FundsforWriters - October 24, 2014

Published: Fri, 10/24/14

Volume 14, Issue 43 | october 24, 2014

Message from the Editor

Chatting with an attendee at the Edisto Bookstore release party for Murder on Edisto. This attendee happens to be a good friend who graciously allowed me to model the character Sophie after her. She's enjoying the chatter that's buzzing on Edisto about how much of the book is real and how much is fiction. That's the fun part of my books - setting them in real places and watching people try to figure the reality versus the make-believe.

Editor, FundsforWriters

Email Hope | Visit Website

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WEBSITE - http://www.chopeclark.com

TWITTER - http://twitter.com/hopeclark

FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/chopeclark

ABOUT.ME - http://about.me/hopeclark

GOODREADS - http://www.goodreads.com/hopeclark

PINTEREST - http://www.pinterest.com/chopeclark

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iTUNES - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/c.-hope-clark/id885577265

Read the Newsletter Archive: http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?fundsforwriters

SPONSOR OF THE WEEK

Click here to visit Book Design Templates.- Instead of trying to decide what your books should look like, we've made all the decisions for you. Just follow our friendly instructional guide, pour in your text and your book will be ready to go. All your styles and formatting needs are coded into our templates for easy use. Enthusiastically endorsed by Hope!

ALSO - Our cover templates are out! The template actually comes with 3 different files, one each for CreateSpace, Lightning Source/Spark, and a generic template for other printers. We've also packaged the template with 20 fonts to make using it even easier.

Editor's THOUGHTS

NOTE: Last week we listed Children's Writer and received the following update:
"Children's Writer is no longer in print. They closed up shop in June 2014. Susan Tierney, the former editor of Children's Writer is now working at Schoolwide. This is a subscription service for educators. They are looking for submissions from children's writers. Details here: http://www.schoolwide.com/publishing "

NANOWRIMO YEAR-ROUND

I saw this piece in Writer's Digest about how to schedule your life around NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, that is coming up in November. http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/nanowrimo-prep-work-how-to-fit-writing-into-your-busy-schedule Then I saw it was written by a thirteen-year-old girl. Um, please. Like she doesn't have time to write? She can NaNoWriMo every month of the year and still go to the movies and have sleep-overs. Then it hit me . . . why don't we write all 12 months of the year like it's NaNoWriMo?

"She's too busy being a child," you may say. Well, you're too busy being an adult, but either can adjust and decide writing is a serious matter. If we're serious about a book, we ought to write regularly and deliberately. Why relegate that mindset to just November?

How to NaNoWriMo year-round:

1) Pick a time to write daily and keep the appointment. DO IT!
2) Tell your friends and family this is who you are, respect it.
3) DO NOT let your friends and family step into your writing time.
4) Pick an off day one day a week to regenerate.
5) Don't write hard one day to buy time for another.
6) Accept the fact you can write anywhere.
7) No internet during writing time.
8) If a crisis takes away your time, then accept and keep your appointment the next day. Do not let it erode your routine. Besides, you probably need to write during a crisis to keep your head on straight.

It's not about certain pens, the type of computer, the music, or worst of all, some stinkin' muse. Serious writers don't wait for moods. They just write.

There you go. NaNoWriMo year-round. I have nothing against NaNoWriMo, but I do take issue with the fact we only feel the need to generate gobs of writing during a chosen month. We are capable of some serious writing production. We just have to decide to do it. Anytime and anywhere. Start your routine during NaNoWriMo, then keep on going from there on out.

-Hope Clark

Upcoming Book Signings!

Carolina Slade and Edisto Island Mysteries make great Christmas presents!

November 8 - 9-4 PM - Cut'N'Up Fundsraiser, Chapin, SC

November 13 - 5-7 PM - Clock Tower Books, Georgetown, SC

November 15 - 8-2:30 - Crooked Creek Park, Chapin, SC

November 22 - 2-4 PM - Westwood Barnes & Noble, Charleston, SC

December 6 - 2-4 PM -Indigo Barnes & Noble, Hilton Head, SC

December 13 - 2-4 PM - Barnes & Noble, Mt Pleasant, SC

WORDS OF SUCCESS

Nothing is impossible. The word itself says "I'm possible!"

~Audrey Hepburn

MURDER ON EDISTO

A big city detective

A Lowcountry crime

When her husband is murdered by the Russian mob, Boston detective Callie Jean Morgan suffers a mental break and relinquishes her badge to return home to South Carolina. She has no idea how to proceed with her life, but her son deserves to move on with his, so she relocates them to the family vacation home.

But the day they arrive on Edisto Beach, Callie finds her childhood mentor and elderly neighbor murdered. Her fragile sanity is threatened when the murderer taunts her, and the home that was to be her sanctuary is repeatedly violated. Callie loses her fight to walk away from law enforcement as she becomes the only person able to pursue the culprit who's turned the coastal paradise into a paranoid patch of sand where nobody's safe. But what will it cost her?

http://www.chopeclark.com/

Purchase any of Hope's books and receive a one-year subscription to TOTAL FFW free. Send receipt to hope@fundsforwriters.com

Success Story

Dear Hope,

Can you guess my "word" for 2014? It's "HOPE!" So I couldn't wait another moment before sharing my good fortune these past months with you, achievements spurred on by information and encouragement you sent to all of us hopefuls.

I received word in August that my story was selected for publication in the new Chicken Soup for the Soul anthology, "Touched By An Angel." It is my first publication, happening sooner than I could have imagined. The week following that news, an iOS application I have been working on, "Branching Out in Faith," launched in the iTunes store. I conducted a crowdfund a year ago to raise the funds necessary to have the app developed, never considering one until reading "Funding Your First Article Using Kickstarter" in Funds For Writers. Different genre but same principles, so thank you. Finally two weeks ago, a box of ten editions of the Chicken Soup "Angels" anthology arrived on my doorstep. An Irish-Italian, I rarely find myself without words. Upon seeing my name in print, however, I was rendered speechless. What a blessing!

Thank you, thank you for your guidance to professional and aspiring writers as we journey toward our dreams. You give us HOPE and a voice.

All the best,
Cynthia McGarity
www.cynthiabranchesout.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/branching-out-in-faith/id899217411?mt=8
http://godsdailymessageforthedense.blogspot.com

featured article

A Full-Time Income on Part-Time Hours

by Mridu Khullar Relph

A couple of years ago, after I'd returned form maternity leave and decided that I quite enjoyed spending time with my son, I went part-time as a writer. Yet, despite having cut down my hours, I was able to maintain my yearly income. Wait, that's not true. I increased it.

If you're a writer with a day job or a work-at-home parent in charge of noisy kids looking to make a nice income on part-time hours, you need to maximize the work you can do in those limited hours. How? Read on.

1. Take on only high-paying work.
I only worked 20 hours a week during that first year as a writing parent, and so I knew that I no longer had time for $50 blog posts or articles that paid $100 for 1,000 words. Instead, I focused exclusively on $1-a-word markets and $100-per-hour projects. That meant that even if I did actual write for only 10 hours a week (the rest of the time devoted to marketing and admin), I could, in the weeks that I filled up those hours, be making $1,000 a week. Not bad!

2. Take on easier work.
Before motherhood, my biggest joy was being a journalist, going out and finding untold stories from places no one had ever looked. I wrote about the environment, women's issues, politics, and business from my home in India. I won awards for my work. But this was difficult, time-consuming work, and once the baby arrived, I wasn't really too keen on spending my time in garbage dumps and falling-apart hospitals. So I wrote about health and parenting instead. And I wrote for trade magazines and reported for newspapers on assignments that weren't dangerous. It was easier work, and it was better paying, too.

3. Make the most of every bit of research.
I have a rule for myself: Every interview I do should lead to at least two more ideas for stories. So when I interviewed a well-known food scientist for a story about genetic modification, I ended our conversation by asking him the two things he was most worried about going forward in terms of food security. He told me, in detail, and not only did I have two new story ideas, but I also already had quotes for when the story sold.

4. Come up with ideas in multiples of three.
I rarely come up with a single idea. I come up with the idea in multiples of three. That's because I take the initial spark of an idea and try to transform it into something that would fit into a number of different publications. So my query on how busy women can keep fit won't just be sent to a woman's magazine but a magazine for working women (The Five-Minute Fitness Program for Executives), a parenting magazine (Fitness Tips for the Time-Crunched Mummy) and maybe even a general interest publication (Fitness on a Stopwatch).

5. Have a goal for every hour.
It's so easy to open up your computer in the morning and waste two hours on Twitter. This happens when you don't have a plan of action. Make a to-do list for the week and then each day before bed, take the top three things you know you must do tomorrow and put them on a separate list. When you sit down to work in the morning (or during afternoon nap time), you know exactly what you need to get done. The more productive you are in the hours that you're actually working, the more you'll be able to earn.

Finally, remember, when people work 80 hours a week, they're not actually working those 80 hours. They're working a productive 20, a not-so-productive 20, and a completely wasteful 40. So maximize your own productivity for your first 20 hours and you'll be earning a full-time income in no time.

BIO
Mridu Khullar Relph is an award-winning freelance journalist who has written for The New York Times, TIME, CNN, ABC News, and more. She runs The International Freelancer (http://www.TheInternationalFreelancer.com) and will happily share 21 of her best query letters with anyone who signs up for her free weekly newsletter.

competitions

JEFF MARKS PRIZE FOR POETRY
http://decembermag.org/december-awards/
$20 ENTRY FEE.
First Prize: $1,500 and publication. Honorable Mention: $500 and publication. All finalists listed in Spring 2015 Awards issue. Entry fee includes copy of Awards issue.
Submit up to 3 poems per entry. Deadline December 15, 2014.

LEXI RUDNITSKY FIRST BOOK PRIZE
http://www.perseabooks.com/poetryprize.php
Deadline October 31, 2014. This annual competition sponsors the publication of a poetry collection by an American woman poet who has yet to publish a full-length book of poems. The winner receives an advance of $1,000 and publication of her collection by Persea. In addition, the winner receives the option of an all-expenses-paid residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center, a renowned artists retreat housed in a fifteenth-century castle in Umbertide, Italy. Must be US citizen. Submitted manuscripts should be at least 40 pages.

PRESS 53 AWARD FOR SHORT FICTION
http://www.Press53.com
$30 ENTRY FEE.
Awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of short fiction. Publication of winning short story collection, $1,000 cash advance, travel expenses and lodging for a special reading and book signing party at Press 53 headquarters Winston-Salem, North Carolina, attendance to the 2015 Press 53/Prime Number Magazine Gathering of Writers, and ten copies of the book. Deadline December 31, 2014.

DALLAS POETS COMMUNITY POETRY CONTEST
http://www.dallaspoetscom.org/2014%20Poetry%20Chapbook%20Competition.html
$15 ENTRY FEE.
Winner will receive $200 and 30 copies of his/her chapbook, input on cover design, and be invited to read from his/her chapbook as the feature at a DPC First Friday reading. Manuscript should contain 16 to 20 pages of poetry: any form, any theme. Each poem should appear on a separate page. Deadline November 15, 2014.

WALKER PERCY PRIZE IN SHORT FICTION
https://walkerpercy.submittable.com/submit
$15 ENTRY FEE.
Deadline December 15, 2014. Winner receives $1,000 and publication in New Orleans Review. All finalists considered for publication. Enter previously unpublished original stories up to 7,500 words.

GRANTS

NEBRASKA ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS
http://www.nebraskaartscouncil.org/artists/individual_artist_fellowships/
The NAC Individual Artist Fellowships (IAF) program recognizes exemplary career achievements by Nebraska artists. The IAF program supports originating artists in their respective fields by providing public recognition and monetary awards. The IAF program focuses on various major artistic disciplines on a three-year rotation, including Visual Arts, Literature, and Filmmaking and Performing Arts. The Literature discipline is the focus for the award year of 2015. Applications are now being taken through the deadline date of November 17, 2014. (The traditional annual deadline date of November 15 falls on a weekend this year, so the deadline is extended to the following Monday.)

ANNENBERG COMMUNITY BEACH HOUSE ARTIST RESIDENCY
http://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Portals/Culture/Public_Art_Program/2015ACBHCall_For_Writers.pdf
The City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, seeks proposals from writers living in Los Angeles County for the Writer's Residency Program at the Annenberg Community Beach House. The Writer's Residency Program offers writers a large, private office in the historic Marion Davies Guest House for six weeks to complete a work-in-progress. As an acknowledgement of the public benefit of the resident to the community, an honorarium of $1,500 is offered. The Residency is non-residential; no room/board is offered. The City will provide a lockable office with desk and chair, wireless internet access, refrigerator/microwave access, and a parking pass for the duration of the residency.

POETS HOUSE FELLOWSHIP
http://www.poetshouse.org/programs-and-events/workshops-classes-residencies/emerging-poets-residency
Funded for the fourth year by a generous grant from the Jerome Foundation, this fellowship immerses poets in a twelve-week program consisting of workshops and meetings that are reinforced by the inspiring environment here at Poets House, including our poetry library and unique archives as well as a diverse offering of readings and conversations by leading poets and scholars. The next Fellowship application deadline will be December 1, 2014. Location New York City.

MANITOBA RESIDENCIES
http://umanitoba.ca/centres/ccwoc/media/2014-15_CALL_FOR_APPLICATIONS.htm
A professional writer and/or storyteller is sought for the position of Writer/Storyteller-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba's Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture. The three-month residency, from September 8 to December 8, 2015, will require the successful candidate to spend approximately 16 hours per week providing mentorship and practical artistic advice to developing writers and storytellers at the University of Manitoba, to give a limited number of readings and/or performances on campus, and to lead an informal non-credit workshop. The remaining time is to be devoted to the writer or storyteller's own artistic projects. The successful candidate will receive a salary of $15,000 CAD, plus rent-free accommodation and return transportation to Winnipeg.

AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS FELLOWSHIP
http://americanlibraryinparis.org/events-programs/visiting-fellowship.html
The Library's Visiting Fellowship offer writers and researchers the opportunity to pursue a creative project in Paris for a month or longer while participating actively in the life of the American Library. The project may be a book (fiction or non-fiction), long-form journalism, film or music. Fellows receive a stipend of US$5,000 to assist with travel and housing costs. Fellows are expected to present their work-in-progress to the public in a weekday evening talk at the Library, and to conduct one or two workshops for Library members on a subject of common interest. Deadline January 1, 2015.

FREELANCE MARKETS

TRAVELMAG.COM
http://www.journalismjobs.com/job-listings/1613954
TravelMag.com is looking for three talented freelance writers based in the United States. You would write travel features about destinations that you have visited. Additionally, you could write a number of more commercial articles on subjects such as hotels, B&Bs or tour operators. Working hours are highly flexible, the remuneration would be $100-$300 per article.

SOUTH CAROLINA LIVING
https://ecscscliving.app.box.com/s/7r7im55t25q9oq34guom
Our features alternate between pocketbook energy issues and travel/lifestyle/general-interest topics. We're looking for a mix of great read features and solid service journalism. Almost any topic goes, so long as it has statewide interest and great art potential. Recent stories have ranged from an examination of the state's foster care system and the ways S.C. veterans are coping with post-traumatic stress disorder, to a humorous essay on the Springfield Frog Jump. Length: 1,500 to 3,000 words. Rate: $450.

BECKETT COINAGE
http://coinagemag.com/writers-guidelines/
The primary audience for COINage is coin collectors and investors. The magazine provides a refreshing review for the experienced collector and an introduction to key concepts for the less experienced. COINage will only consider unpublished manuscripts of 2,000 to 4,000 words. Note that photos are a serious part of the submission process.

NATIONAL PARKS MAGAZINE
http://www.npca.org/news/magazine/writers-guidelines.html
National Parks magazine publishes articles about areas in the National Park System, proposed new areas, threats to parks or park wildlife, scientific discoveries, legislative issues, and endangered species of plants or animals relevant to national parks. We do not publish articles on general environmental topics, nor do we print articles about land managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, or other federal agencies. Articles for National Parks should be directed to a largely nonscientific but well-educated audience. News articles and smaller departments are 500-1,200 words. Features run approximately 1,800-2,000 words. We generally pay 70 cents to $1/word, the high end being reserved for our proven contributors.

JOBS

RESIDENT FICTION AND CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITER
https://chroniclevitae.com/jobs/0000853502-01
The Penn State Altoona English Program is taking applications for a one-semester teaching residency in fiction and creative nonfiction. The program is targeted at early-career writers, preferably without a published book. The residency is designed to offer an emerging writer substantial time to write and offers a salary of $10,000 in return for teaching one general education level introduction to creative writing workshop during the Fall 2015 semester (August 24-December 18). The resident writer will also give a public reading, visit other creative writing courses, and work informally with our English majors. We are looking for a writer with publications of poetry in literary magazines and dramatic/screen productions. Emphasis will be placed on the quality of the work submitted. Successful candidate typically lives in the Altoona area during residency for the Fall 2015 semester. Benefits and housing are not included. A Master's degree in Creative Writing or English is required; an M.F.A. or Ph.D. in Creative Writing is preferred.

GATEHOUSE MEDIA SEEKS FREELANCE WRITERS
http://careers.wickedlocal.com
Wicked Local / GateHouse Media New England is seeking Reporters and Editors throughout Eastern Mass. Our fast-paced company has opportunities to become part of a leading local media group. We are looking for individuals with a variety of experience, ranging from recent college graduates and individuals looking to re-enter the workforce to experienced community journalists. The ideal candidates will be passionate about local news, excited about the opportunity to publish both in print and online and to be part of a dynamic, innovative news organization.

publishers/agents

3 SEAS LITERARY AGENCY
http://threeseasagency.com/
3 Seas is a full-service literary agency, and we're all about building our authors' careers! We represent more than 50 authors who write romance, women's fiction, science fiction/fantasy, thrillers, young adult and middle grade fiction as well as select nonfiction titles. In the fourteen years since the agency doors were opened, our agents have successfully sold into all the major publishing houses.

BALDI AGENCY
http://baldibooks.com/
The Baldi Agency is an independent and eclectic agency specializing in literary fiction, memoir and cultural history.

BARER LITERARY
http://www.barerliterary.com/submission-guidelines/
Barer Literary represents a variety of fiction and nonfiction. However, we do not represent books in the following categories: Health/Fitness, Business/Investing/Finance, Sports, Mind/Body/Spirit, Reference, Thrillers/Suspense, Military, Romance, Cookbooks, Children's Books/Picture Books, Screenplays.

BLUE RIDGE AGENCY
http://blueridgeagency.com/
Their wish list: Romances, especially historical, contemporary and romantic suspense, Amish Romances, Cozy Mysteries (amateur female sleuth/1 POV), Amish Mysteries, Mysteries with female protagonists, Edge of your seat thrillers, Women's Fiction, Inspirational Romance, New Adult (esp. Romance), YA Suspense/Thriller/Mysteries, YA Contemporary Romance. We only represent genre fiction novels.