The Writers Network News December 2011 issue http://ezezine.com
The Writers Network News, December 2011 Issue
In This Issue
One: From the editor's desk--Social Media Makes the World Smaller
Two: Ask the Book Doctor--About Copyrights, Mentors, and Simultaneous
Submissions
Three: This Month's Writing Tip from Bobbie Christmas--Morning, Noon,
and Night
Four: Subjects of Interest to Writers
Five: Contests, Agents, and Markets
Six: Got Muse?--Idiomatically Speaking
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The Writers Network News
No Rules; Just Write!
Editor: Bobbie Christmas
Contents copyright 2011, Bobbie Christmas
No portion of this newsletter can be used without permission; however,
you may forward the newsletter in its entirety to anyone who may be
interested in subscribing.
Newsletter Sponsor
Zebra Communications
Excellent editing for maximum marketability
1992 -- 2012: Celebrating twenty years in the business of editing books
(We must be doing something right!)
As book doctors, we write, edit, and evaluate fiction and nonfiction
manuscripts, book proposals, query letters, and synopses. As book
shepherds, we guide writers through the process of self-publishing.
We are a top-rated Better Business Bureau Accredited Business.
Zebra Communications
230 Deerchase Drive
Woodstock, GA 30188
770/924-0528
http://zebraeditor.com/
Follow my "Write In Style" creative-writing blog at
http://bobbiechristmas.blogspot.com/
Follow my "Don't You Dare Call It a Diet" weight-loss blog at
http://dontyoudarecallitadiet.blogspot.com/
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Meet Fellow Writers
Do you live in or visit metro Atlanta? Sign up for local meeting
notices today! Send your name and e-mail address to
Bobbie@zebraeditor.com.
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Past Issues Available
To view current and past issues of The Writers Network News, go to
http://tinyurl.com/c4otf6.
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Some links in this newsletter may include "tiny url" with the help of
www.tinyurl.com, which takes long Web addresses and converts them to
short ones.
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Writer's quote of the day
"I leave out the parts that people skip. If it sounds like writing, I
rewrite it." --Elmore Leonard, author of Get Shorty, Out of Sight,
Hombre, Mr. Majestyk, and Rum Punch
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One: From the editor's desk--Social Media Makes the World Smaller
Dear Readers:
I've said it before: I love Facebook. With Facebook I can see not only
what my next-door-neighbor is doing or thinking but also what my niece
and sister, both of whom live halfway around the world, are doing and
thinking. After being a member of Facebook for a while, I included my
maiden name, so that old friends could find me, too, and it has worked.
I've also found several old friends and reconnected with them, even if
only by e-mail.
Recently someone who had lived around the corner from me in my hometown
of Columbia, South Carolina, contacted me. We were about three years
apart in age, so he was a closer friend to my baby sister, but I knew
his whole family. Now that so much time has passed, we feel closer in
age. In an odd turn of events, his daughter now lives around the corner
from me in Woodstock, and he lives only four miles away. Small, small
world. We made it smaller when we met for lunch, caught up on the
previous fifty years of our lives, and gabbed for several happy hours.
Another longtime family friend from my hometown of Columbia recently
found me on Facebook and sent a photo of me at around age fifteen, when
he and I double-dated to his high school Christmas prom. I don't recall
ever having seen that photo before, but Facebook made it possible for
him to remind me of many great times. Strike another success for social
media.
Social media comes in handy, too, for promoting your book signings,
personal appearances, and other events that promote your books. Sad to
say, some authors abuse social media, posting or sending out
business-related information too often. People want to know about other
people, but when an author shares too many business-related notices,
people lose interest. When someone posts too many self-serving and
business-related updates on Facebook, I hide all notices from that
person. For that reason, I am careful to post many more personal items
than business-related items. Social media should be social. I hope
you'll look me up on Facebook and become my friend, so you can keep up
with my life, opinions, experiences, and activities. You'll find me
listed as Bobbie Rothberg Christmas.
If you haven't signed up for Facebook, you're missing all the fun. For
example, I now play Scrabble on Facebook with friends and strangers.
For those who love words, as I do, Scrabble is interesting and
challenging entertainment. Some folks tell me they don't want to be
bothered with things such as Facebook. Well, pooh on curmudgeons!
Moving on to business news, I just opened my final box of copies of
Write In Style, which means I have fewer than thirty left. If you
haven't yet gotten your copy, your chances are getting slim.
New copies are selling for between $75 and than $270 on Amazon. While
they last, however, you can still buy one of the few remaining new
copies at the original price of $12.95. To purchase, go to
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml. Hurry!
I wish everyone a happy holiday season. May you collect many great
experiences that turn into fascinating stories.
Yours in writing,
Bobbie Christmas (Bobbie@zebraeditor.com or bzebra@aol.com )
Author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), owner of Zebra
Communications, and director of The Writers Network
If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please sign up to get your
own copy. Simply go to www.zebraeditor.com, click on "Free Newsletter,"
and follow the prompts. I never share your address or send out spam.
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Two: Ask the Book Doctor--About Copyrights, Mentors, and Simultaneous
Submissions
Q: After a book is written, how do I go about protecting my work with a
copywrite [sic] before sending it off to prospects? Is the standard
initialing acceptable? Would I need to initial each page? Would I need
to get it notarized, so the idea cannot be taken by someone else?
A: According to current law, you own the rights to your copy—hence
copyright, rather than copywrite—the moment you complete a body of
work. If you find that someone has used your material without
permission, you have the right to sue, whether or not you registered
the copyright or published the book. You don’t have to initial the
manuscript, register it, get it notarized, or anything, because you
automatically own the rights to your intellectual property, based on
the fact that you created it. The law protects you, should anyone use
your material without your permission.
Professional editors, publishers, and agents also know the law and will
not steal your material. On the flip side, when editors, agents, or
publishers see that an author has copyrighted a manuscript, they
perceive they are dealing with a paranoid person or an amateur, so
don't prematurely register the copyright on a manuscript and give
others the opportunity to make an incorrect assumption.
Manuscripts are always open to change, whereas copyrights are not, so a
copyright should not be registered until the material is edited,
proofed, and laid out, right before the book goes to press.
If you sell your book to a publisher, ask your publisher if it handles
the copyright registration. Most publishers register the copyright in
your name for you, prior to going to press. If you plan to
self-publish, register the copyright right before you send the final
file to a printer. Follow the procedures outlined at the government
website, http://www.copyright.gov/register/literary.html.
Q: Where can I find a mentor to tell me where to send my poetry to get
it published?
A: Mentors are a rare find indeed, and they don't hang out shingles
announcing their availability. I was blessed with a mentor early in my
career, because we had been friends in college before he became an
accomplished poet. He read my poetry, picked out two specific poems,
and told me a magazine that might be interested in them. He was right,
and the magazine accepted both poems, for which I received two
contributor's copies. I was on my way, though, and after that, I found
my own markets.
Instead of waiting for a mentor to appear, patronize literary
magazines. Buy single copies of many literary publications or subscribe
to several and support the market, because publications need
supporters, too. Subscribe to WritersMarket.com, which lists poetry
markets and gives their guidelines. Once you become familiar with the
poetry market, you will know when, what, and how to submit to each
potential publisher.
Q: What does "simultaneous submission" mean?
A: When an author sends the same book proposal or novel query to more
than one agent or publisher at a time, it is called a simultaneous
submission. For several reasons, the method favors those who are doing
the submissions. It speeds up the process by allowing writers to send
out many submissions at a time, an important ability, when responses
sometimes take months, if they come at all. In addition, if more than
one agent or publisher shows an interest, the author has negotiating
power. For that reason, some agents and publishers don’t care for
simultaneous submissions and prefer exclusive submissions.
Those that do not accept simultaneous submissions will say so in their
guidelines. When you see such a note in the guidelines, submit to those
agents or publishers last, after hearing back from most or all others.
If, however, you have only one particular publisher in mind, submit
your query or proposal to that publisher first, with a note that it is
an exclusive submission. If you receive a rejection from that one
publisher, you can then send simultaneous submissions to others.
At the end of the cover letter of all simultaneous submissions, add a
line that states, "This is a simultaneous submission."
Bobbie Christmas will answer your questions, too. Send them to
Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and
answers at www.zebraeditor.com or www.zebracommunications.com.
Would you like to read, save, or share the Ask the Book Doctor column
as a PDF file? At http://zebraeditor.com/files/ask_the_book_doctor.pdf,
the newest column is posted around the first of each month.
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Three: This Month's Writing Tip from Bobbie Christmas-- Morning, Noon,
and Night
When writing books, how should you designate morning, noon, and night?
Use figures in designations of time with a.m. or p.m. Never use a.m.
with morning or p.m. with evening, because it is redundant. Never use
o'clock with either a.m. or p.m. or figures, either, for the same
reason. Here are some examples of correct designations of morning,
noon, or night.
4:00 p.m.
at 10:45 in the morning
11:30 a.m.
12:00 a.m. or 12:00 m. (noon)
12:00 p.m. (midnight)
eight o'clock
Set a.m. and p.m. (ante and post meridiem) in lowercase with periods
and no spaces between, but small caps sometimes can be used with or
without periods. The abbreviations should not be in uppercase
(A.M./P.M.) and should not have spaces.
Strong writers avoid using a.m. and p.m. whenever possible. Quite often
the surrounding sentence already implies whether the event took place
in the morning or evening. "We awoke with the sun at six o'clock" is
better than "We awoke at 6:04 a.m." "We met for dinner at 7:30" is
better than "We met for dinner at 7:30 p.m."
Avoid using a.m. or p.m. in dialogue, especially. People usually know
the time of day, anyway. Relate it in more relative terms. "I'll meet
you for lunch at twelve-thirty." "Why are you calling me at four in the
morning?"
Use my trademarked Find and Refine Method to locate misused
designations of morning, noon, or night. If your manuscript has
mistakenly incorporated capital letters for a.m. and p.m., for example,
go to the Find function on your computer (Control + F on a PC or
Command + F on a Mac) and under "Find What," type "A.M." Click the box
that says "More," and click "Match Case." When you hit "find next,"
your computer will find the first incorrectly capitalized use. You can
click on the "Replace" tab and type in "a.m." and have all the misuses
repaired at once, or you can use "Find Next" for each use to check for
redundancies and misuses. You also have the option to "Replace All"
without checking each use. Do the same for "P.M.," to finish the edit.
If spaces incorrectly appear between the letters in the original
manuscript, be sure to add a space between the letters when using the
Find function, as well.
For more opportunities for improving your manuscripts, buy one of the
few remaining copies of Write In Style at
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml.
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Four: Subjects of interest to writers
From long-time member Alvin Guthertz:
"Enjoyed the recent mention of your son and how you encouraged his
writing when a child. My folks did the same. Even before I could spell,
I'd draw the story, as in a comic book, each with its plots. The
result: I've now had seven novels published. The newest might prove of
particular interest to The Writer's Network.
"For Immediate Release" is the title, which should tell you
everything--about four friends over forty years (one is a writer, PR
person. Available online through any major book outlet or from the
publisher, publishamerica.com." --Alvin Guthertz, ATGPR@webtv.net
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Free Magazine Database Available for Very Limited Time
If you write articles for magazines or even think you want to write
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(503) 338-4300
- Sign up before midnight November 30
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- Order as usual and use coupon code P12EX002 and it's free!
Do it now! Free doesn't come very often!
To order:
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3) Click "Add to Cart." Check out as usual.
4) Use coupon code P12EX002 during the checkout.
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Decatur, Georgia, Promotes Books and Reading to Bring Families Together
On the Same Page is a new, citywide reading initiative begun in
Decatur, Georgia. Our goal is to foster a community of readers by
bringing families together around the same book. Little Shop of Stories
is working in conjunction with the Decatur Book Festival, the Decatur
Education Foundation, and the Decatur Rotary Club. Each year, beginning
this fall, On the Same Page will select a children's book for local
children and their families to read. We will promote the book around
the city and work with schools and libraries, coordinate book groups,
lead discussions, and host other book-related events. For more
information (and perhaps form a similar initiative in your area), see
http://www.littleshopofstories.com/same-page.php.
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New Font May Help Some Dyslexics Read
In the U.S. one out of every five persons is dyslexic, according to the
National Institutes of Health. The disorder stems from the brain and
interferes with some people's ability to read. It affects many members
of my own family, to varying degrees, so I was excited to read that
Scientific American reported that Christian Boer, a graphic designer
from the Netherlands, has developed a way to help tackle his dyslexia.
The 30-year-old created a font called Dyslexie that has proved to
decrease the number of errors made by dyslexics while reading. The font
works by tweaking the appearance of certain letters of the alphabet
that dyslexics commonly misconstrue, such as "d" and "b," to make them
more recognizable. See http://tinyurl.com/76bk9qh to read the whole
article.
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Long Novels Hit the Big Time; What Will the Future Bring?
Publishers Weekly takes a stab at the trend toward long novels and
summarizes the following:
The (long novel) process has peaked, intriguingly, in transitional
times when paperbacks will soon all become e-books, if book trade
prophets are right. What this means for long-winded authors is hard to
judge. Will they benefit (and perhaps write even fatter whoppers)
because the disincentive of having to lug heavy novels around and rest
them on your tummy disappears? Or suffer because readers become more
aware of the eye-fatigue associated with e-books the longer a book
continues? Maybe the former is likelier: HarperCollins has just
identified A Dance with Dragons as one of its biggest digital sellers
of the past year.
To read the whole article, see http://tinyurl.com/76brjh9.
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From The Chicago Manual of Style website Q & A this month:
Q. I'm interested in how you would treat the following issue of double
punctuation: "U.S.-oriented." I decided to omit the hyphen, which I
would have otherwise used, because I didn’t like the way it looked
following an abbreviation period.
A. It may look a little odd, but the hyphen is conventional there,
because omitting it could cause readers to mistake "oriented" for a
verb. If your publication's style permits, you can follow CMOS 16 in
omitting the periods: US-oriented.
The Chicago Manual of Style is the reference that book editors use. For
more CMOS Q & A, see http://tinyurl.com/2xscwn.
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Purge Your Prose of Problems
A Book Doctor's Desk Reference, Fifth Edition
Please don't buy this book! I'd rather you pay me thousands of dollars
to edit your book. I don't want you to use this book to go into the
business of editing books for others, either, yet many people do.
If you insist, though, you can order my proprietary book-doctor desk
reference book online at http://tinyurl.com/4ptjnr.
In alphabetical order and in easy-to-understand language, Purge Your
Prose of Problems covers all you need to know to revise and edit
fiction and nonfiction books, including grammar, punctuation, word
choices, creative writing, plot, pace, characterization, point of view,
dialogue, Chicago style, format, and much more. The spiral binder lets
the book lie flat in front of your computer, for easy use. Available
printed or as a PDF e-book that allows you to keep all this vital
information on your computer for ready reference.
To save thousands of dollars by editing your own book, order Purge Your
Prose of Problems today at http://tinyurl.com/4ptjnr.
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Words Writers Should Know
Royalties
The term "royalties" is being misused lately, in my opinion. The term
refers to the author's share of the selling price of a book, and in
traditional publishing--or royalty publishing--a publisher purchases a
manuscript it thinks has a chance of making a profit, usually by paying
an advance against royalties. It then pays the author royalties once
the advance has been paid back through sales.
In the world of traditional publishing, royalties rarely exceed ten
percent of the selling price of the book and can be as low as four
percent. That figure may appear low, but the publisher pays for all
expenses, including the advance, editing, layout, cover design,
printing, and distribution. The author pays for nothing. The publisher
prints thousands of copies and distributes them to sellers across the
country, so thousands of copies are available to buyers. As a result,
sales figures can go into the thousands and more.
Some less scrupulous (again, in my opinion) publishers claim to be
royalty publishers who offer much higher royalties, sometimes as high
as fifty percent. When any deal seems too good to be true, it usually
has a catch. The catch is that many of these companies are
print-on-demand companies. They pay no advance against royalties, they
do not spend much, if anything, on layout and cover design, and they do
not print and distribute the book to stores. They print a copy of the
book only when it is ordered, so no copies are distributed until they
are sold. In addition, they often set the cover price so high as to be
off-putting to most buyers. Because the book is not pre-printed or
available on book shelves at stores, few people see the book, so few
people buy it. Total sales may be as low as fifty copies or fewer. The
only sales of the book are the result of the author's efforts. In
addition, if the author wants copies, even at a discount, author copies
are much higher than similar books on the market. If authors have to
make all the efforts to sell their books and have to pay a high price
to get their own books, they may as well self-publish and get one
hundred percent of the profits from the book, instead of an alleged
royalty, which is a percentage of the profits.
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Ask the Book Doctor: How to Beat the Competition and Sell Your Writing
answers many of the questions you wish you could ask an editing expert.
Whether you write books, short stories, articles, reports, or anything
else, learn more about how to write, edit, and sell your work.
Paperback: $14.95 plus $4.99 S & H (total: $19.94 US) E-book: $8.95, no
S & H, with almost instant delivery. You'll save almost $10 by buying
the e-book! To order either, go to http://tinyurl.com/lexp7n.
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Wall Street Journal to Include E-books on Best-seller Lists
Associated Press announced that the Wall Street Journal has an
agreement with Nielsen BookScan to publish best-seller lists that
include both physical books and e-sales. Eligible releases will include
self-published books, children's books, and "perennials," older works
that continue to sell strongly.
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Write In Style Soon to be Unavailable; Do NOT pay $278 for a copy!
Hurry! I have fewer than thirty copies left of Write In Style, my
award-winning book that teaches writers my Find and Refine Method ™ to
locate specific words and phrases you can delete, upgrade, or rewrite
to power up your prose.
After I sell all my copies, you'll have to pay the prices on Amazon, up
to $278 per book, unless or until I find a new publisher or
self-publish it. Prices are likely to rise even more, when I run out of
new copies.
When I last checked, new copies of Write In Style were selling for
between $75 and $278 on Amazon.com. Don't believe me? See
http://tinyurl.com/4hc2bxu. Used copies were selling for as much as
$108. Don't pay those prices! While they last, you can still buy this
book at the original cover price of $12.95 plus shipping, and I'll even
sign it for you. To order, to go
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml.
Write In Style: Using Your Word Processor and Other Techniques to
Improve Your Writing by Bobbie Christmas First Place winner of the
Royal Palm Award for education, Best in Division (Georgia Author of the
Year Awards), and Finalist in USABookNews Best Books 2005. Available at
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml.
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Free Book Reviewer
Bibliofreak.net
http://www.bibliofreak.net
Main reviewer: Matthew
bibliofreakblog@gmail.com
"I'm open to any genre, but read mostly literature. For those
interested in a review, please take a look at my site for a better
guide to the type of nonfiction titles I read.
"Generic-style messages always feel impersonal, particularly those who
have not bothered to look at my site in advance of making a request,
and I am disinclined to go the extra mile for these. I'm always happy
to find out about new books, but reading commitments mean I simply
can't review everyone's books. If I can't read yours, don't take it
personally. It's not a criticism of your work, it's a reflection of the
time I have available to me and the current areas I am developing on my
blog. Finally, I dislike bad grammar, in messages and in the book
submitted for review. I reject half the requests because sample
chapters are littered with painful errors."
Gives authors/publishers the option to have the post syndicated on
Amazon after they have read the review, depending on whether or not
they think it will be of benefit to the promotion of their book.
This listing comes from Christy Pinheiro of PassKey Publications. If
you want to purchase extended free reviewer listings, purchase The
Indie Book Reviewer Yellow Pages at
http://www.amazon.com/Indie-Reviewer-Yellow-Pages-ebook/dp/B004XTWYGC/.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free Tools for Writers from Bobbie Christmas and Zebra Communications
Order PDF reports on writing-related subjects, including correct
manuscript format, how to form and run a critique circle, how to
identify weak writing and repair it, self-publishing versus traditional
publishing, and much more. Go to
http://zebraeditor.com/free_reports.shtml. Newest report: Genre: A
Slippery Subject Essential to Fiction: Learn about genre fiction
categories and the benefits of complying with genre specifications.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keep up with Bobbie's activities on Twitter:
http:twitter.com/BookDoctor4u
Become Bobbie's friend on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/bobbie.christmas
New! Zebra Communications on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Zebra-Communications/133481530079088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kindle Users Can Now Borrow Books at Libraries
If you haven't bought a Kindle because of the fees associated with
acquiring books, now you can borrow books from the library for your
Kindle.
Kindle and Kindle app customers can borrow Kindle books from more than
11,000 libraries in the United States. To read more, see
http://tinyurl.com/8232brb.
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Five: Contests, Agents, and Markets
Creative Writers Notebook (CWN) Short Story Contest
Deadline: January 31, 2012
Fee: $10.00 per entry
1st Place - $200 / 2nd Place - $100 / 3rd Place $50
Send THREE copies of each entry and your check to:
The Creative Writers Notebook, Short Story Contest,
7043 SE 173rd Arlington Loop, Lady Lake, FL 32162
Length: up to 3000 words in any genre for adults/young adults (NO porn,
picture books, or poetry).
Format: Two cover pages (1st with name, address, phone, email, Title &
word count; 2nd with Title and word count only - each short story copy
sent must have one of these 2nd title sheets). Body of manuscript: 12
point Times Roman; Double-spaced; Title and page number at the top of
EACH page (NO NAME).
NOTE: If your contest entry is chosen to appear in Journeys III, CWN
will use only First North American Serial Rights to your story.
NOTE: You may enter more than one unpublished short story, but a $10.00
fee is required for each entry. If entries are submitted together one
check for all entry fees is sufficient, i.e., 3 entries = $30.00.
After judging is completed, a list of the winners will be on our
website, or you may email your request to mary.lois.sanders@att.net.
For complete Guidelines, e-mail: mary.lois.sanders@att.net.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
InkSpotter's Finding the Right Words
Flash Fiction Contest
All dollar figures are quoted in Canadian funds
Open Theme
1st Prize: $60 plus online publication
2nd Prize: $30 plus online publication
3rd Prize: $15 plus online publication
Genre: Fiction
Theme: Open
Length: 500 words or fewer
Deadline: December 31, 2011 (postmark)
Entry Fee: $2.00 per story (Paypal preferred)
You may also send your entry and payment by postal mail. (No signature
items please.) Money orders must be in Canadian funds and negotiable in
Canada. Checks may be drawn on any currency using current exchange
rates and must be made payable to Betty Dobson or InkSpotter
Publishing.
Betty Dobson
InkSpotter Publishing
163 Main Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3M 1B3
For more see http://www.inkspotter.com/contests.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BookStop Literary Agency is dedicated to promoting authors and
illustrators of children's and young adult books. We work with our
clients to guide them in their careers and act as their liaison with
publishers. We sell quality fiction, non-fiction and illustrations to
major children's book publishers in the US and abroad. For full
guidelines for submission, see
http://www.bookstopliterary.com/submission.html.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ginosko Literary Journal
Robert Paul Cesaretti, Editor
PO Box 246
Fairfax, CA 94978
USA
http://www.ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/
Ginosko means to perceive, understand, realize, come to know; knowledge
that has an inception, a progress, an attainment. The recognition of
truth by experience.
Ginosko Literary Journal, a semiannual ezine, is accepting short
fiction & poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, social justice
concerns, spiritual insights.
Also looking for books to post on website and links to exchange.
Editorial lead time 1-2 months; accepts simultaneous submissions &
reprints; length is flexible, accepts excerpts. Receives postal
submissions & e-mail and prefers e-mail submissions as attachments in
Microsoft Works Word Processor (.wps) or Rich Text Format (.rtf) or
Word (.doc).Copyright reverts to author.
Ginosko Short Fiction Contest: Deadline May 1, entry fee $12. Prize
$500.
Editorial critique service of short fiction - $.05 per word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Six: Got Muse?--Idiomatically Speaking
English embraces many colorful idioms and bits of slang that make
little sense when broken down into their actual elements. Below are a
few common sayings, along with their intended meanings:
Fly off the broom handle - get angry
Skeletons in the closet - things in the past that you prefer to hide
from others
Kick the bucket - die
Buy the farm - die
Crash - to go to sleep exhausted
Crash and burn - to fail miserably
Put your cards on the table - be upfront about your dealings with
others
Tip the scales - something that makes you lean more toward one decision
than another
Weigh in - give your opinion
My dogs are killing me - my feet hurt
Hold your tongue – do not speak
You can probably think of many more idioms and slang sayings. Pick one
from this list or think of another well-known one and write a story
using the words literally, showing how it changes the character. For
example, you may write a story about a woman who really does buy a farm
and how it changes her life. You may write about a plane crash and how
it changed a passenger's attitude about fears.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do YOU have news for The Writers Network News? Please send it in the
body copy, not an attachment, to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Deadline: The
15th of each month.
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