There Are No Rules - General

Glimmer Train Monthly News

Jane — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:51:52 GMT

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their September Fiction Open competition. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers for stories with a word count range between 2000-20,000. No theme restrictions. The next Fiction Open competition will take place in December. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Carrie Brown (pictured above) of Sweet Briar, VA, wins $2000 for “Bomb.” Her story will be published in the Fall 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in August 2010.

Second place: Ken Barris of Cape Town, South Africa, wins $1000 for “Life Underwater.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place: Lydia Fitzpatrick of Brooklyn NY, wins $600 for “Ellijay.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Glimmer Train has also selected the 50 winning entries for their Best Start competition. Each wins $50 and makes Glimmer Train’s Best Start list.

Deadline soon approaching!
November Short Story Award for New Writers: November 30

This competition is held quarterly and is open to writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5,000. No theme restrictions. Word count should not exceed 12,000. (All shorter lengths welcome.) Click here for complete guidelines.

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If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter.

Be sure to check them out.

Every Writer Needs a Little Salesperson Inside

Jane — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:16:59 GMT

It's not a natural thing for most creative people to sell their work, but when it comes time to publish, you have to know something about how to sell.

You have to put in the effort, make the calls, not get beat down by rejection. (It's why I love this Alec Baldwin video, and my advice based on it.)

I'm definitely not a salesperson by nature. But it didn't take long to learn some basic skills, since my first editorial job depended on convincing salespeople my ideas were worthwhile.

Most writers need a little help in understanding how to pitch their work effectively, and I love being the one to help craft and rework that pitch.

This week I'm teaching an online course that offers an extreme makeover on query letters. You get to submit your 1-page query ahead of time, then you'll see me (in a live session) dissect all the queries into good, OK, and needs revamped.

It's a fun and illuminating process, and you learn the essential principles of selling the story (fiction) or selling an idea (nonfiction).

My goal is that every writer leave this session with a little salesperson inside who can kick into high gear when it's query-writing time.

Go register here if you have a query letter that needs professional attention. The session is this Thurday, November 5, at 1p EDT.

Also:

Read my previous post: 5 Elements of Query Letters
If my online class isn't for you, try our excellent guide by Wendy Burt-Thomas, The Writer's Digest Guide to Query Letters (with specific tips by genre).
Check Chuck's agent blog for his Successful Queries series.

Writer's Digest Hits Top 10 Amazon List

Jane — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:55:04 GMT

Just got word that our recent release, And Here's the Kicker: Conversations With 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft by Mike Sacks, hit Amazon's Top 10 List of Best Entertainment Books in 2009.

Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, and said, "Veteran journalist Sacks conducted dozens of interviews with the top humor writers of the last century, and the result is a whiz-bang collection of Q&As that will school readers just as often as it provokes laughter."

Read an excerpt: an interview with Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office.

(And go buy in our shop at Amazon-like pricing. Get an extra 10% off if you're a VIP.)

Looking for Your Feedback: What Do Established Writers Need?

Jane — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:30:47 GMT

One of the biggest criticisms or complaints about Writer's Digest (usually the magazine) is that it's for wannabes, and that after a few years, the advice/information either becomes repetitive or irrelevant, especially for someone who works at the professional level.

I've been daydreaming about how to develop a new periodical that would offer information and insights for advanced, established, or professional writers/authors, and remain relevant even after achieving publication. (Just to be sure, such a periodical would not serve to replace the current magazine.)

But I need your help to get it right—or to ensure there's a need for it in the first place!

What you would need or want in such a publication?
What regular columns?
What features?
Whose viewpoints?
What topics?

Leave your recommendations in the comments. (If it appears your comment doesn't stick the first time you submit it, try inputting the code again—your comment will still be in the field, waiting for verification.)

Or, click here to e-mail me.

Photo credit: Marvin (PA)

The Battle of Resistance

Jane — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:15:02 GMT

This is a guest post from monthly contributor and storytelling genius Darrelyn Saloom. Follow her on Twitter. The photo above shows Darrelyn's youngest son, Jesse, emerging from battle to hand his mommy a pink crayon and a gardenia on his first birthday on May 28, 1987. (For more great stories from Darrelyn, click on "Guest Post" in the categories column to the left.)

Miserable, this past September, I perused Twitter in search of relief. And found it. Steven Pressfield was guest author for a literary chat called LitChat. Wow! Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Last of the Amazons, Tides of War, Gates of Fire, The Virtues of War, but also a jewel of a book I’d not yet discovered, The War of Art.

Writers on Twitter questioned Pressfield for an hour. I managed to contribute a tweet or two, but awestruck, I froze up. Fortunately, other writers had their wits about them and asked excellent questions. And the author’s answers cut to the core of my suffering. A former Marine, he said his service “taught him to be miserable—a crucial skill for a writer. Seriously, not to complain but to keep doing it.”

I’d been complaining to my husband for weeks. Maybe I better just shut up and get back to work. Good advice. And wouldn’t that make my husband happy. And then Pressfield explained Resistance, the subject of The War of Art: “Resistance is that negative force that tries to stop us from doing what we know we should—write, work out, etc.” Bingo! My problem exactly.

In misery, I’d found so many excuses not to write: I’m out of ideas; I don’t feel well (four rounds of antibiotics, two cortisone shots, and I was still sick). I’m in menopause and about to turn 54. Yikes! My pity pot was endless. Okay, so I’m not in the Marines. I’m not sitting in a foxhole, in the rain, dodging bullets. I have a chronic sinus infection for goodness sakes. I’m running out of hormones.

But illness was not the enemy. Resistance was the enemy and had found a petri dish to blossom in my neurotic thinking. As soon as LitChat concluded, I ordered The War of Art. Overnight delivery, please. This was an emergency. By the next day, I was armed with a Pressfield paperback and found more on the subject of art and misery and even the Marines. Pressfield writes:

The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation.

The artist must be like that Marine. He has to know how to be miserable. He has to love being miserable. He has to take pride in being more miserable than any other soldier or swabbie or jet jockey. Because this is war, baby. And war is hell.

Hell, indeed. But so far so good, I had the misery part covered. Reading further, Pressfield named my enemy: Resistance. But he did more than name it. He defined its insidious personality, its wily disguises, its teaching abilities. That’s right, teaching abilities. Because the news here is not all bad, the infallible enemy is also a teacher:

Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North—meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.

We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others.

Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.

Well, my current memoir collaboration must be aligned with the stars. Never in my life have I battled such Resistance. And for anyone who’s in the midst of her own battle, who struggles to get down to work, doubts she is good enough, blows her nose a lot and stares blankly at a computer screen, wonders why she bothered to wake up, this is for you:

Resistance is directly proportional to love. If you’re feeling massive Resistance, the good news is, it means there’s tremendous love there too. If you didn’t love the project that is terrifying you, you wouldn’t feel anything. The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference.

The more Resistance you experience, the more important your unmanifested art/project/enterprise is to you—and the more gratification you will feel when you finally do it.

So take comfort in knowing you’re on the right track. But don’t let your guard down. Not for a minute. Arm yourself with a copy of Stephen Pressfield’s The War of Art; don your camouflaged helmet, your flak jacket and weapons. Battle Resistance every day, in spite of excuses, no matter what, by giving birth to the work you are meant to do.

The Day I Picked Up a Hitchhiker

Jane — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:51:48 GMT

Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.

—Claude Bissell

There's a story I love to tell in the presence of The Conductor, because it upsets him so much (in a cute way).

When I was 17, I spent a summer working in northern rural Indiana, at a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

One day, on my way to work on a 2-lane country road, I spotted a male adult hitchhiker. He had a large metal lunch box, like what coal miners used to carry.

I stopped and told him I could take him 10 miles to the next town, where I worked. He was headed to the same town, so climbed in.

When we reached KFC, it turned out my female boss was an old friend of this hitchhiker. They had a brief chat, but immediately my boss pointed a finger at me and said, "Don't you EVER pick up a hitchhiker AGAIN!"

The man grinned and said while he was grateful for the ride, he agreed with my boss.

When I left KFC that summer for my first year of college, my boss gave me a going away present that included a key chain with pepper spray on it.

I think she knew I would not be playing it safe.

It's always more fun to take the risk—and more enjoyable to expect the best of people.

Photo credit: Photofarrell

The Age-Old Battle Between Author & Publisher

Jane — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:23:18 GMT

To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.

—Charles Caleb Colton

Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being.

—A. A. Milne

Publishing is no longer simply a matter of picking worthy manuscripts and putting them on offer. It is now as important to market books properly, to work with the bookstore chains to get terms, co-op advertising, and the like. The difficulty is that publishers who can market are most often not the publishers with worthy lists.

—Olivia Goldsmith

One of the signs of Napoleon's greatness is the fact that he once had a publisher shot.

—Siegfried Unseld

Publishers are all cohorts of the devil; there must be a special hell for them somewhere.

—Goethe

As difficult as it is for a writer to find a publisher - admittedly a daunting task - it is twice as difficult for a publisher to sort through the chaff, select the wheat, and profitably publish a worthy list.

—Olivia Goldsmith

One should fight like the devil the temptation to think well of editors. They are all, without exception - at least some of the time, incompetent or crazy.

—John Gardner

If you've been following industry chatter, you may have seen some conversations lately about whether authors need publishers (or vice versa). Plus there's now a Twitter tag for the discussion, #publishersmatter

To catch up, you can read these 3 pieces:

Do Authors Still Need Publishers?
by Mark Coker of Smashwords (e-publishing service)

What Do Authors Need?
by Kate Eltham at Queensland Writers Centre (Australia)

Do Publishers Still Need Authors?
by Guy Gonzalez, my colleague and audience development director for Digital Book World (My views align closely with Guy's.)

Aspiring writers and authors can be extremely mistrustful and suspicious of publishers— creating a group only too eager to join the revolution where writers/authors have power and publishers become obsolete.

Those who can never get inside the pearly publishing gates feel marginalized and like they never got the attention they deserve, while those who do break in feel exactly the same way. As Daniel Menaker has said:

Many of the most important decisions made in publishing are made outside the author's and agent's specific knowledge. … [Publishing] silently colludes in trying to ignore the obvious … that the first printing of your book will be three thousand copies, that it will not have full-color galleys, that no advertising or tour is planned, and that it has been assigned to a publicist who up until yesterday worked in the Xerox department. Why the collusion? Because this is a business fueled largely by writers' need for attention, and no one wants to crush any writer's dreams before a book is even published. Especially since every now and then they actually come true.

Today, many authors are left out to sea as soon as the book hits store shelves, a critical moment in the life of many books. By the time the author realizes what's happening, the window of opportunity has vanished—that moment when you can ensure stores/retailers see the book as a quality and profitable item, leading to a good model (number of copies per store).

Other authors get turned out by their publishers when their books don't sell, even if they could've been a quality midlist author with more time and investment. (Most publishers don't have the luxury of waiting.)

Obviously neither of these phenomenon help the author OR the publisher.

I wonder if successful publishers of the future will attract quality authors mostly by …

the deep reach of their distribution (especially if to a particular audience)
their editorial/curation prowess and stable of quality authors
the support and service they provide authors

Publishers have done a poor job, at best, in the support and service role.

How many publishers actively support their authors when it comes to teaching them online marketing and promotion practices? How many will analyze their authors' efforts at platform and branding? How many will give them the education, tools, or resources they need to be true partners with the publisher? How many will—at the very least—provide clarity on what the publisher will and will not do for the author, or explicitly convey their own strengths and weaknesses, so the author goes in eyes wide open?

While publishers of the future need to distinguish themselves by the quality of their partnerships, the quality of their audience reach (community), and the quality of their curation, I bet there will be publishers who become known for support and service, and attract quality authors like bees to honey—and be more successful because of it.

What do you say?

Writing & Publishing: More Than a Patience Game

Jane — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:53:13 GMT

My partner in crime, The Conductor, recently forwarded me the following, from an interview with Lost Producer Damon Lindelof:

In today's film and television industries it seems like there are far fewer writers willing to take risks for originality's sake. What advice do you have for aspiring writers who are passionate about a particular story, even if it risks not being given a chance by today's audiences? -- Josh G.

As clichéd as it sounds, if you have an original voice and an original idea, then no matter what anybody says, you have to find a way to tell that story. My only advice would be you have to exercise patience. I think the freshman mistake is you feel such passion for something that you need to tell it now, as opposed to saying, "Let me establish myself, and five years from now when I'm a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit more experienced, maybe that's the time to tell that story."

Sometimes you get a present for somebody a month before their birthday and you just want to give it to them immediately. But timing is everything. So I would say it might feel like your idea is a hard sell now, but maybe in a couple years the timing will be right. Whatever you do, don't give up.

Whenever someone asks for my autograph in my book, I usually add my 2 biggest pieces of advice:

Be passionate. Be persistent.

Perhaps persistence is a type of patience. Persistence adds a level of push, of proactiveness, of energy. The wrong kind of patience will lull you right into complacency and inactivity (and waiting to be "discovered").

Yet: Some people are so pig-headed in their persistence that they can't discern when it's time to change course or adapt to changing times.

I recently read about the importance of context, which applies to writing and publishing more than ever. Some writers remain blind to issues of context and can't grow.

Passion & persistence best serve people who know how to grow, which Lindelof advises: get wiser and more experienced. I couldn't agree more.

AND—it crushes my heart to witness: A person with unlimited passion who lacks the focus or discipline to do the hard work of realizing the Big Dream she has.

Sometimes, it's all about who is working hardest, and can devote the most time and energy to their endeavor, and knock on more doors. Not who's most talented.

For those who are talented and never gain appropriate recognition, you can blame it on bad luck, bad timing, and unfairness, but I'd ask myself: Am I working harder than everyone else?

Photo credit: The Rocketeer

Achieving a Dream of Mine

Jane — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:46:39 GMT

Years ago, back when I was directing the trade books and market annuals for Writer's Digest, I would often have a conversation with author Christina Katz that went something like:

CK: Hey, you guys should bundle together XYZ!
Me: Yeah, I wish we could! We're not set up to do that, though.
CK: You should also sell combined subscriptions to the magazine and WritersMarket.com.
Me: Yeah, that would be great! We're not set up to do that, though.
CK: Have you ever thought about creating XYZ package of services for one low price?
Me: Sounds cool. We're not set up to do that, though.

Back then, Writer's Digest operated in fragments, depending on what division of the corporation it belonged to (book division, magazine division, education division, event division, etc). Each division focused on selling a particular book or product or service, rather than developing an integrated community serving up solutions directly to an audience of writers.

When I talk about publishing changing, this is what I mean: We (authors + publishers) must have conversations with audiences/readers to learn how to serve their needs, rather than try to push a specific product-widget. And "serving needs" is that remarkable mix of content, service, packaging, design, personalized interactions, digitized or interactive formats, conversations, community—whatever it is that offers the best solution.

But it's hard to do that when you're a magazine focused only on selling more magazines. You look at everything through the lens of how to keep the magazine alive.

And it's hard to do that when you're a book line only focused on selling more books, and are rewarded only by book performance.

And so on.

A year ago, F+W took the step of reorganizing its business based on interest area. And I took the lead for the the Writing Community.

It's been quite a year, and many things have changed behind the scenes, including how we run our eCommerce and direct-to-consumer business. (E.g., we no longer have a mail-order club, but we do have Writer's Digest Shop.)

And now, as of this week, Writer's Digest has integrated its two most popular services into one full-service plan (with perks!).

We're calling it the VIP program and it includes a one-year subscription to the magazine and a one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com. As a VIP, you get 10% discounts all year for WritersOnlineWorkshops.com and Writer's Digest Shop (which already offers Amazon-like pricing), plus a free webinar recording on marketing/promotion. (VIP price tag: $49.99. Amounts to 75% discount off retail, monthly rates.)

It may seem like a small thing to people outside of the business. But it's a symbolic step on our path to a truly audience- or reader-driven approach. And it's light years of progress from when I started at F+W Media in 1998. Consider what's changed:

Our reach is widest through online channels, which didn't exist in 1998.
Writers can have conversations with our staff instantly through social networks, which didn't exist even a couple years ago.
Our editors work on content and service, rather than focusing on books or magazines. They are also active partners in the conversations that market and promote those products.

From this perspective, it's a good time to be in publishing. There are unlimited opportunities for those who can directly reach their audience, have the energy to engage, and are willing to experiment with new business models.

Glimmer Train Monthly News

Jane — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:21:21 GMT

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their August Short Story Award for New Writers competition. This competition is held quarterly and is open to any writers whose fiction hasn’t appeared in a print publication with a circulation great than 5000. No theme restrictions. Word count range: 500-12,000. Their monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place (pictured above): Evan Christopher Burton of New York, NY, wins $1200 for “Exposure.” His story will be published in the Winter 2011 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in November 2010.

Second place: David Rothman of Jackson Heights, NY, wins $500 for “Guided by Voices.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, raising his prize to $700.

Third place: Scott Tucker of Seattle, WA, wins $300 for “Touring.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Also: Family Matters competition (deadline soon approaching! October 31).
Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and first place is $1,200 and publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers for stories about family. Word count range: 500-12,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

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If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

Photo credit: Patrick Buckley

3 Sure-Fire Ways to Insult Someone in Publishing

Jane — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:07:50 GMT

1. Design your own book cover, or better yet, have a loved one do so for you. Bonus points if that loved one is a child (either young of full-grown), and creates abstract art.

1.5. Draw your own illustrations or have a loved one do so because they're really good with Microsoft Paint.

Books are products that require an industry professional's attention and marketing consideration, just like any other consumer product—from Coke to Draino.

2. Tell your editor that you've had your family member (who has a really sharp eye), read your work for errors, and you're certain it's good to go. Bonus points if that family member is a retired high school English teacher.

Editing is about much more than correcting comma placement. Furthermore, all publishers have their own style guidelines that aren't known or understood outside the publishing industry.

3. Tell your publisher that your book is a perfect fit for Starbucks [or any major retailer], and that it should be sold there.

More than anyone, your publisher wants your book stocked in every possible retail outlet, and will exploit every single distribution connection it has. It will place it in any outlet that will make space for books, and even pay money for placement. Your publisher isn't lazy or unimaginative; there's just immense competition.

And a sure-fire way to make an editor cringe:
Remark in an envious way, "So you must read a lot." No, we don't read. Mostly, we look for ways to make money and get your book placed at Starbucks, while gently informing you that your first-born cannot design your cover. Most editors have completely left pleasure reading behind. (That includes me, except when I'm on vacation.)

To end on a positive note:

6 sure-fire ways to make an editor love you

Ask questions about the business.
Ask what you can do to make your book or project or idea more successful.
Ask about the publisher's strengths and weaknesses, and where your help can really make a difference.
Share your action plan for marketing and promotion, and ask the publisher for specific things where they can meaningfully and realistically help you (usually things you know they've done to assist other authors).
Ask for examples or models of what other authors have done that have led to success.
Communicate, communicate, communicate. (Do not hide out, do not point fingers, do not blame.)

Remove These Phrases From Your Writing Life

Jane — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:39:34 GMT

I'm on an inspirational kick this week.

I recently connected on LinkedIn with my very first boss at F+W.

I always remember the advice he repeated to me that went something like: "Imagine you're 80, looking back on the fulfilling, beautiful life you've led. Now go do that."

I come across too many people who append a condition to their writing or creative life. Do you say these things?

I'll write when … (waiting for perfect conditions)
I'll write if … (waiting for some thing or someone else to act/decide/validate)

Or maybe something like:

I'll never be as good as … (denying the fact each person is unique and has something to offer -- and ignoring the hard work of self-knowledge and writing practice to help identify what makes you unique as a writer)
I don't have the patience … (for those who know the time it takes and the difficulties involved—but this forgets the preciousness of the journey and only considers the goal)

And most evil of all:

When I have enough time (we're all given the same amount of time in a day, but also we don't know how much time we're given overall)

Lately, I've come across two quotes from famous folks, echoing my former boss's sentiment. Nothing earth-shattering, but still …

Here's what Steve Jobs said when he addressed Stanford's graduating class a few years ago:

... for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

And Seth Godin wrote (around the same timeframe):

The thing is, we still live in a world that's filled with opportunity. In fact, we have more than an opportunity -- we have an obligation. An obligation to spend our time doing great things. To find ideas that matter and to share them. To push ourselves and the people around us to demonstrate gratitude, insight, and inspiration. To take risks and to make the world better by being amazing. ... You get to make a choice. You can remake that choice every day, in fact. It's never too late to choose optimism, to choose action, to choose excellence. The best thing is that it only takes a moment -- just one second -- to decide.

Photo credit: Let Ideas Compete

15 Worthy Blogs I Just Discovered

Jane — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:10:37 GMT

I recently received the "One Lovely Blog Award" from Jillian Livingston (go check out isdisnormal—and you must if you are a mom). My thanks to her for introducing me to this concept.

As a result of being honored, I've been asked to note 15 blogs I recently discovered that I find worthy of the award.

(Photo above: A sign at a Buddhist temple advises that those with good eyes are inclined to fall into deep wells—which is how I feel when I discover a great new blog!)

So: here are blogs I've added lately to my Google Reader. (You can see my shared items from Google Reader here, and I accept sharing requests too if you use Google Reader.)

(1) Digital Book World
This is the newest blog launch from F+W, but it's backed by the inimitable Guy Gonzalez. A good read for savvy writers who want a larger understanding of publishing industry challenges. (Note: Digital Book World is offering a free webinar on "The Truth About eBooks" on October 21.)

(2) When Fridays Were Fridays
Written by someone who started working for a large company right out of college and stayed 30 years. I feel a cosmic connection to this person, because in 17 years, I wonder if my "About Me" will look exactly the same. I particularly like her post Have You Ever Faked It?

(3) What Consumes Me by Bud Caddell
You'll love it at first sight.

(4) Kenny Moore
Kenny is the co-author of The CEO and the Monk. I love how compassionate and human his advice is, while still being practical and appropriate for a corporate setting.

(5) Start Up Blog
I feel like I'm getting a better business training here than I would at a university.

(6) Self-Publishing Review
A site that benefits from a multitude of contributors. Professional and quality information, with a bit of magazine style to it (lead stories, resources, features).

(7) Fiction Matters
And it's not here just because they complimented me lately (or because of a bourbon affinity discovered on Twitter … well, maybe a little). Check out their guidebook, then peruse tips.

(8) My Name Is Not Bob
By the charming Robert Brewer, editor of WritersMarket.com. He is also blogger at Poetic Asides, but this is his personal blog, just launched on August 14. He's been a little quiet lately, but I know he'll be active again.

(9) The Sound and Furry
And this one is by the customer service rep behind WritersMarket.com, who is herself an aspiring children's writer. Great tips here for writers, plus cats (a great accent for every blog).

(10) Information Is Beautiful
Always amazing and share-worthy posts.

(11) Clay Shirky
Very infrequent posts, but outstanding quality when it comes to contemplating the future of media.

(12) The Book Oven
Something for everyone—especially writers—to keep an eye on.

(13) Publishing Trends
Their best content will cost you, but they still post really wonderful insider information for free.

(14) Bad Pitch Blog
While not directly tied to writing/publishing, read this long enough and you'll become a better salesperson and promoter of your ideas. A totally new find and I love it.

OK, I purposely stopped at 14. You tell me what No. 15 should be—based on the best last blog that's been added to your RSS reader or bookmark list. (Wondering about RSS readers? Read my tip on how to save time with an RSS reader.)

Gift Ideas for Writers

Jane — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:31:31 GMT

As many of you know, it was my birthday on Monday, and The Conductor—who treats gift-giving as a dramatic art—always looks for ways to surprise and delight.

For this gift-giving occasion, he chose the New Yorker as his theme, so I received enough New Yorker product (calendar, book anthologies, and cartoons) to probably keep Conde Nast in the black for a month.

The hard part is, and don't tell The Conductor, is that buying books for someone in the book business isn't always a sure bet. Yes, I love books of course, but sometimes the last thing I need is another book to read. (Note to Kelly: There are always exceptions.)

In any case, I was thinking a lot about gift-giving this week, and the holidays are approaching.

Writer's Digest editor Zachary Petit asked the staff months ago for gift recommendations in the November/December issue of the magazine. I sent him several recommendations (though only one is included in the issue). So in this blog post I'll mention them all.

Personalized Stationery
I've been known to spend about $500 on personalized notecards, which I consider to be one of the classiest statements a writer can make. (And, sadly, I am out of them at the moment, so I can't snap a photo for you.) I use FineStationery.com where it’s fun to create mock-ups. To really splurge, choose a letterpress printing option. Unforgettable.

Poems For All
This is a cheap (free!) but thoughtful gift for writers and readers. I hope one day they make them available for bulk purchase.

iPhone
I can’t think of a better all-in-one device for a writer. Aside from the standard phone call, you can use it for e-mail, surfing the web, downloading music, Kindle reading, instant messaging, note taking, voice recording, and a million other things through iPhone apps. The only way you could make it more useful is if there were a small, external keyboard to plug into it. (Then it could act as a mobile word processor.)

Knock Knock
Very hip and humorous productivity tools as well as eclectic gifts.

And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the parent company of Writer's Digest, F+W Media, just launched a gift site, SayItWithBooks.com. The cool part is that all purchases are gift-wrapped for free. (And for readers of this blog, use code PROMO25 for 25% off an order.)

P.S. Perhaps obvious, but Writer's Digest and WritersMarket.com subscriptions are always good gifts too! Soon we'll be rolling out a new VIP program that includes subscriptions to both, plus year-long discounts in our Shop. Stay tuned for a formal announcement in the next week.

A Note About My Good Friend Earl

Jane — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:05:24 GMT

There's a joke by Jay Leno that goes something like:

Go through your phone book, call people and ask them to drive you to the airport. The ones who will drive you are your true friends.

And there's another saying, in publishing: Only work with authors who you wouldn't mind being stranded with in an airport for 8 hours.

In 2003, at my first year speaking at the Midwest Writers Workshop, I spent a lot of time in an airport with Earl Conn, one of the founders of the organization.

My airport memory is my fondest memory of him, when we traveled together to Indianapolis, about an hour's drive, to pick up the famous George Plimpton, the MWW keynote speaker. Plimpton's flight was late, so Earl and I ended up chatting in the airport for a couple hours until our VIP arrived. (Read a personal essay I wrote on the experience of meeting Plimpton here.) Earl bought me a pretzel, talked about his years of teaching and writing and Ball State, and he was also the only person at MWW who knew the exact location (and claim to fame) of my hometown of Oakland City, Ind. (That's because he wrote a popular travel column about Indiana.)

I got news this week that Earl passed away. It's a great loss for the Midwest Writers Workshop, and he'll be greatly missed. One of our last conversations was about whether some of his essays and book ideas should be developed further and taken to publishers, or whether he should look at independent options. He was a devoted and energetic writer to the end, and I'll miss his wise and insightful presence at MWW.

My thanks to Judy Joslin for sending me the above photo of me & Earl at the most recent MWW.

For more that I've written on MWW in general:

The Four Stages of Marketing & Promotion (MWW 2009 Recap)
MWW 2008 Day 1 Recap
MWW 2008 Day 2 Recap
MWW 2008 Day 3 Recap

Glimmer Train Monthly News

Jane — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:54:35 GMT

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their July Very Short Fiction Award. This twice yearly competition is open to all writers for stories on any theme, with a word count not exceeding 3000. Their monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: J.P. Lacrampe (pictured above, photo by Ashley Ording) of San Francisco, CA, wins $1200 for “Farmers’ Market.” His story will be published in the Winter 2011 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in November 2010. [Photo attached.]

Second place: Stephanie Reents of Providence, RI, wins $500 for “The Indefinite Article Is a Different Story.”

Third place: James Scoles of Carbondale, IL, wins $300 for “To Cook an Egg Gently.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadlines soon approaching!

Best Start: September 30
This competition is held quarterly and is open only to writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 3000. Each submission should be an engaging, coherent narrative, but does not need to be a complete story, just an important part of a story in progress. Word count: under 1000. Click here for complete guidelines.

Fiction Open: September 30
This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers for stories with a word count range between 2000-20,000. No theme restrictions. Click here for complete guidelines.

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If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

Just One More Blogging Benefit for Aspiring Writers

Jane — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:15:47 GMT

As I catch up from being away at the Writer's Digest Conference (read more than 100 posts with info here!), guest blogger Jane Koenen Bretl is filling in with some more advice on the benefits of blogging!

When I started my blog jane, candid in January 2009, it was my starting point to create visibility and web presence for my work, and explore a whole new avenue of writing. Inspired by the December 2008 Writer’s Digest Editor’s Intensive, through blogging I found a voice that can be the start of my author platform; it took me in a new, unexpected direction that I may not have pursued, at least at this point in my writing career.

The benefits of blogging to an aspiring writer are numerous, but a most unexpected, helpful and frankly delightful outcome has been the relationships I have developed with other writers.

I actively seek out writing blogs, and by participating in author blog tours, networking through thoughtful commenting, and trolling through the blogrolls of other writers, I have met many other writers who have provided useful advice and much encouragement.

As a result, I’ve hosted an oft-published author at my home while he was on a 20-state book signing tour. I’ve hosted guest-blogging authors who brought both a new audience and increased credibility to my site. I’ve been a guest blogger on other wonderful blogs (like this one!) that provide a new, exciting forum for my work. And I’ve developed friendships with many writers who share selflessly of their experience.

It is a curious concept to me, this idea of meeting others online. At first I had preconceived (mostly negative) notions about online relationships, a prejudice lodged somewhere between online dating, ranting chat rooms, and all-night Dungeons and Dragon-esque gaming sessions. (Not that there is anything inherently wrong with those activities, they are just not my scene.)

I thought real people made real friendships face-to-face, not sitting alone in a computer chair with fingers tapping at the keys. Preconceived notions can and do close doors.

Blogging has instead opened doors for me to meet other writers from around the world, kindred spirits surely not on my life’s path otherwise. It has opened windows through which I can watch the progress of other writers, and see both the pitfalls they have faced and the successes they have earned through hard work and great talent. There is a collective sense of celebration when a blogger-friend reaches a writing milestone. It inspires me.

This summer, I had the opportunity to take a fond blogger relationship to a new place— face-to-face. Judy Clement Wall wrote one of the first comments I ever received on my blog, offering kind words right when I was nervously venturing into unfamiliar territory.

I in turn visited her site and her words struck a cord with me immediately. I have been an avid reader of her blog zebra sounds ever since. Like many bloggers, she kept the personal details of her home address and her family private; it just feels safer that way. However, as I prepared for a long-planned summer vacation to the West Coast (yes, I was reading Judy’s blog instead of packing), I realized through one of her off-handed references that this blog-buddy might live in the very area we were to visit! After some off-line emails, we learned it was indeed the same town. Serendipity strikes again. We made plans to meet at a coffee shop during my trip, since we already knew we shared an addiction to coffee as well as a love of writing.

Ironically, me, the online relationship snob, was as nervous to actually meet her as I might have been on a first date: Would I recognize her from her photo? Would she be as friendly as she seemed? It felt surreal, this crossing of worlds (maybe I had already drank too much coffee that day???).

Of course, the meeting was delightful. We shared blogging advice (how did you add that cool widget?), warm mutual admiration, and encouragement for next steps in our writing careers, all right along with our hot caffeinated beverages. It felt like a reunion, not a first meeting.

Ironically, the act of blogging can be much more personal than the typical conversations between new acquaintances, what some describe as the nakedness of putting it out there for all to see, sharing these words that come from some deep place inside. This has been my biggest revelation about blogging.

So as I strive to build my author platform, increase my online visibility, create a potential audience for my work, and generally make waves out there in the social media world of the publishing industry, I can also reap the benefits of my blogging community and all that they share.

Considering it? Give it a try.

--

[Editor's note: Be sure to read Judy Clement Wall's companion blog post to this, "(Sometimes it's not) All About Me"]

Your Friends & Family Are Wrong

Jane — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:15:50 GMT

Time for a little tough love.

To all those writers who say:

My family has encouraged me to write this story
I had this idea while talking with friends, and they thought it was brilliant
My [insert close friend or family member name here] absolutely love my stories
I read my work to my students, and they think I should get it published

You need to ignore what these people are telling you.

You need to write because you can't do anything else. Because you would suffer if you didn't.

Your motivation to write has to come from within.

Don't write (only) because you were given validation or permission by someone close to you. What you really need (require) is your own inner conviction.

...

When I was a kid, my mother wrote a middle-grade fantasy novel. I read it many times. I absolutely loved it.

I remember her blue-gray electric typewriter that weighed a million pounds sitting on the dining room table. It had a very loud mechanical hum and the table vibrated and shook during periods of vigorous typing.

My mom consulted Writer's Market at the town library and sent her manuscript to dozens of publishers. She received all rejections, though some were encouraging and personalized. Eventually the typewriter was packed away in a closet.

Flash forward 20 years. The old manuscript is dusted off, brought into Microsoft Word, tweaked, and … everyone knows what's next.

I read my mother's book once again, not as a young daughter, but as a publishing professional who gives advice to writers.

I bet you're all wishing you had a family member in publishing to help you out, right?

It can be a curse rather than a blessing.

Family members are supposed to encourage and support you—act as cheerleaders during the long periods of rejecton.

There are some unusual cases where your family/friends can offer critical feedback as insightful and careful readers, and you can make excellent use of it.

But for most writers, you must not and cannot rely on your family and friends to give you this feedback, even if they are your target audience. And you especially can't rely on them to tell you that your work deserves publication (or to give you ANY kind of business-of-publishing advice).

Unless, of course, your daughter works in publishing and has a job that specializes in giving advice to writers.

Mom's story read very differently to me as a grown-up. I gave her feedback on how to revise it for today's market.

The manuscript is back in the proverbial closet.

But in the years to come, I know I will treasure and cherish her work more than any publisher could.

Photo credit: Pliable Trade

Book Promotion: Like Shouting Prayers Into Hurricane

Jane — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:58:13 GMT

I first met author N.M. Kelby at the AWP Conference in Atlanta. The Writer's Digest staff includes many fans of her work, so it was thrilling to talk with her about a potential book project.

I'm now proud to announce the fruits of our collaboration, new to our list this fall:
The Constant Art of Being a Writer.

Read an excerpt from the book here: Test Your Story Ideas
The book's editor, Kelly Nickell, comments on NM Kelby and the project
Discover Kelby's other book releasing this fall, A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts (I love this title!)

Kelby recently did a Twitter-style Q&A interview for Reckless Hearts, and shared the answers with me.

1. Favorite book as a child?
Loved my father’s copy of The Last Days Of Pompeii by Edward "It was a dark and stormy night" Bulwer-Lytton. That explains a lot, doesn’t it?

2. What are you reading right now?
The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery. Don’t you want to know why?

3. Read aloud a favorite segment/recipe/poem from your book …
Smoke billowed out into the street, blanketed the stars. It tinted the night sepia, as if the moment had already been lived and forgotten.

4. Why that title?
TRAVEL GUIDE FOR RECKLESS HEARTS? Who doesn’t have one? Who doesn’t need a guide to travel through the world with that joyous unruly beast?

5. Why independent bookstores matter?
For the same reasons that cowboys matter, their wild untamed spirits. They make their own rules. Plus they know bull when they see it.

6. Favorite part of writing a book?
To write a book is to begin a conversation. I love to tour and finish that chat face to face. Nothing is more fun than reading for readers.

7. Least favorite part of writing a book?
I know it’s now a writer’s job to promote their book but sometimes it feels like you’re shouting prayers into a hurricane.

8. Are you working on anything new?
Yes. BTW This could be my first answer under 140 spaces.

9. Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing?
I arrive at my desk by 9 a.m., take 30 minutes for lunch, and leave at 6 p.m. It’s a job, after all. A great job––but still, a job.

10. Comment on the writing life...
THE CONSTANT ART OF BEING A WRITER: THE LIFE, ART AND BUSINESS OF FICTION is my comment on the life. It’s more than 140 spaces––it’s $17.95.

11. Hardest part of the creation to publication experience?
Writers are public dreamers––the work itself is a great joy. Selling dreams twelve to a carton is another story.

12. Why do you write?
Asking a writer why they write is like asking a dog why they breathe … they don’t understand the question but they’re still hoping you’ll toss them a bone.

13. When do you write?
I write when I am sleeping, lying, eating, flirting, praying, and pulling weeds. Living life is writing. It’s paper optional.

14. When did you know you were a writer?
When I was about 7 years old and started creating library books for my dolls to check out.

15. What, or Who, will you dish on, as in gossip about, at dinner?
I have a great many Dwight Yoakam stories––some of which involve me being naked, which, surprisingly, is more innocent than it sounds.

16. What will make you a scintillating dinner guest?
I believe in fun, gossip, and the well-turned phrase and am a consummate foodie. Heck, even my in-laws like to eat with me.

17. Who is your favorite new author?
Chef Auguste Escoffier––although he is dead and only new to me.

18. What is your drink of choice?
I drink bourbon and wine, although not usually in the same glass. Of course, there is an exception to every rule.

19. What is your favorite food?
If it isn’t moving, fried, fatty and the word “atomic” is not printed before it on the menu, I’m willing to give it a try. I’m all about the food.

20. Will you talk business over dinner?
Why would a writer talk business at dinner? That’s like asking your ex who makes the best surveillance cameras.

--

After Kelby's workshop at the Writer's Digest/BEA Conference in 2009, she handed me a print-out of one of her slides. I have it hanging in my office now—see below.

(Hint: Our authors-speakers are always such a delight. You can experience them too at our conference next week in NYC. Register here for the full event or just for a day. Use code PC109 to get $50 off a full registration up until Monday.)

5 Questions You Can Ask Yourself About Stories

Jane — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:23:52 GMT

A little more from Glimmer Train this month—from the bulletin they just e-mailed to their writers. Go read the full bulletin here.

From Ingrid Hill: The Devil’s Trampoline:

My sweet grandmother used to murmur consolingly, when I crabbed about the misery of sitting with hot rollers burning my scalp, "Honey, you have to suffer to be beautiful." Not till I was grown did I realize the deeper meaning: not till you have been cast into tribulation's depths, suffered in your core, can beauty shine out of your eyes or your art.

From Charles Baxter: Five Questions (Baxter pictured above):

There are about five questions you can ask yourself about stories, and they're not foolproof, but they're useful. One is, what do these characters want? Second is, what are they afraid of? Third is, what's at stake in this story? Fourth is, what are the consequences of these scenes or these actions? And the last one is, how does the language of this story reflect the world of the story itself?

Zen in the Art of a Kiss and a Dream

Jane — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:24:14 GMT

Today's guest post is from everyone's favorite regular contributor, Darrelyn Saloom. Follow her on Twitter.

Nineteen years ago, I read the nine essays of Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing and dreamed I met the legendary author. In the dream, Bradbury and I discussed a story I’d written called “The Last Housewife on Earth.” I’d not written such a story (only in the dream). But I knew the bored and restless housewife, because she was me.

As I read the Preface to Zen in the Art of Writing, Bradbury’s words ignited an inner slapping (not unlike Poe’s raven’s tapping). Bradbury described his nine-year-old self tearing up what he loved (Buck Rogers comic strips) due to criticism from schoolmates. But where did he find the strength a month later to “judge all of his friends idiots and rush back to collecting?” Bradbury writes:

So I collected comics, fell in love with carnivals and World’s Fairs and began to write. And what, you ask, does writing teach us?

First and foremost, it reminds us that we are alive and that it is a gift and a privilege, not a right. We must earn life once it has been awarded us. Life asks for rewards back because it has favored us with animation.

So while our art cannot, as we wish it could, save us from wars, privation, envy, greed, old age, death, it can revitalize us amidst it all.

Secondly, writing is survival. Any art, any good work, of course, is that.

Not to write for many of us, is to die

And instantly, I knew what to do. I’d go back to school and learn to write (no more amateur scribbling). But first I’d drive to Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, because Ray Bradbury was scheduled to speak. I learned of the lecture the day after I dreamed of our meeting. So, naturally, I had to go.

On a stage, Bradbury read from his Zen book; he spoke of his childhood, but what resonated for me was that he never went to college. Yet, impassioned, he expressed his desire to learn and to write, a yearning so intense he spent countless hours—years!—in libraries, educating himself.

After his lecture, an authority figure announced the author would not be signing books (apparently, the man in charge knew nothing of my dream) so I, and a score of others, sneaked behind thick curtains, where Bradbury was seated—and waiting.

And he did sign our books and answer our questions. Though I barely remember anything he said as I floated backstage in a state of awe (I’d just had this dream!) and here he was with his shock of white hair, his black-framed glasses.

When it was my turn to hand over my copy, his eyes met mine. And all I could utter was (oh, God, this is so embarrassing to admit) but all I could say was, “I love you.” There, I said it. I told him I loved him. And he signed my book (smiling), stood up, and kissed me on the cheek.

I didn’t tell him about my dream; I barely managed those three simple words. But he seemed to appreciate my declaration, because he only stood for one, mine remained the lone kissed cheek. Or, I made a total ass of myself—but it was worth it.

For after his lecture, I went to college and camped in libraries. In literature classes, I read the enormous books from cover to cover, not just the few assigned poems and stories. And I spent hours and hours in my car and studied (because my three children in the house were so noisy).

Worth it because my signed copy of Zen in the Art of Writing is one of my most treasured possessions. Peek inside the Preface and Bradbury reminds to “dive head first into your typewriter.” And then he ends his opening with a gift:

And now:

I have come up with a new simile to describe myself lately. It can be yours.

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me.

After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.

Now, it’s your turn. Jump!

So much inspiration! It’s why “I love you” rose and sprung from my lips. And I’m grateful for not squandering the opportunity. Because Ray Bradbury—more than anyone—inspired me to make that leap into my own “deep well” and onto my keyboard.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I’ve never washed that Bradbury-kissed cheek. (Okay, I exaggerate; it’s the writer in me. But I did resist for nearly a week.)

And the kiss—still lives—in memories and dreams.

--

Read more from Darrelyn:

The Voice of Truth and Lies
Twitter: Food for the Muse
Better Than Brad Pitt? (Why You Should Go to Book Events)
Stay on Premise, Please!
The Song of Writing

Back from Alaska Round-Up (3 Tips)

Jane — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:39:06 GMT

I just returned from my 1-week adventure in Alaska. It is certainly the most foreign place I've ever been within the United States. You can check out photos here.

Here are 3 tips for your Alaska adventure:

One glacier experience is probably enough to satiate your curiosity about glaciers.
You haven't experienced Alaska unless you take advantage of the ubiquitous bush air services. Air is the most efficient form of transportation to and within the state; most towns do not have road or highway access, and that includes the state capital of Juneau.
Weather is extremely changeable. Think Gore-Tex.

And here are 3 tips on exciting stuff at Writer's Digest that I wasn't able to mention last week since I was completely off the grid (e.g., inside a glacier moulin, as pictured above).

Instant Publishing how-to class (Sep 17)
In one of my last conference workshops, I made the comment that with tools today, you can instantly publish yourself. One writer piped up, "Instant Publishing! I want a book on that topic!" In lieu of a book, I'm teaching a class on Thursday, Sept. 17 that gives you a tour of sites that provide instant publishing capabilities (free, very little or no tech experience required). I'll discuss how and when to make your content free, when to charge, and how to evaluate your success. The class fee is $79, with an opportunity for live Q&A. Click here for more info and a link to register.

8 Tips for Writers on Digital Change in Publishing (WD Conference)
Our big NYC event on Sept 18-20 is only a couple weeks away. If you've been on the fence about it, be sure to check out our very affordable 1-day registration options. You can get an excellent preview of Mike Shatzkin's keynote, "What do you tell a writer about digital change in publishing?" over at his blog. Even if you are not going to the event, don't miss his 8 tips.

New MFA Confidential blog
Just launched this week! Check out our newest addition to the Writer's Digest blog family by Kate Monahan, a 2nd year MFA student at The New School University in downtown New York City. One of her first posts is about 6 lessons learned during her first year.

More wonderful stuff still to come this week, including a guest post tomorrow by Darrelyn Saloom.

Below: A view of the Hubbard Glacier.

Monthly News from Glimmer Train

Jane — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:59:32 GMT

Glimmer Train has just selected the 50 winning entries for their first Best Start competition. Each wins $50 and makes Glimmer Train’s Best Start list. This competition is held quarterly and is open only to writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 3,000. Each submission should be an engaging, coherent narrative, but does not need to be a complete story, just an important part of a story in progress. Word count: under 1,000. Their next Best Start competition will take place in September.

Glimmer Train has also chosen the winning stories for their June Fiction Open competition. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers for stories with a word count range between 2000-20,000. No theme restrictions. Monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: Ingrid Hill of Iowa City, IA, wins $2000 for “Pavilion.” Her story will be published in the Fall 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in August 2010.

Second place: Adam Theron-Lee Rensch of Bronxville, NY, wins $1000 for “A Day in the Life.” His story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place: Sam Ruddick of Brighton, MA, wins $600 for “Flight.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here .

--

If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

Pain & Struggle: A Fundamental Part of Writing

Jane — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:46:09 GMT

Nearly one year ago, I came across the following passage on Galleycat:

Reflect on this philosophical dispute submitted by one poetry-devoted reader:

"The book was a collection of love poems by William Carlos Williams. The poem was 'Asphodel, that Greeny Flower.' And the specific line of the poem over which we disagreed was: 'I cannot say that I have gone to hell for your love but often found myself there in your pursuit.'

"Although my boyfriend and I had been dating seriously for about a year, we disagreed so vehemently about whether pain and struggle constitute a fundamental part of love that we decided to break up then and there after reading and discussing the poem."

It struck such a chord with me that I clipped it and saved it in my Google Notebook.

At first I only considered it in relation to romantic relationships (yes, absolutely pain and struggle constitute a fundamental part of love), but now I've started thinking of it in relation to writing and publishing too.

It applies in a multitude of situations, e.g.,

Hating writer's block and loving the eventual (hopeful) breakthrough
Loving to have written (but hating the writing itself)
Loving the end results of criticism/editing, but being wounded in the process

Makes it seem like the painful means or process justify the glorious end?

But the end can be painful too. The finished book: not quite good enough, there are things you can still improve, right? (I love that saying about poems/stories never being finished, only abandoned.)

And the agent or publisher: how you felt such jubilation upon getting that deal, getting their attention. Then … the sad end … maybe when the book doesn't sell as hoped. Maybe you can't get a second book deal. Maybe you lose the agent's or editor's attention. Maybe you have regrets.

The point?

To know that you're living it, experiencing it, because you can do no other thing. Because you must write. Because that's who you are.

Note: This applies to colleagues/editors too. I know few, if any, in this business who do it for anything but love. (Writers, take note. There is passion there too, even if it is a passion that seems to disagree with you ... again and again and again.)

***

Housekeeping note: I'm about to depart on a one-week vacation to Alaska. I may appear here, I may appear only on Twitter or Facebook, but look for a rather delayed Best Tweets on the week ending August 28.

Photo credit: SheWatchedtheSky

5 Questions for Those Who Don't Have Time to Market/Promote

Jane — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:46:44 GMT

(Pictured above: Writer's Digest and HOW editors/designers, promoting "Art of Manliness" project)

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both."
—James A. Michener

Early in my career, I often read articles and heard people talk about the mystical "work-life balance."

More recently, I've heard a term that makes a lot more sense: "work-life blend."

It is hard to answer people when they ask what I do for fun or how I spend my spare time. Much of what I do off the clock is the same exact thing I do on the clock. I'm reading, writing, engaging online, talking about transformational issues that are confronting creative people, particularly in the publishing industry, and the interesting solopreneur-reject-the-cube-life phenomenon.

So it always brings me back to earth when I speak to writers about marketing/promotion (especially when it comes to social media), and they say, "But how can I find the time for that!"

Here are five questions that occur to me when faced with this dilemma. I wish there were an easy answer, but everyone has to figure it out for themselves.

1. Why are you writing? If it's just for validation, catharsis, family/friends, or money, then of course you'll be worried about the time it takes to do everything required to be a successfully published author. It takes enormous time and energy—not to mention the patience of a saint—and only those prepared to devote everything will make it. And I can assure you the reward will NOT be monetary.

2. If you don't like the idea of spending time online with social media or figuring out new technologies, then what other strengths do you bring to the table? Hands down, online tools are the fastest and easiest way for unknown writers to begin building an audience, get better at their craft, and network with others who can make a difference in their careers. You don't want to spend time doing that? Then you'll likely have to find another area of your life (another strength area) that can help give you an advantage in the publishing landscape. For instance, do you have a phenomenal network through churches or a wide-reaching organization? Do you have expertise in a media channel that will help you spread the message about you and your work? Do you have friends in high places? You need something other than luck and a fool's hope to help you in the publishing journey. (As the F+W CEO likes to say, "Hope is not a business strategy.")

3. If you don't have time to spread the message about you and your work, then who will? The best promoter of any book is its author. Period. And unless you are best friends with Oprah or TV/radio producers, the best tool you have to spread your message is through online channels.

4. Are you willing to make sacrifices for your writing and publishing career? I often tell writers that getting involved with marketing/promotion doesn't take nearly as much time as they might be imagining. On the other hand: Yes, it will require an investment, and maybe your time is extremely limited and precious. In that case, decide what you're willing to give up. Sleep? Exercise? TV shows? We're all given the same amount of time in the day. You decide and control how you spend that time. (For advice on getting more stuff done, visit Zen Habits.)

5. Do you have discipline? This blog is no stranger to the words "persistence," "passion," even "chance." These can all be essential for every writer. But the most boring secret of best-selling writers I know is discipline. Discipline to put in the time it takes, and discipline not to get sucked into time-wasting activities. (Discipline means checking e-mail at predetermined times each day and keeping it a focused activity. Same with Facebook, Twitter, and other online media.) Being able to focus on a task to the exclusion of all else is fast becoming a rare trait.

Finally, for me, there is an intangible element here of work as play. Authentic author marketing and promotion, the kind that builds on your strengths, should be a labor of love. (See here.)

Your audience/readers shouldn't feel like you are "working" when you are interacting and communicating with them. They should feel like you're at play.

That's what you're shooting for. Or that's what I shoot for.

Figuring Out Your Facebook Strategy: 3 Essential Tips

Jane — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:54:18 GMT

In May 2006, after reading this article in the New Yorker, I joined Facebook, which at that time was primarily used by students. Not being a student, I found very few people to friend, so the account lay dormant for 18 months until Facebook really took off as a direct competitor to MySpace.

At first, I only friended people I knew very well and had met in person—and I didn't receive that many requests from strangers anyway. Then I gradually and tentatively started friending people I had virtual relationships with, but had not met, feeling oddly like I was using the site "wrong." (Facebook used to ask for confirmation on how you knew someone, and if you couldn't verify from a pre-selected list of options, it reprimanded you. Seriously!)

Then maybe 6 months ago, I witnessed what Robert Brewer, editor of WritersMarket.com, was doing. He had a few thousand friends (and now has maxed out at 5,000!), and he had an amazing network of really cool people who were engaged, supportive, and excited about his work (particularly Poetic Asides). Plus he shared endearing and personable information that really developed him as a "real" person, without being indiscrete or falling into the TMI trap.

I suddenly questioned my Facebook strategy. What was I really protecting anyway? I was already Facebook friends with current and former colleagues, former classmates I hadn't seen in 20 years, and others who I don't know any better (on a personal level) than someone who follows my writing through this blog or Writer's Digest.

Plus I adopted the philosophy many years ago that I would avoid posting anything online (even in a "private" network) that I wouldn't be comfortable sharing with the world.

So I decided to open up the strategy and accept friend requests from people who were already friends with other friends, who I had met at conferences, who were readers of my blog, who had taken an online class with me, and/or anyone who included a brief note with their request. (Click here to friend me.)

Here are three tips on having an open Facebook strategy, particularly for people who might have a book, product, service, or message to spread.

1. To manage a growing number of friends, make sure that you tag everyone as part a group. You can do this immediately when people request to be your friend, or you can always apply and change/add tags later. Here's a screenshot of what this looks like:

The benefit of having such lists is that it helps you manage privacy controls (e.g., if you only want your vacation photos viewable by close friends/family), and you can also target messages/invitations to specific lists.

However: As wonderful as privacy controls are, they can really backfire if people find out you've blocked them from certain areas of your profile. Make sure you know what you're doing. Plus I never assume such controls are infallible.

2. Decide what kind of focus you want your Facebook presence to have. For instance, my Facebook wall is focused on information relevant to writing and publishing. It includes an automated feed from my Writer's Digest blog (meaning my blog posts are automatically posted to my wall), and I share articles of interest to writers.

I had a friend joke recently that I was the only person he knew whose Facebook page was used for professional purposes, and that last time he checked out my profile, a window popped up to accept his credit card.

Ouch!

But that's a warning to everyone: you can't treat Facebook as a sales tool. Rather, it's a way to give people another way to interact, learn, trust. I see it as sharing & service, and if I'm lucky, so do others (rather than as a sales tactic).

I bet some people would pay though to see some of the high school photos available in my Facebook albums.

3. To avoid a complete time sink, decide what kinds of activity/requests you will engage in and which you will ignore. For instance, I don't participate in any types of games, causes, or other past times on Facebook (for awhile I indulged in Scrabble, but stopped). I also make the "chat" tool inactive for everyone except a few personal connections. I take the occasional frivolous quiz and post the results, which always leads to fun and valuable interaction.

I often get this question: Should I create a fan page for myself or my book/product, and keep this separate from my personal page? There's nothing wrong with this approach, and given the 5,000-friend limit in place for personal profiles, it can make sense for someone who expects to have a very large following (I'm looking at you, Robert—who did in fact just create a fan page!). But for most writers/authors starting out, without a separate and distinct business or book/product, it doesn't make sense to segment your Facebook presence and manage two profiles and two sets of interactions.

And that's key: Facebook allows interaction on a level that I can't get anywhere else, helps keep connections going, and offers many opportunities I wouldn't have otherwise had to offer help or be helped. The interactions you have will be as meaningful and authentic as what you put into it. I hope to see you there. Plus: Become a fan of the Writer's Digest page.

(And, to beat the drum: Are you looking for more expertise on social media for writers? Check out our September conference, featuring Chris Brogan as keynote!)

The Voice of Truth and Lies

Jane — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:42:44 GMT

Today's guest post is from regular contributor Darrelyn Saloom. Follow this most lovely writer on Twitter. The photo above is of Darrelyn's grandmother Ara Coleman Wilkerson (1900-1929).

I’ve written about feeding The Muse (who craves poetry and art in a quest to inspire). But once inspiration has sprung forth and the bones have been written, it’s time to listen to Intuition while you edit and revise. For a writer’s life is an inward journey that must tell truth from lies.

Many writers balk at this part of the writing process, but it can be a pleasurable mine: to confer with your sixth-sense (though she can nag at times), but only because she lives in the subconscious and is indefatigable and wise.

Intuition is the voice you can’t hear because it’s a hunch, an inkling you feel as you rewrite. It questions word usage. And pesters that something’s not right: an awkward sentence, a paragraph, or (at worst) every line. And she can be better than spell check at times.

One way to recognize Intuition is to recall moments when compelled to act in the midst of strife. Perhaps an impromptu visit to a friend, you encountered a future wife; or you didn’t go when the light turned green, which may have saved your life.

You can also identify Intuition by evoking occasions you scoffed her advice. Remember that test you took, knew you had the wrong answer, refused to change it, and failed to get it right; or sped through an intersection as yellow blinked to red, and then saw flashing blue lights.

Can you hear it now? Don’t be so sure. It may be the voice of language: the loud one that encourages more pie “With ice cream this time!” The one that has had too much to drink and says, “It’s okay to drive!” And it’s a familiar voice. But do you know her name?

As a writer, it’s imperative to discern the difference. Listen. Can you hear it? Is it the voice that uses words? That tries to convince editing is not your job, but the job of a publisher’s sprite. “Don’t they have an entire staff to do this stuff?” it cries.

Did you hear it? That’s the voice of Sabotage, and it’s the voice of lies.
So now that you know the difference, be still and quiet when time to rewrite. Summon an instance when a hunch or inkling proved to be right. Listen to the soundless voice of Intuition. And take her advice.

* * *

When I first sat down to write about Intuition, I wrote a story about my grandmother, Ara, who died of tuberculosis when my father was seven. She left three young sons behind. I had never met my uncles until my father was about to die. An emotional few days, I felt the presence of my grandmother the entire time.

The day my uncles flew home, my sister Jeanne and I escorted our father to his radiation appointment. I drove the car and was compelled not to go when the light turned green, which may have saved our lives. Because a delivery truck ran its red light and barreled through the intersection. And the truck had a sign. In bold letters we watched ARA SERVICES go by.

That day I named Intuition for my grandmother Ara. And when it came time to edit and revise this piece, every line but the one about the green light was deleted and out poured The Voice of Truth and Lies. So this is for my grandmother Ara, who sits with me when I rewrite.

Keep Your Career Alive by Following the Reader

Jane — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:21:21 GMT

Today I had a wonderful conversation with Mr. Media (Bob Andelman) about Writer's Digest, the writing/publishing community, and the future ahead for writers. You can listen to the recording of the live show here.

While the conversation was initially sparked by this previous Mr. Media interview, we spent much our time discussing issues affecting writers.

Many newspaper/magazine/publishing outlets are disappearing—due to lack of advertising revenue, readership, and/or sales. So writers have to look for those places where readers are actually engaged and spending their money. That's where the money will follow for content creators, and I use that moniker very specifically. It's not about being a freelancer or journalist or author any more. Most often, it's about providing content, in a variety of forms, or adapting it for different audiences and purposes. Same goes for the future of publishing and media companies; they don't provide just a book or a magazine—they provide content or, you could say, a service wrapped around that content.

I like the idea of following the reader. There is a blog now called Follow the Reader that discusses some of these issues (in relation to book publishing), and you can follow Twitter conversations on the topic (#followreader).

See the conversation on Twitter about "follow the reader."
Visit the blog Follow the Reader.
Read about the conference we're hosting this September that will help you follow the reader.

Are You Too Ambitious for Your Own Good?

Jane — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:06:48 GMT

Ira Glass has some of the best advice I've ever read for writers, at least in relation to great storytelling. He's said that you have to be willing to be bad at what you do for a long time until you actually can achieve the vision of perfection you have in your head. He even puts himself out on a limb and offers recordings illuminating how bad he was at radio when he first started.

I was reminded of Ira when my writer-friend Teresa Fleming shared with me the following letter from Charles Dickens, where he responds to an aspiring writer.

Tuesday, Feb. 5th, 1867.

DEAR SIR,

I have looked at the larger half of the first volume of your novel, and have pursued the more difficult points of the story through the other two volumes.

You will, of course, receive my opinion as that of an individual writer and student of art, who by no means claims to be infallible.

I think you are too ambitious, and that you have not sufficient knowledge of life or character to venture on so comprehensive an attempt. Evidences of inexperience in every way, and of your power being far below the situations that you imagine, present themselves to me in almost every page I have read. It would greatly surprise me if you found a publisher for this story, on trying your fortune in that line, or derived anything from it but weariness and bitterness of spirit.

On the evidence thus put before me, I cannot even entirely satisfy myself that you have the faculty of authorship latent within you. If you have not, and yet pursue a vocation towards which you have no call, you cannot choose but be a wretched man. Let me counsel you to have the patience to form yourself carefully, and the courage to renounce the endeavour if you cannot establish your case on a very much smaller scale. You see around you every day, how many outlets there are for short pieces of fiction in all kinds. Try if you can achieve any success within these modest limits (I have practised in my time what I preach to you), and in the meantime put your three volumes away.

Faithfully yours.

Yikes, right? (You can read more Dickens letters here.)

Here's the secret, though: If you're the writer, do you read this and think: I should just stop trying.

Or do you read this and think: He doesn't know how wrong he is!

Writers in training know they're not good, but they know they're getting better. And they go on to fight another day.

Photo credit: wallyg

Monthly News from Glimmer Train

Jane — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:47:33 GMT

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their May Short Story Award for New Writers competition. This competition is held quarterly and is open to any writer whose fiction hasn’t appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5,000. No theme restrictions. Word count range: 500-12,000. Their monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place
Noa Jones of New York, NY (pictured above), wins $1200 for “Brother Ron”. Her story will be published in the Fall 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in August 2010.

Second place
Farley Urmston of Sherborn, MA, wins $500 for “Pretending”.

Third place
Benjamin Janse of Jamaica Plain, MA, wins $300 for “The Great Storm”.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline approaching!

Very Short Fiction Award: July 31. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers for stories with a word count range not exceeding 3,000. No theme restrictions. Click here for complete guidelines.

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If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

Turn Your Dragons Into Princesses

Jane — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:45:36 GMT

Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet is one of the greatest writing advice books of all time. You can highlight nearly every passage as an inspirational gem. But there isn't any quantifiable advice in it.

As much as Writer's Digest focuses on the nuts-and-bolts of craft/technique, and beats the drum of marketing and promotion, everyone on staff recognizes that what sets the successful apart from the unsuccessful is rarely quantifiable.

Maybe there are some numbers you can look at, for a vague generalization:

Kevin Kelley's 1,000 fans
Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours (as explained by Seth Godin)
John Grisham's many rejections

These numbers only point to a larger felt sense that a writer knows in his gut, physically (but may intellectually ignore) when it comes to recognizing the effort or determination required.

But your motivation and desire to write or express yourself doesn't lie in the numbers. Whether you like it or not, it keeps its home in the hopes and fears that go much deeper than the writing goals you might have set for yourself.

One of my favorite passages from Rilke:

Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deeps something helpless that wants help from us.

We all have some kind of dragon holding us back, and we typically give it a name that obscures its real identity. Maybe your dragon is "not enough time" or "writer's block" or "publishing industry is unfair." But is that really the true, felt sense of what's holding you back? Only you can tell. (And I recommend this book to find out what that true, felt sense might be.)

Every creative person, every artist, needs someone who encourages them, who can see the potential inside, who can see the princess in the dragon. My father told me as a little girl that I could do anything and be anything that I wanted. And I could tell he really believed it. And so I believed it too.

What do you hang onto? What can turn your dragon into a princess?

Note: It's a busy week for me, so I'll have guest blogger Jim Adam here on Wednesday-Friday. (Curious what I'm up to? Check out my live, online class on query letters this Thursday, and the Midwest Writers Workshop.)

Photo credit: james_michael_hill

10 Steps to Put Social Networking Under Your Spell

Jane — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:23:46 GMT

Today's guest post is from content maven Meryl Evans. She helps businesses build and maintain relationships with clients and prospects through content. She’s also a long-time blogger who started blogging on June 1, 2000. Follow Meryl on Twitter.

Do you scream for help in removing the spell that social networking has cast over you? Do social network sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube hypnotize you for hours, stealing your magical paid work time?

Social networking may affect more people in our industry because we know writing can be a lonely job, especially those doing it on a freelance basis from a home office. Even introverts desire to connect with someone and the Twitters of the Internet enchant us.

Here are some easy clues that signify you're bewitched, bothered, and bewildered by social networking:

You press "get new e-mail messages" constantly.
You're always looking for @yourname Twitter replies.
You check for wall updates on Facebook.
You watch the latest viral video on YouTube.

Many folks (me included) are guilty of these behaviors even though we have loads of work. Our work doesn't fulfill our human need for connection. Social networking can and does for many of us.

Look all you want, but you won't find a magical overnight cure. Instead, call upon common sense, organization, and getting things done (GTD) thinking. These strategies will help you dip into the social networking cauldron without double double, toil and trouble—or tracking down eye of newt and wool of bat.

Accept that you can't keep up with all of the social networking sites. You're not the only one struggling with this. It's OK not to join or use everything. (See #8.)
Post a profile on major social networking sites. You don't have to do it all at once. Notice I've said "major" sites.
Connect your accounts with other sites. For example, LinkedIn has an application that imports your blog entries into LinkedIn. Facebook has the same and can also import your Twitter feed (may not be a good idea, but that's not in this recipe). FriendFeed is a pro at integrating your account with others.
Pick a few sites to use on a regular basis. Remember writing and reading blogs count.
Schedule your participation. Twitter isn't about posting one tweet after another. You could start with five minutes in the morning, again at lunch time, and do a last check in the evening. Whatever works for you. Routine turns things into a habit.
Turn off e-mail notifications. For sites you don't use regularly, turn off your e-mail notifications so they don't drive you crazy. (See #7 for another option.)
Filter all social media e-mail into a single folder. If you still want to receive e-mails knowing when someone connects with you, then set up e-mail filters to send all messages from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on into one folder. It's less bothersome than messages in your inbox and in your face.
Join other networks as you come across them. Your connections will invite you to yet another social network site. You never know who uses one site more than another, and you never know what the next big thing in social networking will be unless you have a crystal ball and an available medium. Be open.
Do social networking when stuck. Social networking is a marketing tool for writers, therefore it should be a no-guilt activity as long as you focus on building relationships and sharing knowledge.
Close the browser or application. Get off the social network site or related application. Don't leave it open. Douse whatever tempts you.

This 10-step recipe will put you in charge of stirring bubbles of your social networking time. And be vigilant: networks can still charm their way back and cause time management trouble.

Photo credit: Steph Gary Evie Jack and Thomas

That Unquantifiable Factor That Helps You Get Published and Succeed

Jane — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:17:58 GMT

Lately I've come across a refrain of advice that gets truer the longer I'm in the business: the strength of your relationships is essential to getting ahead, which means having a network of people who like you and/or trust you.

A few examples:

I'm reading a yet-to-be-published business book by a woman who was the first female VP of manufacturing at Procter & Gamble. Her entire argument comes down to trust. Are you creating experiences with your colleagues that lead them to trust you, recommend you, and essentially "vote" for you to get the new project, get promoted, or get a new job?

Here's a story of a 14-year-old who got hired at Apple. Years later, he says success is attributable to people liking him. Quote:

Recognize that by being useful and good to others, you will eventually build a very strong team of supporters. They’ll lift you up to new heights and protect you. If you falter they will be there to bring you back up and support you.

I think it’s one of the most overlooked components of business. Simply, we’re always able to say that at the end of the day, all you have is your friends.

Seth Godin speaks in this 1-minute video about social networking done right—how it can be relevant and helpful, or entirely pointless, depending on how you're using it. Are you helping people achieve their goals, reliably and repeatedly? Collecting masses of followers will not help you succeed.

For writers, this is why I advise going to conferences and meeting with people in the industry. Even if you have only a moment to make an impression, if that person likes you or is impressed by you, then it makes your job easier when it comes time to query or submit.

Part of the problem with the cold query or cold contact is that no relationship has been established, and the person on the receiving end doesn't know if you're nice or crazy. That's why referrals are so valuable to writers—because they help agents/editors feel confident and compelled to pay attention if the recommendation comes from someone they trust.

On side note, but related: In my final month of high school, there was a highly unfortunate incident where I unwittingly distributed to the entire school, via e-mail, another student's private and unflattering opinion of an administrator. As a student with a trouble-free record, it was mortifying—and even more mortifying when I got raked over the coals for it. I had to call my mother in front of the head administrator and describe the entire embarrassing incident, then was grounded to my room for a week, except for class time and meals. (It was a residential high school.)

I'll never forget that administrator staring at me squarely and declaring, "I would not say to THIS WALL what I would not say to THE WORLD."

Point being: Your interactions with people—and what you say and do—matter tremendously. When you complain, cast aspersions, or talk negatively about any situation or person, no matter what the setting/environment, always consider the repercussions. Sometimes, even when we think we are confiding privately, it is much more public than we realize. And it can lead to people being wary of us and less trusting.

Think about the kind of person you trust, like, and recommend—they probably make you feel good afterward, not drained. It's like Aunt Josephine said in Anne of Green Gables: "I like people who make me like them. Saves me so much trouble forcing myself to like them."

Photo credit: Sara Lechner

The Secret Weapon Behind Writer's Digest Books

Jane — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:05:26 GMT

Our executive editor of Writer's Digest Books—who has been part of Writer's Digest for longer than I have—is probably the best-kept secret we have around here. That's because she's a little shy, a bit modest, and likes to work behind the scenes.

Starting today, we're gently nudging her into the limelight by launching Kelly's Picks. For those of you who know and fondly recall the Writer's Digest Book Club (which folded last year), Kelly's Picks is meant to offer some of the same personalized recommendations, straight from the person who acquires the 20+ titles per year for our list. Kelly knows writing how-to books better than anyone (plus aspires to get that Great American Novel written).

Kelly works with nearly every author on our list—James Scott Bell, Donald Maass, NM Kelby, and Heather Sellers, just to name a few. She's so endeared to our authors that one of them dedicated her most recent Writer's Digest Book to her:

I hope you'll enjoy this new feature at WritersDigest.com, and both Kelly and I welcome your feedback on what would be helpful to you in selecting the best books to advance your craft and your career.

Follow Kelly on Twitter: @kmnickell

The Hardest Part About Developing Platform (Who Are You Anyway?)

Jane — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:05:26 GMT

The hardest part about developing a platform is deciding what you're all about. In business terms, it would be considered your unique selling proposition (USP).

Identifying this USP—or your reason for being!—involves deep self-knowledge, an understanding of what you want out of life, and how that interrelates with what other people need and enjoy.

It boils down to 3 questions:

What are you passionate about?
Who's your audience?
What are your strengths?

Think of it as a Venn diagram.

What are you passionate about?
What's the unique content, authentic experience, or remarkable work you would undertake even if you weren't paid for it? What motivates you to get up in the morning?

Who's your audience?
What are the needs of your audience? How do they want to be approached? What kinds of appeals are they most receptive to? Where can they be found?

What are your strengths?
When are you strongest in interacting and reaching and serving? What formats or mediums are a good fit for you—and match your passion? When is your content/service/product at its best? (Example of bad fit: Your passion for the cave dwelling Luddite movement combined with your Twitter marketing strength.)

What you're looking for is that moment of peak experience, when who you are and what you're passionate about and how it is expressed or manifested all comes together to create a compelling experience that your audience needs and loves.

Think about times when you've experienced peak performance, the times when you felt you were in your absolute element, better than anyone else in the world at what you were doing in that moment. You felt happy, fulfilled, relaxed, joyful. Some people call it "flow."

That's the seed of your platform.

Writing Advice Hasn't Changed Much Since 1921

Jane — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:36:40 GMT

On my desk I keep a copy of one of the first Writer's Digest titles, How to Write Short Stories by L. Josephine Bridgart, published in 1921. It is a subtle reminder of how little things have changed when it comes to writing and publishing. Below is an excerpt from the very first chapter, "Common Sense in Viewing One's Work."

—

Writing for publication is a business. If the new writer will accept this fact he will have laid a foundation upon which, if he have the necessary natural ability, he can build success.

If a young woman tells you that she intends to take up nursing, and later reveals that her chief reason for doing so is that the uniforms in a certain hospital have attracted her, or that she enjoys reading to the sick, or dislikes the business life her father has suggested for her, or has heard that nurses make a great deal of money, you immediately feel that her nursing will not be a great success. You reason that nursing involves some very hard and disagreeable duties and that a girl who think only of the incidental pleasures or the monetary rewards is pretty sure to fail. It is not common business sense to enter a profession without taking into consideration the requirements of that profession.

I have read this lack of common business sense between the lines of many a first story. Some of these stories tell how a young girl with no experience won a prize in a short story or novel contest; often the prize-winning story was written in an afternoon, or an evening, or in the dead of night as the result of an idea which came to the author after she had retired. Some of these stories are about attractive young women who sold an editor a manuscript because she was attractive, or because she was poor, or because she was sick or saucy. Such stories show plainly that the authors are depending on personal charm or "an inspiration" or luck rather than upon hard work to win acceptances. They do not stop to reason that before they can hope to sell a manuscript they must learn how to produce a manuscript that some editor will want to buy. …

Unless you respect the principles governing the construction of a story or an article or a poem you cannot produce a manuscript that the careful editor will consider worthy of a place in his magazine. In any other trade or profession, the beginner expects to encounter a great deal of hard work. He expects to master certain rules, learn to apply them, and then make himself skillful by practice. Writing for publication means careful preparation and a great deal of hard work, just as millinery and surgery and sculpture do.

In her autobiography Ellen Terry tells of actresses who had explained to her that they did not care to be hampered by the rules. The successful actress had replied that it was wise to learn the rules before one decided to abandon them. "Before you can be eccentric," she commented pithily, "you must know where the circle is." …

The editor does not care at all about rules as rules. He wants a manuscript that will hold his readers' interest. If you can break the rules and still produce a manuscript that will grip the attention from the first sentence to the last you need not fear that your irregularities will cause you a rejection.

Monthly News From Glimmer Train

Jane — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:28:31 GMT

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their April Family Matters competition. This competition is held twice a year and is open to all writers for stories about family, with a word count range 500-12,000. Monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place
Randolph Thomas of Baton Rouge, LA (shown right), wins $1200 for “According to Foxfire”. His story will be published in the Fall 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in August 2010.

Second place
Amy S. Gottfried of Thurmont, MD, wins $500 for “Chim Chiminy”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing her prize to $700.

Third place
Abe Gaustad of Germantown, TN, wins $300 for “A Month of Rain”.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadlines approaching!

Fiction Open: June 30

This quarterly competition is open to all writers for stories on any theme, with a word count range of 2000-20,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

Best Start: June 30

This new category is different from their others in that the piece should be an engaging and coherent narrative, but it does not need to be a complete story; it needs to be an important part of a story in progress. Only open to writers whose fiction has not appeared in a nationally distributed print publication with a circulation over 3000. Maximum word count: 1000. Click here for complete guidelines.

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If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

Stay on Premise, PLEASE!

Jane — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:10:40 GMT

Today's guest post features once again the delightful Darrelyn Saloom. (You can read her first guest post here, "The Song of Writing.") I'm sure you've all experienced some variation of the story below, which illustrates a huge lesson that some writers never learn—how to leave out all the unnecessary details! (Below: a picture of Darrelyn and her husband.)

My first stay-on-premise lesson was in a freshman creative writing class, Wendall Mayo handed back my long short story and told me he liked it—all five of them!

Hmmm? I expected a Pulitzer Prize, not this. Okay, so maybe I wandered a bit here—oh, yes—and there. But I thought it would explain this, prepare the reader for that. So, maybe he had a point. But it’s a great story! I thought. But no epiphany.

Until Mardi Gras. My husband, Danny, and I stood in a noisy, inebriated crowd to watch the parade. A tacky float towered above us as we jumped and bumped and fought for beads. We were waiting for the next float when a woman (we barely knew) huddled next to us and started talking. She told us she almost missed her flight to get here. And even with all the noise, we grinned and bent towards her to listen to her story.

On the way to the airport she had stopped for coffee. She ran into an old friend, who was married to her ex-husband’s cousin. Oh, oh, oh, she almost forgot that the cousin had been taking a break from posting pictures of her lost dog, Muffin, that often ran away, but never for three days! … I mean, she had a dog once that …

Here came the next float, but the woman kept talking. She was not even to the airport yet. She had segued from Muffin the dog to her own dog to her ex-husband’s cousin’s marital history! Danny and I stuck up our arms to show her we wanted to scatter like children to catch beads. But she kept talking. I could hear a band in the distance—The Northside High School Band—my favorite! But she kept talking and talking and talking.

My husband’s grin slipped away. And then his eyes began to glaze. By the time his chin pointed skyward, I knew she had lost him. But now a relative had died! Tears pooled in her eyes! So I made Ooh sounds to confirm the relative’s sudden death was terrible. A tragedy! But what happened to the almost-missed-my-flight story?

The Northside High School Band marched closer. I started to dance a little, not knowing if this was appropriate (but not really caring at that point.) The band stopped about a block away to twirl batons, gyrate, and shake. These kids could really dance, and I longed to spin around to watch them. But the woman’s swollen tears had spilled to her cheeks!

Which Danny never saw because he continued to stare skyward. And then he began to roll his head. He rolled and rolled until he (brilliantly) swung his body on the last roll, broke the huddle, and slinked away. And left me with the talking (now crying) woman.

When the marching band finally parked in front of us, I threw my hands to my ears, mouthed that I could no longer hear her, and whirled and wiggled and bopped away. The whole time thinking of Wendall Mayo’s lesson on premise, a lesson now pounded into me with every glorious bass drum beat.

Never heard how the woman raced across the airport in the nick of time to catch her flight. And, by the time I abandoned her on the crowded street, I really didn’t care. Her storytelling bored and confused me. All I wanted to do was to flee.

So if you ever find yourself telling a story. And the listeners’ eyes start to glaze, or their heads start to roll, or (heaven forbid) they flee. Chances are pretty good you’ve gone off your premise. So next time—for story’s sake—stay on premise, PLEASE!

Does Talent Eventually Get Discovered?

Jane — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:55:38 GMT

Many writers attend conferences to pitch their work to industry professionals, and nowhere is that more true than at our BEA event that we held on May 27, where more than 400 writers showed up to participate in our Pitch Slam with 70+ agents/editors.

One of the writers in attendance, Lystra Pitts (also an Editors' Intensive graduate), wrote up a reflection on this event that illustrates what I've seen happen to many thoughtful and sensitive writers:

There is nothing like a convention room filled to the brim with writers to illustrate how desperate my situation is. These writers, who I am sure believe in their work as much as I believe in mine, all paid their hard earned money, money they didn’t earn writing, to be there. THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF US IN THAT ROOM. Hundreds, who like me crossed great distances and spent extravagant amounts of money to get a few precious moments with an agent. Writers are not in short supply.

I wondered what would happen if every person in that room had a brilliant masterpiece, a novel of unequaled quality, the magnum opus of their genre in our time—would the agents be able to take them all? Would they all get published?

I believe that the sad answer to that question is no. There are too many of us for all our talent to be recognized. The system cannot take everything it is offered, no matter how good it is.

Luckily, I am sure that only a handful of the people in that room had good stories. Right? That is what they would have you believe, that is how the system is set up. But I don’t know. I heard a lot of pitches, both practicing with strangers and overhearing the guys and gals in front of me and I liked most of the story ideas I heard. I am sure that a lot of people in that crowd had mediocre stories or mediocre writing skills and they will be rightfully culled from the herd. Won’t they? Again I am not sure. I have read a lot of really bad books, and I know you have too.

The system cannot guarantee that it will discover all the talented writers nor can it weed out the untalented. So I have to wonder how does one succeed in such a fundamentally flawed establishment? The only answer I have is luck. You have to get lucky, bottom line. It sounds bad right? But it isn’t as bad as all that. You can work with luck.

[Read the full post from Lystra here.]

I've debated this question for years:

Does talented work eventually get discovered? Does it bubble to the top?

Or do many talented writers go undiscovered?

For many years, I've thought that eventually talent gets its due. It gets discovered. (Yes, I've been called naive.)

Now, I think differently. But not because I've become cynical.

Talent isn't enough.

Frankly, luck plus talent isn't enough either.

Of course there's persistence, that's key. Because lots of people give up when success is around the corner. (I blogged about that here.)

Then there are those who are persistent but stubborn in their ways. It's those writers who can't seem to change direction or vision when they've received the kind of consistent or expert feedback that calls for a course correction.

Some people are stubborn and refuse to change. And sometimes bitterness follows. These are often the talented people I see who won't get discovered.

If you feel like a stranger or outsider to this whole publishing business, if you get downtrodden and bitter and start to beat yourself and others up about it, and try to make the publishing world submit to your will, it's a big problem.

Which side of the question do you fall on? Does talent eventually get discovered?

Photo credit: wstryder

WORKING and NOT WORKING with regard to the WRITING of REAL-WRITING

Jane — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:25:16 GMT

Today's guest post is from writer Nath Jones. I've known Nath since 1992, when we both started attending a quirky high school on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. She now lives in Chicago and has been attending Northwestern for a graduate degree in creative writing. You can find out more about her work here.

If I am sitting in my apartment on the couch, if I then tip over after a while and grab “The Journals of Lewis and Clark” up off the floor, if I pull the sea-foam blue, down-blanket over my shoulders, drop the book, and fall almost all the way asleep while listening to the cars go by outside on criss-crossing streets, it could be argued that I am not working.

But I’m a writer. A person devoted to her craft, sacrificing every other aspect of life to the fulfillment of this one dream. There is so much that goes in to becoming a “real writer.” Yet, most of the time, it’s still hard to take the whole thing seriously. Before getting very far in a writing life, one must find some professional bearings. One of the hardest things to figure out is deciding for oneself what constitutes “real writing” and “really working.”

Writing is a sort of exercise in futility. So writing, when one does not believe fully in oneself, has about it, an element of the absurd. It seems that one would have an easier time spinning straw into gold. And it is exceedingly difficult to believe oneself capable of spinning straw into gold—though it is much easier than believing oneself a “real writer.”

Where might one go to figure out how to spin straw into gold? There is only one place, into the mind. But what a journey! Is there any more daunting? No. But becoming a writer does not have to be a lonely and exhaustive survey of the psyche’s wild back country. Many writers have made this exact same foray into a world of what amounts to nonsense.

Nonsense? Sure, nonsense. The whole point of writing is to make sense, creating meaning. But the process of writing—the place where writing occurs if you will—is nebulous. Existence in such a place is disorienting, because it is riddled with ideas that do not yet adhere in ways that make sense.
Still, one does not need to reinvent every wheel and insist upon flailing around in the bush with a machete. (Yet I have had quite a bit of fun blazing my own trails my own way, and do, in fact, recommend it.)

But the question remains, am I working at all if I’m just bush-whacking my brain on the couch and not writing “real writing?” If I’m overcoming fears related to self-doubt, is that productive? Is it enough to practice, to go through the motions, to submit to the indulgence and pathology of a constant clattering at the keyboard, to inundate every single person I know with communiqué?

There is such a lack of tangibility in “really working”. It is so confusing. There are plenty of days when I am doing things that are absolutely necessary to becoming a “real writer” but don’t translate into pages of novels, short stories, or essays. This makes it very difficult to feel that one is “becoming a real writer.” When you are thinking, developing ideas to points of saturation, researching, reading, emailing, reading literary websites, it’s hard not to answer the phone when family members call. It’s hard not to drop everything if someone has free tickets to an afternoon ballgame. And it’s hard to take yourself seriously as a professional when even the “real work” you’re doing involves quite a bit of dithering, fiddling, and outright “dicking around online.”

It would seem that maybe—if I had a support system of individuals worth listening to—that I should be out finding respectable clothes, shopping for groceries, and toning my abs instead of allowing endless hours to disappear into the maw of self-doubt. But no. The writing is more important.

So. Couch. Book. Blanket. Dreams. And one is likely to confront various personal inadequacies in the discovery of this sense of professionalism. So a real writer will commit much of ones time to negotiating the strictures of paralysis and suffocation. Disbelief is daunting and constantly overcoming it takes a huge amount of time in a writing life. Of all the hours I devote to the productive development of my craft, I still must spend many more confronting inability. Yet, if you log those hours, and wait out the doubt, it almost always pays off.

Somehow, it always seems to happen, that suddenly I’m spinning straw into gold. Sometimes I still find myself stopping short, thinking. “What is straw?” “What is spinning?” “What is gold?” In context, they’re all abstractions. The meaning assigned to abstraction flexes, changes with the light. I’m constantly assigning meaning to these concepts. At any given moment “straw” can mean “life,” or “childhood,” or “grief.” Gold may mean, “a finely crafted piece of work,” or “income,” or “acceptance by a broad readership.”

Well, if that’s not confusing, I don’t know what is. It’s easy to see how a person can end up right back on the couch. Unless one has a very clear vision, writing can quickly become a mixed up jumble of cross-purposes. It’s like a cook trying to make soft caramels and chicken pot pie in the same bowl at the same time. It can’t happen. It won’t work. A writer simply cannot be trying to turn grief into income, while at the same time trying to turn childhood into a finely crafted piece of work.

Published or not, I’m a real writer, even on the couch under the blanket exercising avoidance on hundreds of fronts. And even on the couch, I’m really working. Benign catatonia is a significant percentage of what it means for me to exist as a writer. Why? Because nine times out of ten, I wake abruptly from somnolence and am compelled to record some newly discovered idea right then and there. For the next twenty minutes, or several hours on the really good days, no one could convince me that I am not working. I’m definitely working. It is undeniable. I’m busy. I’m writing. Don’t even think about interrupting me.

Monthly News From Glimmer Train

Jane — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:03:49 GMT

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their March Fiction Open. This quarterly competition is open to all writers for stories on any theme, with a word count range of 2000-20,000. Monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place
Justin Torres of New York, NY, wins $2000 for “Surrender Unto Us”. His story will be published in the Summer 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in May 2010.

Second place
Vauhini Vara of Iowa City, IA, wins $1000 for “We’ll Rise Above the Sky”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Third place
Keith Meatto of New York, NY, wins $600 for “Tierra Santa”.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Also: Short Story Award for New Writers competition (deadline soon approaching! May 31) Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and first place is $1,200 and publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers who haven’t had their fiction appear in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. Word count range 500-12,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

And beginning June 1, Glimmer Train opens a brand new category! Guidelines here: Best Start

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If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.

Just a Start (How a Writer Builds Confidence)

Jane — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:46:35 GMT

Today's guest post is from the lovely Jane Koenen Bretl—an aspiring author taking one day at a time, and writing about it. Her blog, jane, candid, is a sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, often irreverent account of one mom trying to start a writing career and make the kids catch the bus. Really, it’s just one jane’s look at life.

As someone just embarking on a new writing career, I am hard-pressed to offer hard-earned wisdom or sage writing advice. I have, oh, maybe 20 more years of rejection letters to look forward to before I will feel qualified to offer those nuggets of wisdom to the readers of this blog. What I can share is one jane's journey to become an Author, the kind I think of with a capital A.

Technically, I have no formal writing education. A business degree, ten years in the food industry, nearly a decade as a full-time mom, a children’s photography business of my own—none of these pursuits specifically qualify me to write more than newsletter cover articles and the Christmas card letter. Still, through career after career, one thought returns time and again—the desire to express myself through writing, and to ultimately be published. Sometimes it is better for me not to know how much I don’t know. The publishing industry might serve as a good example. However, a series of serendipitous events landed me in a writing course last June, where I finally found the courage to pursue my dream of becoming an author—to step off the ledge of comfort and face failure as a viable, admittedly probable, option … at least, I thought, until I figured out what I was doing.

Start by starting.

I worked on a few children’s book ideas, and threw myself into my new career the same way I did each one before it—by researching and reading and absorbing everything I could find about the topic. I had bookmarks of writing websites; the list was a mile long. I bought lots of books and writer's market guides and reference materials. The Elements of Style sat on my bedside table, as if the contents would continue to seep into my subconscious while I slept. All this research quickly led to lots of thinking about writing and reading about writing and planning for writing—without much actual writing about writing.

Did I mention start by starting?

I did submit one story to an anthology, because a writing instructor advised that anthologies were a good place to start building clips for a resume that had none. I wrote a second anthology piece but never bothered to send it in, since by then I hated the first submission and was seriously questioning the sanity of breaking into the publishing world in the first place. The more I read, the more intimidating the whole proposition seemed.

But I continued to read, read, read about writing until last December, when I signed up for the Writer’s Digest Editor’s Intensive event. How lucky that the F+W Media office is in my hometown! Serendipity strikes again! In my newbie enthusiasm, I glanced over one little detail: it is a really, really, REALLY good idea to have actually polished something before I sit down for 30 minutes with an editor.

Good thing we don’t know how much we don’t know or it would be hard to ever try something new.

So I showed up at the event, all bright eyed and shiny, ready to learn, learn, learn. It quickly became obvious (at least to me) that most everyone else in the room had several novels under their belt, had paid their dues, logged their hours, and were blogging or freelancing or had been writing full-time for years. I swear some attendees had tattoos with long-suffering potential book titles on their arms, and those were just the ones I could see. Oh, and they had actually written something great to discuss with the editor the next day.

Oops.

When I arrived for my 30-minute time slot, I wasn’t feeling so shiny. I did have a crackin’ query letter that received good feedback, but my chosen editor kindly and gently indicated the actual story needed a lot of work. Like the “start by starting over” kind of work. Not a surprise, really—after only a few months working on the story (in between all that reading), I already knew it was not ready for prime time. I did receive a wealth of helpful information and actionable advice from the editor. It was a great experience, even though I was secretly hoping the work contained a glimmer of brilliance somewhere deep down. Well, not this time. But the good news? I now had my first (albeit unofficial) "rejection" under my belt. Now I felt free to make more mistakes along the way. Rejection in any form, even the most kind, is painful yet still liberating. It was like that first scratch on a new car—it took away the need to worry about my mental bumpers.

So I listened, and I walked out the door with a new focus. Jane Friedman and the rest of the staff inspired me to join some social networks to build contacts and connections with other writers and potential readers. I could commit to writing (something) daily. I would start a blog (as soon as I figured out what a blog was) and use that as part of my daily writing practice, and as an idea incubator and network builder. I would start visiting lots of other blogs, leaving comments, and building up my own readership while creating more and more contacts along the way. Learning something new every day.

The fellow attendees of the conference? Several of them formed a Facebook discussion group, invited any attendee to join, and shared a heap of experience and information. And, of course, I learned that some of them shared my state of mind, the writer's blessing/curse to never think the words are quite right, yet. To keep revising and rewriting and wondering when. I wasn't alone with my doubts, or my over-active imagination. (I still wonder about the tattoos.)

That anthology piece? It was actually published this spring, and that gave me a shot in the arm. Actually it is still an IV drip of confidence as I keep the book next to my computer, there to remind me how I felt the day that book arrived in the mail. The book with my name in it. And my little story. Someday, my name could be on the cover, if I work hard.

Using Jane's advice to become more productive while becoming cyber-savvy, I started using (for the love of god) an RSS reader. Now I could satisfy my need to read voraciously about writing and still have time to write something. And, four months after its launch, I can say I truly enjoy the process of blogging and have, through that social media, found a new voice within myself. I just passed the 5,000 hit mark for jane, candid, a small number by many blog standards but a big milestone for me. I am not sure yet where this voice will take me. Actual income is a rational goal. I have to start by starting …

The Song of Writing

Jane — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:03:52 GMT

Today I am thrilled to present a guest post from
writer Darrelyn Saloom. I met Darrelyn at a
recent Writer's Digest Editor Intensive, along with Deirdre Gogarty. These two amazing women are collaborating on a memoir about Deirdre, who is the 1997 Women's International Boxing Federation champion. You can follow Darrelyn on Twitter. (Photo shows Darrelyn in Cincinnati, with writers Barbara and Sean on either side, after the first day of the WD intensive event.)

It took me a long time to believe I could write. I’ve always enjoyed biographies and have read numerous lives of authors who lauded an educator in adolescence as their source of inspiration—a flash of insight burst forth while reading lines of dead poets: Shakespeare, Emerson, Dickinson, Keats. But no such teacher manifested for me in my teens or twenties (that would come later). For me, the muse bloomed with poetical songwriters of my generation: Smokey Robinson, Johnny Rivers, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Carol King.

But it was my father, an encyclopedia salesman, who first planted the melodic seed. Filled with wanderlust, he never stopped traveling. Life with Daddy was spent in the backseat of a book-laden car, absorbing adventurous yarns, chirping along to Peter, Paul, and Mary. My Kentucky-born father crooned Stanley Brothers’ tunes and recited “The Raven.” Poe blended into a folk song of enchantment. So it was in the backseat of Daddy’s Ford Thunderbird (where my sisters and I hid kittens and candy) that I fell in love with the imagery of words, the rhythms of poetry, the song of writing.

But falling in love was easy. Hard was to realize I wanted to write. Harder was to believe that I could. The writers I craved were distinguished professors of the humanities. Columbia University PhDs or graduates and teachers of MFA programs; I had no degrees. I dropped out of high school, hitchhiked from the Louisiana bayous to the Oregon coast, picked beans on a farm, married young (and often) and birthed a family. But I grew restless for something unknown to me.

So I went to college in my thirties. I never finished. But now I could lay claim to teachers of literature and writing who encouraged me. Into my forties I continued to read and to study: The Southern Review, The Gettysburg Review, Glimmer Train, and—yes—Writer’s Digest (long before I ever met Jane Friedman). Circled words, underlined phrases and sentences, lists of definitions littered the backs of my books and magazines. I studied libraries on writing and punctuation, even The Chicago Manual of Style.

When I began to write narrative, my restlessness ceased. But did I believe in my ability? The stories I wrote were printed and stuffed into folders and drawers. A few were lost on an old hard drive. Yes, I was still intimidated by the MFAs and PhDs and only wrote for friends and family. But even with their praise, I did not believe in my ability. Belief would have to wait. (And to make things worse, I was about to turn fifty.)

Unable to submit my stories, I printed business cards and worked as a freelance editor. I excelled at spotting clients’ errors, picking apart proposals and briefs. Red ink pen in hand changed me. It improved my writing by opening my eyes to writers’ mistakes. Taught me that writing is a place I can never be impatient or lazy. For a writer must never stop learning. As for intimidation, it has started to slip away. Because now I know it’s hard work that conjures words into music and not a degree.

Here are two verses my father would often sing. I’ve started to wonder if he knew that one day (years after his passing) the lyrics would serve to sustain me. I can still hear his voice.

    If I had the wings of an angel
    O’er these prison walls I would fly
    I would fly to the arms of my lover
    And there I would lie till I die

    Oh, meet me tonight in the moonlight
    Meet me tonight all alone
    For I have a sad story to tell you
    It’s a story that’s never been told

(Researching this old ballad, I found as many versions as strings on three guitars. So I stuck to the only two verses and lyrics my father taught me when I was only two or three. It took me nearly fifty years to grasp that as a writer “belief” is like an angel’s wings. If you, too, struggle to believe in your writing ability, I hope this will inspire you to grow some wings and tell your stories.)

News, Events, and Free Info at Writer's Digest

Jane — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:49:40 GMT

Today I'm taking a little break to let you know about some other stuff happening at Writer's Digest. Tomorrow I leave for the Pennwriters conference in Pittsburgh and will be Tweeting (@JaneFriedman) and blogging throughout the weekend.

Cool stuff on other WD blogs

What Should You Include on Your Bio for Agents?

Interview with Poet Justin Marks. Good tidbit where he says, "I've been given such large heaps of bad advice over the years I'm hesitant to offer any of my own. So maybe my advice should be, 'don't take any advice.' Then again, I've also gotten some good advice that has often helped sustain me: Trust yourself. Don't let anyone or anything stop you. Be willing to change. Perservere. Stuff like that."

Veteran writer and editor Mark Garvey gives advice to writers who are new to blogging.

Great agent advice from Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich

From Script Notes: Are webscripts useful writing samples?

Free excerpts from new writing books

Download a PDF excerpt with great creative writing prompts, from our newest creativity title, Take Ten.

Check out a conversation with The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant where he talks about where the idea for the show came from and how it got onto the air. (From an upcoming title, Here's the Kicker.)

Upcoming events

WDB/BEA Writers Conference (May 27). This is the big kahuna where you can pitch to 66 agents and 4 editors during a 2-hour window. Even if you aren't successful in your pitch attempts here, you will learn so many amazing things about what makes an agent or editor jump on a project. The interaction is invaluable and can shave years off your path to publication. The full day costs $199 and includes the pitch session (plus lunch and terrific networking). I'll be there, as will most of my colleagues from Writer's Digest.

WD Editors' Intensive (June 20-21). Once again, we're opening up Writer's Digest HQ to 50 people for a personalized weekend of writing and publishing instruction. We spend a day coaching you about how to succeed in the changing landscape of publishing, then wrap it up with a one-on-one 30-minute appointment to discuss the first 50 pages of your manuscript or proposal. We've received excellent feedback from writers who've attended who love the up-close-and-personal interaction as well as the practical, hard-working information.

Online education

Guide to Literary Agents editor Chuck Sambuchino is hosting a live session tomorrow on how to land a literary agent. There's still time to register; follow the link here.

Writer's Market editor Robert Brewer (also known for his Poem-a-Day Challenge at Poetic Asides) is hosting a live session on May 29 on how to get your poetry published. You'll never meet a better expert, and you'll get an opportunity to ask him any question you like on the topic during the live event. Again, visit this site for registration links.

Unsure if an online event (webinar) is right for you? You can find our FAQs here.

We're launching a new WOW course, Hooked, which is focused on how to craft an amazing beginning to your novel—one that will catch the attention of agents and editors. It's nearly full, but we're still accepting students. Class starts on May 28. Go here for more info.

Competition deadlines

The deadline for the Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards has been extended to May 20. Enter in 10 different categories, from poetry to humor. You could win $3,000, plus some winners are noticed by agents. (Yep, we have success stories of authors who have been picked up by a traditional house after winning this contest.) Click here for more information or to register your entry online.

This Friday marks the deadline for our biggest contest of the year: The Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition, now in its 78th year. Grand prize includes a trip to NYC with a Writer's Digest editor to meet with agents.

As always: You can sign up for the WD newsletter on the homepage and receive a free-book on 70 common writing mistakes. You can also sign up for musings strictly from me, on writing and publishing (launching July 1). Go here to register.

Photo credit: Sister 72

The One Behavior That Spells Doom for Your Editor/Agent Relationship

Jane — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:06:04 GMT

A top-shelf journalist, Dan Baum, recently Tweeted about his experience breaking into and then writing for The New Yorker. You can read the full account here.

It was fascinating to get an inside look at one of the most venerable publications in the world, but much more fascinating was the story—or lesson—of his dismissal. It was not related to his writing or performance, though that was the official reason given.

Here's part of what he says (edited for space):

I wanted to write about Mexico’s disputed presidential election. A million people were demonstrating in Mexico City.

David said, “I guess if you want to write about Mexico, you might write about that mayor of Mexico City; he’s interesting.”

And here’s where it all went to hell.

I should have said, “Great idea, David. I’ll get right on it.”

Instead I said, “David, that’s the guy I’m talking about! That’s the guy who claims to have won the election! That’s the guy who everybody is demonstrating over!”

Now, what was the point of doing that? He was ceding me the chance to write about the situation in Mexico.

And if he didn’t know the details, he had more than the average American’s sense of Mexican politics.

But, believing we were two colleagues - couple of guys from New Jersey - hashing out what was best for the magazine, I made him feel uninformed.

Then I did it again.

He said, “How about the governor of Montana? He’s an interesting guy; you could profile him.”

Again, the correct response would have been, “Right away, sir.”

Instead, I said, “David, I proposed that story six months ago and you turned it down. Now it’s too late. Next week, he’s on the cover of the New York Times Magazine.”

The conversation ended amicably enough, but everything went to hell after that. I knew it at once. It all turned frosty.

… the real reason Remnick fired me was that he took a personal dislike to me after our conversations.

I was pretty bitter for a while. A New Yorker writer should be able to have a straight-up exchange of views with his editor.

And a guy as accomplished and powerful as David Remnick shouldn’t be so insecure that he can’t take some pushback.

… The biggest disappointment was learning that, after all, it’s not only about the work on the page. That the writing life is not a pure meritocracy, or a refuge from office politics. All that crap still matters. Even at the top of the heap. Perhaps especially at the top of the heap.

Like Baum, I'd expect a higher level of emotional intelligence from people at The New Yorker, and he blames not knowing the culture well as a reason for his misstep (he didn't work at the offices or visit that often).

But it's always a critical error to ignore one of the cardinal rules of human interaction: If you insist on being right, and/or make someone feel bad about themselves (especially when it comes to your superiors!), prepare to be disliked and lose opportunities.

Especially when it comes to superiors, we can mistakenly ascribe more confidence to them because we see them as successful, and as having accomplished so much. You might think your boss or CEO has the wisdom and knowledge to be reasonably and constructively challenged (isn't that how we all learn?), but that's rarely the case.

One book I love dearly is The 48 Laws of Power. Guess what the first law is (perhaps the most important of all)?

Never Outshine the Master.

Get a quick list of 48 laws here.

If David Remnick of the New Yorker is susceptible, I guarantee the editors, agents, and other people you work with—who wield some measure of power in your career—are also susceptible.

Are you telling them that they're wrong, pointing out how they contradict themselves, persisting in an argument of why you're right?

You're not doing yourself any favors.

Editors/agents may not say it openly, but if this is your attitude, you'll get the freeze-out, just like Baum did. It may be a quiet freezing process: perhaps they're not championing you any more to their important contacts —something you could never know for sure.

Think about the contact you have with important people. Imagine how they feel when they see an e-mail from you. Will they have a bad feeling? "Oh no, now what's wrong?" Or: "What will they complain about next?" Or: "How have I screwed up this time?"

I keep a quote from Jean Toomer posted in my office:

Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily.

If we can put aside our egos, we open the door to more honest conversation and an opportunity to learn.

Unfortunately, most of us know instinctively not to challenge the person in power.

Don't we watch, very carefully, when a superior is challenged by someone with very little power? What happens to the challenger? And how does the person in power respond?

What happens when a mistake is made? Is there an acknowledgment of it?

Leaders often make a show of asking for ideas, feedback, and constructive criticism, but so rarely know how to respond in a way that would encourage more of it.

People are afraid. They know about the First Law.

Dan Baum felt comfortable enough to break that law, because he thought the laws didn't apply between two guys who were so much alike, with a leader who only benefits from employing people who are smarter than him, at least in some ways.

I wish Baum hadn't been so wrong.

Photo credit: Manuel_Marin

Leading Indicator of Success: How You Deal With Loss, Failure, Rejection

Jane — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:51:49 GMT

Many years ago, when I was working as an associate editor for North Light Books (another imprint of F+W Media), I applied for the lead editor position on Writer's Market. I interviewed with three different people in the division. I wanted the job so bad that I would drive around Cincinnati interstates late at night, for 30- or 60-minute stretches, just thinking about how much I wanted that job.

I didn't get it. The hiring manager encouraged me to keep trying to transition to the Writer's Digest community if other positions opened up.

Within 2 weeks, a managing editor position with Writer's Digest magazine was posted. I thought: They'll never hire me for that job. Why bother? I have no magazine experience. And so I didn't apply. Another 2-4 weeks passed, and the job was still posted. I remember staring at the job description in the lunch room, finally snapping out of my self-pity, thinking, Why the hell not? What have I got to lose?

I got the job. The rest is history.

Of the thousands of writers (and creative people) I have met, all have failed at one point or another. No one is immune. That's why I so consistently preach passion and persistence. If you don't have the passion inside you to motivate yourself to continue, you might not find the persistence and strength you need when faced with failure, loss, and rejection.

There isn't a lack of wisdom for writers (or the human race) when it comes to failure.

Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.
—T.S. Eliot

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
—Thomas Edison

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
—Thomas Edison

Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.
—President Obama

I know right away when I meet a person who has been hardened or shamed into inaction. It can happen to all of us, at some point, especially when we're young and invincible or new to something, and plan to take over the world. Then something happens, we're blocked, and we dip into despair, self-pity.

You can go there, but you must move through it. The longer you let the failure consume you, the more fierce the casualties. The happy (and usually successful) people I meet have a resilience that you can sense when you talk to them—people who understand that failure, loss, and rejection are all part of the game (no matter what game is being played).

I tend to associate failure with loss. Most failure impacts our sense of self, our confidence level—whether we were able to accomplish something. You can lose a piece of yourself in failure, if you let it. It can lead to a loss of identity, a crisis. Loss sometimes triggers a recognition of a failure (both real and not real).

So you have to take failure and shine a different light on it. Think of it as (1) being a part of life and part of the process (2) bringing you one step closer to success (3) a learning moment (4) an opportunity to make a positive change (5) helping you find better relationships and wellsprings of support.

Can you change the light on what's happening? Do it, and you'll be closer to making your mark on the world.

Photo credit: WorldIslandInfo.com

I Hate Telephones (an Irrational Rant)

Jane — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:29:40 GMT

Every time I get in a relationship with someone, early on I establish a rule: We will not be having (long) conversations on the phone.

I suspect it's been a deal breaker at times, or at least a red flag (I'm thinking of you, Mr. Get-Anything-I-Want-on-the-Phone Conductor).

This morning, I overheard a conversation between several colleagues that went something like this.

"I hate making phone calls!"

"Me too!"

"It's not like I've had really bad trauma on the phone, I just don't know what to say, it's always so awkward."

"I find ways to avoid calls. I'll send an e-mail if I can. I hate calling my credit card company."

"I don't like talking to anyone unless I really know them."

I suddenly felt as if maybe I weren't alone. (Is it a generational thing?)

This conversation was not even sparked by a particularly unpleasant phone calling task: It was a series of phone calls that needed to be made to Writer's Digest contest winners, people who are hopefully thrilled to hear from us!

Unfortunately, unlike my colleague, I have experienced traumatic moments on the phone, including:

Hearing a string of foreign expletives a mile long (followed by heart-breaking news and a hang up) after finally gathering the courage to make an international call
Being brazenly belittled, insulted, and ridiculed by agents who don't like the initial offer or contract they've received
Being asked by an authority figure to lie to someone over the phone, while they watched to ensure I did so
Hearing writers (whom I don't know) sigh loudly, say something mean, then hang up when I say I'm not interested in their project

There are maybe two or three people in the world with whom I can have a truly meaningful and productive conversation on the phone. For everyone else, I do my best, but so much is missing:

body language
facial expressions
that intangible vibe in the room
eye contact, eye contact, eye contact

When it comes to business life, though, quick (even long) phone calls are far superior to endless, indeterminate e-mail chains, and an absolute must when you're working in a company with many locations and telecommuting employees.

But when it comes to phone communication vs. written communication with unknown people in my business, written always wins: I never, ever want to hear your pitches on a phone call, I don't want to return your call asking for submission guidelines (it will turn into a pitch), I don't want to brainstorm ideas with you. For the love of God, take two minutes to find my e-mail address online (easy if you Google my name) and send a quick note. It's less intrusive and you'll actually get a response.

I have to ask the writers who do this: why make phone calls to people you don't know or have a relationship with? Maybe you think that because the e-mails aren't getting answered, the phone is the only way to get through, but not many people pick up the phone anymore without knowing who's on the other end and/or expecting the call. So why waste your time? Find other ways to connect.

Technology note:
The Writer's Digest blogs will be undergoing a server transition starting tonight at 10 p.m. EST, lasting all-day Thursday. This basically means that any comments you post during this time will not be saved, so hold them for Friday.

Photo credit: Mykl Roventine

Dear Writer, Please Pay in Full

Jane — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:43:56 GMT

As publisher of Writer's Digest, I get the tough, make-you-cringe cases for response. Back in March, we received the following e-mail through our general account. It's a long message, but important to convey in its entirety.

Dear Writer, please pay your membership fee in full.
Dear Writer, please pay for your online membership.
Dear Writer, please pay for your print edition of Writers Market.
Dear Writer, please pay for your digital edition of Writers Digest.
Dear Writer, please pay for your webinar.
Dear Writer, please pay for your competition dues.
Dear Writer, please pay for the advice you received on "How to make money as a writer."

DEAR WRITER, PLEASE PAY IN FULL!

Dear Writers Digest,

    I'm a writer, of merit and accomplishment. I read many of the trade journals, and avoid many of them as well - half of the writers magazines are written by people that are still in need of a copy of shrunk & white's. I'm writing you because this is becoming ludicrous. When it comes down to it the majority of us are trying to do something we love and make money at it. We all strive to break through with every word, sentence, paragraph and page. We gorge ourselves on the advice of others, both by way of trade publication and by our hefty bookstores totals. All of us are looking for a writers haven, where we can glean from our peers, embrace the craft, and better ourselves. Unfortunately, that place no longer appears to be Writers Digest.
    As a business you've forgotten your customer. As writers, you've taken advantage of the craft and the passion with which people execute it. You can't possibly think that you can charge readers for every word. Even Barnes & Noble let's people read books in the store without throwing a surcharge on them, or even attend Book Groups without making them put down a deposit.
    I follow many of your writers, not just here, but all across the internet. I respect them tremendously, even when their writing isn't useful it's still uplifting. I was recently disappointed when I read an article, written by one of your writers, that said you were proud to announce your new webinars. I was excited, thrilled even, to think that I might get some tangible advice for the subscription I pay for, I read on eagerly so I could set the date for the next session. Then I followed a Link that showed me a price list for your short webinars.
    The small instruction explains that while originally you wanted to charge $199 dollars you decided that was too much and instead only charge $99 dollars. A $1.50 a minute...TO WRITERS...WHO ALREADY PAY FOR YOUR SERVICES. How does that equate? Let's see, a normal person, working forty hours a week, at $1.50 a minute would make over $14,000.00 dollars a month. Are you taking advice from investment bankers now, or simply trying to capitalize on the voice you've gained because of us writers who already spend countless dollars of our hard earned money on market and trade materials.
    It's really rather simple, charge, certainly, for some things. First, live up to your end of the contract, people are already paying, so start providing something to them without an additional fee. Second, be realistic, don't be so pretentious, you're time isn't worth $14,000.00 a month, not unless your running a pyramid scheme or a brothel.

I still haven't responded, so this has become my response. What's interesting about this particular case is that I'm 99% certain it is from one of my Facebook friends who is an aspiring writer I haven't met. (A few of us Writer's Digest editors have invited writers to friend us on Facebook; you're welcome to do so as well.)

I digress.

What this e-mail says to me:

We're not doing a very good job letting people know what content we offer for free.
We're not doing a good job communicating the value of what we offer or the diversity of what we offer (whether in terms of media, price point, or delivery channel).
Our marketing messages may be too numerous. (I can confirm that the frequency of these messages has increased dramatically in 2009.)
Whatever it is that we provide writers (for free or not), we're failing if writers feel that we're heartlessly capitalizing on their dreams, and merely exist to find more ways to take their money.

When I started at F+W in 1998, the mission of the company was to help creative people fulfill their dreams. Ten years later (with plenty of time and opportunity for cynicism to sink in), I'm still with Writer's Digest because I believe in that mission.

The problem is, we're not a nonprofit. (Yes, sometimes I wish we were.) And just like many writers are trying to make money at what they love (some of them by working for Writer's Digest!), the people in publishing are also trying to make money doing what they love. Yet I don't know anyone who goes into this business for the money. Those people usually migrate over to law, business school, and Wall Street.

And I think the writer of this message is primarily and supremely annoyed that he was hooked on a particular experience/product, and became angry when he realized it came at a cost that he found both unjustifiable and unaffordable.

Speaking from a business perspective, we price things at what the market can bear. And we've found that the value of the interaction and information in the webinars has consistently allowed a price of $79-$99. We could charge less, and attract more people, but for our efforts, it's better to charge a little more, and have fewer people.

The webinars so far have been hosted by our in-house editors (that includes me); we are not paid additionally for these. There are costs in licensing and using the Webex platform, based on number of attendees and how long the sessions run. We have one person running tech support in the background at all times, plus a customer service rep handling questions/concerns, and a marketing person who develops messages about the webinars, and an online editor who updates pages about it, etc. There's a cost of doing business; it's not pure profit.

However, there are other communities at F+W that charge less than we do. It's all based on customer feedback and attendance levels. So it's good to have this feedback, and maybe one day we'll consider lowering the price. But the wisdom typically with pricing is that it's much better to start high and bring it down, rather than start low and jack up the price later.

Writer's Digest can survive only by providing writers with valuable and trusted content that they need and are willing to pay for. The reason you see newspapers and magazines and even book imprints disappearing is because many types of content have become plentiful and free online, and no one is willing to pay for it any longer. Maybe that day will come for us, if we're not able to compete with other sources and communities that provide free or more valuable information. Certainly peer-to-peer sharing, as well as the sharing that comes directly from the source (agents/editors), cuts out some of the need for a Writer's Digest to give you the authoritative perspective on anything. Only time will tell, but as soon as we become irrelevant to the writing community, we'll go out of business.

That aside, it might be helpful to advise everyone on what we offer for free.

Our blogs. We have blogs focusing on agents, poetry, children's/YA, scriptwriting, plus general Q&A. The blogs focus on prescriptive/how-to information, current events, interviews with people in the industry, and inspiration (like Robert's Poem-a-Day challenge). We also frequently link to other (free/paid) resources that compete against us, in the name of serving the community. Best Tweets for Writers and 101 Best Websites (2009 list coming soon!) are good examples of this.

WD.com. All content here is free, and there is a ton of it (although admittedly it can sometimes be hard to find). You can find most of of the magazine's content here 1-2 months after the issue has released, as well as book excerpts (click here for a starter list). There is also an active forum where we regularly bring in guests to answer questions.

Your Story. This is a free contest we run every issue of the magazine that offers an opportunity to get published with us.

Newsletters. You can sign-up for our weekly newsletter with tips/prompts at our homepage, and get a free e-book (on common writing mistakes) while you're at it. There's also a free newsletter associated with WritersMarket.com.

Twitter/Facebook. There are unique opportunities to interact with Writer's Digest editors through Twitter and Facebook. I've managed to answer some questions in 140 characters or less, and also learned a lot from the community in the process. It's a two-way street.

I do hope that the accessibility of our editors online (for free) helps alleviate this feeling that we're only here to make a buck. It's also important to us that you find value in the content that does have a price tag, and that you feel you've made a great investment in your writing and your career.

We work to deliver a good experience. It's why I get up in the morning.

Warning: You Don't Want to Miss the Best Content of the Year

Jane — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:20:20 GMT

This week marks the 1-year anniversary of this blog, There Are No Rules. I am still finding the right combination of content and perspective that will help you, so on this anniversary, I offer this invitation:

What questions, topics, and subjects do you want me to cover in the year ahead?
What do you need the most help with?
What has been most helpful to you in the past year, to help you advance your writing career (from anywhere!)?
What would you like more of?
What could you do without?
What information do you usually remember most from this blog? Why do you read it?

Everyone who comments on this post (and includes their e-mail address), will receive, in PDF form, my presentations and handouts from my talks on how to succeed as a writer in a transformational time in publishing.

The best commenter (as judged by me!) will have a choice of a 15-minute phone consultation, a query letter critique, or a first-page critique.

Now, to celebrate my best content from the past year, in case you missed it!

2 Most Popular Posts of All Time

8 Articles/Posts All Writers Should Have Read in 2008
FYI, if you're a blogger, you should know by now that list posts almost always perform better than all others.

On Being One of 100,000+ People Stranded in Thailand
Of course a tale of my misadventure would do well! As the Brazen Careerist has said, it's the personal element that often brings your readers back for more. (True?)

Series Posts

Save Time Tips (using Google tools and other tech solutions). After the first tip that's linked here, look for two more tips immediately after.

How to Avoid Sabotaging Your Writing Career (1-7)
Here's #7, with a link to the others at the bottom of the post.

10 Years in Publishing: What I've Learned (1-5)
Here's #5. Click on nearest preceding days for 1-4.

Biggest Traffic Generator in One Day

My Big Rant on Self-Publishing

Best Practical Answers/Solutions for Writers

5 Questions to Ask Yourself After Hearing: We Can't Sell Enough to Justify Publishing It

Useful Google Tools You've Never Heard Of

The Essential Components of an (Unpublished) Author's Website

Best Big-Picture Views for Writers

Do Writers' Futures Lie in Indie E-Publishing Platforms?

How Writers Can Start Blogging in a Meaningful Way

Fiction Writers Need Platforms, Too

The 3 Types of Writer—Which Are You?

Posts With Hidden Content You Might've Missed

WD Editors' Intensive Cheat Sheet (great links to how-to-get-published, plus how to get connected)

Recap: Harriette Austin Writers Conference (red flags in first 15 pages, PDF download of my workshop on honing a great nonfiction book concept)

Get a List of All the Sites I Follow

Best Fun

How Many Editors to Screw in a Lightbulb?

Time to Get a Tattoo?

Want to guest blog here? I'd like to extend an invitation to writers (whether you blog or not): If you have tips, advice, success stories, or not-so-successful stories to share, let me know privately via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter. (You can also reach me through this portal.) I'm starting a guest series on Fridays and would love to feature all kinds of perspectives.

Photo credit: Sandra

Monthly News from Glimmer Train

Jane — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:17:37 GMT

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their February Very Short Fiction Award. This twice yearly competition is open to all writers for stories on any theme, with a word count range of 500-3,000. Monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place
Rolaine Hochstein of New York, NY, wins $1200 for “Virtuous Woman”. Her story will be published in the Summer 2010 issue of Glimmer Train Stories, out in May 2010.

Second place
Anne de Marcken of Olympia, WA, wins $500 for “Best Western”. Her story will also be published in an upcoming issue of Glimmer Train Stories, increasing her prize to $700.

Third place
Evan Christopher Burton of New York, NY, wins $300 for “Levitation”.

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Also: Family Matters competition (deadline soon approaching! April 30). Glimmer Train hosts this competition quarterly, and first place is $1,200 and publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers for stories about family. Word count range 500-12,000. Click here for complete guidelines.

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If you didn't know, Writer's Digest partnered with Glimmer Train to publish two compilation volumes of the best stuff from their Writers Ask newsletter. Be sure to check them out.