WRiTE CLUB 2012

It’s what you’ve been waiting for!   WRiTE CLUB is back!  My highly successful undertaken from last year whose inspiration was born from the movie FIGHT CLUB is ready to go another round with some significant improvements.  There have been numerous versions of this concept around the internet before, but nothing quite like how we do it here.  This unique approach, combined with your participation, will continue to set it apart. 

Before we discuss what’s different for 2012, let’s talk about just what WRiTE CLUB is for those of you may be new.   The essence embodies simplicity, good-natured competition, and a lot of fun.  Over the course of twelve weeks we’ll be holding tri-weekly bouts (36) on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays to determine winners that will advance to the play-offs, which will ultimately lead to a single champion.  Bouts between who…or what…you ask.  Anonymous 500 word writing samples, submitted by anyone who wishes to take part, that’s who.   The submitted samples should be identified only by a pen name of your choosing (be creative) that nobody has ever seen before.  The writing can be any genre, any style (even poetry) with the word count being the only restriction.  It’s a way to get your writing in front of a lot of readers, without having to suffer the agony of exposure.  We’ll start accepting these submissions today and will continue to take them during the entire twelve week preliminaries, but beginning on July 30th, the first WRiTE will be held.  

Are you bouncing up and down in your chair with excitement, wondering how to submit your sample?  It’s simple, first you need to sign up to be a member of WRiTE CLUB on the Magical Linky Tool at the bottom of this post (a new requirement for 2012), then send your submission to klhtravel@gmail.com.  My wife will be monitoring that email address and assigning a number to each one we receive.  I will never see who authored any sample, other than by the pen-name.  On July 30th I will randomly select two of these anonymous entries and post them for head to head competition.  The winner will be selected by our readers via their votes left in the comments.  Ties will be decided by me (if necessary).  The victor will automatically be eligible for the playoffs that will begin October 22, 2012, and the runner up will be placed back in the open pool for possible selection in another round.

Here are the tenets (with explanation) that guide the competition.  For those of you who took part last year you’ll notice that a few of them have been tweaked.

1st RULE: You MUST talk about WRiTE CLUB - Spread the word far and wide so we can involve as many writers as possible.  Display the WRiTE CLUB banner prominently on your own blog.  Write a post about it.  Tweet it.  Mention it on Facebook.  Encourage people to submit or vote.

2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about WRiTE CLUB – Once the competition begins you are not allowed to solicit votes.  All of the writing entries are anonymous, and we want it to stay that way.

3rd RULE: If someone taps out, WRiTING is over - Tapping out means a WRiTER can decide at any time during the 12 week competition to withdraw their name from the pool.

4th RULE: Only two people to a WRiTE - This is a head-to head competition, no ganging up allowed.

5th RULE: Three WRiTE's per week - No matter how many submissions I receive, there will only be three WRiTE per week.

6th RULE: No shirts, no shoes - Come on, tell me you didn't giggle at that one.

7th RULE: WRiTES will go on until Oct5th - On that date the 36 winners will be matched up against one another on daily posts until the ultimate WRiTER is chosen.

8th RULE: If this is your first week at WRiTE CLUB, you HAVE to WRiTE - Each week new submissions will be placed in a "newby" pool from which one half of the WRiTE will be made up.  The other WRiTER will come from the existing pool.  If there are no "newbies", both WRiTERS will come from the existing pool less the previous winners.

So, what’s new for 2012?  As I mentioned above, anyone who wants to participate (submit a writing sample OR to vote) will need to add their name to the Magical Link list below, officially becoming a member of the WRiTE CLUB.  Not on the list…no voting or submitting allowed.  The second change is that we’ve increased the word count for submissions up to 500 words.  And the most exciting change of all….

The winner of the final round will be picked by a panel of publishing industry professionals!  Agents, Editors, Marketers, and published authors!  Here’s the gang (in totally random order).

Jill Marsal - Jill Marsal is a partner at the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. She has been in the publishing industry almost 15 years. On the fiction front, Jill looks for all types of romance (contemporary, paranormal, romantic suspense, historical, and category), women's fiction and family stories, cozy mysteries, and thrillers. She is also looking for general commercial fiction and welcomes a dramatic storyline and compelling characters in interesting situations or relationships. On the non-fiction side, Jill's areas of interest include business, current events, health, self-help/advice, relationships, psychology, parenting, and narrative non-fiction.

Sarah LaPolla - Sarah began at Curtis Brown in 2008, working with Dave Barbor and Peter Ginsberg. Sarah is interested in literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, science fiction, literary horror, and young adult fiction. She loves complex characters, coming-of-age stories, and strong narrators. Sarah graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Writing and English, and went on to receive her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School.

Ann Collette – Ann was a freelance writer and editor before joining the Rees Literary Agency in 2000.  Her list includes books by Barbara Shapiro, Mark Russinovich, Steven Sidor, Vicki Lane, Carol Carr, Clay and Susan Griffith, and Chrystle Fiedler. She likes literary, mystery, thrillers, suspense, vampire, and commercial women's fiction; in non-fiction, she prefers narrative non-fiction, military & war, work to do with race & class, and work set in or aboutSoutheast Asia. Ann does not represent children's, YA, sci-fi, or high fantasy (Lord of the Rings-type books).

Elana Johnson - Elana's debut novel, POSSESSION, is available from Simon & Schuster  and her second novel, SURRENDER, was just released on June 5, 2012.  She is also the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query.  She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog. She blogs regularly at The League of Extraordinary Writers, co-organizes WriteOnCon, and is a member of SCBWI, ANWA and LDStorymakers.  Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.

S.R. Johannes  -  Shelli was recently nominated in the YA category as Georgia Author of the Year and also the 2012 winner of the IndieReader Discovery Awards for young adult for her Amazon bestselling Untraceable (a teen wilderness thriller).   She has also published a new tween paranormal, On The Bright Side, as well as a teen romance anthology with 16 other authors titled, In His Eyes.  Uncontrollable, the sequel to Untraceable, is scheduled for fall 2012.  Shelli lives in Atlanta Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing.

Rachelle Gardner - Rachelle is an extremely popular agent with WordServe Literary Group based in Denver, Colorado.  She loves books, authors, publishing, and talking incessantly about them. Her passion is partnering with authors to bring worthwhile books to publication. She also writes a heavily trafficked blog that in her words “is a way to create a community of writers, both published and seeking publication”.

Tiana Smith – Tiana was the first ever WRiTE CLUB champion! She graduated with an English degree with a creative writing focus from Westminster College and writes YA/MG books. She also likes to design blogs, so if you're interested in getting one of her premade designs, please visit her shop @ The Blog Decorator.

Lucienne Diver –  Lucienne is a long-time book addict who went into publishing over eighteen years ago to feed her habit, beginning at New York’s prestigious Spectrum Literary Agency and moving three years ago to The Knight Agency. In addition, she’s an author in her own right with the Vamped series of young adult books for Flux and the new Latter-Day Olympians series of urban fantasy novels, beginning with Bad Blood, from Samhain Publishing. 

Lauren Ruth - Lauren started her publishing career as an intern at Simon & Schuster's Touchstone/Fireside imprint while earning her B.A. in English language and literature from Pace University. Shortly thereafter, she completed her second internship at BookEnds, where she fell in love with the literary agency side of the publishing industry. Lauren also blogs at www.slushpiletales.wordpress.com




ME Johnson – Em (as she likes to be called) is freelance writer and Senior Editor of Open Heart Publishing and its annual anthology An Honest Lie. Her published works include: “Call of the Quitter,”published in the 1997 edition of Dreams of Everyday by The PoetryGuild, "The Story of Why Your Mother Always Told You To Stand Up
Straight,” published online on September 28, 2008 by The Village Wit, "Crossing the Guard," published in An Honest Lie, Volume 1:Encouraging the Delinquency of your Inner Child" by Open HeartPublishing, and "The Other Side of the Wall," published in An HonestLie, Volume 2: Delusions of Insignificance. Her full length novel,"The End" will be publishing this year.

After the competition is over I will release the real names of only the two finalist.  Otherwise, the competition will remain completely anonymous to prevent hurt feelings or crushed pride. 

I know they'll be questions, so go ahead and leave them in the comments section and I'll post the answers in a follow-up post. 

Are you game?  Are you willing to WRiTE for what you want?  Then crack those knuckles and get ready to flex that imagination.  And whatever you do, tell your friends!

WRiTE CLUB 2012 is ON!!!