I recently read an outstanding novel, Splinters of Light, by Rachael Herron, “a poignant and beautiful novel about love, loss, and the unbreakable bonds of family—particularly those between mothers, daughters, and sisters.” — Amazon In this full-of-heart novel, the mother has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I wondered how Rachael could write so authentically and intimately about something she didn’t have personal experience with. This is the gift of a writer who knows how to research and turn that information into a compelling story. I asked her how she wrote so authentically about early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD). Her answer: “I love immersing myself in the worlds I write about, but I’ll admit this was a hard one. Because there’s no cure for early-onset Alzheimer’s, there are really no happy endings. So I had to read about and research families that were breaking apart, but still focus on the happy parts of…
Category: Just Write
Two-Minute Memoir, Psychology Today
Two-Minute Memoir focuses specifically on a personal story of growth. Typically told in first person, the selected essays should have a beginning, middle and end. Like most good essays, selected essays feature important internal change or revelation. As mentioned in the March/April 2015 issue of Writer’s Digest magazine: “Write something unusual.” Not the usual: mental illness, grief, divorce, falling in love, etc . . . unless there is something “distinctive or unusual about the story to make it work.” How to submit: Past your 1,500 word essay (or fewer words) in an email to: jennifer.blyer -at- psychologytoday.com Include a brief introduction and a one-sentence summary.
Narrative Winter 2015 Story Contest
Do you have some writing ready to submit? Could you get it ready real fast? Narrative Magazine’s Winter 2015 Contest ends Tuesday, March 31 at midnight, PST This contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers: shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest. Narrative is looking for works with a strong narrative drive, with characters we can respond to as human beings, and with effects of language, situation, and insight that are intense and total. We look for works that have the ambition of enlarging our view of ourselves and the world. Narrative welcomes and looks forward to reading your pages. Submission Fee: There is…
Make characters real and likable.
Play around with different ways to describe characters in stories. Here are examples of how to make characters real and likable and how to capture readers’ interest. What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg “My mother was dressed in her beautiful yellow summer robe, the tie cinched evenly into a bow at the exact center of her waist, but her auburn hair was sticking up in the back, an occasional occurrence that I always hated seeing, since in my mind it suggested a kind of incompetence. It was an unruly cowlick, nearly impossible to tame — I knew this, having an identical cowlick of my own — but I did not forgive its presence on my mother. It did not go with the rest of her looks: her deep blue eyes, her thin, sculptured nose, her high cheekbones, her white, white skin — all signs, I was certain, of some distant…
Zoetrope All-Story
About: Zoetrope: All-Story is a staff of two, assisted by a small team of brilliant and generous volunteers, who are collectively dedicated to reading and responding to the 12,000 submissions All-Story receives annually. To aid in this commitment, writers should submit only one story at a time and no more than two stories a year. Submit: Before submitting, non-subscribers should read several issues of the magazine to determine if their works fit with All-Story. Electronic versions of the magazine are available to read, in part, at the website; and print versions are available for purchase by single-issue order and subscription. http://www.all-story.com/ Zoetrope: All-Story considers unsolicited submissions of short stories and one-act plays no longer than 7,000 words. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. First serial rights and a one-year film option are required. All-Story does not accept submissions via e-mail. Mail manuscripts to: Zoetrope: All-Story Attn: Fiction Editor 916 Kearny St. San…
Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition
The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition invites writers of short fiction to enter the 2015 contest. “The competition has a thirty-five year history of literary excellence, and its organizers are dedicated to enthusiastically supporting the efforts and talent of emerging writers of short fiction whose voices have yet to be heard.” Prizes and Publication: The first-place winner will receive $1,500 and publication of his or her winning story in Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts. The second – and third-place winners will receive $500 each. Honorable mentions will also be awarded to entrants whose work demonstrates promise. Eligibility requirements: Stories must be original unpublished fiction, typed and double-spaced, and may not exceed 3,500 words in length. There are no theme or genre restrictions. Copyright remains property of the author. The literary competition is open to all U.S. and international writers whose fiction has not appeared in a nationally distributed publication…
Redwood Anthology – Journeys
Submission Deadline for the 2015 Redwood Anthology: March 1, 2015 Theme: Journeys Eligibility: Members of the Redwood Writers Branch of the California Writers Club. You can join Redwood Writers Branch, no matter where you live. Click here for membership information. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Redwood Writers anthologies. The theme is Journeys. There are many types of journeys: travel adventures, life passages, heroes’ journeys, pilgrimages, odysseys, and flights of fancy. All journeys begin in one place and end in another, having elements of challenge, change, and transformation. Note: Submissions are required to reflect the theme, which may be interpreted broadly. If your piece is selected, you will be assigned an editor to work with you through the publication revision/editing process. Submission Guidelines Each Redwood Writers member may submit up to 2 pieces in any genre. For example, you may submit 1 poem and 1 prose piece, 2 prose…
The Past – from different perspectives.
The following is inspired by Your Mythic Journey by Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox. Chapter 4, “The Past” It’s Still Happening. “We love the present tense. Be here now. Yesterday is gone and best forgotten: our tradition is to have no tradition. We aren’t Europeans buried in ancient tombs and cathedrals and medieval ruins. We were born yesterday and we will be young forever. Over thirty is over the bridge. Age embarrasses us; remembrance is a function of senility. We exile the aged to Sun City leper colonies so they won’t impair our illusion of endless summer. But history is not so easily dismissed. Repressed memories, national or personal won’t stay down. To be alive is to have a past. Our only choice is whether we will repress or re-create the past. Childhood may be distant, but it is never quite lost; as full-grown men and women we carry tiny…
Ukiah Haiku Festival 2015
THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL ukiaHaiku festival 2015 – A celebration and competition devoted to the haiku form of poetry Postmark Deadline for Submissions: Saturday, March 22, 2015 Awards will be presented in the following categories: General Topics (Regional*) 1) Children, grades K-3 2) Children, grades 4-6 3) Youth, grades 7-9 4) Youth, grades 10-12 Haiku about Ukiah (Regional*) 5) Haiku about Ukiah, grades K-6 6) Haiku about Ukiah, grades 7-12 7) Dori Anderson Prize** — Haiku about Ukiah, Adults Haiku en Espanol, Temas Generales (Sumisiones Regionales*) 8) Para menores de 18 anos 9) Para mayores International, General Topics, Adult: 10) Jane Reichhold International Prize*** *Regional categories are open to residents of Mendocino, Humboldt, Lake, and Sonoma Counties in northern California. Winners in the regional categories receive a certificate, publication in a booklet of winning haiku, and a copy of the booklet. **The Dori Anderson Prize honors the memory of Dori Anderson,…
Failure is necessary to find “wondrous and magical moments”
“A rough draft is inherently an experiment, or, rather, a series of experiments. each novel, each piece of writing, is a new thing with different possibilities that demand to be explored. Many of these experiments will fail, but failure is necessary to find those wondrous and magical moments of success.” — “More Ideas Faster, Writing With Abandon” by Grant Faulkner, Jan/Feb 215 Poets & Writers magazine. Grant Faulkner is: Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month, co-founder of 100 Word Story, writer, tap dancer, alchemist, contortionist, numbskull, preacher. Click here to read more about Grant Faulkner. Note from Marlene: Click here for ideas of what to write about. Choose a writing prompt, set your timer for 12-15 minutes and Just Write!