We are on a mission to bring you the best writing-related articles we can find online. We usually post them on twitter and facebook. Should we post them here too or is that repetitive?
Here is an example, an article written by a literary agent:
Let's talk about non-fiction query letters for a minute
Let us know in the comments.
Though I've been writing stories and poems since I was seven years old, I've most certainly had this problem.
Throughout my formative years I loved to write and was pretty good at it. But after graduating from college, I was tending bar at a high-end club in downtown Nashville while clerking at a law firm and working on local political campaigns. I was meeting girls, making good money, and, every night when I came home to the stars spread above my studio apartment on the outskirts of town, it seemed my muse was waiting for me.
There was only one problem: I wasn't actually writing.
At first it seemed natural. I'd just graduated. I was making a living. I needed a break.
But as summer moved into fall and fall into winter, I discovered that even when I'd carved out some random time to write, I either had writer's block or simply didn't have the energy to write in the first place. That was when I knew something had to change.
So I went to my mother and explained the problem. And pretty quickly we came to a solution: Establish a schedule and never deviate from it.
"All great artists have a work routine," she said. "You're not going to write if you don't force yourself to. It's too hard."
So we spent the afternoon looking at my finances and at my day-to-day schedule. With a little tweaking we discovered I could cut back my work schedule a bit and write 2-3 hours a day if I got up at 6 am.
I tried it for a week and the results were obvious. I was reading poetry that had been gathering dust over a year on the bookshelf, and I was writing and revising poems left and right.
Of course, back then I was just a kid. No wife, no kids, no mortgage. Well, that's all changed now (minus the kids), and I still get up at 6 am every weekday and read and write for at least four hours. That's 20 hours a week of writing folks— not bad considering I have six part-time jobs, have been married for five years to a career woman, edit an online poetry journal, and live in the second most expensive city in the country.
I'm not saying everyone has to get up at 6 am or that writing several hours a day is required to create the works you have in you to create.
What I'm saying is simpler than that.
Establish a routine and don't let anything change the plan.
Try it for a week and let the results speak for themselves!
louis-bourgeois(at)hotmail.com
The essays can be any length. Initially the essays will appear at Drunken Boat but eventually they will be collected and published in a book via VOX PRESS. There may be money involved when VOX takes over the project in earnest. All rights revert back to VOX and the authors. Also, we are seeking poems or stories about Barry Hannah.
Inlandia: A Literary Journey, the online literary journal for the Inlandia Institute, is currently reading submissions.
We are primarily seeking stories, poems, novel excerpts, memoir, images, etc., by writers and artists whose work is in some way grounded in the Inland Empire, works that will give readers around the globe a sense of the region and its people.
To give a clearer picture of where this region is located, it is in the southeastern corner of California and encompasses all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties from the heights of San Gorgonio Mountain to the lows of Death Valley, from the wineries of Temecula to the shuttered citrus packing houses of Riverside, and all points in-between.
Above all else, we want fresh, compelling writing.
Please visit the Inlandia website for complete submission guidelines and to review our current issue, which includes works by Shin Yu Pai, Rebecca K. O'Connor, Stephanie Barbe Hammer, Louise Mathias, and many more.
Scribblers' Retreat Writers' Conference
St. Simons Island, GA
May 12-14
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 8, 2011
Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for adventure, suspense, mystery, and history. Our May Conference is sure to tantalize and inspire you on your own writing journey. If you have been wondering about how to make your writing a true success story, you will really get a lot out of this conference. We are proud to present a very interesting mix of inspiring experts from a variety of backgrounds and geographies. From "thriller" novelists to writers of enchanting poetry and award-winning juvenile fiction writers-this conference has it all!
Seating is limited so register today!
King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort,
620 Arnold Rd. St. Simons Island
DEADLINE: June 15, 2o11
Sliver of Stone is a bi-annual, online literary magazine dedicated to
the publication of work from both emerging and established poets,
writers, and visual artists from all parts of the globe. We publish
work that is surprising and inventive.
We're interested in the following:
Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Essays (3,500 words or less).
Poetry, any form or genre (No more than 5 poems)
Visual art
Multi-authored works are not eligible.
No previously published works.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but we must be notified
immediately should your work be accepted elsewhere for publication.
For complete submission guidelines, please visit www.sliverofstone.com
As you may know, we no longer publish writing contests on this blog unless they have no fee. Here is a no-fee contest! Thank you, Shenandoah for not charging writers to submit their work.
The Bevel Summers Prize in the Short Short Story is open to all authors of stories of up to 1,000 words. Stories should be sent to Bevel Summers/Shenandoah, Mattingly House, 2 Lee Ave., Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450 and must be received by March 31.
Send two copies, one with name and contact information, including e-mail address, and a duplicate with no identifying information, along with an sase for notification. The winner will receive a $250 prize and be featured prominently on Shenandoah's first online issue. There is no entry fee for the 2011 contest. A judge has not yet been selected.
