Market Monday

Another Market for young writers {courtesy of Hartford Courant, Courant.com} Connecticut Young Writers Competition Seeking Entries in Prose and Poetry

School Stuff

Submitted by Bernard Kavaler on 2009-10-23.

Teenage writers of prose and poetry from across Connecticut are being encouraged to submit original entries to an annual literary competition which awards winning entrants with cash prizes and the possibility of having their work published in the literary journal CT Review.

The literary awards competition, for youngsters ages 13 to 18, is a project of the Connecticut State University System and the Connecticut Young Writers Trust. The awards competition is specifically designed to encourage young writers and poets throughout Connecticut.

During this academic year, two young writers from each of Connecticut’s eight counties will win cash awards for either prose or poetry. Entries must be nominated by a teacher in a public or private school, and postmarked on or before February 1, 2010. Home school entries are also accepted.

Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, will receive the initial entries and host county award ceremonies in April 2010.

Last year, more than 580 entries were received the third-largest number in the competition’s history.

From the select group of county winners, a distinguished panel of judges will select the state’s top poet and writer to be announced at a special awards ceremony next spring. (Last year, the ceremony was held at the Mark Twain House & Museum.) The two winners will each earn an opportunity to be published in CT Review, the literary journal of the Connecticut State University System.

For more information, including entry forms, visit www.ct.edu/ctyoungwriters.

Add to your NaNo novel!

Add these items to a scene in your novel:

An empty tissue box, a dog leash, a hot cup of apple cider

NaNo prompt

Your character wakes up in a dark , damp cellar, filled with broken cell phones!

Are you writing a novel this month?

I am and so are thousands of others! NaNoWriMo fever, baby!

 

So, to help boost your word count, I thought I’d give you some off beat prompts to take your novel in a new direction. Send your NaNo buddies here!

Your character finds a little lost sheep.

Market Monday!

Time for another market Monday. This one is a contest with a word count and date deadline – and restricted to FL residents:

Enter the Times-Union’s annual holiday short story contest

It’s the 30th anniversary of the T-U’s annual writing competition.

Dust off your writing skills: The deadline is approaching for the Times-Union’s 30th annual Holiday Short Story Contest.

Two years ago, we started the story and you had to finish it. Last year, we gave a list of a dozen words that had to be included in your stories.

This time around, we’re leaving it a little more open. Your story can be happy, sad, uplifting, depressing or just plain weird, as long as you can do it in 1,000 words or less.

But there is one restriction: Since this is the 30th anniversary of the contest, all stories this year must be set either 30 years in the past or 30 years in the future.

There are separate contests for students and adults. For the young writers’ competition, each elementary, middle school and high school in the Northeast Florida/Southeast Georgia Times-Union readership area may select one story per grade level to enter in the competition. Schools that send in more than one story per grade level will be disqualified. Homeschooled students are eligible. Judges will select three “best-in-show” stories to be printed in the T-U. The top student author will receive $100. Runners-up will each receive $50.

Adult writers should submit entries directly to the T-U. Winners will receive the following: first place, $300; second place, $200; and third place, $100.

Stories in adult and young writers categories should be no longer than 1,000 words, and should be typed. Work must be original, and it must be fiction, not a memoir, recollection or personal essay.

Each manuscript should include the writer’s name, address and telephone number. Student entries should identify the school, the student’s grade, age and teacher’s name.

Deadline is 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20.

To submit manuscripts, go to jacksonville.com/holidayshortstories, where you can copy and paste your story into the online form. All stories submitted online will be posted on jacksonville.com. Stories can also be mailed to Holiday Short Story Contest, The Florida Times-Union, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231. Please submit online or by mail, but not both.

All you need is a bit of Magic

Writing Magic, that is!

Publisher Comments:

Do you want to write stories that catch your readers and never let go? Have you ever wondered how to create a book as magical as Ella Enchanted, as touching as Dave at Night, as captivating as Fairest?Well, now you can find out! In Writing Magic, Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine shares her secrets of great writing. She shows how you, too, can get terrific ideas for stories, invent great beginnings and endings, write sparkling dialogue, develop memorable characters—and much, much more. She advises you about what to do when you feel stuck—and how to use helpful criticism. Best of all, she offers writing exercises that will set your imagination on fire.

With humor, honesty, and wisdom, Gail Carson Levine shows you that you, too, can make magic with your writing.

Check out this fantastic book written for young writers and read my review on Powell’s!

Ready, Set, NaNo!

OK, I’ll make this brief, I’m saving up all my words for NaNo, ya know!

On Tuesday, November 10, stop in and talk to published author, Fiona Ingram. Fiona will give you writing tips and use examples from her newest novel: The Secret of the Sacred Scarab. And if you like Egyptian themes, you’re in for a treat! Fiona will also provide a long list of sites and books to check out to feed that Sphinx craze!

Then come back here throughout the month of November for some rockin’ novel prompts.

I’ll have quick, intriguing ideas on how to take your novel in a new direction. Some prompts will be silly, some scary, some just absurd. It will depend on my coffee level that day : )

Feel free to add your own prompts – you may help another NaNo’er push past a block.

Bring your friends! Bring your Teacher! Bring your Teacher’s Friends! And let’s NaNo!

Inspiration from other Young Writers

Are you a young writer who wishes to be published? Maybe even win a writing contest?

So many young writers don’t think there’s a place for them. But that’s not true. Do your research! Opportunites are out there!

Check out this young writer and read her inspiring interview. This could be YOU!

What inspires you to write and submit your work?

Markets for Monday!

It’s Monday, so how about some writing markets to pursue?

Guidelines for Young Authors

A Fly in Amber invites submissions by young authors and artists under the age of 18. Make sure you have parental permission to submit works to our website — we will need to work with them as well as you in the event your piece is accepted. Please indicate that you are a young author by checking the appropriate box on the submission form.

Response Time, Rights Selling and Payment Rates

• A Fly in Amber buys First Exclusive Electronic Rights to all works we accept for a period of six months. After that, any and all rights revert to the author. We ask, though we do not require, that you allow us to maintain a copy of your piece in our archives. However, you may request that we remove your work from our site at any time after our initial six month period expires.
• We pay a flat rate of $10 per piece. Artwork pays $20 per piece. Works selected as our features receive an additional $10 “prize payment.” Payment method, as well as any additional per-submission considerations, will be negotiated at the time of acceptance.
• Make sure to provide current contact information with your submission, as this is our only means of getting in touch with you should we accept your piece for publication.
• We strive to give every submission a response within 60 days of receipt. If it’s been more than 60 days since you submitted your piece and you have not heard back from us, please send us a query at aflyinamber@gmail.com. In all probability, the absence of a response indicates that something went wrong with our response email — perhaps we filed the wrong address or otherwise could not deliver to the address you provided.

Bookworm Magazine publishes the stories, poems, essays and artwork of kids ages six through fifteen.  It is edited by Sophie McKibben, who founded the magazine in 2004 when she was in sixth grade and noticed that there weren’t a lot of places for kids to get their work into print.

Bookworm comes out four times a year and has featured the writing and art of kids from all over the United States and, so far, five foreign countries.

Bookworm is always on the lookout for writers and artists.  You can submit your work electronically to bookworm.mag@gmail.com. You can also send submissions by mail using the address on our Be a Contributor page.

Are you ready to NaNo?

NaNoWriMo is not some texting lingo, guys, it’s only the COOLEST, CRAZIEST, LARGEST project of writing across the globe.

Excited yet?

You should be! National Novel Writing Month begins at the stroke of midnight on November 1 (after all the candy-munching goblins have scampered off to bed) and goes through midnight November 30: 1 month, 30 days, 50,000 words.

A Novel. In one month. Write it. Don’t edit it. Get it down on paper or computer. Upload it to the YWPNaNo site to be showered with riches and glory. OK, you’ll receive a cool certificate to print out and a rockin’ badge for your site, blog Facebook page, what-have-you, plus the bragging rights you’ll have that you wanted to write a novel and you did it!

I know you’re thinkin’ I’m crazy and you can’t do this.

Yes, I am and yes you can!

What’s neat for young writers, is the flexible word count limit you can select. On their site, they list your grade in school and how many words you should shoot for (for your goal.) There are character and plot discussion rooms, forums on settings and word war games. Wanna know more?

You have to sign up! It’s free. it’s fast, it’s FANtabulous.

You’re going to join me, aren’t you?

Be my buddy: register yourself then come back and click this link to get to my page and see what I’m working on!

Check back here later and I’ll be posting survival tips for NaNo. Cause it’s jungle out there…