The season for competitions, photos & small talk

Competition season is upon us. For writers, competitions offer opportunities to break through the readership barriers. It's such a struggle to find potential readers that it becomes worthwhile to submit one's work to various competitions and prizes in the hopes that a win or 'short list' finish will create a readership payoff for those many hours of composing and editing.

I'm focusing on non-fiction this fall and here, for the benefit of fellow writers, is my own short list of some upcoming competitions and submission opportunities, with dates and maximum word counts where applicable.

• Missouri Review (up to 25 pp.) - Oct 1
• So to Speak (<4000 words) - Oct 15
• River Teeth (unspecified) Sept thru May
• CBC (2-2500 words) - Nov 1
• Prism International (<6000 words) - Nov 30
• Prairie Fire (<5000 words) - Nov 30
• Fourth Genre (<8000 words) - Nov 30

May the best pieces win!

Speaking of the season, it's interesting in my part of the world to see photographers (amateur and pro) scrambling to try to capture our autumn colours during their very brief appearance. Here in western Canada, as soon as leaves turn colour they are also subjected to harsh frosts, often snow, and winds - meaning that they are quickly on the ground. I did some of my own autumn shooting recently.

And around town I see many family clusters out there trying to get all the kids smiling before the bright yellow leaves fall on their neatly combed hair.

Life As A Human recently posted a new blog item of mine, on weather - and how it drives our small talk but is really much bigger than that. As Mark Twain said, "everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it." At least most people talk about it. My wife, who grew up in east Africa with its consistent equatorial weather, notes that we in northern climes shouldn't assume that weather is the talk of the whole world.