We enjoyed a great get-together yesterday, with reports of new publications by member authors (see list below) and a number of events, contests, etc. Here’s part 1…
Celebrate the publication of the 2024 CT Lit Anthology this month on Sunday, October 27, from 2-4pm at An Afternoon With Nutmeg Writers at the Stratford Public Library. The library would appreciate an RSVP.
Established in 2017 as a literary magazine for fiction, CRAFT is running its annual Flash Prose Fiction contest. Until October 27, submit your most exciting and innovative work for the CRAFT 2024 Flash Prose Prize. They’d like to see your fiction or nonfiction submissions written around the topics of obsessions, worries, and dreams, written with “dramatic urgency” and “personal vision.” For more inspiration, browse last year’s winners. $20 for either one or two submissions
Agora, a site where writers draft, share, and discuss their craft is running a “first page” contest, asking writers to submit a 1000-word maximum introduction to a novel. The contest runs until October 31, with submissions being evaluated throughout November. Check out all the details on the contest page. The winner will receive $200, and whether you submit or not, check out the website where you can browse the forum, track your writing progress, and get anonymous feedback from real people. Learn more here
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts on November 1. Writing a novel alone can be difficult, even for experienced writers, and NaNoWriMo helps you track your progress, set milestones, connect with other writers, and participate in activities designed to help you finish your novel. Sign up here.
If you don’t feel NaNo is for you, the writing and editing software Autocrit is offering a Novel 90 Challenge, where you write a novel in 90 days. It runs from October 1 – December 31, and offers you a chance to join teams with the goal of finishing an entire book in 90 days! They also offer weekly live streams packed with tips and guidance. It’s free to join! Sign up here: AutoCrit Novel 90 Challenge
Free. P.S. Member Libby Waterford is teaching a 2-hour class on November 2, from 10-12 in person and on Zoom, designed to help you get through these kinds of challenges more confidently. Organizing your Writing Life will teach you how to use software to streamline your writing process, get into a productive flow with your writing faster, focus on creating without listening to your inner editor, and more. Details here.
By the way, writing software Scrivener is NaNo’s official “Preptober” sponsor. Whether you’re planning your NaNoWriMo project, organizing research, or setting word count goals, Scrivener can help. (I use it and love it.) In October they are sharing exclusive content, writing tips, and more. These companies and others are also offering amazing discounts from Scrivener and ProWritingAid, among others, for NaNo writers – so it may be worth signing up to get those. Scrivener and ProWritingAid are offering a 20% discount, for example.
Norwalk Public Library will host its eighth Book and Author Festival on November 2 from 10-4pm The theme is UNITING THE COMMUNITY. Stew Leonard, Jr., Kim Leonard, and Stewie the Duck will join Mayor Harry Rilling at 10:00 a.m. to kick off the event, which is free to the public. A variety of items will be raffled during the festival. Among them are tickets to a Yale Football Game, Westport Country Playhouse, Wall Street Theater, Music Theatre of Connecticut, and passes to Stepping Stones Museum! And coffee with various authors (me included!).
New York Midnight’s 6th Annual 250-word Microfiction Challenge is a competition that challenges writers around the world to create very short stories (no longer than 250 words) based on genre, action, and word assignments in 48 hours. In the first round, beginning at 11:59pm (New York time) on Friday, November 8, writers are placed randomly in groups and are assigned a genre, action, and word assignment. Writers have 48 hours to craft an original 250-word story in their assigned genre, with the assigned action taking place, and incorporating the assigned word. The judges choose a top 10 in each group to advance to the 2nd Round where writers receive new assignments. Judges select the top five writers in each group from the second round to advance to the final round of the competition. Feedback from the judges is provided for every submission, and there are thousands in cash and prizes for the winners. Join here. $37.
NEW BOOKS FROM MEMBERS
Libby Waterford writing as Elle Waters will publish the second novel in her Rosedale Seasons small-town gay romance series Autumn Crush on October 23. https://books2read.com/
Larry Terhaar, published his first suspense/mystery featuring his detective Dab Burnett Once a Detective this year. The sequel will be out in February 2025.
