The Writer's Perspective by Maria Schneider

Hi Writers,
I've included a handy link in the left navigation to our 2008 101 Best Websites for Writers.

We've been running this list annually for 10 years now, and we're quite proud to be able to spotlight these great resources. As you can imagine, weeding through the thousands of nominations we receive each year is a difficult, time-consuming process. Our online managing editor, Brian A. Klems took on this monumental task once again this year, and he put together yet another phenomenal list.

Of course, when we publish this list each year, we inevitably get questions about how we choose because it's become quite competitive. So to help out, here are 3 things you should know if you want to get your website in the running for our 2009 list:

1. The website must be nominated (you can nominate your own website or another favorite website by submitting to writersdigest@fwpubs.com.) We collect nominations throughout the year, and publish the list in our June issue (June deadlines hit in early January).

2. Although some of the websites we choose do have paid elements, it's essential that there's a substantial amount of free content of value to writers.

3. We judge our advertisers websites no differently than we would any other nominated website; the criteria are the same.

If you have any questions or comments about our 101 Best Websites for Writers, please post them here. Brian and I will be happy to answer.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | Writer's Digest news

6/4/2008 9:38:37 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [8]

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Ian Frazier on Humor Writing
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I read this great piece in The New Yorker May 26, “Tales from a Chelsea Soup Kitchen” by Ian Frazier. It's a feature about how he started a writing workshop that operates in tandem with a NYC church-based soup kitchen.

I thought it had a lot of interesting things to say about how to operate a writing workshop and gave some good idea-generating topics. Unfortunately, the article isn't available online, but I did find this podcast with Frazier, in which he talks about writing humor. Whenever a New Yorker writer has something to say about writing, I listen.

Here's a bit of the transcript from the podcast interview, which runs about 15 minutes (and I promise, well worth your time):
Sometimes people write funny things and I say, you know if you just made it a little longer and added a little plot, you’d have a humor piece here. It isn’t just people in this workshop. It’s people in general. They’ll get something funny, but it’ll just be a line or two lines. Even now I think because of TV I think that’s become a problem—that people write really, really short. So all of the suggestions of where this could go, you know there’s all this potential here.

[Humor] is something that you really can’t hit by aiming at it. It’s not like you can go out and get the facts and report them and now here’s a humor piece with the facts. With reporting, if you work hard you can usually pull something out. But writing humor doesn’t respond to working hard, necessarily. I mean, you could just sit there and look at the page all day and maybe something will come. But writing humor for me is more like a watchful-ness. You have to watch. When you say something funny, or someone else does, it’s more like you wait for the piece. I think maybe it’s more like writing a poem. I’ve never really been into that at all, but I assume a poet would get to a certain point and say, gee, I know I need a fifth stanza here, but I don’t know what it should be. And then maybe the poet doesn’t think of anything for five years. I don’t know I can imagine that; I’ve had it happen with humor pieces. I’ll get to a certain point and say, you know, up to here it works but I don’t know what to do next. It’s a sense—you have a sense of humor.

Any thoughts about what Frazier has to say about humor writing? Post them here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

journalism | writing technique

6/3/2008 10:17:57 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [0]

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Brian A. Klems went to L.A. and all I got was this dumb video
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I sent our online managing editor (you know him, you love him) Brian A. Klems out to L.A. to cover BEA (Book Expo America) and the Writer's Digest Books/BEA Writers Conference (which happened yesterday). I'm sure you'll agree this was pretty nice of me to send Brian to L.A. while I sit in my cube in Cincinnati holding down the Writer's Digest fort.

All I've gotten out of Brian so far is a link to this (admittedly hilarious, delightfully short) You Tube video, "Book Launch 2.0." Check it out. And let's hope that Brian at least brings us back T-shirts.

Keep Writing,
Maria

the writing life | Writer's Digest news

5/29/2008 1:12:02 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [4]

Our August cover: Diablo Cody
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Hot off the presses: our August issue featuring cover girl Diablo Cody. Our fab Script Notes blogger Chad Gervich interviewed Cody a week before she won the Oscar for Juno.

If you're a subscriber, this issue—packed with material about breaking into screenwriting—will be hitting your mailbox any day. And if you're not, it hits newsstands 6/17.

I think this is my favorite Writer's Digest cover so far (my previous favorite was Sebastian Junger, December 2006). Anyway, I wanted to share it here with you. Let me know what you think.

Diablo Cody is such a fresh new voice and I'm so pleased that we had the opportunity to share her inspring story on breaking into the world of screenwriting.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Writer's Digest news

5/29/2008 10:16:59 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [4]

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Hazards of Oversharing
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I am so very glad that the blogsophere didn't yet exist when I was a teenager/ twentysomething. Reading the New York Times magazine essay about blogger Emily Gould only amplified this feeling. I'm quite sure if I had acceses to a blog when I was 20 all of the stupid details of my youth would be forever digitally chronicled the way Emily's are.

Here's one brief excerpt from her long, long essay Exposed:

One of the strangest and most enthralling aspects of personal blogs is just how intensely personal they can be. I’m talking “specific details about someone’s S.T.D.’s” personal, “my infertility treatments” personal. There are nongynecological overshares, too: “My dog has cancer” overshares, “my abusive relationship” overshares.

It’s easy to draw parallels between what’s going on online and what’s going on in the rest of our media: the death of scripted TV, the endless parade of ordinary, heavily made-up faces that become vaguely familiar to us as they grin through their 15 minutes of reality-show fame. No wonder we’re ready to confess our innermost thoughts to everyone: we’re constantly being shown that the surest route to recognition is via humiliation in front of a panel of judges.

But is that really what’s making people blog? After all, online, you’re not even competing for 10 grand and a Kia. I think most people who maintain blogs are doing it for some of the same reasons I do: they like the idea that there’s a place where a record of their existence is kept — a house with an always-open door where people who are looking for you can check on you, compare notes with you and tell you what they think of you. Sometimes that house is messy, sometimes horrifyingly so. In real life, we wouldn’t invite any passing stranger into these situations, but the remove of the Internet makes it seem O.K.

This essay is a cautionary tale about the dangers of "oversharing" as Emily says. Writers, bloggers—especially you young ones—remember to be cautious when you're writing online about your private life. This isn't the way you want to be famous.

Have you ever over-shared on a blog? Did you regret it?

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing

5/28/2008 9:50:14 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [6]

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Kill Your Darlings (and other terrifying advice)
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Following up on my previous post, the Ira Glass storytelling video, there were some interesting comments on the forum. I mentioned that I really took to what Glass had to say about killing much of your work so that the best can live. And this brought up the anxiety-inducing advice that all writers get early in their careers, "Murder your Darlings" aka "Kill your Darlings."

I've heard this quote attitributed to everyone from Mark Twain to James Patrick Kelly—if anyone knows the correct source/attribution for this idiom, please share.

I still remember the shudder that went up my spine the first time I heard "Murder your Darlings" from an English professor (English professors love this quote).

And I've been pondering the meaning of it ever since. As a writer, of course, it seems cruel and harsh to cut out your loveliest well-turned phrases—your most eloquent lines. But I have to say, as an editor, I have no problem at all at seeing and cutting out other writers darlings.

So how do you feel about murdering your darlings? Do you subscribe to this timeless writing advice?

Keep Writing,
Maria

writing technique

5/27/2008 9:26:51 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [10]

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Ira Glass on Storytelling
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I want to share this wonderful, instructional video I came across: Ira Glass on the art of storytelling. I'm a huge NPR "This American Life" fan and I also recommend "This American Life" on Showtime, which I suppose you might call short video stories of real people.

The following video was produced to educate aspiring video producers (via Current TV). Glass gives such a great description of the storytelling process, demystifying it and breaking it down into understandable pieces. Good to know whether you're communicating through writing, video, radio or podcasts—good storytelling is good storytelling.

The series is broken down into four parts and I'm posting #1 here. You can watch all four parts in less than 15 minutes. Parts 2-4 will show up in the Related Videos on the You Tube page.

Let me know what you think...

Keep Writing,
Maria

journalism | the writing life | writing technique

5/22/2008 9:10:21 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [2]

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Writing through Recession
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Well, I have to admit to feeling more than the usual post-Catholic-childhood guilt lately. Not only is there a global economic recession and I'm actually employed in a volatile industry; The Ultimate Cheapskate (below) yelled at me for my fondness for expensive, frothy espresso drinks.

You could argue that there's never really been a positive economic forecast for those of us in the writing professions and perhaps the rest of the world is feeling just a taste of our everyday financial challenges.

I was wondering specifically how the recession is affecting writers, and I want to hear from you. Are you getting fewer bites on your queries? Spending less time at your favorite writing cafe because you're financially embarrassed? Going to fewer writing conferences? Get it out, it's good to share.

As for me, I'm thinking about switching back to plain old drip coffee just to make The Ultimate Cheapskate happy.

Keep Writing,
Maria

the writing life

5/20/2008 10:57:15 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [9]

Friday, May 16, 2008

Maria Gets Cheap
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I met up with one of my favorite WD forumistas this morning at the Joseph-Beth bookstore here in Cincy—the one and only "Ultimate Cheapskate" (aka Jeff Yeager).

Jeff has been pedaling his bike around the country on a book tour to spread his gospel of cheapness. You can read all about Jeff and his amusingly cheap ways on The Ultimate Cheapskate website. You might also catch one of his regular guest appearances on the "Today" show.

Among the ways Jeff is making his booktour extra cheap is by sleeping on the couches of random strangers and he donates the money saved on lodging to local libraries. Not sure I'd recommend this strategy but it seems to be working for him.

Pictured here:
* Jeff handing me the check for our coffee, which I kept, um, forgetting to pay. "You know, you actually have to pay those things when they bring them to you. It's not like a hymnal," Jeff said.

* The Ultimate Cheapskate touring bike (which I think might just be a prop since I saw him load it into the back of his minivan, shhh!) There's a plastic piggy bank strapped to the back that I got to sign.

* Jeff with his ultra-primo display space at Joseph-Beth Bookstore.

As Jeff says, "Stay Cheap!" It's a good way for a writer to live, isn't it now.

Keep Writing,
Maria

the writing life

5/16/2008 2:00:03 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [3]

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Procrastination vs. Writer's Block
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
There's a great piece in Slate "It's All in My Head" by Jessica Winter, that attempts to make a distinction between procrastination and writer's block focusing on the work—and lack thereof—of famous writers of the past such as Truman Capote.

Here's an excerpt:
Neurologist Alice Flaherty attempts a working distinction between procrastination and block—the fearsome Orthrus of the creative process—in her 2004 book The Midnight Disease: The Drive To Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain: "A blocked writer has the discipline to stay at the desk but cannot write. A procrastinator, on the other hand, cannot bring himself to sit down at the desk; yet if something forces him to sit down he may write quite fluently." But don't these two scenarios amount to different performances of the same role? Every seasoned procrastinator loves to tell himself that, amid his flurry of avoidance strategies—rearranging the furniture in his office, pitching himself into a YouTube rabbit hole, surrendering to a fit of self-Googling—his brain is secretly marinating ideas and hatching plans. (As the underground narrator of Invisible Man puts it, "A hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.") Surely this percolation process is also happening inside the "blocked" writer, even if he's motionless in his swivel chair?

My goodness, think of the trouble Capote et al. would have had if they had the Internet!

Keep Writing,
Maria

the writing life

5/15/2008 9:12:15 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [4]

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Send Us To Your Site!
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Now is the time to bring your website to the attention of the WD editors. We're taking nominations for the best writer's website to feature in the October issue of Writer's Digest.

Here are the details:
We’re looking for the writer with the best personal website or blog that was created and is maintained without outside help. Sites will be judged on presentation, ease of use and marketing effectiveness. Send your nominations—and don’t be shy; you can nominate your own site—to writersdig@fwpubs.com with “Best Writer’s Site” in the subject line. The deadline is June 10.

Sites will be judged by Writer’s Digest editors. The top 10 sites will be listed in our October issue, in our e-newsletter and on WritersDigest.com. The writer with the best site will receive a one-year subscription to writersmarket.com and a subscription to Writer’s Digest; the nine runners-up will receive one-year subscriptions to Writer’s Digest.

If you post a link to your website in the comments section of this entry, I'll make sure your website ends up in the running. So let's see your sites!

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing | Writer's Digest news

5/13/2008 9:54:10 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [40]

Friday, May 09, 2008

Journalism: Breaking In
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
To follow up on my last post about landing a journalism career, I asked our newly hired managing editor, Zac Petit—who graduated from J-school three years ago—to share his thoughts.

Here's Zac:
Ahh, journalism—long hours, low pay, shrinking newsrooms, coffee overdoses, sadistic deadlines, weekends spent covering garage sales boasting glamorous taglines such as “world’s largest.” But don’t fret.

There’s also a glorious upside: seeing your first 1A story, building impenetrable staff camaraderie with your “war” buddies, getting paid to write and edit regularly, seeing readers take an interest in your work, knowing you didn’t get a job in mathematics.

Journalism can either be your worst nightmare or your best friend. For many professionals, it’s both. As one writer here put it, “Basically if you want to go into journalism you have to look at it as a calling. … you have to do it because you love it, and live it, or else it’s not for you.”

My advice? If you’re just starting out and you don’t have any strong connections or solid clips, start small. Try a newspaper, a routine launching pad for scores of media professionals and authors (including greats like Ernest Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegut). For me, a jaunt out to a small rural daily was an ideal place to quickly learn the trade. Not only was it a journalism boot camp, but it also provided a rare opportunity to experience everything in the profession at once, from basic reporting and photography to advancement in bigger beats (in newspaper jargon, beats are basically your hallowed turf, such as the police or county government beat). If you work hard, lose a little sleep, get all your facts right and build some solid clips, often you can be out and on your way to a bigger publication in a year.

As for the college degree, it may not be necessary at every publication, but it definitely helps. A quick glance at the reporter hub JournalismJobs.com affirms that most places require a journalism or mass communications credential as a prerequisite. If you’re in a college journalism program, embrace internships, write for the school paper and seek out some freelance opportunities. If you’re not enrolled, do everything you can for starter clips, experience and connections: Write for free, network and talk to professionals to gain an understanding of the industry. When it comes to that first journalism gig, these are the things publications will be looking for—and it just might prevent you from having to move out to the middle of nowhere.

Yeah, journalism is hard. But when you talk to media professionals who have stayed the course, they’re likely to begrudgingly admit that it was well worth it—even if they did have to cover the occasional “World’s Largest Garage Sale” once or twice in their early days.

Zac will be contributing to The Writer's Perspective from time to time, so please welcome him. Also, feel free to post any comments or questions for him here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

journalism

5/9/2008 11:15:43 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [4]

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