An Attempt to Be Helpful (hefty post)

EDIT: Adding another conference!

I'm going to indulge myself and preface this post by complaining. I'm having a bad, BAD spell of luck lately with my car. Yesterday, I had to run off the road to keep some jackhole from hitting me head-on. Scared the crap outta me, and made me wrench Hurt Wrist really badly.

This morning, fresh from a physical therapy session in which the therapist tells me to take it easy on the wrist for a few days, I get about 20 feet out of the parking lot when my car just DIES. Engine cuts off, power steering, brakes, etc. all go out. I had enough momentum to coast into a parking lot, where I then had to put the car in park and pull the emergency brake to actually come to a stop. Thankfully my father-in-law recently retired, so he was home and available to come to my rescue. We ended up having to call a tow-truck, and my car is now at the mechanic... F-I-L seems to think it could be a bad alternator. Who knows? All I can say is the car gods HATE me and Evan. We've had the worst luck with our cars the last year...

Anyway, I just got home about thirty minutes ago and am still trying to shake the chill of standing outside in 20-degree weather with 10mph wind sucking the life out of me.

Whining over now. (Woe is me.)

So for Christmas, Evan got me a subscription to The Writer magazine. I highly recommend it as a "trade" magazine for anyone interested in becoming a better writer, PLUS it has a classifieds/market section in each issue.

Some highlights from the March issue:

-Give your fiction focus (step by step advice)--7 steps to find and develop a theme which unifies all the elements of your tale.

-3 essentials for a successful screenplay

-6 ways to use character goals to draw in your readers


But what I'm going to write about today is this part: 59 U.S and Canadian markets, agents, and writing groups


Here is some advice from Ron Sandvik, the managing editor of the North American Review on submitting:
"Don't rely on blind simultaneous submissions," he says. "It's like setting up a machine gun during hunting season and hosing down the woods with lead. If your objective is to put a rabbit in your pot, then before hunting season begins, find our where the rabbits...dance and drink beer."

He advises writer to research a few publications a day and read them! Make a list of 20 publications you'd like to appear in, then craft a personal cover letter for each one.

"The first paragraph should cite a specific piece and pay it a sincere compliment," he notes. "You're engaging with the text and publication. To find that someone's read my work and engaged with it, and wow, paid me a sincere compliment--you couldn't get to my heart quicker."

That may not work for everyone, but still something to consider. Two websites he suggests visiting when making your lists are:

-http://www.duotrope.com
-http://www.newpages.com

I've just briefly looked at these sites, but they look amazing! I know I'll definitely be using them when I'm ready to start submitting.

Something else:

If you're like me, you vaguely know about associations for writers, but don't know about many other than SCBWI and RWA. The Writer includes a big ol' list of associations, so I thought I'd share! I might leave a couple out, just for the sake of typing all of this out, but I'll try to include the ones I think will have the widest appeal.

Associations 

• The Academy of American Poets ($35--2,500/year dues; www.poets.org)
• Association of Writers and Writing Programs (dues vary; www.awpwriter.org)
• The Authors Guild: largest organization of published writers in the US--must have published a book or have published 3 articles in general-circulation periodicals in the prior 18 months. ($90/first year, sliding scale subsequently; www.authorsguild.org/.net)
• Canadian Authors Association ($157.50/year; www.canauthors.org)
• Electronically Published Internet Connection, EPIC: for published and contracted e-book and print authors, organized to advocate for electronic publishing ($30/year; www.epicauthors.com) 
• International Women's Writing Guild ($45/year; www.iwwg.com)
• Mystery Writers of America ($95/year; www.mysterywriters.org)
• National Association of Women Writers, NAWW ($127/year; www.naww.org)
• The National League of American Pen Women, NLAPW (dues varied; www.americanpenwomen.org)
• Romance Writers of America, RWA (dues vary by geographic location; www.rwanational.org)
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, INC [SFWA]: open to any writer who has sold a work of sci-fi, fantasy, or horror to qualifying market. See website for details. ($60-100/year; www.sfwa.org)

So maybe you'll find something you like!

Not done yet!
Next: Writer Events!

Conferences:

-AWP Annual Conference and Bookfair: Denver, April 7-10. Details at www.awpwriter.org

-ASJA Writers Conference: New York, April 23-25. Details at www.asja.org

-Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference: Ridgecrest, N.C., May 16-20. details at: www.lifeway.com/christian writers

-Pennwriters Annual Conference: Lancaster, Penn. May 14-16. Keynote speakers James Rollins and Elizabeth Kahn! Details at www.pennwriters.org/.com

-Crossroads Writers Conference: Macon, Ga. Feb. 26-27. Registration $25 for students, $45 for non-students. Details at www.wix.com/rnrhsmacon/CROSSROADS
    --Thanks Lainey, for this information! I won't be able to go this year, but it sounds awesome, and I see that Judith Ortiz Cofer is going to be there! She's a creative writing professor at UGA, and I've had the opportunity of hearing her speak before--she's amazing!

Contests! 
I've seen a lot of contests in the blogosphere lately, so here are a couple outside of the nets:

-The Nimrod Literary Awards: submit an unpublished short story up to 7,500 words and 3-10 pages of poetry. Deadline: April 30. Entry fee: $20. Prizes: $2,000/ $1,000 and publication in each category. 
Contact: Nimrod Journal, Literary Contest (Fiction or Poetry), The University of Tulsa, 800 S. Tucker Dr., Tulsa, OK 74104. nimrod@utulsa.edu, www.utulsa.edu/nimrod 

-Wabash Prizes for Fiction: submit one story or a series of related short-shorts up to 10k words. Deadline: March 1. Entry fee: $15. Prizes: $1,000; publication in Sycamore Review. 
Contact: 2010 Wabash Prize for Fiction, Sycamore Review, Dept. of English, 500 Oval Drive, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907; sycamore@purdue.edu; www.sycamorereview.com 

-Writers-Editors Network Writing Competition: features contests in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children's literature. See www.writer-editors.com for details. 

-Glimmer Train: accepting short-story submissions now through end of month (March). See writing guidelines and make submissions online: www.glimmertrain.org. Payment for stories accepted for print publication. $700-2,000. 


Well, hope that wasn't too boring. 

Let me know if this was helpful, and if you'd be interested in posts like this every once in a while (I get the magazine every month.) And if any of you end up doing anything from these opportunities, let me know!!