Tag Archives: Stories

25th Anniversary: Virginia Festival of the Book

March 13, 2019Literary, Writing Conferences & Getaways25th Anniversary, Adult, Author Readings, Authors, Autographs, Book Festival, books, Children's Program, Culture, Edward Ayers, Fiction, John Grisham, Middle Grade, Music, Non-Fiction, Readers, Reading, Rick Atkinson, Stories, Virginia Festival of the Book, Workshops, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

The Virginia Festival of the Book brings readers and writers together for a five-day celebration of books, reading, literacy, and literary culture. The annual festival will be held March 20-24, 2019. Programs range from traditional author readings and book signings to children’s programs and hands-on workshops. All programs are open to the public and, with the exception of a few ticketed events, the majority of Festival programs are free to attend.

An abbreviated list of past participants includes Rick Atkinson, Edward Ayers, David Baldacci, Maureen Corrigan, Edwidge Danticat, Kate DiCamillo, Rita Dove, Alan Furst, John Grisham, Jan Karon, Jim Lehrer, Frances Mayes, Colum McCann, David McCullough, Alice McDermott, Katherine Paterson, Jon Scieszka, Lisa Scottoline, Pete Seeger, Karin Slaughter, Alexander McCall Smith, Lee Smith, Bryan Stevenson, Elizabeth Strout, Judith Viorst, and Charles Wright. For a current listing, go here.

As always, have fun and learn lots!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

James Jones Fellowship Contest

March 9, 2019Fellowship, Literary$10K, Author, Competition, contest, Cultural, Determination, From Here To Eternity, Guidelines, Honesty, James Jones, James Jones Fellowship Contest, Manuscript, Monetary Prize, Money, Novel-In-Progress, Runner-ups, Social Issues, Stories, Submit, Unpublished, Wilkes University, WIP, Writers, Writingpdpabst

The James Jones Fellowship Contest is for a novel-in-progress by a United States unpublished author. The award is given annually with a grand prize of $10,000. There are two runner-ups given a prize of $1000 each. A selection from the winning work will be published in Provincetown Arts. In order to enter, the author needs to submit the first 50 pages of the novel-in-progress, a two-page outline, and a $30 entry fee.

According to the web page, the award is intended to honor the spirit of unblinking honesty, determination, and insight into the cultural and social issues exemplified by the late James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and other prose narratives of distinction. Authors can submit online or via SASE. The deadline for the contest is March 15, 2019. For complete guidelines, please visit the fellowship website. As always, good luck.

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Himalayan Writing Retreats

March 8, 2019Literary, Writing Conferences & GetawaysAuthors, Book Chat, books, Calendar, Exercises, Fiction, Fireside Chats, Getaway, Himalayan Writing Retreats, Inspiration, Instruction, Long Walks, Manuscripts, Non-Fiction, Retreat, Stories, Writerly Chats, Writingpdpabst

Want to whisk away to the Himalayan mountains for inspiration while writing your next novel? Then sign up for one of the Himalayan Writing Retreats, or one of the writing weeks (depending on your level of expertise). There is instruction, exercises, fireside chats, long walks, and writerly chats.

If you are looking for advise or simply inspiration for your next book, be sure to check out the Himalayan Writing Retreats/Weeks event calendar. They have more than one to enroll during the year 2019. Have fun and happy writing!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Oscars: Academy Nicholl Fellowships

March 6, 2019Contests, Fellowship, LiteraryAcademy Nicholl Fellowship, Adaptations, Adult, Authors, books, Competition, Deadline, Fiction, Film, Guidelines, Middle Grade, Monetary Prize, Non-Fiction, Opportunity, Oscars, PG, PG-13, R, Rules, Screenplay, Screenwriter, Stories, Submission, Television, Writing, Young Adultpdpabst

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in screenwriting is an international screenwriting competition established to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters. And yes, this is a branch of the Oscars!

If you write screenplays and haven’t earned more than $25,000 for writing fictional work for film or television, then this contest is for you. Up to five fellowships for $35,000 are awarded each year. Please read the entire guidelines and obligations before submitting. There is a small entry fee, with an option to also purchase reader comments. And who doesn’t love feedback? Although there are three separate deadlines, the final entry deadline is May 1, 2019.

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Author Mentor Match #AMM Round 6

March 1, 2019Contests, Literary, Mentor ProgramAge Category, Agent Ready, Alexa Donne, Author Mentor Match, Authors, Critique Partners, Feedback, Fiction, Genre, Heather Kaczynski, Manuscript, Mentoring, Middle Grade, Opportunity, Publishing, Query, Stories, Submissions, Synopsis, Writers, Young Adultpdpabst

Author Mentor Match was created by Heather Kaczynski and Alexa Donne. The object is to match new writers with authors further along in the publishing process and gain invaluable mentoring! That’s right, this is an opportunity to get your manuscript critiqued (for free) before submitting to agents!

Authors can select up to four mentors during the submission window between March 1, 2019 through March 5, 2019. Watch for the mentor BIOS to be posted to learn what age groups and genres they wish to see in their inbox!

Please note there is a two-step process for entering:

Fill out the submission form. (I believe the form will appear during the sub window period.)
Email the proper information to authormentormatch@gmail.com:

A query (pasted in the body of the email!)
The first 50 pages/3 chapters of your novel (whichever is longer & can be attached)
A synopsis

Be sure to include in the subject line the manuscripts Age Category +Genre + Title. (ie: YA Sci-Fi – Mars Plants are the Bomb) on the email submission. And check out the site in order to know how to select the mentors you wish to submit because it isn’t clear quite yet. (I’m guessing this might be part of the submission form.) As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

#WriteOnCon is Almost Here!

January 31, 2019Literary, Webinar/Workshop, Writing Conferences & GetawaysAdmission, Agency, Agents, Alyssa Hollingsworth, Authors, Axie Oh, Beth Revis, books, Charlie N. Holmberg, Childrens Books, Conference, Dee Romito, Editors, Feedback, Fiction, Forum, Gail Shepard, Hannah Carmona Dias, Joy McCullough, Kidlit, Laura Dail Literary Agency, Learning, Literary Agents, Liza Dawson Associates, MG, Middle Grade, New Leaf Literary & Media Inc., Non-Fiction, Opportunity, Pitch, Pitching, Published Authors, Registration, Rosalyn Eves, Stories, Superheroes, The Rights Factory, The Seymour Agency, Transatlantic Agency, WriteOnCon, Writers, YA, Young Adultpdpabst

WriteOnCon

The WriteOnCon creators of this marvelous online gathering say this is “A writing conference you don’t even have to wear pants to. (Please wear pants, though.)” And yep, this is my favorite line! The conference isn’t just an opportunity to attend a writing workshop, but it’ll be the cheapest (aside from being free, of course) and closest conference you’ll ever attend. Seriously, you can participate from your home! And while you might have missed the raffles and perks to buy, there is still time to sign up to join. Admission is either $5 (General Admission), $10 (General + Live Events), or $15 (General + Live Events + Extended Access). You can’t wrong with any choice!

WriteOnCon is an online conference for kidlit writers and illustrators. Connect with writers, authors, and agents in this event. There will even be SUPERHEREOS (agents and authors) sneaking around the forum to give you feedback on your queries and manuscripts. This year’s heroes are:

SuperAgents:

Tamar Rydzinski, agent at Laura Dail Literary Agency
Andrea Cascardi, agent at Transatlantic Agency
Kat Enright, agent at Seymour Agency
Caitie Flum, agent at Liza Dawson Associates
Lindsay Leggett, agent at The Rights Factory
Suzie Townsend, agent at New Leaf Literary and Media

SuperAuthors:

Beth Revis, YA author
Charlie N. Holmberg, YA author
Axie Oh, YA author
Rosalyn Eves, YA author
Joy McCullough, YA author
Dee Romito, MG author
Alyssa Hollingsworth, MG author
Gail Shepherd, MG author
Hannah Carmona Dias, PB author

Check their disguises out here. There will also be live pitch sessions (check the schedule for all 3 days)! But hurry to get registered because it’ll take place Friday-Sunday, February 8-10, 2019.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

#SFFpit Pitch Event For Writers

January 29, 2019Contests, Literary#SFFpit, Age Group, Agents, Author, books, Dan Koboldt, Editors, Event, Fantasy, Fiction, Genre, Hashtag, Horror, Literary Agency, Manuscripts, Opportunity, Pitch, Pitching, Publishing, research, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Stories, Twitter, Words, Wordsmith, Writers, Writingpdpabst

It’s that time of year again for science fiction and fantasy writers to polish their pitches for Dan Koboldt’s #SFFpit writing contest on twitter! It runs on January 30, 2019 between 8am-6pm EST. This contest allows 10 pitches total and Dan asks that you use them wisely! As usual, it needs to be a 280 character pitch for twitter including the hashtag #SFFpit. For all the rules, including how to properly insert the age group and category, go here. And remember to research any agents or editors that favorite your tweet because ANY ONE can trawl the feed!

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Alabama Writing Workshop

January 28, 2019Literary, Writing Conferences & GetawaysAgency, Agents, Alabama, Alabama Writing Workshop, Authors, Book, BookEnds Literary, C.Y.L.E., D4EO Literary, Editing, Editors, Faculty, Feedback, Fiction, Harline Literary, Hilton Birmingham, Holloway Literary Agency, HSG Literary, Inspiration, JABberwocky Literary, Literary Agent, Manuscript, Non-Fiction, Opportunity, Pitch, Registration, RO Literary, Stories, Wordcrafts Press, Writerspdpabst

The Alabama Writing Workshop is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. Note that there are limited seats at the event, so don’t delay. Here are current faculty:

Literary agent Caroline George (C.Y.L.E. Literary Elite)
literary agent Nikki Terpilowski (Holloway Literary)
literary agent Alexis Sattler (HSG Agency)
literary agent Weronika Janczuk (D4E0 Literary)
literary agent Sandra O’Donnell (RO Literary)
literary agent Moe Ferrara (BookEnds Literary)
literary agent Hannah Whatley (Hartline Literary)
literary agent Susan Velazquez (JABberwocky Literary)
editor Mike Parker (Wordcrafts Press)
and possibly more to come.

The event will take place March 8, 2019 from 9:30am-5pm at Embassy Suites by Hilton Birmingham, 2300 Woodcrest Pl, Birmingham, AL 35209. (205)879-7400.

Learn lots and have fun!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Pikes Peak Writers Conference

January 26, 2019Literary, Writing Conferences & Getawaysadvise, Agents, Aquiring Editors, Authors, Best-Sellers, Bond Literary, books, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Crooked Lane Books, Del Rey, Editors, Feedback, Film Producer, Inspiration, International, Learning, Literary Agency, Manuscripts, New Leaf Literary, New York TImes Best Sellers, Opportunity, Penquin, Pikes Peak Writers Conference, Professionals, Random House, Registration, Speakers, Stories, The Seymour Agency, Writers, Writers Housepdpabst

Pikes Peak Writers Conference is an opportunity to get literary advise from a professional in the business or get invaluable feedback on your manuscript. The conference will be May 3-5, 2019 held in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Susan Wiggs (International and #1 New York Times best-selling author)
Rachel Howzell Hall (New York Times best-selling author)
John Gilstrap (New York Times best-selling author and film producer)
Anne Bishop (New York Times best-selling author)

ACQUIRING EDITORS:

Faith Black Ross (Crooked Lane Books)
Tom Hoeler (Del Rey an imprint of Random House Books)
Stacey Barney (G.P. Putnam’s Sons and imprint of Penguin)

AGENTS:

Victoria Doherty Munro (Writers House)
Lesley Sabga (The Seymour Agency)
Becky LeJune (Bond Literary)
Suzie Townsend (New Leaf Literary)

For more authors and specialist, go here. And be sure to register before the workshop fills up. As always, have fun!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

L. Ron Hubbard Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contest

December 22, 2018Contests, LiteraryArt, Artists, Artwork, Authors, Award, Entrants, Entries, Fantasy, Guidelines, Illustrators, Illustrators of the Future, Judges, L. Ron Hubbard, Manuscripts, Monetary Prize, Nevelettes, Pictures, Prizes, Publication Rights, Science Fiction, Stories, Submissions, Writers, Writers of the Futurepdpabst

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest entries end at 5pm on December 31, 2018. So, hurry and get your submissions in.

Writers

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new and amateur writers of new short stories or novelettes of science fiction or fantasy. No entry fee is required. Entrants retain all publication rights. All awards are adjudicated by professional writers only. Prizes every three months: $1,000, $750, $500, Annual Grand Prize: $5,000 additional! If you have not read the contest rules, please click here before submitting. To enter, go here.

Illustrators

L. Ron Hubbard’s Illustrators of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new science fiction and fantasy artists worldwide. No entry fee is required. Entrants retain all publication rights. All judging by professional artists only. $1,500 in prizes each quarter. Quarterly winners compete for $5,000 additional annual prize! If you have not read the contest rules, please click here before submitting. To enter, go here.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

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