Wordcraft – Ready, set, write! Contests galore!

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Once again, notices for writing contests fill my inbox. I’m listing these in the order of urgency – some have looming deadlines!

Now – October 14: Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction contest closes this Friday (11:59 p.m. EST). Don’t get caught short! Enter short stories (4,000 words or less) in any of several genres. Grand prize includes cash, a trip to the Writer’s Digest annual conference, and exposure in the May/June 2017 issue of the magazine. Fee: $25 for first story, $20 each for additional stories. Or enter WD’s short short fiction contest (1,500 words or less), with a November 15 deadline. See WD's site for details on both contests.

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Now – October 25: Writers Guild of Texas Flash Fiction Contest. Stories must not be more than 1,000 words, and no less than 300. Cash prizes in first, second, third and honorable mention categories. Winners will also have their work published in the WGT’s 2017 newsletter. Fee: free for WGT members, $25 for nonmembers. See the site for details.

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Now – October 31: Houston Writers Guild Press’s newest contest celebrates diversity and how it strengthens society and/or individuals. Categories include fiction in all genres, nonfiction, and poetry. Fiction and nonfiction entries should be no longer than 5,000 words. Cash prizes for first, second and third place winners in each category, and publication in the HGW Press anthology, “Out of Many One – Celebrating Diversity.” Fee: $15 for first entry by HWG members, $10 for each additional entry (up to three per category); $30 for first entry by nonmembers, $25 for each additional entry (up to three per category). See HWG's site for format and additional information.

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Now – November 15: Carve Magazine’s Premium Edition Contest for fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Winners in each category receive $1,000 and publication in the magazine’s premium print edition. All contestants receive a discount on new subscriptions to the magazine. See site for details.

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Now – January 15, 2017: Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards Contest. This one is open to Texas authors of books published in 2016. Winners in each of five categories receive $1,000 cash, a commemorative award and recognition at the 2017 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas. An additional Discovery Prize winner in each category receives $250. Fee: $40 per title for WLT members, $60 for nonmembers, $70 for publishers/agents submitting on behalf of writers. See the WLT site for details.

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October 21 – January 15, 2017: Writers’ League of Texas Manuscript Contest. Previous winners in any of several categories have won recognition at the WLT conference in Austin, Texas, and a complimentary consultation with an agent in their genre. Full details available October 21.

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Now – December 1: Third Annual Book Pipeline Competition for authors with material suitable for film or television adaptation. Entries may include: novels, nonfiction, plays, graphic novels and comics, book proposals or pitches (fiction or nonfiction) and short stories. Grand prize winner receives cash, airfare to Los Angeles for meetings with industry professionals, and exposure to production companies and agencies. Fee: $65. See Book Pipeline for details. The similar Script Pipeline includes details for its screenwriting contest, with a December 31 deadline.

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Upcoming: Moonlight Mesa Associates’ Cowboy Up Contest for western fiction and nonfiction. Entries accepted January 1, 2017, through May 1, 2017. Fee: $25 per entry. In previous years, prizes have included cash and publication in a print anthology, but Moonlight Mesa for upcoming details.

Wordcraft -- Reading groups for writers

About a year after seeking the support of writing groups, I realized I needed reading group support as well. I started the search at the bookstore in my neighborhood, and after a few blank looks and perusal of fliers posted in obscure locations, found the Foreign Authors Bookgroup. It’s changed locations at least three times since, as bookstores closed or decided they didn’t have space for us, but I keep going.

The core group has remained surprisingly stable, led, at least since my entry in late 2006, by Julia Carpenter. (See her blog, The Diligent Dilettante, http://the-diligent-dilettante.blogspot.com/, for examples of her many talents.) For the last several months, we’ve met at a restaurant, La Madeleine at 3906 Lemmon Avenue in Dallas’s Oak Lawn neighborhood.

Because several of us eat supper there, the restaurant is willing to let the group use a private room from 6:30 to 8 the first Tuesday of each month. However, you don’t have to eat there to join the book group. You only have to love reading and talking about reading.

The group reads eleven books annually. (The September meeting is a “nomination night” to present candidates for the next year’s reading.)

As the name suggests, the group reads books -- usually but not exclusively fiction -- by non-U.S. authors, or at least about non-U.S. cultures. This gives us latitude to consider works as varied as Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s The Voice of Hope, about Burma’s struggle for democracy; and Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol’s classic, Dead Souls.

We like variety, of cultures and genres, so not all the reading is heavy. February’s selection was Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, about the trials of working for Henry VIII during the Boleyn days. And our summer reading will include The Keeper of Lost Causes by best-selling Danish thriller author Jussi Alder-Olsen. For more information, please contact us at foreignauthorsbookgroup@gmail.com/

(Not sure foreign authors are your cup of chai? I found a wide array of book clubs at www.meetup.com/. Add your city and search words “book clubs” or “reading groups” to find one right for you.)

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Although the book is not particularly oriented toward writers, Julia shared a new venue for writers -- The Dallas Writers Journal, www.dallaswritersjournal.com/.

Also -- Goldminds Press is seeking western, historical fiction, military fiction and memoirs. Its editor, Steven Anderson Law will speak at the Houston Writers Guild conference April 13-14. See his site, www.stevenlaw.com or www.houstonwritersguild.org for information. I mentioned Goldminds previously in this blog’s July 27, 2011, post, “Texas Tales at A Real Bookstore.”

Still in western mode, another small publisher, Moonlight Mesa Associates, opens its 2012 short story contest March 1. See www.moonlightmesaassociates.com/ for details. This year’s special requirement -- an Arizona setting.

The envelope, please

Readers of this blog know that I love Duotrope’s Digest (www.duotrope.com/) as a source for market research.  But there’s one thing Duotrope doesn’t do.  Because of its reasonable bias against journals that require submission fees, it doesn’t list writing contests.  Contests usually charge fees; that’s how they sweeten their pots.  You’ve got to be the judge of whether the contest is worth the price.  Because I sometimes submit stories to contests, I subscribe to other journals and sites that list them.  My (so-far) only contest win was with Moonlight Mesa’s Cowboy Up contest, found on Ginny Wiehardt’s former About.com Fiction Writing guide.  Ginny recently left About.com, but if you like horses half as much as I do, here’s a chance to include them in a story.

The third annual Moonlight Mesa Cowboy Up Short Story Contest officially opens March 1, 2011, and closes September 1, 2011.  This year all entries must be a Western suspense, mystery, thriller, or cozy, etc.  The stories must be Western in nature but can be set in the “olden-days” or in “modern” times.  Wordage has been increased to 3500.  Submission guidelines for the contest can be found at the publisher’s website: www.moonlightmesaassociates.com/  First place wins $250; second place ropes in $150, and third place earns $75.  Award certificates are sent to all finalists.

Also recently appearing in my inbox:  a “people’s choice” request from a publication in which my writing has appeared (trying to sound modest) – Short-Story.Me.

“Please submit your favorite story that we published in 2010 to the storySouth Million Writer’s Award contest.  There are cash and fame for the winning authors and publicity for Short-Story.Me!  Prize money is over $500 for the winning writers.  Readers can nominate one story by going to this url:

http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2011/02/reader-nominations-for-2011-million-writers-award.html/  Writers may nominate their own story as long as it was published on Short-Story.Me! in 2010 and follows contest rules.”

This contest is fee-free.  Of course I’m going to submit my Short-Story.Me publication, “Shaman.”  (Did I mention there’s a horse in it?)  And I’m asking you to submit it also.  Please hurry -- submission deadline is March 15.