Archive for May, 2008

The 3-Day Novel Contest

May 21, 2008

In the spirit of learning how to pump out new work in record time, I’m going to do the ridiculously impossible, slit-your-wrist 3-day novel contest this year. Join me Wino Writers! It is from Aug. 30 – Sept. 1. By all accounts, this is a hellacious exercise (I read about it in Poets&Writers), but one that will force you to write. However, you can have an outline already prepared. The cost is $50 and the prizes are as follows:

Grand Prize: Publication (Awesome)
2nd Prize: $500 (Not bad)
3rd Prize: $100 (Could use it)
And a literary prize pack for each shortlisted entrant. (Intriguing)

To sign up, read the rules and get your registration in the mail by August 28.

Then we can all come back here and grip about our experiences.

Upcoming Contest Links

May 16, 2008

Upcoming Conference Links

May 16, 2008

Flash Fiction

May 15, 2008

Need a little help on this. Give it a read and tell me what you think. I’m trying to keep it short. Around 500 words. – Roi

The Monkey Story

“You’ll never get that monkey to fly.” The scientist just sighed at me. “He’s not supposed to fly. This is a glider. He will gently sail. And more importantly, this not a monkey. He is a chimpanzee. A primate.”

Primate or not, I never considered my hike across the ridge of Cloudland Canyon to lead me to a chimp strapped to hang glider. The scientist went back to filling in notes on his clipboard. ”Has he got a name?” I asked.

”Russell.” He replied as if I was trying his patience.

”Hi Russell.” The chimp flashed his teeth and nodded. “So what are you guys doing out here in nature? Shouldn’t he be in a lab or something?” The scientist slammed the clipboard against his thigh.

“We are conducting field tests. Russell has trained in simulators for three months. As you see, he has monitoring equipment on him, and we will record his moves and physical data.” He pointed to a laptop on the ground near the hiking trail.

”Yeah, I see he’s wearing a lot of wires on his body.” I leaned in to touch one of the wires on Russell’s chest, but the scientist grabbed my hand and pulled me back.

“Don’t touch him. He cannot be distracted. We’re about to begin. Russell will maneuver the glider through the valley and land to where my assistant is waiting for him at the bottom of the canyon. You are witnessing a great achievement in science. Ready, Russell?” Russell responded with a thumbs up and a hoot.

He ripped off all the wires from his body dropping them in a pile by the scientist’s feet. Then he ran that glider off the top of the cliff, dipping slightly in the breeze then rising up over our heads. I heard Russell give a hoot of happiness as the glider continued to climb above the valley.

Now, I’m no scientist, so I can’t explain this part, but that monkey managed to get that glider to fly. And he flew right over the valley and into the sunset.

Basics of a Writing Career

May 12, 2008

On Saturday, Wino Writers attended the “Basics of a Writing Career” seminar with Barbara Collier and Bridget Anderson through Emory’s Center for Lifelong Learning. A good time was had by all. We were seeking inspiration and tips for kick starting our writing careers and we definitely got that. One point that was made clear was that no two paths are the same and you have to do a full court press if you’re going to beef up your resume and get more work published. You also need to cut some things out of your life to make more time for writing (read: watch less TV).

We also did a couple creativity exercises that helped get our juices flowing. During one exercise we listened to classical music and jotted down words that popped into our heads. Then, we wrote a quick paragraph including those words in a story.

Some ideas that I jotted down from the seminar were:

Buy a Neo (which is basically a new-age typewriter and has amazing battery power and is light weight)

Join Georgia Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America (you have to join RWA before you can join GRW)

Read, read, read and especially read writers that are in your genre.

Use music to stimulate you when blocked.

Join Absolutewrite.com community. It’s free and there are Writer Beware posts (among many others) that are helpful.

It was a great outing and we’d definitely recommend it to others.