If you want to be a writer, you have to write. It sounds simple enough, but many writers while away the hours on internet searches, scanning Facebook, clipping their toenails and doing anything, but writing. One way that I keep myself plugged into writing is by submitting. Sometimes I spend a day penning a short story about ghosts just because there's an upcoming contest (usually a free one) that has hauntings as a topic. It's not my area of expertise, short stories in general are not, but it forces me to leave my comfort zone, put away my bruised and bloodied manuscript and open my mind to fresh ideas, new characters and an entirely different style of writing.
Look below for some upcoming contests and submission deadlines to give your own writing a new twist that you may find suits you even better than your current project. Also, consider writing and submitting something totally out of your element - like poetry when you normally stick with essays - it could open a passage previously buried.
Hayden's Ferry Review - Submission Call for Short Forms - Deadline: 12/15/10
Shaw Poetry Prize (must live north of US 10 in MI) - Three Poems - Deadline: 11/19/10
Lingerpost Wants Poetry Submissions - 3 to 5 Poems - Deadline: None
Saltwater Press Seeking Submissions - Fiction/Nonfiction/Poetry - Deadline: None
Magnolia (Women's Lit. Journal) Seeks Submissions - Socially Engaged Writing - Deadline: 12/30/10
Ghost Town Lit. Magazine Seeking Submissions - Fiction/Nonfiction/Poetry - Deadline: February
London Writer's Society Call for Submissions - Women Writing on Family - Deadline: 12/15/10
Changes in Life Inspirational Anthology - Women on Challenges - Deadline: 12/15/10
Telling Our Stores Short Memoir Submissions - Memoirs - Deadline: None
Dream Quest One Poetry and Writing Contest - Prose and Poetry - Deadline: 12/31/10
