The Unseen (Forget Unsung) Heroines

I had this great post planned. J

 

Bethany inspired me so much with her “how I organize my corner of the universe,” I intended to admit to uhm… less organization. And no spreadsheets.

I'm more along the lines of J.M. Phillippe's "winging it."

I even took a photo of the messy pile of notes and ideas stacked up on my desk (and the bedside table, the countertop, the…err…you get the picture).  Really, all those snippets do turn into a first draft. Then there’s the tri-fold board with color coded Post-its (aren’t Post-it’s the best?), broken out by Act and Turning Point, for editing and organizing. (The color coding matches each Point of View character. See? Really. I can be organized.)

(Surely I have a picture of a story board somewhere…) 

Instead of writing about my writing process, every spare moment has been dedicated to the Daphne. That’s the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense contest, sponsored by the Kiss of Death. Great contest. Wonderful entries/contestants and judges.

I’m all for volunteering although clearly I had no idea what I’d agreed to do. You see, coordinators are the unseen people behind the scenes who make sure the entries meet the requirements and work with the judges to get the score-sheets and manuscripts turned back in. They "unch" (that's the polite word for politely pester) and hold people's hands while figuring out technical troubles. They keep lots and lots of records and cross check everything. Basically it’s a paper chase, or these days, an electronic chase spread across four desktop screens.

But the best part of being a coordinator will come in a few days when I have the privilege of calling the finalists. There’s nothing like telling someone how much strangers enjoyed their stories and that their manuscript was voted “best in the group.”

Bring on the coffee and the spreadsheets. I have entries to manage.

Cathy Perkins loves writing twisting plots and relationship chemistry. She  

especially loved hearing from the Award of Excellence coordinator, who told her strangers liked her novel.

She wants to publicly thank the judges and coordinator again for all the volunteer time and efforts they put into that contest.