SheKnows Presents the “Defining Moment” Poetry Contest.

If you work best under pressure, The Life Before Her Eyes Poetry Contest just might be one to inspire you to get some of your work out there, paid for and read by people you don't know. Might lead to a nice way to meet and greet, practice social skills, show off your talents, bask in the glow of pride. Fun, yes? You could ENTER TO WIN $500! Nothing to sneeze at (gesundheit) Pretend the part about laying your ego on the line is the least aspect of the venture. "The Life Before Her Eyes" is a movie made by the same director, Vadim Perleman, who created "House of Sand and Fog", one of the more devastatingly powerful movies to come out in recent years.
Moving backwards and forwards in time, "The Life Before Her Eyes" combines the dramatic intensity of "Sophie's Choice" with the eerie mystery of a ghost story like "The Others."
How much more does a contest need to be totally compelling?? Not much. "The Life Before Her Eyes" explores the reverberations stemming from the collision of past and future, reality and dream.
They are asking us to submit poems that capture a moment in our lives in which we had to make a difficult choice and how that choice impacted the course of our lives.
Please email entries to poetry (at) magpicture (dot) com. Enter your poems by May 8th to win the Grand Prize $500 Amazon.com gift card, or be one of five runners up to win $100 Amazon.com gift card.

"Inscribed" Sponsors Two Writing Contests ~

Inscribed is not only a small press not-for-profit publishing company operating out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. Their mission goal is to provide excellence in literature, poetry and art from around the world to international audiences through their publications in order to support artistic and environmental education and programs. They are also hosting one poetry and one short story competition in 2008. The deadline for both is December 1, 2008, so you have plenty of time to fine-tune your entries! Prizes:

• 1st Place: $50
• 2nd Place: $25
• 3rd Place: $15
• All winners will receive a copy of the printed anthology.

Send all submissions to submissions (at) inscribed (dot) org, with "Poetry Contest" or "Short Story Contest" in the subject.

Glass Woman Prize

The Fourth Glass Woman Prize submission deadline is September 21, 2008. What, you may ask, is a Glass Woman? It is someone who is able to acknowledge, transparently, who she is. The contest sponsor, Beate Sigriddaughter, would depict her as:

a woman of glass, with a blood system and gut system visible inside her, pipes and veins, and in those there would be bits of poetry, newspapers, roses, sentimental things, baby’s teeth, locks of baby hair, all kinds of lace bits, birds, and foxes, ice-picks, wedding rings, veils, and wedding cake doves, graduations gowns, tarot cards, sacred stones, pressed flowers, and a whole lot of joy and a whole lot of sorrow. She’d have a flute and a piano key, an ankh, and a woman symbol (♀), everything, anger and joy, hiking gear, rock climbing gear, motorcycle gear, dirt, fear, bras, lilacs, mirrors, underwear.

I'm thinking that pretty much includes all of us, so, if you have a short piece of fiction, or creative non-fiction between 50 to 5,000 words, you have nothing to lose (No Entry Fee!), and the possibility of gaining $600 if you win, or $100 if you're one of the two runners up. Her criterion is passion, excellence, and authenticity in the women's writing voice. You may email your submission to glasswomanprize (at) comcast (dot) net, or send it via regular mail to Beatte Sigriddaughter, 333 East 16th Avenue, #517, Denver, CO, 80203. Please visit her website for more information and links to previous winning entries.

For Women Only ~

Here's one for women only: Underwired Magazine publishes personal essays every month! They set the theme, and all we have to do is submit an essay, from 800 to 1200 words, by the 15th of every month for publication in the following month's issue. June's will be The Getaway Issue, and they are looking for essays that relate to being adventure bound, the road less traveled, roving, wandering, rambling, planes, trains and automobiles, going abroad, seeing the world, globe-trotting, getting lost, and getting found. Sounds like fun, yes? And they'll pay $100 per essay! Submissions may be sent via regular mail to the attention of the editor, P.O. Box 2158, Louisville, KY, 40255-0128, or via email to editor (at) unmag (dot) com. Please include a brief bio with your submission. You may go to their website for further details.

Writer's Block: Where in Your Head is it Really???

Some of us struggle with where to begin or how to continue making progress with what turns out not to be as simple as it should be: slinging words along a page in a meaningful progression. We're adults, we see movies, we read books, we know what makes something good or great, and there are no gates around the masters built to shut the rest of us out. Anyone with a pen/pencil paper or a computer (you can use them free at libraries!), is faced with the truth that it is only that which is within us that prevents us from writing, from pouring forth what we feel, observations on what others feel; the Great Stifler is our own. Sigh. In her article: "Writer's Block: Is It All in Your Head?", Leslie What tackles this thorny subject with understanding, insight, and -- Hugh Sigh of Relief! -- Possible solutions and recommended reading. Whereas not much research has been done this topic, she has unearthed and compiled enough of it that many of us who have suffered with this affliction may be inspired to take courage and sally forth to the realm of the written word with more confidence.

LA Times Festival of Books Writing Seminars

For the very first time in the Festival’s history, six intensive 2-hour writing seminars are being offered featuring worldwide renowned writers in an intimate setting – only 50 seats per seminar!

• Tickets will be open to the general public when the Festival program is published in the Sunday, April 20^th edition of the Los Angeles Times.
• Tickets cost $100 per seminar.
• Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1209582/ or at select Ticketmaster locations, including Ritmo Latino, Beverly Center and select Macy’s locations. Only 50 seats are available! Tickets are not available over the phone.

Ron Carlson

Saturday, April 26^th, 11:00am – 1:00pm

Title: The Short Story: Surviving the Draft

Celebrated author Ron Carlson will lead this 2-hour seminar with a lecture including samples of fiction from his work and others that illustrate the craft of fiction writing and the way forward into the darkness. His primary focus will be on the short story and will talk about the entire process: idea to draft, with all notes in between focusing on surviving the draft. A Q & A session will be incorporated towards the end of the seminar.

Novelist and short story writer Ron Carlson has received citations in Best American Short Stories twelve times since 1984. His work has appeared in a variety of publications including Harper’s and GQ. He is the author of two story collections, “Plan B for the Middle Class” and “The News of the World”, and three novels, the most recent of which, “Five Skies” is his first adult novel in more than 20 years. Ron currently teaches at University of California, Irvine.

Thomas Curwen

Saturday, April 26^th, 1:30pm – 3:30pm

Title: Bring on the Lions: Writing the Non-fiction Narrative from the Inside Out

Human beings are hard-wired for narratives. We fall effortless into the spell of a good story, and there is no greater game than capturing a portrait of life that keeps readers hanging on until the bitter end. Yet the road to writing a successful narrative is dark and perilous. It is also both an art and science. It begins with sound reporting and a love of language. It combines strategic pacing with a jazzman's sense of rhythm. You must be a strong writer, a good editor -- and finally, you must love what you're doing. In this seminar, Thomas Curwen will have an extended conversation about the writing and pleasure of a good story. So bring pen and paper, and be ready to write, talk and discuss the meaning of this wonderfully foolhardy endeavor.

Thomas Curwen is an editor at large for the Los Angeles Times. He has a master's degree in Creative Writing from USC and was a recipient of a 1991 Academy of American Poets prize. In 2002, he received a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for mental health journalism.

A. Scott Berg

Title: Biography: Telling Lives

Saturday, April 26^th, 4:00pm – 6:00pm

A. Scott Berg will conduct a two-hour seminar on Life Writing in its various incarnations--including “objective” biography, autobiography, psychobiography, memoirs, and diaries. Part lecture, part question-and-answer period, the class will examine some of the elements that go into the writing of life stories--selecting a topic, primary research, interviews, secondary research, organizing and analyzing material, writing and rewriting techniques.

A. Scott Berg is a renowned biographer of "Max Perkins: Editor of Genius," for which he received the National Book Award, "Goldwyn: A Biography”, which bestowed upon him a Guggenheim Fellowship, and "Lindbergh”, for which he was awarded 1999's Pulitzer Prize for biography. His most recent book is a memoir of a legendary star Katharine Hepburn, called, "Kate Remembered." He is currently working on a biography of Woodrow Wilson.

Jane Smiley

Sunday, April 27^th, 10:00am – 12:00pm

Title: Write a Novel in Two Hours!

Or not! What is a novel? How do you write one? Novelist Jane Smiley will use material from her book, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel”, to illustrate some of the ways an aspiring writer might approach his or her own ambition to write a novel. Lecture, Q and A, and discussion will be interspersed throughout the two hours. Seminar participants may read the two chapters in Thirteen Ways entitled "A Novel of Your Own, part 1" and "A Novel of Your Own, part 2", but advanced preparation is not essential.

Jane Smiley is one of the most beloved novelists and author of more than ten works of fiction. She is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, and in 2001 was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She received the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature in 2006. Her latest novel is “Ten Days in the Hills”. Smiley lives in Northern California.

Robert Pinsky

Sunday, April 27^th, 12:30pm – 2:30pm

Title: Listening to Words: The Vocality of Poetry

Robert Pinsky will lead this 2 hour seminar by concentrating on the physical materials of poetry: the sounds of vowels and consonants arranged to make words and sentences. As when someone is noodling at a piano or shooting baskets or playing with paints or whittling, the physical material sometimes draws out ideas and feelings. The group will view some of the Favorite Poem Project videos from the DVD included with an Invitation to Poetry. A Q & A session will be incorporated towards the end of the seminar.

Robert Pinsky, an American poet and former Poet Laureate of the United States, is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently, “Gulf Music: Poems”. He received the 1997 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and was a Pulitzer Prize nominee for “The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996”. He is also the author of several prose titles, including “The Sounds of Poetry”, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Stephen J. Cannell

Sunday, April 27^th, 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Title: Television, Film and Bestselling Novels

Stephen J. Cannell will lecture on how to adapt a novel to the screen. He will talk about modifying and condensing material without compromising its creative content, how to interface with the marketplace and get your work seen, as well as tips on construction when writing novels, screenplays and for television. A Q & A session will be incorporated towards the end of the seminar.

Stephen J. Cannell is the bestselling author of numerous novels, including the critically acclaimed Shane Scully series, which includes his latest installment, “Three Shirt Deal”. He is one of television's most prolific writers, having created or co-created more than 40 shows, including The A-Team and 21 Jump Street. Cannell has received multiple awards including the Marlow Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Writers of America and the WGA Paddy Chaefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement.

For more information on the Festival of Books Writing Seminars, please contact Elizabeth Samson at xcxesamson@tribune.com or go to www.latimesfestivalofbooks.com

The Great American Poetry Show ~

The Great American Poetry Show is a hardbound serial anthology open year-round to submissions of poems in English on any subject and in any style, length and number. The editors are asking us to send them "a lot of poems," and such a generous invitation should not go unnoticed. Each contributor will receive one copy of the volume in which his/her poems appears. Volume 2 is scheduled to appear in 2008, if they receive enough good poems (about 120). If they don't, they will hold publication until they do. You may send submissions via email to info(at)tgaps.net, or via regular mail to:

The Great American Poetry Show
P.O. Box 69506
West Hollywood, CA 90069