After you read the article on using locution and sentence variety in your writing, please do add in your comments and or favorite examples by yourself or others. Thanks! Sheila

We have three spots to fill because a few scheduled attendees are unable to make the conference. We hope some of you out there like making plans in a hurry–The conference is a month away–email me at conference@writingitreal.com for info or to say you are coming! We meet Friday evening through Sunday afternoon at the Palace Hotel in Port Townsend. You won’t believe how much writing you’ll  do and how much you’ll learn! Visit our conference links on the Writing It Real Website for information.

Colleen Sell of Cup of Comfort is doing a new book: When a Mind Breaks: Call for Submissions

I’m in the process of gathering narrative essays, creative nonfiction stories, poetry and prose that reveal the effects of mental illness on the lives of people who have neurobiologic disorders and on the lives of their loved ones for a book-length anthology that I will compile, edit, and peddle until I find a publisher compassionate and astute enough to publish it.

I’m looking for material that is original, compelling, honest, insightful, and in some way hopeful or helpful to readers, most of whom will be loved ones of people who have serious mental illnesses.

I do not yet have a publisher for this book, but I am determined to find one … which is virtually impossible to do without a finished manuscript.  The few publishers who publish anthologies typically acquire them in the same way they do memoirs—with a finished manuscript, not with a proposal and sample pages. So I will be unable to pay contributing writers or to even know how much I can pay each author until after I’ve compiled and edited the book and then secured a book contract and advance from a publisher.

This book is very important to me … because I, like most people in the world, love someone who is mentally ill.

Maximum submission length: 2,000 words

Submission deadline: July 1, 2010

Submit by email only. Please include your name, mailing address, and phone number, and specify “When a Mind Breaks” in the subject line.

If your piece is selected for inclusion in the book, the two of us will enter into a provisional use agreement (which I will provide to you) that authorizes me to include your piece in the book for the purpose of securing a publisher for the book, after which publication of the story in the book is contingent upon our mutual agreement, along with the publisher’s, as to the terms and conditions of publication, including rights reserved by the publisher and payment to you for use of your piece in the published book.

If you have any questions, please send an email. Please make sure to specify “When a Mind Breaks” in the subject line.

Collen Sell writes:

Win $1,000 for Your True Story of Love Story!

The Cup of Comfort book series and REDBOOK Magazine have teamed up to sponsor the Your Love Story Contest. And since I’m the Cup of Comfort series editor, I’m one of the judges.

Here’s how it will work: From a pool of 60-70 finalists selected by yours truly, REDBOOK’s editors will select the $1,000 grand-prize winner and the three runners-up stories. The four “winning” stories will be published—along with 45-47 other stories (selected by yours truly)—in A Cup of Comfort for Couples. The book will be compiled and edited by, you guessed it, yours truly. The grand-prize-winning story will also be excerpted in REDBOOK. The finalists as well as the winners and all stories published in the book will be announced in the Cup of Comfort Blog (also, by the way, written by yours truly).

We’re looking for real-life stories about romantic relationships that work and last. Stories must be true, original, postive, 1,000–2,000 words, and be submitted at www.cupofcomfort.com.

Submission deadline: April 20, 2010

For full details, check out the Call for Submissions and the Contest Rules on the Cup of Comfort site!

When we take some time to focus on elements of sound in our writing by looking into examples from literature and practice employing elements of the craft that the pros employ, we infuse our writing with renewed energy and even create unexpected new work. After you read more on onomatopoeia, alliteration and rhyme this week share some of what you’ve created with us here on the blog. As always, leave any questions you have in the comment box, too.

www.fraglit.com

New issue is up (micro essays is the theme) and you can read guidelines for the next one on Solitude. Also accepts aphorisms.

When we take some time to focus on elements of sound in our writing by looking into examples from literature and practice employing elements of the craft that the pros employ, we infuse our writing with renewed energy and even create unexpected new work. After you read more on repetition this week share some of what you’ve created with us here on the blog. As always, leave any questions you have in the comment box, too.

Crab Creek Review: www.crabcreekreview.org Deadline: May 31, 2010 for special theme: Ekphrastic poetry. (Response in words to painting, photograph, dance, building, sculpture, etc.) Visit Web site for more information.

H.O.W. Journal SHORT STORY CONTEST Judged by SUSAN MINOT. H.O.W. Journal is hosting its first short story contest to be judged by acclaimed author Susan Minot. GUIDELINES:  The contest is open to all writers and all themes — The word limit is 12,000.– We do consider unpublished novel excerpts if they feel like complete stories.– It’s fine to submit more than one story.– Please note that all submissions should be clearly typed ?manuscripts, double-spaced on 8 1/2 x 11 inch white paper, one side only.– Submissions will not be returned– No simultaneous or previously published work AWARDS:– 1st Place – $1000 and publication in H.O.W. Journal– 2nd Place – $300 and publication in H.O.W. Journal– 3rd Place – $100 and publication in H.O.W. Journal READING FEE PER STORY– $20.00??Send your submissions and reading fee (a check payable to H.O.W. Journal) to: H.O.W. Journal Short Story Contest 12 Desbrosses Street New York, NY, 10013 Submissions must be received in the H.O.W. offices by May 15th, 2010.stamatis@howjournal.com H.O.W. Journal 12 Desbrosses St, New York, NY 10013 www.howjournal.com www.monadnockwriters.org, or by writing us at P.O. Box 3071, Peterborough, NH 03458.

WHITE PELICAN Review, a biannual, seeks insightful, imaginative, and carefully crafted poetry for coming issues. Outstanding poem in each issue awarded $100. Submit 3–5 poems. sase and bio required. Name, address, phone, and e-mail on each page. Simultaneous submissions discarded. Subscription: $8 per year. White Pelican Review, P.O. Box 7833, Lakeland, FL 33813.

BLOODROOT Literary Magazine invites poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Poems: 3–5 (10 lines to 2 pages). Prose: 5,000 word limit. Reads: April 1–September 1. Include SASE for response only. Bloodroot Literary Magazine, P.O. Box 322, Thetford Center, VT 05075. For details: www.bloodrootlm.com.

CALL FOR submissions—seeking quality poems, fiction, creative nonfiction for 2010 issue of Kansas City Voices, an annual literary magazine now in its 8th year. Awards for Best Prose, Best Poetry. Work does not have to relate to Kansas City. Deadline: March 15. For guidelines visit http://kansascityvoices.com.

Deadline May 15, 2010. Exquisite Disarray Publishing, a Tacoma-based literary arts organization, announces launch of first annual First Book Poetry Contest. Contest open to all WA State residents 18 years of age and older who have not yet published a full-length book of poetry. Prize $200 and publication. Separate prize of $100 to poetry manuscript submission with the best “Tacoma poem.” All contestants are encouraged to include an original poem about the City of Destiny in their submission. Guidelines and other information at www.exquisitedisarray.org. Contact William Kupinse editors@exquisitedisarray.org or 253.879.3286.

COSMOS MARINER AWARD, $500. Judge : David Kirby, 3-5 unpublished poems (10 pgs max), postmarked May 15. SASE and $10 check payable to PSGA. Poetry Society of Georgia, PO Box 15625, Savannah, GA 31416. http://poetryknows.blogspot.com/

south loop review: creative nonfiction and art SEEKS CREATIVE NONFICTION SUBMISSIONS IN LYRIC ESSAY, HYBRID FORMS, GRAPHIC MEMOIR AND SHORT-FORM CREATIVE NONFICTION. WELL-WRITTEN PERSONAL ESSAYS AND MEMOIR EXCERPTS. ACCEPTING WORK YEAR ROUND. SOUTH LOOP REVIEW; CREATIVE NONFICTION + ART, ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO, 600 S. MICHIGAN, CHICAGO, IL 60605. English.colum.edu/southloop/

CAVE WALL, a journal of poetry and art, reads unsolicited submissions postmarked March 1–April 15. Recent contributors include Michael Chitwood, Claudia Emerson, Rebecca McClanahan, Carl Phillips, Katrina Vandenberg, and Robert Wrigley. For guidelines, send SASE to Cave Wall Press LLC, P.O. Box 29546, Greensboro, NC 27429-9546. Or visit: www.cavewallpress.com.*

MUSE & STONE. Reading Aug 1 2009 – April 1, 2010. Up to 5 poems, 6000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction to Muse & Stone , Waynesburg University, 51 W. College St., Waynesburg, PA 15370.

Deadline March 31, 2010 for Submissions:

Volume 15, No 2: Theme: The Family Corvidae: Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, and other Corvids. Send photos, drawings, stories, myths, fables, or encounters with this cosmopolitan family of birds.

Spoken Word; Poetics (essays or interviews), Memorials, Literary Recipes, Odes to Persons, Places & Things, Mapping the Terrain/ Beyond Borders (essays and translations), Cultural Geography, Food & Culture, The Northwest, Nature Writing, Rants, Raves & Reviews.

E-mail submissions to editors@ravenchronicles.org only for those who live outside US.

Mail to Raven Chronicles, 12346 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle 98125

Information at http://www.ravenchronicles.org/raven/rvsubm.htmlThe Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council is seeking submissions for its third annual Poetry Month Celebration. Selected poets will be invited to read at a special event during April, National Poetry Month. Winning poems will be displayed at the Shoreline Arts Festival in June. Poems will be judged in three separate divisions: Secondary Student (grades 7-12), College Student, and Non-Student Adult. Cash prizes will be awarded in College and Adult categories. Deadline: 03/19/10.

Grand Canyon National Park is seeking applications for an Artist in Residence. The Artist-in-Residence Program offers professional artists the opportunity to spend three weeks on either the North or South Rim of Grand Canyon in housing provided by the National Park Service. Deadline: 04/01/10.

Soundings Review is currently putting together the spring 2010 issue and reading for the fall 2010 issue, including the Founders’ Circle Award and First Publication contests. More information at www.writeonwhidbey.org/Publications

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