Thought for the Month

"The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Hello Writers and Readers,

Creativity requires activity and that is difficult for many of us. Like a diver on the end of a diving board we put off the actual act for as long as we can. Our fear limits our success. We deflect and delay and declare that something is not quite right. And yet when we launch ourselves into our project it is as though we are floating on a topical sea. We have found ourselves.

Happy hunting,

Sandra

Markets:

Teachers & Writers Collaborative seeks submissions for the Bechtel Prize. Submission guidelines:http://www.twc.org/publications/bechtel-prize

The Comstock Review seeks submissions for their ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST. Submission guidelines:http://www.comstockreview.org/

Prick of the Spindle seeks submissions for their flash fiction competition. Submission guidelines:http://www.prickofthespindle.com/pages/fiction_open.htm

New Millennium Writings seeks submissions for their forthcoming competition. Submission guidelines:http://www.newmillenniumwritings.com/

Narrative Magazine seeks poetry submissions. Submission guidelines:http://narrativemagazine.com/node/53403

Alehouse Press seeks entries for their Happy Hour Poetry Awards. Submission guidelines:http://alehousepress.homestead.com/alehousecontest.htm

PRISM International seeks submissions for the Annual Earle Birney Prize for Poetry. Submission guidelines:http://prism.arts.ubc.ca/contests.php

Literal Latté seeks short story and poetry submissions. Submission guidelines:http://www.literal-latte.com/contests/

Matrix Magazine seeks submissions. Submission guidelines:http://www.matrixmagazine.org/litpop.html

Post Road seeks fiction and poetry submissions. Submission guidelines:http://www.postroadmag.com/13/fiction/contest.phtml

Quarter After Eight seeks submissions for the 4th Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest. Submission guidelines:http://www.quarteraftereight.org/contest/

WRITERS' Journal seeks submissions for their forthcoming Romance Contest. Submission guidelines:http://www.writersjournal.com/RomanceContest.htm

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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:

Two previously unpublished short stories by Agatha Christie,featuring her nattily dressed, mustachioed Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, have been discovered among Christie’s old notebooks.

John Curran, author of “Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making,” set to be published by HarperCollins this fall, found the stories while doing research among the notebooks, which were discovered several years ago at Greenway House, Christie’s holiday home in Devon, England.

Mr. Curran, one of few people with access to the notebooks, will include the stories in his book. One tale, “The Mystery of the Dog’s Ball,” was reworked into the novel “Dumb Witness,” and the other, “The Capture of Cerberus,” was rewritten with the same title and included in “The Labors of Hercules,” a collection of a dozen Poirot cases.

Rubina Ali, one of the child stars of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, is preparing to publish her life story.

Madeline Toy at Transworld Publishers said that "Slumgirl Dreaming: My Journey to the Stars" will be published in the UK in July 2009.

Ms Toy said all royalties from the book will go to Rubina and Médecins du Monde, a French medical aid organization.

“The problem in Europe is that booksellers don’t know what strategies to use when coping with digitization,” says Françoise Dubruille, director of the European Booksellers Federation and the International Booksellers Federation, “There are 25 languages for 27 countries, there are 27 national cultures and literatures, and not all have the same challenges.”

On other contentious issues, such as selling books at government mandated fixed prices, Dubruille remains neutral. “Some are very much behind the idea of fixed prices - the Germans, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, Greeks, and Swiss.The Federation cannot say fixed prices are good or bad for for a particular market. It can only support booksellers in their search for what is best in their own market.”

As far as the future for bookselling is concerned, Dubruille says that “POD is something we are following very closely” and it’s not out of the question to envision a day when “every bookstore will have an Espresso Book Machine in their stores, making them both booksellers and printers.”

Regarding the fallout from the current economic downturn, Dubruille says that the hardest hit countries in her constituency are Ireland, the UK, and France. “We are still waiting for it to hit all of continental Europe,” she says, “Europe in general is six months behind the US, so it should affect us soon.” And, she’s not altogether sanguine about the immediate future: “I do not think Europeans will be quite as hard hit as the Americans,” says Dubruille, “but I don’t expect 2009 and 2010 to be very good years.”

Home News:

Just when you would think there would be a lull in activities in the office, we are deep into the production of our autumn/winter catalogue and preparing to attend major autumn book fairs, conferences and book events.

Note: While every effort is made to check the markets suggested in this newsletter, writers must use their own judgment when submitting their work.

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