When we think of particular people, we often associate them with particular places or we may go to particular places to honor them. When we include those places in our writing, we  write more deeply than we might imagine we can. This week’s article contains an excerpt from Sheila’s memoir A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief as well as two exercises based on the excerpt that will guide you in writing about those you have treasured  by focusing on place and the associations you make from that place.

Please let us know how you might use these exercises; if you have already created writing on loss, tell us how you have done it.

The September Fiction Open closes September 30.  See guidelines.
Open to ALL writers–see editors’ note.

Linda Krisch has published a lovely children’s picture book about composting: http://www.thedirtmakerbook.blogspot.com/

Congratulations, Linda!

Actor/writer Byran Cohen maintains website www.build-creative-writing-ideas.com.  He has put together a rich and varied collection of 1,000 writing prompts available now through his website for a penny each!

These prompts will work for memoir and fiction: Here are two sample prompts,  “250. You give the best presentation of your life about the thing you care about the most in this world. Write down the presentation as if you were actually going to present it.” And: “925. Strange things begin to happen in your house. Lights turn on and off. Furniture moves on its own. You may have an angry spirit in your house. What do you do to deal with this odd problem?”

The SEVEN Fund (SEVEN) is pleased to announce its 2010-11 Essay Competition in partnership with the Washington DC-based Center For Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA). We are seeking essays on enterprise solutions to poverty from around the globe that are faith-based, faith-inspired, or interfaith efforts. The competition will award two (2) prizes of US $5,000. The submission deadline is October 15, 2010 at midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST). Winners will be announced on December 15, 2010. Writers are asked to submit a first-person narrative describing enterprise solutions to poverty that are faith-based, faith-inspired, or interfaith efforts. Illustrations may come from any domain, including healthcare, education, consumer products, human rights, and others; examples must represent innovative private solutions to public problems. SEVEN (the Social Equity Venture Fund) is a virtual non-profit entity run by entrepreneurs whose strategy is to markedly increase the rate of innovation and diffusion of enterprise-based solutions to poverty. It does this through targeted investment that fosters thought leadership through books, films and websites; supporting role models – whether they are entrepreneurs or innovative firms – in developing nations; and shaping a new discourse in government, the press and the academy around private-sector innovation, prosperity, and progressive human values.

Address questions to : info@sevenfund.org

http://www.sevenfund.org
http://twitter.com/sevenfund
http://www.facebook.com/sevenfund

I’ve taught with Susan Wingate. Her words are worth reading regularly:

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/susanwingate/

Fall Story Contest runs from now through November 30. Prior winners and finalists in Narrative contests have gone on to win other contests and to be published in prize collections, including the Pushcart Prize, Best New Stories from the South, an Atlantic prize, and others.
They are looking for short stories, short shorts, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction.
All entries will be considered for publication.
$3,250 First Prize
$1,500 Second Prize
$750 Third Prize
Ten finalists receive $100 each.
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These come from The Chronicle, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CRWROPPS-B/ (an outstanding submissions list), Washington States Arts Commission, individual e-mails and U.S. mail – includes submissions, contests and jobs

Postmark deadline for Critique Mania is August 31. We have some outstanding writers and editors to read work this year. Check it out: http://www.writeonwhidbey.com/Publications/CritiqueMania.htm

Reading for the fall issue of Soundings Review, including the contests, to be complete within the next couple weeks. All submissions after that will be for Spring 2011. Check out submission guidelines for magazine and contests: http://www.writeonwhidbey.com/Publications/Soundings.htm

The Rattling Wall is accepting sophisticated short fiction, travel essays, and poetry submissions until November 1, 2010. The literary journal accepts simultaneous submissions, but asks to be contacted immediately if work that a writer has submitted for review has been accepted for publication elsewhere. Successful submission packets will include a cover letter that provides the writer’s contact information and briefly details the writer’s publication history; a submission fee of $10 (either check or money order, made payable to PEN USA); and a writing sample. Writing samples should be typed using Times New Roman (12pt) font. Genre specific guidelines are as follows: The Rattling Wall staff responds to submissions within 2 months. Publication pays 2 contributor copies. Submission packets should be mailed to:
The Rattling Wall
c/o PEN USA
269 S. Beverly Dr. #1163
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

http://therattlingwall.blogspot.com/

To ensure a diverse and fair application pool, Sage Hill Press is extending the
deadline for the Powder Horn Prize until October 1. We have received fewer than
20 manuscripts so far, and don’t feel we can adequately declare a winner from
such a small pool. Details: The Powder Horn Prize is a first book contest, open to all poets who
have not previously had a full manuscript published. Judge: Christopher Howell
Reading fee: $15 Send manuscript (48+ pages) with enclosed check to: Powder Horn Prize / 1024 N.
Summit Blvd. / Spokane WA / 99201. Make checks payable to Sage Hill Press. Postmark deadline: October 1, 2010.
First Prize: $250 and publication in the spring/summer of 2011. To maintain integrity, Sage Hill Press requests that you not enter this year’s
contest if you have studied with, or have a close relationship with, Christopher Howell. Also, members of the editorial board will not consider submissions for which their relationship with the author might make selecting a manuscript
improper. For further questions, contact Thom at <sagehillpress(at)yahoo.com> (replace
(at) with @)
sagehillpress@…

PEN Center USA is now accepting submissions to the 2011 Literary Awards! Since 1982, PEN USA has sponsored a unique regional literary awards competition to recognize outstanding works published or produced by writers who reside in the western United States. Winners are selected in ten categories—Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Research Nonfiction, Poetry, Children’s & Young Adult Literature, Translation, Literary Journalism, Drama, Teleplay and Screenplay—by panels of judges comprised of writers, editors, critics and booksellers.

Who Is Eligible? Authors, journalists, playwrights and screen and television writers whose primary residence is in the United States west of the Mississippi River, including all of Minnesota and Louisiana. For works by two writers or more, the majority of the writers must reside west of the Mississippi River, or in Minnesota or Louisiana. Works may be submitted by writers, their publishers, producers, agents or publicists.

Literary Award winners are granted PEN USA membership for one year, a cash prize of $1,000 and 2 tickets to the Literary Awards Festival in Los Angeles, where winners are honored.

Submissions must have been published or produced between January 1st and December 31st of the year 2010.

To apply, see the official guidelines and submission form below, or visit our website at http://www.penusa.org/2011-lit-awards and download the forms. Please return the completed form with four non-returnable copies and a $35 entry fee for each submission.

Aura Estrada Short Story Contest?Deadline: October 1, 2010?Judge: Samuel R. Delany?First Prize: $1,500?Complete guidelines:?The winning author will receive $1,500 and have his or her work published in Boston Review, the summer of 2011. Stories should not exceed 4,000 words and must be previously unpublished. Mailed manuscripts should be submitted with a cover note listing the author’s name, address, and phone number. No cover note is necessary for online submission. Names should not appear on the stories themselves. Note that simultaneous submissions are not eligible. Any author writing in English is eligible, unless he or she is a current student, former student, relative, or close personal friend of the judge. A $20 entry fee ($30 for international submissions), payable toBoston Review in the form of a check or money order, must accompany each story entered. Entrants will receive a one-year print subscription to the Review beginning with the summer 2011 issue. Submissions must be postmarked no later than October 1, 2010. Manuscripts will not be returned. The winner will be announced no later than May/June 2011, on the Boston Review Web site.?Submit online using our contest entry manager at?http://bostonreview.net/about/contest/

Emerging Voices < http://penusa.org/2011EVApplication > is a literary fellowship program that aims to provide new writers, who lack access, with the tools they will need to launch a professional writing career. Over the course of the year, each Emerging Voices fellow participates in: a professional mentorship; hosted Q & A evenings with prominent local authors; a series of Master classes focused on genre; and two public readings. The fellowship
includes a $1,000 stipend. Participants need not be published, but the program is directed toward poets and writers of fiction and creative nonfiction with clear ideas of what they hope to accomplish through their writing. There are no age restrictions. Applications are due on or before August 31, 2010.

The courageous stories of these  49 women (including WIR 2008 contest winner Thelma Zirkelbach)  proves that there can be triumph over tragedy.  A rich, lively compendium of women’s life experiences and earned wisdom. http://bit.ly/sytbook