June, come back!

June is halfway over already. I feel like it just started. Monday marks the Summer Solstice, after which the days will begin to get shorter again. I tend to celebrate the Winter Solstice because it means the days are going to get longer, leading us out of the dreaded cold of winter. But I'm trying not to think too much about the Summer Solstice. I love summer, and I don't want to see it go away too soon. A lot of my days have been going by too fast lately.

As I mentioned previously, I'd meant to put up a large post in several parts this week, but it kind of got away from me. The topic was outlining, based on knowledge gleaned from Jon Franklin's Writing For Story, which I got at the library's book sale a month or so ago. I found as I was writing the post that, instead of just jumping in, I'd better read the whole chapter before trying to utilise advice based on its content. I'm still going to put that article up here, but it may take a bit longer than I originally anticipated.

The deadline for Toasted Cheese's Midsummer Tale contest is fast approaching and I have nothing to submit for it yet. I'll have to go back to my notes and see if I can put something together this weekend.

Qarrtsiluni's journal is seeking submissions for this month. Their deadline is June 30th. I hope to submit to them as well.

New Month, Lots of Opportunities

I'm having a hard time coming up with a topic for today. I have a lot of tasks to accomplish this week and the fact my mail/calendar suite keeps crashing is not helping me stay focused, as I instinctively try to chase down the errors and look a bug reports and figure it out, even though I know I ought to just leave it for now and get to my work.

Sigh. I am easily distracted, and computer issues are itches I can't resist scratching.

It's June already. When did that happen? It was just the beginning of May last time I looked... well, June is full of writing things for me. There are two contests/calls for content with June deadlines, a Writers' Cafe held by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group, and that same group's monthly meeting. I don't know that I'll participate in all those things, but it certainly makes my calendar seem full. And it's irritating when my calendar program crashes as I'm trying to add things to it.

I also have an edited article to submit this week. I need to take another look at it before I send it off. And speaking of editing, my manuscript is still awaiting my attention. Eeegh. What a mountain that is.

For those interested, Toasted Cheese has its Midsummer Tale contest, whose deadline is, handily enough, June 21st. Winners are published in the literary magazine and receive Amazon gift certificates for $20, $15, and $10.

The Qarrtsiluni online literary magazine is calling for submissions about "The Crowd". Pieces can be up to 1000 words or up to five poems, or photos, videos, or digitzed artwork. This isn't a contest, but a general request for material. Deadline for this one is June 30.

Oh yeah, and Associated Content. It's been far too long since I submitted to them. Time to get on the ball and get writing! Has anyone seen my energy? Did Ioan it out to one of you guys? No? Rats.

Markets, Contests, and Things

I spent some time looking at markets yesterday. Markets and contests and grants, oh my. There sure are a lot of them out there. It's going to take some research and a lot of question-asking to find the ones that are best for me.

Practicing Writing, a blog linked in my blog list over there, has a newsletter that includes marketing and other professional advice. I've signed up for a few other groups and newsletters in the past few days, including qarrtsiluni, an online literary magazine.

I also looked at Duotrope's Digest, which features a great search engine of markets. All its information is based on reports made by writers who've submitted work to these markets, and the search engine makes it easy to find what you're looking for. It doesn't reduce the sheer volume of markets, but it should help you find the slice of the market pie that's suitable for what you're writing.

So before I get too caught up in poking around for another new site/magazine/contest to mention, I'm gonna stop here. I think the caffeine in my tea has not quite made it to my brain yet, and the result is ...

What was I writing? Yeah, see what I mean? Back tomorrow with ... something. Be creative!