Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2012-Round Two

My Leap Year 2012 just got off to a good start, not only did I get my first French review of Trois autres Malaisie the French translation of Lovers and Strangers Revisited, but also my novel The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, which was short listed for 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom Award, just made it to Round Two of  the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2012.

Round One was based solely on the 300-word pitch.  There are 5000 submissions, and 80% didn’t get through.  Your pitch has to be well written and it must stand out. The good thing about this, it forces the writer to zero in on what their book is about in a way that captures the reader’s attention.  If you don’t, they won’t even bother with your novel.  This is true for agents, too (and for publishers).  Accept it, and nail that pitch!

Here’s what worked for me (268 words):

The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady

A story about lonely hearts, second chances, lost teenage love,

and the delusional, idealized love of erotomania…

         All it took was one look through a rearview mirror to convince Jonathan Brady that a well-known socialite Cabrina Chaval is still in love with him.  During Cabrina Chaval’s debut in The Magic Flute twenty-two years ago, Brady was only sixteen, too young to understand the implica­tions of that look—the way she poured out her heart, her soul to him.  Now she’s contacting him again. 

         When Cabrina Chaval invites Jonathan Brady, an economics professor, to paint her house during the summer, he convinces himself—through a series of coincidences—that she truly does love him.  Because of her prominent position in society and the fact that she’s still married, he accepts that their love must be kept secret. 

While recap­turing the innocent love between two sixteen year olds and coming to terms with the sudden loss of his domineering mother, Jonathan Brady’s delusion takes him through five distinct stages of love—from Heightened Aware­ness, to Playful Pursuit, to Courtship and Romance, to Jealousy and Suspicion, to Reconci­liation and Acceptance—all unbeknown to Cabrina Chaval.

Through a chance meeting, Cabrina Chaval begins to reconstruct Jonathan Brady’s life and, in the process, elevates his love for her to its penultimate stage—Eternal Love.

The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady (96,800 words) was named a short-list-finalist in the 2011 Faulkner-Wisdom novel contest and an earlier version, under a different title, an almost finalist in their 2008 contest.  It also placed fourth in the 2008 National Writers Association novel contest.

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*Update: The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady just advanced to the Quarterfinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2012!

Compare this (if you want) to the version that got through to Round Two for their 2010 Award, though under a different title.  Minor changes here and there, except for an additional paragraph that wasn’t in the original.  Those minor changes do add up!

Here’s also the link to the pitch that made it through to Round Two in 2011, a different novel.  I have since overhauled that and re-titled it to The Mother of that Boy since the book is more about the mother than the boy.

So that’s three Round Twos in a row.  For the Second Round judging the field will be narrowed to 250 entries in each category (general fiction/young adult) by Amazon top customer reviewers from ratings of a 5,000 word excerpt (about 18-19 pages.)  The Quarter Final Results will be posted on 20 March.  That date is already circled on my calendar. It's time to move into those upper rounds...

What would truly make this Leap Year special for me is to breakthrough in even a bigger way with an agent and a two book deal.  That’s my major goal for 2012, one of the reasons I’ve cut back on blogging.  Instead I’ve now spending that time (including some overnighters) rewriting three novels and part of a fourth for both the Amazon contest and James Jones Fellowship.  Sent in four entries last night, a two-page outline and 50 pages of each, which I’ve been going over and over again the last two weeks, a culmination of a very tiring two months.

But I’m just getting warmed up.  If I’m truly going to make this year special, I have to do what it takes.  Pull out all the stops and take some serious risks.  That’s exactly what I’ve been doing the last few months.  How about you?  What are your plans for 2012?  A good confidence builder for me was listing out my top 25 achievements (which I stretched to 50) and that really got me thinking about my life and the direction that it's heading.  If you've never done that, or it's been a while, I highly recommend it.  It definitely raises your self-esteem because its proof that you have accomplished some things that you're  proud of.  (It doesn't matter what others think; these are your accomplishments.  They can list their own!)

Good luck, especially for those of you still in the running in the Amazon contest or are considering joining next year, and for everyone else, too!  Let’s make this Leap Year special for all of us!

               —Borneo Expat Writer 

*Here are six lessons I learned from joining Amazon competition.

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Leap for Success this Leap Year—2012

Yes, 2012 is a Leap Year when February will finally have 29 days again.  This is particularly special for those born on that day—now they can celebrate their birth on their actual birthday.  Why not make this year special for you, too?  How?  Well, you can start by changing your routine, by doing things differently or doing different things—maybe the things you’ve been putting off for years, even decades.

You may have set New Year resolutions in the past only to have them fizzle out by mid-January.  So this year, start earlier and get a jump on everyone else.  What’s holding you back?  Is it your self-esteem?  Here’s a fun, productive way to raise your self-esteem, and not a bad way to end 2011.  Make a list of your top 25 accomplishments going all the way back to school if you want. Do it chronologically for a nice trip down memory lane.  I first did this in 2006 and then expanded my list to 50, adding in quite a few that I had overlooked in my previous list.

As you complete your own list, you’ll already be thinking about what you can do for 2012!  Here are six ways to make your Leap Year special.  In fact, these six things alone will not only have a profound effect on your 2012, but also your life!

1)      The books you read. What books have you been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to?  What books will help you in your career?  What books will get you thinking in a new, better way. What books will help you out of a rut?  What books will help you with your finances?  What are the books that others have been strongly recommending?  Set a goal to read a half hour or an hour a day, a book a month.

2) The places you visit. The best way to get out of rut is to go someplace new, even if it's not that far away. Get in your car or hop a bus or take a short flight.  Can even be a day trip, or a weekend get away.  Three day holidays are ideal.  Check your calendar and plan ahead.  Set a goal to visit one new place a month or one new country a year.  Or take a couple of weeks (or a couple of months) for some serious traveling, though that will take more planning and more money.  But if you plan ahead and economize, there are some good deals out there.

3)     The people you meet.  Are you always hanging around the same people, having the same conversations?  Then meet some new people!  How?  Attend a workshop or a seminar, or go to a conference and meet people who may share your same interests. Or take up a new hobby, like photography or flying or scuba diving, or enroll in a course and study a new language or anything else that interests you.

4)      The thoughts you think. Pick up some personal development CD’s and listen to them in your car as you drive back and forth to work.  How many hours are wasted stuck in traffic?  Not any longer!  Pretty soon you’ve be thinking about yourself in a whole new way.  You’ll start to see opportunities that have been there all along.  Why spend the rest of your life complaining about how bad things are?  How is that helping you or your spouse and family?  Instead of focusing on what’s wrong in your life (and the world around you), start appreciating all that is right and start seeing the possibilities! 

5)      The decisions you make. Get in the habit of making decisions, even small decisions.  If you’re forever putting off decisions, well that is your decision—to put them off!  This year, see how many decisions you can make in one week.  Can you make six decisions each day—three in the morning, three in the afternoon? How about six impossible things before breakfast? Deciding on one impossible thing, after really thinking about it, may make that impossible thing, very possible.  Maybe not right away, but you’re stepping in the right direction the moment you start to make some decisions with your life.

6)      The actions you take. We all talk about what we want to do, but do we actually take those steps to do them?   Or are we resigned to the fact that our goals are merely pipe dreams?   Only one way to find out!  Decide on a new course of action for 2012, make a plan how you can accomplish it, then get started while the thought it still there.  Today, do the very first thing that needs to be done.  Often it’s a click away.  Do a little research and find what you’re looking for.  If you need to make a phone call, pick up the phone. Then follow your plan through to the end. If you fail, well at least you tried.  Now you can try it again in a new way and make better decisions!  Put your whole heart into it!

So end 2011 by making a commitment to yourself that 2012 will be like no other year.  This is the year that it will all begin for you.  Already you’re making a list of books you want to read; the ways you can meet new people; the self-development tapes you want to check out (to change the way you always think); the decisions that you've holding off on (aren’t you tired of procrastinating?); and the action steps you plan to take, so you too can leap forward for success in 2012.

In fact, why wait every four years?  Why not try this every year! Or try right now!
          —Borneo Expat Writer

*Get a jump on your New Year Resolutions

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I