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Looking for the best essay in the English language, between 2,000 and 8,000 words, published or unpublished, on any subject.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.

  

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.

Call for Essay Submissions

Writer’s Thought for the Week: I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say. ~ Flannery O'Connor
 

Morning smile

While helping bag my groceries at the supermarket last Monday morning, I noticed a sign in the next cashier aisle: “Register broken. Thank Management.”

I couldn’t help but smile. It was a slow morning and no customers were behind me in line. The cashier noticed me smiling and asked if she could help with anything.

I gestured toward the sign. “I was just noticing the sign. Did management really break the register?”

The cashier looked and grinned. Nothing like getting both one up on your boss and a reason to smile on a Monday morning.

THE WATERMAN FUND
http://www.watermanfund.org/EnterEssayContest.shtml

 

Deadline: April 15, 2012

Top prize: $1,500.

Honorable mention: $500
No entry fee; limit of one entry per author.

The Waterman Fund seeks essays about life in the mountains of the northeastern U.S. for its annual Waterman Fund Alpine Essay Contest held in partnership with Appalachia Journal. They want personal essays about stewardship of wild places. Essays must be original works at least 2000 words long.