Write On, Dude, Write On

Write On Con, an online kidlit writer's conference, started today! Well, the forum got a head start, but the advice posts and live events are now going full swing! Here's what the organizers advertised, and boy does it live up to it:

"Attendees don’t need to take time off work, travel, or spend a truckload of money. They can enjoy the conference from the convenience of their own homes, for free—and the schedule is designed around working hours. (Transcripts are also available of the entire conference, should anyone have to miss part of it.) And everything for the conference takes place within this website, which means everyone with basic Internet access will be able to participate in all aspects of the conference—no additional software or technology required.

During the conference, keynote addresses, agent panels, and lectures are presented as blogs, vlogs, moderated chats, webinars, podcasts, and livestreaming. There is also a critique forum, where participants can post query letters and writing samples to receive helpful feedback and comments from their peers and industry professionals. And, as if that weren’t exciting enough, there are also daily contests, giving random winners everything from books to personalized critiques from agents."

See you around the forum and comments!

UPDATE: My query for Crow's Rest has so far not gotten any Agent Ninja love in the forums, but it did get a partial request from agent Peter Knapp in his MG/YA Pitch live critique!

2012 Katherine Paterson Prize for YA & Children's Writing

I've been busy gearing up for the Pens for Paws Auction that starts on May 7, but wanted to give a heads up on an upcoming contest deadline. Hunger Mountain's Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing offers a chance to win $1,000 and publication in Hunger Mountain.

Here are the quick details from my post last year:

*One overall first place winner receives $1,000 and publication! Three runners-up receive $100 each. One runner-up from the YA (young adult) entries, one from the Middle Grade entries, and one from the Picture Book or Writing for Young Children entries chosen.

*$20 entry fee.

*Entries must be postmarked by June 30th

*Submit one story or novel excerpt up to 10,000 words. You may include a synopsis if your entry is an excerpt, but an excerpt should still work as a stand-alone piece

*Work must be original, written in English, and previously unpublished

*Your name or address should not appear anywhere on the work

*Once submitted, entries cannot be altered

*All entries will be considered for general publication as well as for the Katherine Paterson Prize (My MG short story, Hornworms, was published in Hunger Mountain and it was a genuine pleasure to work with the editorial staff)

*No artwork, or translations please

*Multiple entries allowed—each entry must include a separate entry fee

Good luck if you enter!

MeeGenius Contest for Children's Ebooks

News of MeeGenius's contest for authors of children's ebooks (ages 2-8) has been floating around the blogosphere, but in case you missed it here are some of the details from their website:

"MeeGenius is searching for the next great children’s book author, and is extending an invitation to aspiring and published authors to submit a manuscript. Winning manuscripts will be beautifully illustrated, professionally edited, and published online at MeeGenius. It’s as simple as writing, submitting, and having MeeGenius’ online community vote."

The process looks like this:
Submit Your Story by November 1, 2011

Manuscript Voting Round
(November 28 – December 18, 2011)
All of the stories will be posted to the MeeGenius website for review by the larger community. There are two ways to advance through the Manuscript Voting Round:

Popular Vote
Next to each story will be a “Like” button for visitors to press. The stories to get the most “Likes” from the community will go on to the Finalists Round.

Staff Favorites
In addition to the books chosen by the larger community, “Staff Favorites” will be picked by MeeGenius to enter the Finalists Round.

Finalists Round
(January 31 - February 21, 2012)
If you are one of the authors to get into the Finalists Round, your book will be professionally edited, and illustrated, and produced for the final round of voting! Again, your story will be voted on by your peers, fans and family — but this time everyone will see your book with illustrations and showcased on the MeeGenius website, and vote on whether you will be the Author Challenge 2011 Winner!

Winners Announced!
March 7, 2012
Prizes include a publishing contract+cash prize+collection of MeeGenius's ebooks for the school library of your choice

This sounds like a great opportunity to get your ebook published, or at least get some feedback on it! Good luck to those who enter!

Market for Children's Short Fiction & Poetry: Underneath the Juniper Tree

Earlier this year, a unique blend of "playfully dark arts and literature" called Crow Toes Quarterly shut its doors. But another such bold repository of subversive stories cropped up in the form of Underneath the Juniper Tree.

They run contests and challenges, as well as accepting submissions for prose (up to 2,000 words), poetry, and art year round. This quote about their art submissions says it best about what they are looking for:

"All submissions must have a dark, whimsical children’s theme to them. Pictures of fluffy bunnies and rainbows will not be accepted."

So if you have any sinister characters lurking in a corner of your mind, Underneath the Juniper Tree just might like to meet them.

This is an automatic post, so if I don't respond to your comments right away, I'll be back after the middle of the month.

Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult & Children's Writing

I've been so caught up in revisions that I haven't been able to stay on top of contests and such like I used to, sorry!

The KP Prize has a postmarked deadline of June 30, but since you can submit novel excerpts as well as short fiction, I'm going to post the details anyway. There just might be someone out there who has the perfect story or stand-alone excerpt ready to go! So here are the details from their contest page:

*One overall first place winner receives $1,000 and publication!
Three runners-up receive $100 each. One runner-up from the YA (young adult) entries, one from the Middle Grade entries, and one from the Picture Book or Writing for Young Children entries chosen.

*$20 entry fee.

*Entries must be postmarked by June 30th

*Submit one story or novel excerpt up to 10,000 words. You may include a synopsis if your entry is an excerpt, but an excerpt should still work as a stand-alone piece

*Work must be original, written in English, and previously unpublished

*Your name or address should not appear anywhere on the work

*Once submitted, entries cannot be altered

*All entries will be considered for general publication as well as for the Katherine Paterson Prize (My MG short story, Hornworms, was published in Hunger Mountain and it was a genuine pleasure to work with the editorial staff)

*No artwork, or translations please

*Multiple entries allowed—each entry must include a separate entry fee

*Winners will be announced in September

This year's judge is Kimberly Willis Holt. Good luck to everyone who enters!

RTW: A Young Girl's Fantasies

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What books were you obsessed with as a kid?

Just realized I might get some really weird keyword hits with this post title! Oh well. It's appropriate because I was mostly obsessed with fantasy books: Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin McKinley, Jane Yolen, and Patricia McKillip.

In fact, our school library rarely had copies of those on the shelf, because my friends and I checked them out in a perpetual rotation. We even used them to leave notes for each other, because odds were pretty low that someone outside our circle of friends would get to check them out. (No, I don't mean we wrote in the books--sacrilege!--we left notes tucked into the pages.)

I also read quite a few nonfiction books. Yes, I did read the encyclopedias for fun. That was probably my start of a love for researching, just for the pure joy of stumbling onto interesting facts. I had my own library of horse books and dog books (though I had neither animal of my own) and to this day I remember 97% of dog breeds by sight.

At about 10 or 11, I discovered my mom's romances (mostly historicals, some trashy). And then she caught me reading a Johanna Lindsay (A Pirate's Love!) right when the characters were in the midst of a love scene. She locked them up, and I had to smuggle them from the library thereafter.

Wow, I have to say that composing this post helped me trace all the influences from what I read as a child that have crept into my writing today, as well as my current tastes in books. Thanks, YA Highway, for the jaunt down memory lane!

2 Opportunities for Big Sur Children's Writing Workshops

Scenic northern California coast? Check! A collection of well-known editors, authors and agents? Check! An entire weekend devoted to intense discussions of your writing and children's writing in general? Time to concentrate on writing without being distracted by all the everyday demands of home? Check and check!

Two separate chances to attend the Big Sur Children's Writing Workshops, one in December (December 3-5, 2010) and one in March (March 4-6, 2011).

I've heard good things about these workshops and the resulting successes, but haven't had a chance (or the funds) to sign up yet. They take place near where my husband grew up in Salinas, so we actually have the option to visit family in the area and get the "commuter rate." But that only knocks off $120 from the registration, alas.

Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing

Got sidelined this last week with allergies and revisions, but I'm back with a post on the Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing

Quick facts
Deadline: Postmarked by June 30, or enter electronically online
Entry Fee: $20
Length: Up to 10,000 words (can be a story or a stand-alone excerpt from a novel)
Judge: Holly Black

If you don't make this deadline, the Hunger Mountain journal is also a paying market year round:

"YA and Children’s Writing
We accept picture book, middle grade, YA and YA crossover work (text only—for now). We’re looking for polished pieces that entertain, that show the range of adolescent experience, and that are compelling, creative and will appeal to the devoted followers of the kid-lit craft, as well as the child inside us all."