Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Kristine Rush’s Sound Advice in These Trying Times




Kristine Kathryn Rush's advice that applies not just to a freelance business or a commercial enterprise, but also to households:

At a minimum, draw up an income and expense sheet.
  • Predict how that sheet will look a month from now.
  • Predict how it will look six months from now.
  • Predict how it will look a year from now.
  • Predict how it will look five years from now.
Review those sheets every two weeks. Make changes as needed.

Businesses (and households) that have those sheets will do better economically than businesses that don’t have those sheets. That small bit of information and prediction will allow the business to remain nimble.

In addition, you need other things:
  • A plan for a bad scenario (losing your best client, for example, or your job).
  • A plan for a good scenario (getting additional income, which might result in more work).
  • A plan for a great scenario (more work than you can handle—which can be dangerous to an unprepared business).
  • A plan for the worst-case scenario (loss of a key employee, loss of a year’s worth of revenue like many arts venues are facing right now, and more).
If you do these things, you’ll be better off than people who don’t do them. You won’t scramble when the bad things happen. You’ll have a possible solution, which will give you something to start with.

You’ll find similar advice in "The Freelancer’s Survival Guide". You’ll also find advice like it in business blogs and articles across the web.  The one thing you won’t find, though, is this:

Learn how to pivot.  Sometimes I call that being nimble.  But it’s more than that.  At least you’ll have a game plan to haul out should the going get rough (or get worse).

Read the helpful article here:
https://kriswrites.com/2020/08/26/business-musings-pivot/

.
<><><><><>








Saturday, October 17, 2020

Writers: Lots of Grants, Fellowships, and Prizes for YOU

Amazing how many opportunities for writers and artists are out there at the moment.  Maybe the largest numbers we have seen in months...  Apply today!

 

Typewriter

Vancouver Writers-in-Residence
The Vancouver Public Library is seeking two Writers in Residence in order to highlight the importance of Canadian writing and creativity. In 2021 the library will host a Summer Residency and a Fall Residency.  Deadline Oct 29.
http://www.vpl.ca/writer

.
Oregon Literary Fellowships
These Fellowships are intended to help Oregon writers initiate, develop, or complete literary projects in poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, drama (including scripts for television and film), and young readers literature. Literary Arts will award nine fellowships in the amount of $3,500. One of these fellowships is specifically for a writer of color.  Deadline Oct 30
https://literary-arts.org/2021-oregon-literary-fellowship-guidelines/
.
Vancouver Indigenous Storyteller in Residence
The Indigenous Storyteller in Residence will develop and lead exciting public events that promote intercultural understanding and story sharing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. They will support and provide advice to community members and aspiring storytellers through one-on-one consultations and group workshops. Contract terms: $17,000 for four months of full-time activity ($4,250 per month on a self-employed basis).
http://www.vpl.ca/storyteller

Jack Straw Writers Program
In its 25th year of the Jack Straw Writers Program, it has included more than 275 writers from the Pacific Northwest and beyond who represent a diverse range of literary genres.  Deadline Nov 2

https://jackstraw.submittable.com/submit/90532/jack-straw-writers-program
.
Shearing Fellowship
Visiting fellows will join a community of creative writers and scholars in a thriving literary scene in Las Vegas and on the campus of UNLV. For emerging & distinguished writers who have published at least one book with a trade or literary press, this fellowship includes a stipend of $20,000 paid over a 4-month period, eligibility for health coverage, free housing in the bustling district of downtown Las Vegas.
https://blackmountaininstitute.org/fellowships/apply/
.

The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
Open to novels and short story collections first published in the UK or Ireland in the calendar year 2020. Fiction that explores ideas and issues, political themes, dilemmas, and injustices through imagined narratives. Prize: £3,000.00.
Deadline: Oct 30
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/2021-prizes/rules/

Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship
Open to fiction writers aged 21+ who have not yet published a book and have never been enrolled in an MFA program. The writer must not have a book under contract with an agent and/or publisher at the time of application. Prize: Free tuition for all of One Story's online classes and programming, a travel stipend of $2,000, and tuition to attend a week-long summer writers' conference in Brooklyn.   Deadline: Oct 30

https://www.one-story.com/index.php?page=fellowship

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
is the most prestigious literary award in the US. The authors must be living in American citizens. Self-published works not accepted. Genres: Novels, novellas, and collections of short stories. Prize: $15,000. Deadline: Oct 31
http://www.penfaulkner.org/award-for-fiction/submission-guidelines/

.
McLitterick Prize
Open to authors over age 40 on December 31, 2020. The work must have been first published in the UK in the year in which the deadline falls (and not first published abroad), or be unpublished. Prize: £4,000.00.  Deadline: Oct 31
McKitterick Prize
.
The Barbellion Prize
The prize is awarded annually to an author whose work has best spoken of the experience of chronic illness or disability. The awarded work can be of any genre in fiction, memoir, biography, poetry, or critical nonfiction from around the world - whether it is in English, in translation, traditionally published, or self-published. Prize £600. No entry fee.  Deadline Oct 31
https://www.thebarbellionprize.com/
.
Otherwise Award Fellowships
$500 grants for emerging creators who are changing the way we think about gender through speculative narrative. If you think that description could apply to you, even if you are not working in a format most people would recognize as the science fiction or fantasy genre, you are eligible to apply for a Fellowship.  Deadline Oct 31

https://otherwiseaward.org/otherwise-fellowships/how-to-apply
.
Jack Straw Artist Residency Programs for Musicians
An accessible building in Seattle's University District - houses two recording studios, a New Media Gallery, and other exhibition spaces. Residents in the Artist Support Program have access to the studios, as well as the potential to borrow equipment for remote recording.  Deadline Nov 1
http://www.jackstraw.org/programs/asp/Residency_Programs_FAQs.shtml


The Gotham Book Prize
Awarded once a year to the best book (works of fiction and nonfiction are eligible) published that calendar year that either is about New York City or takes place in New York City. The winner will receive $50,000.   No Entry Fee. Deadline Nov 1
https://www.gothambookprize.org/

Quarterly West
The winners will each receive $1,000 and publication in Issue 102 of Quarterly West. To enter, please submit up to three poems or a prose piece (i.e., fiction, nonfiction, or any hybridization therein) through Submittable. Up to three poems per entry, no more than eight pages. Send one longer piece of prose or up to three pieces of flash prose (1,000 words or less) per entry.
$10 Entry fee. Deadline Nov 2

https://www.quarterlywest.com/submit

2021 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award
At £30,000 - the world's richest - is open for entries.
The award, for a story of 6,000 words or less, is open to any novelist or short story writer from around the world who has been published in the UK or Ireland.  Deadline Dec 4
https://shortstoryaward.co.uk/awards/2021/

.

Best of luck!  Always remember: if you don't apply you cannot get any of these benefits!