Contest update, Forum News & Freelancer News!

A Special Holiday Greetings to all of you!

CONTEST NEWS:

If you entered our contest, you should've received an e-mail regarding your status on the Fall 2006 contest. If you entered and didn't receive an e-mail, please let us know. We try to respond to everyone, to keep you updated on what is going on.

Both Beryl and I have entered a number of contests in the past -- some where we got lucky and heard from the judges, and others where we didn't hear anything at all! So taking this into consideration, we strive to keep you up-to-date on what's happening. We know it's rough... you have your story that you worked so hard on, and want feedback. Isn't that what all of us want?

FORUM NEWS:

Well, great news! By mid-February we will finally have a comprehensive forum up! We are truly excited about this, since it's been a goal of ours from the start. But not just any forum for rants and raves etc. We are going to have sections just for you. A Virtual Writer's Group where you can post your work, discuss, and receive feedback from other women. A safe place to share your work, chat or post, and gain insight. It will be free (like all of our content), yet moderator approved. Meaning, that you can be assured that there won't be any message board 'flaming' going on... only constructive critiques and encouragement. This will help us all become better writers. In fact, best stories, articles, reviews etc. for the month will be published in WOW! and/or receive prizes. We truly believe that writers should be awarded for their efforts, and we will wrangle up goodies from our sponsors and ourselves to inspire your growth as a writer. This is important to us.

Other rooms in the forum may be: the daily struggles of writing, inspiration, prompts, reviews, freelancer's markets, magazine issue feedback, letters/questions to the Eds, PR & book promotion, post your events/press releases, contests, journaling, book clubs, and general chit-chat.

Every month we hope to have a professional guest to join our forums to answer any questions you may have regarding the business of writing. This is an extremely valuable resource to gain insight and professional advice to help you reach your goals as a published writer. You can do it!

FREELANCER NEWS:

Ladies, we're adding two new columns! Premiering in our January Issue: "Freelancer's Corner" -- a place for freelancers to write, share, and give tips to other writers, as well as event listings. This column is a paying market, as is the rest of our columns. Pay is .05 cents/word, up to 1500 words. Query your idea, we're open!

Another new column we're adding is "Funds for Writers" by Hope C. Clark. Hope will give you insider tips on grant writing, emergency funds for writers, retreats, residencies, finding funds for a conference, etc. This should prove very informative and exciting.

As always, our columns and features are open. Please query the appropriate department. Our pay is .05-.10 cents/word. Up to 2500 for features (that's $250!) and 1500 for columns. We're looking forward to your queries and submissions. We request that it be previously unpublished material for the uniqueness of WOW!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and as always, we're here, day in, day out, so give us a shout!