18
Feb
I’m thrilled to announce that I placed first in the futuristic, fantasy & paranormal category of the 2012 Emily contest with The Vessel!* I’m so excited!!
(*Remember, if you decide to check out their website, you’ll need to look for me on the results page under my other name….) 
24
Dec
I’m extremely excited to report that I am now represented by the absolutely fabulous Nicole Resciniti, Associate Agent with the Seymour Agency!
For newcomers (or for those who haven’t been paying attention), “Maura Bishop” is my blogging pseudonym, so you’ll have to do a little digging to find out which one I am on the agency’s pre-published authors webpage: http://www.theseymouragency.com/Pre-Published-Page.html
Talk about a great way to end the year, eh? Happy holidays, everyone!
3
Dec
Sorry, guys, I know I promised a book recommendation, but I received some news this week that I’m anxious to share.
My A&D project, The Vessel, is a finalist in the 2012 Emily Contest!
This was a hard-fought victory for The Vessel. I’d entered it in three other contests since 2009 (including the Fire & Ice last year where it was up against–and lost to–Red), but it had never gone beyond the first round. After receiving essentially the same feedback from the judges in all three contests, I finally swallowed my pride and revised the beginning. It was tough, but it really was a lot more powerful once I’d jettisoned about 20 pages of the original opening. I guess it paid off.
(Note: This is the same project that I’ve spent quite a lot of time editing in between other projects, eventually cutting about 30,000 words from the entire manuscript to make it a lot tighter. Here’s hoping all this time and effort will eventually pay off as well!)
So, now the waiting begins anew. The final results will be announced in February. I’ll keep you all posted!
2
Feb
Seeing as how I’m stuck at home today, courtesy of a huge ice storm hitting the Midwest, I thought I’d share a bit of good news.
I’m happy to announce that Red has tied for 2nd place* in the Finally a Bride Contest, sponsored by Oklahoma Romance Writers of America! It would have been awesome to place 1st, natch, but this was a particularly tough competition. In order to enter, you had to have been a finalist, but not the winner, in another contest. With that kind of playing field, just making it to the final round was huge and 2nd place still rocks!
And…
One of the final round judges who is an editor with a major publishing company has requested the full manuscript! Yeah, baby!!
Obviously, I’m excited about the possibilities here. Even if the editor decides Red isn’t a good fit for her particular imprint (hey, it happens), just having such a big name in the industry interested in my work is tremendously exciting! And you never know how this kind of interest could open other doors.
I have no idea how long it will take to get a response from the editor–it could be months. But I’ll keep you posted on what happens, regardless. Stay tuned!
M.
*Just a reminder: “Maura Bishop” is a pseudonym, so you’ll find me listed under a different name on the contest page. 
27
Aug
It just occurred to me that I’ve officially been blogging for one year. Wow. I can’t believe an entire year has gone by!
Looking back, I can honestly say I haven’t posted nearly as often as I had intended. But I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of things, so I hope to be more productive this year. (Disclaimer: Life has a way of changing my plans. Often. So “productive” is sort of relative…)
To those of you faithful who check in from time to time, thanks for hanging in there with me and sending me the occasional email message (though, really, it’s okay to post comments, too! I promise!).
And to those of you just now stopping in, thanks for dropping by–I hope you’ll come back often and share my journey!
All the best,
Maura
