WANACon (run behind the minds behind the We Are Not Alone Tribe for writers) is coming!
The World Wide Writers Conference You Can Attend In Your PJs runs  February 21-22, 2014 and it is going to be great.
I say this, in all modesty, as one of the speakers 🙂 I’ll be speaking with Gabriela Pereira of DIYMFA.com on “A Simple System To Rock Your Revisions” that works for novels AND short stories.
You can WIN a FREE pass to the conference here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Around here we’re all about creativity. I don’t talk much about publishing because:
a, there’s plenty of material online about how to publish/get published and
b, Worrying about the publishing part before the writing part seems like putting the cart before the horse.
However, many of you have come along on the StoryADay May creativity binge a few times now and are starting to wonder “What Next?”
I strongly advocate trying many different things to get your work into the hands of readers, from submitting to traditionally-published magazines, publishing online, and yes, even self-publishing.
This summer and autumn I focused on putting together batches of stories that could be packaged together and sold as ebooks. Then I published them myself.
I’ve never felt more inspired, so I wanted to share the steps with you.
A resounding success.
My experiment is still a bit of a work in progress as I have only released a few things, and my marketing is designed to produce results over the long haul. But I can tell you that I have never been more inspired or productive in my writing life. Just the thought of taking control, seeking feedback from trusted writing friends, polishing and releasing these stories, has filled me with drive and broken through any number of writing blocks in the past few months.
Because my marketing plan isn’t fully in place yet (and relies on more collections being released over the next year), I’m not going to talk about sales figures yet.
Get The Blueprint – Free!I am, however, going to share how I got the books out into the world, created mechanisms for gathering reader feedback and began to share my stories with the world.
If you’re already on the StoryADay mailing list you should have received a copy of the lesson I put together, sharing what I did (check your email).
It contains everything from:
If you’re not on the mailing list you can add yourself now and receive your free copy of my detailed guide to Publishing Your Own Short Story Ebook Collection
It’s back: the ever-popular (no really, it is!) exercise where we all write stories using the same list of words.
It’s silly, it’s low-stress, it is, frankly, ridiculous and it makes for a great way to break blocks or take a break after a longer or more serious project.
So here goes:
Write a story containing the following words
Monthly
Cute
Shortest
Wolfish
Plot
Master
World
Valuable
December
Go!
I’ve decided not to host an official StoryADay September here, but don’t despair!
Starting on Tuesday (Sept 3) I’m going to bring you prompts five days a week and will be inviting you to check in here at the site on any days that you’re inspired to write (or determined to). We’ll be here with congratulations, encouragement and, of course, more prompts.
Here’s a quick summary of the first week’s prompts:
Prompt 3 – Little Old Lady
An opportunity to examine (or reinvent) the stereotype of the little old lady…
Prompt 4 – The Locked Room
Four people in a locked room with a frightening thunderous noise outside? What the heck is going on?
Prompt 5 – Inciting Incident
This prompt takes a look at one of the elements of story structure writing teachers are always banging on about: the inciting incident.
P.S. Everyone who comments this month will be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of the StoryADay Time To Write Workshop.
I do a lot of reading about writing, sifting through the fluff and the downright wrong, so you don’t have to. Here’s what I’ve found in the past month or so that you should find pretty inspiring. Dive in.
Start reading websites for writers and you’ll inevitably find a whole bunch of articles about how you *must* be developing a ‘platform’ so that readers will flock to your books. Dan’s article introduces a little sanity into the debate.
And on that note, I particularly enjoy Chuck Wendig’s quote on the topic of platform: “Here’s the thing: a writer without a platform can still get published if he has a kick-ass book, but a writer with a great platform isn’t likely to get published if his book is better off being dragged out behind the barn and shot in the head.”
Along the same lines, you might want to pay particular attention to the last two paragraphs of Seth Godin’s short blog post: You Could Just Make Something Awesome Instead.
Not directly about writing, but if you’re looking for some motivation to help you stop stalling on your next (or current) story, take a deep, cleansing breath and go and read Leo’s article.
A short article about how a TV writer reminds herself to write characters who are more than cardboard cutouts. Really useful. (Your list may vary from Mindy’s but it’s an exercise you might want to try.)
Related: Elizabeth S. Craig’s recent post about voice. She give a great piece of advice about how to hold onto a character’s voice once you’ve found it and then gives you a rabbit-hole of further reading links to fall down. Go, enjoy!
This is an exercise I have long advocated (It’s part of the Copycat Writing class in the StoryADay Warm Up Course). Liz’s writes about it in a way that will make you want to try it! (This page loaded oddly in my browser. You may need to scroll down.)
10 Ways For an ADD Writer to be OOH! SHINY! by Kristen Lamb
Because we’re all a little bit ADD…
And along the same lines:
“What you put your attention on, grows”. Seems simple when she puts it like that, huh? Tips and tricks for turning your writing habit into something you focus on and relish.
Kristen’s on fire this month! This is well worth a read.
You may have seen some of these quotes from great authors littered abour the Web, but here are ten of the best in one place.
Looking for a plot or a crisis ripped from, well, not the headlines but a Department of Defense list of its own cock-ups? Read through this instructional manual produced by the DOD and I defy you not to get a story idea or two!
How school reading lists have changed over the past 100 years from GalleyCat.
(I’m all for kids reading modern writers but I’m a big sad to see that nothing on the 2012 snapshot was published earlier than 1953. What say you? — Ed)
One of my main aims with StoryADay.org was to get you (and me) writing again. It’s about productivity, creativity and becoming the person you were meant to be: a writer.
But after you’ve been writing for a while a new worry creep in. You’re no longer worried about making time to write, or whether you’ll be able to finish stories. You’ve proved that you can do that. You’ve probably found that you’re much happier when you’re writing than when you’re not.
Then comes that next niggling worry.
(And yes, it hit me too, after I’d first used StoryADay to jumpstart my own short story writing).
And what is that worry? All together now:
“What if my writing isn’t good enough?”
If you’ve been writing for a while now, you’ve probably sent a story or two away to a publication, a contest, a friend. Maybe you had some luck and got a good response. Chance are though, you to a ‘sorry but’, or an empty inbox.
It’s hard to know why. Maybe it wasn’t what that person was looking for. Or maybe it really wasn’t good enough. So now what?
As I see it, you have three choices:
1. Give up (but that’s not a real choice because you already know you want to be writing. So let’s forget I ever mentioned it.)
2. Never show your work to anyone again (but this isn’t realistic either. We write to connect. You WANT to find an audience for your work.)
3. Become a better writer.
Every writer has to face this reality, when the first euphoria wears off: we’re not as good as we want to be. Everyone. From Stephen King to Junot Diaz (who got a McArthur “Genius” grant this year. Think that’s going to make feel like he knows what he’s doing? Nope!)
It’s all just part of the process of becoming a writer.
So it’s noses to the grindstone again: write, read, revise, learn, do it all again. The only way forward is, well, forward.
Earlier this year I posted a long series of articles on the subject of Becoming A Better Writer. They were so popular that I decided to expand them, compile them, and release them as an ebook: the second in the StoryADay.org Guides series.
It’s available now and, for this week only, it’s FREE.
This guide to becoming a better writer is packed with tips, techniques and exercises you can use to improve your writing– Â even when you’re away from your desk. With StoryADay’s trademark brand of inspiration, practical help, and humor, this is your go-to guide for whenever your writing life needs a boost.
Well, none really. You need to have a Kindle or download the free Kindle software from Amazon, and I’d love it if you’d leave a review so that more people can find the book next week when the price goes back up to $2.99 (Any kind of review helps. I think it potential readers like to see a balanced set of opinions up there) .
Which reminds me, it’s only free until Friday, July 19th, so get your copy today.
The only qualification to be a ‘Superstar” is a desire to write and support your fellow writers.
A supportive group of committed writers, who meet virtually, support each other’s efforts, and inspire each other.
Registration for 2024 open now-June 8, 2024
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A 6-part journey through the short story.
Starts Jan 3, 2025