Trazzler writing contest

By sparklyscotty on 2/12/10 10:18am
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Last week we mentioned the Bridport prize for 2010 - a great chance to earn some serious money and acclaim.  However, if fiction or poetry aren't quite in your niche, then the perhaps you can turn your hand to some travel writing for the Trazzler Writing Contest.  Trazzler is a top destination website for travellers looking for great reviews, insider knowledge and travel tips.  There are five categories: Foodie Temples,

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Great Writing Advice for 2010

By sparklyscotty on 2/8/10 2:21pm
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If, like me, you found that life got in the way of your writing career in 2009, and are trying to get your plans back on track, then here are some words of wisdom from some great sources of writing advice.

Andy Hayes lists the top ways to improve your writing in this guest post on Get Paid to Write, including Get Feedback, Read a Book and Get Organized.  Hm, well the last item is certainly one that I need to work on as my schedule ramps up.

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The Bridport Prize 2010 - International Creative Writing Competition for Short Stories and Poems

By sparklyscotty on 2/2/10 9:26am
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bridport prizebridport prizeIf you have a competitive streak, enjoy a challenge or just relish the idea of pocketing roughly $8,000, you will be happy to know that The Bridport Prize 2010 website is now open for entries!  Now in it's 36th year, this writing contest offers real financial and career help to new and aspiring writers.


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Writing Related Videos - Stephen King

By sparklyscotty on 1/31/10 8:52am
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One of the world¡s greatest storytellers and best selling authors of all time, Stephen King, shares his writing advice with students at Yale University.  A few years old now, King's simple, straightforward advice is still worth a listen for any creative writer.

 

Writing Related Videos - Joyce Carol Oates on Characters

By sparklyscotty on 1/23/10 9:50am
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There is a whole host of great writing related videos to be found online, from interviews with authors, to podcast classes, to how-tos from published authors and editors.  Here,  Joyce Carol Oates shares some information about how to create realistic characters.

 

Writer Shout Out January 22nd

By sparklyscotty on 1/22/10 10:20am
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Jane Friedman gives a weekly roundup of the best writing tweets each Sunday at her blog.  These tweets include advice, quotes and links to some great writing articles and resources.  Worth a look each week.

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Punctuation and The Irony Mark

By becksta on 1/21/10 2:28pm
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The Irony MarkThe Irony MarkThe year was 199x. I was a newbie to the Internet and everything surrounding it. One of my housemates at that time had a dial-up account at 14k and was wise about the world (sort of) and was writing in ways that I had no idea about.

He was the very first person I ever met who was strictly anti-capitals and anti-punctuation. (I know that ee cummings could be classified in the same way, but unfortunately due to geographical and time constraints, I never met the illustrious poet in person).

“Who needs them? They’re useless.”

I was innocent to ways of the world, sheltered in a world in which paragraphs had to be indented exactly five spaces, every “t” had to be crossed, and being anti-establishment to me meant writing my “I’s” in a different cursive style.  Obviously, I was aghast at his suggestion.


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How to Keep your New Years Writing Resolutions

By sparklyscotty on 1/11/10 2:59pm
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Have you made a writing resolution for 2010?  Have you thought about how you are going to stick to it?  Here is the best advice that I have garnered from gurus, psychology studies, several inspirational (and some not so inspirational) books and other writers over the years...

Tell Someone

Whatever your writing resolution you have a much higher chance of sticking it out and seeing it through if you tell someone about it.  Experts put this down to the fact that the people you have told will act as your witnesses and keep you accountable, so make sure the people you tell are good enough friends to keep nagging you about your progress! 

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Writers Resolutions for 2010

By sparklyscotty on 1/10/10 12:54pm
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Have you made a writing resolution for 2010?  Traditionally, the start of a new year provides a clean slate upon which to project all of your goals and dreams for the year to come.  Do you want to see your name in print more?  Are there new markets you want to reach?  Perhaps 2010 will be the year in which you publish your first book?  Or maybe your goals are centered more around finances, and you are determined to get higher paying clients and landjuicier assignments? 

Other resolutions often deal with the way in which we work.  For example, I am determined this year to be more efficient in my freelance adventures. As my workload has grown steadily throughout 2009 I have seen a need to treat this writing lark with a much more professional attitude and give my writing the time, attention and focus that it requires to make it a profitable career.

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The Power of Brevity

By msarko on 1/7/10 7:38pm
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When I was a small child just first learning how to read, I asked my mother how many pages were in a chapter. It only made sense at the time, given that everything else I learned about seemed to exist in discreet units. There were 60 minutes in an hour, 5280 feet in a mile, 365 days in a year. Why shouldn't there be a set number of pages in a chapter? Instead, I found the average length of chapters increasing with my own age. The five-page chapters of kid's books gave way to the fifteen page chapters of young adult novels, then jumping up to as many as 30 to 50 pages in heavyweight literature by the time I got around to college. Then I started to discover writers who went against that particular grain, opting for extremely short chapters, or even alternatives to the concept of chapters, in their novels. Ever since then, I've been a proponent of keeping everything in fiction as brief and sharp as possible.



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