VOLUME 25, ISSUE 24 | june 13, 2025 |
WRITING RETREATS As you are reading this, I'm in the latter days of a week-long writer's retreat in Maine. I am a facilitator, on call so to speak, but when I am not talking to writers, I'm expected to write like the rest of the crew. Last year I wrote 10,000 words during that
week. This time, I have a manuscript to edit and one to write. A ton of other stuff is on my plate as well, but this week is dedicated to the upcoming book(s). There are absolute moments of boredom. . . and moments of brilliance. There's something about no entertainment other than each other and your own creation that makes you dig deeper and think harder about
this writing business. You become saturated with words and craft. Some people cannot do it. Six days of writing with no excuse not to. Initially it sounds heavenly, but in reality, it's hard work. Sure, you take a break to walk the nearby lanes overlooking the ocean, but with a dozen authors around you with the same responsibility of putting words on paper, do you
really want to wander so much it looks like you aren't taking your words seriously? Maybe you cannot go to Maine, but can you find a place where there is no television, where you ban yourself from social media? Where you limit phone calls to emergencies? Let's say you can, how many days can you make yourself do it? A bookstore. The library. The park. A coffee shop. Maybe rent
a place if you have the funds. And don't invite your friends. Just you and your word-making powers. Go someplace and write. Start with one day. One lone day. Pour five hours of writing into it. See how that works. Then make it two. Maybe three. The creative juices really do start flowing because you are feeding them your undivided attention, and the more days in a row you do
it, the more the gears get greased and the story happens. |
MAKE SOMETHING OF IT
Seems a lot of my writing material for these essays come from emails and requests I receive the previous week. But that's good. If one person is writing me about their issue, that means there are hundreds more
out there with similar issues. Lessons and answers are good for everyone. This one in particular had just had a book published. They asked me to review the book for them since their publisher had told the author that was their next step. Amazon showed the book as independently published, yet the book gave a publisher's name. Immediately I saw a small publisher, someone who had learned how to publish via Amazon and had hung out a
shingle to do the same for others. There was no Author Central page. The author had no website. The publisher had no link to a page for the book or anything about the book. They'd hung out a manuscript through KDP and left it flapping in the wind. I asked the author how they were promoting the book, and when a reader heard about them, where were they to go to learn more?
(Because there was no place from my research.) What was their marketing plan for the upcoming year? What were the publisher's suggestions? How were they collaborating on marketing, and were there plans for a follow-up book? The author's response was that I had pretty much taken all the wind out of their sails. Their excitement was not only gone, but they were sad and disappointed. I wrote back and said not to worry. Sit down with the publisher and talk these things out. Collaborate now. Late is better than never. Go ahead and seek those reviews. Establish a website, social media, and go forward energetic and in pursuit of a writing future. Don't give up. . . just take things from here, take that excitement, and make something of it. They thanked me. (And if the publisher isn't wanting to assist, then find another.) First, do not be in a hurry to publish.
Second, envision your writing future then add tangible steps to molding it.
Third, embrace the world of writing and publishing. It's more than just writing a book. Own it! Breathe it. Embrace it. Love it. You'd be amazed at how more palatable all these steps are when you do.
In need of editing for your manuscript? Looking for an experienced beta reader to offer feedback on your work-in-progress? Need another brain to bounce ideas off of in a dedicated workshopping space? Look no further! Story Therapy offers editing, beta reading, and workshopping to all writers of all backgrounds. Whether you're working on a script or a novel, I'm here to help with the writing process. Visit taylorlouiseblog.com
for more information! Hope taking a break overlooking the harbor at her Maine writer's retreat. -June 7-14, 2025 - Gutsy Great Novelist Retreat, Bar Harbor, Maine (see picture above - LOL) -Sept 9,
2025 - Chapin Library, Chapin, SC - 1PM
Email: hope@chopeclark.com to schedule events, online or otherwise.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
~Confucius
Dear Hope, I saw the submission request from Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from my Cat in one of your newsletters. I submitted my story, "You Can't Judge a Cat by his Cover" and it was accepted. It came out in late May. Kind
regards Rosie Sorenson, MA, MFT
2025 Winner, American Legacy Book Awards
2024 Zibby Award Winner Best Story of Overcoming
If You'd Only Listen: A Medical Memoir
of Gaslighting, Grit & Grace
<<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 Writing for Free Paid Off for Me
By Rosie Sorenson
Five minutes from home, sitting in my Red Nissan Sentra, waiting to turn left: Bam! An Izuzu pick-up, traveling 40 mph, slammed into my car, propelling me into a future I never imagined.
While recovering from the accident and surgeries, I began to write. I launched into a tortured
unsalable memoir, then moved on to personal essays and humor.
I enrolled in a Personal Essay course with Adair Lara, long-time San Francisco Chronicle columnist (www.adairlara.com). I wrote in a fury during those eight weeks, hell bent on learning how to craft essays that would sell.
I scoured the internet for markets until I found the perfect home for my humorous work: The Foolish Times.
Pay: $10 per column. (www.foolishtimes.net)
Woo Hoo!
After a new publisher bought the Foolish Times, my pay dropped to $5 for a few months, then to $0. I could have quit, but I loved the discipline and the fun of writing these pieces. I also found ways to sell some of them elsewhere:
The San Francisco Chronicle, $200 https://www.sfchronicle.com/pets/pettales/article/grieving-loss-of-friends-feline-and-human-4421820.php
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: $75 (www.triblive.com/contactus)
I also entered and won a few contests: Writers College
Times, NZ, $100
Berkeley Monthly: $100.
Honorable Mention in the Erma Bombeck Writing Contest. No pay.
I won the Listener Favorite award from
KQED.FM, the San Francisco NPR affiliate for a "Perspectives" piece: $60
I scoured Craig's List for "Writing Gigs" and scored
a job writing lively descriptions for a florist's online arrangements: $650.
One of my cat stories appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from my Cat. I wrote this story in 2019 but hadn't sold it until now: $250 plus 10 free copies. I've never turned down
an opportunity to get published, even for free. The LA Times published my funny piece about sleep apnea, which was then picked up by the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun. Nice additions to my author bio. No pay. I wrote another essay that was accepted for the anthology, The Magic of Memoir: Inspiration for the Writing Journey. No pay.
Each publication, free or not, validated my craft, boosted my self-esteem as a writer and added to my bio.
After 10 years at the Foolish Times (!), I moved on to the Progressive Populist where I've published a political satire column twice a month for the past seven years, $50 each.
Along the way, tragedy. My husband, Steve, became ill in 2015 and needed a liver transplant. Cause, undetermined—no alcohol, no drugs. We had to move out of state for his transplant. That's when I
learned about the deadly problem of medical errors in the U.S., even in "excellent hospitals." I needed to intervene several times during his five-month hospitalization to save his life.
Steve is fine now, but my recovery lasted two years.
It took me another five years before I could write the story, using all the emails, journals, photos and videos from that time: If You'd Only Listen: A Medical Memoir of Gaslighting, Grit & Grace
At the end of the narrative, I included a section of research on medical errors and a section of recommendations for how to keep your loved one safe while in the hospital. I do not want others to suffer as we
did.
I hired two professional editors to review my manuscript ($3,200). The first one loved it, especially my funny personal stories, a few of which I'd written before and which I included to leaven the horror of Steve's hospitalization.
The second editor especially loved my scenes which I have mastered from writing my political satire pieces.
My book is now a winner in the 2024 Zibby Book Awards Contest, Best Story of Overcoming. No pay.
Moral of story: Write for pay, write for no pay, but WRITE. You cannot lose.
BIO: Rosie Sorenson, MA,
MFT
If You'd Only Listen: A Medical Memoir of Gaslighting, Grit & Grace
(2446625 © Chrisharvey | Dreamstime.com)
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REFRACTIONS GENRE FLASH FICTION CONTEST
https://www.unchartedmag.com/2024-calendar/
ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 1-31, 2025. We want your stories of 1,500 words or fewer in all of our genres for the
Refractions: Genre Flash Fiction Prize. So sharpen those pens and flex those fingers. We’re excited to offer the winner of this prize $1,000 and publication, while the second- and third-place winners will receive publication and $300 and $200, respectively. LOIS CRANSTON MEMORIAL POETRY PRIZE
https://www.calyxpress.org/lois-cranston-memorial-poetry-prize/
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2025. Prize $300. Winner and all finalists will receive a one-volume subscription to CALYX Journal and publication on CALYX’s website. Winners will be announced in August. Please upload three unpublished poems (six pages maximum). THE DYNAMO VERLAG BOOK CONTEST 2025
https://www.dynamoverlag.com/guidelines-and-contest
$18 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2025 or until 300 submissions received. Invites book-length manuscript submissions in poetry, prose, or any textual combination or reinterpretation of the aforementioned genres. The winning manuscript will be published by Dynamo Verlag in the
calendar year following the contest year and its author will receive a $1,000 advance against book royalties (paid upon and at time of publication), as well as our professional in-house editorial, design, and publicity services (an estimated $3,000 value). We strongly encourage first-time authors and those who have yet to publish a book to submit. This contest is open to all authors writing in the English language(s) aged minimum 18 years. Open internationally. This contest is open to poetry or
prose; we simply want a scintillating book-length manuscript (minimum ~7,000 words and a maximum ~100,000 words for prose; minimum 80 pages for poetry) that reflects what we look for in all our publications: genius, eclecticism, and originality. THE SLICE POETRY CHAPBOOK CONTEST
https://forkapplepress.com/submit
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2025. Poetry chapbook submissions should be up to 35 pages of poems, in a 12-point font. The contest winner will receive an award of $500, 10 author copies, and 25% profits on book sales. Publisher Fork Apple Press. PLAZA AUDIO POETRY PRIZE
https://theplazaprizes.com/competition/the-plaza-audio-poetry-prize-2/
£12 ENTRY FEE.
Deadline June 30, 2025. Audio poems up to 4 minutes long. Written by you. Read by you. Recorded on an audio file by you. Sent to us to listen to. Audio Poetry. On whatever subject fascinates you. First Prize: £1000 / *$1250. Second Prize: £300 / *$380. Third Place: £100 / *$140. The 10 shortlisted entries will be featured on the The Plaza Prizes Audio Anthology in 2025. Maximum 4 minutes (one poem).
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING VOLEMOS GRANT - SCBWI
https://www.scbwi.org/awards-and-grants/for-writers/volemos-grant
Deadline June 30, 2025. Open to writers of Hispanic/Latinx/Ibero-American heritage.
The winner will receive $500 along with a one-year SCBWI membership, and a coaching session to further their creative career. Submissions open June 1 through June 30. This award is open to authors of Hispanic/Latinx/Ibero-American heritage who are early in their career (1-3 traditionally published books) or not yet traditionally published. Please note: Self-published is not considered traditionally published for this award. POETRY
BULLETIN ENTRY FEE SUPPORT
https://www.poetrybulletin.com/p/submission-fee-support
Rolling deadline. Confidential, poet-to-poet support to cover submission fees and help give your poetry book an at-least-a-little-more-fair chance to get in front of publishers. Over $10,000 given to more than 200 poets since March 2021. Open to poets
who can’t afford to submit their manuscripts to publishers. Poets who face barriers of time, access, or energy. Poets who have historically been underrepresented. Submission fees for poetry chapbooks and full-length poetry manuscripts only. GLOBAL REPORTING GRANTS
https://pulitzercenter.org/grants-fellowships/opportunities-journalists/global-reporting-grants
Rolling deadline. Awards cover reporting costs and are based on reasonable, detailed budgets. Most awards for international travel are between $5,000 and $10,000, but may be more or less depending on circumstances. We expect news organizations to pay journalists for their work, though in exceptional cases, we may consider stipends to cover a
reporter's time. We support projects across all media platforms and encourage ambitious proposals that combine print, photography, audio, and/or video for one or more news outlets. The most successful projects are those in which news outlets match our commitment by adding interactive, data, or multimedia elements to enhance and showcase their original reporting. Grants are open to reporters, photographers, radio/audio journalists, television/video journalists, and documentary filmmakers. We are
committed to supporting journalists from diverse backgrounds and of all nationalities. This is our "catch-all" grant, so there are no restrictions on topic or reporting location for these grants. TRILLIUM RESIDENCIES
https://www.trilliumartsnc.org/artist-residencies
Deadline
June 26, 2025. Trillium Arts residencies offer secluded space for rejuvenation and creating in a beautiful, remote setting in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. Our location is ideal for an individual artist to complete an existing work, or develop and incubate new material. Individual artist residencies are on a solo adventure during their time here and your residency will not overlap with other awarded artists. All 2025 residencies are one week of seven consecutive days
in length. Applications are currently being accepted for residencies one week in length during: September 21-28, 2025, or anytime between October 10-November 14, 2025. A limited number of work exchange scholarships are available. RHODE ISLAND TEACHING ROSTER
https://arts.ri.gov/grants/rhode-island-teaching-artist-roster
RHode Island's Teaching Artist Roster is a list of teaching artists and arts organizations who have been reviewed by public panels and selected based on their mastery of an artistic discipline, experience and training to work in educational settings. Listed on the New England Foundation for the Arts’ CreativeGround platform, the Roster is widely used as a public resource for educators and individuals looking to
engage an artist for arts learning, residencies or projects. AMBROOK RESEARCH
https://ambrook.com/research/writing-for-us
Though we hope the articles will be of interest to a broad audience, Ambrook Research exists first for farmers and agriculture professionals. We take their concerns and experiences as
our starting point, and are interested in stories that address the practical, financial, and social impact of changes in the ag world. We're looking for relevant stories about modern agriculture, no matter where they come from. Pays up to $1/word. POETRY MAGAZINE
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/submit
We close for submissions from June 15 to September 15 annually. Submitting to Poetry is free. Please send only one submission at a time per category and wait until you receive a response before uploading a new submission. Text poems: $10/line with a minimum payment of $400 per poem. Visual poems: $400 per poem. Video poems: $600 per poem. Prose: $250 per published page. THE DEADLINES
https://psychopomp.com/the-deadlands-guidelines/
We are not simply a “horror market.” Sure, we want your horror, but we also want your litfic, your slipstream, your fantasy, your sf, your chicklit, your hist-fic, your everything fic. Death touches everything and so should our fiction. The Deadlands accepts
stories up to 5000 words. The sweet spot for length is 3-4k. We encourage authors from all around the world to submit. The Deadlands pays 10¢/word for original fiction. The Deadlands will consider reprints, up to 5000 words, 1¢/word. The Deadlands pays $100 per essay and $50/poem, no length limit. EATER
https://www.eater.com/pre-shift
We are actively seeking pitches from journalists, writers, academics, and other contributors of
all backgrounds, especially those whose voices are often underrepresented in media. Food and restaurants are among the most dynamic and powerful lenses for storytelling, and we particularly enjoy hearing from writers whose interests, experiences, and areas of expertise originate outside of the food world. Interested in writing an article or map for a specific Eater city? Click to the city posted on this page to send pitches for each of Eater’s city sites — we recommend clicking into each city
for specifics on what that local site is looking for. -ALSO-
Pre Shift, the industry-focused newsletter from Eater and Punch, welcomes pitches for first-person essays or reported stories from people working in hospitality — whether you're a chef, bartender, server, bouncer, or anything in between. They’re looking for honest, grounded narratives that speak directly to life in the service industry. Writers of color and those based outside of New York City are especially encouraged to
contribute. The rate is $0.50 per word. To pitch, email editorial@punchdrink.com with “Pre Shift Pitch” in the subject line. WEST BRANCH
https://westbranchsubmissions.bucknell.edu/
The editors of
West Branch welcome submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation. We print only original, unpublished work. For accepted work, we purchase First North American serial rights. Payment is awarded for accepted works in the amount of $100 per submission of poetry or $0.10/word of prose with a maximum payment of $200. Additionally, we provide each contributor with two copies of the issue in which his/her work appears and a one-year subscription to West Branch. CLAVIS PUBLISHING
https://www.clavis-publishing.com/submit
Clavis Publishing is always looking for new talent! Your manuscripts or illustrations are always welcome. Do you think your story or art is right for Clavis’ list of books for babies,
toddlers and children? We want to hear about it! Submit your manuscript or artwork and we will gladly take a look. You can send your work via e-mail to submissions@clavisbooks.com PANTS ON FIRE PRESS
https://pantsonfirepress.com/submissions/
Pants On Fire Press is a book publisher that
accepts unsolicited manuscripts from authors. We are acquiring Middle-Grade, Young Adult and Fiction for adults. We are looking for strong writers who are excited about marketing their stories and building a following of readers. STONE PIER PRESS
https://stonepierpress.org/submissions
We are
only accepting books about sustainable gardening. Entries should include the first two chapters of a manuscript plus a cover letter introducing yourself and whether or not you’ve been published, We accept only electronic submissions. OLYMPIA PUBLISHING
https://olympiapublishers.com/submissions/
Hybrid publishing contract - This offer is based on a contribution, to be paid by the author, to cover initial production and printing of the work. Marketing costs are incurred by us as your publisher. Traditional contract - This is where no costs are incurred by the author and the whole cost for producing, publishing and marketing the work is covered by us. We are an independent publishing house, with offices in London, Los
Angeles and Mumbai. We consider submissions from a wide range of genres, both fiction and non-fiction; from memoirs and biographies to science fiction and fantasy. BUMBLEBEE BOOKS
https://olympiapublishers.com/bumblebee
For over a decade we have been publishing exciting children’s books that
are loved by our young readers from around the world. From adventure to fantasy, non-fiction to rhyme, you won’t Bee-lieve the range of books.
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 2000-2025, 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
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