I'm Moving

I have decided to combine my blog with my new web site. I'm still making adjustments and adding pages, but future blog posts will be located on the new site, www.JanetHartman.net. Here's a direct link to the blog. Hope to see you there!

Memoir Writers/Magazine Market

Writer’s Thought for the Week: An inveterate and incurable itch for writing besets many… ~ Juvenal

If MEMOIR is your genre, check into the National Association of Memoir Writers. Membership includes monthly teleseminars and access to archived sessions, free e-books, monthly newsletter, and more.

SLICE magazine is open for short fiction, nonfiction and poetry submissions until August 1, 2013 for Issue 14 (Spring/Summer '14). The nonfiction theme for this issue is “Escape." Fiction and poetry submissions are not bound by the theme. Pays $100 for stories and essays and $25 for poems.

Talking to Readers (Free session!)/Poetry and Prose Market

Thought for the Week: The river may be wide, but it can always be crossed. ~ African proverb  

TALKING TO READERS

I’ve been to book signings that were deadly dull. The author just sits there at a table with books. If no one is at the table perusing a book or making conversation, the author looks hungrily, sometimes desperately, at anyone who enters the room. It’s painful to watch.

I’ve found lots of advice on how to talk to agents or editors, but none on how to talk to readers. Savvy Authors has a free one-hour session on this topic on July 24, 2013. You must be a basic or premium member of Savvy Authors to attend, but basic membership is free, too. I’ve registered to attend. Want to join me? The info is here. 

VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW is open for submissions until August 1. They consider unpublished short fiction (2,000 – 10,000 words), poetry, and nonfiction. Pays: "For poetry, we pay $200 per poem; for poems longer than 50 lines, the payment is higher. For prose, we generally pay approximately 25 cents per word, depending on length. For investigative reporting, we pay at a higher rate, sometimes including pre-approved travel expenses."

What's an Appositive?/Digital Fiction Imprint

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Writing is like touching old scar tissue. ~ Anonymous

APPOSITIVE VS DESCRIPTION

A noun set off from another noun that refers to the same thing is in apposition. Commas often frame the appositive but not the description. Here are examples of both apposition and description.

BLOOMSBURY SPARK is a digital fiction imprint launching in autumn 2013 from Bloomsbury Publishing. They want teen, YA, and new adult manuscripts in a variety of genres: romance, contemporary, dystopian, paranormal, sci-fi, mystery, thriller, and more. Novels, novellas, and interconnected short stories should be 25,000 to 60,000 words. Read the guidelines carefully – there are different e-mail submission addresses depending on where you live in the world. 

When to Crow/Essay Contest

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Part of the key to success is in getting past the fear and submitting- and to continue going back to that fire, even when you get burned.  ~ Robin Devereaux-Nelson

THINGS TO CLUCK OR CROW ABOUT

A friend of mine raises chickens in her backyard. Occasionally she gives me some surplus eggs. In the last half-dozen, each egg was a different pastel color - the prettiest natural eggs I’ve ever seen. When I soft-boiled some, I noticed the yolks were larger than those in store-bought eggs.

Last Saturday, I bought brown eggs from a local farm’s booth at my town’s new farmer’s market. They cost noticeably more than those at the supermarket. For a comparison test, I hard-boiled one farm egg along with a store-bought one. The farm egg had a larger, better-textured yolk and a fresher flavor.

Some people debate whether eggs from small farm and yard-raised chickens are really healthier, but I can see and taste a difference. Add the fact that I’m supporting a local business, and I have multiple reasons to buy those eggs over the supermarket ones.

The eggs reminded me that when pitching to an editor, it’s important to say why you’re the one to write the piece. What experience do you have to write that article? If you don’t have personal experience, have you lined up some experts to interview on the topic? If you’re pitching humor, fiction or nonfiction, does your personality come through in your query? Has your fiction been published before or do people follow your blog or Twitter posts?

Hens usually announce when they lay an egg. I'm told roosters crow whenever they feel like it. Pitching is not the time to be shy about what you have to offer. Check out samples from Writers Conference.  Scroll the article to see the samples.

WILLIAM HAZLITT ESSAY PRIZE
Deadline: August 1, 2013

No entry fee – one entry per author

Award value £15,000; five runners-up will each receive £1000.

Looking for the best essay in the English language, between 2,000 and 8,000 words, published or unpublished, on any subject. If already published, the essay must have appeared for the first time in periodical (print or online) but not book form, between 1 January 2012 and 31 July 2013. Copyright remains with the authors but Notting Hill Editions reserves the right to publish or reprint the winning entries in a dedicated collection. Authors of any nationality are eligible.

  

Free e-book: The Activist's Daughter

June 20 through June 24, 2013 Free Kindle edition of The Activist's Daughter by Ellyn Bache.

About the novel . . .

Fall, 1963, the peak of the civil rights movement. A quarter of a million people have just marched on Washington, where they were galvanized by Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.    Mortified by her mother's public role in the struggle for racial equality, 17-year-old Beryl Rosinsky flees DC to enroll at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, planning to blend in and leave her mother agape with horror.    Instead, she encounters a world of troubling paradoxes: southern gentility masking deep-seated prejudices; a token "colored" girl relegated to a deserted hall in a crowded dorm; a "liberal" university with strict curfews and rules for women that don't apply to men; a ban on left-leaning speakers that prevents her own father from giving a program on campus.     Meaning to conform, to reject her destiny as her mother's daughter, instead Beryl's immersion in a world she never imagined forces her to come to terms with her family's values -- and teach her who she really is.   Sample Reviews: Solid and absorbing.  Bache capably reflects the complexities of this volatile period, including the shock of the Kennedy assassination.   -Publishers Weekly The Rosinsky clan is a lively bunch and Bache renders them both comically tenderly.  -Raleigh News & Observer "Engaging and lively, The Activist's Daughter grapples with tough political and social issues and makes no bones about the need for human connection and a defined sense of human purpose. Sensitive and non-dogmatic, this is a moving and insightful novel."  -Lilith, The Independent Jewish Woman's Magazine

How to Write a Synopsis/$5000 Essay Contest

Writer’s Thought for the Week: I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil. ~  Truman Capote 

SYNOPSIS HELP

Boiling down a novel to a 500-word synopsis can be a daunting task. This article is one of the best I’ve seen on how to do it.

Using a Star Wars movie as an example, the article goes through the steps point by point and then puts it all together. I don't normally like books or articles on writing that refer to movies or TV for examples because video and print are such different mediums, but I think the comparison works fine for the synopsis.

RICHARD MARGOLIS AWARD
Deadline: July 1, 2013

This award "combines a one-month residency at Blue Mountain Center with a $5,000 prize. It is awarded annually to a promising new journalist or essayist whose work combines warmth, humor, wisdom and concern with social justice. The award was established in honor of Richard J. Margolis, a journalist, essayist and poet who gave eloquent voice to the hardships of the rural poor, migrant farm workers, the elderly, Native Americans and others whose voices are seldom heard.” The winner will be announced in November.

Publishing Options/Poetry Contest

Writer’s Thought for the Week:  I just don’t wait for ideas. I look for them. Constantly. And if I don’t use the ideas that I find, they’re going to quit showing up. ~ Peg Bracken

PATHS TO PUBLISHING

This handy chart from Jane Friedman summarizes five key book publishing paths in an easy to compare format. Don’t miss the link to Friedman’s interview with hybrid author CJ Lyons. Lyons publishes some of her titles traditionally and self-publishes others, but her agent helps with both. For self-published books, her agent negotiates and earns money from foreign rights, TV/film, audio, and other sub-rights.

BLUE MOUNTAIN ARTS BIANNUAL POETRY CARD CONTEST
Deadline: June 30, 2013

Prizes 1st/2nd/3rd: $300/$150/$50; online publication
No entry fee
Submit as many poems as you like. Poems are judged for originality and uniqueness.

Google Analytics/Novella Market

Writer’s Thought for the Week: If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~ Toni Morrison

GOOGLE ANALYTICS

If you’re taking the time to blog or maintain a web site, it’s worth taking the time to analyze how you’re doing. How many unique visitors are you getting? How are they finding you? I have some basic analytics on my blog, but nothing yet on my web site. Something for me to work on this week. Here are some basics are what Google Analytics can do and how to install it on your web site.

MAIN STREETRAG

Submissions are open for novellas 30,000 to 50,000 words until July 15, 2013.  

Free Art and Martian Haiku

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~ Pablo Picasso

FREE PICTURES

We know that pictures can really jazz up a blog post or an article, but how much time do you have to go out and take that photo or how much money are you willing to pay to purchase a photo? Free photos are available on the Internet, but read the fine print. Some sites include both free and paid images. Some images are fine for online use but resolution may be too low for print work. This article has 15 sites to explore to find the photos you need. This article is from November 2009, but all the links are still valid as of the date of this post.

MARTIAN HAIKU

Deadline: July 1, 2013
To raise awareness for the upcoming November launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, the mission managers at NASA invite the public to submit haiku could be added to a DVD that will go with the craft. Three haiku, specifically written for the occasion, and the name of everyone who submits something will be included on the DVD. "Everybody on planet Earth is welcome to participate!" You must be 18 years old to create a login email profile, and children are encouraged to ask parents and teachers for help. All haiku must be in English. Submit in the comments section of this article.

Writer's Tag/Poetry Chapbook Call/Nonfiction Call

Writer’s Thought for the Week: All my life I've wanted to be somebody. But I see now I should have been more specific .~ Jane Wagner

TAGS

A former English teacher, now a beginning writer, recently joined a writer’s group I belong to. When one of the members used the word “tag”, the former teacher did not know what that meant. Lit Reactor has a well done piece on the subject.

MARY BALLARD POETRYCHAPBOOK PRIZE
No entry fee, limit of one entry per author
Deadline: June 30, 2013

The winner will receive $500 and 25 printed copies of the chapbook. All poems should adhere to a theme. Themes may be aimed at either children or adults. The chapbook will be sold in both print and electronic versions via a publishing contract with Casey Shay Press.

CHICKEN SOUP: MULTITASKING MOM'S SURVIVAL GUIDE
Deadline: July 31, 2013

Pays $200 and ten free copies of the book.

Busy moms - here is your chance to pass along your words of wisdom, your lessons learned, your funny or embarrassing moments. Pretend you're talking to a friend and share your wonderful stories with other busy moms. Submit up to 1200 words.

Plotting/Poetry and Mystery Contests

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Plot is the backbone of a good work of fiction. The heart of a novel is its characters. ~ Barbara Delinsky  

Emotional Change

When writing fiction, characters should change between the beginning and the end. More than achieving a goal, a character should change emotionally. Readers connect with characters through emotion. Go here to read tips on accomplishing that from Martha Alderson, aka The Plot Whisperer. She also has lots of plotting videos available on YouTube.

PRINTERPIX POETRY CONTEST

Deadline: 9:00 am Friday, May 24, 2013

No entry fee

 “Anything based on ‘Sunshine’ is acceptable as long as you can create some warmth and comfort to all those who read your poem. It can be written in any style, in no more than 45 lines …” You stand a chance of winning a $100 Amazon voucher and a 20″x 16″ canvas. Open to entrants from the US/UK/Europe.

TONY HILLERMAN PRIZE

Deadline: June 1, 2013.

No entry fee
St. Martin's Press, Wordharvest, and the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference sponsor the Tony Hillerman Prize for best first mystery novel. Any author who has never published a mystery novel, and is not under contract to have a mystery novel published, may enter the contest. Submit your manuscript of at least 60,000 words, in which a murder or other serious crime takes place and the emphasis of the story is on solving the crime. The primary setting must be the Southwestern United States, including at least one of the following states: Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, or Utah. The winner receives a publishing contract with St. Martin's Press and a $10,000 advance against royalties.

Punctuation Fun/Market for fiction, poetry, essays

Writer’s Thought for the Week: If you want to change your life, remember that change starts with you. ~ Jeffrey Keller

Best take on punctuation since Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: http://writerunboxed.com/2013/05/02/take-a-punctuation-mark-out-to-lunch/

CONFRONTATION MAGAZINE
Accepts works from new and established writers – from a talented 14-year-old to Nobel prize winners. The current reading period ends May 15, 2013. Publishes fiction, poetry, memoirs and essays. Pays up to $125. U.S.-based writers must submit by snail mail; others may submit by e-mail.

Pitch an Agent/Poetry and Essay Markets

Writers Thought for the Week: The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time. ~  Mary Oliver

AGENT QUERIES

Want some help crafting your query to prospective agents? Here are 23 actual pitch letters that grabbed an agent queries. Why 23? Because they represent 23 different genres.

HOW I SURVIVED

Deadline: April 30, 2013

Did you survive an illness, personal tragedy, abusive relationship, financial ruin, or other life experience that brought you to your knees? Did Gloria Gaynor's disco-era song “I Will Survive” inspire you to rise and thrive? If so, share your story in a new book of personal narrative essays about survival and how the song influenced your life. The book will include 50 stories of 1,000-2,000 words each. If your essay is selected, you will receive $75 and a copy of the book signed by Gloria Gaynor. Submit to either glolo2004@me.com or susancarswell@aol.com

THE FREEMAN

Deadline: June 1, 2013

Theme: Power

You may submit up to 6 unpublished poems up to 60 lines each. Pays $50/poem, plus one copy of the issue containing your poem, for FNASR. The theme changes monthly.

4-Week J-School

The Writers Den is offering their 4-Week Journalism School only one time this year and sign-ups are being taken now. Fee includes a month's membership in the Den which has lots of resources. Free bonuses if you sign up by May 1.

I've been a Den member since last year. I joined to take advantage of a class and have continued my membership ever since, participating in many free classes and webinars. Carol Tice knows the ropes. The Den itself is currently closed to new members but you can get in now if you take the class.

Pitching Agents/Novel and Short Story Markets

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Writing begins with a knot. ~ Margaret Atwood

Pitching Agents: Plan on pitching your book to an agent at a conference? An agent shares some pointers for authors here.
  
HORATIO NELSON FICTION PRIZE
Black Balloon Publishing will award the winner a $5,000 prize as part of their book deal. Must be a work of fiction: a novel or short story collection, minimum word count of 50,000 words. This is a two-tiered process: initial entries include a summary and an excerpt no longer than 4,000 words. Authors who move on to second round of judging will have one week to submit their manuscript after being notified.

CROSSED OUT MAGAZINE #4

Deadline: May 1, 2013

Submit up to three short stories, 2000 words or less each, that are direct, concise, character driven, and socially relevant. This online biannual pays $20 per accepted fiction story for first and one-time rights.

Promote Your Book/Short Story Market

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Winners don't blame. Winners don't whine. Winners keep at it until they win. ~ Joseph Konrath  

PromotingYour Book Tips on using press releases to promote your book.  (Filmed at the Southern California Writers Conference.)

ELECTRIC LITERATURE’s Recommended Reading magazine publishes one 2,000 to 10,000-word fiction story a week and pays each contributor $300. The current submission period closes May 1, 2013.

Rejection/Calls for Submission

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations.  ~ Ralph Charell 

REJECTION

The next time you’re having trouble dealing with rejection, read about the story accepted by New Yorker and subsequently rejected by a long list of literary journals and finally by the New Yorker.

A-MINOR PRESS is open for submissions until April 30, 2013.

Seeks 15,000 to 40,000 word novella, flash or short fiction collections and 60 to 120 page mixed-genre or poetry collections. For fiction, they prefer surrealist dreamscapes. Realist fiction is welcome if it's dark and quirky. Their poetry leans toward the “lyrical, eccentric, ambivalent and wildly imaginative.” Pays "industry standard royalties and author's copies."

HENRY HAZLITT CONTEST FOR BUSINESS FICTION
Deadline: April 30, 2013
Prize: $500 and an offer of a publishing contract with a $2,000 advance

No entry fee
You must be an unpublished author and your novel must have a pro-business theme related to business, finance, entrepreneurship or economics.  The novel’s target audience can be any age from middle-grade to adult. The contest is sponsored by Fiscal Press, “an independent publisher of unique and entertaining books related to business, economics, entrepreneurship and finance (BEEF).”

E-Book Publisher/Erotic Romance Anthologies

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be a fish.  ~ Ovid   

Looking for an e-book publisher? One place to look is the web site of The Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition (EPIC). The coalition’s publisher page lists 13 member companies, the genres they publish, their web site address, and if they currently accept submissions.

JUPITER GARDENS PRESS ANTHOLOGIES
Jupiter Gardens Ignite has several erotic romance anthologies scheduled for release in both print and e-book formats in 2013. They are looking for 7,000 to 15,000 word stories. Royalties will be divided equally between the authors in each book.

    Hot Rods, Hot Bods  - motorsports, deadline April 15, 2013
    Wild Shifters - wild shape shifters, deadline July 15, 2013
    Buckle Down - cowboys, deadline September 15, 2013

Set the Scene/Multi-genre Market

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Try not to be precious about the act of writing. Get something down and then you can make something of it. ~  Hallie Ephron  

Beginnings

The draft of my historical novel begins with dialogue, a testy exchange between mother and daughter. Although the first page establishes time and place, some of my test readers insisted that I needed to set the scene. I like jumping right into the middle of things and find descriptive narrative a slow start, but I don’t want to be vague or confusing. Can I write a beginning that satisfies both kinds of readers?

Yes, by writing narrative in a way that reveals character. Author and editor C.S. Lakin explains how and gives an example paragraph by John Le Carré here.

WEST BRANCH considers poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation.

The current reading period closes April 15, 2013.

Purchases First North American serial rights for $40 for poetry, $10/page of prose with a maximum payment of $100, and $.05/word of  online prose with a maximum of $100. Each contributor also receives two copies of the issue in which his/her work appears and a one-year subscription to West Branch.

Da Vinci Code free

Now through March 24 you can download a free Da Vinci Code eBook  from any eBook retailer. The special edition is in honor of the book's 10th anniversary and includes the prologue and first chapter of Dan Brown's Inferno, which will be published on May 14.

Beware the Contract/Creative Nonfiction

Writer's Thought for the Week: I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it. ~ Sir Laurence Olivier

BEWARE THE CONTRACT and a New Imprint

 

Last December when I blogged about Random House’s new digital imprints, no one had seen their contracts. As contracts appeared, Writer Beware, Science Fiction Writers of America, Horror Writers of America, and other author group representatives soon criticized the onerous clauses. Last Tuesday morning, Random House announced changes to their contracts for Hydra, Alibi, Flirt, and Loveswept. They will now follow a more traditional contract model as one of two options. You can read the details here.

The situation reminds us that publishing is a business. Writers need to either become familiar with contract jargon and what it means or find an agent or attorney who is. We've all heard about scam publishers and agents preying on writers, but when even Random House is called to task, whom can you trust?

Also this week, Amazon launched imprint called Little A, aimed at novels, memoir, and story collections. Within Little A is a digital-only series called Day One which targets short stories from writers who have not published books yet. I have not heard any bad news about these.

DIANA WOODS MEMORIAL AWARD IN CREATIVE NONFICTION

Deadline: March 31, 2013 for the June issue.

No entry fee

Submit an essay of up to 5,000 words on the subject of your choice to this semi-annual competition. Winners will receive $250 and their work will be featured in the next issue of Lunch Ticket. All submissions for the award will be considered for publication. The reading period for the award is February and March for the issue that publishes in June, and August and September for the issue that publishes in December.

Editing Poetry/Poetry Contest

Writer’s Thought for the Week: My working habits are simple: long periods of thinking, short periods of writing. ~ Ernest Hemingway

Poetry pointers: Look here for five free tips on revising poetry.

12th Annual WergleFlomp Humor Poetry Contest

Deadline: April 1, 2013

No fee. One poem per author.

1st prize: $1,000; $100 each to 10 honorable mentions

No length limit and both published and unpublished poems are welcome. All entries that win cash prizes will be published on WinningWriters.com (over one million page views per year) and announced in the Winning Writers Newsletter, with over 40,000 subscribers. 2012 winning entries and judges' comments are on the web site.

Writing Tips/Agents/Fabulist Literature

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. ~ Albert Einstein  

Web Find: Freelance writer and Senior Publicist with Entangled Publishing Stacey O’Neale’s website has writing tips as well as interviews with literary agents.

PHANTOM DRIFT literary journal focuses on fabulist literature - the literature of fabulism, the fantastic and the surreal in fiction, non-fiction,  and poetry. Submission deadline for the next issue is March 31, 2013. Phantom Drift publishes flash fiction, short stories, poetry, essays, interviews, artist features and reviews.

Query letter/Prose and Poetry Contest

Writer’s Thought for the Week: There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away. ~  Emily Dickinson

QUERY LETTERS

Want help with writing query letters? Here’s a video of Marla Miller’s query workshop. Four writing read their queries and the class and Marla give them critiques. Three are for nonfiction books and one is for a novel. The advice is succinct and on the mark.

THE BINNACLE 10th Annual Ultra-Short Competition
Deadline: March 15, 2013

This free-to-enter contest seeks prose works of 150 words or fewer and poetry of sixteen lines or fewer and fewer than 150 words. All works should have a narrative element to them. A minimum of $300 in cash prizes will be awarded, with a minimum prize of $50. Submit no more than two works total, prose and/or poetry.

Channel your characters/Slice Magazine

Writer’s Thought for the Week: You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.  ~ Plato

Talk to Your Characters

I’m not much into metaphysics, so when I listened to Diane Chamberlain’s video on channeling characters I doubted the technique would work for me. I tried it anyway. When I asked my character how she felt, she told me things about herself that I did not know. Really. I’ll be using this technique again. Listen to this short video on characters and setting and give this method a try if you write fiction.

SLICE Magazine

Accepts short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The issue 13 reading period runs until March 1, 2013. The theme for this issue is The Unknown. Submit stories or essays up to 5,000 words.

Previously a nonpaying market, Slice now pays contributors $100 for stories and essays and $50 for poems.

Tuning Chapter 1/Gulf Coast Journal

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts. ~  John Wooden

When submitting a novel to agents or publishers, your first chapter is key to grabbing their attention. This free download from Writer’s Digest gives you some genre neutral tips on fine tuning that chapter.

The submission period for GULF COAST closes on March 1. It pays a minimum of $30/poem, $20/page of prose up to $150, $50/review, and $100/interview. Only one submission per author.

Their 2013 contest is open to submissions in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction until March 15. Prizes are $1,500 and publication to the winner in each genre and $250 to two honorable mentions in each genre. The $23 fee to enter the contest includes a year-long subscription  to Gulf Coast.

Copyright protection/Prose contest

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~ Henry Ward Beecher 

The U.S. Copyright Act isn’t just about copyrights. The law includes other issues writers with book contracts should be aware of, such as a termination clause that may help some authors escape onerous contracts. For details, read “Will the CopyrightAct Open a Floodgate of Contract Rewrites for Authors?” 

LIBARTS LONDON PRIZE
Deadline: February 28, 2013

First prize: £200. Second prize: £100.

Word limit: 1500
No entry fee

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? Use text, video, audio, photographs, or a combination of these to tell your story. Your story can be about anything: Freedom, Politics, Parents, Religion, Sex, Nature, Race, Education, Beauty…anything. Open internationally but text should be in English.

Web tools for writers/Memoir prose and poems

Writer’s Thought for the Week: I have touched with a sense of art some people – they felt the love and the life. Can you offer me anything to compare to that joy for an artist?  ~ Mary Cassatt

WEB TOOLS FOR WRITERS

When you’re in the mood for some targeted Web browsing, The Writer’s Toolkit lists a variety websites for writers. The links are grouped according to forums, resources, writing references, conferences and webinars, and more.

MEMOIR(AND)

http://Memoirjournal.net/submissions

http://www.memoirjournal.net/downloads/submission-guidelines.pdf

Publishes memoirs in both prose and poetry form.

Prizes: $500/$250//$100 and publication.

Reading period is open through noon Pacific time, February 16, 2013. If using snail mail, must be postmarked by that date.

No entry fee. One entry per author per submission period.

Southern Lit/Crime Writing

Writer’s Thought for the Week: The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you the knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination. ~  Elizabeth Hardwick

The ReviewReview Has a list of 6 literary magazines from the southern USA, but material need not be southern.

ROOM, “Canada’s oldest journal by and about women,” is working on an issue with “crime” as the theme. “Sin, wrongdoing, injurious acts, murder, deceit, contraband. Poison, theft, larceny, lust, fraud, family and foreclosure.”

Deadline: January 31, 2013.

You may submit fiction and creative nonfiction up to 3500 words, or up to five poems. Pays $50 for up to 2 pages, $60 for 3 pages, $80 for 4 pages, $100 for 5 pages, $120 for 6+ pages for First North American Serial Rights.