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| Award presentation to Chris Longmuir by Alanna Knight |
I’m walking on air this week – yes, I know that’s a cliche –
but I really am walking on air. You see, I’ve just returned from a brilliant
weekend at the SAW writers’ conference – for those not in the know SAW stands
for the Scottish Association of Writers. Now, I belong to several professional
Associations such as the CWA (Crime Writers’ Association), the SOA (Society of
Authors), and ALLi (the Alliance of Independent Authors), but the SAW is special
to me because it was the first association I joined as a member of AWC (Angus
Writers’ Circle). Have you noticed how all these organisations like to be known
by their initials?
Anyway, back to the weekend which was most enjoyable. Eleven
of us from Angus Writers’ Circle attended, but of course the best thing about
the SAW conference is meeting up with old friends, and making new ones.
Scottish writers are a friendly bunch.
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| Don't I scrub well? |
The weekend was packed with speakers, workshops and
seminars. The main speaker was Alexandra Sokoloff. She also ran two workshops
on story structure – I attended both. As well as being a novelist, Alexandra is
a Hollywood script writer, so I was interested in her take on structure, and it
was interesting. Did you know that in films the hooks (climactic scenes) which
writers use to keep the reader page turning, and ensuring the TV watcher keeps
watching after the break, are placed in the film script at specific points
based on when the film reels had to be changed in the early days of cinema?
And, of course, nowadays they come before the commercial break in TV shows.
Fascinating information
Linda Gillard also presented a great workshop on how to
promote a book, write blurbs, and the effective use of promotional material.
Very informative.
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| The Barbara Hammond Trophy for the best self-published book |
But, the icing on the cake for me – yes, I know it’s another
cliche – was winning the best self-published book award which is a new
competition the SAW set up this year. Winning this competition means I get the
fabulous Barbara Hammond trophy. So, I’m the leader of the pack because I’m the
first person who has won this. Oh, and before I forget, the book that won the
award was my historical crime novel, The
Death Game.
If anyone is interested in entering this competition next
year, or even a similar one, the adjudicator explained the winning entry was
decided on the basis of presentation, professional book cover, formatting,
editorial and proofing issues, professional appearance, and of course, the
actual story. My book scored high on all levels, and he said some extremely
complimentary things about it, but I was beyond hearing most of them because I
was so excited at having won this prestigious award.
So, all in all, it was the best weekend ever, and I’m
walking on air.
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| The award winning book |
Chris Longmuir
Amazon
Apple iBooks
8 comments:
Congratulations Chris - that such wonderful news! And well deserved!
Congratulations Chris! The Death Game is a great book.
Many congrats
Brilliant news, Chris! Well done, lady!
What a lovely Blog by a lovely lady. Glad that you both enjoyed the Conference and value the experience so much. Marc R Sherland - President of SAW
Thanks everyone for your support and all the lovely comments. I'm still floating on that cloud.
Well done again, Chris - it was a great weekend all round!
Congratulations, Chris. Death Game is such a good book - great story, great mystery, great characters.
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