Image Copyright jannoon028, 2013. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.

It takes courage to submit your work, but I’ve just discovered something that I’m sure I knew a long time ago: Deadlines for writing contests and residencies can help you think of your work in new ways, motivate you to review and revise drafts you may have written some time ago and forgotten about, and inspire you to create new pieces. I’m not kidding. That’s what’s happening to me right now!

Here are some upcoming deadlines that I hope will inspire you:

• 2014 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction will be awarded by University of North Texas Press for a fiction collection, which can be a combination of short-shorts, short stories, and novellas, from 100 to 200 book pages in length (between 27,500 and 50,000 words). Entries should be previously unpublished in book form. The prize-winning collection will be published by UNT Press; its author will be awarded $1000. Deadline: July 16, 2013. More details here. (Just for fun, here’s my quote of the week from Katherine Anne Porter and some links to info about her.)
• AROHO’s Orlando Prizes will be awarded for unpublished poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. Prize-winning submissions will be published in The Los Angeles Review and their authors will receive $1000. Deadline: July 31, 2013. Submit here.
• AROHO’s To The Lighthouse Poetry Publication Prize will be awarded for the best, unpublished poetry collection by a woman. Author of the winning manuscript will receive $1000 and the collection will be published by Red Hen Press. Judge will be Tracy K. Smith. Postmark deadline: August 31, 2013. Details here.
• Join AROHO’s mailing list to receive regular updates on upcoming contests and other AROHO news.
• Saturday’s Child Press Fiction Contest will award $1000 for an unpublished short story and the winning manuscript will be published in Saturday’s Child Magazine. The contest is open to original fiction by women writers. Finalists will also be considered for publication in the magazine. Judge will be Judith Johnson. Deadline: September 15, 2013. Guidelines here.
• Hedgebook offers women writers two- to six-week residencies on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. Deadline for 2014 residencies: September 4, 2013. Learn more here. Hedgebook also offers a master class retreat series, and if you sign up for their e-newsletter, they’ll send you news and info on upcoming events.