I’m thrilled to report my entry in the 2020 Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards competition based on “Small Town News” was selected as the winner of the mystery and thriller category.
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conducts the contest, which offers the best practice I’ve yet encountered for preparing submissions for publication. Polish those first pages and refine that synopsis. Judges score the entries to select finalists that are evaluated a second time by editors and agents. Terri Bischoff, senior acquisitions editor for Crooked Lane Books, judged the mystery and thriller category.
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conducts the contest as part of its annual conference, which this year is offered online. The objective of the contest and conference — the entire organization for that matter — is to educate and encourage writers, whether they’re aspiring authors working on first drafts or seasoned professionals who’ve been published multiple times. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers offers an impressive breadth and depth of information on the craft and business of writing.
As a newspaper reporter and editor, I’ve been blessed to make a living as a writer for more than 40 years. Still, nearly all I need to know about writing fiction I learned from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. I’ve benefited professionally and personally from the presentations, the conferences and especially the contest. The critiques from judges have been more helpful than anything else in making progress on my work in progress. Here’s the other thing: Every member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers I’ve met has been invariably gracious in sharing their advice and offering their encouragement.
Mark Stevens, a remarkable mystery novelist and one of those gracious members, advised me four years ago to join Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers — that my membership would constitute the best investment I could make in my writing endeavors.
How prophetic.