Listings for Contests & Calls for Submissions

Often I pick through a list called CRWROPPS-B (I've forgotten what it's an initialism for) for the CNF stuff, but for those of us who write in different genres, you might want to subscribe, or go to the Web site, to look at all the listings.

FAQs below.

• How do you join this list?

Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crwropps-b and click on "Join This Group." Follow the on-screen prompts to join.

or
Send a blank e-mail to crwropps-b-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You will be sent an e-mail message with further instructions on how to join the list.

• Where can I go to read previous postings?
  

List Archives:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crwropps-b
Scroll down the page to area marked “Message History.” (accessible to everyone)

• How can I send CRWROPPS-B messages to friends?
  

Please don't hit the reply button if you wish to forward a message to a friend who is off-list. If you hit the reply button instead of the forward button, I'll receive the personal correspondence that you intended for someone else.

You can always point a friend who is off-list to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crwropps-b to see messages without joining the list.

• Can I receive only the postings in the genre I'm interested in?
  

It is not possible for the moderator to send individual subscribers selected messages for just one of the genres covered by CRWROPPS-B--it is not possible, for example, to send one subscriber only the poetry messages, or another only the fiction messages. Furthermore, quite a few contests listed on CRWROPPS-B are multigenre contests, with categories in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The list is all-or-nothing list, and the moderator is committed to sending messages of interest in fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

If you do not wish to receive e-mail, you should switch your subscription to "Web Only" and go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crwropps-b to read each day's new postings online.

CRWROPPS-B is also available in "daily digest" format--meaning you can receive one long posting of all of a single day's messages. Contact the moderator at and she will switch your subscription to digest format if you prefer to receive only one long message per day.

• Can you recommend which contests are best to enter?

It is not possible for the moderator to supply advice on which contests would be suitable for any individual writer's publication needs. For recommendations on the merits of individual contests, please consultWinningwriters. com (a paid service).

category: resources

Our Brains Like Narratives

From the May 22 New York Times science section:

"Researchers have found that the human brain has a natural affinity for narrative construction. People tend to remember facts more accurately if they encounter them in a story rather than in a list, studies find; and they rate legal arguments as more convincing when built into narrative tales rather than on legal precedent."

No surprise to us, is it?

The NYT is free, but you have to register.

The Right Timing

Whatever form your narrative nonfiction takes, making the time for it is a persistent problem. (OK, well, maybe not for you, but for most people.) Some examples of how successful writers have managed are part of this piece by Chip Scanlon.

category: resources