Ultra-Short Competition

The Binnacle is sponsoring it's Fourth International Ultra-Short Competition in the 2007-2008 academic year. They are looking for poetry of 16 lines or less, and prose of 150 words or less, and will be awarding at least $300 in prizes, with a minimum prize of $50. Since they are the University of Maine at Machias' Literary and Arts Magazine, at least one of the awards will go to a UMM student. They ask that you submit no more than 2 works total, prose and/or poetry, and note that the deadline is February 15, 2008. There is no entry fee. All submissions should be made by email to ummbinnacle@maine.edu. For the rest of the contest guidelines, please go to their website.

Do You Have Real Memories of Real Winters?

The Write Helper is accepting submissions for their "Dead of Winter" Non-Fiction Contest. Since it is a non-fiction contest, ("Just the facts, ma'am"), please send only memoirs, essays, articles and prose in which the facts can be verified. There is a $5 fee per entry, (maximum of 3 entries), up to 2000 words each. Go to their website to see the complete contest guidelines. Every entry will receive a free critique. To receive a thorough line edit, provide an additional $5. Entries must be postmarked by January 31, 2008.

• 1st place -- $70
• 2nd place -- $35
• 3rd place -- $20

Writing Humor For Young Readers

Let's face it: a little humor can make any piece of writing more interesting and enjoyable to read. In this engaging article, peppered with clarifying examples, short-fiction writer Eugie Foster explores the nature of humor. Although she's geared her essay toward writing for children, the lessons she's teaching can be applied to all genres, and toward any age group.

Short and Grim -- Flash Fiction ~

Grim Graffiti is looking for well-written, atmospheric and disturbing dark fiction. While they are interested in all genres, they are especially partial to horror, non-cozy crime fiction, dark fantasy, and dark science fiction. They will consider stories from 500 to 4000 words. The next reading period runs from February 17 through March 17 for their Spring issue, which will be published on April 20, and they will pay $10 for their Grim Editor's Choice story.

Chance to help create a contest....

Please help preview a new writing contest site, www.yourphotostory.com , and offer your suggestions trihst@gmail.com, before the first contest begins on Feb 1st. It is a contest to pick a cute or funny photo from our photo archive and create a short-short story -- 750 words or less. Every two weeks the best story will be displayed on the web, with the author's name. A prize will then be awarded to the best of all the stories submitted during the previous three months.

"Sometimes the Name They Give You is All Wrong"

That's the first line provided by The First Line for submissions to their Spring 2008 issue. All stories must begin with that line, and should be between 300 and 3,000 words. They also accept non-fiction critical essays between 500 and 800 words about your favorite first line of a literary work. Best of all: They Pay! $20 for short stories, $10 for non-fiction, plus a copy of the issue in which your work appears. The deadline for the Spring issue is February 1. Check out their website for further guidelines as well as first lines for their Summer, Fall and Winter issues.

Looking For The Write Word?

This handy-dandy website, RhymeZone, that modestly bills itself as a mere rhyming dictionary, is really a doorway to sooooo much more!!! Here you can not only find words that rhyme: you can find definitions, synonyms, antonyms, related words, similar sounding words, quotations, match specific letters, and even search in Shakespeare! As if that weren't plethora enough, you can even type in a word, and search for pictures, which will bring up a whole slew of related links!

Short Fiction Contest - International Aeon Award

Albedo One (Ireland’s premiere magazine of speculative fiction) has now launched the International Aeon Award 2008 short fiction contest.

The Aeon Award is all about promoting new writers and writing in the speculative fields, which has long been the goal of Albedo One. The quality of stories and submissions to the first and second Award has served to affirm our faith in the value of the speculative genres, and in the direction they will be taking in the future. Last year’s winner was Nina Allan’s “Angelus”, which was announced at a ceremony during the 29th European Science Fiction Convention, Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2007. The story will be published in issue 34 of Albedo One, due out in February.

This year's contest is open to submissions of up to 8000 words (no minimum word limit) in any speculative fiction genre, from Fantasy and Science Fiction to Horror or anything in-between or unclassifiable. The judges have very broad tastes in this regard. The grand prize is 1000 euro and publication in Albedo One. Thanks to the success of last year’s Award, we’ve been able to add a second and third place cash prize of 200 and 100 euro respectively for this year. The second and third place stories will also be published in Albedo One.

The contest will run in four rounds from January 1st 2008 to November 30th 2008. Submissions can be made at any time between those two dates, and stories making the shortlist will be announced shortly after the end of each of the rounds, which end on March 31st, June 30th, September 30th and finally November 30th. After the last round, the top six stories from the shortlist will be chosen and passed on to respected science fiction, fantasy and horror author, Ian Watson (www.ianwatson.info), who will act as Grand Judge and pick the winner and second and third place stories.

The contest is open to writers from all nationalities, though the entries must be written in English. Indeed, we’re keen to have entries from as many nationalities as possible! Full details and guidelines for entering the Award can be found on the Albedo One website at the following link: http://www.albedo1.com/html/aeon_award.html The entry fee for the Award is a paltry €7 (euro) and can be paid easily and securely on the Albedo One site. Email submissions may be made to fraslaw@yahoo.co.uk

Love Story Contest - Story Quarterly and Narrative Magazine

StoryQuarterly announces the SQ Love Story Contest

Open to fiction and nonfiction entries,the contest offers a First Prize of $2,500, a Second Prize of $1,500, a Third Prize of $750, and ten Finalists each will receive $100.

Deadline for entries: March 31, 2008.

Click here for complete details.

Greek and Roman Mythology Poetry Contest

The Tapestry of Bronze is sponsoring a series of poetry contests to celebrate Greek and Roman mythology and the Olympian gods. The subject of the first contest is Zeus (also known as Jupiter), the King of the Gods.

Each poem may be no longer than 30 lines and each poem must be in English.

The first contest opens on February 15, 2008 and remains open until March 31, 2008. However, you can read about the rules and the prizes now by going to

http://www.tapestryofbronze.com/OdeForm.html

Poetry Reading: Los Angeles

This just in from Valley Contemporary Poets:

Please join the VCP for our first reading in the new year!
Sunday
January 13, 2008
3 pm

Valley Contemporary Poets
present
Doug Knott
Scott Wannberg

$5.00 Suggested Donation

Tarzana Community and Cultural Center
19130 Ventura Boulevard, Tarzana, California 91356

The Pedestal Magazine Will Be Accepting Submissions ~

You have until January 19th to tighten and polish your work before The Pedestal Magazine starts accepting submissions for their February issue. Supporting both established and burgeoning writers, they are committed to promoting diversity and "celebrating the voice of the individual." Wouldn't your individual voice appreciate some celebrating? They publish bi-monthly and their schedule of accepting submissions, located on their website, hinges on the publication dates. Pay scale:

• Poetry: $30 per poem
• Fiction: .05 per word (up to 6,000 words)
• Flash Fiction: .05 per word (up to 1,000 words)
• Book Reviews: .02 per word (850 to 1,000 words)

Writing Contest Open to All!

You don't have to be a member of Florida Freelance Writer's Association to enter their 25th Annual Florida State Writing Competition, but it will save you a little on the entrance fees if you are. You may submit work in any or all of six categories: Nonfiction (either unpublished/self-published or previously published), Fiction (unpublished/self-published or previously published Short Story or Chapter), Children's Literature (unpublished/ self-published), and Poetry (unpublished/self-published Traditional or Free Verse). Prizes:

• 1st Place -- $100 plus certificate
• 2nd Place: $75 plus certificate
• 3rd Place: $50 plus certificate
• Honorable Mention: Certificates will be awarded in each category as warranted
  

Entry fees range from $3 to $20, depending on if you are a member, which category you're entering, and the length of your work. The deadline is March 15, 2008, and if you enclose a self-addressed envelope, they will mail you a winner's list by March 31st. Also, if you send them a self-addressed, stamped postcard, they will notify you upon receiving your manuscripts.

Free Movie Screening!

For foreign film aficionados, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will be showing a series of Korean director Lee Chang-dong's films from Thursday, January 3rd, to Saturday, January 5th. His debut film, "Green Fish," which follows a young man who returns home from military service and joins a criminal gang, screens at 5:00 PM on January 5th, and admission is free! Just click on the link, and scroll down for details.

Find the Fastest Respondiing Literary Agents

Do you have a manuscript and are you looking for an agent? Submit to the fastest responders first by checking out who has the fastest response rate at LitMatch - Literary Agent Directory, Response Times and Submission Tracking

From their blog:

"Up ‘til now, we’ve been focused on making the site as useful as possible for the individual user tracking submissions in our system. But now that we have a strong base of submission information to draw from, we’re proud to be able to add these statistics to our ever-growing set of literary agent research tools and offer them to our registered and unregistered users alike!
This upgrade covers all the basics, breaking down the responses for both agencies and individual agents, with separate stats for email and postal mail responses."

Writing Anger -- Some Helpful Insights

Writing about emotions can be more difficult than experiencing them. In Emotional Rollercoaster: Writing Anger, professional freelance writer Apryl Duncan makes clear the reasons why every writing teacher we've ever had says, "Show, don't tell."

Summarize What You Read For Fun And Profit

Brijit is a privately-owned, angel-financed online media startup with teams based in Washington, DC, Mountain View, CA and Beijing. Founded in 2006, they employ a distributed team of editors and writers.What they do is publish on-line summaries of magazine articles and TV news shows in order to provide guideposts to readers who simply don't have much spare time. Their goal is to make it easier for all of us to discover and access the world's best content, quickly and inexpensively. You can go to their website, search for topics that interest you to find a brief summary and a link to the article referred. Toward this end, they will pay $5 for your summaries of 100 words or less.

Killer First Lines

A good first line gets your attention by striking a nerve. In this informative article, Susan Sundwall shares some insightful pointers on writing a first line that will get your reader's attention and quickly pull them into your story, making them want to learn more.

Agni Literary Magazine

"Agni" is not only the name of the Vedic guard of fire. It's also the name of a print and online publication that accepts submissions of poetry, short fiction, and essays between September 1st and May 31st. The print magazine is published twice yearly, in spring and in fall, while their website is updated monthly with new, online-only, fiction, poetry, essays, reviews, and interviews. They pay $10 per printed (or printed-out) page for prose, and $20 per printed page for poetry (with $150 maximum). They will consider novel excerpts provided they are cohesive enough to stand alone.

Clean Sheets Erotica Magazine

If sexuality is featured in your writing, you may be able to market your work to Clean Sheets Erotica Magazine. They are accepting submissions for their upcoming Sex & Spirituality anthology, to be published next summer. They are looking for stories and poems that invoke spirituality along with sexuality. Stories should be less than 5000 words and can be much shorter. Payment is $50 per story, $25 per poem, plus 2 copies of the book. Deadline is March 1, 2008.

Reverse Dictionary

I just discovered this fabulous online writing tool, a reverse dictionary! Type in a concept and out pops related words. I'm sure everyone in the world already knows about it, but I just discovered it - it's mucho fun!

OneLook Reverse Dictionary

Apple Valley Review Accepting Submissions

Apple Valley Review, an online literary journal, is published twice a year, in spring and in fall. They accept submissions of poetry, fiction, and essays year round and are looking for work that has both mainstream and literary appeal. Prose should be from 100 to 3000 words (shorter pieces stand a greater chance of being published), novel excerpts must be self-contained, and preference is given to non-rhyming poetry under two pages. The deadline for submissions to their spring issue is February 15, 2008. Although they are not currently a paying market, all work published in the Apple Valley Review will be considered for the annual Apple Valley Review's Editor Prize of $100 plus a book of poetry or fiction.

Premier Book Awards

Premier Book Awards is now accepting entries for the 2008 Awards in both fiction and non-fiction.

With so many new titles published every year it is increasingly difficult for any given title to stand out. One of the best ways for a book to gain credibility, exposure, and increased sales is to win an award for writing excellence.

These awards were established to recognize meritorious works by writers who self-published or had their books published by a small press or independent book publisher. POD books are welcome. The contest is open to selected book length fiction and non-fiction titles with a 2007 or 2008 copyright, published in the English language and targeted for an adult audience in the North American market. There are $100 cash awards for the winners in each category, plus a $500 award each for the best fiction and best non-fiction of the year. Winners also receive a certificate suitable for framing and Premier Book Awards will issue a press release to announce the achievement. Check out the website for details: www.PremierBookAwards.com

Poets&Writers Submissions Calendar

Quick reminder to check out the Poets&Writers, Inc. Grants & Awards Submissions Calendar. Lots of great stuff listed there!

Groovy Writer Hangout: Cafe Muse in Los Angeles

Cafe Muse, a groovy cafe/coffeehouse in Hollywood, just wrote us to let us know about her newly opened we-heart-writers-and-artists cafe:

"I am writing because I wanted to let you know that we just opened a new writer-friendly cafe/coffeehouse in Hollywood. It's called Cafe MUSE, and it's located at 6547 Santa Monica Blvd, in the heart of Hollywood's Theater Row. I wanted to let you know that it's a great place for writers to work because we keep it very quiet, we have free Wi-Fi, and some electric outlets for patrons to use. We are an artist's cafe, being the Muse and all... and so I'd love it if you'd pass it on to your writers that we welcome them at the cafe!! We also have really great food (healthy, mostly veg) and really yummy organic coffees & teas. We always hope that all patrons will buy food and beverages, of course, so we can continue to keep our doors open, but we welcome the coffee-refillers, as well! It's a beautiful, serene, and comfortable environment, with a very creative vibe. There are a lot more details, as well as pictures and our menu, up on our website... www.CafeMuseLA.com."

Call for Film and Video Interpretations of Poetry

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Call for film and video
"Deadline: postmarked by January 30th, 2008
Entry fee: $15.00 (non-refundable)
Notification by February 15th, 2008
Festival dates: March 20th-23rd, 2008
Poems of Provocation & Witness
Poets have long played a central role in movements for social change. Today, at a critical
juncture in our country’s history, poetry that gives voice to the voiceless, names the unnamable, and speaks directly from the individual and collective conscience is more important than ever. The festival will explore and celebrate the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for change:reaching across differences, considering personal and social responsibility, asserting the centrality of the right to free speech, bearing witness to the diversity and complexity of human experience through language, imagining a better world.

Film & Video Submissions:
We are looking for artistic, experimental, and challenging film/video interpretations of poetry
that explore critical social issues. Selected work will be screened during the Split This Rock
Poetry Festival film program. Entries must be submitted on DVD (NTSC only) or CD (.mov format only), no HD formats. Please note: videos with h264, divx compression or any format not mentioned above will not be accepted.

• Running time for entries should not exceed 15 minutes.
• All entries must be in English.
• All work submitted must be original. If portions of the submitted work contain material from
• third parties, author must have and be able to provide written permission to use such material.

All entries must include:

• - Completed entry form
• (download at: http://www.poetrycenter.org/calls/Split_this_Rock-ENTRY.pdf)
• - $15 entry fee (check made payable to: The Poetry Center)
• - A short synopsis, artist's bio, and artist's statement (on one page only)

Please label all DVDs and CDs with title, running time, director’s name and contact email.
Please mail entries to: For more information:
The Poetry Center of Chicago www.SplitThisRock.org
37 S. Wabash, Suite 704
Chicago, IL 60603
info(at)splitthisrock.org
www.poetrycenter.org
Attn: Francesco Levato/Split This Rock submission
NO PHONE CALLS ACCEPTED"

Call for Submissions: Cold-Drill

cold.drill: "cold-drill is published annually by the MFA Department of Boise State University and is actively looking for fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction from the traditional to the experimental for our 38th issue. We strive to publish work that goes beyond the obvious and that provokes and stimulates us and our community of readers. We are also interested in innovative and interesting visual art. We take great pride in our design and the finished product, which includes first-time published writers side-by-side with established authors and poets, and feel that a journal should be both visually appealing and mentally stimulating. Submissions are read from September 15 through January 5."

Call for Poets: 2008 Julia Peterkin Award

Information on the Julia Peterkin Award from the English Department of Converse College: "2008 Julia Peterkin Award The winner of the 2007 Julia Mood Peterkin award is Sharon May of Paradise, California. Eligibility The 2008 Julia Peterkin Award is open to all poets. Works previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in the submission. Only original works in English may be submitted. Manuscript Format Guidelines Entries must be typed on quality paper, 8 1/2 by 11. Photocopies or copies from letter-quality printers are acceptable. Each entry should include up to 10 pages of poetry (blind submissions ), along with a cover page including the writer’s name, address, daytime phone number, and titles of submission. Also include a one-paragraph biography. Entry Requirements
* A handling fee of $15 made payable to: Converse College English Department.
Deadline: February 15, 2008.
* Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like direct notification of contest results. Results will be mailed in May of 2008. No manuscripts can be returned.
* Send one copy of the manuscript prepared according to format guidelines.
* The winner will receive $1,000 and travel expenses for a reading at Converse College. Winner should be willing to read at Converse during Fall 2008."

Tongue & Groove: Reading in Los Angeles

"Tongue & Groove"
A monthly offering of short fiction, personal essays, poetry, spoken word and music. This month featuring: Jose Montoya "In Formation: 20 Years of Joda", Richard Montoya -Culture Clash, Luis Rodriguez "Always Running", Mario Rocha and Pocho Joe.

Sunday the 9th of December
6:00-7:30 pm
The Hotel Café
1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
1/3rd of a block below Hollywood Bl.
Hollywood, Ca 90028
$5.00

Leave yourself time to find parking and get there early. Seating is limited and we're starting at 6:05!

* For more info on the writers go the blog on www.tongueandgroovela.com

Conrad Romo (323) 937-0136
www.hotelcafe.com

Bluecat Screenplay Competition

This just in from the folks at BlueCat:

2008 BlueCat Screenplay Competition CALL FOR ENTRIES

The BlueCat Screenplay Competition is open for entries of feature length scripts for our tenth year!
*Grand Prize:$10,000
*Four Finalists: $1500
*Every writer who enters receives written script analysis

EARLY BIRD DEADLINE: JAN 2, 2008
All screenplays submitted by JAN 2 will receive their analysis by FEB 1
(entries must be received by midnight Wed, Jan 2)

Entry fee $50
SUBMIT NOW: http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com

Since 1998, BlueCat has become the screenwriter's screenplay contest, with unmatched and genuine support for all writers. More community than contest, BlueCat writers rally, stopping, listening and looking for their space to grow as screenwriters.

BlueCat Screenplay Competition
Hollywood, CA 90038
www.bluecatscreenplay.com
www.myspace.com/bluecatscreenplay
info@bluecatscreenplay.com

So Many Contests, Plenty of Time ~

You name it, ByLine has a contest for it. Poetry? Fiction? Articles? Creative Non-fiction? Character Sketches? Genre fiction? Humor? Memoir? Regarding eating or guilt, it's all there on their website. Entry fees are low: from $3 to $5, and prizes range from $10 to $40, plus publication. And what particularly appealing, they have contests scheduled all the way up until June 2008!

Franklin-Christoph Free Poetry Contest

Plenty of time left to fine-tune up to 3 of your poems and submit them to the Franklin-Christoph Free Poetry Contest: the deadline isn't until December 31st. First prize is $1000 and publication on Franklin-Christoph.com. 5 Merit Award winners will each receive a $290 1901 fountain pen (or alternate FC product of your choice of equal or lesser value), and publication on Franklin-Christoph.com. They are open to all poetry, on all subjects, short or tall, large or small. No fee? Possible $1000? Maybe a really cool pen? Being published? Nothing to lose!

Wild Violet's Poetry and Short Fiction Contests

Wild Violet, an online literary magazine, in it's quest to bridge the gap between academia and pop culture, is sponsoring its fifth annual writing contests. Deadlines for online entries is December 31st. There's a $5 entry fee for poems (up to 200 words, please), and stories (up to 2,500 words). First prize for both poetry and fiction winners is $100 cash and publication. Two Honorable Mentions will also receive publication.
In addition, they accept submissions year-round, but, since they are a non-profit enterprise, payment is in the form of a bio on their contributors page and a link to your website, if you have one. They accept submissions of:

• Poetry
• Fiction
• Creative Non-Fiction
• Political Essays
• Humorous Essays
• Artwork
• Photography
• Reviews
• Interviews
• Cuttings (thoughts and observations)

Don't Trust Anyone Over ... ?

Do you remember turning 30? Looking forward to it? Dreading it? Well, Arc Poetry Magazine turns 30 on December 31, 2007, and they are accepting submissions for a reflective issue on what turning 30 is all about. Unpublished poems of any age, size or shape are welcome, as long as they reach them by their 30th birthday, and they pay $40 a page!

J.D. Vine Publications Writing Competitions Are Now Open!!

Looking to get your work into print and maybe pick up some money for it as well? J.D. Vine Publications offers unique writing competitions for publication in The Creative Writer. If you have good pieces of fiction and poetry they want to see them published! The winner of each competition also becomes the Featured Author or the Featured Poet of the next edition, but not only the winners get published! The books are composed of pieces by many of the writers who enter the competitions! You may submit online or via regular mail. The deadline is December 31, 2007. There is a small entry fee: Fiction $5.00, Poetry $2.00, and there are no word count limitations.

Local L.A. Event

Readings & Conversation: Red Hen's Monday Evenings at the Geffen

Monday, December 3 at 7:30 p.m.

The Geffen Playhouse, in an effort to reach out to the Los Angeles community, partnered with Red Hen Press to create our new series Red Hen’s Monday Evenings at the Geffen, hosted by Kate Gale and select moderators. Given the flowering of literature, music and theatre in this most auspicious city for the arts, we are pleased to give writers a stage to speak their voice. In the tangled palm trees and afternoon sun, some of us pause to pick up a pen, and with our pen to call for action. As the great Raymond Chandler so aptly put it, “When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.” Sometimes that gun is a new way of looking at education, sometimes it’s an idea about poetry. Sometimes it isn’t a gun at all. We invite you to come through the door into our world of ideas. Welcome to Red Hen Press’s Monday Evenings at the Geffen.

Jennifer Egan is a novelist, journalist and short story writer. Her novel, The Keep, was a New York Times Notable Book for 2006, and Look at Me was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001. Egan is the recipient of fellowships from the NEA and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and was a fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. She lives in Brooklyn.

Janet Fitch is the author of the novels Paint It Black, published in 2006, and White Oleander, an Oprah Book Club selection. Her short stories have appeared in such publications as Los Angeles Noir, Black Clock, Room of One’s Own, and Black Warrior Review. She teaches creative writing at USC and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.

Sarah Goodyear has written for the Village Voice, Time Out New York, Ms. magazine, and many other publications. View from a Burning Bridge, published by Red Hen Press in spring 2007, is her first novel. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.

Moderator: Jonathan Kirsch is the author of A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization and nine other books, including The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible He is a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times, a broadcaster for NPR, and an attorney specializing in publishing law and intellectual property.

Geffen Playhouse
Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater
10886 Le Conte Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024
For Tickets Call: 310-208-5454
Admission: General $20
Students & Seniors $15
Seating is limited and on a first come basis.

Write To Win!

If you're a writer who doesn't always know where to begin a story, this contest is for you! Writers' Journal's Write-to-Win Contest provides starter phrases! Deadlines and starter phrases for the next 3 contests are as follows:

• December 20th, 2007: "The plane landed, but ..."
• February 20th, 2008: "Someday, your curiosity ..."
• April 20th, 2008: "They both stared at ..."

There's a maximum of 1500 words, and the entry fee is only $5. First prize is $150 and the winning entry will be published in the Writers' Journal. Honorable mentions will get one-year subscriptions.

Short Story Competition

Zadie Smith is judging a short story competition with a 5,000 pound prize (that's about
$10,000 dollars). Best of all? Entry is free. That's right, while every other contest will
charge you $15 or $20 bucks, this one doesn't cost a cent. And, if that isn't enough to get
you to apply, the winner and 10 runners up all get published in a book.

Here's the link:

http://newshortstories.homestead.com/

BlueCat Screenplay Competition

2008 BlueCat Screenplay Competition CALL FOR ENTRIES
*Grand Prize:$10,000
*Four Finalists: $1500
*Every writer who enters receives written script analysis
Early Bird Script Analysis:
All screenplays submitted by DEC 1 will receive their analysis by JAN 5
All screenplays submitted by JAN 2 will receive their analysis by FEB 1
Entry fee $50
EARLY DEADLINE: Dec 1, 2007
SUBMIT NOW: http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com

Writers Digest Poetry Competition

This just in from Writers Digest:
We're pleased to announce the only WD competition exclusively for poets, the Writer's Digest Poetry Awards! Regardless of style—rhyming, free verse, haiku and more—if your poems are 32 lines or fewer, we want them all. Submit your entries by the December 20, 2007 deadline ... and your words could be worth cold hard cash!

First Place: $500
Second Place: $250
Third Place: $100
Fourth Through Tenth Place: $25
Eleventh Through Twenty-Fifth Place: $50 gift certificate to Writer's Digest Books

Plus, the names and poem titles of all First- through Tenth-Place winners will be printed in an upcoming issue of Writer's Digest, and all winners will receive a copy of the 2008 Poet's Market. Click here for guidelines and to enter online!

Audio Short Stories To Go

Sniplets is working to establishing themselves as a new short story publisher with a goal of becoming the best place to find short stories to download to your MP3 player, cellphone, or "whatever." They will pay $50 to $150 upon publication of stories between 50 and 10,000 words. They welcome the work of new as well as established authors, but don't want anything hateful, pornographic, or excessively violent. All genres, including some poetry, are welcome.

Story Quarterly Fiction Contest

The SQ Fiction Contest
FINAL WEEK — the deadline for submission is November 30.
The contest offers a First Prize of $2,500, a Second Prize of $1,500, and a Third Prize of $750.
Additionally, ten Finalists will each receive $100.
Winners will be announced by December 31.
Log in and enter at StoryQuarterly.com.

Glimmer Train Press - Contest

The November Short Story Award for
New Writers closes on November 30.
We welcome your submissions online: www.glimmertrain.org, then hit the
yellow Submissions tab.

"Read this article," he said. "Why?" I asked. "It's good," he replied.

Both fiction and news writing work better when you let your characters use their own words to tell your story. This article by Andrea Di Salvo explains why, and gives some pointers on using quotes to give a creative twist to your writing.

Los Angeles Open Mic

This just in:
On November 20th, The Valley Contemporary Poets presents Carine Topal at the :

Cobalt Café
22047 Sherman Way in Canoga Park,
(just west of Topanga Canyon)
9pm
Free – one drink minimum
Open Mic

Short Short Story Competition

Writer's Digest's 8th Annual Short Short Contest is happening now! They are looking for work that is Bold, Brilliant, but Brief: 1500 words or less, and the deadline is December 3, 2007. You may enter online or via regular mail, and the entry fee is $12 per manuscript. There will be prizes: 1st Place: $3000, 2nd place: $1500, 3rd place: $500, 4th through 10th place: $100, and 11th through 25th place: a $50 gift certificate for Writer's Digest Books.