"Short on Words"

Northville's Arts and Acts Festival's "Short on Words" contest
Write a short story or poem based on one of the pictures in the appropriate youth (0-17) or adult (18+) category (found at preservationdental.com). No more than 1500 words. Entries must be typed with a title, page numbers, double-spaced, and single-sided only. Include a cover page with the title, your name, the name of your "inspiration" photo, an e-mail and/or phone number, and optional Biography.
Send your submission form, 3 copies of your piece, and a $10 entry fee (checks made out to Northville Art House), to Preservation Dental, Attention: Denise Jenkins, 371 E Main St, Northville, MI 48167 no later than April 12th.
1st place ($100) 2nd ($50) 3rd ($25). A reception to honor all authors will be Friday, June 28th, the first day of the Arts and Acts Festival.

NaNoWriWee

If anyone was filling left out of the Nano month, then there is another contest that hones in on just 30 hours of writing.  It’s called NaNoWriWee (National  Novel Writing Weekend), and is taking place January 26/27.  There’s no set word limit, but you have to start from scratch and write more than one word.  They will also post your final entries online for people to review. 

At the end, they will award prizes in the following categories:

• Best novel 
• Best science fiction or technology-related novel 
• Best humorous or satirical novel 
• Best sex scene

The overall winner will receive a “publishing deal with HarperCollins, with an ebook to be published as soon as possible after the announcement.”

Details on the contest and how to enter can be found at:  http://www.kernelmag.com/scene/3669/the-30-hour-novel/

Note: I’m not going to do it, but I did note that it is going to be based in England, so some words of wisdom for those daring enough to attempt it include….

*The British allow more sex/nudity than we do on TV, but a lot less violence. 

*There are some word changes you might want to be aware of.  For example, Pants mean underwear, Raunchy means loud and energetic, and Randy means Raunchy. 

*They typically use the single quote mark where we use double ones to begin a dialogue, and I believe they also use the double quote mark where we would typically put a single mark. (But don’t “quote” me on it-ha ha.)

*As for spelling…See if you can put your spell check to British - English so it will help you fix words like honor to honour and armor to armour.

Writing 101 Workshop

Offered at the Belleville library between 10-4:30, this Saturday.  It promises to cover the whole spectrum from generating ideas to getting published.  Space is limited to 50 participants.  The cost is $25 and hosted by a house-published romance author (Beverly Jenkins) and the head of the Motown writers network (Sylvia Hubbard), a self-published author.  You can sign up and find more details at http://www.belleville.lib.mi.us/.

Book Making Class

Learn how to bind a copy of your stories into a book.  Thursday, January 31^st, at Canton High School, from 6-9 pm.  You can register online at http://communityeducation.pccs.k12.mi.us.  It is Self Improvement class #730, Make a Book.

“One Act” Sneak Peak

7pm, Thursday January 10^th, Canton’s Jake Zinke and Brion Scheidel will come to the Canton Library to share their one act plays for the “One Acts festival,” talk about plays, and sign scripts.  The festival is being held at Village Theater, January 18-20^th at 2 and 8pm ($12/“R” rating)

Loveswept, Alibi, Hydra and Flirt

NEW RANDOM HOUSE IMPRINTS
http://www.atrandom.com/eoriginals/submission.php
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Loveswept, Alibi, Hydra and Flirt invite queries for submissions
in romance, new adult, mystery/detective, suspense/thriller,
science fiction, fantasy, and horror. There is no strict word
count limit for submissions. We are interested in short content
(customarily between 15,000 and 30,000 words) and full-length
works (customarily between 40,000 and 60,000 words).

You may present any manuscript in which you control exclusive
copyright. We are open to previously published manuscripts as
long as the submitting author now controls all electronic and
print publishing rights.

Please submit the entire query form at the link below. If we
are interested in considering your full manuscript, you will
be contacted with further submission instructions. We make
every effort to respond to submission inquiries within 2-4
weeks after submission.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel

January 14, 2013-January 27, 2013 (or until 10,000 entries have been submitted.)

Contest genres: General Fiction, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror and Young Adult Fiction

Register at www.CreateSpace.com/abna to enter the Contest. Once you have registered, follow the instructions on the entry form and upload:

(1) the complete version of your manuscript that is between 50,000 and 150,000 words("Manuscript");
(2) up to the first 5,000 words, but not less than 3,000 words, of your Manuscript, excluding any table of contents, foreword, and acknowledgments ("Excerpt");
(3) a pitch of your Manuscript consisting of up to 300 words ("Pitch"); and
(4) the personal information required on the entry form.

Prizes: One Grand Prize winner will receive a publishing contract with an advance of $50,000, and four First Prize winners will each receive a publishing contract with an advance of $15,000.