My husband got me the 2012 Short Story and Novel Writer's Market as a gift for making it through Fall semester of classes! With it comes an annual subscription to www.writersmarket.com (well, to their novel and short story section). For $9.99 US more, I could upgrade to the full account for the entire year. So I am now enjoying my full subscription!
This is a big step forward for writing. For one, it gives me access to the Writer's Digest Community and forum boards. For those of you who don't know, the Writer's Digest is a magazine that comes out monthly and has lots of articles and tips on how to keep that creative spark, make yourself marketable, make your writing publishable, et cetera. It is a wonderful magazine.
I do not have a magazine subscription, but that is because, at the moment, I am more worried about my writing for writing's sake. I'll worry about the extras (the bells and whistles, as I've called it) after I have something on paper.
However, the community and forums allow me to communicate with fellow writers about anything and everything we feel necessary. Though once the semester starts I will have more limited time, I feel that haunting the site every now and again will help in more ways than I can think up at the moment.
The other positive to this subscription is that I now have access to contests, listed agents, publishers, and so much more. With all these listings comes the information based on who's looking for authors and how experienced they are, or what type of things these places publish, and my goodness, I could make a list ten miles long with the helpful information you can glean from this website.
This is not some random website. This is a great way to get your foot in the door of the publishing world and if you know how to utilize the information, it can be a great asset. I feel like I've only scratched the surface. I can't say I love the business side of things. I am petrified of those first submissions and queries, but who isn't?
As a joke, I've already told my husband that he's going to be a manager should I become published. He will deal with the business side of things, and I will deal with the writing. In reality, that may hit closer to home than I think. But, with my manager or not, I still have to know how the business is played so, time to pick up some serious information on that side as I write. Otherwise, I'll have a novel with no home in the publishing world.
I've also been looking into Writer's Conferences as well. Thank goodness, now that it is January more conferences are being announced for the 2012 year. I'm still not sure the pricing and such of the recently announced conferences that I am interested in, but I'm hoping that it won't be a pipe dream for this year. I would love to attend an actual conference. Although, I'm not sure who I would go with. I've asked my sister to attend with me, but I'm not sure if she's only humoring me or what. Those who know me know that I am fairly shy, with fairly putting it lightly. So going with someone may help that (I hope). We shall see.
I'm just excited that I'm finally pushing myself to be a writer. This is something I should have done years ago, and I'm not going to stop this time. It means too much and honestly, it's too much fun!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
My Take on the Write-A-Thon
Another note to self: take notes on how I'm feeling from time to time so that when I write an entry for you all to experience my experience, I will know where to begin. So without further ramblings, here are all the interesting and equally uninteresting pictures I took whilst writing away for 26.2 hours:
There were a few times when I really felt I wouldn't make it, and many more times I felt I was insane for doing any of this. Surprisingly enough, most of that occurred in the beginning of the Write-A-Thon and once I got used to the idea that, like it or not, I was committed to it, suddenly it became easier. Even more, it was quite fun. That is why (if you look at the previous entry), I have commissioned myself to do another at the end of February or the beginning of March, during my winter break from school.
The only thing I was unsure of was whether sleep should be involved or not. Well, as you all read (if you read the previous entries), I did sleep for about 3.5 hours mid-way through. I thought I would be upset with myself, but I'm actually rather impressed that I did sleep and still managed to meet my goals of writing through chapter 8 and hitting 15,000 words. Re-iterating a former statement as well, I stand by that decision because as much as it is about getting things done and writing in general, writing should be fun and should also be quality over quantity. Quantity is great, but it's useless without quality.
Please ask questions or comment if you'd like to know more. Sleep deprivation and lack of noting on my feelings didn't help in the memory category while blogging all of this. I'm still hazy about a few things, but I am still quite thrilled I was able to accomplish all of this. Now to visit the library, read as many books as I can before I start school, and write as much as I can.
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| I started off with a writing prompt out of this magazine. It was to start with a line from a favorite song and end with a line from a different favorite song. I think it went very well, and I may even have a new idea from it. |
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| These are binders that my hubby made for me to organize my writing by project. Notice the cryptic titles. |
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| My first sustenance of the Write-A-Thon. Yummm! |
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| That was my first accomplishment of the Write-A-Thon. By the time I had taken my first break, I had 2,728 words! |
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| This was where my second writer's prompt came from. I randomly opened a page, read the first thing I found: write a short piece in which the narrator is an unreliable source. This is a wonderful writing prompt book by the way. It has some crazy but wonderful things in here. Can't wait to do more! |
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| Lunch or Dinner in the midst of the Write-A-Thon. I don't recall which, only that it was very tasty. Thank you, hubby! |
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| I can't not see my little girl for 26.2 hours. This was me taking a much-needed break and having fun with my little one while Daddy held her to keep me from getting too distracted. Notice the blurriness. That could have been from her moving, me not being used to the camera, or being about 16-20 hours in. I'm not sure which. |
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| Yet another sustenance break. This pico de gallo and tortilla chips (not shown) were two snacks. If you know me at all, you know I can't live without this stuff. |
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| My box of writing from the last several years. I thought I might need it for inspiration, but I didn't. Woohoo! |
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| My novel on the wall. We moved it from upstairs (the writing room became the baby's room). The pink is all I accomplished during the Write-A-Thon. Trust me, that is 8 chapter's worth. |
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| I apologize for the fuzziness. I couldn't get my camera to focus on my laptop screen very well. Next time, I'll just take a screen shot. Final word count for my novel post Write-A-Thon: 15, 717. Total Pages: 27 (that's MSWord pages). |
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| My writing via USB memory stick. Oh, yes, I am in penguin mode. |
There were a few times when I really felt I wouldn't make it, and many more times I felt I was insane for doing any of this. Surprisingly enough, most of that occurred in the beginning of the Write-A-Thon and once I got used to the idea that, like it or not, I was committed to it, suddenly it became easier. Even more, it was quite fun. That is why (if you look at the previous entry), I have commissioned myself to do another at the end of February or the beginning of March, during my winter break from school.
The only thing I was unsure of was whether sleep should be involved or not. Well, as you all read (if you read the previous entries), I did sleep for about 3.5 hours mid-way through. I thought I would be upset with myself, but I'm actually rather impressed that I did sleep and still managed to meet my goals of writing through chapter 8 and hitting 15,000 words. Re-iterating a former statement as well, I stand by that decision because as much as it is about getting things done and writing in general, writing should be fun and should also be quality over quantity. Quantity is great, but it's useless without quality.
Please ask questions or comment if you'd like to know more. Sleep deprivation and lack of noting on my feelings didn't help in the memory category while blogging all of this. I'm still hazy about a few things, but I am still quite thrilled I was able to accomplish all of this. Now to visit the library, read as many books as I can before I start school, and write as much as I can.
Welcome to the New Year!
Well, I'm going to briefly share a few of my New Year's resolutions in regards to writing. After all, I know me, and I love achieving goals I set for myself. I also know it's important for your character as a human being to have goals and something to work toward. For myself, I never seem to have near as many problems if I have a project or something of the sort to focus on. So here's my list for 2012:
-Do another Write-A-Thon during my winter break from school (takes place in February/ March)
-Finish my book
-Do a complete edit of my book
-Apply to find an agent
-Begin work on my next book (as in writing that actual pages, no more meandering)
-Read Stephen King's On Writing, his book of essays
-Take part in NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month- November)
-Work toward attending a Writer's Conference (this unfortunately is reliant on my financial position as well as timing), if not attend one this year
-Create a craft that relates directly to my writing (I'm a girl, I naturally do this type of thing, so why not direct it to usefulness)
There you have it. My list for 2012. This does not include my other resolutions which are much shorter and more personal life oriented. I'm anxious to get to work on these goals. With school starting on Monday, I am also anxious to see what new stories I write and what new interesting ideas I envision for later projects.
If I haven't mentioned yet, 2 of my 4 classes are literature and writing, with one being literally Creative Writing. This won't be the first time I've taken a creative writing course, but I'm hoping very much to have an inspirational teacher and not one that seems uninterested in teaching or any of the desires of their students. I'm excited for my classes and three days of classes will hopefully allow me more time to study and write. Even more, one of my classes requires me to write, so I know I won't let him down!
Let the creativity and year of writing begin! Stay tuned because my next entry will be about my Write-A-Thon from last week.
-Do another Write-A-Thon during my winter break from school (takes place in February/ March)
-Finish my book
-Do a complete edit of my book
-Apply to find an agent
-Begin work on my next book (as in writing that actual pages, no more meandering)
-Read Stephen King's On Writing, his book of essays
-Take part in NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month- November)
-Work toward attending a Writer's Conference (this unfortunately is reliant on my financial position as well as timing), if not attend one this year
-Create a craft that relates directly to my writing (I'm a girl, I naturally do this type of thing, so why not direct it to usefulness)
There you have it. My list for 2012. This does not include my other resolutions which are much shorter and more personal life oriented. I'm anxious to get to work on these goals. With school starting on Monday, I am also anxious to see what new stories I write and what new interesting ideas I envision for later projects.
If I haven't mentioned yet, 2 of my 4 classes are literature and writing, with one being literally Creative Writing. This won't be the first time I've taken a creative writing course, but I'm hoping very much to have an inspirational teacher and not one that seems uninterested in teaching or any of the desires of their students. I'm excited for my classes and three days of classes will hopefully allow me more time to study and write. Even more, one of my classes requires me to write, so I know I won't let him down!
Let the creativity and year of writing begin! Stay tuned because my next entry will be about my Write-A-Thon from last week.
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