Like Us and Win!

During the month of November (2010) the Chico Writers Group will be holding a drawing to win a hardback copy of Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris and a paperback copy of On Writing by Stephen King.

 

Here are the rules:

• Only available to persons living in the continental United States, void where prohibited.
• Entrants must have a Facebook account, be 18 years of age or older, a human being (sorry, pets, cartoon characters, and other non-human entities are not eligible) and "like" us (http://www.facebook.com/ChicoWritersGroup). 
• When we hit 1,000 total fans in the month of November, we will draw a name and that person will receive the two books.

That's it!

And coming in December, we'll run another contest, so stay tuned for more information.

Additional rules and restrictions:

• In the event the person whose name is drawn is not a resident in the continental United States, another individual will be chosen.
• We will notify the winner via Facebook private message.
• The member has 14 calendar days to respond to the message, providing us with their USPS mailing address and phone number (never shared with anyone).
• Should the winning member fail to respond within the specified period of time, another member's name will be drawn.
• The books will be mailed via PaperbackSwap.com, standard rate media mail service with delivery confirmation. Recipient need not be a member of PaperbackSwap.com.
• In the event the total fans does not reach 1,000 by midnight Pacific Coast Time, November 30, 2010, this contest will be null and void.
• The administrator of the group, the "Chico Writers Group" on Facebook, reserves the right to block and/or remove any individual from the group should the individual appear to be spamming or otherwise attempting to interfere with the group's members and or goals.

Contact: For further information, clarification, and questions, please contact us via Facebook or write to us at TheChicoWritersGroup@gmail.com and include "FACEBOOK" in the subject line.

Good luck!

Ready, Set, Go! NaNoWriMo Tips

In less than four short days, National Novel Writing Month will be upon us. In thirty-days, writers around the world will be attempting to write 50,000 words all for the glory of saying "I did it!". If you are one of the crazed that will be joining in this event, here are some tips to help you make the most of this endeavor:

• Cordon off your work area.
  • If need be, stop off at your local animal shelter, offer to house a dog, the meaner the better (or perhaps the more loyal to it's caretaker) for the month and set up a kennel just at the door/opening to your work area to keep visitors at bay.
  • Post Do No Disturb signs liberally about your work area.
  • Offer to water potted cacti for the local nursery for the month on the condition you can take the cacti with you, then set it about your work area. This is something most anyone, even those with the blackest of thumbs can do, seeing that much like camels, cacti don't require a whole lot of watering.
• Stock up on beverages, protein powered snacks, and yes, chocolate.
• Change your answering machine/voice mail outgoing message. Remember to issue a threat to anyone attempting to contact you if it has nothing to do with getting your novel done.
• Flatly turn down all offers for Thanksgiving unless they are willing to feed you without disturbing you, your headphones, and whichever medium you are electing to use to write your novel.
  • A word to the wise, do not offer to host Thanksgiving dinner at your house. Only an insane person (yours truly) would even contemplate such a ridiculous thing.
  • On that note, also don't be tempted to hit the stores, shopping centers, malls or any other commercial wasteland of consumerism. Yes, there are incredible Black Friday deals, but you were going to run over to that POD (publish on demand) site online and have your novel printed and bound as a gift for each and every one of holiday "shop for" list, weren't you?
• If you are responsible for the care and feeding of children, it's perfectly acceptable to stock up on frozen and instant-meal-in-a-box dinners, they are more nutritious than the stuff that our mother's fed us and easy enough for even a five-year-old to make. Heck, that dog you brought home from the pound? Put 'em to work! And while you're stocking up, don't forget to get some for you too.
• Collect, buy, borrow, steal the following books:
  • Unabridged dictionary
  • Rand McNally Global Color Maps
  • 2008, 2009, 2010 Writer's Market Editions (preferably the deluxe edition)
  • Thesaurus
  • And/or several Encyclopedia Britannica volumes
• Put the aforementioned books under your desk and use them as a footrest. You won't be needing this, you are writing, not researching, not editing, not proofing - just writing!
• For those of you with a needy spouse/partner/mate, for $14.50 you can alleviate that concern. Just follow the link here [mature, open-minded, humor-filled folks only, please]
• Be sure to get plenty of exercise as that keeps the blood circulating in your cranium and fingers. Remember that dog? Grab up a rubber ball and toss it around. That'll do it. Now get back to writing!

Cheers and the best of luck! Let us know how your venture is going by leaving a comment. Care to pick up a few supporters along the way? Leave your NaNoWriMo screenname with your post and let the real fun begin.

Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest

From the PNWA mailer: :

PNWA 2010 Literary Contest:

It's your chance to shine. Every writer knows there comes a time to send their work out into the world. Don't miss this opportunity to put your work to the test and compete with some of the best at the Annual PNWA Literary Contest. There are 12 categories, cash prizes and accepted entries receives two valuable critiques. In addition, finalists' entries are read and judged by an agent or editor to determine the top three in each category. Winners are announced every year at the Summer Conference in front of writers, agents and editors
Featuring Twelve Categories:

1. Mainstream
2. Historical Genre (NEW THIS YEAR)
3. Romance Genre
4. Mystery/Thriller Genre
5. Science Fiction/Fantasy
6. Young Adult Novel
7. Non-Fiction Book/Memoir
8. Screen Writing
9. Poetry
10. Short Story
11. Children's Picture Book or Chapter Book
12. Adult Short Topics (Article/Essay/Short Memoir)

Please visit our website (www.pnwa.org) for details and contest entry form.

Yes, there really are great things that are free!

do you duotrope?

what is duotrope? Duotrope’s Digest is a free, online resource for writers of fiction and poetry.
why duotrope? Search for the perfect market for your fiction and poetry, based on a number of criteria. We list well over a thousand current markets and keep them as up to date as humanly possible. You can also get nifty reports on response times and acceptance/rejection ratios. Sign up for a free account and track your submissions. We’ll even remind you when it’s time to query. Explore and see what else we have on tap.
how can duotrope? Pull up your web browser and head over to duotrope.com. Remember, it’s free!

Contests of Interest

Second Annual Short Story Contest: The Smoking Poet
$10.00 per submission  --  5,000 words maximum
Deadline is May 31, 2009

Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition
10 categories for the 78th Annual Writing Competition
More than $30,000 in cash and prices.
Deadline is May 15, 2009

Listing of writing contests that may be of interest:
http://www.oncewritten.com/WritingContests.php

And as always, Duotrope.com always keeps a huge database full of short story, novel and poetry contests.  Be sure to stop by, throw them a bit of your cash to keep this wonderful free service going and if you haven't already, sign up for their free newsletters.

Write on!