Little Bird Fiction Contest

Introducing...
The Little Bird Writing Contest!

Your story could win you full tuition to a fall writing workshop (or 6 hours of personal coaching and critique), the new story collections by Jessica Westhead and Matthew J. Trafford, and publication of your savvy short.

But Sarah, you may ask, if you love teaching non-competitive writing workshops so much, why have you launched a writing competition? Good question. The answer is:

1. because writing contests are a time-honoured way for writers to get the fire of a deadline under their pens,

2. because it's exciting to show your work to new, open, curious readers, and

3. because it's a bit nerve-wracking, and writing in the face of nerves is an excellent creative practice.

Simply put, the benefits of a writing contest may simply outweigh any competitive drawbacks. You know, from a pedagogical point of view.

In other words, I thought it was time to shake it up.

Have you been following my tweets? Good. And have you been writing from the prompts? Wonderful! Pick the best stories and scenes that you started from my Twitter prompts, and polish them. Make them sparkle. Deadline for the contest is May 21st, 2011.

To enter, read the Little Bird Writing Contest details right here.

An important update about the Little Bird Writing Contest! I have teamed up with the innovative and generous people at Broadsheet Press for the last leg of this contest, and they told me that they are going to give the winner a fat stack of Canadian books! But it gets better: they're also going to design and convert the winning story into a beautiful e-book! It will be available to download on my website this summer. Exciting, n'est pas? Stay tuned: I will be announcing the contest winner live and in person at the Broadsheet Press Fundraiser here in Toronto at the end of June.

Wait. You've entered the contest, right? Deadline is this Saturday, May 21st!

Vancouver Island this summer My 5-day writing intensive in Metchosin last summer was so beautiful and inspiring, I've decided to go back and do it again. Come to MISSA with me this year and see what it can do for you. It's intense: you will write and write and write. But then again, that's all you'll have to do. Did I mention that you're surrounded by forest and ocean? To register, contact MISSA.

July 4 - 8, 2011
Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts
$430.00

(note: This is the only summer workshops I'll be running this year - fall courses will begin in November 2011.)

2011 is the Year Of the Short Story! Okay, you and I both know that every year is year of the short story, but they've decided to really celebrate it this year.

To celebrate winning the CBC Bookie Award for the Best New Writer of 2010, and the very nice Commonwealth Prize nomination this year, I made you a mixed tape. There's a song for every story in the book! If you have iTunes and you're in Canada, you can listen to it here. (You need to activate your Ping account to make it work.)