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Jamie Chapman's
Official Website A Writer's Journey
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May 2008
I signed a publishing contract to write a biochemistry lab book. It should be published in fall 2009. So I'm going to be published! Non-fiction, but still.... a milestone. SubZero: Igniti (The First Mission) is out on submission. I've started writing the second book in the series, Sifters. I also have three science fiction short stories currently entered in contests. I'm working on revisions for a category romance called "High Sierra" and I'm still thinking of the revisions I need to make on Death Domain. *sheepish grin I did not finish my script for Script Frenzy. I got wrapped up in SubZero edits and short story writing. Another busy writing month for me. Update April 22: I won first place in the Second Annual Earth Day Artistic Competition for my short story: "Home Coming"! Hooray!! Please visit my contest page for more details. April 2008 Spring is finally here! Sorta. So what's on the agenda for this month?
 I'm putting the final polish on SubZero. I'll be sending out the first round of queries this month. Wish me luck on that. Still waiting to hear back from the potential literary agent on The Wolf Huntress. This patience stuff is really difficult. Death Domain edits are still simmering on the back burner. I've also started writing two Young Adult novels. They're really fun to write. Maybe I should try my hand at a young adult, epic fantasy series next. Or maybe I need to finish all the stuff I've already started. Do you think I have enough irons in the fire? If I didn't love this, I wouldn't do it. March 2008 I just finished converting SubZero to a Young Adult series. I have one final edit to do and then I'll start submitting it to agents and publishers. I have ideas for future volumes in the series as well. I plan to pitch it as a young adult science fiction series with a target audience of ages 12 to 18. I'll begin writing volume two, The Second Mission, very soon. I always look forward to starting new things. I entered a short story called "Home Coming" into a local contest. I'll update with the results once the judging is complete. It's a science fiction story about return to Earth after deserting the planet 20,000 years previously. If it does well in the local contest, I'll try to get it published in a science fiction magazine. Still waiting on news about agent representation for The Wolf Huntress. Death Domain revisions.... I'll get back to them soon. February 2008 Not
much happening so far this month. I'm still querying "The Wolf
Huntress". There is some interest in the manuscript, but nothing
concrete yet. If I hear anything, I'll be sure to update my
homepage with the news.
I'm working on revising "Death Domain", but making little progress. I'm almost half way finished with it. I need to get it done so I can start queries on that manuscript. I'm satisfied with the edits I've made so far. Many changes have been made. I'm considering revising "SubZero" into a young adult series, but haven't made any progress. It's in the back of my mind though, so I probably will do some work on it when I finish "Death Domain". I did win 2nd place in another contest - a Valentine's Day short story contest. My short story "Forever as One" is actually an idea I've had for another novel. The story takes place after the novel I plan to write....someday I'll write it....along with the dozens of other novel ideas I have. Looks like I need to get busy. This stuff doesn't write, edit and query itself. I was very ill at the beginning of the month and am still exhausted, if you want an excuse. :-) I'm well on the road to recovery now, so I guess that excuse no longer flies. January 2008 Happy New Year! It
has certainly been a happy New Year in my household. I was
recently awarded a $25,000 college savings account for my winning essay
in Motrin's Code Orange "Coping with College" contest. My entry, "Having Fun to Cope with College" was selected from a large number of exceptional entries, so I am extremely honored to have won. WOW!
I'm putting up a new contest page. Stop in for a visit! The Wolf Huntress page has been updated to include some comments made by authors during the contest. I hope you'll take a look at it. December 2007 Spent
the month working on editing my medical thriller "Death Domain".
It still needs a lot of work, but it's coming along. I'm
hoping to have it completed by February.
November 2007 So,
what have I been doing with my month? I've been writing a new
novel for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I'll put up
some information about the manuscript soon. I just wanted to
announce that as of 11/27, I finished writing the required 50,000 words
and I can officially call myself the winner of something. I also
won 2nd place in another 1st paragraphs competition. More on that
later as well.
Here's my winner's icon. It's hard to appreciate how much work I put in to get this ugly, yellow icon. An ugly, yellow icon never looked so beautiful.  Title: Don't Look Before You Leap Genre: Romance October 2007 The 5 finalists in the First Chapter's Romance Competition were announced today, October 11th. Although I had a strong finish in the 2nd round (ranked 4th), I was not selected as one of the finalists. This doesn't mean I've given up. I'll be looking for other ways to get The Wolf Huntress published. I do want to thank everyone who supported me in the contest, especially, the new fans I have acquired. You make all the hard work worthwhile. Stay tuned for any further news.
And congratulations to the finalists. I wish them every success.
I have advanced to Round 2 of The First Chapters Romance Competition!!! There were almost 300 entries and I have been selected as one of 25 semi-finalist. I need your support to move on to Round 3! The grand prize winner will be selected from the 5 entries moving on to Round 3. My entry: The Wolf Huntress - Chapter Two  So, how am I currently doing in the contest? For contest stats, click here. (Updated twice daily.) Round One is over. Stay tuned for the announcement of the Semi-finalists on Monday, September 24th. It begins! The First Chapters Romance Competition-- One lucky winner will receive a $5000 advance and a publishing contract with Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books! Help me become a published author! My entry: The Wolf Huntress by Jamie Chapman Where am I in the rankings? Click here for current stats! August 2007 Well,
I didn't place in the top 5 in the "Heroes in our Life" essay
contest. I was disappointed, but not really surprised.
I
don't think they were looking for an essay about a woman who died of
breast cancer. They wanted war hero stories. That's
fine.
We all know how heroic our military veterans are.
They
deserve recognition.
On an up note, I did place second in a different contest. First Paragraphs was a small contest run by Mr. Ken Coffman, the president of The Armchair Adventurer, a new publishing company. Feel free to read my entry The Practice Killer and let me know what you think. It's my first attempt at suspense. A lot of talented writers entered in the contest. Here's a link that includes all of the entries - First Paragraph Contest Entries. Okay, now for the REALLY exciting news. Gather is sponsoring a new First Chapters competition with a publishing contract offered to the winner. I'm entering "The Wolf Huntress". I've been working on a "fake" cover to include with my entry (above). Let me know what you think. It's pretty dark for a romance. I might change it. I'll put links up later for voting on the Romance First Chapter's contest. The voting doesn't start until the end of August. As you might imagine, I'm working hard on editing The Wolf Huntress. I had to cut almost 10,000 words. It was definitely a challenge. Thanks for stopping by! July 2007 Great news! My
essay is a top 10 finalist in the "Heroes in our Life"
essay competition. The winner will be announced on July 16th.
I'm just glad to have made it into the finals, but winning
would
be a fabulous bonus.
Currently editing: Still The Wolf Huntress - I'm almost half way through it. Currently querying: Still waiting on the last 3 queries for SubZero. I hope to start querying The Wolf Huntress by the end of the month. Currently writing: A short story for a contest. It's related to The Wolf Huntress. A horror/fantasy piece. Hey, I've got to get my name out there somehow! Maybe if I start smaller, I'll have more success. June 2007 What's new? I'm
currently in an essay writing competition. The topic is
"Heroes
in our Life". I wrote about my college friend, Raeanna.
Click on the link to read my entry. If you'd like
to vote
(hint: 10 stars is high, 1 star is low) and help me win a trip to
Washington D.C. register as a gather.com member.
Email me if you
have questions.
Raeanna: The Bravest Woman I've Ever Known I'm
also waiting to hear from several agents. I queried my
science
fiction novel, SubZero a couple of weeks ago to 6 reputable agents.
You can read an excerpt of SubZero, and a blurb
about it, if
you go to my novels page, then science fiction, and click on SubZero.
If you'd like to know what the queried agents are saying, go
to
my blog. Post a comment. Feel the pain of my
rejection letters!
I'm trying to get all of my links up and working. If you run into broken links, I apologize. Getting this site up and running is a lot more work than I anticipated. Currently editing: The Wolf Huntress Currently querying: SubZero Currently writing: Essays for contests and bad poetry. I need to get busy and write some new fiction material! Some would say that writers are born, not made. I'm not sure if that's true, but if you're a writer, you'll know what I mean when I say, "Writing is in your blood." You can't escape it. Scenes, characters, and ideas filter through your mind like threads. If you give them free rein, what you end up with are thousands of threads of all thicknesses and colors and textures and lengths, tangled together into an incoherent mess. The hard part is finding the end of a particularly interesting thread, separating it from all the others with care and diligence and using that remarkable thread to weave a story. Add another thread that complements the first, but don't allow it to overwhelm that original strand. Add another. And another. Until you have a magnificent tapestry of your thoughts. A novel. Writing consumes me now and always has. I think it always will. I have been writing novels since I was fifteen. I remember my first attempt at a novel quite well. I never finished it. It was about a pair of tag-team wrestlers in a love triangle with a girl who was trying to get out of an abusive relationship. Wow! It was horrendous. But it was one of the first threads that wormed its way into my creative mind and wouldn't leave me alone until I weaved it into a tale. That thread ended before I reached the end of the story, but since then I've completed seven novels and have threads for dozens more. It's time for me to share these tapestries with the world. See samples of my writing by clicking on the fiction or non-fiction links to the left. Follow me through the trials of getting published. Join a writer's journey. |
