Sticky Notes Blog

A blog of writing news, tips, and inspiration from Fat Plum

Pittsburgh BlogIN

Writers often ask me, Fat Plum's resident geek, whether they should start a blog. I generally say yes: Blogging is a great way to promote your writing, to develop a following, to use as an online writing practice. And it's fun!

If you've been thinking about starting a blog, here's a great opportunity. This Sunday, Pittsburgh Bloggers is holding a BlogIN, which is just people blogging in a room -- in this case, a meeting room in the Carnegie Library, Squirrel Hill branch. It's free and open to the public. All ages are welcome.

The event will run from 1 to 5 pm. At 1:30 I'll lead a short hands-on session to show how to start a free blog on WordPress.com. We'll walk through creating an account, picking a design theme, setting up your profile, and writing your first post. Plus linking to other blogs and websites.

If you already have a blog, this is a good chance to talk with other bloggers about their sites, share ideas, and connect in person with people you meet online.

To participate, you will need to bring a wireless-enabled laptop computer. Show up any time, leave any time. You can also bring snacks and beverages (although a multi-course meal might be too much, and we'd all expect for you to share).

More info is available on my personal blog, My Brilliant Mistakes.

We plan to hold more of these events in the future, so if you can't make it this time but want to stay informed in future, let me know.

And if you're coming on Sunday, let me know that too. I don't expect us to overflow this first time, but it would be good to plan for it.

Posted by Cindy on June 26, 2006
This entry was posted in the following categories: Coming attractions
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The Memoirists Collective

From Publisher's Weekly, "Memoirists Make Friends on MySpace":

If you want to get your memoir published, or at least guarantee an editor will look at your manuscript, you can now turn to some authors on MySpace for help. The Memoirists Collective (www.myspace.com/thememoiristscollective), which was recently launched by four newly-published memoirists who met each other on the networking site, began as a forum for writers working within the genre. Now, with its second contest underway—the prize is having your manuscript read by the authors' editors—the Collective has proved a smart way for these authors to meet new readers and talk about their trade.

The format of the contest is very interesting -- requires commenting on the Collective's MySpace and linking to it from your own site. The details:

HOW TO ENTER:

1. if you haven't linked to all four members personal myspace pages, do that first. winners will have to be best friends of all of ours. (we're a collective, and we like to foster "collectivity".)

2. write about 800 words as a WRITING SAMPLE of a section of your memoir-to-be.

3. divvy those approx 800 words into three equal parts, and post them into the COMMENTS SECTION of the collective's myspace page (the comments section only handles 2000 characters at a time). REMEMBER TO POST THEM IN REVERSE ORDER - THE LAST SECTION FIRST - SO THAT THEY APPEAR IN A LINEAR NARRATIVE FORM ONCE POSTED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. Your sampling doesn't have to be from the opening of your memoir. It doesn't have to be the ending. it should simply be the best representation of your voice that you have.

4. Post a three sentence SYNOPSIS of your memoir-to-be with the sample.(read the blog entry from our first contest to learn more about what a great synopsis should be.)

"but that's not long enough to show my true genius!!!" you say. No problem. We've thought of that. After all entries have been posted by JULY 19th, there will be a winnowing. A culling. A brutal, weeding out until we announce our FIVE FINALISTS on JULY 20th. Four of the finalists will be chosen by us, and one will be reader's choice. (and since you all have wonderful taste, we'll likely agree again anyways.)

5. those five finalists will have a chance to add another 2000 words to their sample (by august 3rd), which will all be reposted by us in separate blog entries. that way we'll all have the privilege of reading even more of their fantastic work.

then the four of us will go into seclusion in our secret Collective Lair and emerge with the winner's name on august 7th. (mondays are best for press releases, and hopefully, we can get the winner mentioned somewhere fabulous to get, as they say, "some pre-launch buzz going.")

Go get typing!

Posted by Cindy on June 14, 2006
This entry was posted in the following categories: Calls for submissions
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New literary journal seeks submissions

The Picolata Review is a new literary journal dedicated to "great writing by talented authors and poets who are just a little west of famous." The debut edition is soon to be published and editors are seeking short fiction, poetry and non-fiction essays on subjects related to literature and culture. Find details at www.picolatereview.org.

Posted by Julie on June 13, 2006
This entry was posted in the following categories: Calls for submissions

Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award

Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award competition is open--

Visit their website for details: www.glimmertrain.org. Click on the guidelines tab for details or just hit the submissions tab. Please make your entry by July 31st.

Posted by Cindy on June 04, 2006
This entry was posted in the following categories: Calls for submissions