Upcoming Submissions found in February
Interesting calls for submissions I have found!
I know, I'm bad. Failing myself bad. I'm thinking of writing short stories again when I still have not finished my novel. I'm pretty sure I know why resistance is winning in this case. I have been reading about how to be picked up by a publisher and it's crazy difficult. It used to be you only needed to write a decent story and find a decent agent. Now, you need a good story and a good agent AND you also need to be your own marketer. From what I understand, I need a huge list of subscribers in order to be considered for publishing. Why not self-publishing? Thanks for asking! But that's the same problem only exponentially worse because I can't even get a leg up with a connection to a publishing house. It's not that I'm expecting to be become a famous author of best selling books, but I want more than ten books bought after all the effort I've put in. So yeah, I've been wasting time, focusing on things other than writing my novel until I have more readers on my list of readers... Sorry. Similar to my previous page about how I found a few publications that wanted stories in December, I found more in February. None of the three have deadlines in February, so I'll have plenty of time to make sure the stories are good before submitting! (I hope...)
The first publication I wanted to write for is Black Hole Comic and Entertainment's Why Not You 2 short story competition. I have to quote directly from BCE, because I love what they said here: “WHY NOT YOU” is really my whole mentality when it comes to writing and creating in general. I’ve said before that Black Hole exists because I want to be the change I want to see in the creative industry. Connections shouldn’t matter, ass-kissing shouldn’t matter, you not being a straight white male writer shouldn’t matter. So yeah, why not me? Or why not you? It's free to enter, for any genre, needs to be 3,000 words or less and the deadline is March 31st. Good luck to all and thank you BCE for bringing this back for 2021! Look at the Contest Rules and Guidelines here.
Another competition I want to submit for is Grist's Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. They are looking for "short stories that envision the next 180 years of equitable climate progress." and are offering tons of prizes with 15 places to win and earn some money and publication! This is another contest that is free to enter with a deadline of April 13th and the word count must be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. Good luck and may the muse favor you! Read all the rules and more here! I do have a idea in mind for this premise as I had written a short story following a prompt about spontaneous combustion. I haven't done anything with that story, but I have a plan for a story for this competition as a continuation of that prompt's story! I already wrote an outline for it, using Story Path inspiration :) I hope I can get even an honorable mention!
Lastly, I was told by Gonzo Press's editor that he'd love to see another submission, specifically more about things that happen behind the scenes at fire halls, from me for the next publication. Nonfiction is not my favorite kind of story, but how can I refuse a request? It's not like others are chomping at the bit to either read my stories or have me writing anything for them... The next issue will be released on April 1st so I have a little time yet before I have to come up with what to write about. It's touchy, because right now, mostly what I hear is the annoying politics that inundate my husband's fire hall, but I'm wary of dirty our dirty laundry even without mentioning names. Maybe, it'll be fine. Maybe the problems my husband runs into are very common and writing of them doesn't pinpoint to any hall or chief, but... I have to think about it.