New 8-Week Writers Groups Scheduled

We've added two upcoming 8-Week General Writers Groups to our schedule. These groups are open to writers of all levels and genres.

• Nicole's Group 8-Week General Writers Group in West Hollywood on Wednesday, April 15th

• Sanora's Group 8-Week General Writers Group in Glassell Park on Thursday June 11
  

See http://www.lawritersgroup.com for further details.

Glass Woman Prize No Fee Short Fiction Contest

Glass Woman Prize

Here is a no-fee contest (our favorite!) funded personally by Beate Sigriddaughter for you short fiction and creative non-fiction writers out there. From her site:

The Fifth Glass Woman Prize will be awarded for a work of short fiction or creative non-fiction (prose) written by a woman.

Length: between 50 and 5,000 words. The top prize for the fifth Glass Woman Prize award is US $700 and possible (but not obligatory) online publication; I will also award two runner up prizes of $100 each and one additional prize of $50, together with possible (but not obligatory) online publication. Subject is open, but must be of significance to women. My criterion is passion, excellence, and authenticity in the woman’s writing voice. Previously published work and simultaneous submissions are OK. Copyright is retained by the author. There is no reading fee.

Submission deadline: March 21, 2009 (receipt date; anything received after that date will be considered for a future prize).

Notification date: June 21, 2009.

Be sure to check the site for additional submission guidelines.

The Black Boot Call for Fiction and Poetry

Editor/Contact Name : Ryan Wilson

Contact E-Mail : blackboot[at]mail.com

Deadline Date (if any) : 01-Aug-2009

Publication Type : Los Angeles Lit Journal

Website URL : The Black Boot

Genre(s) : Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Art

Details : Call for Submissions: The Black Boot wants poetry and and fiction from the guts, the heart, the darkness, the cracks of light, in other words, your best. We do readings, live writing experiments and daily web updates.

Screenwriting Group extended to 12 weeks

LAwritersgroup.com Writers Group for Screenwriters members unanimously decide to extend group for four weeks! Originally an 8-week group, we are now a 12-week group!

Our new screenwriting group is a smash hit! Our moderator, Rob Tobin, runs a tight peer-to-peer feedback group while providing expert insight and guidance on our projects. I say 'our' because I am taking the group myself! To get into the group, applicants had to submit a writing sample, and once accepted, had to bring an outline of our project on the first night. We read our outlines to the group and received feedback on the outlines from all group members and from Rob.

From week two on, we were expected to bring in 10 pages a week, which we live read and give each other feedback on, while Rob oversees this process and adds in his expertise and wisdom. The writers in the group are not only talented writers, but they offer excellent insights and feedback on our works in progress.

The reason everyone wanted the group to extend for four additional weeks is so they can complete almost all of their screenplay during the course of the group.

Wow!

LAwritersgroup.com Podcast Interview

The folks running LAwritersgroup.com were kidnapped and forced to do a podcast interview! Ok, we weren't kidnapped. Or forced to do anything. Still, it's a fun listen. Listen to the interview with Alex of www.alexlivinginla.com. Click on over and then click on the SHOWS link.

BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition

BBC World Service
International Radio Playwriting Competition
Deadline: March 31st

From their site:

The biennial International Radio Playwriting Competition is run by the BBC World Service and the British Council and is now in its eleventh year.

It is a competition for anyone resident outside Britain, to write a 60 minute radio drama for up to six characters.

There are two categories: one for writers with English as their first language and one for writers with English as their second language. The two winners will come to London and see their play made into a full radio production, which will then be broadcast on the BBC World Service. They will also each receive a $2,500 prize and there are also prizes for the runners up.

The play must be in English, unpublished and must not have been previously produced in any medium. Whether you're experienced, new, or somewhere in between, we want to hear from you.

Just check the Rules and How to Enter sections to find out more about sending us your play.

No Fee Essay Writing Contest for Men Only!

More Than A Few Good Men Essay Writing Contest (no fee):

From the editors:

We're Looking For A few Good Men. Do you have a compelling story to tell about a defining moment in your life? The editors of More Than a Few Good Men are sponsoring a national writing contest and are accepting submissions from March 1 through May 1. The contest is open to men ages 35 to 60. Each writer should submit an original essay focused on a defining moment in his life, when the challenges of childhood, coming of age, work, relationships, fatherhood or death caused a fundamental change in his understanding of himself as a man. Essays should be from 1,000 to 3,000 words long and written in the first person. More Than a Few Good Men is an anthology of essays about what it means to be a man in America today. Contributors include such accomplished writers as Mad Men creator Matt Wiener, Memoires of a Geisha novelist Arthur Golden, and Not That You Asked essayist Steve Almond. An NFL Hall of Famer, a former Sing Sing inmate, a one-time Wall Street wunderkind, and a photojournalist embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq are among the other contributors. More Than a Few Good Men will be published in spring 2010. All proceeds from the book will benefit the Good Men Foundation, a charitable organization founded to support men and boys at risk. For more information about the book, the contributors or the contest, visit www.goodmenbook.org.

Next Generation Subscription Book Club

Powell's Book Store in Portland, OR, has a new groovy subscription book club called Indiespensable where every six weeks you get new independent books and sometimes even signed first editions for only $39.95 per shipment.

From their site:

Powell's subscription club delivers the best new books, with special attention to independent publishers. Signed first editions. Inventive, original sets. Exclusive printings.... Every six weeks, another installment to read and admire. Plus, every package is stocked with exciting surprises: bonus DVDs or CDs, prepublication copies of books we're looking forward to, mugs, posters, chocolate... See gifts from previous editions. Subscribe now to assure yourself a copy of Volume 9!

VOLUME 9

Ships on March 18, 2009
Sunnyside / A Day's Pleasure
by Glen David Gold
(Knopf)

Limited edition, autographed, hardcover chapbook of "A Day's Pleasure," the first part of Sunnyside (56 pages). Printed on a heavy cream stock with 4/c frontispiece by artist J. D. King, two pen and ink interior illustrations by Patrick McDonnell (the creator of Mutts), and cased with a 6/c silk-screened image on cloth. Available only to Indiespensable subscribers. Advance Reader's Copy of Sunnyside — more than a month before the book will be available in stores. Special treats hand-picked by our staff

"A breathless stupendous novel that recreates both a young brash America on the verge of becoming itself, and Chaplin, one of its most bewitching quixotic citizens. From lighthouse to Hollywood to starlets to war to stardom to madness to genius Gold's startling narrative carries us across the world and back. Gold proves himself yet again to be the hungriest craftiest funniest and most humane novelist we have." Junot Díaz

Read Glen David Gold's essay about making the chapbook A Day's Pleasure.