MORE BITS & PIECES FOR Writers/Authors #153

MORE REASONS TO KEEP WRITING - ANGEL TAVIRA, age 84, a one-handed violinist who dedicated his life to Mexican folk music and won a Cannes Film Festival award for his first movie at age 82.

DRAMATICS MAGAZINE – professional association for theater education. Also home of the International Thesbian Society. Seeks nonfiction, photos/artwork on acting, directing, playwriting, or technical theatre. Guidelines: http://www.edta.org/publications/writers_guidelines.aspx

USDA CONNECTION - publishes freelance-written features, health articles, personality profiles, how-to training articles, first-person accounts of life in the dressage world. All articles must focus on USDF programs or members or on dressage: nonfiction, photos/artwork, features, personality profiles, how-to and first-person accounts of the dressage world. Guidelines: http://www.usdf.org/connection/contributing-guidelines.asp

UU WORLD - Quarterly denominational mag of Unitarian Universal Association of Congregations seeks nonfiction, columns/depts, fillers, photos/artwork. Purpose is to help readers build their faith and act on it more effectively in their personal lives, their congregations and the world. Guidelines: http://www.uuworld.org/about/submissionsguidelines.shtml

WASHINGTON MONTHLY - covering politics, government, culture and media. Seeks nonfiction investigative and opinion-based feature articles 2000-5000/wds, occasional short news items and humorous sidebars 500-1000/wds), book reviews of recent political and cultural titles 800/wds. Guidelines: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/inside/writersguidelines.html

WEIRD TALES - Fantastic and weird fiction, poetry, nonfiction, fillers, stories. Founded in 1923, Weird Tales quickly became the chief source for many types of fantastic fiction over a substantial portion of the 20th C; it helped launch the careers of imaginative authors as wildly diverse as H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury and Tennessee Williams. The present incarnation has been published continuously since 1988; we are all about stuff that is weird. Truly extraordinary fiction you cannot find anywhere else. Guidelines: http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/contact/submission-guidelines

VERBATIM: THE LANGUAGE QUARTERLY - publishes original articles dealing with any aspect of language. Seeks nonfiction. Up to $500, depending on length, wit, and other merit. Guidelines: http://www.verbatimmag.com/writers.html

1st SAINTS & SINNERS SHORT FICTION CONTEST – Deadline: Jan 2, 2010. Entry fee $10 A Program of the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, Inc., in Collaboration w/NO/AIDS Task Force. Original, unpub’d short stories 5000-7000/wds on the broad theme of Saints and Sinners. Contest open to authors at all stages of their careers and to stories in all genres. One grand prize of $250 and two 2nd place $50. Top stories will be pub’d in an anthology from QueerMojo, an imprint of Rebel Satori Press. Guidelines: http://sasfest.org/first-annual-short-fiction-contest Entry Form: http://sasfest.net/wp-content/files/ficcon10.pdf

EDGAR AWARDS - Deadline: Nov. 30, 2009. All books, short stories, TV shows, films [and plays] in mystery, crime, suspense, intrigue fields are eligible if they were pub’d or produced for the first time in the U.S. during this 2009 calendar year. Books from non-U.S. publishers are eligible if they are widely distributed in the U.S., are readily available on the shelves in brick-and-mortar stores for the first time during the judging year. Works should be submitted by the publisher, author or agent. Prestigious award. Guidelines & entry forms: http://www.mysterywriters.org/?q=Edgars-Forms

CHARLOTTE NEWBERGER PRIZE FOR POETRY – Deadline: Dec. 21, 2009. Sponsored by Lilith Magazine. Edgy, exciting poems touching in any way on Jewish women's experience. Contest open to male and female authors, but entrants should familiarize themselves w/mag, geared toward Jewish women. Entries need to have both feminist and Jewish content. Submit 1 - 3 poems, 100 lines/max/each. $150. Guidelines: http://www.lilith.org/writers.htm

BOOKRIX TRAVEL SHORT STORIES CONTEST – Deadline: Nov. 30, 2009. Free registration. Short Stories, Nonfiction. It may deal w/a travel journey to a new place, time traveling, revisiting one's past, visiting a lost love or a new one, or an inner journey. 25 BookRix pages/max. Awards: $1000, $500, $300. ($1800 in cash prizes for authors & 10 Amazon Vouchers each worth $20 to win for readers.) Guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/ydgraho

SCRIBOPHILE NANOWRIMO CONTEST – Deadline: Dec. 7, 2009. No entry fee. Books
Submit the first chapter of your NaNoWriMo 50,000/wd. novel. $50 Amazon Gift Card, $25 Amazon Gift Card Guidelines:: http://www.scribophile.com/contests/nanowrimo-09

LITERARY CONTEST SCAMS –Writers should bookmark this link & check the list before entering any contest. http://windpub.com/literary.scams

START A NEIGHBORHOOD NEWSLETTER - Solicit advertising fees from local businesses. Do research on publishing fees. Profile a personality. Interview ordinary people in your neighborhood with extraordinary stories. After interviewing the person and collecting researched information, begin the article with a succinct hook capturing the person's attitude, explain who the person is, quantify his or her efforts. You can also sell the profile and photos to features editors of papers and mags. Write about the eco-friendly businesses. Sell different versions of the article to trade magazines, environmental magazines, the local paper and the business owner as part of his PR kit. Provide photos of people doing their work.