It’s mid-July and some places around the globe are experiencing scorching heat.  This won’t last forever.  Think ahead to when leaves have fallen and there’s a slight chill in the air.  Children dressed as witches and goblins go from door to door looking for treats.

Magazines have early deadlines so waiting until September or October to write a Halloween story is too late for that year.  So I dare you to think ahead and write one now.

The Verb has a nice Intense Suspense writing contest with a September deadline.  Imagine your protagonist is in danger and the cell phone won’t work!  I think NPR had something about this… of all the disaster movies, apparently 2012 had the best cell phone coverage.

Good luck!
~Amber

After NaNoWriMo the novel sometimes gets shoved into a drawer and stays there.  I have a dare for you.

Take it out and send the first 500 words of your novel (or a short story) to the Muse Marquee for their Hook Contest.  You’re giving them permission to publish it and publicly critique it.  Can you handle it?  (Yes, you can use a pseudonym.)  The contest deadline is August 15th, 2009.