Friday Round-up -- Contests and a Hark Back to Summer Dream

I'm deep in the bowels of Ontario at the moment, seeing to a little family business and a bit of workishness and other skullduggery. Poor timing on my part, as I am in the midst of a couple of contests right now requiring dexterity of email ability. But it is fall, and fall is the Prime Time for the writing community -- no one sleeps at this time of year. Much running about, attending, reading, writing, promoting. Such is the life I love!

A recap...

First: The SiWC 2009 Writing Contest closes tonight ...last chance for entries to be submitted by email is essentially right now. Check it out online at www.siwc.ca and send entries to contest@siwc.ca. If you do submit by email, entry fee must follow via snail mail in cheque or money order form. Website is there for details. Do not think you are alone in last-minute submissions -- you are legion, my procrastinating writer friend!

Next: The intrepid Darby's interview this week on Darby Speaks is with Princess Meg, star of THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS  and the just released smash sequel THE RUNAWAY DRAGON. You can win a copy of the latest novel by leaving a comment on Darby's blog HERE. Spread the word! You have until tomorrow night.

And finally, a fond remembrance of this year's wonderful Summer Dream in Stanley Park. This is one of my favourite images -- my friend the zany author Lee Edward Fodi, reading from his latest book Kendra Kandlestar and the Shard From Greeve, whilst a young woman signs the story to a group of clearly mesmerized children.

You can see more of my pix from Summer Dream 2009 on my flickr page HERE.


More catching up soon!


~kc

Interested in getting Published?

You could do worse than to read THIS blog post by the Most Excellent Blogging Agent Nathan Bransford. A lovely glossary of all terms publishing-related.

In fact, if you are REALLY interested, or in the industry already, you should have Bransford's blog on your RSS feed. The guy uniformly posts excellent material. He, Janet Reid and Kristin Nelson are my must-reads for agent bloggers.

All truly excellent. Know any other excellently-blogging agents? List 'em in the comments!

In a somewhat tangentially related thought, when my newly vamped website is ready for public consumption, it will have an all-things-writing-related blog attached. Hoping for a September launch...

A bit of contest news -- it's three weeks until the deadline of the SIWC writing contest. Have you sent in your entry yet? Find out more HERE. With $4000 up for grabs in prizes, it's a no-brainer.

And speaking of contests, nip on over RIGHT NOW to Darby Speaks. You'll be just in time to get your name in to win an Aphra Connelly contest pack!

Hurry...run!

~kc

Bikes and Contests and Conferences

Been doing so much blogging on other sites, I have been neglecting my own! Lots of news to be had over at www.siwc.ca -- the conference is coming together, and lists are being checked and crossed off. I just put up a post today about the search for someone to take over my job as coordinator after this year's conference...if you know anyone who might be interested, send 'em HERE.

In other news, Darby is running a great contest on her blog to win a book by Kelley Armstrong. Darby's done an interview with Kelley's Chloe Saunders character -- you can read it HERE and enter the contest, too!


When I'm not writing books or blogs,
I've been trying to bike the seawall around Stanley Park and through False Creek whenever I can -- this summer has been so hot and dry, it's perfect cycling weather.

I've included a shot here of the new bike lane on the Burrard Street bridge -- it's fantastic and seems to be working very well. Bikes take the lane to the left, pedestrians walk the sidewalk, and cars still get 2 lanes in this direction. Here's hoping it continues to work as smoothly when regular work and school commutes resume in September!


There is still -- for some reason I really can't fathom -- a lot of animosity in this city between drivers and cyclists. The Critical Mass events don't seem to be helping. What began as an attempt to show how cyclists can help reduce congestion on our roads and do something healthy for ourselves and the environment has somehow degenerated into a shouting match. I recently heard about an idea called Critical Manners -- now THAT sounds like a Canadian approach, even though it's begun in San Francisco!






A view of downtown Vancouver from the bike path along the south side of False Creek.












English Bay, with the mountains of the North Shore and West Van far across the water of Burrard Inlet.


You can see from these shots that this city is among the most beautiful in the world to ride through -- it's worth it to solve these cycling issues!

For those of you away from these climes -- do a little rain dance for us, will you? I live on the side of one of the mountains you can see in the distance across English Bay, and though it's technically a temperate rainforest, not a drop has fallen in weeks. Our trails are so dry that hikers have been banished. We need a good three day soak to put out some of the 500 fires that dot this province.

Okay -- back to work on the latest opus. If you'd like to follow me on twitter, I'm tweeting sweetly @kcdyer. Flittering off!

~kc

Edited to add: Forgot to say that I saw one of the new Vancouver Biennale Art Installations on the bike ride. You can see more of Michael Zheng's 'the Stop' HERE.
[tip of the hat to @SeanCranbury for the tweet reminder...]

A New (to me, anyway) Writing Contest

This was just sent to me by Jennifer Coffey -- sounds like a pretty cool contest. And check out those judges!

Call for Submissions

First Person Narrative National Essay Contest
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives

This Year’s Topic ~ Once I Was A Child
Essay Length ~ 2000-2500 words.


1st prize $500.00
2nd prize $300.00
3rd prize $200.00

With a special prize of $100.00 for Best Under Nineteen

Prizewinning essays to be selected by award winning author and Giller Prize nominee
Wayson Choy and by Sarah Sheard
writer and mentor with Humber School For Writers
Submission Due Date ~ September 1, 2008
Prize Winners announced ~ December 15, 2008
Entries should be typed, single-sided, and double-spaced with your name, address and story
title on a separate sheet. Parent/Guardian signature required for anyone under 19. Forms can
be found on our web site. Entry fee is $25.00 payable to Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives by
cheque or online at www.clga.ca. Free for anyone under 19.

All entries received by June 20 will be considered for the Wayson Choy Scholarship to the
Humber School for Writers (July 12-18) Summer Program.

Send your stories to
Managing Editor, The Archivist
106 Walpole Avenue
Toronto ON M4L 2J3
or to jacoffey@rogers.com


The contest is open to all ages and all backgrounds.

All entries will be considered for publication in Keeping Our Stories Alive, Volume 1, A Journal
of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.

~kc

Writing Contest For Kids

Just heard this writing award has been reinstated. If you are a young writer from Alberta -- give it a shot!

You can find more information on the website for the Young Alberta Book Society at www.yabs.ab.ca.

Think you're funny?
Enter to win the Martyn Godfrey Young Writers' Award, sponsored by the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association.
Martyn Godfrey thought he was funny too - so funny he took on a student's dare to write a book and ended up writing 40! To celebrate Martyn's memory and love for reading and writing, the Young Alberta Book Society started the Martyn Godfrey Young Writers' Award.
The Martyn Godfrey Young Writers' Award is an annual, juried writing competition open to all Alberta students in grades 7 through 9.
Students are asked to submit a humorous short story (between 500 and 1500 words) along with a cover page to the Young Alberta Book Society by May 11, 2007.
Two winners will receive trips to the 2007 Writers Guild of Alberta's Youthwrite Camp in Bragg Creek, Alberta and half day visits from an Albertan author, illustrator or storyteller to their schools during Taleblazers 2007.
For full contest and entry details, please visit our webpage at http://www.yabs.ab.caor email the Young Alberta Book Society at info@yabs.ab.ca

~kc

Writing Contest Changes

Spent a good portion of the day mulling over writing contests. One of the myriad tasks that make up my life is overseeing the writing contest for the Surrey International Writers' Conference. After fifteen years, the time has come for an overhaul, as the contest's popularity has outstripped its resources. The board has agreed to some changes, and behind the scenes, they are underway. Most importantly, watch for a new deadline. In order to accomodate the changes required to make this contest all that it can be, the deadline has taken a great leap forward into the formerly lazy days of summer.

Watch for all the news coming this month (I hope!) on the website, which can be found at www.siwc.ca

Speaking of websites, I spent another chunk of day making a few changes in my own. If you'd like a peek, you can check it out at www.kcdyer.com

If, however, you're anxious to view the new material, you might need to wait a few days to allow my uber-cool web-techie Bryan Hoff time to work his magic. Bryan has done my website work from the very beginning, and he always does an amazing job. If you'd like to see some other examples of his work, you can check out
http://www.themeparkmultimedia.com/

In other news, I have discovered to my horror that the confession scene for DEADLINE has stretched into a nine-page historical treatise. Am mulling my options. If one only had access to a slightly-less verbose villain...

Oh, and my apologies to Sir Tristram, late of the Bloodless Revolution book I mentioned a couple of days ago. He is, in fact, a Stuart (tho' he may in fact also be a Wunderkind; he's a pretty good writer for a young fella). And the book is pretty good so far.

~kc