QUEER CHRISTMAS IN COWTOWN

Are you queering up Cowtown with us this Christmas? Did you come to our party?

🎄☃ SOLD OUT IN CALGARY 🎄☃

AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON IMMEDIATELY AS AN E-BOOK
SHIPS IN 24 HOURS AS PAPERBACK

WHAT IS IT?

A baker’s dozen of queer Christmas stories for the twelve days of Christmas. An exercise in writing—storytelling—story finishing—and story sharing.

The writers were asked to write “true” and “queer.” (Also, short. Because, shiny things!) Their interpretations of these instructions are as marvellously unique—and queer—and true—as they are.

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Come hear the stories, meet the writers, buy the book.

All profits go to Camp fYrefly.

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By the way, it was an AMAZING launch party:

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WANNA BE PART OF THE PROJECT IN 2018?

WORKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE WRITERS 

You are hereby cordially invited to queer up yyc this Christmas. Ready?

DEADLINE: JULY  15

The Project: Queer Christmas In Cowtown, an anthology of Christmas-themed stories by YYC Queer Writers, cured by M. Jane Colette, and published by GENRES were made to be BROKEN

Question: Only Christmas?

Answer: Other December-occurring holidays welcome, if you wanna play with Hannukah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, or, heck, New Year’s for that matter. No Valentine’s Day, Easter or Halloween, though, ok? If you have a Ramadan story that takes place in December, bring it on.

Question: It’s a December story, but not really a Christmas story. Is that ok?

Answer: Read on…

Your task: To write a non-fictional, memoir-or-something-like-it style piece that somehow or other touches on Christmas / December / holidays. And queerness. Pretty broad umbrella right? Let’s narrow it a little. Must be PROSE. NO POETRY in this one. (Sorry, poets. But poems are welcome in our second annual Screw Chocolate project, on which more anon.)

Question: How long?

Answer: As short as you like if it’s brilliant. No longer than 1500 words.

Exclamation: What?

Answer: 1500 words. You audience, and your editor, has a short-attention span. Write tight. Write short. Write snappy.

Your deadline: July 15.

Panic attack 1: That’s not enough time!

Answer: Sweetheart, it should take you 90 minutes max to write 1500 words. Sit your ass down in a chair, put them fingers on a keyboard, and type me up a first draft NOW!

Panic attack 2: I don’t know what to write about!

Answer: Anything that fits in with the Christmas-holiday theme. The Christmas you came out, the December you were born, the New Year’s Eve you first broke your heart, the time you stayed awake through the shortest night of the year because you were in the ER watching your ex get her stomach pumped, 15 reasons you hate Christmas, 12 reasons you love Christmas, why you don’t celebrate Christmas, the time you spent Christmas Eve in a Houston airport surrounded by NRA supported, how you had a total breakdown in the Market Mall Sportcheck on December 13, 1997 because… (I dunno what happened! I wasn’t there!) … ya get the idea, right?

Question: How queer does it have to be?

Answer: Duh. As queer as you. No more, no less.

Question: How Calgary does it have to be?

Answer: Meh. So long as the writer’s from Calgary, you can set your story in Paris if you really want to. Although… top billing will go to the story that incorporates cowboy boots and a branding iron into a narrative that situates the story firm in Cowtown. Maybe. Unless the Paris-set story is really good.

Question: Who chooses and edits the stories?

Answer: Me.

Question: Why the fuck you?

Answer: I get shit done. It’s, like, my motto.

Question: How will the project be distributed?

Answer: As an e-book at all the usual outlets, including Amazon, Kobo, iBooks and as a print book, in Print-On-Demand format, at cost-to-print + $2 via Chapters, Amazon, etc.

Question: Who gets the money?

Answer: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, darling, you know nothing about publishing.  You’re doing it or love and glory, baby, as am I. All and any royalties/profits from the project will be donated to Camp fYrefly. (I’m still trying to figure out how to get some AFA or CADA grant money to help fund the project, and pay participating writers and artists. But we don’t easily fit their categories. We’ll figure it out.)

Question: Is there going to be a party?

Answer: Damn straight (get it? hee hee hee). Join YYC Queer Writing Group on Facebook or like/follow M. Jane Colette to stay in the loop. Now—get off-line, open a Word or Google doc—or grab a notebook—and start writing. Ninety minutes. And… go.

Email your submissions to mjanecolette@gmail.com by JULY 15, 2018, with “Queer Christmas” in the subject heading.

Mwah.

❤

mjc

PS Screw Chocolate 2 deadline is December 31 again this year. You’d better get started…

Royalty-free, Creative Commons licence photos courtesy of Pexels.