Delacorte Press Contest for First Young Adult Novel

The deadline for the Delacorte Press Contest for a First Young Adult Novel is coming up uber fast. (I have never quite figured out why they post it under Kids@Random House, since it's open to any writer who has not previously published a young adult novel, but...) So dust off your manuscripts, polish them up, and send them in. December 31, 2008 looms.

Details:

• Contemporary setting suitable for readers ages 12 to 18;
• Manuscripts should be 100 to 224 typed, double-spaced pages;
• Include a cover page with title, author, address, and phone number;
• Submit in padded envelope; Include SASE for notification only.
• No simultaneous submissions;
• Authors may submit up to two manuscripts to the competition.

Send Manuscripts to:
Delacorte Press Contest
Random House, Inc.
1745 Broadway, 9th Floor
New York, New York 10019

Report on Your Life: FieldReport

November 15 marks this season's submission deadline for FieldReport, a website dedicated to your creative nonfiction memoir pieces. All you have to do is sign up (free), review five other pieces, and then you're able to post your own 2000-word-or-less personal narrative.

Founded with the desire to deepen Internet communities, this website allows readers to review, comment on, or simply read others' true life experiences. To sweeten the experience, a monthly prize of $1000 is awarded to the greatest story in each of the twenty categories, which is determined by a blind review process.

A quarterly prize of $4000 is awarded to the highest ranking field report (excluding previous Silver winners), and a Grand Prize of $250,000 is awarded to the highest ranking silver or bronze winner on January 1st.

A $25,000 teen prize is also awarded to those entrants who are between the ages of 13-17.

The Positives: There is no sign up fee. You can have up to three writing "personas" that allow for anonymity, if you're worried about posting under your given name. You keep the copyright, allowing FieldReport a "limited license on the work."

The Drawbacks: It seems that once posted, your story is there for all time.

Have any of you actually posted your stories on FieldReport? I haven't, so I'm curious about your experiences if you have. Positive? Negative? Ambivalent?

Five Steps to Effective Blogging Transfers to Articles

Rather out of the blue, I decided to pen a series of articles. I have a specific audience in mind and certain magazines that I want to target. Incidentally, I know little about non-fiction writing. The few things I do know include the following: one normally queries before one writes the article, one typically has sample articles to send in, and one is usually an expert (or has interviewed experts) in the subject to be written about. I'm currently zero for three.

In thinking it over, however, it occurred to me that keeping a blog teaches a variety of skills needed in the non-fiction world. If you're self-disciplined, if you've perused other blogs to see what catches your eye then replicated the patterns on your own, and if you've read articles on effective blogging, well, then, you're already on the right track. (Disclaimer: This is not to insinuate that I know anything about effective blogging.)

Five Steps to Effective Blogging:

1. Review your own blog: look at the posts that have garnered the most comments.
2. Do you have a catchy hook, five (or three or ten) easy steps, and a conclusion?
3. Is your language clear yet lyrical or full of imagery or simply succinct?
4. Consider the layout: do you use bullets, numbering, and other format buttons effectively?
5. Do you separate long stretches of prose with spaces or pictures or lists?

Well, then, you're ready to turn your blogging skills into cold, hard cash. Or something like that. Oh, I know. You're a fiction writer. You pen fantasy or sci fi or chick lit or whatever. I understand that. I'm there with you. But peruse a call for submissions sometime. See what tickles your fancy. Most magazines pay by the word or the article. Best of all, it's a way to get your name in print, which is precisely what that last paragraph in a query requires.

The Writer Gazette is a website with a ton of resources for writers. My favorite part is the Call for Submissions page jam-packed full of magazines looking for writers of talent. I've read your blogs. I've read many of the magazines. I have zero doubt in my mind that most -- if not all -- of you on my blogroll have not only the skills but also that delightful mastery of word-smithing integral to successful writing. Just think on it...You might surprise yourself.

Call for Stories

For you short-story writers out there, two opportunities present themselves in September. Both of the them come from the Literary Cottage; working for Adams Media, the Literary Cottage is seeking stories for two anthologies they're currently working on.

1. Woodstock Revisited: Adams Media is seeking true story accounts written by people who actually attended the 1969 Woodstock Festival. According to their website, "stories must be TRUE, 850-1100 words, vivid, and substantive." DEADLINE: Sunday, September 7th, 2008.

2. My Dog is my Hero: The fourth book in the Hero series, this volume will contain stories about the remarkable dog in each writer's life. Stories must be 850-1100 words, true, and preferably uplifting. See website for more details. DEADLINE: Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Monetary concerns: You will be paid $100 for your story, receive a free copy of the anthology, and be considered for a "top three" monetary prize. Submission guidelines are located on each topic's page, and questions can be directed at Susan Reynolds.

Note: For you non-fiction writers out there, Adams Media is currently looking for new book proposals. The good news is that they accept submissions directly from authors (including first time authors), as well as from literary agents, so don't be shy.