Ready? Set? Write! The Pros and Cons of Writing Contests

I was thinking of entering a few writing contests.  Maybe win a little cash, gain some exposure and validity.  I found that there are lots of contests out there and what I also found out is that there are people who warn you to be careful what you enter, not all of them are legitimate.  There is a camp that says that they are a waste of time, gain you little in the way of cash or notoriety, and mean nothing on your resume. There is another camp that says contests are ways to experiment, earn some feedback and validation, and that discounting them is like ignoring whole genres of writing.

I haven’t jumped firmly into either camp but I have to say that if you find the right contest that does promise feedback for nothing more than an entry fee that it would be worth pursuing.  I have included a couple of sites that have fairly extensive lists of contests that seem to be legitimate on the surface with the caveat that you pay attention to the fine print.

FreelanceWriting.com offeres a long list of contests for poetry, short fiction, books, non-fiction, chapbooks, etc. Here is an example of the sorts of contests that can be found on the list:

Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize
An annual contest for short fiction. Submit one original, unpublished story under 10,000 words. One first place winner receives $1000 and publication.

DEADLINE: 06-30-2012
PRIZES: $1,000.00 and publication
ENTRY FEE: $20.00

NewPages.com offers a similar list also for poetry, short fiction, books, non-fiction, chapbooks, etc. Here is an example of the sorts of contests that can be found on the list:

Nilsen Prize for a First Novel
Winner receives $1,000, publication, distribution. Authors must not have previously published a full-length fiction book. Postmark by November 1, 2012; $25 fee. Southeast Missouri State University Press, MS 2650 One University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701. Click here for full guidelines.

DEADLINE: 11-01-2012
PRIZES: $1,000.00 and publication
ENTRY FEE: $25.00

Poets and Writers has a reputable looking list of contests, grants and awards for poetry, short fiction, books, non-fiction, chapbooks, etc. Here is an example of the sorts of contests that can be found on the list:

Salamander Fiction Prize
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Salamander is given annually for a short story. Carolyn Cooke will judge. Submit a story of up to 35 pages with a $15 entry fee by June 15.

DEADLINE: 06-15-2012
PRIZES: $1,500.00 and publication
ENTRY FEE: $15.00

Funds for Writers offers a reputable list free of scams and cons. They go on to say: “Writing contests provide steps up for a writer – especially a struggling writer. A portfolio with a few writing contest wins or honorable mentions means more than many clips. Can’t afford the entry fees? Consider entering one a quarter or something more amiable to your pocketbook. Contests provide prizes, prestige and usually publication with many offering book contracts. Denouncing contests from your writing repertoire is like discounting an entire genre or refusing to eat yellow vegetables. You’re giving up something valuable.”

Here is an example of what is on their site:

Jeremy Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing
The Jeremy Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing 2013 will be awarded at the festival to the best short story on the theme of food and drink. Mogford Food and drink has to be at the heart of the tale. The story could, for instance, be fiction or fact about a chance meeting over a drink, a life-changing conversation over dinner, or a relationship explored through food or drink. It could be crime or intrigue; in fact, any subject you like as long as it involves food and/or drink in some way. The story should be up to 2500 words and must be written in English. Deadline October 1, 2012. The winning entry will be announced at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival in March 2013. The winner will receive £7,500.

DEADLINE: 10-01-2012
PRIZES: £7,500
ENTRY FEE: None listed

Not to scare you off of entering contests, but before you jump in you might want to click here and read a post published on the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America Blog about the legitimacy writing contests, which has some very good information. The article looks at contest and award fakes, if it’s worth entering, assessing contests and awards, and provides other helpful links.

Along those same lines is another post that you can read by clicking here from WritersBeware.com. Victoria Strauss writes, “I’m not a big fan of writing contests. Partly this is because so many contests are a waste of time, with minimal prizes, negligible prestige, and zero cachet on your writing resume. Why not spend your energy on something that can get you closer to building a readership–submitting for publication, or publishing on your own if that’s what you want to do?” She goes on to point out some of the pitfalls of some of the less than reputable contests.

On the other side of the coin is a guest post on the Blood-red Pencil blog by Dr. John Yeoman who endorses writing contests and holds a highly legitimate one himself called the Writers Village Contest. Dr. Yeoman says, “Just for fun I decided to run a contest where every entrant was awarded marks out of 45, across six publishing criteria, and given a brief practical critique on how their story might be improved. That’s how students are treated on MA (MFA) programs. Why not contestants?” He also provides tips in this article that will increase your chances of winning the contest.

Writers Village Contest
The summer round of the 2012 contest follows the great success of the previous seven Writers’ Village ‘Best Writing’ competitions, entered by writers from all over the world. Entries will be judged by Dr John Yeoman, MA Oxon, MA (Res), MPhil, PhD Creative Writing, winner of the Nemesis Award 2011, a university tutor in creative writing, and for forty years a successful commercial writer and publisher. The new contest deadline is midnight 30th June 2012.

DEADLINE: 06-30-2012
PRIZES: First Prize £400 ($660); Second Prize £100 ($160); Third Prize £50 ($80)
ENTRY FEE: £10 (approx $16)

I hope you find something here and that my dire warnings of scams has not put you off.  I think that I will try my hand at one or two and I will let you know how it goes.

Happy contest hunting!

photo: Thinkstock

What’s on Your Plate?

Let me say right up front that I am passionate about food (as well as writing) and so every so often I publish a post about food (satisfying both passions!). Fellow blogger/foodie Andrew Zahn (author of the Creatives blog) posted a piece the other day about the joys of breakfast—waffles in particular—and how people who don’t partake of the morning meal scare him. I commented in reply that I (gasp) skip breakfast on the weekdays.  But I offered that with a caveat.

I actually love breakfast.  I love everything about it, cooking it, eating it, and sharing it. But weekdays I rise at 5 AM and stagger through the dark to the shower.  Once I am clean, shaved and dressed I descend to the kitchen to either feed the cat or clean up after her.  I have taken to turning on the hall light every morning before taking a single step towards the kitchen (I have soaked my share of stocking feet in ocher pools of cat vomit, and believe me that is an instant appetite suppressant). I make my son’s lunch, get the newspaper from the driveway, put the trash and recycling out on the curb (when I remember), gulp down a shot of OJ and brush my teeth all before racing out the door just five minutes shy of 6 AM in order to catch the 6:12 bus.

I’m sorry, but a bowl of cold cereal is not considered breakfast in my book.  Breakfast is bacon—with that unmistakable and irresistible house-filling aroma—cooked low and slow in an iron skillet to the perfect degree of crispness.  Day old bread soaked in a batter of eggs, vanilla and cinnamon, then pan fried to a firm golden tan on the outside and custard soft on the inside to be doused in hot syrup (yes the syrup has to be heated) that marbles with melting butter.

Breakfast is eggs. Eggs in every shape and description.  Rich, creamy scrambled eggs (the secret of which is an extra yolk or two, cream instead of milk, and finishing them off over low or no heat that last 30 seconds or so in the pan), eggs fried in butter and served sunny side up, eggs poached and smothered in hollandaise sauce, or soft boiled, shirred, or coddled eggs. The variations are nearly endless.  Let’s not forget savory yet delicate omelets stuffed with anything in the fridge like ham, leftover chicken, marinated artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, sauteed onions and mushrooms, goat cheese or grated pepper jack, and bacon of course.

There are also waffles, pancakes, cinnamon buns, monkey bread, toasted bagels with a thick smear of cream cheese and jam, or casseroles filled with sausage, bread, eggs  and cheese. There are hash browns and corned beef hash. (I once had venison hash that clings in my memory banks as one of my top most memorable meals. It was served at the Salish Lodge, a massive hotel perched atop Snoqualmie Falls—the one that played the part of the Great Northern Hotel for all of you Twin Peaks fans). But I digress…

And please don’t rush me through breakfast.  I want to linger over and savor my food while I peruse the paper.  I want a pot of coffee (or maybe two) and seconds of French toast and one waffle is never enough. Breakfast is more than a meal it is a languid state of being meant to be leisurely enjoyed.

Breakfast should also be shared. Any meal alone can be depressing but breakfast alone is a crime. I want to be sitting across the table from my delightful wife, both of us in our bathrobes and crowned with clouds of disheveled bed hair watching the birds on the feeder and slipping our cat small bits of bacon (hoping that she doesn’t bring it back up later).  Between 5 and 6 AM on weekdays the house is cold, quiet and the family still in bed.  I rarely have time for even an English muffin on the run. So yes I do skip breakfast because if it can’t be properly done, I’m not all that interested.

What I do have time for every morning is a diet of writing.  Writing is also a passion, but it is a solitary one. It can be done virtually anywhere.  A laptop is great but if I have a pen and paper I can write about anything (even breakfast). It can be done in short bursts or over extended periods. And so that is what is on my plate most mornings as I rattle to work on the bus and subway. But on weekend mornings I trade one passion for another.  I put my writing down and pick up the skillet.  Can you smell the bacon yet?

Versatile Blogger Award

I just found out that I was presented with the Versatile Blogger Award by Donna B. Nichol author of My Write Spot, which is her writer’s blog. Be sure to stop by and check her out. She is a talented writer. A hearty thanks goes out to Donna for bestowing the honor on me, I look forward to passing it on.

The rules are very simple. Thank the the one that presented you with the award, then share 7 things about yourself, and finally pass the award along to 15 bloggers you love to read.

So here goes nothing.  First the seven things about me:

1. I started losing my hair at age 18.  I have managed to hold onto some of it but I am the possessor of a VERY high forehead.

2. I am proud to admit that I am a member of the 49%.  That has nothing to do with my level of income. It refers to the fact that I am a part of the married minority.  I will celebrate 32 years of marriage to my first and only wife this fall.

3. I’m a sucker for anything that has peanut butter or bacon in it. If it has both, that’s pure heaven.

4. Gin and Tonic (with a squeeze of lime) in the spring and summer, Bourbon and Ginger Ale (with a squeeze of lemon) in the fall and winter. Or red wine year round. I’m not picky.

5. I have never owned the same make of car twice (Fiat, Volvo, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Mercedes, Mini Cooper).  What should I get next?

6. All three homes/condo that I have owned since getting married have been within a 3 mile radius of each other.

7. I have never been able to think up more than 6 things about myself.  Oops make that seven…

Okay the hard stuff is out of the way now for the the fun part.  Below are 15 bloggers that I read and admire. There is nothing that says I can’t pick them if they already have received the award. I mean you wouldn’t complain about getting more than one Oscar, right? Any way here it goes in no particular order:

1. Andrew Zahn of Creatives

2. Chris Galford of the Walking Den

3. Rebecca Berto of Novel Girl

4. TheOthers1 of Discovery

5. Joel Friedlander of the Book Designer

6. Jennifer M Eaton

7. Jordan McCollum

8. Carolyn Barranca of My Next Life

9. Akshay Dhar of Anansi’s Web

10. The team at the Blood-Red Pencil

11. Lucy Merrill at Word Crank

12. Sandra Crook at castelsarrasin

13. Ashleigh Furcron at Red Barns and Starfish

14. Lillie McFerrin at Lillie McFerrin Writes

15. Steve Meitz (aka Bus Rider) at no fixed addresss (he’s not a blogger but he should be)

Five Sentence Fiction. This Week’s Word is Foggy

Tuesday is when I tackle some Five Sentence Fiction. Feel free to take Lillie McFerrin’s challenge to write a five sentence story based on a single word prompt. The word does not have to appear in your five sentences, just used for direction. This week’s word is Foggy. 

Sorry, but this is another dark one.  I keep trying to lighten things up but this is where the inspiration takes me…

Derek jammed both feet on the brake pedal jarring the word, “SHIT” loose from the back of his throat, freeing it to bounce around the car before it was sucked out the open window. He hadn’t seen the figure standing in the middle of the woodland road until it was almost too late. The stranger’s back was towards the car and he had never even flinched or turned around, he just stood there looking at the lump at his feet as the dense fog swirled languidly about him.

“Are you a fucking maniac,” Derek yelled, realizing belatedly just how accurate that description probably was, when the figure suddenly turned and melted soundlessly into the thick, primeval woods leaving him to deal with the lump in the road.

Derek was still staring down at the abandoned, crumpled body and crimson rivulets that gravity pulled downhill towards his feet, when there was a screech behind him followed by the shout of, “are you a fucking maniac,” which is when he suddenly turned and melted soundlessly into the thick, primeval woods.

[Cue the Twilight Zone theme song. Do-do do-do do-do do-do...]

Got five sentences in you? Go ahead and share them!

Brand X

Anyone who has written a series of books might be familiar with the term “Branding.” Certainly you are aware of the Hunger Games trilogy. If you take a look at all three covers of that trilogy you will notice a distinct similarity between them. Let’s suppose that you liked the first book and wanted to purchase the second volume. For the life of you, you can’t remember the title of the new book or the author’s name (which isn’t a very good sign, actually), but when you walk into the book store you find books with a familiar looking cover stacked on a table just inside the door. “Ah-HA! That’s the book I wanted to get.”

That particular consistency of book design is an effort to brand the author and their work. It makes all the sense in the world to have a similar design for a series of books, but branding the work of authors has been going on for a long time. Hit the stacks at your local book store and you will see what I mean.  Pick out a favorite author of yours who has a large back catalog of books that have been published and are likely on a second or third printing. Now pull out all of his or her titles that are there on the shelf.  Works by one author that are unrelated and not intended to be read as a series will likely have a similar look and feel, nonetheless.  This is branding at work.

As a publisher reprints an author’s catalog they will often have all the covers redesigned at the same time.  When you grab a Coke off of a grocery store shelf, you know exactly what is inside the distinctive red, white and silver can without even reading the label. The same concept is at work in your book store.

For the purpose of illustrating what I am talking about in this post, I designed a series of mock covers for five Charles Dickens titles.  Most of these books are recognizable and the plot lines are familiar. I chose Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Little Dorrit, The Old Curiosity Shop, and Great Expectations

Each title is a stand-alone, independent novel all unrelated to the others, but the designs are all unifying. The first thing that you might notice is a consistent color pallet.  I chose a muted, dingey scheme that fit with the dark themes and settings of the stories. The other aspect that doesn’t change from cover to cover is the use of typeface.  The cover illustrations have the same look and feel of a bold, loose graphic interpretation of a main story line within each novel. Oliver holding his bowl out for more, a snow covered head stone (indicating Scrooge’s wish to “sponge away the writing on this stone”), the debtor prison door, a shop sign, a heart broken long ago.  If you had recently read Oliver Twist and then went back to the store, you might pick up Little Dorrit, a book you are unfamiliar with because of the same look as a book you previously enjoyed.  You would also know without reading the blurb that the story has something to do with a prison (as mentioned a debtor’s prison figures prominently in this tale).

These are not the only ways to brand an authors work.  Consistent use of photography instead of illustration can be used effectively in branding your books.  You also don’t have to use a similar color pallet if you don’t want to (they didn’t in the case of the Hunger Games books).  But however you approach the design of your books, consistency is the key to branding. And don’t wait until you are in your second or subsequent printing to take advantage of branding your work.  If you or a designer you are working with can come up with an effective and attention grabbing style, stick with it. An e-book author has the luxury of changing a book cover at any time with little effort. You could begin brnading your work right now. A good design plan from the beginning can earn you return readers later on down the road.

If you would like to see other examples of effective book cover design and the strength in branding you can visit Faceout Books, a blog devoted to book cover design.

A Little Song and Dance

You are writing a scene where your main character has invited a woman back to his place.  He pours two fingers of an expensive single malt scotch into two glasses—no ice but he adds the slightest splash of water to allow the spirit to bloom. He owns a vast vinyl collection comprised mostly of jazz but instead he pulls out a classic rock album from his early youth because they had been talking about real music earlier in the evening.  He blows dust from its surface, places the grooved disc on the turntable and carefully drops the needle on the edge.  “This might be a bit before your time,” he tells her trying to earn points by implying that he thinks she is younger than he is. The preamble of scratches and clicks plays out briefly before the opening bang of drums and fuzzy guitars issue forth. He falls back onto the couch next to her pulling her close with one arm. “These guys were genius. You familiar with Cream?”  He ignores his scotch in the prospect of sampling something more intoxicating and lightly traces a finger along the inside seam of her very tight jeans with his free hand. She turns towards him, resting her hand on his chest with a touch of experience sliding it slowly south. “Did you say, ‘Cream’” she asks breathlessly in his ear. The tangle of near-falsetto vocals tumble out of the speakers…

Screeeech—Whoa! Whoa! Hold it right there!

Sorry, I don’t mean to be pulling a shade down on a romp on the couch, I’m all right with a little horizontal mambo if there’s reason for it, and maybe that’s a discussion for another post but I had a sense that we were going to be exposed to a healthy dose of song lyrics.

Including actual lyrics from a published piece of music can be a head ache that you might want to avoid.  Simply giving credit to the songwriter or performer is no where near sufficient.  You are opening yourself up to litigation (and the music industry is indeed litigious) if you don’t take the proper steps to obtain official permission to use even one or two lines from a copyrighted recording.

The hardest part of acquiring permission is figuring out just who you need to contact. Quite often it isn’t just one owner that you will need to get in touch with and you will need to get permission from all owners. The best place to start to find the contact information of a music publisher is by going through www.ascap.com, www.bmi.com or www.sesac.com. Songwriters can only belong to one of these organizations so if you can’t find the information for a particular song in one place try the other two. Many CDs list the appropriate organization that each song has been registered to.

My understanding is that song titles and band names are fair game just like the use of names of famous individuals, product brand names, landmarks, and company or corporation names in fiction or nonfiction.  You can even hint at the content of a song by paraphrasing the lyrics. For example it would be acceptable to say something like “The Beatles were singing about the barbers and firemen of ‘Penny Lane’” without securing permission from Paul McCartney and anyone else who owns the rights to that song.

It is not uncommon for a rights holder to ask for a hefty fee in return for permission to use more popular copyrighted material in your written work. I avoid all of that by steering clear of quoting copyrighted lyrics and other material that requires permission.  Another approach that I have taken has been to invent bands and songs and write my own original lyrics as part of a story.

If you are working with a traditional publisher, you need to work closely with them and their legal department to secure the proper permissions. If you are self-published, you need to be all the more diligent in making sure you follow all the rules, convoluted as they might be. As they say: ignorance of the law is no defense. Ultimately, you, as the author of a work will be the one who will pay if you don’t go through the proper channels. Do your homework and once you have all the facts, you can decide just how integral a snippet of a song lyrics is to your book.

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Please take a moment to fill out my poll on the right if you haven’t already done so.

illustration by Andy Black

Five Sentence Fiction — Sombrero

It’s Five Sentence Fiction time! Feel free to take Lillie McFerrin’s challenge. Write a five sentence story based on the prompt word. The word does not have to appear in your five sentences, just use it for direction. This week’s word is Sombrero.

It was another hot and dusty day drawing moisture from every blistered pore, leaving his  eyes and even the inside of his mouth dry and desiccated. The sun, which was unbearable yesterday and even more punishing this morning, bleached the featureless landscape to a uniform yellow-white. Earlier the distant horizon wavered as if melting from the heat, but it was the huge anvil cloud that currently had his full attention spreading out flat across its bottom while the center poked up towards the heavens like a massive sombrero. As he watched, a branching bolt of lightening scratched at the dessert floor beneath the distant thunderhead and a cruel rain began to fall. It was much too far away to bring him any relief in the form of shade or precipitation making it clear to him that he would soon be a dead man.

Got five sentences in you? Go ahead and share them!