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WRITING KID

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The zine for future writers today.

Volume 7, Issue 18           -       September 9, 2007

Publisher/Editor: C. Hope Clark

Mailto:      HopeClark1@aol.com -or-
           Hope@FundsforWriters.com

Published biweekly and free for the asking. Spread it around.

FundsforWriters/Writing Kid make no warranty as to the
accuracy of the contests, awards, etc. but we do try to
check them out in advance to the best of our ability.

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The FundsforWriters Family - Send a blank email to subscribe:

30604-subscribe@zinester.com (larger markets)
94631-subscribe@zinester.com (small markets)
63495-subscribe@zinester.com  (young writer)

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WHO I AM (NOTES FROM THE EDITOR)

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We need guest articles. Have you considered writing a
guest article for WritingKid? Are you a student, a parent,
a teacher? All are eligible. Just make sure the topic
touches upon writing and runs no more than 500-550 words.
Those under 16 receive the book of their choice. Those
over 16 receive $10-$20. Send any submissions to
hope@fundsforwriters.com and label it SUBMISSION TO
WRITINGKID.

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Dealing with Critiques, Criticisms & Unkind Comments

by Robin Keith

You labor to pen the perfect prose, the most insightful
essay or picturesque poem and your reward: numerous
references to grammatical errors and misspelled words.
Or, you proudly announce your plans to study journalism,
and are greeted by shocked and disapproving frowns around
the dinner table. Young writers rarely suffer for lack of
criticism, advice and even disapproval from those around
them. The key is learning how to profit from these
observations.

My son and I frequently enjoy a rock music program on Fuse
after his college assignments are completed. The host
recently read a letter from a young lady who hopes to
become a music journalist for the alternative presses.
Upset that her mother felt she lacked the necessary
background, she asked how to “show my mother I know enough
about music”. He advised her to ignore what others say and
“go for it”. While this attitude may reflect that of many
in his target audience (primarily adolescents and young
adults), he unfortunately missed a valuable opportunity to
help this young writer. Ignoring others’ advice is easy;
learning from it improves your skill and increases chances
of success.

I can’t remember a time before I wanted to be a writer.
While encouraging my early efforts, almost everyone who
cared cautioned I’d probably need a ‘day job’ to pay the
bills. Unable at the time to attend college, I considered
this reasonable. High school English teacher Darlene Bonner
added, “Don’t give up on your writing. Look for
opportunities.” So, with the ink still fresh on my diploma,
I began building ads at our local newspaper. The following
year, when the cable television company needed an eye-
catching advertising campaign, I offered to write HBO movie
reviews, for experience and bylines only.

Writing wasn’t paying the bills, but I was writing and
paying the bills. I was surprised by the large response –
mostly positive, but several quite critical. Subscribers,
it seemed, loved nothing more than unearthing errors. My
publisher also seemed to delight in “blue-penciling” each
grammatical infraction, and there were many; high school
English class had been exceptionally forgiving in
comparison. After a few weeks, I was near tears. “Do you
want me to stick to advertising and leave the writing to
the professionals?” I asked.

To my surprise, Mr. McGee just grinned, puffed his ubiquitous
cigar and tossed a small, spiral-bound copy of The Associated
Press Stylebook and Libel Manual onto my desk. A few minutes
later, he returned with a mammoth volume: Webster’s New
International Dictionary. “Whatever you think,” he said.
“But, before you decide, look up ‘autodidactic’ - and write
your name in these.”

This inauspicious beginning led to a 15-year career as
editor/columnist for several north Texas newspapers, during
which I garnered awards for column writing, features, news,
special editions and tabloids from the Texas Press
Association, West Texas Press Association, Veterans of
Foreign Wars, Chamber of Commerce and Lions Club; received
Texas Medical Association’s Anson Jones, MD Award of Merit
for excellence in health communications; and accepted several
local honors.

By carefully considering criticism, even those most unkind,
a good writer will benefit from all the “unpaid professors”
in life. If the young woman hoping to enter the music
journalism field had been advised how to learn more about
her chosen field, rather than to disregard her mother’s
concerns, she would certainly have been ahead of the game.

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Good luck!!!  And always keep writing.

    Hope

PS
We cover elementary to college teens. Each week we
carry 12 or so opportunities for all ages. Read each
market closely. Some cover a wide range and others
address a very small age group. Always read the directions!

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Our archives for past WritingKid newsletters are at:
http://archives.zinester.com/63495

*******************************************************

1.
ANSWERS.COM
http://www.answers.com/main/writing_challenge.jsp
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We are now accepting original submissions for not one, but
two Answers.com Creative Writing Challenges — one for
participants over 18 years of age and one for students in
grades 6-12. New challenges will be posted throughout the
year. For past winners, visit the Hall of Fame. Click online
to receive our periodic newsletter announcing the latest
Answers.com features, contests and content.

1st Place
$100 Amazon.com gift certificate plus links to the winner's
blog in the Hall of Fame

2nd Place
$50 Amazon.com gift certificate plus links to the winner's
blog in the Hall of Fame

3rd Place
Links to the winner's blog in the Hall of Fame

In addition to the regular Challenge and in celebration of
the back to school season, we challenge 6-12 grade classes
to enter as a team for the chance to win free movie tickets
and a listing in our Hall of Fame. Teachers can ask the class
to collaborate on a single entry or judge a classroom version
of the contest, and send us the winner as the class’s
submission. Deadline October 1, 2007.

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2.
CANADIAN CHILDREN'S BOOK CENTRE/IMPERIAL OIL WRITING CONTEST
http://www.bookweek.ca/writingcontest.html
---
Are you in Grade 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6?
Do you have a story or poem about magic to share?
We invite young writers to enchant our judges with their own
spellbinding tales of mysterious magicians, fanciful fairies,
wily wizards, and dreadful dragons. One winner from each grade
will receive a $200 gift certificate to the bookstore of his
or her choice.  Winning entries will be posted here on the Book
Week website. Deadline December 15, 2007.

NOTE: Web site does not say, but this contest might be limited
to Canadians.

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3.
SAINTS FOR OUR TIMES ESSAY CONTEST
http://www.barrymichaelsbooks.com/uploads/Saints_Essay_Contest.pdf
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Pick one saint or blessed (someone who has been canonized or
beatified by the Catholic Church) whose life or teaching
offers a message that needs to be heard today. In an essay
of no more than 500 words, explain what you believe his/her
message is, why it is so important today, and how you can help
present that message to the world in your own life. Students
ages 13-17 are eligible to enter. Deadline November 1, 2007.
First prize $30, second prize $20, third prize $10. Each
winner will receive a signed copy of Saints for Our Times: New
Novenas and Prayers.

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4.
INSIDE MS MAGAZINE
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HOM_LIB_insidems
---
Teens: Send us your stories, poems, or tell us how you get
involved, whether you have MS or a family member with MS, or
just know of someone with MS. E-mail editor@nmss.org.

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5.
BACK TO SCHOOL CONTEST WITH ABSYNTHEMUSE.COM
http://www.absynthemuse.com
---
Embarrassing Back-to-School Episode. Take your favorite character
and put him or her in an embarrassing back-to-school or college
situation in a scene no longer than 500 words. Make us cringe,
go "oooh," and say, "that's harsh." Email entries to
elisabeth@absynthemuse.com with "September AM Contest" in the
title and include your AM username. All entrants will get a
nice badge for their site and a lucky champion will get an iTunes
certificate! The deadline is September 20th!

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6.
DOSHIBA WOMEN'S COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS - HYAKUNIN ISSHU
http://www.dwc.doshisha.ac.jp/english/seito/index.html
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Doshisha Women's College is sponsoring a tanka poetry
contest for high school students. SEITO means "student,"
and the contest is open to high school students in Japan
and in countries all around the world. Deadline November
9, 2007. Please write a tanka filled with life; one that
comes from your everyday feelings, moments of realization
or insight, view of life, and/or joys and sorrows, as a
high school student. Complete the online application.
One person may make as many submissions as he or she wishes,
however, it is only possible for one person to be awarded
one prize. There will be one hundred winners. Each will
receive a certificate, 10,000 yen in card for buying books,
and a copy of the whole collection of winning poems, "SEITO
Hyakunin Isshu." High schools may also send in groups of
submissions, in which case they may qualify for a special
"School Award."

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7.
MASSACHUSETTS WRITING CONTEST FOR HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS
http://www.smith.edu/poetrycenter/highschoolprize.html
---
NO ENTRY FEE
Award: $500. The winner and three finalists will read their
poems at the Judge’s reading at Smith College, April 8, 2008.
Submissions accepted: October 1 - December 1, 2007. One poem
per student, maximum of 25 lines. Application form required.
Winners will be announced March 1, 2008.

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8.
NANCY THORP POETRY FOR GIRLS CONTEST
http://www.hollins.edu/undergrad/english/thorp/thorp.htm
---
$200 cash prize
Free tuition for the two-week creative writing class in the
university’s Hollin summer program. Publication in Cargoes,
Hollins’ student literary magazine. Ten copies of Cargoes.
 
Second place (six winners)
$25 cash prize. Publication in Cargoes. Two copies Cargoes.

Deadline November 15, 2007. Winners are chosen by students
and faculty members in the creative writing program at
Hollins. Must be a high school sophomore or junior girl.

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9.
RIDER UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST
http://www.rider.edu/172_8236.htm
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1st-$100
2nd-$50
3rd-$25
All Finalists will receive a Certificate of Honorable Mention.
All winners will be considered for publication in Venture,
Rider’s literary magazine. Deadline December 14, 2007.

ESSAY: Write a personal essay, labeled ESSAY, on a topic of
your choice of no more than five double-spaced, typed pages.

FICTION:   Write a short story, labeled FICTION, of no more
than five double-spaced, typed pages.

POETRY:   Write a poem of no more than 50 lines.

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10.
FLUX PUBLISHING
http://www.fluxnow.com/about_us.php
http://www.fluxnow.com/submission_guidelines.php
---
Flux is an imprint dedicated to fiction for teens, where young
adult is a point of view, not a reading level. You won't find
condescension or simplification here. You will find comedy,
tragedy, ecstasy, pain, discovery - everything you're likely
to find in real life.

NOTE: This is a small, traditional publisher of novels. You
need to spend lots of time polishing a novel-length story,
including lots of edits from others, before submitting.
Before you send off a query to these folks, make sure you've
studied how to send a formal query to a publisher. The library
and bookstores abound with writer manuals on how to do this.

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Contact WritingKid (the Business Stuff)

==========================================================

Receiving WritingKid is your choice.  We hope you stay but the
option is yours at all times. Unsubscribe instructions
are at the end of this letter.

C. Hope Clark
Hope@FundsforWriters.com
HopeClark1@aol.com

140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4
Chapin, SC 29036

http://www.fundsforwriters.com
http://www.theshywriter.com

Copyright 2000-2007, C. Hope Clark

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