The 2016 Zebulon Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Contest is open!

By: Dawn Smit

The Zebulon Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Contest, sponsored by the Pikes Peak Writers, is open for submissions.

Writers have from now until Sunday, November 1, to submit a query letter, a 500-word synopsis and the first 2,500 words of the manuscript along with their entry fee. But why enter our contest when there are so many to choose from? Here are five good reasons:

The Zebulon is open to all writers.

Are you published? Unpublished? Welcome, and welcome. Submit the latest fiction piece you’re sending out to agents, or your current work in process, or even the first part of that manuscript you need a bit of motivation to finish. Or all of the above. As long as the manuscript (or any series the manuscript is part of) is unpublished and hasn’t placed first in our contest before, we’d love to see it.

Nervous about marketing? The Zebulon helps you dip a toe in the water.

Whether you have your heart set on being traditionally published or you’re indie all the way (or you’re somewhere in between), you will need to learn the basics of marketing in the publishing industry. That query letter is just a formalized—and brief—marketing plan showing the editor or agent that you know your platform (if any), your genre, your market, and your story’s theme and/or intriguing plot points. What happens when your book shows up on Amazon and other book sites? You use your platform to announce your book, you or your publisher add tags to let people know your genre and target market, and your book’s blurb conveys the theme and/or intriguing plot points.

Want feedback?

Back in 2001 when I entered the Paul Gillette (the Zebulon’s previous incarnation), I paid extra to receive a critique. What a benefit that was! The contest still offers critiques—in fact, you can get two—and it is a great way to get overall feedback on your submission This is on top of the scoresheet comments, which you receive as part of the scoring. As the contest coordinator for the Paul Gillette for six years, I can happily say that the Zebulon’s scoresheets give even better feedback now.

Our VIP judges are industry professionals.

This year, as many as 18 entries will wend their way to the desks of the editors and agents who have volunteered as our final-round judges. These VIPs will rank the three entries in their categories and possibly even make comments—or ask for the entire manuscript. Have we had winners find representation this way? Why yes, we have.

Free conference!

First-place winners in each category can go for free to the 2016 Pikes Peak Writers Conference; this year’s theme is “Dare to Dream,” and we have a great lineup of speakers and workshops. That’s a prize worth nearly $400. Winners also (along with the other finalists) go to the front of the line for editor and agent appointments. This is a great opportunity to network and learn.

You can find the rules and FAQs at: 

http://www.pikespeakwriters.com/contest/

Ready to enter? Register at: http://contest.pikespeakwriters.com
Questions? Send to contest@pikespeakwriters.com

About the Author: Dawn Smit is a freelance editor and proofreader and the creator of Rainbow Editing®, a technique that writers can use to teach their computers to help them self edit. She was the contest director for the Paul Gillette Writing Contest from 2005 to 2010 and has returned for an encore.

May News and Events from Pikes Peak Writers

Compiled by Debi Archibald 

Don't lose the momentum you gathered at Conference; stay plugged in with the ongoing PPW monthly events. Keep your writing and your writerly relationships engaged with the following options:

PPW EVENTS

Wednesday, May 6, 2015 6:00 to 8:30 PM
Open Critique at Cottonwood Center for the Arts, 427 East Colorado Ave., Colorado Springs, CO. This month's guest critiquer is Robert Spiller. If you want the first 8 pages of your manuscript critiqued,  RSVP to pikespeakopencritique@hotmail.com.



Tuesday, May 19, 2015 6:30 to 8:30 PM
May Write Brain at the Penrose Library, Carnegie Room, 20 North Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs (parking on street and in parking lot at meters is free after 6:00 PM). 

Pam McCutcheon will present Writing the Fiction Synopsis. After you've agonized over several hundred pages to make your prose absolutely perfect, how could you possibly distill that down to a measly ten or twenty pages? Or, worse yet, one or two? By the time you've written the book, everything seems important, and it's difficult to know what to put in and what to leave out. To help with that problem, Pam came up with a method that she details in her book, Writing the Fiction Synopsis, A Step by Step Approach. She’ll share her process to help you put together a selling synopsis and write a back cover blurb.


Monday, May 25, 2015 6:30-8:30 PM
Writer's Night at the Elbo Room at the Ritz, 15 South Tejon, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 Join fellow writers on the 4th Monday of each month for writerly discussion, laughter, and socializing. The direction of the discussion is decided by the participants.

WRITING CONTEST 

(NOTE: This is not a PPW endorsed contest but is presented for informational purposes only.)

The Colorado Independent Publishers Association announces its 21st annual CIPA EVVY book competition is open for submissions. The CIPA EVVYs are one of the longest-running book awards on the Indie publishing scene, and it’s become an international competition with entrants from as far away as Russia and Dubai.  

CIPA EVVYs are open to books published from 2012 onwards. The deadline for submissions is May 30, 2015. The awards banquet is August 22, 2015.

Visit http://www.cipacatalog.com/pages/CIPA-EVVY-Awards. There are 42 regular categories and 8 technical categories to choose from. Join in one of the best book competition in the Rocky Mountains!

COLORADO COLLEGE VISITING WRITERS SERIES 

Thursday, May 7th, 7:00 pm
Gates Common Room, Palmer Hall

Visiting assistant professor Bryan Hurt at Colorado College and prose magician whose work has appeared in Tin House, TriQuarterly, and the Kenyon Review, editor of the acclaimed collection, “The Loudest Voice” reading from his fiction and discussing his approach to his craft.

The 2014 Zebulon Contest Opens

By Robert Wyckoff

The Zebulon is Coming

 

Do you hear it? That majestic word, cascading from the Rocky Mountains in trisyllabic majesty? Zebulon. Like biting winds. Like driving snow. Like winter. The Zebulon is coming. 

Writers: are you ready? 

Pikes Peak Writers is pleased to announce the Zebulon Fiction Writing Contest has returned—bigger, better, and with more Game of Thrones references than before. When? What? Why? Read on, word warriors.

When?

The Zebulon opens for entries September 15th. Contest will close November 2nd at noon (MST). But don’t procrastinate! Procrastination has been scientifically proven* to increase your chances of being attacked by face-eating dragons. That, and we’ll only accept the first 400 entries we receive.

What?

The Zebulon Contest simulates the real process of acquiring a literary agent. Thus, it consists of three parts: a query letter, a synopsis, and the first 2,500 words of your manuscript. Does your novel have to be complete? Nah. Just make sure what you do send us is awesome.

There are six categories you can choose from:

· Middle Grade / Young Adult · Mainstream / Literary / Historical 
· Romance / Women's Fiction
· Mystery / Suspense / Thriller
· Science Fiction / Fantasy
· Urban Fantasy / Horror / Paranormal

Learn from Eddard Stark’s mistakes, and stay ahead of the competition by checking out the contest details here: http://www.pikespeakwriters.com/contest/

Why?

Oh, sure, the six winners of each category receive free entry into the 2015 Pikes Peak Writing Conference. And yeah, the runners-up receive cash prizes. But that’s just the tip of the proverbial, too-cliche-to-be-used-by-a-good-writer iceberg. Winners and runners-up will also enjoy first pick of pitch appointments at the conference, prestige, an addition to their writerly resume, and a shiny certificate.

And if you don’t win?

You’ll still learn a great deal about the process of acquiring an agent.

You’ll be motivated to hone your manuscript, query, and synopsis to sword-edge sharpness. A great thing to do in preparation for the big conference.

You will have tried. Sometimes—especially in the competitive world of writing and publishing—the trying is more important than the winning.

Get out there. Take a chance.

Do the dragon dance.
* Not actually scientifically proven. Err…proved? I dunno.

About the Author:  Writer. Game designer. Cubicle monkey. Robert Vincent's hardly started on his writing career, but has already won honorable mention in The Writers of the Future Contest and has won the PPW Zebulon Contest. He attributes his lack of publication credits to poor bio-writing skills. Robert's currently working on his epic fantasy novel, living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his beloved Companion Cube. Find him at http://robertvincentfiction.com/

October News, Events, & Links

PPW Events

This month, we're delighted to present two Write Brains, both free, as usual! We request you RSVP to each (RSVP is mandatory for the online only in order for us to send you the link to the online venue). Please put the date or topic in the subject line so we know which one you're RSVP'ing to (or both, if you'd like to RSVP to both). RSVP to rsvp@pikespeakwriters.com.

October 8 will be the bonus Write Brain, thanks to our partnership with Delve Writing. Presented by Chris Mandeville, NaNo What? Everything You Need to Know About NaNoWriMo will be online only from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Since 1999 writers have been hunkering down for the month of November to attempt the monumental task of writing start-to-finish a 50,000 word novel in only thirty days: National Novel Writing Month, known affectionately as NaNoWriMo, or just "NaNo for short. November is just weeks away--find out now what NaNo is, what it can do for you, what you're "allowed" to do under the official NaNo rules, what NaNo "pirates" do, and how to have a successful NaNo experience whatever you do. Whether you're new to NaNo or a seasoned "WriMo," join us for tips and tricks that can help you be an uber-productive writer any month of the year.

In addition, we will be announcing the plan for NaNoTryMo at this bonus Write Brain! NaNoTryMo is the Pikes Peak Writers version of NaNoWriMo meant to encourage you, whether you're following the NaNoWriMo track or setting your own version. We'll be partnering with Delve Writing to bring a new twist to NaNoTryMo.

On Tuesday, October 15, we're pleased to welcome Jeanne Stein and Mario Acevedo at the Business of Arts Center in Manitou Springs. In conjunction with the Business of Arts Center and the Second Biennial Cross-Creations city-wide Gods & Monsters collaboration, they'll present Writing Monsters With Depth: Making Your Monsters Human. Vampires, werewolves, witches, fae—all traditional monsters that have become the heroes of their own stories. How does  a writer make a “monster” sympathetic, and who really is the villain when it’s a showdown between a mortal and a monster? Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein will bring their expertise on writing monsters with a depth of humanity to help you learn to do the same. The monsters aren't always the bad guys these days, and it's necessary to write them in a way that readers can identify with them.
More information available on the PPW Events tab above.

The September Write Brain, Advanced Plotting with Chris Eboch, can be found HERE. It will be transitioning to a password protected file soon, but we'll put that information on the website and the blog tab above.

Writer's Night will be Monday, October 28, 6:30 to 8:30 P.M., in the Principal's Office at Ivywild School, 1604 S. Cascade Ave.

PPW Open Critique will occur on Wednesday, October 16, 6:00 to 8:30 PM, at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts. The first 8 to RSVP may bring 8 pages of their manuscript to critique. More information on the Events tab.

Other "Local" Events

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers has two online classes this month, in addition to their monthly free programming Saturday, October 26, 1:00 to 3:00 PM. Diving In, Characterization and Motivation will be presented by Courtney Koschel.

Colorado Springs Fiction Writers has various meetings throughout at the month at different locations. Visitors are welcome. 

Pikes Peak Romance Writers will welcome Terry O'Dell on Sunday, October 13, at the BAC in Manitou Springs. She'll present "What is Voice?"

Pikes Peak Pen Women will feature Kerstian Lieff, who will talk about the memoir she wrote of her mother's life. October 19, 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM, Blue Sage Café. $23 for non-members. RSVP required at info@ppb-nlapw.org.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America will have Dr. Jane Bock speaking about forensic botany and the Casey Anthony trial Thursday, October 10. $20 for the presentation and dinner.

KRCC/Radio Colorado College 91.5 FM welcomes Ira Glass of "This American Life" to the Pikes Peak Center October 12. Performance is at 8PM, doors open at 7PM. "This American Life" is an award-winning public radio program that "creatively documents the complexities and absurdities of life in contemporary America." Glass will talk about the program, what makes a creative story, and more, combining live narration on stage with pre-taped quotes and music.


Publications Open for Submissions and 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.

Pulp Empire and Metahuman Press have announced a set of ongoing anthologies accepting submissions. They're open until filled, except the Doc Claus Christmas anthology, which has a deadline of October 15. 10-15% of profits go to authors as royalties.

Vagabundo Magazine is seeking bloggers/columnists to write about adventure travel. You will not be paid as a blogger, but you will get dibs on writing columns, which do pay. They also expect photos with your stories.

Long Count Press is putting together an anthology with the subject of dying earth sword and sorcery fantasy. Deadline is October 31. Pays $20, plus e-book copy, plus royalties.

Kraken Press is seeking submissions for their 50's themed horror and dark fantasy anthology, American Nightmare. Short stories only. Deadline October 31. Pays in pro rata share of 15% of list price, plus one contributor copy.

Cease, Cows is holding a flash fiction contest. Guest judge is Stephen Graham Jones. Cost is $5 to enter. 1000 words or less. Prizes will be awarded as a percentage of the money brought in for the contest (details on the website). Deadline October 15.

Kazka Press holds a monthly flash fiction contest entitled 713 Flash. The October deadline is October 20, with a theme of Out of Time. Pays $15 per accepted story.

Bad Day Books is holding their 2013 Assent Publishing Rogue Writing Contest. Novella and novel submissions in horror, thriller, suspense, and apocalyptic. Deadline October 31. The prize pack is pretty phenomenal, including a publishing contract, marketing, author marketing coaching, etc. Aside from the contest, they are also open for regular submissions for publication in those same genres.

Mystery and Horror, LLC is seeking short stories for their Mardi Gras Murder anthology. They'd like mystery short stories set during Mardi Gras. Open submission period is October 21 to January 5. Pays a contributor copy, $5 advance on royalties, and discount on additional book purchases.

Contrary Magazine's winter issue deadline is December 1. They accept fiction, poetry, commentary, etc. Pays $20 per piece.

Pseudopod takes horror submissions of short stories for their podcasts. They also take flash, but prefer short. They pay $100 per story and your story is performed in audio format for their podcast. Flash fiction pays $20. They're always open for submissions.

PodCastle is the same as above, but takes fantasy stories. Same pay and open submission period.

Quirk Books is holding their Looking for Love Fiction Contest. Entries should be novel-length unconventional romance. First prize is $10,000 and publication.

Submission and Contest links originally posted on The Warrior Muse.

About the Author:  After years of letting her writing fall by the wayside, Shannon Lawrence 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, and her short horror story "The Blue Mist" will be in the March 2014 issue of Nightfall Magazine. 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.   

Free August Events Reminder

August Write Brain

What: Writing a Winner: Tips and Tricks for Entering Writing Contests

Who: Dawn Smit & MB Partlow

When: Tuesday, August 20, 6:30-8:30 PM

Where: Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave., Carnegie Room (Note: There is street parking, as well as two lots available. The meters are free after 6 PM.)

More Information: Want to improve your odds of winning a writing contest? Insure you're judged on the quality of your writing, not the mistakes you made in following the guidelines? Dawn Smit and MB Partlow will address tips, tricks, do's and don'ts for writing contests. In addition, you'll get advice on writing synopses, query letters, and formatting your entry. Plus, you'll have a leg up on your competition for the 2014 Zebulon Writing Contest (note the official new name of the Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Writing Contest!) We'll teach you everything you need to know about entering a writing contest, and give you the tools to meet all the guidelines they lay out. RSVP to rsvp@pikespeakwriters.com.

About the Presenters: 

Dawn Smit: Dawn Smit was born the youngest of four children in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she spent nearly all of her formative years. After receiving her bachelor's in business administration and her master's in international management, she knew what she really wanted to do was write. Marriage to a supportive husband made her writing dream possible, and she now dedicates a portion of each day to her stories. She was given an unusual gift, the ability to dream in novel format. To date she has 80+ novels in her mind, most of which tie together by what her readers will come to know as the shadows. Dawn currently lives in Monument, Colorado. Through Spiral Eyes, her first published book, placed third in the 2001 Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest for science fiction/fantasy. Her current book, Rainbow Editing(TM), is a companion to her workshop of the same name, in which she introduces a colorful new weapon in the war against sloppy writing and the eternal editing cycle. Visit Dawn at her website: www.dawnsmit.com.

MB Partlow: After moving to Colorado, MB got a job in the A&E department of The Independent. She wrote a parenting column for Pikes Peak Parent for several years, and currently free-lances for The Gazette. She's happiest, though, when rearranging reality to suit the needs of her characters, currently in the genre of urban fantasy. She's a longtime volunteer for PPW, working her way up from chair stacker at Write Brains to Moderator Coordinator, Contest Coordinator, and now Director of Programming.


PPW Open Critique Night
When: Wednesday, August 21, 6:00-8:30 P.M.
Location: Cottonwood Center for the Arts, 427 E. Colorado Ave., Colorado Springs, CO
More Information: The first 8 to RSVP can have up to 8 pages of their manuscript pages discussed by the group and the night's guest critiquer. All are welcome to come observe.

PPW Night at Ivywild
**PLEASE NOTE the change of venue**
When: Monday, August 26, 2013; 6:30-8:30 PM
Location: The Principal's Office in the Ivywild School, 1604 South Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80905
More Information: Join fellow writers on the 4th Monday of each month for writerly discussion, laughter, and socializing. The direction of the discussion is decided by the participants.

August Letter From the Editor

August, already. The waning of summer. And with this change, we bring changes to Pikes Peak Writers.

The website has been updated. We hope you find it easier to navigate. Check it out at www.pikespeakwriters.com. Want to sign up for a free Pikes Peak Writers membership? You can do that on the People tab. Want to access our online recordings of the past few Write Brains? Go to the Events tab and look for Delve Writing Events. Also on the Events tab, you'll find information on upcoming Write Brains, Open Critiques, and Writer's Nights, as well as other special events. Find out anything you need to know about The Zebulon on the Contest tab. Bonus: if you forget where this blog is, you'll find it on the new Blog tab!

In addition to the website changes, we now offer you the ability to propose a workshop online. Whether you wish to present it or suggest someone else, there is now an easy way to do either. Want to present a Write Brain or conference workshop? Go to our new Workshop Proposal Portal. You'll have the option to choose a length and describe your workshop or panel, as well as anything you need to go along with it. And it's easy to do!

Not interested in presenting a workshop, but have something to suggest? Maybe you saw someone present elsewhere, and you'd love to see them again with Pikes Peak Writers. You can Request a Workshop. Both this capability and the Workshop Proposal Portal can be found on the website under the PPWC tab or the Events tab.

Another change was to our Facebook page. It has been switched from a regular account, which you had to "friend," to a business page. If you haven't already, please pay us a visit and "like" us. Unfortunately, we had to change, because we were at our limit for friends. The only way to continue welcoming new folks was to switch to a page. The new url is https://www.facebook.com/PikesPeakWriters. We post our events on the page, and it's a great way to keep up to date on everything going on, or to chat with fellow writers.

Finally, we've changed the Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Writing Contest. It's now named The Zebulon. As in years past, the winners will be announced at Pikes Peak Writers Conference (you don't have to be present to win). For more information on The Zebulon, see the Contest tab.

A note on the blog: we are looking for a columnist, as Cindi Madsen has had to resign. We're sad to see her go, but happy for her that the reason has to do with the hustle and bustle of the published life. For those interested in the position, please email me at editor@pikespeakwriters.com. We ask for one blog post per month, with the deadline being the 25th of the month prior to your post date (so August 25 is the deadline for September posts). This is not a paid position, but we'll link to your personal blog or website in the sidebar, and your bio will be shared at the end of each of your posts.

We're also looking for someone to handle our Sweet Success posts. You'd be responsible for posting reminders for people to contact you with their Sweet Success information, gathering the information you'll need for their posts, and compiling that information. Again, if interested in this position, email me at editor@pikespeakwriters.com. This is also not a paid position, but we'll link to your blog or personal website in the sidebar.

Let us know what you think about all the changes!

~Shannon Lawrence
Managing Editor, Writing From the Peak
NCE Director, Pikes Peak Writers

Results for the "Done" Short Story Contest

By DeAnna Knippling

Congratulations to everyone who entered the contest!  Here were the rules, which I first put up at the Pikes Peak Writers' Conference:

Do you have what it takes to write a perfect short story?  Me either.  So we’re not going for “Great.” We’re going for “Done.”
Rules:

• Your character is an insecure traveler who is obsessed with obtaining something in particular.  You get to pick what they’re obsessed about.
• An ancient ruin in the middle of a forest.  Any place, any time, doesn’t have to be our world.
• Your character is about to get married to the wrong person (whether they know it or not).
• Story AND PROOF OF SUBMISSION must be emailed to dknippling@gmail.com by midnight Wednesday, April 24

Prizes:

• $50 Amazon Gift Card for first story received.
• Two $25 Amazon Gift Cards drawn from all stories received by deadline.
• No other judging will be performed.  Goofy?  Serious?  Planet destroyed by aliens, the end?  All we care about is done!

The point of all this?

• To help motivate people to write, finish what they write, and submit what they write (look up Heinlein’s Rules sometime).
• To take perfection out of the equation and just have fun!

Here are the results:

We had 10 entries.  Yay!  Each entrant had a one-in-ten chance of winning.   But wait...

Of the 10 entries, in the end, five didn't give proof that they submitted the story to a market.  Upon rereading the directions, I allowed that it might have been easy to overlook that requirement, so I emailed all the people who didn't send proof to let them know...and still ended up with five who didn't get back to me.

Which mean that each entrant had a one-in-five chance of winning.  But wait...

Of the five remaining entries, two were received past the deadline.

Which mean that each entrant had a one-in-three chance of winning.  But wait...

There are three prizes.

So!  Everyone who followed directions...gets an Amazon gift card out of this.  I'll reveal names in a minute.

Other items of interest:

• Wordcount ranged from 705 to 5700 words.
• Genres submitted: SF, Fantasy, Adventure (Mainstream or, mmm, maybe Thriller on that one), Modern fairytale (fantasy), Western Romance, Romance, Fantasy, Pulp Adventure (Mainstream or Mystery/Crime, depending on how the writer was feeling about markets that day), Magic Realism (Mainstream or Fantasy), and Mainstream Fiction (that could easily slide into Mystery/Crime with a few edits).

Two of the stories used the same-ish setting (Mexico), but in commmpletely different ways.

What did we learn out of this?

• ME: Write clearer directions.  WRITERS:  If submission guidelines aren't clear--ask.  And follow up on feedback ASAP!
• ME: Specify standard manuscript format.  WRITERS:  Always submit your work in standard manuscript format unless specifically instructed otherwise.  I prefer Times New Roman subs, but hey, Courier's cool.  Do not show up at your writer-job-interview wearing bunny slippers.  Sadly: LOTS of bunny slippers here.
• ME: You have to draw the line somewhere.  WRITERS:  Deadline, deadline, deadline.
• ME:  People were a lot more positive about this than I expected.  However, a lot of people I remember saying "Oh, what a cool idea" didn't send anything.  A couple of people told me that they started but didn't finish (extra props to them...but no $).  WRITERS:  No, you can't chase downevery opportunity that comes your way, but you should be chasing down as many as you can.  Repeatedly.  Because often if you follow the directions...you win.

Were the stories any good?  Ahhh, that wasn't part of the contest, was it?  But let me say - they were stories, no better or worse than what I see come through the slush pile.

Great job to everyone who participated!  Keep working on professionalism...you're already ahead of the people who didn't turn anything in.  As for the people who didn't submit:  You can't win if you don't play.  Rejection isn't losing, it's just a busted lottery ticket :)

Winners!

• First in - John K. Patterson ($50 gift card).
• In by deadline - Dori McCraw ($25 gift card).
• In by deadline - AmyBeth Inverness ($25 gift card).

Thanks all, and we'll have to do this again sometime :)

Quote of the Week, Week to Come, & Contest

"When I don't make any progress, it is because I have bumped into the wall of language. Then I draw back with a bloody head. And would like to go on." -Karl Kraus, translated from German by Harry Zohn

THE “DONE” Short Story Contest

•Do you have what it takes to write a perfect short story?  Me either.  So we’re not going for “Great.” We’re going for “Done.”

•Rules:

•Your character is an insecure traveler who is obsessed with obtaining something in particular.  You get to pick what they’re obsessed about.

•An ancient ruin in the middle of a forest.  Any place, any time, doesn’t have to be our world.

•Your character is about to get married to the wrong person (whether they know it or not).

•Story AND PROOF OF SUBMISSION must be emailed to dknippling@gmail.com by midnight Wednesday, April 24

•Prizes:

•$50 Amazon Gift Card for first story received.

•Two $25 Amazon Gift Cards drawn from all stories received by deadline.

•No other judging will be performed.  Goofy?  Serious?  Planet destroyed by aliens, the end?  All we care about is done!

•The point of all this?

•To help motivate people to write, finish what they write, and submit what they write (look up Heinlein’s Rules sometime).

•To take perfection out of the equation and just have fun!

This week on Writing From the Peak, we have...

...Stacy S. Jensen telling us how to "Add 'Submit' to Your Writing Process

...Linda Rohrbough will discuss "Your Writer's Voice"

...Retreating Into Your Writing, a little about writing retreats