Now's Your Chance! The Contest, The Challenge, The ...earrings.

via Smart B's, Trashy B's:

Harlequin Publishing is launching an online search for new writing talent called So You Think You Can Write. For the first five days of November (that'd be 1-5, FYI), Harlequin editors and authors will be hosting outreach and educational events on various social media platforms designed to both seek out new writers and instruct folks on what goes into writing a quality romance. Submitted manuscripts from unpublished writers will receive an examination from Harlequin editors, and you can follow the week of events on the Harlequin blog, and on Twitter at hashtag#sytycw. The Rules! The Blog.

Podcasts, blogs, and discussions with expert editors and current authors will make this a valuable experience for writers who've wanted to break into the genre, and for anyone who's ever thought, "Heck, I could write a better romance than that!" -- ? Well, money + mouth. You know the drill.

via Anne's Really Cool Agent™, by way of Tameeka at Serendipity Literary Agency:

With just 250 words, you can have a chance to get your writing read by editors at HarperCollins, Penguin, Harlequin, Random House, and Sourcebooks. In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)—an international event where aspiring novelists are encouraged to write an entire novel in 30 days the YA Discovery Contest is meant to encourage the aspiring YA author (THAT'S YOU!) to get started on that novel by offering an incentive for completing the first 250 words.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: The top 20 submissions will all be read by a panel of five judges comprised of top YA editors at MacMillan, Scholastic, Candlewick, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Penguin. The first 100 will receive free autographed copies of Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks, Anne's Cool Agent™. Of the 20, they will pick the top five submissions and provide each author with commentary. These five winners will also receive a free ONE YEAR subscription to The Writer magazine. ONE Grand Prize Winner will win a full manuscript reading and editorial consultation from Regina Brooks, Anne's Cool Agent™ and a free 10-week writing course courtesy of the Gotham Writer’s Workshop.

BUT WAIT, KIDLITOSPHERE. THERE'S MORE!
Because the really cool agent is Anne's? As in, Anne Boles Levy, freelance novelist and news writer whose book reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times? Who is in my writing group, and has an astonishingly brilliant SF novel in process and leads the heck out of the Cybils and kicks kidlitosphere behind? She's throwing in a pair of handmade, original earrings from her Quartz Trail Studio store to the top 20 subs. (If a guy wins, I'm sure she can flex on that, so don't panic, gents. Or, hey: Christmas is in the bag! Early!)

You know you have to enter. Go. Now.