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Writer's Digest is pleased to present an exclusive virtual conference for novel writers! On January 22-23, our Novel Writing Virtual Conference will provide expert insights from SIX award-winning and best-selling authors on the finer points of how to write a novel. Spend the weekend learning techniques for honing your craft skills, refining your characters, exploring the future of publishing, and getting the tools you need to advance your career as a writer from six different published authors*, then (if you choose) pitch your novel via query letter to a literary agent. The agent will provide you with a personalized critique of your query – and maybe ask to see more.

 

• 10 Ways to Ruin Your Characters by Jeff Somers
  Writers often struggle with creating characters who feel real on the page. But there are a few fundamental missteps that doom your characters—avoiding these mistakes won’t guarantee a bestseller, but will guarantee you’ll have interesting, well-developed characters. (Sun., 3:00 p.m. ET)
• Crafting a Page Turner by Hallie Ephron
  In this session, Hallie will explore the elements that go into crafting a novel that readers can't put down. (Sun., 1:00 p.m. ET)
• How to Lay the Groundwork for Writing a Series From the First Book by C. Hope Clark
  In this session, writers will learn how to lay the foundation in their first book to set up a novel series. (Sat., 3:00 p.m. ET)
• Writing App Speed Dating by Michael La Ronn
  In this session, prolific author M.L. Ronn will cover the top features of the hottest writing apps on the market and help you choose the best fit for your writer personality. (Sat., 1:00 p.m. ET)
• The Realities of Editing With a Publisher by Nathan Makaryk
  In this session, author Nathan Makaryk breaks down all the various stages of editing that take place with the editor, talks about the editing process, and tells his stories of that journey and how it differed from his expectations going in. (Sun., 5:00 p.m. ET)
• How to Use Point of View and Voice to Shape Compelling Stories by Jennifer Givhan
  In this session, we will investigate how to captivate readers through one crucial element of voice: point of view. (Sat., 11:00 a.m. ET)

Experience the education, camaraderie, and opportunities provided by a live writing conference without ever having to leave your home! Learn more and sign up....here. 

EDITOR'S THOUGHTS

ON BEING UNIQUE

The more someone else can write your piece, the less valuable it is. 

I receive many submissions for FundsforWriters, and the majority of them can be written by almost anyone. How to write for parenting magazines, how to schedule your writing day, what makes for a successful writer. The advice could be copied and pasted from multiple places on the web because they are so generic. That's why we ask that the piece be full of anecdotes (first-hand experience) and ingenuity (unique snippets of advice not seen elsewhere). 

You'd be amazed at how many people think that nailing the word count qualifies the piece. You'd also be amazed at how many people ignore the word count, period. But what will reject a piece just as quickly as lack of attention to word count, is being common and submitting a piece, the likes of which can be found on every writing mill and blog on the Internet. 

Whether talking about an article to FundsforWriters or a novel to a traditional press, the bottom line is if someone else could write something similar to yours, it's worth less. The world wants originality and freshness. Whether a publisher, agent, magazine editor, or editor of a little newsletter like mine, the person buying or contracting the work wants something nobody else has done. And the person writing it needs the chops to carry off a unique voice and original ideas. 

So, when writing for anyone, consider this:

1) You need to do research to show you can offer something nobody else can, and

2) You need to groom your writing voice such that it sparkles, shines, and glistens as one different than the fray of others out there writing.

Anyone can tell a story. It truly matters more in HOW you tell it.

SUPER SPONSOR 

HOPE'S APPEARANCES

 
SUCCESS QUOTE

SUccess Story

If you have a success story you believe was prompted by FundsforWriters, please share with us! Send to [email protected] 
 

Featured article

Kickstart Your Writing Career with Corporate Know-How

By Michelle Grace Maiellaro

When I started my writing career, I maintained my corporate job, which offered me the stability I needed after surviving leukemia and the respite of part-time work during my long convalescence. I took a very business-like approach to jumpstart my writing life. 

Find feedback fast

Corporations invest in intensive employee feedback to help people grow fast and produce better results. Employees can be more efficient only when they know how to leverage their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses.

As a lifelong self-doubter, that kind of feedback helped me grow into managerial roles in the corporate world in less than two years. Naturally, I wanted feedback on my writing to grow just as quickly. 

I found NYC Midnight, a series of writing challenges with prompts, tight turnaround times, and feedback from judges in the film, publishing, and literary industries. With this method, I produced at least two pieces of writing for each contest, which cost me far less than what a professional critique would have for one short story. It also forced me to commit and create a portfolio of good work in short spurts. 

I didn't win any of the competitions, but I came away with constructive feedback that might have taken me years to understand on my own, as well as more than a few compliments that motivated me to keep going.  

Follow a mentor

When you want to take the next step in a corporate career, you find a mentor—a role model who can share their know-how, help you identify the skills you're missing, and teach you how to leverage the skills you possess.

While I used contests to improve my creative writing, short stories would not sustain me in the long run. So I invested in a mentorship program to become a certified content marketer through Jon Morrow's Smartblogger course. Two months after completing the course, I found my first freelance job. 

If you can't afford courses, know that free writing mentorships exist. The Association of Writers & Writing Programs offers a mentorship program twice a year in various literary fields and communities, from travel writing to YA fiction to LGBTQ+ writers. And the Women's Fiction Writer's Association runs a semi-annual members-only mentorship program for writers at any stage in their writing journey.

Get networking, get noticed

Before being diagnosed with leukemia, my networking skills opened the door to international opportunities in the corporate world. But even the solitary writer can access networking possibilities online during this COVID age. 

To start, follow your preferred publications on LinkedIn, share their content in your personal feed, and include a comment on why that particular piece resonated with you. Then tag the editor and writer. The goal is to get noticed and establish a rapport, making it easier to pitch the editor a story or apply for a writing job later on.

You can also follow authors, copywriters, and editors on Twitter, which is an unexpected gold mine of writing jobs. Just run a search using the hashtags, #journojobs, #journalismjobs, #journorequests, #writerjobs, and #writingjobs. 

Finally, online writer communities offer support via job boards, webinars, and courses. Look for the ones that also have forums and chats where you can connect with other writers, like Freelance Writers Den and Peak Freelance. The more you open yourself to a virtual network, the greater your chances are of getting noticed and hired. 

Grow the writer in you 

When you combine feedback, support, and networking, you can jumpstart a career in any industry, including writing. Small, calculated steps will help you grow into a more confident, reputable, and published writer. 

Bio: 
A U.S. expat living in Italy, Michelle Grace Maiellaro is a leukemia survivor who helps people triumph over life challenges and change. She's a content marketer, freelance writer, and blogger. You can discover more about overcoming hard times and grab free resilience resources on her blog, The Resilient Woman.
 

543383 © Dreamstime Agency | Dreamstime.com

4879349 © Yanik Chauvin | Dreamstime.com

 

COmpetitions

MONTHLY SHORTSTORY CONTEST
https://shortstory.substack.com/p/coming-soon
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline the end of each month. Winner chosen by the 15th of the following month. Their missioin is to revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful. The winner each month receives $100 for the chosen story plus half of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. For example, the  payout for Jan should be $225 or higher. Send submission to [email protected]. Reprints are fine. Word limit ranges from only six words to as much as 10,000 words. Only the winner will be published and rights will only transfer for the winning story. 



JIM BAEN MEMORIAL SHORT STORY AWARD
https://www.baen.com/contest-jbmssa
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 1, 2022. Write a short story of no more than 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration. The grand prize winner will be published as the featured story on the Baen Books main website and paid at the normal paying rates for professional story submittals, currently .08/word. The author will also receive an engraved award, free entry into the 2022 International Space Development Conference and a year's membership in the National Space Society. Second- and third-place winners will receive free entry into the 2022 International Space Development Conference and a year's membership in the National Space Society.



NEUKOM LITERARY ARTS AWARD FOR PLAYWRITING
https://sites.dartmouth.edu/neukominstitutelitawards/ni-lit-award-for-playwriting/
NO MENTION OF ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 28, 2022. Prize is for full-length plays and other full-length works for the theater addressing the question “What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world?”. The award comes with a $5,000 honorarium as well as a 29-hour workshop and public reading produced by Northern Stage (https://northernstage.org/) in January 2023.



HENRY MORGENTHAU III FIRST BOOK POETRY PRIZE (FOR WRITERS AGE 70 OR OLDER)
https://www.passagerbooks.com/submit/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 30, 2022. Applicant must be a living poet, age 70 or older, who has neither published, nor committed to publish a book-length collection of poems (30 poems or more) with a registered ISBN, either in the United States or abroad. Must be a US resident. 



THE TERRY J. COX POETRY AWARD
https://www.regalhousepublishing.com/the-terry-j-cox-poetry-award/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 31, 2022. The 2022 Winner receives poetry publication by Regal House Publishing in the summer of 2024 in paperback and a $1,000 prize. Minimum of 48 pages, maximum of 100 pages of poetry. 



CRAZYHORSE PRIZES IN FICTION, NONFICTION, & POETRY
https://crazyhorse.cofc.edu/prizes/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 31, 2022. Submit short stories and essays of up to 25 pages or a set of one to three poems. Winners in each genre will receive $2,000 and publication. All entries will be considered for publication, and more than one manuscript may be entered. The $20 entry fee includes a one-year subscription to Crazyhorse.



THE MASTERS REVIEW WINTER SHORT STORY AWARDS FOR NEW WRITERS
https://mastersreview.com/short-story-award-for-new-writers/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 31, 2022. The winning story will be awarded $3000 and publication online. Second and third place stories will be awarded publication and $300 and $200 respectively. All winning stories and any notable Honorable Mentions will receive literary agency review. Limit 6,000 words. 



FISH SHORT MEMOIR PRIZE
https://www.fishpublishing.com/competition/short-memoir-contest/
€18 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 31, 2022. The best 10 memoirs will be published in the FISH ANTHOLOGY 2022. First prize €1,000. Second prize writing course (online) + €200. Third prize €200. The competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English. There is no restriction on theme or style. Maximum number of words is 4,000.



FISH FLASH FICTION CONTEST
https://www.fishpublishing.com/competition/flash-fiction-contest/
€14 ENTRY FEE. Deadline February 28, 2022. Top ten stories will be published in the FISH ANTHOLOGY 2022. First prize €1,000. Second prize €300/ Third prize online writing course with Fish. There is no restriction on theme or style. Maximum number of words is 300. The title is not included in the word limit.



FISH POETRY PRIZE
https://www.fishpublishing.com/competition/poetry-contest/
€14 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2022. Top 10 poems will be published in the FISH ANTHOLOGY 2022. First prize €1,000. Second prize a week in residence at Anam Cara Writers’ Retreat. Third prize €200. There is no restriction on theme or style. Poem length is restricted to 60 lines. 



THE NICHOLAS SCHAFFNER AWARD FOR MUSIC IN LITERATURE
http://www.schaffnerawards.com/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 31, 2022. Complete book-length manuscripts in the English language are welcome. The winner will be offered a contract and advance of $1,000 for the book’s publication the following year. Original book-length manuscripts (60K-100,000K words for fiction and nonfiction, 48+ pages for poetry collections) may be submitted. 

 

GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / CROWDFUNDING

 

GOOD STORY GRANTS
https://www.goodstorycompany.com/grant
Deadline January 31, 2022. This grant is open to writers of all skill levels, and working in all genres and categories. The award is $1,500 US, used however you’d like, as long as it has to do with writing. This year’s award is two grants. One open to all writers and one open to writers who identify as BIPOC, with the aim of championing underrepresented voices. Write one personal essay (500 words maximum) about what you plan to do with the grant funds and why this opportunity is so important to you in your creative development. 



AC BOSE GRANT FOR SOUTH ASIAN SPECULATIVE LITERATURE
https://speculativeliterature.org/grants/slf-ac-bose-grant/
Deadline January 31, 2022. The A.C. Bose Grant will annually give $1000 to a South Asian / South Asian diaspora writer developing speculative fiction. It supports adult fiction, but work that is also accessible to older children and teens will be given preference in the jury process. The donors hope that this grant will help develop work that will let young people imagine different worlds and possibilities. 



BARBARA DEMING MEMORIAL FUND
https://demingfund.org/
$25 APPLICATION FEE. Deadline January 31, 2022. Money for Women is the oldest ongoing feminist granting agency. Small support grants ($500-$1,500) are given to individual feminist women in the arts who are citizens with primary residence in the US and Canada. Interested in funding projects which you have begun or are well underway, and for which you have substantial work to show. 



TRILLIUM ARTS RESIDENCIES
https://www.trilliumartsnc.org/artist-residencies
Deadline February 15, 2022. Trillium Arts Residencies offer secluded space for rejuvenation in a beautiful, remote setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our location is ideal for an individual artist to complete an existing work, or develop and incubate new material. Our current facilities are best suited to the disciplines of literary arts, photography, visual arts and arts administration. Applications are currently being accepted for residencies one or two weeks in length during May and June 2022. Trillium Arts offers a limited number of work scholarships. The scholarship is an exchange of eight hours of work during the residency week for a 50 percent discount off the residency fee.



CONSTANCE SALTONSTALL FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
https://www.saltonstall.org/residencies/juried-residencies/
Deadline January 23, 2022. Saltonstall offers free residencies to artists and writers who are current residents of New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located therein. Our residencies are designed for those looking for a quiet, supportive environment in which to focus on their craft. Categories include poetry, fiction/creative nonfiction, photography/filmmaking, and painting/sculpture/visual arts. Each residency session includes the same combination of five artists and writers: one poet, one fiction or creative nonfiction writer, one photographer or filmmaker, and two visual artists. These residencies are designed for individual artists and writers; we cannot accommodate collaborations or partners working together. All residencies (incl. the six-night residency for artist/writer parents, the two-week, and four-week) function exactly the same way. Each group of five arrives and leaves together, and the application process for all residencies is also exactly the same. Location Ithaca, NY. 



MACDOWELL RESIDENCIES
https://www.macdowell.org/apply/application-guidelines
Deadline February 10, 2022. the colony invites applications from emerging and established artists for its fall fellowship program in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theater, and visual arts. The fellowship includes exclusive use of a studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for up to six weeks. Residencies are available from September 1, 2022, through February 28, 2023. Location Peterborough, NH. 



SOLITARY RETREAT IN THE DESERT
https://www.montellofoundation.org/pages/montello_apply.htm
Deadline January 23, 2022. The Montello Foundation provides a solitary retreat where artists can experience the vastness of a desert landscape from a safe building, a “base camp” a unique space for inspiration and creation, a place that provides a shield from distractions in the solitude of the desert. There is no cost for this program. Artists must cover travel and living expenses. The retreat is open to all visual artists, writers and composers as well as curators. 

  

FREELANCE MARKETS / JOBS

MYSTERION
https://www.mysteriononline.com/p/submission-guidelines.html
Deadline January 31, 2022. We are looking for speculative stories--science fiction, fantasy, horror - with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology, and for artwork for this site. Stories can be up to 9,000 words. Pay is eight cents per word. 



NOTHING WITHOUT US TOO
https://nothingwithoutusanthology.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/
Deadline January 31, 2022. We welcome writers (age 18 and older) across the disability, mental illness, developmental disabilities, neurodiversity, Blind, and d/Deaf spectrums. We welcome those who manage what are known as “invisible” and “visible” disabilities and/or chronic conditions. We want the lived experiences of those who are disabled, d/Deaf, Blind, Spoonie, neurodivergent, and/or of those who manage mental health are found across all demographics—such as race, culture, financial status, religion, gender, age, and/or sexual orientation. We want to read these stories because diversity is reality, and should be so, even in fantastical or other speculative fiction settings. We will be asking our authors to identify as from Canada/Turtle Island or as International. Pays eight cents per word (Canadian). 



HORROR THAT REPRESENTS YOU
https://woodroewriting.com/submissions-open-horror-that-represents-you/
Looking for short stories of 1,000 to 7,000 words. Pay is 11 cents per word. Open mainly to marginalized authors. Adult horror genre is the theme and only unpublished. 



CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL - ADOLESCENCE
http://www.chickensoup.com
Deadline March 30, 2022. We are collecting stories for TWO books—one for preteens (ages 9-12) and one for teenagers (ages 13-19). Please choose the right one when you submit your story. Both books are slated to come out in late spring 2022. We're looking for your uplifting true stories and poems about how you used the power of gratitude to change your own life while you navigated the preteen and teenage years. Limit 1,200 words. Payment is $200 and ten copies. 



FANBYTE
https://www.fanbyte.com/pitches/
Any and all potential freelancers are more than welcome to send ideas to [email protected] for consideration! Fanbyte is first and foremost a video game website. Our focus, for the time being, is primarily on games. But we’re also open to topics like manga and anime for the time being! It often just takes the right pitch. Simple, fun listicles usually start around $150. Essays and op-eds usually go for around $200. Features (anything that requires greater degrees of research, interviews, etc.) usually start around $250.

 

Publishers/agents

CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHING
https://www.chelseagreen.com/about/submission-guidelines/
Chelsea Green specializes in books that promote the “politics and practice of sustainable living.” We specialize in books on:

Organic gardening and market farming, from home- to professional-scale
Regenerative agriculture and permaculture with an in-depth, how-to approach
Local and global agricultural movements, and food politics
Animal husbandry and draft power
Functional medicine, herbalism, and food as medicine
Cutting-edge science interpreted for lay readers
Political or economic books with an original vision for a better future
Place-based environmental narratives
Fermentation, cheesemaking, baking, and other how-to approaches to food production
Cookbooks with unique, innovative approaches to cuisine
Renewable energy and energy conservation
Natural building
Simple living



CAREER PRESS
https://redwheelweiser.com/p.php?id=125
Career Press, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, publishes general nonfiction that addresses real, practical human needs. Our useful, accessible, how-to books reach a broad market of average Americans - people grappling with universal issues relating to job-hunting, career management, education, money, and personal goals.



CHICAGO REVIEW PRESS
https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/information-for-authors---agents-pages-100.php
Chicago Review Press publishes nonfiction in the following categories: African American interest, autobiography/biography, DIY, film, food and drink (not cookbooks), history, music, parenting, politics, popular culture, popular science, social science, sports, regional (Midwest), nature/outdoor/travel, true crime, and women's interest. Chicago Review Press also publishes an award-winning line of children's and young adult titles. We do not publish children's picture books whether fiction or nonfiction. We do not publish books in the following subject areas: mind/body/spirit, religion, diet/fitness/nutrition, family memoir, self-help, business, poetry, or photography.

 

SPONSORS

FINE PRINT

Please forward the newsletter in its entirety. To reprint any editorials, contact [email protected] for permission. Please do not assume that acknowledgements listed in your publication is considered a valid right to publish.

C. Hope Clark
E-mail: [email protected]
140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036
http://www.fundsforwriters.com

Copyright 2000-2021, C. Hope Clark
ISSN: 1533-1326

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