VOLUME 24, ISSUE 38 | SEPTEMBER 13, 2024 |
AI AND
NANOWRIMO This week we learned that NaNoWriMo, coming up in November, is pro AI. The reason is that their main sponsor is ProWritingAid, an entity also pro AI. When queried about AI, NaNoWriMo organizers wrote that it “does not explicitly support any specific approach to writing, nor does it explicitly condemn any approach, including the use of AI.” https://www.404media.co/nanowrimo-ai-policy-classist-ableist/ They went on to say: “We also want to be clear in our belief that the categorical condemnation of Artificial
Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones, and that questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege.” Then on September 11, on its own website they tried to walk this back after the writing community whiplashed in anger with thousands walking away from participating in NaNoWriMo. By then one of their board members, Daniel José Older, a lead story architect for Star Wars: The High Republic and author of multiple series including Outlaw Saints, had furiously resigned. Several sponsors such as Freewrite, Ninja Writers, and Ellipsus, removed their sponsorships. My stance is that they showed their true colors at the beginning, calling those who believed in pure writing with AI assistance elitists and classists. They walked it back because of the financial and brand damage. Take the stand you wish. I won't ask what it is. But FundsforWriters is not endorsing
NaNoWriMo. |
You’ve put your best words forward, but now you’re stuck. You sense your draft needs improvement, but you’re not sure what to do — or how. You wish you could “just get an expert to take a look at this” for you. You want a second set of eyes — seasoned eyes that catch what you might have missed. Whether it's a narrative that needs tightening, phrasing that’s almost — but not quite — there, a way to pack a punch with your ending, or just that assurance that your words land as you
intend, you deserve feedback that honors your work. This isn’t about handing your writing off to just anyone. This is about getting expert guidance from someone with 30 years of experience editing, writing, and crafting words into their best selves. Equipped with your bespoke audit and
recommendations, you’ll be ready to edit with confidence and clear direction. Enter The A+ Audit Giveaway today for your chance to win a FREE, no-obligation audit. ($249 value!) LOOK FORWARD INSTEAD OF BEHIND
When we feel things aren't fair, when we feel someone got a step up that we deserved, when we feel we write better than someone else yet they got published, we stand at a crossroad. At that point, we have a
decision to make. To feel we should get what someone else got, or to feel someone else wasn't as deserving, we tend to grip hold of a feeling we call entitlement. At that point, we can decide to move on, direct our energies into progressing, or we can wallow in a sense of unfairness. That feeling of life being unfair can gravitate into bitterness, then a desire to bash those who managed to achieve
what we wanted and didn't. Then we start hunting for reasons to lash out, we fuss to social media, and we channel ourselves into thinking we were short-changed. We wind up disliking others for their success. All that energy is wasted and stolen from being productive, from finding opportunities, from
improving ourselves so that we, too, can be productive. Avoid the spiral of feeling negative. Applaud those who do well, study them, and work to improve. When we fuss and argue about feeling robbed, we're only hurting ourselves. Just keep trying. Everyone succeeds at a different speed . . . assuming we
keep looking forward instead of grumping about what's happened in the past.
Deadline: October 1 $5,000 Fiction | $5,000 Nonfiction | $5,000 Poetry Winners receive a cash prize, publication in the Spring 2025 issue of the Missouri Review, and promotion across our social media channels. Guidelines - Submit one piece of fiction or nonfiction up to 8,500 words or any number of poems between 6 to 12 pages. Please double-space fiction and nonfiction entries.
- Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions are welcome, but you must pay a separate fee for each entry and withdraw the piece immediately if accepted elsewhere.
- Entries must be previously unpublished.
- Standard
Entry fee: $25. Each entrant receives a one-year subscription to the Missouri Review in digital format (normal price $24) and a digital
copy of the latest title in our imprint, Missouri Review Books, a short story anthology by former contributors (normal price $7.95).
- "All Access" Entry fee: $30. In addition to the one-year digital subscription to the Missouri Review and TMR Books e-book, Life Support: Stories of Health & Medicine, entry fee grants access to the last 10 years of digital issues and the audio recordings of each digital issue.
-September 29, 2024 - Newberry Opera House - "Artists 5" - 2PM (tickets required - music, art, wine, and sample plates to match the readings of three authors, to include C. Hope Clark) -October 10, 2024 - Edisto Bookstore, Edisto Island, SC - 3-5 PM -October 28, 2024 - St. Andrews Church Women's Club, 6952 St. Andrews Road
Columbia, South Carolina 29212 - 2PM
(tentative) -October 30, 2024 - South Carolina Library Association's Annual Conference, Columbia Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St, Columbia, SC 29201 - 2 PM -November 12 -https://missourireview.com/contests/jeffrey-e-smith-editors-prize/ Bennettsville Book Club,
Bennettsville Library, SC - 4PM -November 22 - Newberry Library - Newberry, SC - 3 PM -November 23, 2024 - Irmo Chapin Holiday Market, Chapin, SC - 8AM - 2PM -May 17, 2025 - Pelion Library Book Club, 206 Pine St, Pelion, SC, Saturday, 1-2PM
Email: hope@chopeclark.com to schedule events, online or otherwise.
"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." —Confucius
Hope, I have dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, an anxiety disorder, PTSD and a form of mutism. As a result, many things are difficult for me in my 72-plus years. Despite all that, I now have published a local history book (plus many history articles), a science fiction
novel, a book on fasting, a collection of short stories (with a second in process), nine collections of poetry, dozens of stories for children, hundreds of individual poems, and I'm nearly finished with a 90,000 word memoir of childhood, but that's just background. I want to share more recent news. I read Funds for Writers avidly. I use as much information from it as possible, but the most benefit I
think is the courage to keep going. This last has paid off in a new way. I was recently informed by an online publisher that my short story, 'Missing Mother,' has now been nominated for Best of the Net 2025. None of my work has ever been nominated by anyone for anything. I wrote the story out of desperation before my mother died. I felt it was a powerful and important story. This editor
agreed. https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2024/08/25/masticadoresusas-best-of-the-net-nominations-2025/ I knew I had written the story some time
back and sent the story out several times since then, but that all blurs together. Because of the nomination, I decided to look at those details. I try to keep a Submission Log, in itself a challenge which I sometimes fail. When I looked up that story, I discovered I had first sent it out in 2014. In the decade since, I've sent it out at least forty-nine times before this last time. I've tweeked it a few times during that journey, but the story is the same. Now, my faith in this story has paid
off. The courage I've gotten from FFW has kept me going and this nomination is now the result. Thank you, Hope. Most, sincerely,
Duane L Herrmann
<<If you have a success story you
believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to hope@chopeclark.com >>
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Saving Your Writing Can Pay Off
By Gary Sprague I was in my forties when I started a new career in writing, and it took me a little while to realize the importance of saving everything. My first published piece was a 900-word essay for a publication called the Dana Literary Society. I proudly saved
the link but deleted the essay from my documents. I already had the link to the published essay, right? No need to keep the original file. A year or so later, I discovered that the publication and website no longer existed. My link was useless. That's when I decided to save all my writing, published and unpublished. I started by printing a copy of everything I wrote and placing it in a desk drawer. When I began having success in several areas, including
short stories, plumbing and home repair articles, and essays for parenting publications, it became clear that I either needed to make a change or get a bigger drawer. I decided to give my printer a break and enter the twenty-first century. Everything is now organized in files on my computer and backed up on flash drives. I use Microsoft Word for most of my writing and have OneDrive turned on to back everything up to the cloud. This makes saving my work
very easy and allows me to access documents from my phone or other devices. Even so, I like to have a physical backup. Hence the flash drives. There are several choices when it comes to saving your work. My wife is pursuing her master's degree and once mistakenly deleted a paper she had worked on for weeks. Fortunately, she was able to recover the document, but the following day she purchased an external hard drive and now uses it to back up everything.
My son, who recently graduated from high school and has already done a good deal of creating writing, uses Google Docs, which automatically saves to Google Drive. A benefit of this platform, particularly for writers, is that you can share your documents with others and see their comments or edits in real time. It's nice to see all the wonderful writing you've done over the years, but the primary reason to back things up is because your saved writing –
both published and unpublished – can earn you money in the future. This has happened to me several times. With a few important changes, I transformed an essay published in Mamalode (and saved on both OneDrive and a flash drive) into a story for Chicken Soup for the Soul. Sometimes a piece that is
rejected by one or more publications is a perfect fit for another. An essay about taking away my oldest son's driver's license was rejected by a publication where I'd previously had a lot of success. I saved the essay, and it eventually found a home at Your Teen. A short
story that I had long ago given up on because I couldn't come up with a good ending was revived and published in The Last Line, where they give you the last line and you write a story to fit it. The list goes on and on, and none of these pieces would have been published if I had deleted my
work. With all the different ways to save your work nowadays, you shouldn't have to worry about deleting something, mistakenly or otherwise. Be proactive and back up your work, either to a physical device like a portable hard drive or digitally to the cloud. Someday you'll be glad you did. BIO: Gary Sprague lives with his family in Maine. His nonfiction has appeared in many publications, including Chicken Soup for the Soul and Writers
Weekly, and his short fiction has appeared in over twenty literary publications. He is the author of several novels, including the Joe Walker series, which can be found at his Amazon Author Page. You can connect with him on Facebook and Instagram.
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"Happy Anniversary, My WRITEDAY Subscription Box" MyWRITEDAY Subscription Box for writers is celebrating one year in September with a
treasure trove of writerly goodies sure to inspire your writing journey. For $59.00, My WRITEDAY is a bi-monthly subscription box containing curated products from authors, creators, and small businesses to writers and readers in the U.S. It's unique in that many products are sourced from writers who are also crafters and artisans. I love my WriteDay boxes; each one has been a fun surprise and has given me a lift when I most needed it! ~Gerry W. Each box delivers a writing craft book and 3-7 items associated with
the key concepts (journaling, fitness, relaxation, nutrition, and creative play) of Writer Wellness, my flagship program. Click here to subscribe! VIVIAN SHIPLEY POETRY AWARD
https://ctpoetry.net/the-vivian-shipley-award.html
https://ctpoetry.net/contests.html
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 30, 2024. Award of $1,000 to the winner along with $100 and $50 to the second and third place winners. The three poems will be published in Connecticut River Review and receive a two-year membership. Submit up to three poems in a single file. Do not have to be a resident of
Connecticut. JUNIPER LITERARY PRIZES
https://www.umasspress.com/juniper-prizes/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 30, 2024. Every year, faculty-judges from the distinguished University of Massachusetts MFA
program select two winners in poetry, two in fiction, and one in creative nonfiction, and the awardees each receive an honorarium of $1,000 and a publication contract with the University of Massachusetts Press. The competition is open to all writers in English, whether or not they are U.S. residents. DZANC PRIZE FOR FICTION
https://www.dzancbooks.org/contests
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 30, 2024. A $5,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books will be awarded to the winner. Submit a previously unpublished novel-length manuscripts (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). Genre fiction (sci-fi, mystery, romance, etc.), children's books, and YA are not
qualified. DZANC SHORT STORY COLLECTION PRIZE
https://www.dzancbooks.org/contests
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 30, 2024. The winning submission will be awarded a $2,500 advance and publication by Dzanc Books.
Submit a previously unpublished manuscripts (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). Genre fiction (sci-fi, mystery, romance, etc.), children's books, and YA are not qualified. DZANC POETRY COLLECTION PRIZE
https://www.dzancbooks.org/contests
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 30, 2024. The winning submission will be awarded a $1,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books. Submit previously unpublished collections, generally over 60 pages, but there is no hard minimum. Genre fiction (sci-fi, mystery, romance, etc.), children's books, and YA are not qualified. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the type of
work we publish by browsing through our recently released titles. Previously released and/or self-published titles not allowed.
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING OPPENHEIM-JOHN DOWNES MEMORIAL TRUST
http://www.oppenheimdownestrust.org/index.html
Deadline October 2, 2024. The Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust provides small scale grants to
British artists, designers, writers and performers over the age of 30 who are experiencing financial difficulties in the pursuit of their careers. Awards are made in December each year, and typically range from £250 - £1,000. INDIANA LINE BREAK WRITERS RETREAT
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/line-break-a-bookmark-indy-writers-series-tickets-921483922217
FREE. The 2024 Line Break Writers Retreat, supported by Indiana Humanities, is a two-day writing retreat open to local poets and writers. The series will take place Sat., Sept. 21 - Sunday, Sept. 22 at Draft Creative Space (1525
Prospect St, Indianapolis, IN 46203). Writers who attend will grow together as artists, learning more about the creative and practical process of creating meaningful work and sustaining oneself as a professional writer. Participants will take part in workshops led by accomplished local poets, will work on developing their own new works, and will conclude their retreat by sharing their works in a celebration open to family and friends. CREATIVE, INSPIRED, HAPPY SCHOLARSHIPS
https://www.creativeinspiredhappy.com/p/writing-scholarships
The CREATIVE. INSPIRED. HAPPY Mid-Career Writing Scholarship is a $1,000 award for an aspiring writer not currently in a professional writing career, for use toward
furthering their education through writing classes, continuing education, etc. FINANCIAL AID AND FELLOWSHIPS MASS MOCA
https://www.assetsforartists.org/financial-aid
Artists seeking financial support from the Studios to
attend the residency must apply during one of our “general” application periods (Apr. 8 – Jun. 8 and Sept. 8 – Nov. 8). Awards are typically made about 4 to 9 months before the dates of the session being awarded. We offer many full-ride fellowships (no residency fee charged to the artist), often in specific donor-identified categories, but there are always multiple general fellowships available. As an equity commitment, we give priority for fellowships to first-time attendees with demonstrated
financial need, and we appreciate when selected artists with financial capacity are able to pay a portion of the cost of the residency, allowing us to reserve crucial fellowship funds for those with the greatest need. And please note that the already subsidized, full artist residency fee is $650 per week (compared to $900+ per week of actual costs), but every selected artist who indicates financial need will receive further discounts (partial financial aid) even if a full fellowship is not
available; we aim for no one to be deterred from attending due to a financial burden. Location North Adama, Massachusetts.
FACTOR FOUR MAGAZINE
https://factorfourmag.com/submissionsinfo/
We publish flash fiction in the genres of speculative fiction, specifically science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, super
hero, or any combination of these. We accept stories up to 1,000 words. Fiction is paid at a rate of eleven (11) U.S. cents per word. SMOKELONG QUARTERLY
https://smokelong.submittable.com/Submit
SmokeLong publishes flash
narratives-fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid (somewhere between fiction and non-fiction)-up to 1000 words. We do not consider poetry. We now pay $100/story or $150/story with audio, upon publication in the quarterly issue. SMALL WONDERS
https://smallwondersmag.com/submissions/
We accept flash fiction of 1,000 words or fewer. We’re a little more lenient on word count for reprints than originals: our limit there is 1,100 words. We’re looking for speculative fiction with elements not of this world: fantasy, science fiction, horror. Our very favorite stories are those that don’t rely on a twist or gotcha ending. We love stories with big feelings, and don’t
necessarily mind set pieces with very little plot. Original flash fiction: $0.10/word. Reprint flash fiction: $0.01/word or $10, whichever is more. EPIC MAGAZINE
https://epicmagazine.com/
Epic publishes extraordinary true stories that get
noticed. More than 50 of our articles have been optioned by Hollywood, including Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the 2023 Sundance winner Radical. Around 5,000 words, but see the website. Pays up to $1-2/word.
GASPEREAU PRESS
http://www.gaspereau.com/submit.php
The books Gaspereau Press selects are primarily literary titles aimed at a Canadian readership. Projects that might interest us: Novels,
short-story collections, poetry, literary essays and creative non-fiction, history, and biographies and memoirs with a literary sensibility. The titles we publish tend to be aimed at a national audience. TWO DOLLAR RADIO
https://twodollarradio.com/pages/about-us
Two Dollar Radio is a family-run outfit founded in 2005 with the mission to reaffirm the cultural and artistic spirit of the publishing industry. We aim to do this by presenting bold works of literary merit, each book, individually and collectively, providing a sonic progression that we believe to be too loud to ignore. DALKEY ARCHIVE PRESS
https://www.dalkeyarchive.com/2013/06/28/submission-guidelines/
If you would like to submit a manuscript, please familiarize yourself with our list and the types of books we publish in order to determine whether yours would be appropriate.
Please keep in mind as well that we publish primarily literary fiction, rarely poetry or non-fiction, and that we place a heavy emphasis upon fiction that belongs to the experimental tradition of Sterne, Joyce, Rabelais, Flann O’Brien, Beckett, Gertrude Stein, and Djuna Barnes. ARSENAL PULP PRESS
https://arsenalpulp.com/About-Arsenal-Pulp-Press/Submission-Guidelines
We are considering manuscripts only in the following subject areas: Books by BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ authors, including young adult and children's, Literary fiction and non-fiction (no genre fiction, such as mysteries, thrillers, or romance), Political/sociological studies,
Cultural studies, Regional non-fiction, especially British Columbia, Graphic novels and graphic non-fiction, Youth culture and young adult literature, Books for children, especially those that emphasize diversity, Craft books. WINDING ROAD STORIES
https://windingroadstories.com/publish/
Looking for original and unpublished full-length manuscripts (55,000-95,000 words) and novellas and short story collections in horror, mystery/thriller, science fiction and literary fiction.
Please forward the newsletter in its entirety. To reprint any editorials, contact hope@fundsforwriters.com for permission. Do not assume that acknowledgements listed in your publication is considered a valid right to publish out of ours.
C. Hope Clark
E-mail: hope@fundsforwriters.com
140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036
http://www.fundsforwriters.com Copyright 2000-2024, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326 Our subscriber list is NOT made available to others. Use information listed at your own risk. FundsforWriters gives no warranty to completeness, accuracy, or fitness of the markets, contests, and grants although research is done to the best of our ability. FundsforWriters finds open submission calls, contests, and markets from a wide variety of sources, including Erika Dreifus' Practicing Writer newsletter, Erica Verrillo's blog, Authors Publish, Poets & Writers, Duotrope,
Winning Writers, Write Jobs Plus, LinkedIn Jobs, Emily Stoddard, and other newsletters and online sites. Many announcements are submitted directly to FundsforWriters. All must be paying opportunities. Contests must pay a minimum of $200 first place. Submit potential listings to hope@chopeclark.com **Note that FundsforWriters.com places paid advertising in this newsletter. ALL ads are related to writers and the business of writing, screened by FundsforWriters to make sure the information is suitable for writers and their endeavors to improve their careers. While the mailing list is not sold to third parties, other parties do advertise in the newsletter, to include
the occasional solo ad. You will not receive this newsletter without your permission. It's physically impossible since recipients must opt-in, giving us permission to send the newsletter. If at any time you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, click the UNSUBSCRIBE link at the bottom of each newsletter. We want you to enjoy this newsletter at your pleasure, not be forced to read anything you do not wish to receive. Direct any complaints, suggestions, and accolades to Hope Clark at hope@fundsforwriters.com. We are an anti-spam site. | |
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