Thought for the Month

"The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes --- ah, that is where the art resides." - Artur Schnabel,

Hello Authors and Readers,

January 2009 - a new year, a new adventure. More than ever, I think it will be important for writers to keep writing; to keep believing in their worth as creative and contributing members of society. It is too easy in an economic crisis to focus only on the practical solutions to society's problems. Art is universal and needed by all cultures.

Keep writing,

Sandra

Markets:

New Millennium Writings seeks submissions. Submission guidelines: http://www.newmillenniumwritings.com/

Writers' Journal seeks fiction submissions. Submission guidelines: http://www.writersjournal.com/CalendarofContests.htm

Adirondack Review seeks fiction submissions. Submission guidelines: http://www.theadirondackreview.com/Contests.html

Transitions Abroad seeks 'expatriate' writing. Submission guidelines: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/information/writers/expatriate_writing_contest.shtml

The Malahat Review seeks long poem submissions. Submission guidelines: http://www.malahatreview.ca/long_poem_prize/info.html

Fourth Genre is seeking the best creative nonfiction essay/memoir for its fifth annual Editors’ Prize. Submission guidelines:http://www.msupress.msu.edu/journals/fg/index.php?Page=prize

Passages North seeks submissions for the Elinor Benedict Poetry Contest or the Thomas R. Hruska Memorial Prize in Nonfiction. Submission guidelines:http://myweb.nmu.edu/~passages/

St. Petersburg Review seeks submissions for their forthcoming poetry contest. Submission guidelines:http://www.stpetersburgreview.com/events.html

The Florida Review seeks submissions. Submission guidelines:http://www.flreview.com/

Kenyon Review announces their second annual Short Fiction Contest, for writers under the age of thirty. Submission guidelines:http://www.kenyonreview.org/contests-sf.php

CutBank seeks submissions for the Montana Prize in Fiction, the Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and the Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry. Submission guidelines: http://www.cutbankonline.org/cutbank_test/contests/

The Ledge Magazine seeks fiction submissions. Submission guidelines: http://www.theledgemagazine.com/Fiction%20Awards%20Contest.htm

Manuscript Evaluation -Treat yourself or a writing friend/relative to a manuscript evaluation from a publishing professional. This could include advice on a short story before submitting it to publishers or an evaluation of your novel or non-fiction book. Ask for details by e-mailing Windshift. Please put 'manuscript critique' in the subject line.

Publishing News:

The Way We Were

SWEDISH HOME-STORE IKEA will be promoting, and sponsoring, a new photographic book, UK at Home: A Close-up Look at How We Live, published by Duncan Baird in April. Google will also be involved in the promotion.

Designed to be a "visual time capsule of life in the UK at the beginning of the 21st century", UK at Home will feature the work of some 50 professional and thousands of amateur photographers who took "tens of thousands" of photographs of homes and home life during one week in September 2007. Three national paper picture editors then selected the best shots for use in the book. The book will also include essays, matching the themed chapters, by leading novelists, essayists and historians, including Will Self, Alexander McCall Smith, Simon Winchester, Jeanette Winterson, Blake Morrison and Alain de Botton, and an introduction by Sir Paul McCartney.

Ikea's involvement will include exhibitions at selected stores and ties in with the chain's current branding slogan 'Home is the Most Important Place in the World'. A television programme documenting the making of the book will be screened around publication in April.

The benefits of finding corporate sponsorship, especially from an international sponsor, for your writing project can be immense.

Diversity is the Key

Prolific mystery writer Donald E Westlake has died. He wrote more than 100 books under a variety of pseudonyms. Several were turned into hit films, including Point Blank and Payback.

Westlake's script for the con artist movie The Grifters resulted in an Oscar nod for best adapted screenplay in 1991. He also received three Edgar awards from the Mystery Writers of America.

Westlake began by writing serious crime fiction including The Mercenaries, Killing Time and 361. But he also penned several comedic crime novels, such as The Fugitive Pigeon and The Hot Rock, and even science fiction in Anarchaos.

His pen names included Tucker Coe, Curt Clark, Samuel Holt and Edwin West. The most enduring pseudonym, however, was Richard Stark, whose bleak novels all featured violent professional criminal Parker. One of those novels, The Hunter, became film noir Point Blank, with Dirty Dozen star Lee Marvin as the dispassionate anti-hero.

Don't think of your writing as only appealing to one market.

Home News:

We have settled quite comfortably since our move to Qualicum Beach. Plans for approaching book marketing in 2009 are being discussed. Sales in the US market for the latter half of 2008 were soft and current predictions suggest it will be a difficult market for 2009. We need to encourage readers to buy as many books as they can to support writers and writers need to spend more time getting out and reaching their potential readers. Personal appearances go a long way to connect writers and readers.

Note: While every effort is made to check the markets suggested in this newsletter, writers must use their own judgment when submitting their work. You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed at http://www.windshift.bc.ca or have requested a subscription. This issue may be distributed freely to friends, and writing groups as long as the entire issue is included.

To unsubscribe please use our contact form with unsubscribe in the text.