Betty's Tips-Spring 2024

Issue 76, Spring 2024

Happy spring, dear readers!

The starter vegetables sprouted in February, and I’m looking forward to planting two new vegetables: artichokes and spaghetti squash. The squash pairs well with the heirloom tomatoes, and the artichokes are fun to eat. All of those delicious layers down to the heart.

At my writing group last month, a speaker suggested that we could find an agent using Publisher’s Marketplace. I tried the free trial version to learn how to find the right person to champion my romantic-mystery, Lettuce Not Into Temptation. I entered the genre, looked up the agent’s sales, their clients, and best of all, their contact information. The novel has everything this agent wants—an entertaining protagonist (myself), a daring hero (Mr. Wryte-Goode), and a dastardly villain (the rabbit who makes vegetables vanish overnight).

My New Year’s resolution was to enter a writing contest. I was well on my way with a short story, but the March 31st deadline passed for the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable 2024 Short Story Award. The conclusion just wasn’t working, and I had to rewrite a new ending. What I needed was a miracle.

Just announced . . . a new deadline! I can revise the short story ending and still stay within their parameters—a holiday story at 2,000 words or fewer, by April 30, 2024, at 11:59 P.M. EST.

I envision the winner’s check arriving at my door.

Happy writing!