[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Hummingbird & Links

Saw this little guy on a curve that overlooks the town of Cripple Creek.

I love photographing hummingbirds, but they're tricky to track!

Now for some links.

Accepting Submissions:

Rose Red Review accepts submissions art, photography, short fiction, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. The reading period for their Autumn 2013 issue ends August 12. They're looking for the dark origin of fairy tales and other beasties.

UFO Publishing is seeking submissions for Coffee: Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic. Coffee must be a major plot element. Submissions close August 31. Pays $.05 per word. Short or flash fiction with an element of the fantastic.

Rhino's submission window closes August 31. They seek poetry, translations of poetry, and flash. Pays in a contributor copy.

Dreadful Cafe is soliciting query letters for their first anthology, Membrane. All genres, but there is a theme. Pays $125 for short stories, $250 for novelettes, $500 for novellas. Deadline is TBD, but I imagine the sooner you get it in, the better, as they'll close it when they've found what they want. It opened in April.

Contests:

The theme for the Kazka Press 713 Flash contest for September is Warning Sign. The deadline is August 20. Stories must be between 713 and 1000 words. Pays $10.

Fiction Attic Press is a small press that takes submissions for publication, as well as running several contests. Check out their page for more information. Contests involve cash prizes, but also have fees attached. There are no reading fees for non-contest submissions, however, which is why I'm passing it along (I usually don't pass along contests with entry fees anymore).

Grants:

The Sustainable Arts Foundation issues a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award of $6000 and a Sustainable Arts Foundation Promise Award of $1000 to writers and artists with families (children). You must submit a portfolio. The deadline to apply is August 31.

Blog Hops:

August 12 is the Anti-Blogfest Gary Fest. This blogfest is in honor of Gary at Klahanie, who is the anti-blogfest spokesperson of the blogging community. It asks you to create three original blogfests (PG-13, please!) you would never join. I'm torn on this one. However, the fact that I'm in clinicals that day may make it so I shouldn't join, anyway. Sigh. What do you say, Gary? Do I dishonor you more by joining a blogfest or by not joining one in honor of you?

Anything of interest? Have anything you'd like to share? Going to participate in the blogfest? Any publication successes recently? Don't you love hummingbirds?

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Critters of the Royal Gorge

In a follow-up to the Gorge-ous [Mostly] Wordless Wednesday, I thought I'd post a couple of the critters I enjoyed catching a glimpse of at the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park.

 

We got to watch these guys while waiting to go down to the bottom of the gorge in the incline car.  There were three different throat colors on the hummingbirds (my ruby ones came out blurry).

 

Window shopping the nectar?

 This is a white bison!  Maybe you've heard about their sacred place in the parts of the Native American community, maybe not, but they are considered a symbol of peace.  They had three there!  And none of them were albinos (no pink eyes or nose).  I've seen my very own white bison!

As a little bonus, here's the Legend of the White Buffalo:

"One summer a long time ago, the seven sacred council fires of the Lakota Sioux came together and camped. The sun was strong and the people were starving for there was no game. 

Two young men went out to hunt. Along the way, the two men met a beautiful young woman dressed in white who floated as she walked. One man had bad desires for the woman and tried to touch her, but was consumed by a cloud and turned into a pile of bones. 

The woman spoke to the second young man and said, 'Return to your people and tell them I am coming.' This holy woman brought a wrapped bundle to the people. She unwrapped the bundle giving to the people a sacred pipe and teaching them how to use it to pray. 'With this holy pipe, you will walk like a living prayer,' she said. The holy woman told the Sioux about the value of the buffalo, the women and the children. 'You are from Mother Earth,' she told the women, 'What you are doing is as great as the warriors do.'

Before she left, she told the people she would return. As she walked away, she rolled over four times, turning into a white female buffalo calf. It is said after that day the Lakota honored their pipe, and buffalo were plentiful." John Lame Deer, 1967

Now for some links:

Abomination Magazine  is looking for unsettling, scary story submissions.  Paying market.

Like writing noir?  eFiction Noir is looking for well written noir.  

Where Writers Win is trying to build a comprehensive list of Book Review sites and is looking for your help.  They do already have an existing list that can be a great resource.

I didn't have time to really look this over and understand it, but it looks like something that may be interesting if you have time.  Libboo is a web community of authors.  They are looking for people with completed manuscripts, or who are already self published.  They are interested in creating buzz around your book, as well as helping you to connect with people who are interested.  Other than that, you will have to read for more info!

Lastly, this is a great speech for you artistic types out there.  It's a commencement speech Neil Gaiman delivered.  You can thank Madeleine at Scribble and Edit for recommending it to me in the comments section last week!

I will be on vacation next week to visit family, so will see you the Monday after.  Have a great week! 

Any links to share?  Ever seen a white bison?  Heard of the story behind it before?  Think it might signify world peace?

May you find your Muse. 

 

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - Yucca, yucca, yucca & Links

Hello!  It's Wednesday, and I have a mini-field trip for you for [Mostly] Wordless Wednesday.  I took the kids to Garden of the Gods on a drizzly spring day after a bit of a fail that was intended to be our actual "field trip."  Unfortunately, our visit was cut short when it became a thunderstorm, but I did snatch a few pictures before we had to get back to the car.

The last is a yucca plant in bloom, and the second to last is a hummingbird I was stalking.  It never got close enough for me to get a workable picture, but it kept buzzing the kids and I because we were near the feeder.  Waiting it out didn't work, so we finally gave in and agreed we'd come back on a warmer day and try again.

As far as the yucca plant (otherwise known as soapweed, as Native Americans of the area - Utes - used it to make soaps and shampoos, in addition to thread, needles, medications, etc.), for most of the year those blossoms are hardened and brown.  In fact, I love to find one full of seeds and give it to the kids as a rattle, of sorts.  I've never really seen it in blossom, and I loved the juxtaposition with what I'm used to.

I hope to have some great photos for you over the course of the summer!

Now for some links:

I read this post just in time to make sure I fit it into my link post today!  Andrew Leon, at Strange Pegs put together a book of short stories written by middle schoolers from a writing class he teaches at his son's school.  It's a fundraiser for the school, and just sounds like such a neat project that I wanted to pass it on to everyone.  

A friend posted this on Facebook and I was amused: S**t People Say to Writers

For you photogs out there, there's a local contest called Quintessential Colorado.  I'm tempted to enter, just for the heck of it.

Need inspiration?  Ghostwriter Dad wrote 34 Unexpected Places to Find Writing Inspiration

Cultural Weekly is having a Writing Contest.  It closes May 30.

I just thought this was interesting: 7 Authors Who Almost Died

Any helpful links to pass along?  Do you like a good fog or prefer you never have to deal with one?  What color are your hummingbirds?

May you find your Muse.