’ve filled out your cover art form and send it to the proper email address. Most importantly, communicate with your editor, let her/him know where you are at and what is happening. Set revision date goals and do your best to stick to them. Make sure these dates are viable for your editor too. If you have any problems meeting the date, let your editor know. Also, have a blurb ready

JJ: Are there any genres you’d like to see more of? YA, for instance?

MB: Well, no YA at Freya’s Bower as we publish erotica, but I would love to see more historicals. I love historicals. (grin) I would love to see paranormal historicals, although there’s a rumor that those aren’t popular anymore. (raised eyebrow at that comment)

At EPICon, I was on a publisherÕs panel. This very question came up. All of us laughed and agreed: if you want a bestseller, write an interracial romance (of any genre). Now, if you want to blow it out of the roof, it should be M/M or mŽnage shapeshifter interracial erotica/romance. Yeah, really. These are really hot right now.

JJ: Do you have any advice for authors thinking of submitting to Freya’s Bower?

MB: Read our guidelines and at least a few of our books so you know what we are looking for and what to expect. Also, know your craft. We edit to NY standards of old, so if you are signed, be prepared.

JJ: What would you like people to know about Freya’s Bower?

MB: While our submissions are closed until May 1, 2009, keep us in mind for future submissions. We are always looking for good material. Oh, yes, come by and see what we have to offer. We have everything from sweet romance to erotica that will set your clothes on fire. (grin)

JJ: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

MB: Just a big thank you for having me here today.

Thank you, Marci!

Freya’s Bower

****

I also want to remind everybody that my contest is still going on to promote my own book with Freya’s Bower. Click here to read the rules, see the prizes, and enter the contest.

~Jane