Call 1

Aubrey Barnes, the Midwest Writing Center’s Poet-in-Residence, is curating a community blog. He’s accepting submissions until November 25th – a little over two weeks from today. Nowhere in the call does it specify that you must be from the Quad Cities or even the Midwest; we’re a tolerant people.

In addition to my own contribution, the blog includes works by James Patrick Schmidt, Mel Carney, Robin Thorne, Jean Chellos, and John Hagar. Other works will go up periodically throughout the month, so keep checking back for work by new writers.

Call 2

This one’s mine! And it’s not limited to writers – it’s open to anyone who’s doing anything new, whether it’s opening a business or working in an experimental art genre or just doing something that other people have called “weird.”

I want to write about you.

You may have noticed a few posts go up recently that focused on one Midwestern artist or a major work by a Midwestern artist. I want to do more of those. Most of them so far have focused on female musicians, and while I am most interested in emerging female voices, I love to hear about new projects by any independent artist in the “flyover” region.

Call 3

The Fundación César Egido Serrano, The Museum of Words, is hosting its Fifth International Flash Fiction Competition. The theme is, “Words as tools of coexistence,” and there is no entry fee. PLUS, the grand prize is $20k. Holy cannoli.

The deadline is November 23, exactly 2 weeks from today. I realize that because this one ends soonest, I probably should have listed it first, but I’ve already submitted my story, and I want to win, dammit! It’s $20k! I almost didn’t even link it.