As many of you surely know already, November is National Novel Writing Month. In its tenth year, NaNoWriMo continues to inspire tens of thousands of potential novelists worldwide with its message of speedy imperfection. 
The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. One month. It breaks down to an average of 1,667 words a day, and obviously it’s absolutely insane. But. The point of NaNoWriMo is to get the words down, to write more than you ever thought possible, to get a solid first draft (or even a really terrible one) down on paper so you have something to work with in your second and third drafts.
I love NaNoWriMo. I love the convergence of so many voices telling their stories. I love the celebration of writing and creativity and caffeine-fueled enthusiastic madness. I love a massive group deadline (second only to April 15 in this country), and the chance to share your deadline-induced misery with 89,999 other people. I love posting wordcounts and feeling like someone other than my own prone-to-excuses lackadaisical conscience is holding me accountable for my productivity or lack thereof. I love reading what my friends write. In fact, I wish that ALL my friends would write at least one novel, particularly if that one novel is a thinly-disguised memoir. Even better if everyone in my family wrote a thinly-disguised memoir, and then let me read it. As long as it didn’t lead to prolonged discussions of commas, punctuated (ha!) with claims that “that’s what the nuns told me to do,” I think that reading novels written by family members would be wonderful.
Will everyone reach 50,000 words? Of course not. But the point is to WRITE, and even 10,000 words in a month is 10,000 more than you might have written otherwise.
If you’re doing NaNo this year – or even if, like us, you’re doing a modified version we like to call “If I’m Writing Thousands Of Words They’d Darn Well Better Be On My Current Novel-In-Progress” (the acronym’s a little trickier) – then you’ll probably need to catch up on your wordcounts by mid-month, and we have just the thing: our November Write-a-Thon, Saturday November 22, 2008. We’ll open the Studio from 9 am to 9 pm, and provide tons of snacks, coffee, soda, tea, and good company, not to mention a fantastic writing space and free wifi, to help you write your heart out.
Narrative’s Fall Fiction Contest is open to all fiction writers. For this contest we accept short shorts, short stories, and excerpts from longer works of fiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 10,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.
As always, we look for works that have a strong narrative drive, with characters we can respond to as human beings—works in which the effects of language, situation, and insight are intense and total, and whose authors have the ambition of enlarging our view of ourselves and the world.
Awards: First Prize is $3,000, Second Prize is $1,500, and Third Prize is $750. The prize winners will be announced in Narrative and will be eligible for publication. Additionally, ten finalists will receive $100 each. We’ll announce finalists in the magazine as well. All entries will be considered for publication.
Submission Fee: There is a $20 fee for each entry. And with your entry, you’ll receive three months of complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.
Timing: Entries will be accepted between September 1 and November 30, 2008. (The contest will close to entries at midnight Pacific Standard Time on November 30.)
Judging: The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine. Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by December 30, 2008. All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions.
Check out their website for more info: Narrative Magazine’s 2008 Fall Fiction Contest
Calling all script writers & playwrights! This one’s from our friends at Gorilla Tango Theatre:
Playwrights are invited to submit original 60-90 minute plays for consideration to be produced by Gorilla Tango Theatre (http://www.gorillatango.com) in 2009.
Guidelines:
1) Plays should be written by a present day or one-time Chicagoland resident.
2) Plays should deal with some aspect of living in Chicago, the Chicago experience, or what it means to be a Chicagoan (etc).
3) Plays should be sent in electronic format only (ie as a pdf or word attachment); links to plays will also be accepted. Submit plays to . Hard copies will not be accepted.
4) Please include a brief author bio.
Plays must be received by November 1, 2008. Please contact Kelly Williams at with questions.
I’m planning on sending out to these on Friday. I’ll let you know what kind of responses I get. Happy submissions!!!
So to Speak Contests: Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, and Fiction
So to Speak, a literary journal founded in 1993 by an editorial collective of women MFA candidates at George Mason University, is currently holding contests in Creative Nonfiction (Deadline: October 15, 2008), Poetry (Deadline: October 15, 2008), and Fiction (Deadline: March 15, 2009).
They are looking for work that addresses issues of significance to women’s lives and movements for women’s equality and are especially interested in pieces that explore issues of race, class, and sexuality in relation to gender. Please see the details below or their website for more information:
Make Chicago Magazine
PROPERTY LINES is the theme for the Fall/Winter 2008 issue, to be released in November. They are seeking work that addresses property in all respects: physical, intellectual, and personal. Quality of work is always the first consideration. The deadline is October 17, 2008. Check out Make Mag online.
A Switcheroo at Broadside
Broadsided Press is currently seeking submissions of poetry and short prose that respond to the work “Empire” by Helen Beckman Kaplan. Ms. Kaplan is one of the many visual artists whose work usually responds to poems and prose submitted to Broadsided. This month, they’re switching things around and asking writers to respond to the visual art. Your response need not be literal--you may take off in any tangent the work suggests. However, the art and writing must, together, work to create a greater piece.
Please CLEARLY mark your submission “Switcheroo,” as they are also accepting regular submissions during this time. SUBMISSIONS DUE OCTOBER 15, 2008. For more details, please visit their website.
Prism Review is holding its annual poetry prize, judged by Neil Aitken, the 2007 Philip Levine Prize winner.
The winner receives $250; all manuscripts will be considered for publication. The reading fee is $10, which includes a one-year subscription to Prism. All entries must be post marked between October 1 and December 15.
Check out prismreview.blogspot.com for more details.
