Swanezine Short Story Competition 2012

Genre: Short story

Restrictions: Open to UK residents only. Maximum 2 entries per author, with each having no more than 1000 words. Must be original unpublished work submitted in the text of an e-mail.

Deadline: August 31, 2012

Prizes: First Prize is £30. Second Prize is £20. Third Prize is £10.

Entry fee: None

Additional information: Please see Swanezine Short Story Competition for additional rules and terms.

Texas Book Festival's 11th Annual Fiction Writing Contest

Genre: Fiction

Restrictions: This contest is limited to students in grades 7-12 in Texas. The story must use the theme "Out of the Blue" and have a maximum of 2000 words. Entries must be double-spaced, formatted as a Microsoft Word document, and submitted online.

Deadline: July 27, 2012

Prizes: Stories will be entered in one of three divisions: Grades 7-8; Grades 9-10; or Grades 11-12. Prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place in each division. First-place winners will have the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion on writing and the inspiration for their stories at the Texas Book Festival, to be held October 27-28 at the Capitol Building in Austin. There is no information about any prize money that may be awarded.

Entry Fee: None

Additional information: Texas Book Festival's 11th Annual Fiction Writing Contest

Summer Solstice Contest

Genre: Slipstream fiction

Restrictions: Maximum 2500 words. Limited to 1 entry per person. All entrants must be members of Scribophile and allow their work to be visible to the public. Winners will be paid via Paypal and therefore must have a Paypal account.

Deadline: June 30, 2012

Prizes: 1st Prize is $50; 2nd Prize is $25.

Entry Fee: None

Additional information: Scribophile's Summer Solstice Contest

JuNoWriMo and BuNoWriMo

Every year, many writers participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is held in November. Others would participate if it were scheduled for a different month. If setting aside the month of November to write a novel isn't feasible for you, consider JuNoWriMo.

JuNoWriMo stands for June Novel Writing Month. For many people, June works better than November.

Participants in JuNoWriMo don't have to write a novel; other works are acceptable. The goal is to write 50,000 words in June.

Remember that this is your first draft, which means you shouldn't expect to perfect your manuscript during the challenge. The idea is to get it all down on paper--or computer--so that you actually have something to work with when you're ready to start revising.

BuNoWriMo (Burrow Novel Writing Month) is another option. Also held in June, BuNoWriMo has the same goal of 50,000 words. Participants are required to join the BuNoWriMo group at Facebook.

Many people find that June works out better for them than November. If setting aside November to write a novel is inconvenient or even impossible for you, just remember that there are at least two other options. Of course, it's also possible to write on your own schedule, but joining other writers who make a firm commitment to achieve their goals is a great incentive.

Meant to Be

My entry in Associated Content's flash fiction contest from 2009 is a story about a special relationship. One of the requirements was to begin the story with one of three opening sentences provided by AC. I chose to begin with, "Someone was knocking at the door."

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