Do you have a script, short story, essay or poem buried in your computer?

The deadlines are coming up super-quick, but you may have something that fits the bill for one of these contests or submission requests. All of these are paying markets. Isn't a chance to collect a few dollars (or more!) for your work better than your work collecting dust?

Here's the format for this list, Good Luck!

• Deadline date
• Quick Description of Contest or Market
• Word count or page requirements
• Link to site for more information on how to submit
• Entry Fee
• Payment or Contest Prize Range
  
• 10/29/09
• Under 30 Contest for writers between 18-30 years old
• 15000 word max
• http://www.narrativemagazine.com/node/915
•  $20 fee
• $100-$1500, eligible for $5000 prize in 2010
  
• 10/30/09
• Short short story; dark/macabre fiction
• 1000 word max
• http://leapfrogpress.com/contest.htm
• $8 fee
• $50-100

• 10/31/09
• Unusual Essay
• 10000 word max
• http://www.thediagram.com/contest.html#2009essayguidelines
• $15 fee
•  $1000 + publication

• 10/31/09
• scary short stories in a sea or lake setting
• 500-5000 words
•  http://www.pillhillpress.com/bitter-end.html
• No Entry Fee
•  1 cent/word and 1 contributor copy

• 10/31/09
•  fantasy fiction; multiple submissions welcome  
• 10000 words max
•  http://www.fightonmagazine.com/FOMag_FictionContest.html
• No Entry Fee
•  $30-$100 and copy of book

• 10/31/09
• Fiction, Non-Fiction or Poetry about Illinois or from Illinois writers
• 6 poems max; Fiction/Non-Fiction: 25 pages max
• http://craborchardreview.siuc.edu/special.html
• No Entry Fee
• $50-$500 depending on magazine pages

• 10/31/09
• Script for play contest; Playwrights must be women residing in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia.
• full length play (80 minutes minimum)
• http://www.womenplaywrights.com/call-for-scripts.htm
• No Entry Fee
•  $500 plus development/presentation of play

• 10/31/09
• Short story
• 12000 words max
• http://glimmertrain.com/test.html
• No Entry Fee
• $750, publication, plus 10 copies of that issue

• 10/31/09
• Short story contest; theme: Family Matters
• 12000 word max
•  http://www.glimmertrain.com/familymatters.html
•  $15 fee
• $300, $500, or $1200, publication, 20 copies of issue

• 10/31/09
• Essay contest; theme is "Invisible Writing"
• 750 word max
• http://www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm
• $0-$5 fee: choose to pay or not, prizes for each
• $10 – $200
• 11/01/09
• One-act play contest
• One hour max
• http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/
• $25 entry fee
• $1500 top prize

 If you are thinking, I would've loved writing something for these, but I didn't have the time. I'd say: that's a Valid Excuse! Keep an eye on this blog for ways to find more writing opportunities, sooner-- they are sure to help with the "I have no inspiration" excuse.

Today's Excuse: I don't have the time

We use this excuse so much, that if we added up the time we spent making it, we'd surely have added a few hours to our writing time. Look, we have to live our lives-- pay the bills, feed the kids, mow the lawn-- but if we want to be writers, our lives need to include writing. Stephen King wrote much of his first work during his lunch breaks. J.K. Rowling headed to the cafes and wrote there as a single mother. The cafe trips apparently helped her baby sleep. It was a win-win situation.

Excuse Editor Tip: Log-in to your writing

Dieters identify their consumption of excess calories by keeping a food log. Writers struggling to find time to write need to keep an activity log. Track a few days of your life, hour by hour. Examine the choices you are making with your time. A day with no writing-- but with two hours of TV, or a half hour of Facebook stalking? It may not have seemed like a time waster, but it put you that far back on your writing. Just as the dieter becomes aware of the unnecessary empty calories he's taking in because he has to write them down, the writer sees the time that was eaten up on something other than his passion.

If you're thinking, "Two hours of TV?! Who has time for that? I have work, home, parents, kids, friends, volunteer projects, cooking, cleaning, spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, dog, cat, iguana (yadda yadda yadda) to take care of...THAT'S why I have no time to write!" Your activity log is just as full of Time Eaters as the couch potato's. The difference is, you see all of these as as your unavoidable responsibilities. Give your log a critical look. Do YOU really have to take care of it ALL? Learn to delegate, learn to say no more often. Log in some time for yourself. Understand that you will become a more complete person, and a more prolific writer, if you honor yourself with time. If you are driven to write, make this a priority. Write that scene that won't get out of your head. Leave the vacuum in the closet. It will wait.

***

A few helpful links:

List of other ways to Find time to Write
A Few More times You can write during the day
Book: Time to Write, tells how other busy people find time to be writers

Today's Excuse: I'm not ready to write a long, complicated story

Excuse Editor Tip:

Start with 100 words. That's not much. You could write a whole story. People wrap up their days with 140 characters on Twitter . You'll probably find that it is more difficult to ONLY write 100 words. That's great, because then you will know the joy of shaping your story; you'll be cutting away anything unnecessary to get at the essence of your art, just like a sculptor. In this case, you'll have to be as precise as those calligraphers who write on the grains of rice. 100 words is short. This post has already gone WAY over.

There's a reason behind this tip: A Contest Deadline! You only have a few more days, but that just be enough for you to write a short, short story and submit it! Click here for more information. There is a $15 entry fee, but the top prize is $400!

Good Luck. Let me know how it goes!
 
(Use market information at your own risk. Excuse Editor recommends researching any market you decide to submit to. Excuse Editor gives no warranty to
completeness, accuracy, or fitness of the markets and contests. But don't use that as an excuse not to write.)

Don't Think, Just Write

"Thinking is the enemy of creativity. You must simply do things." --Ray Bradbury

For years, I thought a lot about writing. In grade school, I allowed myself to be immersed in my craft. I wrote stories, poems, songs, and even jokes constantly. My elementary school allowed us to write and bind our own books, and the books were given a place in the library where our classmates could check them out. A writer-in-residence came to my 4th grade classroom and asked us to write poems. Mine was one of many published in an anthology. I placed in the "Young Author's" contest.

And then, right around the same time I quit swinging in the playground for the pure joy of it, I became shy about my writing. I almost stopped completely.

Sure, I kept a diary for all of those years. And although I remember the struggles of my family, my own straining self-esteem and all of the memoir-worthy happenings that took place in that time, those diary pages hardly reflect any of it. Instead, there were scribblings of a flighty adolescent; I skimmed over details of devastating crushes and "best-friend-forever" angst.

I had a fascination with Emily Dickinson, whose writing was discovered when she was no longer around to have to defend it in any way. I thought about being a writer. I wanted people to read what I wrote. But the more I thought about it, the more I avoided writing anything real. Even in the pages of the diaries I kept hidden away in my room.

In high school, I tried my best to write exquisite essays that would make my teachers jump for joy and call their colleagues together to celebrate the talent in their midst. But how creative can a writer be with an introductory-paragraph-ending-with a thesis-statement-that would encompass-the-first-line-of each of the following-supporting-paragraphs ? Ugh. The funnel method of essay writing seemed to squeeze out any flavor that may have come through otherwise.

Still, I thought about being a real writer, despite the fact I was hardly writing anything at all outside of school. I was sure inspiration would hit me and I would be off and writing. Soon.

I joined the school newspaper. I thought was ready to use the written word to speak my mind. I researched in-school suspension, sure that there was inhumane treatment happening behind those cardboard desk dividers. I attempted to eradicate the stigma of heavy metal and it's lyrics in the dawning of PMRC's Parental Advisory stickers. But too soon, the deadlines stressed me out. And the 7AM Saturday required paste-up ran me out. I didn't want to work, I wanted to write. I thought there was a difference. I quit the paper.

No matter. I would still be a writer.

After High School.

Um, ok. After College, then.

Or, once I felt secure in my Career, for sure. I would write on the weekends!

When I get a new computer...

When I have time to take a writing workshop...

For decades, I made excuses not to write, at least not right now. I became an Excuses Expert. I knew exactly how to rationalize away the dreams I'd had since I was a little girl.

But still I was so... thirsty for it. An unlimited glass of water was right in front of me, but I kept telling myself that I should wait for juice. I was sure that the crisp clear water wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be. It couldn't be that easy. I couldn't write yet-- I still needed to study more, find more time...

… … ETC. … ...

But one day, something Clicked.

I had enough of being so parched all of the time. I reached out and took a big, long, drink.

I started writing. Finally.

I discovered that when I start, None of the excuses matter.

By stopping The Thinking About Writing, and starting The Writing, I'd begun to edit my own excuses. I became the Excuse Editor.

And that's why I started this blog. To help you Edit your Excuses, too.

Here, I will focus on the excuses writers use to keep them from writing, and I will dismantle them, one by one. Feel free to leave a comment with Your Best Excuse. You could see it Edited in a future post.

As the Excuse Editor, I will also offer Encouragement to keep you writing-- with tips, products, newsletters, and information. Start following, so you can Start (and Keep) Writing!