Happy Hanukkah!

Lit the fourth candle last night...

Fabula Press wants short stories for contest, Cactus Heart wants fantastic stories, new journal wants prose and poetry, and Prism International wants poetry & stories for ontests

Note: My email has been misbehaving lately, making it difficult to get out my newsletter. You can always click on the "Workshop & Course Schedule" button above to see what's happening. And add your email in the "Follow Brian by Email" button off to the right under my bio to be sure you don't miss any postings.

Happy holidays!  – Brian

Dear Brian,

I am writing to let you know about the  Fabula Press Nivalis Short Story Contest 2015.

Word Limit: 2,500 – 6,000 words

Theme: Nivalis, meaning “winter.”

Three Prizes: First prize:  US$150, publication and 2 copies of the anthology; Second Prize: US$100, publication and 2 copies of the anthology; Third Prize: US$100, and publication 

All published authors get a copy of the anthology.

Entry fee: US$10

Submission period: 01 Dec 2014 – 28 Feb 2015

Judges include Clare Wallace (literary agent with Darley Anderson), Joanna Ezekiel (Author), Brett Alan Sanders (Author), Anisha Bhaduri (Award winning Journalist and Author).

Many thanks, and you are doing great work with the listing!

Kind regards,

Anirban Ray Choudhury

http://www.fabulapress.com/

Cactus Heart seeks new and original work for a themed issue. Wanted: fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, and reimagined fairy tales. Categories: fiction poetry, nonfiction. 

Deadline: January 10, 2015. Guidelines here. 

A new quarterly online literary magazine based in the Yukon, One Throne, is accepting poetry, fiction, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. Deadline: Rolling. Guidelines here. 

Hi, Brian.

Prism International invites submissions to their short fiction contest and to their poetry contest. 

Short fiction contest: Prizes: $2,000, $300 and $200. Entry fee: $35 for Canadians, $40 for Americans and $45 international. Includes a one-year subscription. Max. word count: 6,000.

Poetry Contest: Prizes: $1,000 grand prize, $300 runner-up, $200 2nd runner-up

Entry fee: $35 Canadian entries; $40 US entries; $45 Int’l entries (up to three poems may be submitted with each entry, each entry includes a one-year subscription or extension)
Additional entry: $5 each poem. 

Deadline for both contests: January 23, 2015. Guidelines here.

Prism also accepts regular submissions. See here.

Clara Kumagai,

Executive Editor, Promotions.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including one-day writing workshops and weekly writing classes in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Diana Stager looking for women's erotica for Evernight and YA fiction for Evernight Teen

Note: My email has been misbehaving lately, making it difficult to get out my newsletter. You can always click on the "Workshop & Course Schedule" button above to see what's happening. And add your email in the "Follow Brian by Email" button off to the right under my bio to be sure you don't miss any postings. Happy holiday!  – Brian

Diana Stager (who some readers will know as a classmate from the Next Step course in Georgetown) has recently signed on as an Acquiring Editor with Evernight Publishing and Evernight Teen and is accepting queries for erotic romance, urban fantasy, and young adult fiction. Diana is also a writer herself and in 2013 published a YA romantic suspense novel, X5.

At the moment, Evernight is only accepting erotic romance with a heat level of 2 or higher. While Evernight will accept all sub-genres of erotic romance, gay, menage, sci-fi, shifters, and motorcycle club romance are all hot right now.

Urban fantasy submissions do not need to have graphic sex scenes and, obviously, YA novels don’t either.

Full submission guidelines for Evernight erotic romance and Evernight fantasy here.

Full submission guidelines for Evernight Teen here.

If you are interested in publishing with Evernight, you may send a query, a synopsis, and the first chapter to Diana at dianastager.editor@gmail.com

See details of the weekly writing classes, from beginners to advanced, starting in the new year here.

See Brian Henry’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Kimberly Brower joins Rebecca Friedman Literary agency, seeks new authors of commercial and literary fiction, especially women’s fiction & romance, plus new adult and young adult

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor,
represented by the Rebecca Friedman Agency

Note: My email has been misbehaving lately, making it difficult to get out my newsletter. You can always click on the "Workshop & Course Schedule" button above to see what's happening. And add your email in the "Follow Brian by Email" button off to the right under my bio to be sure you don't miss any postings. 
Happy holiday!  – Brian

Rebecca Friedman Literary Agency

Greater Los Angeles area

California

http://rfliterary.com/

Rebecca Friedman (formerly of Sterling Lord Literistic and Sanford Greenburger) started this agency just last year. As a new agency, Friedman Literary is actively building up its client list.  

Kimberly Brower is the newest member of the team. Reading has always been her passion, even while pursuing her business degree at California State University, Northridge and law degree at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. By joining the Rebecca Friedman Literary Agency in 2014, she has been able to merge her legal background with her love of books.

Although she loves all things romance, she is also searching for books that are different and will surprise her, with empathetic characters and compelling stories. Kimberly is interested in both commercial and literary fiction, with an emphasis in women’s fiction, contemporary romance, mysteries/thrillers, new adult and young adult, as well as certain areas of non-fiction, including business, diet and fitness.

Query Kimberly at: Kimberly@rfliterary.com

Paste the first chapter (maximum 15 double-space pages) into the email. No attachments.

Rachel Marks is also looking for authors. Rachel describes herself as “animal lover, Disney obsessed, a very avid reader, child at heart, nerd and all round happy person.” As the owner of Mark My Words, she has worked as a publicist for authors for the past three years. 

Rachel represents young adult, fantasy, science fiction, new adult and romance. 

Query Rachel at: Rachel@rfliterary.com

Paste the first chapter (maximum 15 double-space pages) into the email. No attachments.

Rebecca Friedman, the founder of the agency is interested in commercial and literary fiction with a focus on literary novels of suspense, women’s fiction, contemporary romance, and young adult, as well as journalistic nonfiction and memoir. “Most of all," she says, "we are looking for great stories told in strong voices.”

Query Rebecca at: Abby@rfliterary.com

Rebecca’s direct email is: rebecca@rfliterary.com

Paste the first chapter (maximum 15 double-space pages) into the email. No attachments.

Brian Henry will lead a "How to Get Published" workshop in Niagara on the Lake on Saturday, March 7, with literary agent Olga Filina of The Rights Factory (see here). 

Anne Shone

Also, Brian will lead a “Writing for Children & for Young Adults” workshop with Anne Shone, Senior Editor at Scholastic Canada, on Saturday, May 2, in Oakville (see here). 

Note: For more information or to register for any workshop or course, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Other upcoming workshops, include: “Secrets of Writing a Page-turner,” Saturday, Jan 17, in Toronto (see here), "How to Write Great Dialogue," Saturday, Jan 24, in Georgetown (here), and “Revising and Editing,” Saturday, Jan 31 in Oakville (here).

Weekly courses: Whether you're looking for an introduction to creative writing or you're getting your manuscript ready to submit to an agent, your best bet is a weekly course. Starting in the new year, Brian will be offering classes for beginners through advanced writers. See details for all six courses here.

For details of “Welcome to Creative Writing” on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington see here, for “Writing Your Life & Other Personal Stories” on Tuesday mornings in Oakville see here, for “The Next Step in Creative Writing” on Wednesday evenings in Burlington see here, on Thursday afternoons in Mississauga see here, and on Thursday evenings in Georgetown see here, and for “Intensive Creative Writing” on Wednesday afternoons in Burlington here.

For details of any course or workshop or to register, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

“Rest in peace, my beloved PC,” a true story by Lori Edey

Note: My email has been misbehaving lately, making it difficult to get out my newsletter. You can always click on the "Workshop & Course Schedule" button above to see what's happening. And add your email in the "Follow Brian by Email" button off to the right under my bio to be sure you don't miss any postings. Happy holiday!  – Brian

“It’s just like Christmas morning!” declared the geeky guy in the Apple Store as he began to unpack the MacBook Air I’d just purchased.

My lip was quivering and tears began to roll down my cheeks.  “No it isn’t,” I spat at him.  “It’s good Friday. Crucifixion day!” 

I was quite resistant to move from my old PC to the Almighty Mac, despite the sense it made to do so.  No more anti-virus software, no more guilt about forgetting to backup files (Macs do it automatically onto a cloud), and no more fuss trying to trade files with my daughter Cathy (she fell into the arms of Mac long ago). Plus of course, Macs have the reputation of being better for creative pursuits, and I’m always intending to engage in more creative pursuits.

Luckily for the geeky sales guy and me, we weren’t alone.  Dear calm Cathy, who could clearly understand both the Christmas morning and Good Friday perspectives on this purchase, became the instant bridge.  She grabbed the attention of the horrified salesperson, trying to give me enough privacy to gather my polite self enough to rejoin consumer heaven.  

With a bit of uncertainty, the sales geek turned his full attention to Cathy, his back to me, and proceeded to rave about the wonderful features of the MacBook Air, woefully unaware that Cathy has already owned one for a couple of years.

My tears subsided, but my decorum had some distance to travel.  Cathy turned to me, asking the young man to pause for a moment.  “Do you want to wait on a bench in the mall?”

Grateful, I left her my credit card and jumped at the chance.  “Call me when I have to sign,” I chirped and abruptly left the store. 

I’ve always struggled with computers.  When I was a teacher, my classroom was the recipient of the first computer in the school.  The father of one of my students died quite suddenly.  Instead of a tombstone, the student’s mother decided to use the money to buy computers for her two children’s classrooms.  Mine was one of them.  

If that’s not pressure to learn how to use it, I don’t know what is.  The children did better than I did learning how to use it – foreshadowing the future.

Years later when I had my own PC, I took several courses, trying to learn how to use it, but dropped out of most of them in frustration. Finally, a good friend decided he would teach me for a bottle of single malt scotch.

“I know how you learn!”  Bob declared.  “I’m sure I can teach you!”

My education began by him moving the gigantic machine into my dining room. 

“For the first week, just talk to it at least once a day.  If you can do it more than once a day, it will speed up the learning process,” he explained.  “Don’t touch it.  Just talk to it.”

And so I did.  Within a month, he had me emailing friends near and far.    He did know how I learn!  Nothing could motivate me more than this magical means of keeping in touch with my friends and family. My learning grew from there.  He earned his bottle of scotch.

Now, I my computer is an object with great personal significance to me.  It connects me with friends and family on a regular basis.  It holds memories through my many photographs of people and places – photographs not only filed by event and chronology, but also arranged so that they appear randomly as a screen saver.  Every day I take a few moments to gaze at these photos and my heart fills with gratitude at the rich and abundant life I’ve been privileged to lead.

But my relationship with the MacBook Air was hard won.

The funniest part of all?  My first degree is in math and computer science!

Lori Edey has worn a variety of hats:  cook, teacher, minister, counsellor/therapist among them.  The last several years, she’s been playing “dress up” with that of writer, trying not to take herself or her writing too seriously.  A convert to cats, she lives a “pussy-whipped” existence with her partner and beloved felines in Dundas.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

“The Home Key,” a personal essay by Lee Currie

I look at this gold-coloured house key with cautious anticipation. It may be a small bit of metal with sharp grooves and notches, but it packs an emotional wallop! Will it be the last house key I have on my chain or is it just another one in a collection of many I’ve had over the years?

According to Dr. Brené Brown, the single emotion people are most afraid of is joy. Seriously. We are collectively conditioned to wait for the other shoe to drop, so we never fully appreciate the moments of joy when they are right in front of us. We anticipate with more surety the promise of disaster or, at the very least, failure. Joy is terrifying.

I don’t want to be afraid of my joy and this house key represents my opportunity to overcome my history, my fear and lean into and fully embrace gratitude. Only then will I fully understand joy.

The journey to this one key is found in all of the keys before it:

The house to which I was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, where my mum was a nurse and my dad worked at the sugar refinery and I spent my days with my grandmother.

The tiny two-bedroom townhouse in married student housing in Watertown, Massachusetts, where I moved with my dad, pregnant mum and little sister so my dad could attend Harvard to earn his business degree.

The split-level ranch house just outside Cleveland where I was initiated into the lifestyle of quintessential (read: tacky) 1970s suburbia, with dads gone through the work week and cheesy neighbourhood gatherings on the weekends.

The house in North Toronto where my mother thought wallpapering the dining room ceiling and putting indoor-outdoor carpet in the kitchen was some kind of interior design statement – it was, and it was not good!

The house in the Chicago suburbs with the pool, the ping-pong table and the basketball net in the barn.

The other house in Toronto, which would become home base until I left for boarding school six years later.

Then there were no keys since in the all-girls school of 165 students the idea of privacy was absurd. My rooms at university had keys, but who ever thought to use them? We never had anything of any value to steal so why bother locking up?

My first job took me to Buffalo, New York, and a full-on transient existence with various roommates and a boyfriend or two. There were plenty of house keys but the only keys that mattered opened office doors. A favourite key was the one I got when I bought my first house after my transfer to Calgary: a sweet bungalow where I housed my fiancé-then-husband, then first baby and a second soon after.

Another transfer brought us to Ontario where I had three more keys to houses that welcomed two more children, survived one bout with cancer, endured one near-death experience, lost one business, and initiated one divorce.

This key? This key is so much more than a bit of metal with sharp grooves and notches. This key opens the door to a home, as I no longer live in just a house. This key opens the door to my home.

Lee Currie is a mother of four growing-up-too-fast teens in Oakville, Ontario. As her time becomes more her own to enjoy, she is discovering activities that feed her mind and soothe her soul. This new chapter no longer consists of constant cooking, folding laundry or birthday party planning, but, holds space for writing, meditation and evenings out with girlfriends. There is, of course, the added benefits of replacing the old Ikea furniture and chipped dishes. She writes about her every day, almost every day, at Linar Studio.

 See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

CommuterLit Selections: Arrivals & Departures available now

CommuterLit's new print anthology, CommuterLit Selections: Arrivals & Departures is now available. Selections were chosen from special contributions submitted by members of the CommuterLit community. 

Read new work by CommuterLit contributors: Moira Garland, Irene Golas, Celynne Grewe, Sheila Horne, Phyllis Humby, Michael Joll, Charlene Jones, Cassie McDaniel, Hannah McKinnon, Katharine O'Flynn, Christine Ottoni, Charles Pinch, Harry Posner, Frank T. Sikora, Anne F. Walker, and Gerhard Wetzel, and by new contributors: David Anderson, Ken Haigh, Thomas Leduc and Gail Peck.

Buy this anthology for the special 15% off pre-holiday price of $14.45 (plus shipping) here.

Call for Submissions

CommuterLit's coffers are low! We need your submissions of poetry, short stories, flash fiction and short memoir in any genre. In particular, we are looking for submissions with wintry themes. Submit here.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

How to Write Great Characters workshop, Saturday, March 28, in Brampton

How to Write Great Characters
Saturday, March 28, 2015
10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Cyril Clark Branch, Brampton Library

20 Loafer’s Lake Lane, Brampton, Ontario (Map here)

Whatever you're writing ~ fiction or nonfiction ~ readers will care about your story only if they care about your people. In this workshop, you'll learn techniques for creating fictional characters and depicting real people. You’ll learn how to breathe life into the page so that your characters start telling you how the story should go.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.

Fee: 40.71+ 13% hst = 46 paid in advance
or 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

New literary agent Abby Saul seeks psychological thrillers, gothic novels, women's historical fiction and great writing of all sorts

Browne & Miller Literary Associates

410 South Michigan Avenue

Suite 460

Chicago Illinois 60605

http://www.browneandmiller.com/

Browne & Miller describes itself as “Chicago's premier literary agency, specializing in full-service representation of a select clientele. Our tastes are broad and eclectic and we value exceptional writing and very fine storytelling above all else.  This agency has represented thousands of books over the past 40 years – fiction and non-fiction – and our clients include several New York Times bestselling authors and numerous prize – and award-winning writers. We also sell domestic, foreign, and subsidiary rights for our clients and work with subagents in most foreign markets and in the film/TV industry.

“Browne & Miller is most interested in literary fiction, commercial fiction, women's fiction, women's historical fiction, literary-leaning crime fiction, romance, and Amish fiction. We are also interested in time travel stories; Christian/inspirational fiction by established authors; literary and commercial Young Adult fiction; a broad array of nonfiction by nationally-recognized, platformed author/experts. We do not represent children's picture books, horror or sci-fi novels, short stories, poetry, original screenplays, articles, or software.”

Abby Saul is the most recent member of the team, and like all new agents, she needs authors. Abby joined Browne & Miller in 2013 after spending five years on the production and digital publishing side of the industry, first at John Wiley & Sons and then at Sourcebooks. A zealous reader who loves her iPad and recognizes that ebooks are the future, she still can’t resist the lure of a print book. Abby’s personal library of beloved titles runs the gamut from literary newbies and classics, to cozy mysteries, to sappy women’s fiction, to dark and twisted thrillers.

Abby is looking for great and engrossing writing, no matter what the genre, and is actively exploring new digital possibilities for books. Here’s her specific wish list:

(1) Complex, literary-leaning psychological thriller/crime novel. She loves a dark story really well told – think Tana French or Gillian Flynn (or, for the TV junkies, True Detective, Top of the Lake, or The Fall).

(2) Gothic novel, contemporary or historical – anything that takes a cue from Rebecca, Victoria Holt, or The Thirteenth Tale, but offers a fresh twist.

(3) Substantive women’s historical fiction with romantic overtones – love American, English, and French history, but we are definitely open to other settings and time periods.

A magna cum laude graduate of Wellesley College, Abby spends her weekends – when she’s not reading – cooking and hiking with her husband. Find her @BookySaul on Twitter

Query Abby at: mail@browneandmiller.com

Send only a query letter at first. If she’s  interested, she’ll ask for more material. For novels, typically a detailed synopsis plus the first 5 chapters. For nonfiction, a full proposal plus the first 3 sample chapters.

See Browne & Miller’s full submission guidelines here.

Olga Filina

Brian Henry will lead a "How to Get Published" workshop in Niagara on the Lake on Saturday, March 7, with literary agent Olga Filina of The Rights Factory (see here).

Other upcoming workshops, include: “Secrets of Writing a Page-turner,” Saturday, Jan 17, in Toronto (see here), "How to Write Great Dialogue," Saturday, Jan 24, in Georgetown (here), and “Revising and Editing,” Saturday, Jan 31 in Oakville (here).

Weekly courses: Whether you're looking for an introduction to creative writing or you're getting your manuscript ready to submit to an agent, your best bet is a weekly course. Starting in the new year, Brian will be offering classes for beginners through advanced writers. See details for all six courses here.

For details of “Welcome to Creative Writing” on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington see here, for “Writing Your Life & Other Personal Stories” on Tuesday mornings in Oakville see here, for “The Next Step in Creative Writing” on Wednesday evenings in Burlington see here, on Thursday afternoons in Mississauga see here, and on Thursday evenings in Georgetown see here, and for “Intensive Creative Writing” on Wednesday afternoons in Burlington here.

For details of any course or workshop or to register, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Niagara on the Lake, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Toronto, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.