December News, Events & Links

Welcome to the second installment of our news, events and links post, where you will find links to information on events and helpful or educational information.

PPW NEWS

Registration for the 2013 Pikes Peak Writers Conference is officially open!  Pitches and Read & Critique sessions are first come, first served, so be sure to get in there and get register ed.  Information on the conference can be found on the Conference tab at pikespeakwriters.com or go here to register.

The deadline for workshop proposals has been pushed off to December 15, so if you have a workshop you'd like to present, or one you'd like to request, you haven't missed your window.  To submit a proposal, go to pikespeakwriters.com, click on the "PPWC" tab at the top of the page, then click on "Submit Proposal" to the right of that page.

The free Write Brain will be online this month.  Presented by Giles Carwyn at the 2008 Pikes Peak Writer's Conference "The Writer's Toolbox: Dialogue and Characterization" features an avalanche of practical tips for creating characters that don't think and sound just like you.  The Workshop will cover: Enneagram personality profiles, shortcuts for sketching minor characters, set up and pay off in dialogue, tapping into subtext, driving plot with dialogue, avoiding "on the nose" and unfocused conversations, crafting a well-placed zinger, hanging dialogue from scene structure, and using action and inter-character tension to spice up exposition.

There will be no Writer's Night at Poor Richard's this month, as it falls on Christmas Eve.

PPW Open Critique Night will occur Wednesday, December 19, 6:30-8:30 P.M at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts.  The first 8 to RSVP may bring 8 pages of their manuscript to critique.  

OTHER "LOCAL" EVENTS

Lighthouse Writers is offering several intensive workshops this month and next, including "Breaking Into Lit Mags," "Day-Long, Kick-Butt-Get-Your-Writing-Year-in-Order Workshop," and "The Fine Art of the Writer's Workshop."

The Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America will be holding their Holiday Dinner Theater Event at the Lumber Baron Inn on December 13.

Black Cat Books has several events going on this month, including author signings, a presentation on "Slow Parenting Teens: How to Create a Positive, Respectful, and Fun Relationship With Your Teenager," and their Handmade Holiday Showing, running each weekend through Christmas.

Colorado Springs Fiction Writers Group has various meetings throughout the month for critique and discussion.  Visitors are welcome.

PUBLICATIONS OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS & CONTESTS
Please note: Inclusion of links in this post does not equal sponsorship by Pikes Peak Writers or a relationship between the two entities.  Please always be sure to pursue due diligence before submitting anything to a publication or contest.

Assent Publishing is accepting submissions at various imprints.  See the tabs along the top to check out the different types of stories they are seeking.

SNM Horror Magazine, a free mag, is seeking submissions for horror.  Not a paying market.  Scan down for information on submitting.

Steve Berman is reading for several anthologies.  Scan down for all the different types, as they do vary widely.

Alter Press is seeking submissions for an anthology called Dread Time Stories, involving splatter versions of fairy tales. Paying market.  Deadline December 31.

Hazardous Press is accepting submissions for their horror anthology Horrific History. Pays in profit shares.  Deadline December 31.

Blood Bound Books is taking submissions for Night Terrors III, a horror anthology. Paying market. Deadline January 1.  Scan down for short story collection.

 

Fowl Feathered Press is looking for poetry for their chapbooks. 

The Pedestal Magazine is taking poetry submissions through December 13.  Paying market.

The Pikes Peak Branch Pen Women Flash Fiction Contest theme is now officially up on the website. The new theme is "Hidden Amongst These Worlds."  $10 entry, cash prizes.

OTHER

Jodie Renner of the Crime Fiction Collective has offered up a comprehensive list of writer's conferences.

Any questions on these events or links?  If you belong to an organization that is taking submissions, hosting a writing contest or presenting a workshop or other enrichment for writers, locally, please email the editor at editor [at] pikespeakwriters [dot] com.

About the Writer:  Shannon Lawrence is a mom of two, a freelance writer and aspiring novelist.  She lives in Colorado Springs and is inspired by the beauty of Pikes Peak and the Rockies.  After years of letting her writing fall by the wayside, she has recently thrown herself back into it.  Her main focus is fantasy and horror and she has just finished a Young Adult Fantasy novel.  She has a flash fiction piece featured in the anthology Sunday Snaps: The Stories, due out in late 2012.  She has also discovered a love of photography and enjoys photographing the breathtaking Colorado scenery and wildlife, as well as her children.  She blogs about reading, writing and photography at www.thewarriormuse.com.