When I dabbled as a writer when I had a few minutes to get away from studying, I never thought my non-academic writing was any good; now, as I write more as a hobby and a way to foster my competitive nature with contests, I see a lot of growth in a relatively short amount of time. I thought, for today, I would share some of my “musings” and see what your experiences have been with this transition in your own work.My procrastinating-mode end products were flat and boring poems and short...
Read More »
Re-Inventing the Wheel
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Did you ever feel like you were on this huge wheel and didn't know how to get off of it? Well, life keeps turning us in different directions and sometimes we have to just go with it.I have to admit that for a while now, I have been feeling overwhelmed with everything that I have been doing over the course of the last year. First our big move to Texas, then trying to get our business going. Of...
Read More »
Tantalizing Titles, Bodacious Book Covers, and Marvelous Marketing
Saturday, December 27, 2008
by LuAnn SchindlerAs a writer, you want readers to focus their attention on your book when they are perusing choices in bookstores and libraries. A tantalizing title, bodacious book cover, and marvelous marketing campaign certainly help sales!A title that recently caught my attention features this oxymoron: Good Christian Bitches by Dallas native Kim Gatlin. (Brown Books, 2008)As a writer, I appreciate...
Read More »
Five's the Charm
Friday, December 26, 2008
By Jill EarlWhile checking out Erika Dreifus' Practicing Writing blog a couple of days ago, I came across an interesting exercise, which you may have seen out on the blogosphere. Called an exercise in fives, it’s easy and can be used to get your creativity going. I've listed my responses to two of topics that particularly reasonated with me below:What were you doing five years ago (December 2003)?1. Working as an employment & training counselor with a county agency providing outplacement...
Read More »
Best 100 Novels According to Time Magazine
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Time Magazine published a list of the best 100 novels. Two Time critics, Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo, picked the 100-best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. Here's the process that they used, straight from the website (where you can find the complete list. ):Lacayo writes:"For the books project, Grossman and I each began by drawing up inventories of our nominees. Once we traded notes, it turned out that more than 80 of our separately chosen titles matched. (Even some...
Read More »
Santa Baby for Writers
Monday, December 22, 2008
by Cathy Hall (Baboom, baboom, baboom, baboom) Santa Baby, Just slip a contract under the tree For me Been an awful good girl, Santa Baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight. Santa Baby, with five or maybe six figures, too, Will do. I’ll wait up for you, dear. Santa Baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight. Think of all the stuff I’ve missed. Think of the rejection I’ve already risked. I may have to get a job, If you don’t check my Christmas list. Santa baby, I want a book of my...
Read More »
On Gremlins, Making Mistakes, and Compassion
Sunday, December 21, 2008
By Carolyn Howard-JohnsonOh, how easy it is to make a mistake. Oh how easy it is not to see it in your own material—even if you are a great editor of others' material.Often times the mistake involves a word that is spelled differently but pronounced the same. And often the author does know the difference between the spelling of the two. It's just those gremlins that The Frugal Editor is making...
Read More »
Bored? Create Characters
Saturday, December 20, 2008
There have been a number of times when I have actually gotten a little bored when I'm writing. I know that it is hard to stomach but its true. I am sure there have been a few times that each of you have felt it too. Come on admit it. You love to write, but there are times, when you are bored with say the subject you are having to write about or you are having problems with a current story line.I...
Read More »
Something's Got to Go!
Friday, December 19, 2008
As the year comes to an end, we all seem to be making goals for ourselves as is evident in the last few posts on the WOW blog. I am no exception. While I'm thinking about the ways to improve, the challenges to try next, and setting the goals for next year, I'm also wondering what to do with the old, on my afternoon off from work thanks to the snow and sleet getting the roads all nice and messy...After all, as one suggested recently, just like with leftovers (thanks Jill!), sometimes we...
Read More »
Title Practice
Thursday, December 18, 2008
by LuAnn SchindlerSometimes, coming up with a clever title can be a daunting task. For a straight news story, an inventive title can come across as corny, or in some instances, misleading. Feature stories and personal profiles may draw a reader in with a witty title splashed above the story. But still, there are times when the obvious lead-in fails to pop into my mind.Once, I wrote about the local economic development group that gave each graduating high school senior a mailbox with the...
Read More »
Tiny Chunks of Time
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
At this time of year, your calendar is probably booked with extra chores. So where does that leave your writing life? Don't worry! You can keep it alive and kicking by using the nooks and crannies of your day. "Even tiny chunks of time, reclaimed, can add up to the hours necessary to write," says David Fryxell, author of How to Write Fast (While Writing Well). Here are a few inspiring examples from his book: *The French Chancellor D'Aguesseau, it's said, once noticed that his wife was...
Read More »
Got Writing Leftovers? Clean Out the Fridge!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
By Jill EarlA couple of days ago, I got rid of the past-their-prime leftovers in my fridge that needed to be trashed. I’m doing the same with my writing space, files, and library. It’s been a slow, somewhat overwhelming process. Then I found inspiration through an article called, ‘Cleaning the Freelance Fridge’.Written by freelancer Beth Bartlett, the article offers tips on how to perform a major cleanup of your writing files by checking to see if those forgotten manuscripts, dog-eared...
Read More »
New to WOW!: Email Archives
Monday, December 15, 2008
We get asked this a lot: Where can I find your email newsletter archives? Well, you couldn't find them before, but thanks to a new feature with Constant Contact, we are now able to archive all of our past emails! So if there's a certain email you're looking for and perhaps deleted it, or you signed up after the date it was sent, you can now find most of them archived here. Enjoy!
createSummaryAndThumb("summary5556735383158989600","https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/2008/12/new-to-wow-email-archives.html","New...
Read More »
Is Spelling Important?
Monday, December 15, 2008
I just did an interview with an editor, Cindy Eaton, at Canyouproofthis.com for WOW!, and you can see the full interview here. In the interview, she said one of the first things that a writer can do before turning work over to anyone is running her document through spell-check. When I read her answer, I thought how simple. But a lot of writers must not do this, or she wouldn't have mentioned it. (By the way, I just ran this through spell-check, so I hope it is okay!)Also, we all know...
Read More »
When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Writer
Sunday, December 14, 2008
I vividly remember the day I proclaimed to the world that I was going to be a writer when I grew up. Being no more than three feet tall with a mouth full of bubblegum, I had composed my first poem and man it was good! And ever since that day, I just KNEW, all the way down to my Kangaroo tennis shoes, that I was destined to be a writer. Look out Beverly Cleary, here comes ME!So let's fast forward...
Read More »
Peer Review 2.0
Saturday, December 13, 2008
I admit that I'm not like a lot of you out there. Writing is an avocation or hobby of sorts for me as I still continue to wait on full-time job applications. That said, however, I'm always looking for as many learning experiences and conversations with other writers as possible.This week, another WOW'er introduced me to FanStory (http://www.fanstory.com/). We all know I am a fan of worldwide collaboration on LinkedIn from a previous post. However, LinkedIn is more of a networking site....
Read More »
Essentials for Cold Weather Writing
Thursday, December 11, 2008
"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...and since we have no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..."When the weather gets cold, I become somewhat of a bear. All I want to do is hibernate! Admittedly, it’s not very cold where I live in California, so I shouldn’t be complaining, but it still gets down to 40 degrees at night, which is cold for me. All I want...
Read More »
Some Words on Writing for DOLLARS!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
By Jill EarlWhen I finally decided to step into the writing life, one of the first writing newsletters I signed up for was Dan Case's ‘Writing for DOLLARS!’. Gotta love its focus on helping you to make money with your writing, but there’s much more. Allow me to list a few of the benefits appearing in each issue.First is the weekly feature article covering an aspect of the craft, written by pros such as Shaunna Privratsky, Jennifer Brown Banks and Patricia Fry. Recent topics included column...
Read More »
The Copycat Experiment
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
by LuAnn SchindlerIn the movie Finding Forrester, Sean Connery's character William Forrester encourages protege Jamal Wallace to develop his own writing voice. When Jamal appears stuck, Forrester hands him a book and instructs the young writer to copy some of those lines until his own ideas take over and he creates a new story.When I taught high school English ( in a heavily writing-based classroom), I encouraged students to do the same thing. If we were discovering the art of the personal...
Read More »
Monday Motivator: Bird by Bird
Monday, December 08, 2008
Looking through some of my writing books, I picked up an old favorite: Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Many of you are familiar with this national bestseller, which is filled with helpful, funny and sometimes provocative advice. Here are just a few of the sections I highlighted in my copy:"A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get...
Read More »
Writing Through Holiday Business
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Look at how you've been spending your days in December so far. Have you been shopping? Sending cards? Wrapping gifts and attending parties? Most likely yes, you've been preparing for the holiday season. But what about your writing? Have you been writing? I am realistic, and I know the holidays only come once a year, and there's a lot to be done. But you will not be happy as a writer if you only write 11 out of 12 months each year. Here are a couple writing exercises to go with your...
Read More »
Friday Speak Out: Keep At It! Guest Post by Michelle Hickman
Friday, December 05, 2008
Keep At It!By Michelle HickmanThe house is quiet. The nephews are in bed. My niece has had her bottle and will give me at least four hours of time before her soft cries push through the nursery walls as she asks for her next feeding. The house is quiet...for about two seconds.Tap-tap-tap-tap.My fingers skim over the black keys, giving light strikes as I try to keep the noise down. However, my mind...
Read More »
Almost Time for Some Writing!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
I don't know about all of you, but this time of year is intense. It's not the holiday shopping; that has already been done online. Likewise, it's not the weather, because when you live here, snow flurries and frozen-shut car doors, not unheard of in December.It's the realization that the year is almost over. Not just by myself, granted. Rather, requests coming in for things that should have been done before, but had to get pushed to the back burner. For example, inquiries from book review...
Read More »
Got A Minute? Get Some Marketing Tips!
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
By Jill EarlAmong the emails I receive inbox every Wednesday is ‘The Marketing Minute’, from marketing and publicity consultant, author and speaker Marcia Yudkin. After spending some time checking her site, I signed up for the free newsletter.Why? I like the fact that when I read the information presented, my immediate response isn’t, “Hmm, I might be able to do that---someday.” Her nuggets of tips are easy to incorporate into your life, whether you’ve just stepped into the writing biz...
Read More »
Question: What bothers you when reading submissions?
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Recently, Evelyn Marentette, a WOW! Spring '07 flash fiction winner, interviewed Annette and I for Pam Casto's newsletter Flash Fiction Flash. She asked some great questions about our submission process, our contest, etc. Here are two from the interview freelancers would interested in.(Photo credit: Flickr Mr. Wright)Q: What do you consistently see that bothers you most when reading submissions?A:...
Read More »
What You Can Learn from NaNoWriMo Winners
Sunday, November 30, 2008
National Novel Writing Month ends today, so I thought I'd share an article with some final thoughts about NaNoWriMo. How did everyone do with the challenge this year? Any success stories to discuss? :) --MPby Rochelle Melander...NaNoWriMo winners will finish a 50,000-word novel by midnight on November 30th. Earlier this month, I interviewed several NaNoWriMo Winners by email. Every writer can learn something from the success of these writers. Here are my favorite tips:1. Busy is not an...
Read More »
Encouraging Young Writers
Saturday, November 29, 2008
As writers, our job is to encourage the younger generation to also write. How can we do this? Many of us are teachers or have children of our own. I encourage my stepson to write in a journal in the summer, write stories, and of course, his own thank you notes and Christmas cards. What are some of your ideas?I am really proud of my writing group, Saturday Writers (based in St. Peters, MO) and some...
Read More »
Never too much writing!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving Holiday Everyone! Now that the turkey is done, everyone has been out shopping, its time to settle down and write.Today, I got the first installment from one of my relatives for the new Family Memoir. A group of family pictures. The dates were from the 1930's and 1940's wow, how different everyone looked in them.Now that the word is spreading about the family memoir, everyone is beginning to get very excited.One of my uncles is even going to include some of his own...
Read More »
Unexpected Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 27, 2008
I had an unexpected visit from a friend tonight (actually today, if you're in a different time zone). He came down from San Francisco to visit his relatives and stopped by our pad to say hello. It was after midnight and I was in the midst of cranking out WOW!'s holiday gift guide, and still am. With so much on my plate (and unfortunately, I'm talking work, not food!), it's hard to stop for a moment...
Read More »
Writing Your Way Towards A Job
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Now, I know many of you are writing as a vocation, but there are some of you perhaps who are also doing a little more writing than average, in hopes of getting called in for an interview or with a job offer. This column is for you. Many of these suggestions could also be applied towards book proposals and other “times to shine” I am sure.Here is my list so far:1) Proofread or hire/ask for another set of eyes. Typos can be humorous at times, but not when they make their way into a final...
Read More »
Interview with Jill Pertler - Runner Up Spring 08 Flash Fiction Contest
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Interviewed by LuAnn SchindlerJill Pertler is an award-winning writer and photographer whose syndicated humor column, Slices of Life, brings smiles to Midwestern households each week. She was awarded an honorable mention in Writer's Digest 2008 Annual Competition in the personal essay category. She's written hundreds of articles for local, regional and national publications, and like many writers,...
Read More »
