Contents
It’s Not My Party but I’ll Cry if I Want To
Upcoming Writing Comps/Opportunities/Events
Writing Update
New Resource
Short-B-Read News
Newsletter Changes
1. It’s Not My Party but I’ll Cry if I Want To
We have a party on every single weekend of March. It’s great that where I am in Australia we can actually have parties right now — feeling so grateful for that. But it’s also tiring. I like catching up with friends and family but I feel drained afterwards and it’s hard to get back on track with everything else.
Alas, that’s what I’m trying to attempt this week—to get back on track. We’re already in March (what?!) and it feels like life is running away from me while I’m puffing and panting and trying to keep up but stumbling because it’s all too fast for me. (Who am I kidding? Life ALWAYS feels like that.) Anyone else?
But there are lots of writing events coming up (check out the list I’ve created that’s just for March/April) and I’ll be jumping on some of them. I might fall flat on my face or I might come out the other side feeling like all the stumbling was the exact kind of training and preparation I needed (I can sleep when I’m dead, right?).
And I do have some great news to share in my writing update below, so something is working—I just need to keep plodding along.
2. Upcoming Writing Comps/Opportunities/Events
March 1-March 31: Annual Spring Writing Contest—run by Rate Your Story, they’re ‘accepting submissions of Picture Books up to 850 Words, Non-Fiction Picture Books up to 1000 Words as well as Chapter Books, Middle Grade, and YA up to 2000 Words. Manuscripts must portray a particular culture and involve a food item in some way.’ Entry costs $15 for non-members or $7.50 for members.
March 8-May 3: Picture Book Writing Competition—a Sutherland Shire Writers’ Festival competition for unpublished picture books with a 500-word limit. First prize wins $500 and a mentorship with Clare Hallifax of Scholastic Australia. Entry costs $20.
April 1-April 3: Spring Fling Writing Contest—write a spring-inspired story and include a gif with a 150-word limit. There are 18 prizes to be won ranging from manuscript critiques, a Zoom chat, and picture books. No entry cost.
April: Camp NaNoWriMo—similar to November NaNoWriMo (where you aim to write 50,000 words within a month) but during Camp you get to choose the goal. I love Camp because I get to choose a goal I know is totally achievable. If you ‘win’ and reach your goal by the end of April, you get access to great offers like 20% off Dabble, 40% off Storyist and $200 off ProWritingAid just to name a few. But also, it just feels really damn good to get a good chunk of words down.
Now-April 6 : Text Prize—run by Text Publishing, the Text Prize is an annual award for the best manuscript for young readers. The winner receives a $10,000 advance and a publishing contract with Text Publishing. Also up for grabs is the Steph Bowe Mentorship for Young Writers where the winner receives a 20-hour mentorship with an author over 6-12 months. Entry costs $25.
April 15-16: WriteMentor Summer Programme—a mentorship for writers who have a completed picture book (three texts required for PB), chapter book, middle grade, or young adult manuscript. The aim is to help writers improve their craft with an agent showcase taking place at the end. No entry cost.
April: I’ve also heard that the PBChat Mentorship (3-month mentorship program for unagented and unpublished picture book creators) will be open to submissions in April, though there’s no date or info on the website right now. I’ll try to keep you updated on that one but check out the link for info about last year’s mentorship.
That’s a whole lot of events coming up! I’d love to hear from you if you’re planning on participating in any of them and happy to chat if you’re unsure or need more info on any of these opportunities. I’m also considering creating a calendar of events for the year that gets updated regularly—partly because I can’t keep track of all these events, and I’m happy to share too. Is that something you’d be interested in?
3. Writing Update
At the start of the month I participated in PitMad, PBParty, and 50PreciousWords. I hadn’t exactly planned on participating in any of them but couldn’t pass on the opportunities especially when some inspiration came my way.
As a result, I got an agent like on one of my PitMad pitches! I was over-the-moon excited considering I already had this agent on my query list and had actually started on a draft email, but then she closed to queries earlier than expected so I didn’t get to send it. So the PitMad like and the invitation to query seemed very serendipitous! My query has been sent and I have my fingers crossed while I wait and see what happens. No matter the outcome, it feels like a step in the right direction.
I also found out that I didn’t make the PBParty finals list. But it was a great experience in honing my picture books since you only get to submit the first 60-70 words, which means your story needs to be attention-grabbing right from the start. Will I participate again? Absolutely. And I recommend it to anyone writing picture books. These contests are a great way to learn and grow and they give a good indication of what’s currently going on in the picture book market.
The 51 finalists for 50PreciousWords will be announced at the end of the month, so I’m excited to hear the results from that too.
Apart from that, I’ve been working on more picture book manuscripts. I’m hoping to submit something in the Spring Fling Contest but what I have for it so far is at around 400 words and it needs to be 150 or under. I’m working hard to use the same idea but on a smaller scale—hopefully I can make it work. I’ll also be entering the Picture Book Writing Competition. It’s a lot, but the only way to get a win (in whatever form that may be) is to keep learning and moving forward.
What are you working on right now that’s moving you forward?
4. New Resource
I’ve added my Style Sheet Template to the list of resources for all subscribers. Here’s the link to access it:
If you’re not sure what a style sheet is or whether you need one, give this article a read first: ‘How to Use a Style Sheet to Ensure Consistency in Your Writing’, and you’re welcome to hit me up with any questions you might have.
5. Short-B-Read News
The March SBR newsletter is up (read it here) and my sister has written a hilarious but also helpful opening letter. It involves a toddler and some ‘nunchucks’ with a takeaway lesson—yep, you didn’t read that wrong!
And check out the latest fictional piece:
Wait, That’s Me by Erica Marta Ball is based on a true story about a missing woman with the author using stream of consciousness style—it’s gripping and compelling right from the beginning. It’s also a great lesson in drawing inspiration from unusual events and experimenting with different storytelling styles.
6. Newsletter Changes
Some of you will be aware of (and participated in) the survey I conducted in February. I was really keen to know what people are liking and not liking about this newsletter, and I felt so encouraged by so many lovely responses! So thank you for that. It was completely anonymous so I can’t thank you all personally, but it gave me a good boost and has helped me figure out where I need to make changes.
The frequency of my communication with you all was split with the majority tied at either weekly or monthly. Since it’s not currently feasible to write a newsletter like this every week, I’m going with monthly. However, I will be sending out more short emails if I’ve got an article to share, important news, or a new resource that can’t wait for the monthly email.
Apart from that, not a whole lot will be changing. I’ll still be sharing some personal life and parenting stuff right alongside my writing journey and all the resources I can possibly share.
And competition info will be coming next month, so keep an eye out for that one.
As always, feel free to reach out if you have any comments or suggestions.
Happy creating, friends!