Hello all! How was the weekend? I spent most of the weekend celebrating my father’s birthday. It was a pretty low-key weekend. I don’t have much time today for chatting. However, I do hope that as we’re nearing the end of the month (and year), that you’re all keeping up with your writing and publishing goals. Enjoy the opportunities and I hope you’ll take advantage of some of them.

The theme for The Baltimore Review’s winter contest is Destination. Where are your characters going? Why? How will they get there? And what awaits them at the end of their journey? Three winners will be selected from among all entries. 3,000-word limit for fiction and creative non-fiction. One to three poems in an entry. All entries considered for publication. Prizes are $300, $200, and $100. Entry fee is $10. Deadline is November 30, 2012.

The Poetry Society of New Hampshire sponsors four National Contests open to all poets, members or not. Judges for the contests are not members of the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. Prizes are awarded to four places, First place receives $100, Second receives $50, Third and Fourth places receive $25 each. Winning poems will be published in the quarterly magazine, The Poets Touchstone, and winning poets will receive one copy of the issue in which their poems appear. Entry fee is $3 for the first poem, and $2 each for others. Entries limited to 5 poems per poet per contest. Deadlines are: February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15.

Each year, Yale University Press seeks one book-length poetry manuscript to be published in the Yale Series of Younger Poets. The competition is open to any American citizen under forty years of age who has not published a book of poetry (contestants must be under the age of forty at the time they submit the manuscript to the competition). The winner receives royalties when the book is published. Entry fee is $20 and the contest deadline is November 15, 2012.

With all the derision cast upon flip-floppers and etch-a-sketches, it is easy to forget that changing one’s mind can be a noble and decent act. Sometimes a conversion is unavoidable. It can come fast or slow, deliberately or unexpectedly. There is no formula, and that’s why the story of a changed mind can be a great one.

Boston Review wants you to tell us how you came to see things differently. We are looking for personal essays of up to 3,000 words that describe experiences or encounters that forced you to recognize dissonances in your worldviews, struggle with those dissonances, and ultimately affirm new moral, intellectual, spiritual, or political commitments. Essays will be judged on the strength of the writing and critical analysis. The winning author will receive $1,500 and have his or her work published in Boston Review, March 2013. Entry fee is $20 and the contest ends on December 1, 2012.

Red Earth Review, a new literary magazine published by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University, is now accepting submissions for our inaugural edition. Target release date is summer 2013. Submit up to five previously unpublished poems, one short story or one essay of fewer than 7500 words.

Sixth Finch is reading chapbook submissions through the end of October. There is a $10 reading fee.

New Purlieu Review, an online journal that explores contemporary issues, is accepting poems, short fiction, non-fiction and images that address the concept of Family.

As always, Black Fox Literary Magazine is accepting submissions of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, art and photography. Look out for the Fall Issue! Happy Writing!