Have you heard of the The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest? I hadn’t until a friend (thank you, Stan!) sent me the link to their 2012 contest winners. To give you a flavor of what the contest is about and why the winning entries are definitely worth reading, here is one of the Dishonorable Mentions in the Romance category:

“Chain-smoking as he stood in the amber glow of the street lamp, he gazed up at the brownstone wherein resided Bunny Morgan, and thought how like a bunny Bunny was, though he had read somewhere that rabbits were coprophages, which meant that they ate their own feces, which was really disgusting now that he thought about it, and nothing like Bunny, at least he hoped not, so on second thought Bunny wasn’t like a bunny after all, but she still was pretty hot.” – Emma DeZordi, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec

Check out the winners for more gems here.

Something I found interesting in the Huffington Post :

“Ever heard the phrase “starving writer”?

Okay—maybe you’re living it?

It may help to know you’re not alone.

Here are tales from authors who suffered through relative destitution before their writing took off.

Can you guess who these authors are?

1. Many people know that this author was a single mother, newly divorced, living off food stamps, unemployed, in a mice-infested flat in Edinburgh when she finished her first book. Life must have appeared to be pretty bleak; allegedly, she wrote in cafes because she couldn’t afford to heat her place. Her first book contract was for a measly 10,000 pounds—not big money in the book biz. But little by little, word about her books got out. A publishing company bought the rights to publish in America for $100,000 (which seems like a steal in hindsight). These days, this author is richer than the Queen of England. You know who she is, right? Yeah—this one’s a freebie.

4. This author might have wanted to go to college, but since he couldn’t afford it and didn’t get a scholarship, he joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma. For a time, he lived in poverty in Paris and London, sometimes homeless, sometimes taking jobs where he could get them, caught in a cycle of receiving charity but being unable to pull himself out of destitution. When the Spanish Civil War started, he volunteered. Eventually he made a living writing book reviews and, later, war propaganda. He was forty-one when his first novel, an anti-communist allegory set in a barnyard, brought him literary success.

5. This author’s parents (a Mexican father and a Chicana mother) originally settled down in one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. With six brothers and working class parents, the purse strings were tight. Her mother was a voracious reader who often took her to the library. Her father’s work meant the family could never settle down, and they moved regularly between Mexico City and Chicago. Eventually, the author’s early experiences became her bread and butter; a distinct voice and perspective made her a stand-out at the University of Iowa and beyond. Do you know who she is?”

I’ll post the answers in a followup comment… and just so you know, I only got four of them. The fifth one was a complete mystery – though now I may have to get some of her books. 🙂