Category Archives: Writing

genre, Research, resources, Writing

Genres, genres and more

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Here are some old links about writing genres:

Written any articles recently?

http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/2014/09/content-marketing-just-how-fast-can-you.html

How long is a book?

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2015/02/long-book-standard-word-counts-genre/

Writing short pieces:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/keep-it-short/

http://alittlebirdtweets.com/flash-fiction-4/

Contests?

timberlinereview.com/submissions

http://www.inkitt.com/

For poets:

• Creating Poetry: How to Self-Prompt Poems
• Re-Creating Poetry: How to Revise Poems
• Asian Poetic Forms
• Contemporary Poetic Forms
• French Poetic Forms
• More Contemporary Poetic Forms
• Build an Audience for Your Poetry

http://www.voicecatcher.org/archives/3469

http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/list-of-50-poetic-forms-for-poets

For novelists:

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2014/11/novel-writing-inspiration-for-the-middle-of-nanowrimo/

http://indigoediting.com/November2014.html

http://www.wattpad.com/4667955-bad-ways-to-start-a-novel

http://storyfix.com/epidemic-systemic-sabotage-via-brainwashing-aspiring-novelists

http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-steps-to-creating-a-flexible-outline-for-any-story

https://forums.createspace.com/en/community/community/resources/blog/2014/09/24/how-to-write-without-a-plan

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/writing-tips/

For children’s book authors:

http://www.ripplegrovepress.com/contact/

http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/212/harold-underdown/

https://kdp.amazon.com/kids

Research for non-fiction writers:

http://www.kindlepost.com/2014/10/guest-post-by-charles-finch-author-of-the-charles-lenox-mysteries-.html

What other writers do

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2015/02/opposite-writing-habits-famous-authors/ 

Book design, Editing, genre, Guest Speakers, inspiration, Minutes, publishing, self-publishing, Writing

Minutes 201601

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Twenty four people attended on January 17th to hear local author Marcia Coffey Turnquist tell us about writing, publishing, marketing, and everything in-between. Marcia’s first novel, the God of Sno Cone Blue is available at Barnes and Noble (store and online) or http://www.amazon.com/God-Sno-Cone-Blue/dp/0991637437/ on Amazon. Continue reading Minutes 201601 →

inspiration

A Writerly Quote

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“Writing is…. being able to take something whole and fiercely alive that exists inside you in some unknowable combination of thought, feeling, physicality, and spirit, and to then store it like a genie in tense, tiny black symbols on a calm white page. If the wrong reader comes across the words, they will remain just words. But for the right readers, your vision blooms off the page and is absorbed into their minds like smoke, where it will re-form, whole and alive, fully adapted to its new environment.”
~ Mary Gaitskill

Mary Gaitskill is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories.

Born: November 11, 1954 (age 61), Lexington, KY
Awards: Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada, New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year

Editing, grammar, Journal, Writing

Journal News 2015 – Step 7 – Editor’s Check List

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It’s time to send the journal out to our willing cohort of editors. But first I’ll post the editor’s checklist, so you can see what they’ll be looking for. (In many cases, they’re looking for things that I failed to fix in earlier passes, and I will send them my apologies.)

Things to check for while editing: Don’t panic about checking them all. Just get a feel for what you’re looking for, then read and enjoy, leaving comments as you go. If you’re unsure about something, just leave a comment and I’ll read it when you return the file. Continue reading Journal News 2015 – Step 7 – Editor’s Check List →

exercise, Guest Speakers, inspiration, Journal, Minutes, Writing

Minutes 201508

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Writers’ Mill Minutes, 16th August 2015

Twenty people attended August’s Writers’ Mill Meeting and enjoyed a wonderful presentation from former Oregon poet laureate, Paulann Petersen.  Paulann, who has written many books and run many workshops, promised to coax, cajole and nudge us into writing, using a Springboard writing activity, as detailed below. She certainly kept that promise and we had a fantastic meeting.

In other events… after wonderful gluten free foods, drinks and home-grown tomatoes from Jean… Continue reading Minutes 201508 →

Editing, exercise, Journal, Writing

What to do when the deadline looms

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What to do if the deadline looms and you haven’t finished your writing… (This could apply to contest entries of any kind, submission deadlines, query letters for conference critiques, etc.)

  1. If you’ve already started, but the piece isn’t ready to submit (to Writers’ Mill, or to any other contest):
    1. Turn short into long: Pick your favorite scene. Expand on it. Polish it. Make sure it has a beginning, middle and end (as all scenes should) and then submit it.
    2. Turn long into short:
      1. Pick a suitable chapter break and submit a single chapter. Leave your readers begging for more, or
      2. Cut, cut, cut, until your start and your finish, both beautifully polished, matched up in the middle perfectly.
    3. Edit the life into it: Take your perfect beginning – perhaps it’s the only bit you’ve written – and expand on it, edit it, polish it, until it’s so perfect everyone will demand to know what happens next.
  2. If you haven’t started yet but had an idea:
    1. Write the beginning and submit that
    2. Write the synopsis and submit that
    3. Just get one scene written – anything’s better than nothing.
  3. If you haven’t started yet and didn’t have an idea: Let’s assume you have a prompt, say, a message in a bottle…
    1. Find a bottle lying around your abode
    2. Think of a message you’d like to receive
    3. Write short – a poem, a one-line zinger, a two-paragraph essay, whatever….

Just write, and enjoy!