Writing for the Love

The Running Girls Cover Update A feel-good, inspirational novelette about two girls with nothing in common except the 500-mile summer of '89 challenge. New Cover, Same Great Story BUY EBOOK NOW The Running Girls is currently a Finalist in the 2017 Royal Palm Literary Awards. At the FWA Conference in October, I'll find out if the book wins a top prize (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) in the Published Novella category. It's a tough category with lots of entrants, but even being a Finalist is an honor. Coming Soon: Print Edition I'm currently creating the print edition of The Running Girls , which will likely be released in September. Stay tuned for more details!

At this year's RPLA Banquet, I listened as each category winner was announced, and the joy of writer after writer swept over the room. As a contributor to The Prometheus Saga , I was equally thrilled for my fellow Alvarium Experiment authors who won awards, including some of the Saga stories: Jade Kerrion, Antonio Simon, Jr., Parker Francis, Ken Pelham, Daco, and Elle Andrews Patt (not pictured). When the novella category came up, I waited as 3rd, 2nd, and 1st places were announced. Finalist Little Angel Helper was not among them, and I admit I had a brief moment of disappointment. I'm really proud of that little novella, but as in all contests, we cannot all be winners. And I quickly realized that being a 2015 RPLA Finalist is still a thrill, too. The very last genre was Women's Fiction. As 3rd and 2nd Place were announced in the Unpublished category, my shoulders slumped and I found myself giving up hope. If anything, I thought I would get 3rd Place, may...

Another October, another FWA Conference over! This is the fifth year in a row I've attended and I always walk away...well, exhausted was the first word that came to mind. But also filled with new ideas, inspired by all the amazing people I've met or reconnected with, and better informed about this business called writing. A few highlights: The food. Always absolutely fabulous. Ben Hale led a couple of phenomenal sessions, one about world-building and one about making a two-year plan. Both helpful for me in terms of Livinity , my epic fantasy novel. Bobbie Christmas spoke about the second draft and beyond. She's a well-respected Book Doctor with wonderful editing tips. That session was quite timely for me and extremely helpful. A session called Understanding Disabilities and Mental Disorders For Character Creation was very interesting and helpful for me in my editing process for Little Angel Helper , a novella with a mentally disabled character with mental di...

Because I'm spending most of my time writing Lance & Ringo Tails and editing Livinity , I haven't devoted any time to my blogs lately (this one or Anti-Running Runner , but Lance & Ringo Tails blog is updated regularly). I do give updates on Twitter @briaburton for anyone who wants to follow my feed. So here's a brief update. I attended the FWA Conference in October, and it was a wonderful time as always. The sessions were extremely informative and I love seeing friends from previous conferences and hearing about their writing progress. My short story, "The Price of Integrity" was published in FWA Collection #5 It's a Crime . I've decided to take all of my short stories from Lance & Ringo Tails and put them into a collection that will be available as a print and e-book to be released Dec 15th. Tail Ten will be exclusively featured in this collection. The other nine "tails" are currently available in the Kindle Store . Abo...

At the moment, life, in a word, is insanity. Yet I'm determined to talk about the FWA Conference, however briefly. It was over a month ago now, and I'll probably start to forget some of the great details if I wait much longer. This was my fourth time attending, first time staying at the hotel. I was so happy to be sharing a room with my dear friend and fellow critique group member, Rachel. No driving back and forth. The sessions were awesome. The ones that stood out: Backstory led by Julie Compton and Jamie Morris. Julie was a keynote speaker for the conference. POV Part II led by Rebecca Melvin. I had done Part I two years ago when I first met Rebecca. Side note: she's a publisher with Double Edge Press who is currently reviewing Sprinter ! Agents/Publishers Panel facilitated by Vic DiGenti. This open mic Q & A is excellent every year. They revealed many current trends of publishing and what agents/publishers look for. The highlight was Benjami...

After the FWA Conference, there is so much that I'm eager to share. Unfortunately, life hasn't paused to allow me to take much breath since the conference ended. The day after, I immediately returned to the day job. I wish I could have spent the day processing the wealth of information I received at the conference, but such is the life of a writer with a day job. Sadly, we discovered a leak in our bathroom that has led to unplanned house renovations of three bedrooms and our hallway. Luckily, I have an extremely handy hubby who is doing most of the work himself. I've also done two half marathons since the conference. That has taken up lots of time due to training. The training did pay off, and I did well at both races and had an awesome time. I'll be posting about the conference soon, but wanted to take a moment to announce that My Wheels , the FWA collection that just came out with my latest short story publication, is now available for purchase onlin...

I'm very excited for the upcoming FWA Conference. It starts this Friday, and I'm carpooling and rooming with my dear friend, Rachel. She and I met at the conference last year, and she ended up joining my critique group shortly after. One of the other reasons I'm excited is that I made it into the FWA short story collection for the third year in a row. PTL! My science fiction short story, "The Wheels Must Turn," will appear in FWA Collection #4  My Wheels . The book debuts at the conference, and I get to join the other fifty-nine authors in a group book signing. The story is about a young narrator who comes to grips with the death of her father aboard a spaceship. This is my fourth year attending the FWA Conference. It's strange, I know, that I won First Place in the Royal Palm Literary Awards at last year's conference in the Unpublished Fantasy novel category...and I'm still re-editing Livinity . I received a rejection from an agent a few mont...