In case you’re interested in hybrid publishing, I’ll be talking about various ways to get published, including this one, in a short webinar Should You Hybrid Publish? on Thursday, April 18 at 1pm ET. I’ll explain how I came to choose that path, and taking questions. If you can’t make it in person, but would like to know more, register, and we’ll send you the recording (about 45 minutes) afterwards.

On Friday, April 19, at 12pm, the Norwalk Library is hosting a memoir workshop entitled Writing about Friends, Family and Foes. It will be run by Rendezvous member Ann Lineberger, a former journalist and fiction writer, who will talk about the process of writing stories about actual events without risking litigation. Email clahey@norwalkpl.org for more information or to register.

Next Tuesday, April 23, is Shakespeare’s birthday, the first anniversary of the date my novel came out, and the publication date for Rendezvous member Elizabeth Chatsworth’s fabulous sequel to The Brass Queen – Brass Queen Grand Tour. I’ll be helping her launch the book on Zoom at 7-8pm ET, and would love you to join us for the virtual book launch, Q&A, a giveaway and a way to order a signed and personalized book direct from the author.

The Ferguson Library in Stamford is hosting three best-selling fiction writers at a free two-hour writing workshop on Saturday, April 27 from 10:30 am. to 12:30 p.m. Come prepared to listen, learn and write in this workshop for aspiring writers led by novelist and memoirist Ann Leary (The Good House), thriller-writer Wendy Walker (What Remains) and children’s book author Greg Wands, who will share tips on writing fiction and nonfiction. Register here.

Rendezvous member Libby Waterford will be launching her latest book, Take Me Over, on Sunday, April 28th, at 3pm at Westport Writers’ Workshop in Westport, CT. The book is the latest in her Sawyer’s Cove series of steamy contemporary romances. Details here.

Gotham Writers Workshop in New York is running a Very Short Story Contest, ten words to be precise. Write a great short story in ten words or fewer.  Submit here.  Entry is free. Winner of the contest gets a free Gotham class. Deadline: May 31.

The ninth annual  BookLife Prize Fiction Contest is now open, and fiction entries are being accepted through August 30.  The contest offers a $5000 cash prize, and the Washington Post highlights the winners. The Nonfiction Contest runs from October 1, 2024, to January 31, 2025. Finalists across the nine categories in both Contests receive $1,000 in social media ad services from BookBaby. This is in addition to the blurb and Publishers Weekly coverage these finalists have always received. And every entry in both Contests receives a publishable Critic’s Report (like a review) by a Publishers Weekly reviewer, which the Washington Post called “something of value.” To see examples of these Critic’s Reports, click here. (Authors control whether their Critic’s Reports are made public.)

Reedsy, the marketplace for many writing services, from editing to design, has another service that may be of interest to those writers wanting to collect their manuscript documents into one place with a view to publishing a book. They have produced a free writing app that allows you to collect your writing into one manuscript that you can print and treasure. You can then export your stories with professional formatting, ready to share on all major self-publishing platforms. If you like, you can move a story into our app to expand it into a novel with the help of our outlining, productivity, and goal-setting tools. You’ll need to set up a profile page to try it out. They also run weekly prompts for short stories you can publish on their site to get feedback from other writers. And if you haven’t submitted a story before but want to check out the app, you can find it here.

Member Susan Isaacs recommends SmokeLong Quarterly if you’re looking to submit your flash fiction.  They publish flash narratives that are 1000 words or fewer. General submissions are open 365 days a year, except during some competitions. They offer paid feedback options through Submittable. They offer a variety of mentorships, workshops, and webinars including SmokeLong Fitness, the year-round community workshop of SmokeLong. They also run the following competitions: The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction (The Smokey), The SmokeLong Grand Micro Competition (The Mikey), The SmokeLong Quarterly Prize for Comedy and The SmokeLong Workshop Prize. Submission guidelines here.

More to follow on Monday!