Muse Prize

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Muse Prize is currently accepting contest entries through Feb. 1 , 2011; $6 entry fee.

CONTEST RULES

Please read the following rules carefully in order to avoid disqualification:

Contestant must be a Wisconsin resident 18 years of age or older.

The entry form must be completed in full, included with the submission and postmarked by the contest deadline date listed on the entry form.

Only one original unpublished poem not under consideration elsewhere may be entered in the WFOP Muse Prize contest. 75 line maximum. Send two copies of poem. Plagiarism disqualifies the contestant.

Manuscript must be typed on 8.5" x 11" white paper, one side only. Writer's name should not appear on the page with the poem.

An entry fee of $3.00 for WFOP members and $6.00 for non-members must accompany the submission. Checks are to be made out to WFOP Literary Fund. Mail to Muse / Jerome J. Jagielski, 572 Berwyn Drive, Fontana, WI 53125-1556. Send entry in #10 business-size envelope only.

Prizes are: 1st place—$200.00 and trophy; 2nd—$100.00; 3rd—$75.00.

Only the winners will be notified prior to the WFOP Spring Conference. The list of winners will be published in the WFOP Museletter and posted on the Contests page after the conference.

Prizes will be awarded only if there are sufficient entries and the contest judge determines that an entry warrants a prize award.

The first place-winner of the WFOP Muse Prize will be ineligible to enter that contest again for three years.

WFOP is not responsible for lost manuscripts. Do not send a SASE. Entries will not be returned and there will be no notification if an entry is disqualified for failure to follow any of the above rules.

Author retains all rights to his/her work.

Send entries to:

Muse / Jerome J. Jagielski

572 Berwyn Drive

Fontana, WI 53125-1556

For complete contest rules and submission guidelines, go to http://www.wfop.org/contests/muse.html

Spring Writers Festival

Spring Writers Festival

Fri.-Sun., Mar. 4-6, 2011

Day 1: 5:30-9pm; Day 2: 8am-4:30pm; Day 3: 8:30am-1:30pm

UW-Milwaukee

Fee: $269

http://www4.uwm.edu/sce/conference.cfm?id=561

Keynote speakers are David Rhodes (Driftless), Kao Kalia Yang (The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir), and Jane Hamilton (A Map of the World).

Workshops include:

Outlining for Creative People: Lori Tharps

Characterization: David Rhodes

Anthologies and the Publishing Writer: Amy Lou Jenkins

Writing From Life: Karen McQuestion

Marketing Summaries: 150 Words That Sell Your Book: Kelly Wimmer

Poetry & Memory: John Koethe

Fifty Tips for Freelancing: Ron Kovach

The Agent-Author Relationship: Sheree Bykofsky

Writing a Children's Picture Book: JoAnn Early Macken

Dialogue: Letting Your Characters Tell the Story: Ann Wertz Garvin

Making Room for Writing in Your Life: Mary-Jeane Smoller-Phillips

Call for Submissions

Grace Lim at UW-Oshkosh is seeking true stories 400 words or less that answer who your hero is and why. Entries will be posted on the website "A Salute to Hometown Heroes," and is part of an event to be held at 2:30 Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011 at the Oshkosh Grand Opera House, at the premiere of "Airboat Rescue 1: When the Ice Breaks."

The student documentary is about a father in Poygan who lost his son 30 years ago in a winter boating accident, and consequently begin an all-volunteer airboat rescue crew. The event is free and open to the public.

Submissions can be about a person living or dead; a local, national or world personality. Submissions with photographs would be especially appreciated.

To make a submission or ask for more information, please email Grace at limg@uwosh.edu

Meeting Reminder

The Oshkosh Area Writers Club will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 11 in the lower level conference room of the Oshkosh Public Library. Grace Lim is our guest speaker and Chuck is the Author Spotlight.

Per annual tradition, refreshments will be served and we will exchange white elephant gifts (something you have around the house but never use that is in good/excellent condition - wrap it up and bring it in!) and we will also be setting personal writing goals for 2011.

Jessica Collins' Blog

Here is a link to Jessica Collins' personal blog: www.boun-see.blogspot.com.

It has a few anecdotes about motherhood and also a smattering of health and fitness columns among other things. Aside from the duties of her full-time job as a Web Copywriter, this is some of the writing that's been keeping her busy.

Jessica had a short story published in "Cup of Comfort Book of Christmas Prayer" and recently had a poem published in the Wisconsin Review.

Author Visit

Neenah Public Library will host "Wisconsin's Own: Twenty Remarkable Homes," at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19th.

The authors of Wisconsin’s Own: Twenty Remarkable Homes, M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman, along with local historian Peter Adams, will talk about historic homes in Wisconsin – including a home located in Neenah. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Co-sponsored by the Neenah Historical Society.

Creating a Plot

Here is the link to an article Dixie shared at our last meeting, "How to Plot a Novel."

http://www.ehow.com/how_2110846_plot

The article is about taking an idea/premise for a novel and through a series of questions and answers, developing a complete outline of your novel. One of the benefits to this system is that once completed, you can write the novel in any order.