"The Nation's" Student Writing Contest

The White House by Joshua Davis Creative Commons

According to the Politics and Government Blog of the University of Puget Sound, The Nation is sponsoring a student writing contest for high school and college students.

To enter the contest, students must write an essay answering the question: What have you learned from a personal experience that the next president should know before setting the agenda for the country?

Prizes: Winners in each category will receive $1000 and publication in The Nation. Five Finalists will receive $200 and online publication.

Word Count: 800 words or less

Deadline: May 31, 2008

Mail essays in the body of the email to: studentprize@thenation.com

WOW! Women On Writing Spring 2008 Flash Fiction Contest

Lightning on Columbia River by Phatman Creative Commons


Seal Press is sponsoring WOW Women on Writing's Spring 2008 Flash Fiction Contest. There is a small entry fee, but lots of prizes for 35 writers who enter and win. Plus and agent reads your writing (hello, foot in the door for 5 bucks).

Word Count: 250-500 words
Entry Fee: $5 to enter, $10 to include a critique of your entry


Deadline: May 31, 2008 Midnight, Pacific Time
Guest Judge: Literary Agent Wendy Sherman of Wendy Sherman Associates
Subject: Open prompt - No theme
Prizes:
1st: $200, publication on WOW, and other goodies
2nd: $150, publication on WOW, and other goodies
3rd: $100, publication on WOW, and other goodies
7 Runners up will get goodies and publication on WOW
25 will get Honorable Mentions and their name listed on WOW

Recent and soon-to-be-published titles from Seal Press include: Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir by Jennette Fulda; Own It!: The Ups and Downs of Homebuying for Women Who Go it Alone by Jennifer Musselman; and Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage by Jenny Block. (Wow, indeed, on that last one). They are a Publisher's Weekly Publisher of the Year for 2007.

Agent Kristin Nelson On Perfect Pitches in Query Letters

Write by the trial Creative Commons

Kristin Nelson has a great new series of posts on perfecting your book's pitch, including an exercise on identifying your plot catalyst.

Her post today is on building your query letter pitch paragraph, part one. Stay tuned for part two.

Want to Write for Harlequin's Nocturne Bites?

Harlequin's new Paranormal Romance Blog has a post from editor Ann Leslie Tuttle, on the Nocturne Bites series, describing specifically what she's looking for in one of these 10,000 - 15,000 word dark paranormal stories.

She indicates she's getting lots of submissions, but many are too light ala Mary Janice Davidson. (Love her, though. I just finished Dead and Loving It and I did - love it, I mean).

So check out her blog post for the inside scoop.

Submissions Wanted: Six Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak and Being a Mom

Mine with visual aid: Never leave children, alone at zoo.


Smith, the people who brought you the six-word memoir are looking for submissions for two new books - Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak and Six-Word Momoirs about being a mother.

So even if you haven't had a lot of writing time recently, you know you can come up with six words.

You can see some examples on their website.

"Favorite Grandparent Memory" Writing Contest

The picture is of my grandmother, Vera Allen, after a hard day as a Harvey Girl. Poor women. I remember squirting her with a hose and hiding from her when she babysat me. She never minded any of the mischief inflicted on her.

Grand Magazine and The National Association of Baby Boomer Women (NABBW) are sponsoring an essay contest on your favorite grandparent memory.

The contest is open to Boomer men and women.


Prize: $250, membership in NABBW, and publication in the September/October edition of Grand Magazine.
Length: 500 words or less

Deadline: July 1, 2008
From the Press Release:
According to Dotsie Bregel, founder of the NABBW, “We know everyone has a favorite story tucked away about their “Granny,” or “Poppa.” With boomers embracing grandparenting, we thought it would be fun to consider what we boomers enjoyed most about our own grandparents.”

Entries can be submitted to contest@nabbw.com with FAVORITE GRANDPARENT MEMORY in the subject line. Entries must be 500 words or less and must be sent as an attachment in a Word document by July 1, 2008. Contestants should include their name, email address and a short bio (no more than 75 words) at the top of the attached Word document entry."

Poet and Translator Michael Castro to Speak at Saturday Writers

Saturday Writers Meeting:

April 26, 2008

11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Free to Members, $5 for guests (which you can apply toward membership if you decide to join after the meeting)

St. Peters Community and Arts Center, 1035 St. Peters Howell Road (just off Mid Rivers Mall Drive); St. Peters, MO 63376.

From the Saturday Writers Website:

April 26 - Poet, editor and translator MICHAEL CASTRO will talk about Collaborations: Translating the Voices in My Head.

Castro is a poet, translator, and performance artist. He is the co-founder of the literary organization and magazine, River Styx, in operation in St. Louis since 1975. He has hosted three poetry radio programs, broadcasting poetry programming over twenty years--most recently, Poetry Beat (1989--2003, KDHX-FM St. Louis).

He has published ten books of poetry, including Human Rites (2002), and two books of translations (with Hungarian poet, Gabor Gyukics), Swimming in the Ground: Contemporary Hungarian Poets (2001) and A Transparent Lion: Selected Poetry of Attila Jozsef (2006). His performance work with music is reflected in two recent CD's: "Kokopilau" with wind player J.D. Parran, and "Endless Root" with multi-instrumentalist Joe Catalano (both 2008). Castro teaches at Lindenwood University, where he founded the MFA in Writing Program.

Saturday Writers is a not-for-profit organization and one of fourteen chapters of the Missouri Writers Guild. Founded in January 2002, our members include writers from the Missouri counties of St. Charles, Lincoln, Warren, and St. Louis, as well as members from throughout Missouri and other states. Our members write in all genres: fiction, non-fiction, essays, memoirs, poetry.

Chapter meetings are the last Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the St. Peters Community and Arts Center, 1035 St. Peters Howell Road (just off Mid Rivers Mall Drive); St. Peters, MO 63376. Phone 636-397-6903.