Kids Hummingbird Poetry Contest 2012

Here's a fun writing contest for kids.

Genre: Poetry about hummingbirds

Restrictions: Original work submitted by an author 6-12 years old. Entries will be submitted via an online form on the website.

Deadline: September 30, 2012

Prizes: 3 lucky winners will receive a Hummingbird Recycler Feeder Kit.

Entry fee: None

Additional information: Please see Kids Hummingbird Poetry Contest for additional rules and terms.

2012 Travel Writing Contest from 52 Perfect Days

This contest has some fantastic prizes!

Genre: Travel article

Restrictions: All submissions must be original, unpublished work on the theme of Culinary or Wine Tourism. Must be submitted by e-mail, with a maximum of 1000 words. Entrants must be at least 18 years old and legal residents of the United States (excluding territories), Mexico, or Canada. Residents of Arizona and Vermont are not eligible for cash prizes.

Deadline: November 30, 2012

Prizes: 1st Prize is a 5-night stay in California's Napa Valley. This includes accommodations at the Roman Spa Hot Springs in Calistoga, private wine tastings and winery tours, meals, shopping, and more. No actual retail value is given for this prize.

2nd Prize is a 2-night stay in Mexico's Guadalupe Valley. This includes accommodations at the Adobe Guadalupe, horseback riding, and private wine tastings and tours. Retail value: $700.

3rd Prize is a custom Wordpress website from ZD Design. Retail value: $1200.

There will also be ten 4th Prizes consisting of a BottleWise Rollup wine travel case valued at $19.99.

Entry fee: none

Additional information: Please see the contest page and the guidelines page at 52PerfectDays.com for additional rules and terms.

Traveling for Fun, Adventure and Relaxation Blog Contest

Genre: Blog post

Restrictions: Must be posted at TrendyTravelers Travel Blog

Deadline: August 31, 2012

Prizes: Cash prizes total $1000, divided between three categories. $500 for First Place in "Best Travel Blog." $250 for First Place in "My Favorite Trip or Vacation." $250 for First Place in "My Hometown/Destination Business is a Great Travel Destination Because..."

Entry fee: None

Additional information: Please see the contest page at Trendy Travelers for additional rules and terms.

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 Must be original unpublished work submitted in the text of an e-mail.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.

Backacrehomestead.com Writing Contest

Genre: Non-fiction article

Restrictions: Preferably at least 1000 words, with 750 words as the absolute minimum. Must be original work pertaining to the subjects covered on the website, with articles about homesteading, self sufficiency, farming, gardening, and survival having an advantage over other topics. No limit on number of submissions, which must be e-mail as plain text documents (preferably written in Notepad).

Deadline: August 31, 2012

Prizes: $100 Visa gift card

Entry fee: None

Additional information: Please see Backacrehomestead.com for additional rules and terms.

Past Loves Day Story Contest 2012

Genre: True story

Restrictions: Must be a true story about a past love, with a maximum of 700 words. No restriction on tone. Entries may be submitted by e-mail or regular mail.

Deadline: September 17, 2012

Prizes: First prize is $100. Second prize is $75. Third prize is $50.

Entry fee: None

Additional information: Past Loves Day Story Contest. Includes links to previous winners.

2012 Science Fiction Poetry Association Poetry Contest

Genre: Speculative poetry

Restrictions: Limited to 1 previously unpublished poem per category. E-mail submissions only, with poems in the body of the message or in an attached .rtf file. Entrants who are not members of SFPA should indicate this fact, which makes them eligible for an additional prize.

Deadline: September 15, 2012

Prizes: The poem's length determines its category. A special prize for the best poem by a non-SFPA-member poet will also be awarded. 1st prize in each category will be $50 cash, a one-year SPFA membership, and publications donated by membership. Runners-up will have their choice of one publication donated by SFPA members. Winners and runners-up will be published on both SPFA and Poetry Planet.

Entry Fee: None

Additional information: Science Fiction Poetry Association

Writing Contest for Dog Lovers

Genre: Non-fiction

Restrictions: For dog rescuers 18 and older. Write a compelling story about your dog's rescue in 500-1000 words. A photo of your dog is encouraged but not required. One entry per family. Must include word count and author's name, address, e-mail address, and phone number. All submissions must be submitted via e-mail in a .doc or .rtf format.

Deadline: September 1, 2012

Prizes: A $50 donation will be made to the animal shelter of the winner's choice. Everyone selected for publication in Mighty Tales of Rescue will receive a digital copy of the anthology. In addition, the winner will also receive a digital copy of Beating Cancer, an anthology of cancer survivor stories.

Entry Fee: None

Additional information: Writing Contest for Dog Lovers

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

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.

Amy Foundation Writing Awards

Genre: Article

Restrictions: Must have been published during the current calendar year in a mainstream, non-religious publication either online or in print. Must contain at least one passage of Scripture. Entries must be sent by USPS; e-mailed entries will not be accepted.

Prizes: First prize is $10,000. Second prize is $5000, third prize is $4000, fourth prize is $3000, and fifth prize is $2000. In addition, ten Awards of Outstanding Merit will be given at $1000 each.

Entry Fee: None

Additional information: Amy Foundation Writing Awards

Changing Focus

I recently took some time to think about the direction of Ellie's Writing Desk. Although I originally started this blog to promote my Associated Content articles, I realized that I wanted to do much more with it than that. I had a lot of ideas; the problem was figuring out which ones would work.

I finally came up with a plan, and I think it works. I hope it works.

1. Post writing prompts. I've already come up with some interesting ones, so be on the lookout for them. You'll be able to fulfill the prompts in the comments, on your own blog, or privately--or you can just ignore them. It's up to you. The idea is to get the creative juices flowing and just have fun.

2. Find and post information about writing contests.

3. Provide tips about writing and grammar.

4. Continue to promote my own articles, but more regularly. It still won't be very often, since I don't write that many.

5. Promote articles by other writers.

6. Spotlight different writers, including occasionally branching out into some interviews.

I haven't finalized a schedule, and that's probably not even possible. However, I do intend to update this blog much more often than in the past.

I also started a new blog, Ellie's Blank Book. It will be for most of the blog hops and blogging challenges, although any that are devoted to the act of writing will be here at Ellie's Writing Desk.

Wrapping Up the A-Z Challenge

The A-Z blogging challenge wrapped up over the weekend, and now it's time to reflect on how it went. When I first learned about the challenge, I had to stop and think about whether I could participate. Eventually, I signed up all five of my blogs. From the beginning, my intention was to spread the challenge over all of them, posting on anywhere from one to five for any given letter. I also made three rules for myself.

My Rules, Meant Just for Me

1. Post at Help Michigan Pets for every letter.

2. Write and post them on the day they're due. In other words, no writing ahead or doing a pre-scheduled post.

3. Make-up posts are not allowed. If I miss a letter, I won't be going back and filling it in.

So, how did I do?

I followed my rules. I even kicked off the challenge by posting at every blog. I did let myself brainstorm ahead of time, and I made a master list of potential topics. I also allowed myself to start researching animals a few days ahead of schedule.

I had a bit of serendipity twice on my entertainment blog. The first instance of perfect timing occurred along with the bad news about ABC's cancellation of two soap operas, which gave me an L for Loss. Later, on S night, the next day's topic fell into my lap when I saw a new commercial advertising a web series based in my area. The title of that series begins with a T.

The timing of this challenge was also serendipitous. I had been neglecting my blogs and wanted to start them up again. The neglect began (and lasted) mostly due to circumstances beyond my control, but as time went on, it became increasingly difficult to make myself get back to them. The challenge gave me the push I needed.

The Tally

Since I already said that I followed my rules, you know that my pets blog got a new post for every letter. As for my other blogs, some received more new posts than others.

Help Michigan Pets: 26 new posts
Ellie's Couch: 17 new posts
Diary of a Non-Person: 12 new posts
Ellie's Attic: 6 new posts
Ellie's Writing Desk: 4 new posts

New Connections

I've gained quite a few followers and started following even more blogs than ever. Not all of them were participating in the challenge; I found some of them on other participants' reading lists. Here are just a few of the interesting blogs I've been following, thanks to this challenge:

Content for Foodies
Jeffrey Beesler's World of the Scribe
La fotografía efectista abstracta
Langley Writes
My Literary Jam & Toast
¡Palabras interesantes, raras, hermosas y divertidas!
Pirate Knitting
Tossing It Out

Plans

As a result of the A-Z Challenge, I've determined to come up with a schedule and stick to it. I'm also thinking about the future of this blog. Originally, it was meant to promote some of my articles, and I have another one reserved for blogging about writing in general. Now I'm trying to come up with a better plan for each of them.

Wrapping It Up

I'm glad I had the opportunity to get back to my blogs, especially my pets blog. If it helped even one pet find a forever home, it was well worth my time.

I enjoyed participating in the A-Z Challenge, and I definitely accomplished what I set out to do. I would like to do this again in the future if time permits, but with fewer blogs and with the intention to post all 26 letters on each one.

I'd like to thank the hosts for coming up with this challenge. Special thanks go to Elizabeth Mueller for the cool badge she provided for us, as well as to Deirdra Eden-Coppel for the beautiful awards she gave my blogs.