November News and Announcements
We are now midway through autumn. Soon, the holiday season will be here and then winter will settle across the land. Here in the U.S., November brings the Thanksgiving holiday, a time to be grateful for the blessings in our lives.
There is wide belief in gratitude as a means to promote positive thinking (and feeling good in general), which seems to be growing. By practicing gratitude each day, you train yourself to recognize the good things in life, a very beneficial practice for people who are prone to complaining or seeing the glass as half empty.
You can start a gratitude journal with a small notebook. Every day, simply jot down a few things that you’re thankful for. The best time to do this is in the morning when you wake up, or at night before you go to sleep. You can also incorporate your gratitude journal into your existing notebook. Whenever you’re feeling down, read over the things in life that are good, or add more to the list.
NaNoWriMo is Underway
There are many things for which I’m grateful, and one of those is NaNoWriMo, an annual writing contest that you win by writing a 50,000-word novel over the thirty days of November. Last year, I was a participant (and a winner!), and I’m eternally thankful to Chris Baty and the event he founded for helping me write and finish my very first novel. Now, just a few days into November, NaNoWriMo is underway. If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s not too late! Head over to the NaNoWriMo website to learn more.
Call for Entries: Interactive Fiction (mifiction)
Press Release
mifiction calls for entries from established and aspiring authors to create modern interactive fiction
mifiction, an innovative online publisher based in Surrey, is looking to reinvigorate interactive fiction using the latest in modern technology, and your writing skills. In an effort to encourage authors and to find a host of exciting and imaginative stories, mifiction is hosting a writing competition which is open to anyone with an interest in interactive fiction and a passion for writing.
“We hope to encourage aspiring authors to enter the competition with the opportunity to ultimately win a publishing contact as part of our new venture.
For mifiction interactive fiction competition rules and guidelines click here.
Deadline: 5:00pm (GMT) on Monday 30 November 2009.
All winners will be offered a publishing contract with mifiction with the overall winner receiving a £300.00 cash prize. Prizes for second and third place of £200.00 and £100.00 respectively will be awarded with six runners up prizes of £50.00 each. Judges’ decisions are final and prizes are awarded at the judges’ discretion.
mifiction is an imprint of Mobile Interactive Horizons Ltd, a company registered in the UK and founded to publish interactive text for standard mobile devices such as phones and PDAs. Mobile Interactive Horizons Ltd. is a joint venture lead by iBundle – an innovation hub for software and web companies providing innovative new tools and services for their target markets.
Announcing a New Fiction Website: Lit Drift
Lit Drift is a new website dedicated to the art and craft of fiction in the 21st century. Lit Drift aims to showcase interesting examples of storytelling, from short stories to movies to multimedia mixtape magazines, and to help its readers improve their own storytelling skills. In addition to conversations on craft, Lit Drift also offers daily creative prompts, daily short stories, and a weekly giveaway called Free Book Friday. Check it out at www.litdrift.com.
This Month at Writing Forward
November brings more great creative writing articles from yours truly. Learn about one of the best poetry resources in print, try writing exercises that tickle your senses, and get tips for editing your own work. Plus, there’s a special guest post this month on how to write a memoir with a partner. Later this month, we’ll wrap up the series on Shakespeare’s poetry.
Stay creative and keep on writing!
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[...] November, mifiction announced their Interactive Fiction Competition. Did you enter? If so, you should know [...]
I like your success story and congrats on winning last year’s round.
How did you write your story? Did you start with the end in mind? … Did you do character-driven, or story-driven? … Were you able to see the story end-to-end or did you really make it up as you go?
Among a sea of good ideas and great writing, how have you found a way to differentiate and rise above?
.-= J.D. Meier´s last blog ..Happiness Quotes =-.
Well, you’ve asked some tough questions. When I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year, I started with three characters. All I knew were their relationships to one other. I pretty much just sat down and started writing. The characters drove the story, and yes — I really made it up as I went. Truth is, it felt more like the characters or some outside force was making it up. As for differentiating myself, I’m always working on that. Mostly, I just try to be myself, but for blogging and business, I do use marketing tools and strategies — basic business stuff.