New Short Story Contest and Other News

Old Oak at Fort Martin Scott

I wanted to announce our 2017 Short Story Contest at the last Conference meeting, but we were having such a good time that I forgot.

Our Spring Contest will look much like the last one - maximum of 1200 words, previously unpublished, suitable for publication in a community newspaper. The theme is "New Beginnings; Spring in the Texas Hill Country."  The entry fee will be $20, every penny of which will go into our cash box, which we are building up to hold our own agent/editor conference.

Submissions can be electronic this year, preferably in a Word or PDF document.  Instead of putting your name on the story itself, as we want the judging to be blind, lets come up with a number - I am thinking that the last four numbers of your SSN would work, or the month/day of your birth (0515 for me).  Any other ideas?  I will put the stories into a dropbox for the judges to access.  You can pay the entry fee by mail or bringing it to a meeting or to us at PO Box 2402, Fredericksburg, TX 78624.  Submit entries to fbgwriters@gmail.com with that number in the subject line.  Hold off on sending your stories until we get these details worked out, and I look forward to hearing your opinion on how to track these.

Judging will be done by a panel yet to be selected.  If you would like to judge, let us know.  Some of last year's judges want to submit stories so they won't be judges.

If you have program ideas send them my way!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our own Victoria Rust has published another novel, just in time for Christmas: The Taste of Fear, a sequel to The Feel of Silk, "Please consider this novel or with its companion for your friends who enjoy suspense and romance. Claudia and Joe are in trouble once again. This will be a five book series. So I will soon begin on the third, The Sound of Silence.  If you enjoy the novel, please write a comment on line suggesting it to others. Thanks for all your support." Victoria.

I am writing (and getting paid for it!) for a blog/Facebook page "Texas Hill Country.com". The story on the front page about Fredericksburg street signs is one of mine; the others can be seen by clicking on my name on the byline. I was thinking this would be an interesting part of one of our short programs and would like to know if anyone else in our group is doing something like this.  I know many of us blog - send me a link and I'll pass it to our membership.  If we did a program on blogging, who would be a good presenter?  The Fbg Convention and Visitors Bureau has professionals who do Facebook and blog for them, perhaps one of them would be a good program.