Contest

From the Inkthinker blog:

Essay Contest (no boys allowed)

Lively Women Essay Contest - Deadline May 15, 2007

Flex those writing muscles, ladies. The first-ever Lively Women Essay Contest is now accepting entries.

Do you know a lively woman? Maybe it's your mom, your sister, your best friend, or just that cool girl at the bank drive-through who's always so nice to you. Whoever she is, you think she's wonderful. And here's your chance to let the world know why!

The Contest. In 250-500 words, tell us about your favorite lively woman and just what makes her so great. Your entry should be original and honest, and don't forget to proofread! The deadline is May 15, 2007, at 11:59 p.m. GMT-5 (EST). Submit your essay to me at kristen@b5media.com as a .doc or .rtf attachment. Sorry, guys, but only women are eligible to enter.

Read more here.

Today's Quote

In whittling away my stacks of papers, I skimmed through the March/April 2007 issue of Poets & Writers. In it is an excerpt from Walter Mosley's new book, This Year You Write Your Novel. (I love to read books on how to write. It's so much easier than writing! And in the excerpt is a warning against procrastination, which is exactly what reading writing-advice books is.)

Anyway, here's the final paragraph of the excerpt, which is true for any type of writing:

The process of writing a novel is like a journey by boat. You have to continually set yourself on course. If you get distracted or allow yourself to drift you will never make it to the destination. It's not like highly defined train tracks or a highway: this is a path that you are creating, discovering. The journey is your narrative. Keep to it and there will be a tale told.

The Cat Memoir

From the New York Times:

"In a hotly contested deal, the life story of Dewey, a rescued cat who lived for 19 years in a library in a small town in Iowa, has sold for about $1.25 million to Grand Central Publishing.

"With an eye toward creating the feline answer to the best-selling “Marley & Me,” John Grogan’s memoir of his misbehaving yellow Labrador retriever, Grand Central bought the book, currently titled “Dewey, a Small Town, a Library and the World’s Most Beloved Cat,” on Monday by making an offer high enough to pre-emptively shut down an auction."

Read the rest of the story online. You have to log in, but it's free.

Resources for Freelancers

Spring break is over, so I should get cracking again since I can't use dealing with my children as an excuse any longer.

Here's a little something to bookmark. The Golden Pencil periodically posts freelance opportunities and is a resource for the freelancing life in general. Check it out.