Do you have a cure for the winter writing blahs?

Help! It’s the dead of winter with no end in sight. I’m in the middle of writing my first novel and suddenly my words seem stale and my characters are out of control. I’m ready to throw the whole thing in the trash and start over. Do you have a cure for the winter writing blahs?

Hey, I am totally there. It’s been a long, cold, snowy January here in Colorado. My current WIP is giving me fits, too. It happens to all of us.

First of all, don’t throw your novel in the trash. Set it aside and take a break. Get out of the house. Get some exercise. Go shopping. Get a massage. Have lunch with a friend. Treat yourself to a day off. You probably need it. It will help ease your cabin fever.

Go do that right now, then come back here …

There. See? Doesn’t that feel better?

Uh-oh. Still dreading the sight of those manuscript pages?

Write something else. Write a short story, poem, article, essay, blog post, anything. Just write something else.

Here’s an even better idea. Write something else – and have some fun with it. Enter a contest. And I just happen to have the perfect contest for you.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest

Find a vanity poetry contest, a contest with low standards whose main purpose is to entice poets to buy expensive products like anthologies, chapbooks, CDs, plaques and silver bowls. Vanity contests will often praise remarkably bad poems in their effort to sell as much stuff to as many people as possible. Click here for an example of a vanity contest that accepts nearly everything.

Make up a deliberately absurd, strange, laugh-out-loud humor poem. Click here for examples.

Submit your parody poem to a vanity contest as a joke.

After you’ve done steps 1-3, click here to submit your entry to the Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest.

There is no fee. Poets of all nations are welcome. Your poem must be in English (inspired gibberish also accepted). Please submit only one poem during the submission period. Your poem may be of any length.

Jendi Reiter is this year’s Judge of the Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest.

Deadline: April 1, 2008

1st Prize: $1,359
2nd Prize: $764
3rd Prize: $338
12 Honorable Mentions: $72.95 each

All winners will receive official Winning Writers polo shirts and publication at WinningWriters.com

Go to Winning Writers for complete submission guidelines.

Now get writng and good luck!

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Can I submit my magazine feature to book publishers?

I had a pop star feature published in a children’s magazine two years ago. I read about a call for biography submissions from a children’s book publisher and I think that my feature would fit in with what they’re looking for. Since it was first published in a magazine, can I submit it to a book publisher?

Rights are rights. There’s no difference between selling rights to a magazine and selling rights to a book publisher. It depends on whether or not the magazine owns all rights. Assuming you still have the contract you signed when you originally sold the piece, you should be sure to read it over again. If the contract is for nonexclusive serial rights and the rights revert to you after publication, then you are free to submit your manuscript to other markets, including book publishers.

If the contract is for all rights, then the text of the article belongs to the magazine. Moira Allen covers the issue of re-selling your published work in her article, Can I Sell a Previously Published Article?

There is a fairly straightforward way around the copyright issue. But it will involve some serious re-writing on your part. Since your article was written and published a couple years ago, it could probably use some updating. In fact, even if you own the rights, you should re-visit the work, dust it off and spice it up. Do some research for new information about your subject that you can add to beef up and revise the original text. Think up a new title.

Go to your local library and/or bookstore and look at the biographies published by the publisher you plan to submit to. Then use your published article as a basis for an updated, improved biography that will fit in well with the style of books they publish.

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Highlights 2008 Fiction Contest

Guidelines for Submission

Category: Stories set in the future.

Prizes: Three prizes of $1,000 each.

Entry Dates: All entries must be postmarked between January 1 and January 31, 2008.

Criteria: Stories may be any length up to 800 words. Stories for beginning readers should not exceed 500 words. Indicate the word count in the upper right-hand corner of the first page of your manuscript.

No crime, violence, or derogatory humor.

Manuscripts or envelopes should be clearly marked FICTION CONTEST. Those not marked in this way will be considered as regular submissions to Highlights.

Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with each entry. No entry form or fee is required. Work from both published and unpublished authors is welcome. All submissions must be previously unpublished.

*Entrants must be at least 16 years old.

Send Entries to:
FICTION CONTEST
Highlights for Children
803 Church Street
Honesdale, PA 18431

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