Don't Miss Out on These Opportunities!

Over the weekend, the aptly named Operation Awesome collected a wealth of posts into a New Year's Revision Conference. Agents, editors, and authors all chimed in with advice on tackling revisions, no matter where you are in your publishing journey.

But if you missed out, don't worry--they've archived all the contributions and you can go back and read them at your leisure. And don't forget to enter their giveaway!

Also, WOW! Women on Writing Workshops is putting on a free teleseminar: Show VS Tell and Overwriting in Children’s Fiction by Margo L. Dill tomorrow, on January 8th. They've already filled up the workshop, but there are plans to record the seminar and make it available. Make sure you follow the instructions to sign up for the class or otherwise let them know you're interested in it.

Seems like the 2013 conference season is starting out with a bang!

Pitch Contest with YAtopia and Entranced Publishing

Brief post today--just directing your attention to a great contest opportunity.

YAtopia and Entranced Publishing are teaming up for a pitch contest, with a chance at a slot in an online editing workshop and possible e-publication on the line.

On September 7th (UPDATE: they've moved it up to September 1!), you'll need to have the following ready for their pitch contest post:

- Name
- Email
- Title
- Age-range & Genre
- Word-count
- Hook (100 words or fewer)


So head on over and check out the details!

Left Coast Crime Writer's Workshop

Last Friday was the Left Coast Crime Writer's Workshop and it was a great way to reinforce some of the things I'd learned from Alexandra Sokoloff's book, as well as to get some new information on ebooks from Elle Lothlorien.


Elle Lothlorien's presentation on ebooks was eye-opening. Some great information on her publishing journey and things that worked (plus things that didn't). Her general advice was to get your book looking as professional as possible if you go the self-published ebook route, and a cool resource for that is CrowdSpring. You can set the fee you're able to pay, upload your book description, and have artists submit their interpretation of cover art. You can turn them all down if nothing captures your interest, but it's pretty incredible to see the wide variety of interpretations.

I won't rehash Alex's workshop since I've already blogged about her book, but as homework she asked us to list the top 10 movies and books that compare to our stories. My list for Crow's Rest was:

Starman (just watched the original trailer for this on Netflix and nearly fell out of my chair laughing, but I stand by it as an example and best parallel for my story)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer series (not a movie, I know)
Harry Potter books and movies (for their allies disguised as villains, and vice versa)
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (for its depiction of faeries as not-so-nice creatures)
Tenth Kingdom (for its fractured fairy tale feel, and the family dynamics)
The Usual Suspects (for characters that aren't what they seem)
Hot Fuzz (same reason as above, as well as an irreverent attitude)
Ella Enchanted book and movie (she doesn't have any powers of her own, but is able to hold her own among those that do)
Shrek movies (fractured fairy tale and irreverence combined, plus my MC can be kind of crude and rude on occasion)
How to Train Your Dragon (for some of its family dynamics, and the obvious hero's journey)


What about you? Have you ever put some thought into which books and movies inspire your story, and why?



(Photo, from left to right: me with a usual goofy expression, Danna Wilberg, Alex Sokoloff, and Nancy Herman)

Grants Available for Readings and Workshops

Poets & Writers is offering grants to fund readings and workshops in selected areas, so if you're lucky enough to be in one of these locales you can apply for a grant:

"Organizations that sponsor readings and workshops in New York State or California, or Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, New Orleans, Seattle, Tucson, or Washington, D.C., may apply for grants to be used for writers' fees.

We make grants for writers' fee payments only. Grant checks are payable to the writer and sent to the sponsor, which is responsible for delivering them to the author. We do not fund administrative costs, publicity, transportation, or other expenses related to producing events. We do not fund in-school events, children's events, staged dramatic readings, or storytelling events featuring non-original or adapted works."

There are lots of other details, so go check it out for yourself. Please note that you must apply at least eight weeks before the event--breaking that rule alone is enough to disqualify your application!

Also, new to my critique partner Christina Mercer's blog is a section called Events listing upcoming workshops, conferences, and contests. Go over there and check out her list, too.

Fellowships, scholarships, and grants (oh my!)

Writer's conferences and workshops may have fellowships, scholarships, or grants available, but they don't seem to advertise them widely. This makes sense, of course, because they would have people who might otherwise register choose to wait and see if they got some funds to pay their way.

I try to pay for conferences out of my writing income instead of household funds, but this year my account is pretty low. So I decided to look for other ways to attend writer's events, such as volunteering (like I did at our SCBWI Regional Conference recently), fellowships, and grants. I wanted to share some of the opportunities in my neck of the woods, to give some ideas of places to check in your area.

Our SCBWI regional chapter has a grant available for members to attend the Summer Conference in Los Angeles this August. They'll pay up to $1,000 dollars to cover your lodging, conference fees, and a paid critique (oddly, you must be logged in to the site to view the details and application instructions). Incidentally, SCBWI offers a number of other grants for members.

UC Davis, through their extension courses on creative writing and nonfiction writing, holds the Tomales Bay Workshops in October this year. You may apply for an Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation Fellowship, which will be awarded in each genre: fiction, poetry, and nonfiction/personal essay. Or just become the student editor-in-chief of the American River Review (the literary journal of American River College) and you can automatically get a fellowship.

That last suggestion may be a little more time intensive than you want (and may require you to relocate), but most of the other fellowships, grants, and scholarships require little more than your time and writing effort. There are usually no fees to apply, but you may have to submit an essay or CV along with your writing samples. It didn't take me very long to get my packets together to apply for each of these, and if I get the grant or fellowship it will be time well spent.

Also, I've posted about it before, but it's worth a reminder that Poets & Writers has a searchable database for grants and awards.

Does anyone else want to share any links, or creative low-cost ways to get access to conferences and workshops?

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.

Upcoming Book Reading and Writing Workshop

When I went to the Roseville Litfest a few weeks back, I met Kim Culbertson, author of Songs for a Teenage Nomad. A critique partner just lent me her copy of the book, and I'm excited to read it before my rapidly-narrowing fiction window closes (I start a new novel next week, and I can't read fiction while I'm plotting). The synopsis reads eerily like my own childhood (see my bio on the WOW! contest page).

But if you're in the greater Sacramento area, you might want to join Kim at the Grass Valley Center for the Arts for a reading and workshop focused on songs and memory.

Suggested donation is $10, which supports the Center's writing programs.