A good contest is great motivation to complete and polish your WIP! Check out some of these:
A. Current Contests
B. Monthly Contests (ongoing)
C. Query/First Pages Critiques (ongoing)
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Current Contests:
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None.
Monthly Contests:
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1. SECRET AGENT contest: Changing genres; check at beginning of each month. Participating agent is revealed with the winners.
Date: TBA
For the following genres: TBA
http://www.misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/
2. Margie Lawson’s DAREDEVIL DACHSHUND contest.
Find the cartoon dachshund on her website, email her the location and be entered to win her EDITS System Power Pack, including a certificate for one hour editing consult.
3. Query Tracker Blog, Last contest was July 7th. Check back for next one.
Details: http://querytracker.blogspot.com/p/latest-contest.html
4. Gotham Writers’ Workshop:
No contest, just a form to win a free class (appears ongoing):
http://www.writingclasses.com/ContestPages/
5. Dear Lucky Agent Contest. Hosted by Chuck Sambuchino over at Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents blog. The contest is reoccurring with a changing focus. Keep checking for when your genre is represented. Contests are judged by agents and offer great prizes.
Current contest: none, but here is a sample of a past one:
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Dear+Lucky+Agent+Contest+Fantasy+And+SciFi.aspx
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Query/First Pages Critiques:
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1. Query Shark: http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ (Janet Reid, lit agent)
2. Query Project: http://jmeadows.livejournal.com/tag/query+project (Jody Meadows, former slush reader for the now-closed Rappaport Agency)
3. Query Writing 101: First Monday of the month, critique by C.J. Redwine http://romanceuniversity.org/labs/
4. About My Query: http://ktliterary.com/category/ask-daphne/ (Kate Schafer Testerman, lit agent)
5. Query Ninja Critique: http://querytracker.blogspot.com/2010/02/query-ninja-critique.html A new service on the Query Tracker blog via Elana Johnson.
6. First Page Critiques: Agent Nathan Bransford is now hosting First Page critiques on Mondays. http://blog.nathanbransford.com/