VOLUME 26, ISSUE 10 | MARCH 6, 2026 |
DEFINE OPPORTUNITY I declined a speaking opportunity this week. One in a very reasonable distance from me, as a matter of fact. This time of year often fills my calendar with such requests, which thrills me. I love doing events. But they must be worth my investment of time, travel,
and book sales. In this case, it was a writers thing. I won't say which one. Doesn't matter. That's not the point. Their conditions and mine just didn't meet in the middle and we parted ways amicably. We all have budgets. But, that said, my fee is not high, and oftentimes, the fact I am on the SC Humanities Speakers Roster would have covered my speaking fee. But the
travel and hotel were not covered, and sales would be minimal. Writers don't make money selling books to other writers. Some will say I can afford to turn down an event at this stage in my career, but in actuality, I could not afford to accept it. I would have declined early in my career as well. - Events consisting of all writers do not result in big book sales. Most writers there
are trying to sell a book. Your exposure is minimal.
- The time invested into travel, speaking, hotel, and basically standing around, must be worth the time you have stolen from writing the material that earns money.
- If you don't respect your worth, nobody else will.
Now, every person has a different measure. But never fear saying no once you weigh the pros, the cons, and the return on investment. After
all, this is a business. |
I'm Doing Creative Work. Why Isn't It Creating More Opportunity? For working writers and storytellers, effort and originality are rarely the problem.
Craft is what turns creative work into something other people want to say yes to. Interesting is a skill. I write a free weekly newsletter for working writers and storytellers who want their creative work to travel further. It's called Tell Stories Better. Each issue focuses
on one concrete craft decision or situation: the small, often invisible choices around structure, pacing, emphasis, and finish that quietly shape how work is received. Practical craft you can apply immediately to the work you're already making. Written by a working writer and professional performance storyteller and coach with years of experience helping creatives turn strong ideas into compelling work. Subscribe if you want your creativity to create more opportunity. Subscribe here: TELL STORIES BETTER SELF-LOVE
In a recent chatroom, someone asked if there was any hope left for struggling writers with so many other writers taking shortcuts with AI. My response was that if fear of AI knocks you off your game, maybe you aren't playing the right game. Many of us live in fear that we aren't being productive with our writing. We aren't publishing enough, marketing enough, or selling enough. There are plenty of other ways to make money in this world, and writing is not at the forefront of those opportunities. Writing is a love dance with words. If you start with a story to tell, it's still about dancing with
words.
If you have strong journalism skills, it's still about dancing with words.
If you need to make money to prove you are a writer, it's still about dancing with words. For a moment, toss the concept of being professional, making money, or becoming well known. When writing feels inherent...
When writing gives you solace...
When writing
transports you to a better place...
When writing allows you to give yourself grace and not compete...
When writing isn't about legacy, career, or proving a point... That's loving yourself. That's appreciating yourself. That's self-love that we do so little of today. Tune the world out and write for no good purpose other than to enjoy it. Maybe you have a plan for it, like working on a novel, or maybe you don't. Let the moment be
about being good to yourself for no other reason than to make yourself happy.
Six authors. Six journeys. One powerful circle. Please join us as we welcome these incredible voices to the room:  Pat McNeely Bonnie Stanard Every genre carries
wisdom, and every voice adds something distinct to the space. From fiction to memoir, these women are stepping forward to share their books and the lived experiences behind the pages. There is a particular energy that fills a room when a woman reads her own words. We invite you to be part of that connection. Reserve your seat today and join us for a journey of conversation, courage, and collective storytelling. -March 21, 2026 - Writer's Digest Mystery/Thriller Writing Virtual Conference
- time TBD -April 1, 2026 - Her Story, Her Voice, open to public ($18 each and catered), Something Small Catering, 2510 Main Street, Suite A, Columbia, SC - 5:30-8PM - 6 invited authors to read -April 6, 2026 - Night Harbor Book Club, Chapin, SC
(Hope is moderator, book Before the Coffee Gets Cold) -Apr 15, 2026 - Book Club, Noon to 2 PM - Elgin, SC (members only) -April 16, 2026 - Brookhaven Book Club, 3001 Stanbury Dr, Matthews, NC -7-9PM -June 4, 2026 - Chapin Library, Chapin, SC - 1-2 PM -June 13-20, 2026 - Gutsy Great Novel Retreat, Bar Harbor, Maine - Hope as author-in-residence -July 25, 2026 - Smoking Guns Sisters in Crime Zoom meeting - Noon - Zoom -October 27-28, 2026 - SC Library Conference, Columbia Convention Ctr - lunch speaker -November 15-21, 2026 - Edisto Beach, signings TBD
Email: hope@chopeclark.com to schedule events, online or otherwise. I knew I was doing things different but at the same time I was doing things that were very natural for me I wasn't trying to break any rules. But I wrote the way I heard things. ~Burt Bacharach
<<If you have a success story you believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to hope@chopeclark.com >> Protect your Words and Income With Back Up Storage
By Rich Scott Keller
Writing is a primary source of income that should be stored in more than one location. When you don’t do this and your hardware crashes, you risk missed deadlines, kill fees, and strained client relationships. In addition, you feel frustrated and angry as you try to duplicate what was lost from memory or notes. As a longtime technical/creative writer, I regularly work with backups and archives. I understand the cost of losing your important information without a second copy. In the end, even one day of lost productivity can exceed a year of a basic subscription for backup storage. Why You Don’t Back Up Your Work Developing reasons not to save data beyond your device is a creative endeavor in itself. One cause given is that your material has a greater chance of being stolen from a cloud storage platform. In
other situations, your overconfidence exceeds the hardware’s actual staying power. Then there’s procrastination. “I’ll get to it soon” never materializes when it comes to securing your work. As a result, you might be too late to do anything if your device won’t boot up. Back Up Now for Safety Later It takes around 20 minutes to add your data to a hardware or software storage solution. While not completely foolproof, a weight lifts from your shoulders once you finish the process. You know your work is saved and retrievable should something bad happen to the originals. The 3-2-1 Rule Overall, it’s best to save your material using the 3-2-1 rule.
Keep at least three copies of your data on two different media types, with one stored off-site. For instance, save one to your hard drive and portable flash drive while you store a third on a cloud platform. Cloud Storage Commonly used platforms include Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, and Dropbox. All are easy to configure and access from your web browser, local file system, or app. If you only store text documents, each of these platforms provides an abundance of free storage—between two and 15 gigabytes (15 GB). Further, these cloud storage applications offer additional space with a paid subscription. For example, some plans give you a capacity of one terabyte (1 TB) or more. If you don’t require this much space, you can purchase smaller amounts for a price that fits your budget. Another benefit is mobility. You can retrieve your files from most places with or without Wi-Fi, as long as you sync the files between the platform and your
device. While it has its benefits, cloud storage isn’t completely secure. There’s always a potential for malicious activity or human error that can temporarily halt your access. Regularly saving your work helps minimize the risk.
Hardware Backups Flash and external hard drives are common portable storage units. Depending on the amount of space you
need, these devices can cost less than $20 or several hundred dollars. Both are small enough to store or take while away from home. The downside of these drives is future compatibility. Since technology constantly evolves, a flash drive holding years of manuscripts might not work with your latest laptop. Additionally, they can be damaged or lost, leading to problems if you don’t have secondary copies. Take a few minutes now to create a comprehensive backup plan for your writing and test it with a sample to ensure it works. Then, implement it and set a weekly reminder to sync your files. Not only will you be grateful, but you’ll also protect yourself from financial turmoil. BIO
Rich Scott Keller is an author and tech guru. You can find his latest works, including his memoir
on bipolar disorder, Faith and Slipper Socks, on his website. https://www.authorrichscottkeller.com/
THE PENN REVIEW PRIZE
https://www.pennreview.org/prizes
$10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 25, 2026. Please submit up to 5 poems, along with a third-person bio, through Submittable. The winner will receive $500 and print publication in The Penn
Review No. 75. All poems are considered for regular publication. Please submit up to 3 fiction or creative nonfiction stories along with a third-person bio through Submittable. Each story may be up to 5000 words in length. The winner will receive $500 and print publication in The Penn Review No. 75. All stories are considered for regular publication. THE CATERPILLAR POETRY PRIZE
https://www.themothmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=9454&page=60
€16 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is an annual prize for unpublished poems written by adults for children aged 7–11. 1st prize €1,000 plus a week at The Moth Retreat in Ireland. 2nd prize €500. 3rd prize €250. The winning poems will be published in the
Irish Times online. WILD LOT PRESS
https://wildlotpress.com/submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 31 2026. Wild Lot Press, with the assistance of the Pennsylvania Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (CEAP), is publishing an illustrated nonfiction anthology book
about night, with the working title Nightness: Ruminations on the Darker Side of Day. We’re looking for essays/creative nonfiction of any length, from snippets and passing anecdotes to longform opuses, that take keen interest in what happens between dusk and dawn in the wild spaces of our world, or better still, in the liminal spaces that bridge the human-centric, built world and the extra-human margins that encircle us. The winning essay will receive a prize of $250; all selected contributors
will receive free copies. THE DESPERATE LITERATURE PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
https://degrootfoundation.org/competitions/desperate-literature-short-fiction-prize/
€20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 19 2026. First Prize €2000, a week’s
residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, a consultation with Literary Agent Charlotte Seymour from Johnson & Alcock, manuscript assessment with The Literary Consultancy. Runner-up Prizes €1000 (two prizes available). Shortlisted will be published in a limited edition book and launched at the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize Salon, Madrid. Limit 2000 words of fiction. WRITERS ONLINE FICTION PRIZE
https://www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-competitions/writing-grand-prize-2026-win-1-000-cash
£17.50 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2026. Win a whopping £1,000 for short fiction in any style and on any theme, up to 2,000 words.
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIP / CROWDFUNDING KENTUCKY INDIVIDUAL ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS
https://artscouncil.ky.gov/program/individual-artist-fellowship/
Deadline March 15, 2026. The Individual Artist Fellowship is a highly competitive $7,500 award given to
working, professional Kentucky artists who have achieved a high level of excellence and creativity in their work. Fellowships are based upon the quality of the work samples submitted by the artist. Fellowship awards are unrestricted and may be used in any way to enhance the artist's career. The FY2027 Individual Artist Fellowship is open in Literary Arts (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and play/screenwriting). KENTUCKY EMERGING
ARTIST AWARD
https://artscouncil.ky.gov/program/individual-artist-fellowship-and-emerging-artist-award/
Deadline March 15, 2026. The Emerging Artist Award is a competitive $1,000 award given to working, professional Kentucky artists who are in the early years of their career
(typically within the first 10 years of their professional artistic life) and who have achieved a level of excellence and creativity in their work. Emerging Artist Awards are unrestricted and may be used in any way to enhance the artist's career. The FY2027 Emerging Artist Award program is open for applications in the following Literary Arts subdisciplines fiction, creative nonfiction, play/screenwriting, and poetry. RHODE ISLAND ARTS
AND HEALTH GRANTS
https://arts.ri.gov/grants/arts-and-health-incubator-grant
https://arts.ri.gov/grants/arts-and-health-grant
Deadline April 1, 2026. The Arts and
Health Incubator Grant funds organizations or artists for planning, professional development, capacity building, pilot projects, or coalition building that use the arts to address one of the Creating a Healthier Rhode Island priorities in the RI 2030 plan: Physical health and well-being, behavioral health, older adults and caregiving, healthcare system strengthening, and/or equity for underserved communities. We also continue to offer our Arts and Health Grants. This grant supports arts and
cultural projects or artist in residence programs that contribute to overall health and well-being for individuals and communities. WOMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS RESIDENCY
https://ekf.bg/open-calls/-women-in-the-mountains-2026-open-call
Deadline March 13,
2026. A residency for women writers from Bulgaria and other countries in Europe, to be held amid the green tranquility of the mountain town of Chepelare, Bulgaria, from August 1 to 10, 2026. The call is open to writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and drama. A total of eleven applicants will be selected, including: two priority places for women writers living in conditions of war and refugee writers; one place for a Lithuanian writer, provided by the Union of Lithuanian
Writers*. One residency place is made possible with the kind support of Goethe-Institut Sofia. ELEANOR TAYLOR BLAND GRANT
https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/EleanorTaylorBland
Deadline March 31, 2026. An annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color.
This grant is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The grantee may choose to use the grant for activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of the work. Have you published more than two novels OR ten or more short pieces of fiction? Short pieces of fiction include short stories, childrens' books, and chapter books. If yes, we're sorry, that means you
aren't eligible to apply. You do not have to be a member of Sisters in Crime to apply for this grant. Submit an unpublished work of crime fiction, aimed at readers, from children’s chapter books through adults. This may be a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript in-progress of 2,500 to 5,000 words.
FRACTURED LIT
https://fracturedlit.submittable.com/submit
Fractured Lit is open year-round and is available to all writers. We currently publish microfiction (up to 400 words) and flash fiction (401-1,000 words), with new writing featured on
Mondays and Thursdays. We also offer contests throughout the year. We pay our authors $50 for original micro fiction and $75 for original flash fiction. JOYLAND MAGAZINE
https://joylandmagazine.submittable.com/submit
$5 submission. Joyland Magazine accepts unsolicited submissions of
fiction year round. All submissions must be in English. We welcome works in translation. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. We consider fiction submissions (short stories and stand-alone novel excerpts) of up to 12,000 words. Our average response time is 12-16 weeks. We ask that you please submit one story at a time. All writers are compensated $200 for stories published with Joyland Magazine. Submission fees go toward supporting Joyland Publishing. STORM PUBLISHING
https://stormpublishing.co/work-with-us/
We’re always looking for talented, experienced freelance professionals who can help us to develop and package our authors’ books and bring them to readers around the world. If you have a track-record of success in one of the areas listed, then we’d love
to hear from you at hello@stormpublishing.co. We are not currently looking for typesetting, ebook conversion or printing services. Experienced adult fiction editors, copyeditors, proofreaders, book cover designers, audiobook narrators, experienced translators, book publicists. DIEM
https://askdiem.notion.site/Diem-Essays-Pitch-Guide-401ad127cd674855a8f34411ec7e098e
We’re starting a new project, which will include publishing essays from a diverse set of writers twice a month. Most of the work we publish is through a feminist lens. Think of [Diem](https://www.askdiem.com/) as a reimagined Reddit or
Quora, inspired by the way women already communicate. We’re currently looking for stories to publish in our newsletter, The Things We Don’t Talk About. You’ll reach an audience of over 50,000+, who are generally interested in topics having to do with gender, power, and technology. Our rates for Diem stories start at $200 and the majority of commissioned stories hit the 700-word mark unless otherwise specified. GREEN EUROPEAN
JOURNAL
https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/get-involved/
The Green European Journal is Europe’s leading political ecology magazine. We stand for an open, sustainable, just, and feminist Europe. A pitch is a short proposal that shouldn't be longer than 400 words. The articles we publish are typically between 1800 and 2500 words. Rates are
usually €300 to €400 per article.
SCREEN DOOR PRESS
https://www.kentuckypress.com/screen-door-press/
Accepting submissions until April 20, 2026. Dedicated to discovering unique, exceptional, and varied voices within Black literary traditions, the Screen Door
Press imprint will celebrate the very best in fiction across a broad range of categories. Its goal is to publish thought-provoking books that use relatable characters, strong narratives, and beautiful language to champion diverse views from throughout the Black diaspora. Submissions are open to writers of all backgrounds. Authors will each receive a publishing contract and a $5,000 prize. BLIND EYE BOOKS
https://www.blindeyebooks.com/submissions/
Blind Eye Books publishes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and romance novels featuring LGBTQ protagonists. We do not publish short story collections, poetry, erotica, horror or non-fiction. We would hesitate to publish any manuscript that is less than 70,000 or over 150,000 words. 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. 5 PRINCE BOOKS
https://www.5princebooks.com/submissions.html
Only seeking romance manuscripts, and they must fit into one of the categories posted on the site. BROOKLINE BOOKS
https://www.brooklinebooks.com/author-submissions/
Brookline Books commissions history and general nonfiction books concerning the Greater Philadelphia region, including neighboring states New Jersey and Delaware. We are dedicated to highlighting the lives of Pennsylvanians—both common and renowned—and notable events that deserve to sit on the history shelves of readers around the
world.
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
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. | |
|
|
|
Tickets are available now via Eventbrite: 
