Thanks to everyone who came to the Zoom meetings of our WritersMic and Writers’ Rendezvous this week. I was delighted to welcome some out-of-state members too. It’s one of the reasons I like Zoom and hope we’ll keep using it. Congratulations to member Libby Waterford, on the publication of her second novel in a series of four: Can’t Make you Love Me! There’s lots more to tell you, so here goes:
The Westport Library continues to add to its video series of author interviews, and this evening, August 20, from 7:30-8:30pm, bestselling authors Rea Frey and Hank Phillippi Ryan will discuss their newest books and the business of writing with book blogger Suzanne Leopold. Ryan is the award-winning author of many thrillers—the latest is The First to Lie. Rea Frey is the author of Not Her Daughter and Until I Find You. Hear their journeys of navigating the publishing world. Register here.
Frey also the Founder and CEO of Writeway, where ‘aspiring writers become published authors.’ There are three ways to engage: one-to-one book proposal creation and development for Nonfiction; one-to-one editorial forensics for Fiction; or a selection from a digital course catalog, covering everything from writing to branding to design. Explore the site for more details.
The Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, organized by the Masters’ Review, is open for entries from July 1-August 30. 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 winners and honorable mentions will receive agency review by: Nat Sobel from Sobel Weber, Victoria Cappello from The Bent Agency, Andrea Morrison from Writers House, Sarah Fuentes from Fletcher & Company, Heather Schroder from Compass Talent, and Siobhan McBride from Carnicelli Literary Management.
Gemini, and online literary magazine, is running a flash fiction contest with a word limit of 1000 and a deadline of August 31. There’s a $6 entry fee, which helps pay for the first prize of $1,000. (Second prize $100.) All finalists will be published online in the October 2020 issue. Open to any subject, style, or genre.
https://www.meetup.com/Norwalk-WordPress-Meetup We’re an online WordPress group hosting live speaking events on a range of WordPress topics. You can join us in our online live streams and eventually in-person events. Their first event is a virtual Meet & Greet on September 1 at 7pm.
Writer’s Digest’s 8th Annual Self-Published E-book Awards honors the best self-published e-book(s) in eight of the most popular categories with $5,000 in cash, a featured interview in Writer’s Digest magazine, and a paid trip to the ever-popular Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City. In addition to $13,000 in total cash prizes, all entrants will receive a brief commentary on their work from one of Writer’s Digest’s judges.  Entry fee $125. Deadline September 21.
Margaret Gibson, State of CT Poet Laureate, is inviting all poets who live in Connecticut to send poems to be considered for inclusion in an anthology funded by an Academy of American Poets Grant. The anthology will be published by Grayson Books in Hartford and will be released in time for Earth Day, 2021. Three Poems from poets of every racial and cultural background and experience are welcome: we all live on this earth together   Deadline October 30. Click here for more information, and submission guidelines.
The Westport Writers Workshop continues to offer a number of one-time workshops. Among those scheduled for the fall, beginning September 5, are: Finding Inspiration(September 5), NaNoWriMo: Prep for Success(October 17), Learn to Outline(September 26),
Small Wonders: Writing Flash Nonfiction(November 7), and many more. For more information, email exec@westportwriters.org
If you’re looking for reviews of your book(s), check out Story Origin, who will deliver eBooks for both ARC’s and contest prizes.
From Jane Friedman. Missing out on group writing time with friends? Take a look at Ohwrite for a tool to help you meet your writing goals by word sprinting online, alongside others. Still in beta and free. One thing to note – you write online, so you should remember to copy whatever you’ve done to a file of your own. But it’s a great way to get words on the page. If you’re not interested in word sprinting, but a coworking accountability partner, take a look at FocusMate instead. You sign in for 50 minutes with someone you probably don’t know, and all you do is write, or work from home or do your homework. Three sessions a week for free, and then you pay something.
I’ll have more for you on Monday, folks.
Keep writing!