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Top 20 Lessons From WD Mag in 2009: Steve Berry

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:08:29 GMT

Hey writers,

Wasted and lost writing time: We all worry (if not obsess) over it. As it turns out, we’re not alone. It’s time for the next installment in our Top 20 Lessons From WD Magazine in 2009 series.

No. 19: Heed the Voice
“I didn’t write my first word until I was 35 years old. I wasted about 10 years before that, when the little voice in my head was screaming for me to write. All writers have a little voice in their head that drives them forward. Listen to it.”
—Bestseller Steve Berry (The Amber Room, The Templar Legacy), as interviewed in “Springboards to Success,” from our May/June 2009 issue.

Literary food for thought: How long did you wait—or are you still waiting? What's the key to kicking yourself into gear?

Have an excellent weekend, and enjoy the prompt below from the brand new issue of Writer’s Digest magazine (currently shipping to subscribers, and on newsstands Oct. 13—it features Time Traveler’s Wife author Audrey Niffenegger, alongside a cover package loaded with info about writing short, from personal essays and freelancing to literary journals).

And don’t forget to stop by Promptly Monday, too—bestseller Dianna Love will be sharing her take on the creative process, as well as offering prompts and perhaps a free copy or two of her new book, Break Into Fiction. In addition to a posted Q&A, Dianna will be dropping by to interact with anyone who’d like to chat about creativity, the business of publishing, or anything else that may cross one’s writerly mind.

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WRITING PROMPT: Breaking Down
Funny, sad, or stirring, feel free to take the following prompt home or post your response (500 words or fewer) in the Comments section below:

A Tire blows out as you’re in the car with someone on the verge of his or her own breakdown. Stuck in a small town, you’re about to do something you haven’t done in years.

Mid-Week Prompt: Selling Out/Buying In

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:58:00 GMT

Hey writers,

Promptly and some of the other WD blogs had a bit of a blackout earlier, but it appears we’re back online (I write as I compose into a Word file, cringing while optimistically eying the “Post” button). Sorry for the radio silence!

Assuming all of our technical difficulties have shown mercy on us, if you’re interested in writing programs or life therein, we just launched a new blog, MFA Confidential, with Kate Monahan. Check it out—her post today shares some first-year lessons. And she’s also down with A.M. Homes.

Finally, a tip of the prompt hat to Mark James, whose “Tragically, Hero” piece is this week’s Notable Story Pick.

Here’s to hoping you have a glitch-free Wednesday,

Zachary

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PROMPT: Selling Out/Buying In
In 500 words or fewer, funny, sad or stirring:

You have done what you swore you would never do: You have written a book solely to pay the bills. Now, write the back-cover promo copy.

(From the newest issue of Writer's Digest magazine, which hits newsstands Sept. 15.)

Your Monday Creativity Wake-Up Call: That Strange Day

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:20:40 GMT

Hey writers,

The July/August issue of Writer’s Digest is nearly off newsstands, and I feel a bit weepy, like an old friend is about to pack up the U-Haul, give some of those awkward parting hugs and hit the road. I love this edition, and I say that not to get everyone out to the store to gobble it up in droves, but because—from Jessica Strawser’s interview with literary guru Anne Tyler to the publishing survival guide package and the blast I had profiling travel writer Rick Steves—it’s one of my favorites from the last two years.

July/August 2009 WD: Gone too soon, off to the great mag universe in the sky. (Or, rather, to the Internet, where it will live on at the Writer’s Digest Shop.) Luckily it’s slick sibling, the September 2009 issue focused on literary agents, hits newsstands in mid-August, with cutting-edge coverboy Cory Doctorow dishing about his innovative (and seriously cool) approaches to publishing.

As some Monday coffee for your creativity (without all the acidic burn), here’s the prompt I wrote for the July/August issue. Onward!

Yours in writing,

Zachary

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PROMPT: That Strange Day
In 500 words or fewer, funny, sad or stirring:

It’s been raining for weeks and a single thought has been stuck in your mind: It plays itself over and over, and you can’t stop pondering what happened on that strange day—the day it started raining.