Tales of Submission (or Submission of Tales) #2

Time for another place to place your stories, for the writers out there. This time, an online magazine recommended to me by a friend recently as not only producing quality work, but also a wide range of different formats.  Even if you’re not a writer or you’ve got nothing to submit right now, I’d recommend taking a look at the magazine.

Narrative Magazine (click on the logo above to make your way over there) publishes online, completely free and open to anyone who wants to read it. They have poetry, fiction and non-fiction sections and all make for great reading.  If you enjoy what you find, they encourage a donation of $10 to help cover their costs but that’s entirely optional. There are submission fees for writers, but they pay pretty well for accepted work.

Their diversity is one of their strengths for submissions too. These are all categories for which they accept submissions, along with brief details for each. I entered a few 6-word stories a few weeks ago, but I’m thinking I might take a crack at one of the longer options soon too. as ever, if you submit (and especially if you are successful) do share your news!

General Submissions (pretty much anything!)

Spring 2012 Story Contest (Up to 15,000 words, fiction or non-fiction in pretty much any style. Deadline 31 July. Entry fee $22, 13 prizes up to $2500 first prize)

Fourth Annual Poetry Contest (Any length, up to 5 poems per submission. Deadline 17 July. Entry fee $20, 13 prizes up to $1500 first prize)

Book-length Works for The Narrative Library (Full length books for publication in whatever format they decide, including hardback and e-book. Accepted all year round. Reading fee of $45)

Story of the Week (Up to 10,000 words, fiction or non-fiction. All year round. Submission fee $22. $150 paid upon publication, plus top billing and a chance to be one of the top 5 Stories of the week chosen each year for an extra $400.)

Poem of the Week (Enter up to 5 poems per submission, any length and style. All year round. Submission fee $16. $25-50 paid upon publication, plus as above for Story of the week at $200 for top 5)

iStory (Up to 150 words, fiction or nonfiction. All year round. Submission fee $22. $250 paid for chosen stories.)

Six-Word Stories (The ultimate in short story! Up to 5 stories per submission. All year round. Submission fee $15. $50 paid for each story selected)

iPoem (Up to 150 words each, although prefered at less than 40. Up to 4 per submission. All year round. Submission fee $20. $50 paid for each poem selected)

Cartoons and Graphic Stories (Up to 20 cartoons or a graphic story of any length per submission. All year round. Submission fee $20. Payment varies by size and style)

Photography (Photo essays and portfolios of up to 20 photos. All year round. Submission fee $20. Payment varies by length and nature)

Readers’ Narratives (Essays up to 1500 words on the environment in which readers find themselves. Open all year round. There is no submission fee and no payment upon publication, but it’s another way to get your work published and your name known, so check it out.

They also have an annual $4,000 prize awarded for the best thing they’ve published that year from a new and emerging writer, called the Narrative Prize.

Share and Share Alike

Writing is notoriously a solitary pursuit, but the last couple of years have taught me that it can also be a social one, with a great community spirit. Many of my friends in Canada have some from one or other writing group, and I value the associations I’ve made further afield through the Friday Fictioneers even though we’ve never met.

When it comes to writing competitions, the best way to hear about them is through other writers. Occasionally, I’ll get an email from a writing friend saying “Have you seen this link? Might be tempting for you” and as someone trying to submit to at least one contest or magazine per month, the diversity of these suggestions is incredibly valuable to me.

Of course, there’s a temptation as an entrant to keep these things a secret, reducing the number of entries and therefore the competition for your own piece. But let’s face it, there are going to be hundreds or thousands or even hundreds of thousands of other entries, so hiding the event from one’s friends isn’t noticeably improving one’s own prospects in *this* contest, and it’s sure as hell going to reduce the number of contests they introduce you to in the future. It’s a false economy, not to mention selfish.

SOOO…

I thought we could spread the community worldwide right here on elmowrites. I’m hoping to make this a regular feature, probably on Thursdays, so check back then, or subscribe using to link on the right, to catch a series of links to magazines, publishers and contests which give writers a chance to see their work in print. If you come across a place where writers can submit their work, feel free to post a comment and share the luck, and if you succeed, do let us know so we can celebrate with you.

May the best writing win!

Riding high

I was tempted to post about my recent procrastinations, but events have overtaken me and before I got down to writing, I received some excellent news.
This year, it has been my challenge to submit at least one piece of writing to a contest or publication every month. For a serious writer, this would be a meagre contribution, but I have never submitted before, and I wanted to aim for something achievable. Besides, the cost of submitting restricts my attempts, and a lot of my “writing” time is dedicated to editing Eric, which is not going to lead to any sort of submission in the near future, but is part of a longer-term goal.
Over the year I’ve had highs and lows – a rejection notice with a “please try us again in the future” being a bit of both – and this week I’ve had a nice good high.
I submitted three 100-word stories to the Laurier Centennial Drabble Contest, back in March. The three stories were on different topics – Leadership, Inspiration and Purpose. I have recently heard that my Leadership story was chosen as a Runner Up and my Inspiration drabble gets an Honorable Mention. Both will feature in a commemorative booklet and I am off to a ceremony to celebrate at the end of the month.

As I’ve signed away first publishing rights to both of them, here’s the one that didn’t make the grade. I hope you enjoy it anyway…

Thursday

Morning, I am a mother: arguing Ian into his uniform because “Thursday is swimming, Mummy. I don’t like swimming,” and sneaking chocolate into his bag as a reward.

Afternoon, I am a wife: shouting at Daniel for being late, almost making me late for class; throwing their dinner in the oven as I run out.

Evening, I am an independent woman. Three hours of drawing naked models with people I don’t know.

Night, I am… My house is a smoking ruin. The police woman says it was probably a gas leak: they wouldn’t have felt a thing. I am…?