1-31-12: Long ago my Ex-Brit husband used to offer a strict commandment as we approached the first day of any month.  If , tomorrow (Feb. 1) you say "White Rabbits" before you utter or hear another word from anybody, you will have good luck all that month.  So I'm offering this good luck charm to blog readers out there with a special thanks to long-ago friend in California, Anne Schroeder, who responded to my last week's blog.  She is the chairman of the current NightWriters contest, an organization in San Luis Obispo California that I joined when I first moved there in 1997.   Within a year I founded two writer workshops there, High Hopes and Night Writers.  The first for writers of any ilk; the second for writers of books.  Both workshops are still flourishing. By last count, active writers there participate in a dozen such workshops, in addition to the club's monthly meetings.  For information about their contest (up to 750 words in a short story on the subject of "Forgiveness" or up to 40 lines of poetry on the same subject). For full details see www.slonightwriters.org.  Deadline is Mar. 31.

For another contest, the Flatt PrizeforLiterature, the theme is "Interrupted." Max words, 3000.  $1000 prize.  No entry fee. Details at http://flattprize.com/submission.htm

Good news for me:  A glowing review of my Iron Grip  by Susan Stewart of Atascadero, CA has already brought me a mail order for a copy.  Susan is an editor and reviewer, under the business name, "Say It Write."  I can put you in touch with her for expert help on editing, submitting your writing.

Until next week, Willma