Blogs

Have you always wanted to write? Do you need a nudge or a kick in the butt to start (or finish) a creative writing project?

Then check out novelist Katrina Kittle's upcoming classes that start this month in Oakwood, Ohio. She'll offer guidance, inspiration, chocolate and coffee. (Not to mention really cool fellow writers who will enrich your life.) For details, click here. Kittle taught workshops in plot and character development at the 2012 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop.

Creative Nonfiction is seeking new work for an upcoming issue dedicated to memoir.

"We're looking for stories that are honest, accurate, informative, intimate, and - most important - true. Whether your story is revelatory or painful, hilarious or tragic, if it's about you and your life, we want to read it," the editors say.

Submissions must be vivid and dramatic; they should combine a strong and compelling narrative with an informative or reflective element, and reach beyond a strictly personal experience for some universal or deeper meaning. The editors are looking for well-written prose, rich with detail and a distinctive voice; all essays must tell true stories and be factually accurate.

Creative Nonfiction editors will award $1,000 for "Best Essay" and $500 for "Runner-up."

Essays must be previously unpublished and no longer than 4,000 words. There is a $20 reading fee (or send a reading fee of $25 to include a four-issue subscription to Creative Nonfiction - U.S. submitters only); multiple entries are welcome ($20/essay) as are entries from outside the United States. All essays will be considered for publication in a special "Memoir" issue. The deadline is May 31. For more details, click here.

For an upcoming anthology, In Fact Books seeks essays by writers with insight into the nature and experience of profound psychiatric challenges - as patients, mental health professionals, or both.

"We want well-written, true narratives about the enigmatic, creative, frustrating and triumphant moments of the recovery process and the therapeutic journey. Scientific information should be balanced by the writer's unique perspective, and the stories should combine a strong and compelling narrative with an informative or reflective element, reaching beyond a strictly personal experience for some universal or deeper meaning," the editors say.

Essays must be previously unpublished and no longer than 4,500 words. Multiple entries are welcome, as are entries from outside the United States. The deadline is March 1. For more details, click here.