April 2023 opportunities for writers

Erika Dreifus/The Practicing Writer Newsletter for April 2023 can be found online. It lists many opportunities for writers. Here are some Canada-based ones:

 

Canada-based FUNICULAR is open for fiction (including flash) and poetry submissions until April 11. Pays: $10/printed page (up to a maximum of $100) for short stories and $25 per piece of flash or poetry. "We'll also throw in a contributor's copy so you can place it conspicuously on your coffee table to help convince your parents you are not wasting your life on this writing thing." NB: "We do not currently pay for pieces accepted for online publication only."

 

Open until April 15 (and also Canada-based): OVER/EXPOSED, which "publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, reviews, visual art, hybrid works, and experimental mediums." Pays: "a small honorarium of CDN $15 per publication." (Hat tip: @Duotrope.)

 

Scheduled to open its Submittable gates on April 1 (and remaining open for the month): Canada-based BRICK, which "prides itself on publishing the best literary non-fiction in the world." Pays: "$55–685, depending on the length of accepted work, plus two copies of the issue the work appears in and a one-year subscription to the magazine."

 

Closing April 30: Canada-based THE T|E|MZ REVIEW, which publishes prose and poetry, paying $20 (presumably CAD) per piece of prose and per batch of poems.

 

WALLACE STEGNER GRANT FOR THE ARTS
Deadline: April 30. For published writers with Canadian citizenship. Award includes a $500 grant and one month's free residency at the Wallace Stegner House in Eastend, Saskatchewan.

 

 

writerly news for March 6, 2023

Welcome to the latest edition of Writerly News. In cases where you don't see something that looks like a link, click on the WORDS to find the site.

 

-SHRAPNEL "publishes experimental writing from emerging writers in the genres of fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, and poetry. We also converse with the Canadian literary community through book reviews, interviews, and columns. We are also keen to publish graphic narratives and comics, as well as transgenre work that is not easily categorized." On top of our rates for written work, we'll chuck in an additional $5 for writers who are able to record themselves reading their piece." [tip courtesy of Erika Dreifus's The Practicing Writer (Hat tip: Jeanne Lyet Gassman.)]  https://www.shrapnelmagazine.com/submit

 

-Do you plot a story ahead of time or write it by the seat of your pants? Here's a particularly good article on the topic. [Click on the following words to find the article.]

 

 

How To Pants A Novel

 

-Here's a writing contest for a 500-word synopsis of a novel. Great incentive to polish the synopsis, which can be used to pitch to a publisher OR for marketing. It's only $5 to enter. The link:

https://darlingaxe.com/pages/the-synopsis-skirmish.

 

-TORONTO JOURNAL publishes "short stories from anywhere in the world. We will also consider non-fiction pieces about local history (Toronto, GTA, and surrounding areas). We pay $50 per piece. All published writers will also receive two printed copies of the issue in which they appear." [tip courtesy of Erika Dreifus's The Practicing Writer]

Submit - Toronto Journal

 

 

-How long should a book be? Excellent article here.

 

 

How Long Should A Novel Be?

 

 

 

-At the Feb 15 Interior Authors Group meeting [in Kamloops, British Columbia], member Terry Roth introduced Word Hippo, a free online program for finding synonyms, antonyms, definitions, rhyming words, word forms, translations, and crossword and scrabble searches. The site is wordhippo.com.

 

-Can artificial intelligence help you improve your writing? Here's an article on the topic.

 

 

3 new AI editors to strengthen your writing  Wonder Tools

 

-THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY invites submissions on the topic "Splash" by Apr 1, 2023. More info here.

 

 

The Century invites reader submissions

 

 

-Some people make a lot of money as ghostwriters. Here's an article about what a ghostwriter is and does.

 

 

What Is A Ghostwriter (And How Do I Become One)?

 

-A newish monthly bulletin that may interest you if you write poetry.

Monthly deadlines, ideas, and tools to revise and publish your poetry book. Plus submission fee support and an annual update of 150+ manuscript reading periods.  https://poetrybulletin.substack.com/

 

 

thought-provoking dystopian novel by Nego Huzcotoq reviewed by Elma Schemenauer

The main character in Nego Huzcotoq's novel Severed Roots is an awkward young man named Nick. He tries to do the right thing. For example, while Nick is standing in line to go into a store, he sees a friend looking sad on a nearby bench. He leaves the queue to comfort her, though he doesn't know what to say.

When a stranger on a bus asks to borrow Nick's umbrella, he lends it though it means Nick himself will get soaked in the rain.

When the government says all males must wear pink slippers on a particular holiday, Nick buys the slippers and wears them. He aims to be a law-abiding Canadian citizen though he has doubts about the direction the government is taking the country.

In Huzcotoq's novel, which takes place in a contemporary alternative reality, governments are swayed by a global grassroots movement aimed at achieving world peace. The Movement believes it can achieve this by eliminating families from society. According to the government and its supporters:

"Family threatens social harmony and productivity."

"Loyalty based on blood (is) the longest-standing blemish on human history."

"Parenting has ruined every generation since the dawn of history."

"Since the beginning of history, siblings have been antagonistic toward each other. Cain killed his brother, Abel. Jacob hated his brother, Esau. Joseph's brothers wanted to kill him and threw him into a pit. What do you think God has been trying to tell us?"

The Movement targets men as the root cause of many of the world's problems. The nature of mankeys (as the Movement calls them) is to control and abuse women and children. The best thing a mankey can do, his highest calling, is to become a woman. Government subsidies are offered for mankeys who choose to undergo the necessary "no-pain surgery" and lifelong hormone replacement therapy.

Transitioning may be a good option for Nick. If he were a woman, he would gain respect, dignity, and opportunities not open to mankeys. He could get a good job instead of living mostly on handouts, as many mankeys are forced to do. Changing his gender might also positively affect his eternal destiny.

When Nick drops into a church and tries to pray, he meets an old man who tells him, "Unfortunately, men are damned even if they are believers. Women can surrender to God but we men can't. Not fully, at least. It's not in our nature to be submissive."

Nick isn't sure about this. He isn't very sure about anything. But he's a truth seeker. He longs to know "the difference between what is true and real and what is illusion." His quest takes him on an adventure-filled journey from a Mankey Bar, to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, to a low-level job in the Ministry of Tomorrow, to an Iowa prison and beyond.

In this novel, there are no easy answers. It's a thought-provoking book. That's what makes it so well worth reading. It's also entertaining. Characters, even minor ones, are engaging and memorable. Their motivations are believable. The plot moves well. Cause-and-effect relationships are clear, sometimes frighteningly so. At the heart of it all is Nick trying to do the right thing, one clumsy foot ahead of the other.

The Kindle edition of Severed Roots is available for pre-order on Amazon.

If ordering from Canada, go to https://tinyurl.com/43xcpesh

If ordering from the USA, go to https://tinyurl.com/yud37x2k

thoughts on book promotion

Every author finds his/her own ways of promoting a book depending on personality, location, time available, etc. Following are some ways I promote mine. Maybe something in the list will give you ideas.

 

1] Invite people to write reviews of it. Encourage them to post their reviews online, submit them to periodicals for possible publication, etc.

2] Write a press release and send it to TV, radio, periodical, and other media people. Some may share the information in a minor or major way, or even interview me about it.

3] Share information about it through my e-mail list (to which I send periodic updates).

4] Tell people about it online through sites including:

Website https://elmams.wixsite.com/elma

Blog https://elmasalmanac.blogspot.com/

Amazon Author Central https://www.amazon.com/Elma-Schemenauer/e/B001JPAGJK

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNby1-vkTrMmlcPvmJvBqBA

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/prairiesunflowers/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057484664459

5] Promote the book through the various writers' organizations I belong to.

6] Write articles relating to the book and send them to periodicals for possible publication.

7] Give public talks about topics relating to the book. Bring copies of the book for sale.

8] Sell copies of the book at craft markets and farmers' markets.

writerly news for Dec 30, 2022

Here's a newish monthly bulletin that may interest you if you write poetry. https://poetrybulletin.substack.com/about

Here's the Dec 2022 edition of THE PRACTICING WRITER by Erika Dreifus. The following three submission opportunities are especially relevant to Canadians: 1] EVENT magazine, 2] BOOK*HUG PRESS, 3] RBC BRONWEN WALLACE AWARDS FOR EMERGING WRITERS. https://tinyurl.com/78yx72c6

 

THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY invites submissions on the topic "Wind" by Feb 1, 2023. Deadline for submissions on the topic "Splash" is Apr 1, 2023. More info here. https://tinyurl.com/4mw2fhpe

 

Good thoughts here on establishing and conveying setting in our writing. https://tinyurl.com/3jrj83rx

  

We don't make any of these mistakes in our writing, do we? https://tinyurl.com/2zuk5b5y

All the best to you and yours in the brand-new year, 2023! 

 

 

 

 

IAG CHRISTMAS SOCIAL 2022 AT THE SMORGASBORD, KAMLOOPS, MORE PICTURES

These are from Eleanor Hancock. Thanks, Eleanor!

IAG CHRISTMAS SOCIAL 2022 AT THE SMORGASBORD, KAMLOOPS

About 20 members of the Interior Authors Group enjoyed a Christmas social including turkey dinner at The Smorgasbord in Kamloops Dec 14, 2022. Here are just a few pictures.