Wednesday, September 2, 2015

IWSG Post Day and Special Anniversary Announcement!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

Our awesome co-hosts today are Julie Flanders, Murees Dupé, Dolorah at Book Lover, Christine Rains, and Heather Gardner!


Today marks four years since the group began and two years since we opened the website. So what better way to celebrate than offer our members an amazing opportunity! Presenting…


The IWSG Short Story Contest 2015

After the success of last year’s IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond, we decided to create another book. This time it’s a short story competition with the top ten stories getting published in an anthology. (Authors will also receive royalties on sales.)

Eligibility: Any member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is encouraged to enter – blogging or Facebook member. The story must be previously unpublished. Entry is free.

Word count: 5000-6000

Theme: Alternate History/Parallel Universe. That’s right, we’ve decided to go the speculative route. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines, except erotica or graphic violence.

Story deadline: November 1st 2015

How to enter: Send your polished, formatted, previously unpublished story to TheIWSG at gmail dot com before the deadline passes. Make sure to include your contact details.

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges:
Laura Maisano - Senior editor at Anaiah Press for their YA/NA Christian fiction
Russell Connor – Author and owner of Dark Filament Publishing Startup
Candace Havens – Editorial Director for the Covet, Select, Select Otherworld, Select Historical, Embrace, Indulgence for Entangled Publishing. She is also a nationally syndicated columnist and award-winning and best-selling author.
Dawn Frederick – Literary agent and the founder of Red Sofa Literary
Alice Speilburg – Founder of the Speilburg Literary Agency
Michelle Johnson – Literary agent and the founder of Inklings Literary Agency
Kendare Blake - Author
Lydia Moëd - Associate agent at The Rights Factory






Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title. The winners will also receive an exclusive badge to display on their blog.

We’re excited to see the creativity and enthusiasm that’s such a part of this group put into action. So don your creative caps and start writing. And spread the word!


The #IWSG short story anthology contest is open! For details - http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/2015/09/iwsg-post-day-and-special-anniversary.html #contest #shortstory #anthology

55 comments:

Anne Higa said...

Awesome! I knew it was going to be something cool. Love this group! Happy Birthday IWSG!

Unknown said...

Grea News, Alex, and you've got some fancy judges there :). Wish I wrote this genre and could have participated. All the best with it!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Alex and IWSG administrators .. this will be an amazing opportunity for many and getting that extra exposure through the anthology will be so stimulating .. for those who write their story, us to read, and for those who win through.

Brilliant idea - cheers and good luck to one and all - Hilary

Toi Thomas said...

Wow and thank you. This is an amazing opportunity. Just another reason this group is so special.

Melissa said...

Wow! I'm impressed!
This is awesome!!! :D

Michelle Wallace said...

Happy Birthday IWSG!
Let the buzz begin... exciting times ahead...

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

What a fun idea! Should be awesome. :)

Nicki Elson said...

Exciting! What an impressive group of judges.

Tonja Drecker said...

Wow - that is an exciting announcement! Can't wait to see the results because this is sure to be a book packed full of awesomeness.

Debra Renée Byrd said...

Happy Anniversary! (Read the surprise over at Alex's already, but forgot to say that.)

Sherry Ellis said...

Sounds like a great opportunity!

Michael Di Gesu said...

AMAZING!!!! What a great way to celebrate FOUR years.... I still can't believe it's that long!!!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Time for those short story writers to show their stuff!

Tanya Reimer said...

Very excited! This group has helped me so much.

Pat Garcia said...

Happy to see something like this taking place in a group. This is fantastic.
Shalom,
Patricia

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hope many of you can contribute!

Christine Rains said...

This is an awesome contest! I love this group. Here's to several more years! Cheers!

Stephen Tremp said...

Happy Birthday IWSG! This is a tight schedule but given the small word count I might be able to do it.

Pat Hatt said...

4 years is sure a long time. That is awesome indeed, the cat will have to see if he can spin something, no rhyme of course lol

Yolanda Renée said...

Good luck to all contributors!
An exciting way to celebrate an anniversary!
Happy Anniversary, btw!!!

Heather M. Gardner said...

Alex! and Admins!

This is awesome. Happy anniversary/birthday to the IWSG!

It has meant so much to me, just knowing that this group of people is here for support makes each writing day a little more secure.

Thank you for all your hard work!

What an amazing opportunity for the members!

Heather

Jemima Pett said...

Hey! That sounds fantastic. Now to go and talk to my muse....

Thanks so much.

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

Your hard work pays off, Alex. Congratulations. This is contest is outstanding.

Lidy said...

Wow! This is great. Thanks for the opportunity and Happy Anniversary!!! 😆

Sandra Cox said...

How exciting. I've got a feeling judging will be tough since probably all members will be entering:)

Stephsco said...

What a great opportunity for all the short story writers!

Anonymous said...

Happy 4-years!!

I'm SO stoked for this! I've already had an idea swirling around my mind for a while now that will totally fit the bill! :)

Juneta key said...

Happy Birthday IWSG! Exciting things, great contest. Thanks for starting IWSG. It has been an awesome experience.
Juneta Writer's Gambit

AJ Lauer said...

Wow! What a great opportunity! Happy Anniversary IWSG :)
~ AJ

cleemckenzie said...

This is quite a wonderful way to celebrate a successful four years. I know this anthology will be packed with super stories.

Unknown said...

This seems like great fun!

Anonymous said...

Cool! What a great idea to have a short story anthology!! :)

Debra Renée Byrd said...

Do you know what's absolutely crazy? When I signed up for IWSG, there were less than 70 of us!

Unknown said...

Great idea and line-up of judges! :)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

We have an amazing list of judges.

LuAnn @ BackPorchervations said...

Very exciting news! I know there are some that think writing short stories is 'easy', because, hey, they are shorter, right? But the challenge is to tell the complete story in fewer words. Quite a challenge for me ... because I love to blather on when I write. ;)

Robyn Campbell said...

WOW. I say WOW. This is so cool it's BODACIOUSLY cool. I always told Alex I would join the group when Christopher was okay enough to let me devote the time. Not there yet. But I am considering joining. And not JUST because of this. It was something Alex said a few weeks ago over at his blog. I'm at a point where I need to grumble (in a clearly productive manner) about writing stuff. And have this shiny, dazzling support that I see you guys give one another. *sigh* I always feel the love here. And my super sweet pal Michelle is a member. That counts for much. And Bish too.

Robyn Campbell said...

And Yvette too. :-) And of course, THE CAPTAIN himself.

Doreen McGettigan said...

Happy Anniversary and as always thank you so much for everything you do! What a great contest, it will challenge me out of my genre comfort zone for sure.

Mel Chesley said...

Happy anniversary IWSG!! It has been an amazing 4 years already? Wow. And a very cool way to celebrate it!

Angela Wooldridge said...

What an awesome group of judges! Great idea and happy anniversary!

ELAdams said...

Four years -- awesome! Fantastic idea for a contest. :)

J.Q. Rose said...

Who thinks up this fun stuff? Thanks for such a plan for the celebration. Now I'm off to figure out what alternate history fiction IS!! LOL..

Margo Kelly said...

Fantastic idea! :)

Ann Bennett said...

What a great contest. All I could think of was, the admins are going to be working hard. You are an awesome group with your generosity of time. If you need help, let me know. I don't write stories in either area so I will not be entering.

Angela Brown said...

Great contest! And the timing is great since writers/authors can pen something and submit it before the annual NaNoWriMo craze kicks in.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is exciting! Hope I have time to write something and submit :-)

Anonymous said...

This is exciting. Good luck to everyone who enters.

SK Anthony said...

Truly awesome!!!!

dolorah said...

Truly awesome :)

Nicola said...

Happy anniversary! I'm a newbie to the group and am looking forward to being part of it! Wishing all participants lots of fun with their entries.

Jeffrey Scott said...

A writing contest! I'm stoked! And the theme sounds to be right down my alley. Am I good enough? Unsure about that as yet, but I think I should try. If I never try to do something, how will I know if I'm any good? Thanks for this opportunity. I shall start thinking.

Unknown said...

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Thank you.
Anna Nordeman

Haneen Ibrahim said...

That is FREAKING awesome! I knew it was worth it :D

Elizabeth Mueller said...

I love the sound of this! With ten days left, I doubt I can squeeze this into my insanical life. x(