Thanks to YA author and blogger Melanie Fishbane for this interview on her blog. I’m very excited about Melanie’s debut novel about the teen years of L.M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, to be published by Razorbill Press in 2016. This is a novel not to be missed!
To read Melanie’s interview of me and my latest novel, Punch Like a Girl, click on the image below. Thanks, Melanie, for the great questions.
As of February 2017, I’ve migrated this list to my For Writers page for easier updating. Please feel free to share widely, and email me any suggestions or corrections.
The CNIB Braille Creative Writing Contest accepts original poems and stories by Canadian students up to grade 12. altlit.ca/braillecontest
The Eden Mills Student Poetry Contest is an annual youth poetry contest run by Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, which is held annually in early September. edenmillswritersfestival.ca
Indigenous Arts & Stories showcases writing by Aboriginal Canadians between the ages of 6 and 29. www.our-story.ca
The Hamilton Public Library has the annual Power of the Pen Creative Writing Contest for ages 12 to 18 who are residents of Southern Ontario. Check the Teen Page at www.hpl.ca.
The League of Canadian Poets lists prizes and offers resources for young poets. poets.ca/resources
The River of Words Annual Poetry Contest is designed to help youth explore the natural and cultural history of the place they live. The contest is open to any writers aged 5 to 19. Older students must have not yet completed high school. www.stmarys-ca.edu/center-for-environmental-literacy/rules-and-guidelines
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards recognize student achievement in the visual arts and creative writing. Sign up to receive email updates about annual deadlines. www.artandwriting.org
The TD Canadian Children’s Book Week Writing Contest invites young writers from across Canada, in grades 4 to 12, to submit stories and/or poems. Judging is done by noted writers from across Canada and one winner and two honourable mentions from each grade receive a gift certificate for the bookstore of his or her choice. www.bookweek.ca
World Literacy Canada organizes Write for a Better World – a national writing contest open to students in grades 5 to 8 that aims to inspire a sense of global citizenship in Canada’s youth. www.worldlit.ca
The Adroit Journal is a print literary publication offering young writers from around the world the chance to submit work for publication alongside established adult writers. Young writers in high school or college can also participate in the editing process as part of the journal’s staff of readers and editors. www.theadroitjournal.org
The Blue Pencil Online is an online magazine edited and produced by the students in the Creative Writing Program at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, located in Natick, Massachusetts. The magazine seeks to publish the best literary work in English by young writers (12 to 18) around the world. thebluepencil.net
chixLIT is a literary zine written, illustrated and produced by and for girls. They accept submissions of stories, poems, artwork, and photography from girls age 13 to 17. chixlit.tumblr.com
Teens from around the world can submit their poems and art to Navigating the Maze, an annual youth anthology. www.adonisdesignspress.com
Cicada Magazine is an international print and online magazine that publishes writing by teens. www.cicadamag.com
The Claremont Review is an international print magazine of young adult writers. It accepts manuscripts by writers aged 13 to 19. www.theclaremontreview.ca
Cricket Magazine is an international print magazine that holds monthly writing and artwork contests for young subscribers aged 9 to 14. www.cricketmagkids.com
Cuckoo Quarterly is a British literary journal that publishes work by young writers in high school. chronicle.cuckoowriters.com/submit/
The Cyberkids website at www.cyberkids.com accepts work for online publication.
F(r)iction literary magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by young authors. tetheredbyletters.com
Greystone Young Lit Mag publishes poetry, stories, artwork, and photography from students K to 12 for their quarterly online publication. mygreystone.wordpress.com
Hanging Loose Press is dedicated to supporting new and young writers. They have special guidelines for high school student submissions. www.hangingloosepress.com
INKspire publishes articles by youth aged 14 to 29 on the arts, social issues, science, and technology. INKspire hopes to provide opportunities for young writers, journalists, and artists to showcase their talents. inkspire.org
Launch Pad is a print magazine devoted to publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, and artwork by children ages 6 to 12. www.launchpadmag.com
Matador Review is an online alternative art and literature magazine. They accept submissions from any location and any age group. www.matadorreview.com
New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams is a print magazine edited by 8 to 14 year-old girls. www.newmoon.com
Shameless is a progressive Canadian magazine rooted in feminism and DIY culture for teenage girls, who are underrepresented in the mainstream media. Accepts submissions from young writers. www.shamelessmag.com
Skipping Stones is a multicultural children’s magazine that encourages children to submit both art and writing. www.skippingstones.org
Stone Soup is a print magazine of writing by young people up to age 13. www.stonesoup.com
Teen Ink is a US monthly print magazine, e-zine, and book series that publishes teen (13 to 19) writing. It offers lots of publishing opportunities, contests, and a chance to read work by other youth. teenink.com
Windscript is the Saskatchewan Writers Guild’s annual magazine of high school writing. www.skwriter.com/publications
Young Adult Review Network (YARN) is an literary journal that publishes outstanding original short fiction, poetry, and essays for young-adult readers. They seek to discover new teen writers and publish them alongside established writers of the YA genre. yareview.net
Young Voices Magazine of Teen Writing and Art is an annual publication of poetry, stories, nonfiction, artwork, and photography. Teens 12 to 19 living in Toronto are eligible to submit. Work is selected by editorial teams made of youth volunteers and professional writers and artists. A launch event including youth readings is held each fall to recognize the contributors. torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens/young-voices-magazine.html
Canadian Links of Interest to Writers are listed through Wordwrights Canada. www3.sympatico.ca/susanio/WWClinks.html
Broken Pencil: The Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts reviews the best zines, books, websites, videos, and artwork from the underground and reprints the best articles from the alternative press. Also includes groundbreaking interviews, original fiction, and commentary on all aspects of the independent arts. www.brokenpencil.com
National Novel Writing Month, a yearly program that occurs over the month of November. Writers are encouraged to produce a 50,000-word novel to be submitted by the last day of month. Includes areas to post excerpts and share your word count in-progress, as well as community forums and pep talks. Free to register. Includes a NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program with special resources for writers 17 and under. www.nanowrimo.org
Newpages: Young Authors Guide is a select list of literary magazines to read, places to publish writing, and legitimate contests. Many of the magazines have open submissions with guidelines, an editorial selection process, and a regular print cycle. Some publish only young writers, some publish all ages for young readers. www.newpages.com/npguides/young_authors_guide.htm
Figment is an online writing community created to be used by educators, but also open for individual children and teens to create independent accounts. Figment members share their writing, connect with their readers, discover new stories and authors, and participate in contests. www.figment.com
Wattpad is an online writing community that calls itself the world’s largest community for discovering and sharing stories, and connecting readers and writers through storytelling. (Not aimed specifically at youth, but many young people are active members.) www.wattpad.com
WeBook is a community of writers posting work and sharing feedback as well as an active blog with contests, advice, and publishing tips. www.webook.com
Young Writers Online is a community of young writers, both new and experienced, dedicated to improving their writing. Members have access to a Community Forum for general, literary, and off-topic discussion; the Writing Forum, for submitting writing and critiquing work posted by other members; plus a chat room, contests, exercises, and more. Membership is free. www.youngwritersonline.net
The BAM! Toronto Youth Poetry Slam is for poets aged 12 to 19, all ages for open mic, and runs on the second Wednesday monthly at The Central (603 Markham Street) in the Annex. www.bamyouthslam.com
Toronto Public Library Writing and Art Workshops are regularly held at library branches throughout the city. Workshops are led by professional writers and artists. torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens
Young Voices Annual Writers Conference is an annual full-day literary event featuring professional writers and performers. The programming includes a keynote speech, multiple workshops and an open mic. Throughout the day, youth can submit writing and art and youth volunteers produce an instant anthology that participants take home. torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens/young-voices-conference.html
I’m happy to be invited back to London Book Camp for a second year, this time for a workshop on “Stories Inspired by Real-Life.” Run by non-profit Investing in Children, this week-long August camp offers hands-on workshops for children and teens who are passionate about reading and writing. Although the camp is full for this year, writers aged 10 to 15 should keep it in mind for next year!
London Book Camp 2014
Join me at the Kingston WritersFest on September 23 to 27 for a reading as well as a writing workshop:
• Reading and Discussion of Punch Like a Girl, September 24, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
• Workplay Workshop, September 24, 12:45 to 2:00 p.m.
I’ll also be announcing the winners and runners-up in the TeensWrite! Creative Writing Contest during the International Marquee at the Grand Theatre on September 24. Stayed tuned for the results!
On Sunday, September 27, I’ll be at Harbourfront Centre for Word on the Street Toronto. You can find me at the This Is Not The Shakespeare Stage. Check the WOTS Toronto website for times.
I’m preparing notes for a workshop this afternoon, so I thought I’d share them as a blog post. If you’ve written a first draft of a novel, here are some ideas on how to revise.
After writing a first draft, the challenge is how to polish your good idea until it sparkles irresistibly, attracting the attention of an editor at a publishing company.
It’s not enough to have a good idea. It’s not even enough to write well. A piece of writing that you want to submit for publication needs to be the very best you could ever possibly write – then you need to find a way to make it even better.
How do you do that?
Expect to revise a story multiple times. The revision process is a series of rewrites that brings the work closer and closer to a polished piece.
Here are some ways to revise a work-in-progress:
I’m thrilled to announce that Bog has won the 2015 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award in the Canada division! In case you’re not familiar with it, this is a peer-given award, voted on by members of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. You can check out the past winners here, but let me just say that Bog is in stellar company!
Thanks so much to the SCBWI members who chose to vote for Bog, and the SCBWI staff for implementing the award back in 2011 and organizing the annual voting. Bog is a shy cave troll, and not fond of humans, but he’s eager to add the sparkling Crystal Kite trophy to his horde of gems and stones. (If you haven’t read Bog, just let me say that trolls are fond of collecting silver, amethysts and even polished bone.)
There were plenty of excellent titles in the running for the Crystal Kite Award this year, and I’d particularly like to mention the shortlisted books: If: A Mind-Bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers, written by David J. Smith and illustrated by Steve Adams, and Mama and Little Gray, written by Aimee Reid and illustrated by Laura J. Bryant. Congrats on being finalists!
