VOLUME 24, ISSUE 29 | july 12, 2024 |
What You Write
About I was recently asked by a local magazine to write about my opinion of AI. It wasn't a paying gig, but just a way to remind the local community who I was and that I lived among them, writing my books. I turned it down. I have a lot of fans in this area. Some understand I am as anti-AI as
it comes. Some do not. I am anti-AI in terms of creative writing, academic writing, and just about any kind of writing. I look down upon people who use it. I refuse to purchase articles in which AI assisted. I find it hypocritical for teachers to not want students to use it, then use it themselves. In other words, I could preach this loud. But in that audience I'd be preaching to are people who use AI, who teach using AI, who cheat using AI, who think AI is here to stay, and who believe it's considered creative writing to use it to better create a masterpiece. A lot of those people read my books. Every one of us has political, religious, cultural, educational, and other issues that we feel strongly about. Sometimes we feel we have the right to speak our minds in our writing. That's fine, but you are also setting yourself up for blowback. In other words, I want to be remembered for my many years of writing mysteries that people enjoyed sinking into . . . versus
one or two articles about me speaking my mind. One's a legacy. The other is a flash in the pan that burns you back. When you have opinions, be selective on how and when you write about them. The impact is real. |
Saturday, August 17 @ 12 pm EST / 9 am PST / 11 am CST / 5 pm BST2 Hours via Zoom | $50 | Recordings provided to all who enroll! / Only 9 spots left!We will explore Vedic astrology which centers the moon instead of
the sun in its practice. Exploring the various symbols connected with each of the twelve Zodiac signs in depth, we'll delve into the purpose and art of metaphor in poetry. What attracts us to mirrors, animals, bodies of water, wild forests, blue moons, strange stories, beautiful creatures, elaborate mythologies? How to synthethize and channel these symbols in a way that is honest to our intentions and personalities? There will be two generative elements in the workshop — one that is general and
the second specific to each participants individual lunar sign.
🌟 Instructor Bio 🌟
Shannan Mann has been awarded or placed for the Palette Love & Eros Prize, Rattle Poetry Prize, Auburn Witness Prize,
Foster Poetry Prize, Peatsmoke Summer Contest and Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize among others. Her poems appear in Poetry Daily, Black Warrior Review, Poet Lore, Gulf Coast, The Literary Review of Canada, EPOCH, december, & elsewhere. She is the Poet Laureate's pick for Exile. Her essays appear in Tolka Journal and Going Down Swinging; they have been awarded the Alta Lind Cook Prize and the Irene Adler Essay Prize. She also
translates Sanskrit poetry. Having worked as an editor and educator for nearly a decade, she now raises her baby, studies, writes, and runs ONLY POEMS. THE BEST WAY TO LEARN TO WRITE
I receive a lot of pitches and submissions from people around the world, telling me how they want to learn how to write, so they want me to give them that chance. Apples and oranges. You don't learn how to write by submitting. Writing isn't publishing. Writing is writing. Editors of publications are not there to teach you how to write. You come to editors and publishers and agents with a wealth of writing study under your belt and a great idea that suits the publication. To approach an editor with less than
polished work, uncertain whether it's good or not, with a plea to the editor to give you a chance, is not the way to enter an editor's good graces. As a matter of fact, to do that with an agent takes that agent off your list of opportunities for that manuscript. They don't want to see it again. Whether they say it or not, an editor is pretty much the same way. Someone who submits to them with pieces
way off base, poorly edited, and full of passive voice and overused words an experienced writer would not use, gets remembered as a permanent no as well. And yes, those names are remembered more than you think. The best way to get better, whether talking about feature writing, scripts, poetry, or book-length work is to read successful works that went before you. Not just a half dozen. DO A LOT OF
READING OF VERY GOOD WORKS. You want to read what you'd like to be able to create one day. Then do a lot of writing. Get judged by beta readers, critiqued by groups, or reviewed by hired editors. People pitch FundsforWriters with pieces that have zero to do with its mission. Publishers receive manuscripts in genres that guidelines state are not wanted. First, read the guidelines. But most of all,
read, read, read the material you'd like to emulate, or even surpass. To just throw words on a page in hopes you get a byline somewhere is just a waste of everyone's time. Read like your career depends on it. Practice like your career depends on it. Because it does.
-October 5-12, 2024 - Edisto Bookstore, exact dates in that week TBD -October 5-12, 2024 - Edisto Island Library, Hwy 174, exact dates in that week TBD -October 28, 2024 - St. Andrews Church Women's Club, 6952 St. Andrews Road
Columbia, South Carolina 29212 - 2PM (tentative) -October 29-30, 2024 - South Carolina Library Association's Annual Conference, Columbia Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St, Columbia, SC 29201 - TBD -November TBD, 2024 - Irmo Chapin Holiday Market, Chapin, SC - 8AM - 2PM -May 17, 2025 - Pelion Library Book Club206 Pine St, Pelion, SC, Saturday, 1-2PM
Email: hope@chopeclark.com to schedule events, online or otherwise.
“Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.”
– Alan Alda <<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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HOW TO REBOUND FROM FREELANCE REJECTION
By Orrin Konheim The hard truth about freelancing is that even the most successful writers get their pitches rejected and they get rejected pretty often. As you probably know if you read this
site often, most editorial staffs will have their own ideas covered and your ticket in will be through pitching (or applying for the increasingly rare staff position). How to pitch is a subject of which Funds for Writers has many articles.
As opposed to most job applications, you rarely will get rejected outright. Instead, you will likely get a form letter or a one sentence reply from the editor saying
something along the lines of “Thanks for sending this but we’ll pass.” At this point, your goal is to find out how much of your energy to devote with that publication and to try to establish a relation based on "positive rejections." The important thing to note is that everyone has different tastes over what a good idea is and what good writing is. Therefore, being the best writer you
can be isn't as important as having guidance over what that particular editor wants to see. For starters, if the rejection letter features any guidance at all beyond the standard “thank you”, take that as a positive sign. If it’s a form letter, that’s not uncommon. The next step is to follow up. See if there is an actual e-mail address to an editor in the rejection. Most sites have
lists of editorial staffers in the “about us” page by which you can establish their name, or find someone to forward the rejection letter to. In your letter, tell them you really enjoy the site as a reader, and tell them what you have to offer in a sentence or two. In these first two sentences, reintroduce your writing with a link to your clips (this could be found on Muckrack) or whatever other credentials you have. Tell them you know it
would be a lot to ask (or some measure you show that you appreciate the time spent), and ask them how you missed the mark, so you could better tailor future pitches to them. If they think you're good enough, it would be in their interest to give you that bit of guidance. That’s a basic test of whether they think you are worthy enough to continue. If you get any sort of feedback, then you can view that as a sign to direct more energy in that
direction and you might get something through.
If the response is negative, don’t view it as a sign that you’re a poor writer. As previously mentioned, editors can be very random in their tastes and needs. If there is no response, there’s also a chance that the editors just have too many e-mails to respond to each one. I’ve heard horror stories about the daily volume of e-mails in an editorial inbox (which is why utilizing the subject line well for
pitches and other communications is vital).
It might be worth trying again at some point, but also bring up another pitch in addition to either the old pitch or your desire for clarification. As counterintuitive as it sounds, I’ve found in over a dozen years of experience at this that there’s more room to be a little assertive in freelance journalism than other fields. The best thing
to do is find publications that cover the same topic and present the same pitch to them. If the object of the game is to reduce your labor costs, generally you won’t have to do much except change any references to the original publication or editor (but definitely, double-check that you’ve done that!). Sometimes it requires a little more, but psychologically, it’s an easier fix to increase your chances. Another alternate is to look for
other writers of the site you want to publish and approach them on social media and ask them how easy it is to publish for that particular site. If you mention that you are also a freelance writer and might have some connections to offer them, they might want to trade connections with you, and it will be a successful networking. If they reveal to you how much pitching they have to do before they get something published, that gives you a valuable tool with which to gauge potential
success. The game of pitching is a long and circuitous game of networking, but if you optimize your time and take advantage of a few key tricks, that path can be eased. BIO - Orrin Konheim is a freelancer who has published professionally in over three dozen outlets over the past decade and failed to publish twice as many times. Support him on Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/okjournalist) and learn more about his zoom seminar for getting published
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GUTSY GREAT NOVELIST PAGE ONE PRIZE $20 ENTRY FEE. Submissions open June 17 – July 17, 2024 (5PM ET). The Gutsy Great Novelist Page One Prize is awarded for an outstanding opening page of an unpublished novel. First prize is $1,000; 2nd is $500; and 3rd is $250. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre for adult or YA readers. IFF'24 AWARDS
https://www.iff24.com/details
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline: July 18, 2024. Open to all writers of any age. Entries must be prose fiction (no poetry). Categories: Short story
(<10,000 words), Novella (10,000-40,000 words), Novel (>40,000 words). Cash prizes for each category: 1st - $1,000, 2nd - $500, 3rd - $250. Additional prizes include story conversion to cinematic novel & audiobook, marketing support, and a showcase on Wuri's app. Several other $250 awards available. Judging by established authors, literary agents, editors, and publishing professionals. Selected entries may get publication offers from partner publishing houses. NOTE: This contest is new
to FundsforWriters and has no history to research. NOTE AGAIN: The participant gives the organizers non-exclusive permission to promote and showcase their content to readers and judges on their reading portal, social media, ads. MSLEXIA SHORT STORY COMPETITION
https://mslexia.co.uk/competitions/short-story/
£12 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 23, 2024. First prize £3,000. Three additional finalists will each receive £100 and all four winning entries are published in Issue 104 of Mslexia. Winning entries plus eight more shortlisted entries will be published in Mslexia's ebook anthology Best Women's Short Fiction 2024. Submit complete short fiction on any subject, up to
3,000 words. WITCRAFT ANNUAL HUMOUR COMPETITION
https://witcraft.org/witcraft-annual-humour-competition/
$5 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 31, 2024. This is a competition dedicated to skillful
writing that is brief, humorous and engaging. The emphasis is on wit, word play, absurdity and inspired nonsense. We’re looking for fiction, nonfiction and poetry that is founded on wit, humour, puns, absurdity and irony. Entries must be a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 1,000 words. We seek no rights but prize winners are asked to acknowledge Witcraft as first publisher in any later publications. First US $250, Second US $100, Third US$50. GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING LOGHAVEN RESIDENCIES
https://loghaven.org/residencies/apply/
Deadline July 15, 2024. Loghaven Artist Residency’s mission is to serve artists by providing them with a
transformative residency experience and continued post-residency support. The residency is located on ninety acres of woodland in Knoxville, Tennessee. Artists live in five historic log cabins that have been both rehabilitated and modernized to create an ideal setting for reflection and work, and they have access to new, purpose-built studio space. All Loghaven Fellows are awarded stipends to support the creation of new work during the residency. CROSSTOWN ARTS RESIDENCICES
https://crosstownarts.org/residency/about/
Deadline July 20, 2024. Crosstown Arts offers multidisciplinary residencies in Memphis, TN, to visiting and Memphis-based artists and curators working in any creative discipline
including visual arts, music, film, and writing in all genres. All residents are asked to participate in a limited number of public engagement activities (such as informal artist talks and open studio events) while in residence. ARTELES SILENCE AWARENESS RESIDENCY
https://www.arteles.org/sae_residency.html
Deadline July 31, 2024. Silence Awareness Existence is a thematic residency program in Finland for artists, writers, researchers and creative minds attuned to the theme. Taking place at the heart of the Northern winter, the conditions are excellent for creative contemplation, solitary introspection, concentrating intensively on your work, thinking and being, as well as
for sharing experiences and ideas with other, similarly oriented minds. There is no pressure to have a concrete productive outcome, in case your focus is more in inner development, self-reflection and research. All participation in group activities is voluntary. Applicants who otherwise would be unable to join the program can apply for financial support. The number of financially supported residencies is limited. Regular fee: 1950 € / monthly period. Financially supported fee (limited
availability): 1270 € / monthly period. TRILLIUM ARTS RESIDENCIES
https://www.trilliumartsnc.org/artist-residencies
Deadline August 16, 2024. Trillium Arts residencies offer secluded space for
rejuvenation and creating in a beautiful, remote setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our location is ideal for an individual artist to complete an existing work, or develop and incubate new material. Our current facilities are best suited to the disciplines of literary arts, photography, visual arts and arts administration. Individual artists who do not require a rehearsal studio (such as writers and photographers) are encouraged to apply for a one week residency. All 2024 residencies are
modestly priced and one week in length. A limited number of work exchange scholarships are available. Location Mars Hill, NC. BRIDPORT PRIZE BURSARIES
https://bridportprize.org.uk/writers-room/bursaries-for-under-represented-writers
Deadline August 16, 2024. Our bursary scheme gives under represented writers a free entry to the Bridport Prize competition in any category. In order to support as many writers as possible, applications are limited to one per year, per writer. Bursary applications for our memoir competition are now open. Our short story, poetry,
flash fiction and memoir competitions are open to international applicants, whilst the novel award is open to writers living in Britain and Ireland, British and Irish writers living overseas and writers living in British Overseas Territories. ENROUTE
https://enroute.aircanada.com/en/article/contributors-guidelines/
Air Canada enRoute is a travel magazine with a Canadian perspective that speaks to an
international readership. Outline your story idea and your approach, writing your pitch in the same tone that you’re proposing for your piece. Please make it specific, with a strong sense of place rather than a travel–guide–style roundup of attractions (restaurants, shopping, hotels, etc.). Pays at least 30 cents/word. HOUSTONIA
https://www.houstoniamag.com/pages/writers-guidelines
Articles about Houston, TX. Base rate is 50 cents a word, for both digital and print. Deeply reported and longform stories pay up to $1 a word. Sections are Eat&Drink, Arts&Culture, News&City Life, Travel&Outdoors, Home&Real Estate, Style&Shopping, Health&Wellness,
Longform. BANNISTER PRESS ANTHOLOGY
https://bannisterpress.com/submissions/
Deadline July 31, 2024. Specializes in supernatural and fantasy stories loved by adults and young adults. If you’ve used AI in the
creation of your manuscript, then we are not a good fit for you. We are seeking international short story submissions by writers who identify as women for an anthology with a focus on what it means to be on the outside looking in, or comfortably or uncomfortably out of step with the world(s) at large, and with a fantasy element (either subtle or writ large). Pays $0.08 CAD per word for 2500 – 3500 words. MYSTERION ANTHOLOGY
https://www.mysteriononline.com/p/submission-guidelines.html
Deadline July 31, 2024. Stories can be up to 9000 words. Pays up to $.08 per word. We are looking for speculative stories-science fiction, fantasy, horror-with Christian themes,
characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site. FIYAH ANTHOLOGY
https://fiyahlitmag.com/submissions/
Deadline July 31, 2024. FIYAH is a quarterly speculative fiction magazine that features stories by and
about Black people of the African Diaspora. This definition is globally inclusive (Black anywhere in the world) and also applies to mixed/biracial and Afro-appended people regardless of gender identity or orientation. Theme: It’s time to explore the adventures of bold, fearless women who defy societal expectations and embark on daring space voyages. From thrilling space operas to quiet character studies, we want to see Aunties who are scientists, engineers, pilots, and leaders guiding their
crews through uncharted territory. We accept submissions of short fiction 2,000 – 7,000 words and novelettes up to 15,000 words.
AM INK - IMPRINT DARK INK
https://aminkpublishing.com/about-us
Dark Ink, has released everything from celebrity biographies like Kane Hodder and Tom Savini to novels and short story collections.
Our elite line of horror themed books has gardened press around the world, turned into movies and sold translations rights. AM INK - IMPRINT SPOOKY INK
https://aminkpublishing.com/about-us
Our unique line of Spooky themed
kid’s books includes fun picture books for children and young adult novels. BANNISTER PRESS
https://bannisterpress.com/submissions/
Bannister Press is an independent publisher. For fiction, we specialize in supernatural and
fantasy stories loved by adults and young adults. For non-fiction, we look for untold stories. Above all, we focus on strongly unique voices and incredible new ideas.
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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