The Leyla Beban Young Authors Foundation is hosting a writing contest ($1000 for exactly 1000 words), open to writers in grades 6-12 and their teachers. The deadline is February 1, 2017. Visit their contest page for more information.

Sub It Club posts an excellent round-up of monthly contests and pitch opportunities. You can check out the details on the Sub It Club blog.

We Need Diverse Books is holding a middle grade short story contest for a $1000 prize and publication in their Heroes-Next-Door-themed anthology. Open to unpublished diverse writers 18 years of age or older from all diverse backgrounds (as defined on the WNDB website). Length is 4000 words or less. Deadline is October 31st. Complete information is available here.

The IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) has compiled a reference list of contests on their website.​

Special thanks to my publisher, Sky Pony Press, for hosting a Black Flowers, White Lies giveaway on Goodreads. Enter before Oct 23rd for your chance to win a hardcover copy. I'm not good at touting my own book, but BuzzFeed said "This suspenseful psychological thriller definitely won’t disappoint" and according to Justine Magazine, "Prepare your fingernails, because tension mounts quickly as Ella’s reality is chipped away piece by piece . . . This one will keep you guessing."

Writing article: Creating Compelling Consequences for Characters by Mary Kole

Decluttering article: "Americans are pack rats. Swedes have the solution: ‘Death cleaning.’"

Tom Petty interview: I saw Tom Petty in concert more than any other musician. If you're a fan, you might enjoy this 2009 interview.

Happy October! Here are a few helpful links to start the month.

Productivity article: 7 Productivity Tips I Really Use (Because They Really Work) from productivity expert Laura Vanderkam. 

Writing contest: IWSG is holding its annual anthology contest! Short stories in the mystery/crime/thriller genre are due November 1st. Complete info (theme, submission instructions) is available at the IWSG website.

Writing articles: 6 Tips for Writing Fiction Based on True Events by Lorie Ann Grover and Write What You Know: Bringing Personal Experience Into Your Writing by TJ Cooke. (Both of these articles tie to the IWSG Blog Hop's monthly theme, below.)

Every month, the Insecure Writers Support Group poses an optional question that members can answer in their blog posts.  Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding IWSG, and to this month’s blog hop co-hosts: ​Olga Godim, Chemist Ken, Jennifer Hawes, and Tamara Narayan. Be sure to visit their blogs and say hello! 

This month’s question is:

Yes, I have fictionalized information and situations in stories on purpose. For example, in Black Flowers, White Lies, Ella's mother is about to remarry, and right before she leaves on her honeymoon, a rift occurs between Ella and her mom. I needed a reason for them to have a falling-out and wanted the mother to be caught in a lie.

​I thought about my experiences with my kids and times when I lied to them. There weren’t very many. I didn’t think sneaking candy from their Halloween stash counted. But then I remembered one big lie that I told.

My daughter once won a goldfish at our local carnival, a black one with bulgy eyes that she named Bubbles. She had Bubbles for over a year during elementary school, but the day before we were supposed to leave on a family vacation, I found Bubbles floating upside down. Now she was really attached to this fish, and I didn’t want to put a damper on our trip by breaking the news that day. When she found the empty gold fish bowl, I explained that the pet store would be taking care of her fish while we were away. The lie went smoothly and then I had another devious-mom idea.

I could replace the fish with a new bubble-eyed goldfish and we’d never even have to tell her!

I called pet stores when we got back until I found a black one, and then I brought it home. There was one problem. My daughter observed in the first ten seconds that this Bubbles was noticeably smaller than the original. “Look at Bubbles,” she said, and I thought for sure I was caught. “He must have missed us. He sure wasn’t eating enough while we were gone.”

I got away with the deception and Bubbles #2 lived a long, happy fish life.

Back to Black Flowers, White Lies. I needed the mom to tell a significant lie. One thing that Ella loves is her cat, Oscar, because Oscar is an important link to her father, who passed away right before she was born. When Oscar dies, Mom adopts a replacement, Oscar the second, without telling Ella the truth.

Unlike me, Ella’s mom gets caught and that’s a major betrayal in trust. It’s a traumatic incident in the story and it sets up the possibility that her mother is deceiving her about other things, like the true cause of her father’s death. This triggers a series of important consequences. 

That's one example of how I fictionalized a personal experience. And I did eventually tell my daughter the truth about Bubbles, in case you were wondering. :)

Welcome to Spring 2017 YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors . . . and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for the team prize--books from Team Red! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for a few days. If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

​Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've hidden my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the RED team, and then add them up.
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Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
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Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, October 8th at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

If this is your first time to my blog, I'm Yvonne Ventresca, the author of TWO ​YA novels: PANDEMIC and the psychological thriller, BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES. In BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES, strange events make Ella question what’s real. Is it a haunting or a breakdown? She desperately needs answers, no matter how disturbing the truth might be.

In addition to the Team Red prize, I'm offering an Amazon gift card giveaway. Look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post. 

CM McCoy: Also Colleen Oefelein. Colleen is a retired Air Force officer and chemical engineer, an author, blogger, and an associate agent and PR manager at Inklings Literary Agency. She also teaches Irish Dance. A disabled vet, Colleen has interviewed with PEOPLE Magazine, 20/20, and INSIDE EDITION, where she promotes writing for mental and emotional health. She also runs Totem Head's Annual Writing Contest for Kids, now in its eighth year. Some of her off-the-wall talents include speaking in 10-codes (from her time with Alaska State Troopers), and flying helicopters. 

Hailey Hartley has just enrolled in the world's premier supernatural university. It's a school she's never heard of, located in a town called The Middle of Nowhere, and run by a creature that's not supposed to exist. But at least she got a scholarship...

Hailey's dreams have always been, well...vivid. As in monsters from her nightmares follow her into her waking life vivid. When her big sister goes missing, eighteen-year-old Hailey finds only one place offers her answers--a paranormal university in Alaska. There, she studies the science of the supernatural and must learn to live with a roommate from Hell, survive her otherworldly classes, and hope the only creature who can save her from an evil monster doesn't decide to kill her himself.     ​Buy the book here.

(YASH has ended, so the exclusive content has been removed.)

Don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win books! Find my favorite number (in RED) earlier in this post. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the red team and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

​To keep going on the YA Scavenger Hunt, you need to check out the next author on Team Red: Lindsey Loucks.

In addition to contributing to the YASH giveaway, I'm offering my own personal giveaway as well. One winner will receive a set of eight custom designed Black Flower Notecards (inspired by BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES) and a $10 Amazon Gift Card. (This prize is open internationally, but please note: Any winner outside of the US will receive the $10 Amazon Gift Card only.) Good luck!