Location Inspiration

Los Angeles is a great city for writers.

From Raymond Chandler to Asphalt Jungle, from Joan Didion to LA Story, the city has featured prominently in movies, novels, short stories, poetry, you name it. As a writer looking for inspiration, wanting to plunge a little deeper into the history of the city, or trying to find a unique backdrop for your work, it's well worth your time to check out the LA Conservancy's Walking Tours. With tours inside and outside of Victorian mansions in Angelino Heights, a historical walk amid the Art Deco and Baux Arts architecture of downtown (including the incredible, well-filmed Bradbury building), or an exploration of the old-school movie palaces on Broadway, you can immerse yourself in often-overlooked corners of Los Angeles that helps gives this city its rich texture.

Tours run every Saturday.

International Playwriting Monodrama Competition 2008

The theme is "Clash", and the submission deadline is March 31, 2008, for the International Playwriting Monodrama Competition 2008. The International Playwrights Forum and International Monodrama Forum of the International Theater Institute, in collaboration with United Arab Emirates Center of the ITI in Fujairah, invites playwrights to write monodramas inspired by whatever "Clash" may mean to them. The play has to be a monodrama: written for one performer. Each playwright may submit only one monodrama that should be approximately 45 to 70 minutes long, 20 to 40 pages, and 1800 characters (with spaces) per page. There's no entry fee for this interesting event.

• 1st prize: $1500 US dollars
• 2nd prize: $1000
• 3rd prize: $500

In addition, winners accept a first performance in the form of a play reading or full production (without further remuneration or royalties).

Dancing Poetry Contest

The deadline is March 15, 2008 for the fourteenth annual Dancing Poetry Contest, which, with Natica Angilly's Poetic Dance Theater Company, is sponsored by Artists Embassy International, whose goal is to present Poetry and Dance as a unified art form. All prize winners will receive a certificate suitable for framing, and be invited to read their prize-winning poem at the Dancing Poetry Festival, Saturday, September 27, 2008 in the Florence Gould Theater in the Palace of the Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco.

• Three Grand Prize Winners will receive $100, plus the poems will be danced and videotaped for you. Also, each Grand Prize Winner will be invited on stage for photo ops with the dancers and a bow in the lime lite.
• Five First Prizes will receive $50 each.
• Ten Second Prizes will receive $25 each.
• Twenty-five Third Prizes will receive $10 each.

The entry fee is $5 for one poem, and $10 for up to three poems. There is a 40-line maximum per poem, but no limit on the number of entries. Please go to their website for the rest of the contest guidelines.

Tongue and Goove Reading at Hotel Cafe

This just in from TONGUE and GROOVE- Readings:

TONGUE and GROOVE- Readingsat the Hotel Cafe, Sunday January 27th- 6:00 to 7:30pm

We're back with our monthly offering of short fiction, personal essays, poetry, spoken word and music.

This month featuring: Aimee Bender, the author of three books, including "Willful Creatures" and "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt"; writer and translator Sasha Watson, author of the forth coming novel, "Vidalia in Paris"; Milo Martin, veteran of the L.A. poetry scene and author of the soon-to-be-released "poems for the utopian nihilist..."; Doug Cordell, Emmy-nominated playwright and Marketplace radio commentator; Nikki Muller makes her West coast debut and will read from her manuscript and I, Conrad Romo , will rankly a few feathers with some stuff about a cult. Plus music by indie/alt country performer Chuck Lee Bramlet

See and hear what t&g is all about because as always it'll be. pound for pound, word for word, and beat for beat, a fine and cool experience.

Sunday the 27th of January
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

How 'bout parking? Free street parking if you can find it or for a few bucks use the secure lot, down the alley/behind the club.

Get there early. Seating is limited and we're starting on time.
www.tongueandgroovela.com www.hotelcafe.com

Scratch - Monthly Writing Contest

This just in from scratch:

"Introducing scratch, the monthly writing contest itching to discover new talent.
scratch seeks new short fiction and offers rotating guest judges-authors, agents, editors and publishers.

Help us discover new writing talent. Let us help you build publication credits.

Small fee to enter, cash prizes and publication every month, plus annual anthology.

For more information and links to ENTER this month, go to http://www.scratchcontest.net

Be one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. This program is being rolled out in NYC at this month's AWP Conference for 7000 attendees."

Finding Quotes For Query Letters ...

Your query letter will have more attention-grabbing pizazz if you can quote an expert or two about the topic of your article. But how can you talk to an expert when you haven't been assigned an article yet? How, even, can you find one? Susan Denney answers these relevant questions in this helpful article that lists 6 terrific tips that will show you how to do just that!

2nd Annual Mothering Heights Mother's Day Essay Contest

Mothering Heights wants to know what you know now as a mom that you'd wish you'd known before becoming a parent. What wry, witty, honest and personal observations would you share with Mother and Mothers-to-be everywhere? The second annual Mother's Day Essay Contest submission deadline is February 15, and they are accepting essays from around the world. Essays must be

• 1,000 to 1,500 words
• In English
• Original content
• Include a 100 to 150-word bio on the author

Twenty essays will be chosen to be featured in a book to be published for Mother's Day 2008. Each featured writer will receive a Mothering Heights Tiara and three copies of the book. Please go to their website for further details and submission guidelines.