As a struggling writer you need funds.

You need a way to get paid when you’re not yet collecting fees for your writing. How do you do that? A ponderous question.

There are contests out there for writers, quite a few of them in fact, and there are grants, fellowships and residencies. There’s the current 2006 Writer’s Market book that features an entire section on contests and awards. Another good book covering much about writing and information on grants is the 2006 Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. 

Sometimes your local newspaper or a magazine might have a writing contest. You have to keep your eyes open. A search online will turn up a number of them in short order. Fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, you name it and you’ll probably find it. Some can even be entered online, which is a plus. 

When considering contests, keep a level head. Don’t believe it’s worth entering every one, it simply isn’t. Some contests are free to enter, but many have fees. That can get mighty expensive. Compare the pay off to the entry fee. It might cost $50 to enter, but if the pay-off is $5,000 and having your script read by pros, it’s worth it. A contest that charges a $20 entry fee with a $25 first prize isn’t. 

Now broaden your search. For women only there’s A Room Of Her Own Foundation at http://www.aroomofherownfoundation.org. The 2006 grant cycle is about to begin so head over to their site and check it out. It’s the largest award of its kind in the U.S. Visit Winning Writers site at http://www.winningwriters.com and you’ll find a number of writing contests, many for poets, some for short stories. 

There’s also the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which offers fellowships to assist research and artistic creation. On the web go to http://www.gf.org. Their address is John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 90 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, where you’ll need to write to request the application forms. Generally the deadlines have been October 1 for a fellowship the following year.

The Christopher Isherwood Foundation offers grants to writers. Their website is at http://www.isherwoodfoundation.org/grants_for_fiction_writers.html. This one is for fiction writers who have already published one novel or collection of stories.  Applications for 2006 grants will be accepted between September 1, 2006 and October 1, 2006 and all the details are there online. 

The Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award has an application fee of $20, is simple and direct. Guidelines are at http://www.oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/journalism/comp.html.

The Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting is about the biggest screenwriting competition out there. Info is available at http://www.oscars.org/nicholl. It’s cutting it a bit thin to enter this year as the deadline is postmarked May 1 for the early bird entry, but if you have something in the works it might well be worth it. 

I placed in the quarter-finals of this respected competition myself some years back. This fellowship is for $30,000 so follow the guidelines for entry carefully.

For screenwriters there’s also the annual Scriptapalooza competition with a top prize of $10,000. Info’s at http://www.scriptapalooza.com. One of the best things about this competition is the fact that production companies read the entered scripts and it’s supported by the Writer’s Guild of America West western registry.

Contests don’t constitute a magic wand. They don’t offer magic access into everything you’ve ever dreamed of. 

They do offer cash, though, which helps pay the bills and boosts morale. They generally offer exposure in some form. That’s never bad. Prestigious awards do wonders for self-esteem and add weight to the resume. And some of them actually do open doors a writer might not otherwise have known about.