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Fix, Grist’s solutions lab, opens submissions for Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest




$8,700 IN PRIZES AND PUBLICATION by Fix, Grist's solutions lab

Deadline: May 5, 2022 / No entry fee

Submissions are now being accepted for Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, the annual climate fiction contest from Fix, Grist's solutions lab. There is no fee to enter. Submit your short story by May 5, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PST. 

Imagine 2200 seeks unpublished short stories of 3,000 to 5,000 words that envision the next 180 years of clean, green, and just futures. Judges include Hugo Award-winning writer Arkady Martine, esteemed editor and author Sheree Renee Thomas, and professor Grace L. Dillon, who coined the term "Indigenous futurism."  Imagine 2200 draws inspiration from Afrofuturism, as well as Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, disabled, feminist, and queer futures, and the genres of hopepunk and solarpunk. 

While we're looking for hopeful stories, we also don't expect you to be overly optimistic or naïve. One hundred and eighty years of equitable climate progress will require hard work, struggle, and adaptation, and we invite you to show those as well. 

In addition, we're especially interested in cultural authenticity (a deep sense of place, customs, cuisine, and more), rich characters with intersecting identifies, and stories that challenge the status quo in which wealthy and power are built on extraction, oppression, and violence. 

The top three winners will be awarded $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000, respectively, and nine finalists will receive a $300 honorarium. Those 12 authors will be published in an immersive digital collection this fall. Conjure your wildest dreams for society - all the justice, resilience, and abundance you can imagine - and put those dreams on paper.

There's no fee to enter, so if you're ready to get writing, you can find our submissions portal here. If you'd like to get in touch, you can reach us at [email protected]. 


About Grist

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Our goal is to use the power of storytelling to illuminate the way toward a better world, inspire millions of people to walk that path with us, and show that the time for action is now. 


Fix, Grist's solutions lab, amplifies bold, equitable ideas for our climate future, and the people working towards them, in an effort to shift the climate narrative toward possibility. Through creative storytelling, network-building, and events, Fix explores the paths to a clean, green, just future, and brings together a growing community of climate visionaries - we call them Fixers - who are leading the way to a planet that works for everyone. 


 

EDITOR'S THOUGHTS

WHAT DID THE AUTHOR MEAN?

I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality.   ~James Joyce

I grinned at this quote. Do you remember in English Lit class when the teacher spent days dissecting a novel on what the author really meant between the lines? What were the hidden meanings? What was the symbolism? What metaphors spoke to the issues of the time?

Even as a fifteen-year-old tenth grader, I found it audacious and pretentious of a school teacher to claim to understand what a creative mind thought when alone at a table penning a tale. And when a teacher deemed a student off-the-mark in their interpretation, well, the less I thought of the teacher.

Who knows what an author meant but the author? 

Of course some stories are clear in their intentions, such as Orwell's 1984 or his satirical allegorical novella Animal Farm. His intentions were in-your-face and purposeful. Others, however, are just telling a deeply felt story. 

I once attended a book club where they discussed Murder on Edisto, the first in the Edisto Island Mysteries, and an outspoken member announced that she really appreciated how I was able to depict an alcoholic, and she appreciated that I must have drawn upon my personal experience with someone in my family. She even offered her condolences, saying it was noble of me to let that out in my writing.

I have no alcoholics in my family. I just did research. I thought my protagonist needed more on her plate than just solving crime so I threw that in. Not to belittle the condition, I was just piling on the strife for this character. Alcoholism was not supposed to be a secondary character in the story as this club member proclaimed. However, I thanked her, and she thanked me for the manner in which I addressed the affliction.

People will overthink your writing. Let them. A lot of the world envisions writers as those willing to dig deeper into themselves than the average person, and then spill that raw, insightful discovery onto the page as if willing to appear naked to the world. Readers adore feeling akin to the author in that regard. When your words gain sympathy, empathy, or strong emotion, you've written well. 

The bottom line is to make your characters real, then let the reader decide what you meant. Let them feel grand because they got into your head and figured you out. Or made your world theirs.

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Featured article

Add Small Business Clients to Your Freelance Portfolio

By Sharon Woodhouse

There are almost 31 million small businesses in the United States, and a freelance writer who understands how to serve and communicate with small businesses—and their special needs and restrictions—can open up a whole new world of opportunities, relationships, and steady income.
 
As a small business owner, advocate, and consultant, someone who has worked on both sides of this equation for over three decades, here are ten tips for working with us.
 
1.     Know that small businesses need writing help (templates, letters, newsletters, website content, blog posts, social media posts, press releases, marketing materials, manuals, books, and more), but we likely don't know it. How will it help us? How much will it cost? Will it save me time and money and bring in new business?
 
2.     I'll say it again: 31 million. That translates into an endless stream of potential clients for any one writer. We are not being contacted as often as you'd think by freelancers (rarely, in fact)—and not with compelling offers that speak our language. Fix this and you're ahead of the minimal proactive competition.
 
3.     We are everywhere, starting with outside your front door and in the personal networks of your family, friends, and colleagues. Visit small businesses in your neighborhood in person. Ask your contacts to make personal connections for you with the small business owners they know. In both cases, start with casual conversations about them, their values and passions, their customers, their business's needs and quirks.
 
4.     Transition a discussion to offer services with a basic question and provide examples the business owner can relate to. "Is there a project you've been putting off because you don't have time to get around to it? For example, a holiday letter, an employee manual, a series of articles for your website?"
 
5.     Complete one well-defined project for each client—prove your abilities and value small-scale—then build on the results and the budding relationship to suggest more services. Flexibility, performance, and an attitude of service are key for retaining individual clients. Assembling a growing portfolio of regular and satisfied customers who can and do pay on time is key for your reliable income.
 
6.     Small businesses may not have steady work, but they may have additional or future work. With every contact, remind owners of your availability next week or down the road and the range of writing you can offer. Mention adjacent services that may be in your wheelhouse too, such as editing, proofreading, website design, social media, photography, and marketing plans.
 
7.     Also, small businesses may not have lots of work but they usually have lots of contacts—customers, vendors, other small business owners—and they tend to talk, swap ideas, and support each other. Ask for testimonials of your work and for referrals, even introductions, to others they may know who need the same kind of help.
 
8.     Waste not, save everything! Reduce your time (but not your fee) by reusing, recycling, re-tweaking, and repurposing ideas and content for small businesses in different industries, with different customer bases, and in different geographic areas.
 
9.     Small businesses like maximum impact—the most bang for the buck, demonstrable results, more customers, and growth. Frame your services to support these universals.
 
10.  Find clients who can afford you by developing a sixth sense for small operators that are not struggling financially. These may include such businesses as upscale services (boutique gyms, wedding photography), medical offices (dentists, optometrists), skilled tradespeople (plumbers, electricians), and high-end goods (antiques, jewelry stores).

Small business are everywhere, and they need freelancers. Many of them just may not realize it yet, or at least until they meet you.
 
BIO - Sharon Woodhouse is the owner of Conspire Creative—coaching, consulting, conflict management, project management, book publishing, and editorial services for solo pros, creatives, authors, small businesses, and multipreneurs. Follow her writing on Medium.com @slowcharacter.

 

4624439 © Feverpitched | Dreamstime.com
 

COmpetitions

FIRST PAGES PRIZE 
http://www.firstpagesprize.com 
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 10, 2022. Winners receive cash awards, a tailored edit, and an agent consultation. First prize $2,000. Second prize $1,500. Third prize $1000. Fourth prize $750. Fifth prize $750. Open to un-agented writers worldwide, the First Pages Prize invites you to enter your first five pages (1,250 words) of a longer work of fiction or creative nonfiction. A limited number of sponsored entries are offered for writers facing financial challenges.  



WRITERS' FORUM SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://writers-forum.com/short-story-contest/
£6 ENTRY FEE. Monthly deadline. All types of story are welcome, be it crime, comedy, romance, thriller, literary, twist in the tail, horror, sci-fi, etc. Stories MUST be between 1,000 and 3,000 words. First prize £300. Second prize £150. Third prize £100. This is a rolling competition which means that entries received after one issue’s cut-off point are simply placed in the next contest.



WRITERS' FORUM POETRY CONTEST
https://writers-forum.com/poetry-contest/
£7 ENTRY FEE INCLUDES CRITIQUE. Monthly deadline. Maximum 40 lines per poem. The theme is set each month in Writers’ Forum magazine. Prize £100 and a Chambers dictionary. This is a rolling competition which means that entries received after one issue’s cut-off point are simply placed in the next contest.



WRITERS' FORUM FLASH COMPETITION
https://writers-forum.com/flash-competition/
£7 ENTRY FEE. Our monthly competition for short short writing has a £100 prize for one winner and a number of runners-up may also be published – this number will vary depending upon the nature of the contest and the quality of entries received. There is a different theme each month. This is a rolling competition which means that entries received after one issue’s cut-off point are simply placed in the next contest. First prize £100. Publication for the winner and runners-up. 



EASTOVER PRIZE FOR NONFICTION
https://eastoverpress.com/prizes/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 15, 2022. The 2022 EastOver Prize for Nonfiction is open to a wide variety of book-length nonfiction manuscripts by established and emerging writers. We are especially interested in collections of literary essays, but will consider memoirs, mixed genre works, works combining essays and original visual art, speculative nonfiction, and other hybrid works. The winner(s) of this contest will be offered publication by EastOver Press and an honorarium of $2,000 upon successful completion of a contract for publication by the Press. The contest is limited to works in English by writers over 18 years of age. 



2022 BETHLEHEM WRITERS SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://bwgwritersroundtable.com/short-story-award/
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2022. Theme: An Element of Mystery: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Intrigue. We seek mystery stories (broadly interpreted) of 2,000 words or fewer. First prize: $250 and consideration for inclusion in the BWG print anthology. If it is not accepted for publication in the print anthology, it will be featured in an upcoming edition of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. (While there is no guarantee of print publication, all previous contest winners have been accepted to be published in print.) Second prize: $100 and publication in the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. Third prize: $50 and publication in the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable.

 

GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / CROWDFUNDING

 

REPLENISH RESIDENCIES FOR BIPOC ARTISTS - NEW ORLEANS
http://www.astudiointhewoods.org/apply-for-replenish-residencies/
Deadline March 30, 2022. Replenish Residencies (formerly Relief Residencies) provide one- to two-week restorative visioning retreats to Greater New Orleans' BIPOC artists and culture bearers; the heart of New Orleans culture. Due to the many racial disparities still present in our society at large and the arts economy specifically, we offer these residencies to provide time to rest and restore, vision and create. Originally conceptualized at the start of the pandemic, these residencies have evolved from Relief Residencies into Replenish Residencies, shifting from crisis response to ongoing community care. The call is open to BIPOC artists and culture bearers from the Greater New Orleans area who have not attended a residency before. Recipients will be provided with a $1000 stipend, a one to two week residency, and an optional session with a photographer.  Open to local (Greater New Orleans Area), BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists and culture bearers who have not participated in an artist residency before.



RISING: CLIMATE IN CRISIS RESIDENCIES - NEW ORLEANS
http://www.astudiointhewoods.org/apply-for-rising-climate-in-crisis-residencies-2/
Deadline March 10, 2022. Rising: Climate in Crisis Residencies at A Studio in the Woods invite artists to face the severity of the climate crisis and be agents of change to guide our collective understanding, response, and vision as we shape our shared future. Rising Residencies will provide artists with time, space, scholarship and staff support to foster critical thinking and creation of new works. The call is open to artists of all disciplines who have demonstrated an established dialogue with environmental and culturally related issues and a commitment to seeking and plumbing new depths. We ask artists to describe in detail how the region will affect their work, to propose a public component to their residency and to suggest ways in which they will engage with the local community. Local, national, and international visual, musician/composing, performance, literary, new media, and interdisciplinary artists are eligible to apply. Residencies are six weeks and will take place between September 2022 and May 2023. 



NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIPS
https://www.arts.gov/grants/creative-writing-fellowships/eligibility
Deadline March 10, 2022. The National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships program offers $25,000 grants in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) and poetry to published creative writers that enable the recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. This program operates on a two-year cycle with fellowships in prose and poetry available in alternating years. In 2022 we are accepting applications in poetry. NOTE: This is a highly competitive fellowship. You must be a Citizen or Permanent Resident of the United States. Applicants must have had published, between January 1, 2015, and March 10, 2022, a volume of 48 or more pages of poetry; or 20 or more individual poems or pages of poetry that appear in at least five literary journals, anthologies, or publications which regularly include poetry as a portion of their format. Up to 16 pages of poetry may be from a single volume of poetry that is fewer than 48 pages (e.g., a chapbook). This volume may count as only one of the required five places of publication. For online publications, a page of poetry is considered to be 20 lines or less.



AWESOME FOUNDATION GRANTS
https://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/about_us
The Awesome Foundation is an ever-growing worldwide community devoted to forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe. Created in the long hot summer days of 2009 in Boston, the Foundation distributes $1,000 grants, no strings attached, to projects and their creators. At each fully autonomous chapter, the money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees” and given up front in cash, check, or gold doubloons. Have a crazy brilliant idea that needs funding? We award $1,000 grants every month. To reach a specific chapter, please use the e-mail link at the top of the chapter's page, under the Chapters section of this site. Or, for general global inquiries, you can drop us a line at [email protected]. 



ANN AND STEVE BAILEY OPPORTUNITY GRANTS - KNOXVILLE, TN
https://tnartscommission.org/news/ann-and-steve-bailey-opportunity-grants-available-for-the-knoxville-area/
Deadline March 20, 2022. Bailey Opportunity grants provide training and technical support to individual artists and small, professionally-oriented arts and culture organizations (whose budgets are under $100,000). The grants are designed to spur continued artistic and administrative growth in innovative, entrepreneurial artists and organizations at any stage in their development. Awards range from $100 to $75,000. 



WRITERS COLONY FELLOWSHIP
https://www.writerscolony.org/fellowships
Deadline April 25, 2022. The "Moondancer" Fellowship for authors who express their love of nature and concern for the environment through their writing. This fellowship is open to poets, fiction writers, playwrights, essayists, columnists, memoirists, and screenwriters. Prior publication is not a requirement. The successful applicant will demonstrate insight, honesty, literary merit, and the likelihood of publication or production. The fellowship winner will receive a two-week residency at WCDH to focus completely on their writing. Each writer's suite has a bedroom, private bathroom, separate writing space, and wireless internet. We provide uninterrupted writing time, a European-style gourmet dinner prepared five nights a week and served in our community dining room, the camaraderie of other professional writers when desired, and a community kitchen stocked with the basics for other meals. Residency must be completed by December 31, 2023. Exceptions will be made for COVID-19 concerns.


  

FREELANCE MARKETS / JOBS

ORIGINAL9 MEDIA
https://www.original9.com/careers/
Original9 Media, a LaunchSquad company, is looking for a talented writer and editor to help our team develop and produce custom content programs for emerging and established brands. The ideal candidate will have work experience as a writer and editor with the ability to toggle between long-form articles and short blog posts, snappy social copy and traditional content marketing formats. They should also have impeccable relationship management skills and a knack for anticipating what’s next. Familiarity with b2b content topics like tech, marketing, science, health, finance and more is key. And experience in both media and branded content is preferred. Remote, SF, NYC, Boston or Chicago. 

Also, per Twitter: https://twitter.com/claramhogan/status/1483912801043116036 - pays up to $1/word.



AHOY COMICS
https://comicsahoy.com/submissions
We seek smart, weird, funny articles or stories, which run between 500 and 1,500 words. Mostly, we want short fiction for mature readers, pieces that uphold the story-telling legacy of comics. It could be a delirious rant, a personal anecdote, a tale of horror or even poetry. It can be about anything, but we have a soft spot for submissions with a dash of humor. These stories can be political, but they must not be based on events that might be outdated by the time we publish. Whatever the subject, it must still be relevant a year from now. Also, the 1,500-word maximum is pretty much carved into stone. We will pay $200 per story. Writers will retain full rights to their works. We will maintain the right to publish on this site and to reprint the story in a trade compilation or anthology. If we decide to reprint it, we will pay another 25 percent of the original fee. 



VALRAVN AND ANTHOLOGY GUIDELINES
https://www.ravencanticlepress.com/submissions/
(Scroll down for anthology guidelines.) VALRAVN is our yearly annual of “wyrd fiction” short stories (3,000 to 10,000 words). We also publish anthologies as the mood strikes us. VALRAVN is still horror themed, but each annual contains a multitude of genres and elements in it. Our anthologies tend to be themed, and when we announce them, we announce the theme we’d like short stories submitted in. Speculative short fiction in the following genres using whatever theme is open: Fantasy, Horror, Espionage/Thriller, Science Fiction. Up to 10,000 words, minimum of 3,000 words. Pays 10 cents/word. 



LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE
https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/contribute-to-lam/
Our audience primarily comprises landscape architecture professionals and students in the United States and abroad, with a fair number of city planners in the mix. We have an important secondary audience in allied professionals such as architects and engineers, but also decision makers such as politicians and public officials, university or corporate heads, real estate developers, regulators, and a wide spectrum of people who collaborate with landscape architects, such as scientists (botanists, ecologists), geographers, horticulturists, construction specialists, and product manufacturers. We are interested in stories, not subjects. Rates range from $400 for under 500 words to $1/word for a 2,000-word feature.



BEYONDISH
https://beyondish.com/about-us/
If you love food and are fluent writing about it, email us. We're a review and storytelling website looking for great inside local stories across America. Stories are 300-500 words and confined to the U.S. (No recipes, home cooking or home baking, please.) We pay $50 and up per story. (Visit our ON THE DISH section to see.) Please send clips and CV to Managing Editor Abby Gold, at [email protected].



CHICKEN SOUP - MESSAGES FROM HEAVEN
http://www.chickensoup.com
Deadline April 15, 2022. Share your true, touching, and astounding stories about messages from heaven you have received or your own experiences with dying and coming back. Your faith will be renewed, and you will be awed by these true accounts. This book is for everyone, whether religious or secular. Pays $200 and ten copies. Limit 1,200 words. Must be in first person.
 

Publishers/agents

JAVELIN LITERARY
https://javelindc.com/literary/
We represent presidential contenders, diplomats, journalists, historians, scientists – and others with a unique and compelling story to share. A majority of our books have become national bestsellers. Our model is different than the traditional literary agency. We don’t just sign a deal and collect checks. We act as editors, strategists, and publicists for our authors. Javelin’s mission is to discover great storytellers and to help them tell stories worth remembering.



RAVEN CANTICLE PRESS
https://www.ravencanticlepress.com/submissions/
We love fiction from diverse, under-represented perspectives and cultures, well-researched and written by fresh and exciting voices. Speculative fiction in the following genres: Fantasy, Horror, Espionage/Thriller, Science Fiction. Up to 80,000 words, minimum of 15,000 words (novellas). We want horror, dark or gothic themes to carry the stories. If the story doesn’t have those, we likely aren’t the best fit for it.



MAD CREEK BOOKS
https://ohiostatepress.org/madcreek.html
Mad Creek Books is the literary and trade imprint of The Ohio State University Press. A platform for artistic, daring, and innovative literary books—in nonfiction, fiction, and poetry—books on the imprint will push boundaries, explore new areas, and generate new ideas. Mad Creek Books is a place for exciting literary work and publishes writers from all experiences and backgrounds, representing the true diversity of the literary landscape.



TOBIAS LITERARY AGENCY
https://www.thetobiasagency.com/about
A full-service literary agency headquartered in New York City with satellite offices in Boston, Nashville, and soon-to-be Los Angeles, The Tobias Literary Agency represents established and debut authors. The Tobias Literary Agency actively pursues all subsidiary rights, including emerging technologies, and have procured film/TV options for many of our clients and have co-repped projects with the biggest entertainment agencies in the world, including CAA, ICM, UTA, Paradigm, and more. 

Lane Heymont is currently accepting submissions for horror, psychological thrillers, speculative fiction, celebrity projects, and serious nonfiction. 

Matt Belford is currently accepting submissions for both graphic memoirs and graphic novels, as well as adult science fiction and fantasy, and some popular nonfiction. 

Maria Rogers is currently accepting submissions for nonfiction, both adult and children’s, and fiction. 

Natascha Morris is currently accepting submissions for picture books, middle grade graphic novels, and young adult across most genres, including graphic novels. She is also open to illustrator submissions.

Stefanie Rossitto is currently accepting submissions for historical fiction, and romances, including the thriller/suspense, paranormal, historical, contemporary subgenres. 

Eric C. Jones only represents screenwriters. He is currently seeking science fiction, action, fantasy, musical, or period pieces. However, he is open to just about anything. 

Sarah N. Fisk is currently accepting submissions for young adult, middle grade, adult romance, adult SFF (no hardcore horror).



THE BOOKER ALBERT LITERARY AGENCY
http://www.thebookeralbertagency.com/representation.html
Brittany Booker Carter - In YA and NA she is looking for well-written contemporary and paranormal romances. In NA she is looking for LOTS of sexual tension, and a sexy demanding hero never hurt anybody! As for adult works, she's looking for witty contemporary, and slow burning friends to lovers romances. She also has a passion for books set in the south. Bring on those big ole' cowboys, ladies. I'll take any man with a slow, southern drawl! She has working knowledge of Japanese  and Spanish. Brittany is not looking for memoirs or MG novels at the time. Jordy Albert is looking for fun, witty young adult contemporary, particularly sci-fi, and fantasy (romance is a plus). She's also looking for smart, sexy contemporary and historical romance. Jen Hunt is actively seeking: Historical romance, historical time travels, historical fantasy, historical inspirational, historical paranormal, historical mysteries. (Nothing post the 1940s.) Also, Science Fiction/Space Opera/Fantasy – must include world building and well detailed environments. Also, Military Sci-Fi, Dystopian/ Post-Apocalyptic, Steampunk/Gaslight/ Diesel-punk/ Cyberpunk - would also prefer some romantic element.



MACGREGOR & LUEDEKE LITERARY AGENCY
http://www.macgregorandluedeke.com/about/submission-guidelines/
Since 2006, we at MacGregor & Luedeke (formerly MacGregor Literary) have served fiction and nonfiction authors in the general and Christian markets. We represent a range of genres, and we work with award-winning, bestselling authors as well as authors who are making a smaller—but still significant—splash in the market. We are currently closed to fiction submissions and will not be responding to these queries. We are open to nonfiction submissions.

 

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E-mail: [email protected]
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