Writers Rendezvous January update

We had another great meeting, and members came up with some interesting questions and ideas, including the future of social media as a way of getting the word out about your writing, where to find an editor, and the value of Medium and Substack. The consensus was that the latter can provide a way of publishing a newsletter without having to set up a mailing list.

The Writers Workshop from Authors Publish is giving away the full recordings from their 2024 lecture series, including all 11 lectures on writing and publishing, free. This is a unique chance to learn from best-selling and world-renowned authors, agents, editors, and more. Please note, the entire lecture series will be free until January 31 only, so if you’re interested, sign up right away. Get Full Access to All 11 Lectures Here

Reedsy Learning, an offshoot of Reedsy, the website you can find subcontractors for all your writing and publishing needs, is running a one-day online writing conference on February 2 from 11-3 ET on How to Plan Your Novel. Events will include: masterclasses on novel prep, story structure, and character creation, insights from a panel of novelists at different stages of their careers and live Q&A with top literary editors. You’ll receive downloadable materials and resources to help you plan your next novel. Register here. $99

Submissions are open until February 2 for the Fractured Lit anthology contest of flash fiction. $5000 will be awarded between 20 winners. A $20 reading fee allows you to submit two stories of 1000 words or fewer. Full details here.

The Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT, runs regular writing retreats, but is best known for its annual author/reader get-together, Booktopia. This year, it takes place from May 2-4, and the weekend will include talks, signings, celebration and more. You can buy three-day or two-day passes, or just a ticket for the special Sunday afternoon event with National Medal of the Arts recipient Julia Alvarez at the Southern Vermont Arts Center. Register here. $20-$285.

British writer Christopher Fielden has produced a list with a total of 739 active publishing opportunities divided by genre, plus links to 61 other list providers. You can find details of:

Book and novel competitions x 89 (+ 5 other list providers) here
Flash fiction competitions x 111 (+ 6 other list providers) here
Non-fiction competitions x 65 (+ 2 other list providers) here
Poetry competitions x 131 (+ 5 other list providers) here
Short story collection competitions x 14 (+ 2 other list providers) here
Short story competitions x 173 (+ 28 other list providers) here
Short story magazines x 105 (+ 8 other list providers) here
Young writer contests x 51 (+ 5 other list providers) here

Here’s an interesting article by Janet Fox for writers of picture books: The Surprising complexity of Picture Books. Check it out.

And here’s another from Sandra Beckwith about Using AI as your author assistant: Why it’s ethical, efficient, and essential. If you’re anxious about AI, this details the many ways it can help with your writing (without doing the writing for you) and why if you don’t let it, you’ll eventually be at a significant disadvantage.

Authors Publish has produced this list of 41 Themed Calls for Submissions for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the themed calls are: paranoia; short (b)reads; seaside gothic; fairy tales; sleeping beauty; food; underappreciated or overlooked writers; Queer tales of untold adventure; witchcraft; speculative mysteries; carnivals of horror; and lost at sea. If you’re a writer and you don’t already subscribe to Authors Publish, you’re missing an incredibly helpful and timely resource for getting your writing published. Don’t take my word for it – subscribe and see. If it’s not useful, you can always unsubscribe. I don’t get paid to promote them, I just think they’re almost essential.

One of our members, Chris Shaw Myers, has his memoir/biography of his uncle, actor Robert Shaw (Jaws, A Man for All Seasons, From Russia With Love, etc.) up for preorder now. It promises to be a unique look at the private man behind the actor.