Fee-Free Writing Competitions

A good way to improve your writing skills is to enter writing competitions. Another advantage to entering writing contests is to gain interest from a literary agent.  Many contests require an entry fee which ranges from a token $25 to $100.  The following competitions for the remainder of 2015 do not require a fee.  The key to success is to follow the submission guidelines carefully or the first readers will reject your hard work outright.

1. MINOTAUR BOOKS--First Crime Novel
Prize:  A book deal and $10,000 advance against future royalties

The competition is open to anyone over the age of eighteen
Submissions are due: December 14, 2015 at 11:59pm EST
One manuscript submission per person. A minimum of 65,000 words
Note: This is a highly respected publisher. Minotaur is a division of St. Martin's Press


2. REAL SIMPLE--What Single Decision Changed Your Life
Prize: 1st prize $3,000 and 2nd and 3rd place winners
Essay content with 1500 maximum word count.
Submissions are due: September 21, 2015 (postmarked) or submitted online
Open only to USA residents and District of Columbia
Note: This is a credible essay contest with a good history of awarding good work

3. Self-e Library Journal--Genre Romance, Fantasy, Mystery and Science Fiction
Prize: $1,000 for best self published ebook
Digital ebooks only
Submissions are due: August 31, 2015 at one minute before midnight
Author must own copy write and distribution rights to their submissions
Note: The winner and two runner ups get a full Library Journal review and a full ad in the Library Journal publication. An awards dinner in Boston, but it looks like authors pay for their own travel. 

Three Billion Miles to Pluto & Back Home

The New Horizons Spacecraft has traveled more than three billion miles for a fly-by with Pluto that is scheduled for July 14, 2015.  The nine and a half year long trek is an engineering masterpiece demonstrating the best our Earthlings have to offer regardless of national origin.

The piano size New Horizons Spacecraft weighs a little over one thousand pounds and so far is capturing and sending home remarkable images of its very long summer vacation.
                                                                  

                                                        The Best & Brightest From Earth


Back home, the United States and member nations of the United Nations Security Council are trying to hammer out a deal that promises to curb Iran's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile capabilities. The negotiations are an attempt to stave off a conflict which in effect could blow our curious little planet Earth into oblivion.  A graphic depiction by the New York Times explains the end game of the current negotiations that may end on Monday, July 13, unless a deal is made.  

                                                                      

                           U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry & Iran Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif


The irony of the similarity of  terms: Pluto--Plutonium signifying the best and worst Earth has to offer the cosmos is noteworthy.  I sure hope nothing gets lost in translation or in transmission of the differences. 

In closing, I recommend a film currently on Netflix which demonstrates how apparently small nuances in culture and language can trigger catastrophic results. There are no small, insignificant or trivial mistakes in international relations.  The heart and trust collide in The Reluctant Fundamentalist.