Saturday, September 24, 2011

Why "deadline" and Pedestal call for submissions


Thought for the week: The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects the wind to change.  The realist adjusts the sails. ~ William Arthur Ward

Why do we call it “deadline”?

All writers deal with deadlines. If you frequently submit to contests or magazines, you live by those dates. Miss one and you either are disqualified or have an annoyed editor on your hands.

As much as we dread them now, deadlines used to be worse. During the American Civil War, prisoners were kept in wooden stockades. A railing marked the limit of the detention area. If a prisoner crossed the line marked by the railing, his captors assumed he was trying to escape and he was shot on sight. Both the Union and the Confederacy used the term and, as you might suspect, there is disagreement over which side used it first.

PEDESTAL MAGAZINE

Deadline: October 14 for October 2011 issue.
Poetry submissions: "open," no restrictions on style, theme, length, or genre.
Fiction submissions: Maximum length=1,500 words. The story must contain the sentence, "Nobody thought that was where it was supposed to go." 
Pays $.05 per word for fiction,  $40 per poem.

The December issue will feature speculative fiction: science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, surreal, and experimental. All fiction submitted between October 28 and December 14 should be speculative and not exceed 2,000 words.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Hope Clark, Essay Contest, and Nashville Review


Writer’s Thought for the Week: Books don't get written by talking about them, by looking for a 'secret formula' or by agonizing over them. Books get written by gluing one's behind to the chair and writing them.  ~ Mercedes Lackey

Hope Clark, editor and founder of FundsforWriters, is the guest at the Writers Chatroom Sunday, Sept. 18 at 7:00 pm U.S Eastern time. The chat is moderated and no password is needed to enter. Join the chat and ask any writing related question you have. For details and info on Hope and future guests, see http://www.writerschatroom.com/schedule.htm

10th Annual FundsforWriters Essay Contest
http://fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm

Deadline: October 31, 2011  (received, by midnight ET)

This year’s theme is “diligence”: “Your definition of diligence…might involve a personal relationship, a child, a career, a manuscript. Maybe you weathered a difficult phase in your life, and now… you’ve come out on the other side relieved yet wiser, stronger and empowered.”

You may choose to pay a $5 entry fee or not. Without an entry fee, writers are eligible for cash prizes of $50/$25/$15 for 1st/2nd/3rd. With a fee, prizes are $400/$100/$50. Winners will be published in the Dec. 2, 2011 FundsforWriters newsletters. Other submissions will be considered for publication but will be paid the standard rate of $45 if selected.

Nashville Review

The current submission period ends October 1. This journal publishes flash, short stories, novel excerpts, poetry, creative nonfiction, and comics. Fiction and nonfiction may be up to 8,000 words. You may submit up to 5 poems at a time. Pays $100 for fiction, nonfiction, and comics, $25 per poem. No reprints.

Their other submission periods are Jan. 1 to Feb. 1 and May 1 to June 1.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Legal Matters/Short Short Fiction Contest

Thought for the Day: Accepting the unacceptable is the hardest lesson to learn and the most important to achieve inner peace. ~  Char Wilson, artist

Legal Matters

Legal Write Publications has a Twitter account @LegalWritePub on articles and blogs that deal with the legal side of writing, as well as a blog covering copyright and related issues: http://legalwritepublications.com/blog/.  Their web site offers free e-reports on the benefit of copyright and what it does NOT protect: http://legalwritepublications.com/freebies/

Esquire/Aspen Writers’ Foundation Short Short Fiction Contest

Deadline: October 7, 2011

Win a trip to New York to study with Colum McCann, and a scholarship to the Aspen Summer Words Fiction Workshop if you can beat Colum McCann (in 78 words). Entries must be 78 words, in honor of Esquire's 78th birthday, and will be judged on plot, characterization, theme, and originality.

Ten winners will receive reimbursement up to $500 for round trip economy plane fare to New York for a fiction workshop, taught by Colum McCann, and a literary party. Winners also receive reimbursement for up to $500 for two nights lodging in New York City.  One of the ten finalists will be selected as the Grand Prize winner of a full scholarship for the advanced fiction workshop at Aspen Summer Words (June 17 to 22, 2012).

The contest is sponsored by Hearst Communications.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Got a Yarn? and Anderbo No-Fee Novel Contest

Writer’s Smile for the Week: There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.  ~ William Somerset Maugham

The Yarn web site http://yareview.net/  targets writers of young-adult literature. (They define young-adult as age 14 and up.) The web site includes interviews with published authors. If you have published a young-adult book, you can request an interview by e-mailing the editor at kerri@yarereview.net.

They also publish fiction, essays, and poetry but currently offer no payment.

ANDERBO NO-FEE NOVEL CONTEST
http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/andernovelcontest-02.html

Deadline: September 21, 2011

Submit the first 36 pages (up to 9,000 words) of your unpublished novel. The contest will be judged by the anderbo.com editorial staff; they guarantee to choose and use one manuscript-excerpt. The sponsor of this contest, Mercer Street Books & Records, will pay an honorarium of $500 to the winning author upon publication on Anderbo.

A win may or may not lead to full publication of your novel, but it would be a plus to mention in a query letter.