Archive | April 2012
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Fiction Writing Contest: Saturday Evening Post
The first annual Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction contest is underway now. The magazine has a long history of publishing short fiction by some of America’s most successful authors. Ray Bradbury, Jack London, and F. Scott Fitzgerald are just a few of the famous names to have their work featured. According the the guidelines on […]
Weekend Assignment: Out of the Zone
Periodically I like to shake up my writing and get out of my comfort zone. Since my mantra this year is “make something happen,” I’m pushing myself to try new things or revisit old things I haven’t tried in awhile. This weekend, my challenge to you is to step out of your comfort zone. Explore […]
From Blog to Book: Tips from Chronicle Books
Several writers I know, myself included, are exploring the idea of creating blogs that may one day become books. It’s not a new phenomena. In 2010, Freelance Writing Jobs posted about 13 books that got their start as blogs. There’s even a term for it: “Blooks.” But is every blog book material? Some are definitely […]
The Get-Over-It File
Some days it seems like every word comes out wrong — when the words come at all. On those days it can be easy to turn into your own worst enemy and give in to negative self-talk. Me? A writer? Who am I kidding? Why would anyone want to read this? This stinks! Nothing kills […]
Weekend Assignment: Online Presence
Hello Weekenders! This week I read an interesting older post on Writer Unboxed by Chuck Sambuchino. In it, Sambuchino laments the difficulty in finding contact information for writers he’d like to promote: “I cannot tell you how many times I’ve wanted to help someone or promote a book or interview an author only to find […]
Submit, Submit, Submit: Writing Markets April 2012
It’s time for another issue of writing markets.I hope you find something useful. Disclaimer: Bear in mind that I am sharing these links not endorsing them. While I’ve checked out these sites, always read the complete guidelines before submitting anything AND always do your homework. Puppies USA is an annual reference put out by the […]
Are You Standing in Your Own Way? Four Habits to Give up Now
1. Making excuses I don’t have time to write… I have no new ideas… If you want to write, write. Step around those roadblocks you’re creating for yourself and do it. 2. Obsessive revision Revision is the key to good work, but if you are to the point where you are taking out commas only […]
Weekend Assignment: The Lottery
The recent Mega Millions jackpot spawned lots of money talk among my friends and colleagues. It seemed that everyone had dreams about how to spend the money… well, almost everyone. When the topic came up at a PR meeting, one of the women remarked that she knew seven people who had won large amounts of […]
Go There, Do That: Your First Page
Readers of The Writer will be familiar with Peter Selgin‘s First Page column. While he no longer maintains the blog that led to the successful column, you can still visit and read more than 50 past examples, along with Selgin’s comments. (For those of you unfamiliar with the column, Selgin starts with the first page of […]
Writing Clichés: Let’s have a little science, please
Guest post by MICHELE HUBLER Clichés. Some writers fear them, avoiding them “like the plague” (William Safire). Others, such as authors of potboilers, may embrace them as a kind of shorthand. A writer offers up a cliché and the reader is in familiar territory. Whether you use a cliché is a stylistic choice. Whether the […]
Brainstorms & Bylines 