Moms Rising/afterschool programs

If you don't already know about MomsRising, here is a great opportunity to see what they are all about:

School hasn't started yet, but... it's already time to start getting our collective ducks in a row about afterschool programs. Did you know that each school day 40,000 kindergartners are home alone after school, and a total of more than 14 million children don't have any place to go after the final school bell rings?

TAKE ACTION FOR AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS: For the first time in years, Congress is considering a needed increase in federal funding for the afterschool programs that keep kids safe, help working families, and inspire students to learn.

*Click here to email a letter in support of these programs to your Congressperson today: Democracy In Action

MomsRising has a goal of bringing millions of people, who all share a common concern about the need to build a more family-friendly America, together as a non-partisan force for 2008 and beyond. This grassroots, online effort is mobilizing mothers, and all who have mothers, across America as a cohesive force for change. Started this May 2006, MomsRising already has over 120,000 citizen members--and is growing by 500 to 4,000 per week lately, as well as more than eighty (and growing) aligned national organizations, working together to create positive solutions for the future.

Christian Science Monitor

The Home Forum section of the Christian Science Monitor is looking for, "upbeat, personal essays" from 300-900 words on parenting, travel, home, family and food. Payment ranges from $75-160, paid upon publication. All submissions should be sent via email in a microsoft attachment. See writing guidelines.

Weaning the Babies -- New Chapbook by Literary Mama Contributor

Weaning the Babies, a new collection of poetry by Literary Mama contributor Ann Neuser Lederer, has just come out from Pudding House. Related metaphorically to weaning, the book also integrates snippets of emails from Lederer's now 26-year-old son as codas, creating a shadow narrative.

Lederer's poem "Seeing Babies" can also be found in her Pudding House chapbook, The Undifferentiated (poems of illness and healing).

Call for Submissions - Poetry

"Photographer Elisha Rain & poet/writer Kelli Russell Agodon are joining together to create an anthology that speaks to being a mother in this current world. We are looking for poems exploring all areas of pregnancy, birth, and any aspects of being a mother. We are very open to all motherhood content and themes, but want poems that are powerful, truthful, thought-provoking, and/or thoughtful."

Send no more than 4 poems cut & pasted into the text of the email to:
motherhoodanthology (at) excite.com -- replace (at) with @

For more information, go to their website.

New Poetry from Julia Lisella

Literary Mama contributor Julia Lisella has published a new poetry collection, Terrain, a book "suffused with quiet rhythms: of birth and death, of pain and healing, of turbulence and calm. She maps a wide terrain indeed, and her haunting music touches both the ear and the heart."
Lisella teaches at Regis College, and is also a contributor to the forthcoming anthology, Mama, Ph.D., co-edited by Caroline Grant and Elrena Evans.

Bloggers Needed!

MotherTalk is looking for mama bloggers who would like to review books that appeal to women and mothers who love to read. They're currently looking for people to review James Patterson's latest YA novel, Maximum Ride 3, as well as Susan O'Doherty's Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity ... with lots more great books coming!

Bloggers are paid for their reviews. If you'd like to sign up, go to http://mother-talk.com/wp/?page_id=5 to read the FAQs and subscribe.

Call for Submissions: Futuristic Motherhood

Mama Specific Productions is seeking submissions of speculative fiction stories about the future of motherhood, including science fiction, fantasy, mystery and any sub-genres. The theme is motherhood in the future. Some things to prompt or give you ideas to start with: What do you imagine the function of motherhood to be? How do you think the image of motherhood will change? How do you think the image of motherhood will stay the same? What possible customs, norms or laws will be in place in the future that would have an impact on changing or affecting mothers? How will science and technology affect pregnancy, birth, and child rearing? How might full social equality affect childcare in the home and workplace? How does a lack of social equality in a highly technological society affect pregnancy, birth, and childcare? How about in a future culture with a highly evolved social order but low technology?

Submission deadline: September 15, 2007.

Call for Submissions: Cup of Comfort

Adams Media is seeking submissions for an upcoming Cup of Comfort anthology called "A Cup of Comfort for Divorced Women." From their web site:

Divorce in the twenty-first century should come with an instruction manual, a release valve, and a support system. This anthology will serve essentially those three purposes, in the form of comforting, insightful, and inspirational stories about surviving and thriving during and after divorce. We seek uplifting, contemporary stories on a wide range of topics of importance to divorced women—including but not limited to: dating, children, relationship with ex, in-laws, finances, friends, solitude, personal transformation, healing, revenge, mending fences, the ex's new wife or lover. The majority of stories will be written by women who are or have been divorced. Stories can be poignant, irreverent, humorous, witty, or wise.

Submission Deadline is December 31, 2007. See the writing guidelines for more info!

Call for Submissions: Meadowbrook Press

Funny-but-True Anthology Submission Guidelines

Meadowbrook Press is working on a series of hilarious anthologies featuring funnier-than-fiction tales about the "misadventures" of life. The first anthology in the series, The Breastfeeding Diaries, will be available in November 2007. In the meantime, we're planning many more titles in this funny series, and we want to hear your stories!

WANTED: Short, funny, true stories recounting the “misadventures” from weddings/honeymoons, pregnancy/childbirth, or the baby/toddler years for an upcoming series of anthologies to be published in book form by Meadowbrook Press.

STORY LENGTH: Up to 800 words

PAYMENT: For selected stories, we'll pay the following one-time fees. (Word counts refer to final edited versions.)

$50 for 100 words or less
$75 for 101–250 words
$100 for 251–500 words
$125 for 501–800 words

RIGHTS REQUIRED: Non-exclusive worldwide rights in all languages. Author retains copyright to story.

FORMAT: Stories must be submitted electronically. A story may be typed in the body of an e-mail or sent as an attached Microsoft Word document.

E-MAIL TO: awiechmann@meadowbrookpress.com with subject line “Anthology submission.” Please indicate the submission category: wedding/honeymoon, pregnancy/childbirth, or the baby/toddler years.

DEADLINE: September 1, 2007

We’re looking for tightly written stories featuring one specific incident with a clear humorous focus. For samples of stories that fit our vision for this series, please e-mail a request to awiechmann@meadowbrookpress.com with subject line “Anthology Samples”. Please do not submit stories that are interesting/enlightening/touching but not funny. Such stories are outside the scope of this project.