Currently accepting submissions for Steam Ticket XIV, deadline: March 15, 2010. Electronic submissions encouraged. For guidelines: http://steamticket.org

This week’s article describes five points of view possible for authors to use. Have you read books, essays or stories that utilize particular ones brilliantly? Let us know titles so we can read up!

Accepting short fiction & poetry, spoken word recordings, creative non-fiction, interviews, social justice concerns for the 10th issue of GINOSKO LITERARY JOURNAL, the winter issue.

Editorial lead time 1-2 months; accepts simultaneous submissions & reprints; length flexible, accepts excerpts. Receives postal submissions & email—prefer email submissions as attachments in Microsoft Works Word Processor or Rich Text Format; cannot open .docx files. Copyright reverts to author.

Publishing as semiannual ezine, winter & summer. Selecting material from ezine for Kindle anthology.
Check downloadable issues on website for style & tone: http://www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/
Use latest version of Adobe Reader. Ezine circulation 4500+. Website traffic 750-1000 hits/month.  Also looking for artwork, photography, to post on website and links to exchange.
Ginosko Short Fiction Contest:  Best Rendering of a Spiritual Awakening.  Deadline September 1st, decision October 1st;  $1000 prize, $10 entry fee.  Write check or money order to “Ginosko”.

Ginosko (ghin-océ-koe):To perceive, understand, realize, come to know; knowledge that has an inception, a progress, an attainment. The recognition of truth by experience.
Member CLMP. Listed in Best of the Web 2008.

Robert Paul Cesaretti, Editor
PO Box 246
Fairfax, CA 94978
USA
GinoskoEditor@aol.com

Got a self-published novel or manuscript? Amazon.com is accepting submissions for an opportunity to win one of two $15,000 publishing contracts with Penguin USA.  All entrants will also receive an electronic coupon for a free proof copy from CreateSpace, and 10% off of any single service offering. A publishing contract will be awarded in each of two categories: General Fiction and Young Adult Fiction. We will accept up to 5,000 entries in each category between now and 11:59 PM EST on February 7th, on a first come first serve basis, so make sure you enter in time.  You can submit your entry at www.createspace.com/abna. For more information and instructions on how to enter, watch the helpful video tutorials located there as well.

We will be sending out our information very shortly. If you know you would like to receive information on this October 15-17 Friday evening through Sunday afternoon writer’s workshop taught by Sheila Bender, Meg Files and Jack Heffron, email conference@writingitreal.com now! Space is limited to 30 participants and lodging at the retreat houses 15, so it will be first come first served on those rooms, with others staying in lovely hotels or bed and breakfasts.

For schedule and other information visit http://www.writingitreal.com/page.php?p=2010 and scroll down.

Sheila

Joel Vance is involved this year in the new week-long Missoula Goldenrod Workshop August 1-7  in conjunction with the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Deadline for application to attend is May 1, 2010.  For more information on the event and its faculty or to register visit owass@montana.com.

This week’s article is about creating plot. Let us know what you think of the ideas and what you have found useful or mystifying in creating plots.

What Do the Labels Mean?

Do you have hard drives and shoeboxes full of written work that you are shocked SHOCKED hasn’t yet made you a famous writer? Vanvinkinroy’s eBook Emporium is seeking all flavors of poems, chapbook manuscripts, full-length poetry manuscripts, works of literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, gay fiction, young adult fiction, and all varieties of non fiction and creative non fiction, including memoir, academic literature and theory papers, basically any quality original work that is dying to find an audience. But we aren’t some vanity press, a DIY publishing site, or a Print-on-Demand money making scheme.Vanvinkinroy’s team sift-pans through submissions and finds the glittering treasures that have been overlooked due to marketing constraints of traditional publishing, or even the author’s inability to spend several hours of every day searching for an agent, an editor, and a publisher. We’ve got MFAs and decades of publishing experience, and we’re using them to make you, and your work, a star.

If Vanvinkroy’s chooses to take on your work, we will copy edit it, create a digital book cover for it, and prepare it for conversion into PDF & e-book reader form where it will be available for download in our soon-to-be built eBook storefront. Through social media (Twitter, Facebook, e-mail), and traditional marketing (book trailers, clever reviews) we will get people to read your work that would never have been exposed to it otherwise.

The publishing business is changing, and we’re well ahead of the wave. If you’re in, send your unpublished manuscript (.doc file) to <vanvinksubs(at)gmail.com> (replace (at) with @)

Essay Contest Guidelines
http://www.tiny-lights.com/contest.php
15th Annual Contest Deadline: February 19, 2010

Tiny Lights invites entries that feature a distinctive voice, discernible conflict and an eventual shift in the narrator’s perspective. We are looking for writers who weave the struggle to understand into the fabric of their essays.

We can only consider unpublished work, or previously published material for which the author holds rights. Rights revert to author after publication in the hard copy edition of Tiny Lights. Each essay must be accompanied by an entry fee: $15 for first essay, $10 each additional essay. Make checks payable to:
Tiny Lights Publications. Mail to: P.O. Box 928, Petaluma, CA 94953.
SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) recommended for feedback/contest notification. One envelope for multiple submissions OK.
Essays may be submitted in one of two categories:
STANDARD (no longer than 2,000 words) or FLASHPOINT (no more than 1,000 words). Please indicate preferred category on ms.
Entries should be typed and double-spaced. Cover letters are optional, but ideally the title page of the manuscript should include author’s name, complete address, e-mail, phone number, and essay word count. Essay title and page number in header or footer OK. Author name should not appear there.
Personal essay requires writers to communicate the truth of their experiences to the best of their abilities. While no theme restrictions apply to this contest, we will not consider essays that celebrate brutality or gratuitous violence. Tiny Lights does not accept poetry, short stories, or material written for children. Entry fees for inappropriate submissions may not be returned. Entries must be postmarked by Feburary 19, 2010.
Prizes will be awarded as follows: First Place: $350 Second Place: $250
Third Place: $150 Two Honorable Mention Prizes: $100 each.
Three FLASHPOINT prizes of $100 are also offered. Awards will be determined by a panel of judges. Final authority rests with the Editor-in-Chief, Susan Bono. Winners will be posted at www.tiny-lights.com by April 10th, 2010 Winning essays are subject to editing before publication. Final copy must be approved by writer. No essays will be published in hard copy or online publications without author’s permission.  -All contestants will receive a hard copy of Tiny Lights’ contest publication featuring the winning entries.

A few words about hard copy submissions: I know it’s old-fashioned, cumbersome and expensive for you to send us your entries via snail mail. Someday, I’m going to have to invest in the software that allows us to manage electronic submissions. But until we learn to enjoy scrolling through hundreds of essays on computer screens, you’ll just have to put up with us sprawling on couches and beds, sitting at the kitchen table or in a sunny window or a rocking chair or a dentist’s waiting room, reading every single word you send us. We’re old-fashioned enough to believe that’s important.