COTT brings you "Entrusted" by Julie Arduini, plus Olympia Winner!

Before we bring you our featured novel, Clash of the Titles wishes to congratulate Kelly Goshorn manuscript "A Love Restored" for taking home the crown during our Olympia Awards.

Congrats, Kelly!

The Olympia is COTT's annual contest for pre-published authors.

To learn more about the Olympia and Kelly Goshorn, please visit us at

Clash of the Titles.com.

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If you enjoy a sweet romance in a quaint village, you’ll love Julie Arduini’s debut novel. She fills the town with delightful and insightful characters. The story has a good balance of humor, wisdom and love. Buy this book, wrap up in a warm blanket with a cup of team, and snuggle in for a great read.

                                                                    --Amazon customer

About the book:
Jenna Anderson, sassy city-girl from Youngstown, Ohio, plows–literally–into Adirondack village, Speculator Falls, with a busted GPS. She gets a warning from the sheriff but has ideas for the senior center to prove she belongs in town as their director. Town councilman Ben Regan is as broken as the flower box Jenna demolished. He’s grieving and wants to shut down the center before there’s too much change and heartbreak. They work on community projects and build a slow relationship, but the council needs to vote on the senior center’s future. Can Jenna show Ben both her and the center are worth trusting?

PURCHASE

Amazon

CBD

Barnes and Noble

Special offer from the author, Julie Arduini!

Subscribe for free to the Julie Arduini newsletter and receive her novella, Match Made in Heaven plus monthly installments to the sequel, Crumbs and Embers. To subscribe, visit the left sidebar of http://juliearduini.com to complete the form and watch for activation. 

What COTT voters had to say:

--Julie Arduini I love this book & am beyond thrilled to hold your passion in my hands. I am happy to be able to vote for you, but as you know, you've already won!!
--Julie Arduii can't wait to read this book.
--Julie Arduini so excited to see what God does with your book!!
--Love the cover and the novel Entrusted by Julie Arduini.
--Congratulations on your novel Julie Arduini!!!
--Julie Arduini, the setting of your book and the language brings me back home.
--May God keep blessing your writing ministry for Him, Julie Arduini
--Julie Arduini, this sounds like my kind of story. I like the term, "the fir flies."
--Entrusted had it all. I thoroughly enjoyed it and encourage others to check it out. Good job Julie A.
--Julie Arduini has a heart of passion and the gift of penmanship!!! What a Blessing!!
--Love the cover Julie Arduini!!
--Julie Arduini is one of my favorite people-- including one of my favorite authors. Love her book "Entrusted"!
--Just so exciting to watch God work in your life Julie Arduini . Surrendering your writing to Him and Wow look what he does ...and he's not done ! ??
--Julie, I loved the book. Thank you!! Blessings, Jenn
--Can't wait to read more from Julie Arduini! I'm hooked on her Adirondack series, the characters, the setting, and Julie's good writing!

The author shares how Entrusted came about:

My writing includes surrender issues and in Entrusted, Ben and Jenna both struggle. Jenna wants to

belong and Ben’s afraid of loss. They have to surrender those things to their Heavenly Father and trust that He’s taking care of them. Book 2 and 3 also give a clue to the surrender journey with Entangled and Engaged.

The book came about after my first visit to the real village of Speculator in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate NY. As I walked the street and drank in the mountain air, the characters came alive. I’m excited to return to Speculator June 12 as I share my writing experience at the Lake Pleasant library. Then, starting June 25th I’m participating in an Entrusted book club in Youngstown where I plan to share exclusive footage of me visiting the places I used in Entrusted.

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Enjoy this trailer for The Love Boat Bachelor by Jerusha Agen and Theresa Anderson!

Find more great new releases all year at Clash of the Titles!

COTT: Olympia WINNER!

We've all been waiting. It's been six months since submissions opened for the Olympia. A panel of readers narrowed down the top three entries and then a distinguished *industry professionals assessed and scored those excerpts to bring us to this moment.

The time has come and I am so very excited to announce to you that the winner of the 2014 Olympia is...

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JENNIFER RODEWALD

For her story titled Reclaimed

About Reclaimed

Suzanna Wilton has had a hefty share of heartache in her twenty-seven years. Left heartbroken by a marriage cut short, she leaves city life to take up residency in a tiny Nebraska town. Her introduction to her neighbor Paul Rustin is a disaster. Assuming he’s as undermining as the other local cowboys she’s already met, Suzanna greets him with a heavy dose of hostility.

Though Paul is offended by Suzanna’s unfriendliness, she often invades his thoughts. Intrigued by the woman who lives down the road, and propelled by a sense that she carries a painful burden, he frequently drops by to offer help as she adjusts to rural living.

Just as Paul’s kindness begins to melt Suzanna’s frozen heart, a conflict regarding her land escalates in town. Even in the warmth of Paul’s love, resentment continues to strangle her fragile soul. Will Suzanna ever find peace?

Author Bio:

Jennifer Rodewald is passionate about the Word of God and the powerful vehicle of story. Four kids and her own personal superman make her home in southwestern Nebraska delightfully chaotic.

Aiming to live with boundless enthusiasm, her creed is vision, pursuit and excellence. Blessed with a robust curiosity, she loves to research. Whether she’s investigating the history of a given area, the biography of a Christian icon, or how nature declares the glory of God, her daily goal is to learn something new.

Jen lives in a lovely speck of a town where she watches with amazement while her children grow up way too fast, gardens, plays with her horses, and marvels at God’s mighty hand in everyday life.You can find her at thefreeslavesdevotion.com 

Congratulations, Jennifer! We are honored to be a part of your journey and look forward to watching what God has in store for your writing career.

In addition to a tour through COTT's Blog Alliance, Jennifer will be receiving a beautiful plaque to commemorate her win and an internet radio interview with Cynthia Simmons!

*Final round judges:

AMANDA LUEDEKE--Agent, Macgregor Literary Agency

MARCY DYER--Editor, Prism Book Group
ROSSLYN ELLIOTT--Author and 2011 COTT Laurel Award Winner

COTT: Olympia Finalists Announced

Today brings Clash of the Titles to the end of Round Two of our first annual Olympia Award.

The Olympia is a literary contest dedicated to Christian fiction and offered only to unpublished writers. In Round Two, the first 3,000 words of entrants’ manuscripts were read and scored by non-industry readers. 

A hearty THANK YOU to each of these women who set aside a portion of their time for this contest. Without them, the Olympia would not be.

Of all our submissions, only the top three scores move on to Round Three. 

Those scores go to manuscripts belonging to:

Bethany Kaczmarek

Laura McClellan

Elaine Manders

Our warmest congratulations to these three authors!

During Round Three, their manuscript excerpts will be read and scored by the following generous individuals:

DEBORAH RANEY--award-winning author

AMANDA LUEDEKE--literary Agent of Macgregor Literary

STEVE HUTSON--literary Agent of WordWise Media

The winner will be announced 

Friday, March 01, 2013.

Best wishes to our finalists!

The remainder of the contest's entrants can expect to receive their scores by Friday, January 25.

In the meantime, stop by COTT and vote for your favorite book this week: www.clashofthetitles.com. 

COTT Clash of the Titles Announces Judges

Clash of the Titles is proud to announce the round three judges for the Olympia Contest!

DEBORAH RANEY,
award-winning author of over 30 books

AMANDA LUEDEKE,
literary Agent of Macgregor Literary

STEVE HUTSON,
literary Agent of WordWise Media

Three privileged Olympia finalists will have their work read by the above judges. The winner will receive recognition on our site and a beautiful plaque similar to this one:
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The Olympia is currently OPEN for submissions.
If you're an unpublished author, don't miss out on this opportunity to get your work before these industry specialists!

Aspiring authors can visit our submissions guidelines for more information.

Please share the below button on your blog or website to help promote Christian Fiction.

<a border="0" Href=http://www.clashofthetitles.com/p/the-Olympia.HTML target="_blank"><img src="http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r38/DeliaLatham/Design%20Stuff/Olympia1a.png" border="0" alt="Olympia Button" /></a>

COTT -- A NEW Annual Literary Contest

Get Ready to Spar!

Clash of the Titles Unveils a NEW annual literary contest, 
THE OLYMPIA
and it’s strictly for unpublished writers! 

Also, you will no longer need to be a previous Clash Champion in order to compete for the crown. 

Submissions open September 14, 2012, 

As always at COTT, the outcome of the contest is in the hands of readers, 
not industry professionals.

You’ve written the book of your dreams, now what do readers think? Enter the arena and find out. 

Olympia 2013 Submission Rules

The OLYMPIA provides an opportunity for unpublished novelists to have the first two chapters (or 3,500 words) of their work judged and critiqued by readers that are well-versed in Christian fiction yet not a part of the CBA industry.

ELIGIBILITY: Any author whose novel-length work (30,000+ words) has not been previously published in ANY format is eligible for entry. That includes the manuscript being submitted as well as any other manuscript the submitting author has written. One entry per author. Co-authored entries accepted. The manuscript should not contain profanity, graphic sex, or other objectionable material. Clash of the Titles staff reserves the right to reject submissions not meeting this requirement.

FEE: $10 payable via Paypal

Paypal account: contactcott@gmail.com

If Paypal is not an option for you, please contact senior editor, April Gardner at contactcott@gmail.com.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: All entries must include a single-spaced one page synopsis of the manuscript immediately followed by the first two chapters of the novel. Word count limit is 3,500. Prologues are accepted, so long as the word count limit is not exceeded.

FORMAT: Manuscripts must be in Times New Roman, 12 pt font, double-spaced with pages numbered. One inch margins in Ms Doc (not Docx) or Rich Text Format (RTF). Insert a header which includes the novel’s genre and title, and nothing more. Judging is anonymous. Do NOT include your name anywhere in the document or in the title the document is saved under.

Entries not following the submission and formatting specifications will be returned. Entries may be resubmitted prior to the deadline. Entry fees for returned entries will not be refunded after the contest entry deadline has passed.

JUDGING: 

Round One begins November 02, 2012. Entries will first be judged by Clash of the Titles staff, which includes published authors and writers experienced in judging. During this round, COTT staff will be looking for those excerpts which do not meet content standards listed in “Eligibility” above. Because COTT wishes to send only the best quality of writing to its judges, in addition to content eligibility, they will be reading for a higher level of experience in the craft.

Round Two begins November 30, 2012. By this date all entrants will have received an email notifying them whether or not their manuscript has moved on to Round Two. Manuscripts making it to this round will be read by a group of judges who are comprised of your average reader of Christian fiction and that are in no way associated with the CBA industry. This includes agents, writers, avid reviewers, publicists, editors, etc. They are, in short, your audience.

Round Three begins January 21, 2013. By this date, all remaining entrants will be notified of whether or not their manuscript will be moving on. Only three manuscripts will be chosen for this round. Finalist will be announced January 18. Judges pending.

Authors will receive an anonymous digital copy of each of their judge’s scores and comments. Under no circumstance should comments given by a judge be used for publicity or promotional purposes without the express consent of the judge.

PRIZES: One first-place winner will be chosen. He/she will receive a special feature on Clash of the Titles' blog. A tour through COTT’s Blog Alliance. A dedicated page on COTT’s site for a full year. A podcast interview with author and CAG board member, Cynthia L. Simmons. A beautiful plaque. Additional prizes pending.

DEADLINES: Submissions will open Friday, September 14, 2012. All contest entries and fees must be received no later than 8:00 PM EST Friday, November 02, 2012.

All entries will receive a confirmation e-mail. If this has not occurred by 8:00 PM EST November 03, 2012, the entrant should e-mail COTT senior editor, April Gardner at contactcott@gmail.com.

The winner will be announced Friday, March 01, 2013

Stay tuned for updates by 
subscribing to COTT's blog and “liking” our Facebook page.