Finding Something Friday on a Writer’s Wish List

A big thanks to my writer friend, Sally Apokedak, who sent me this gem of a sweepstakes!

It’s called a Writer’s Wish List Sweepstakes and all you have to do to win is pick your favorites from the Gotham Writers’ Workshop wish list and send in the entry form.

Yep, that’s it. The whole shebang. And then, come January 17, one name will be picked at random for each of the items listed. That’s like…let me go count. SIXTY-THREE CHANCES TO WIN!

Of course, it’s possible that there will be 63,000 writers signing up for each of these swell gifts. I don’t blame ’em. A few of these sparkly gifts are on my personal wish list addressed to the Beneficent Mr. Hall.

Uh-oh. What if I win something I already have? Well, I’ll cross that sweepstakes bridge when I come to it. In the meantime, I think I see the Beneficent Mr. Hall trying to type with his fingers crossed.

Finding Something Friday: Essay Contest and Cool Networking

Just very quickly going to remind you that if you have a burning desire to win an essay contest, but you don’t want to pay an entry fee, you still have time to enter the annual Funds For Writers Essay contest (no fee). Of course, you can also enter the annual Funds for Writers Essay contest (fee) as long as you have five bucks and can finish your essay by midnight on October 31st. The theme for this year is “diligence” and so may I suggest that you diligently set your butt in the chair and get writing those 750 words (or less).

And if you’d like to get in on some online hobnobbing with agents, editors and other writers, you might want to zip over to this spot and sign up for the WAE Network (Writers, Agents and Editors). I don’t know much else about this network except that it’s launching soon.

Somehow, I thought it had something to do with Kelly Milner Halls. But when I zipped over to her website, I didn’t see anything about this new network. What I did see, and what THRILLED me to my toes, was her new book, In Search of Sasquatch.

As I happen to have a burning desire to meet Bigfoot (or a Bigfoot), I’ll be rather busy reading all the stuff on her site. But you all should probably start writing that FFW essay.

Finding Something Friday: Humor, Books I’m Reading, Contest, Writing Tips

That’s not a very catchy post title, but it does pretty much sum up the day’s catch.
If you’d like to read October’s column in Modern Senior Living, check out page 13 for “My Not-So-Smart Phone.” (I could probably write a book about phones at the Hall house. One time, I walked into Juniorest Hall’s room and found this mangled mess of wires and such on his bed. Just before I threw it out, he yelled, “Wait! That’s my phone!” Which he was actually still using. It was the phone I’d purchased 24 hours after I’d bought his first phone–but that’s another story.)
As you may remember, October is National Book Month, and I thought I’d update you on what I’m reading now: Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley (a middle grade novel with fairy tale overtones) and Bodies of the Dead And Other Great American Ghost Stories (Did you know Edith Wharton wrote a ghost story? Neither did I, but there she is with Ambrose Bierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Willa Cather, and Harriet Prescott Spofford. I don’t know Harriet Prescott Spofford from Adam’s house cat, but how many times do you come across a name with that many double consonants? When I finish this scary book, I’m giving it away in the All Hallow’s Read Giveaway. Don’t forget to mention BOOk in a comment if you want your name in the cauldron.)
Janet Reid (yes, the literary agent, again) is having a contest. You have till tomorrow (at noon) to write a 100 word themed Halloween story with the words she’s posted. You can win a critique from Barbara Poelle, and that’s pretty awesome for a micro-fiction story. (You get bonus points if you work in the word “insalubrious”. And yes, I know that you know what insalubrious means, but I thought I’d give a quick definition for all those folks who may have taken a siesta during 10th grade Vocab drills: insalubrious=not conducive to health, unwholesome.)
Finally, just a quick mention of the writing tips you can find over at Finders & Keepers this week. I mentioned that I attended an SCBWI conference and I wrote a “what I learned from whom I saw” post. It’s packed with stuff you can use, whether you’re a children’s writer or not. (Seriously. It’s kind of a long post. But no one will know if you skim it.)
And now, as my insalubrious tale won’t write itself, I have a story to find on this fine Friday. I’m pretty sure it’s rattling around in my head, somewhere.