Newsletters

“Reality is like a face reflected in the blade of a knife; its properties depend on the angle from which we view it.”-Master Hsing Yun, Describing the Indescribable"

Email Newsletters:

I don’t know about you but I get tons of newsletters and actually read most of them. I'm even thinking about starting a newsletter of my own. Once in a while I stumble across mini bits of treasure that are really helpful to lowly writers such as we. That’s the case with two newsletters I recently received. First was Dawn Copeman’s newsletter, Newbie Writers. If you don’t get it you should and there's a link on this page that will take you to her site.

The first treasure, (read free writers how-to ebooks) buried in her newsletter is from Trent Steele. He’s the Site manager behind sites such as My Writers Circle (think Nick Daws), Write Street and Writers FM. Now, twice every week, he is putting together the “Smart Writers” newsletter – bringing together great articles, awesome free downloads, and a trove of special offers.

Hurry and take advantage of it now as his offer will be over the end of November. I've taken advantage it and downloaded several ebooks that will help advance my writing career. Don’t miss these offers as they’re all free. The only thing you have to do is sign up for his newsletter. Here is the link (read as treasure map) to his freebies.

http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?WA4DZcM9cwoRk_raP7RLkw


The next treasure I found is from Writers Digest. The words that caught my eye were Instant feedback on your writing!” Free online tool identifies your writing errors and weaknesses. Improve your writing, get published.” I tried the free version which is limited to 800 words and was pleasantly surprised by the results. I contacted Janine, the site editor to get permission to add this to my blog. She replied with an affirmative and said "I originally developed AutoCrit to help improve my own writing. I'm really happy that it's useful to other writers too :-)."

First the program checked for repetitive words, I had more than I thought I would, then I clicked on it to check on repeated phrases. I had a couple of them, and lastly I clicked on Sentence Length Variation. This neat little report listed my sentences in a way that I could re-analyze and restructure them in such a way that my timing improved tremendously. And this was just the free stuff.

Needless to say I’ve joined. There are three levels of membership beyond the free level. Those levels allow more options in checking one's manuscript. I found the prices (an annual fee) exceptionally reasonable and am joining at the lowest level to begin with. Here is the link (treasure map) to this excellent tool for newbies.

Free online tool identifies your writing errors and weaknesses. Improve your writing, get published! www.AutoCrit.com

Did I mention (again) that my short story, Granny O-Toole’s Recipe, will be published online December 7th at A Long Story Short? Ha, I told you I wouldn’t let you forget. Their website is http://www.alongstoryshort.net/ . Well, enough for now, I’m working on a new children’s short story called The Good Deed Bug and am just about ready to send it out to publishers.

Sites to see, places to go, freebies to try and groups to join

MyWriting Friend:mailto:writingfriend@yahoo.com

Nick Daws Writers Circle:Click link on this page.

Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/

Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/

Writers Prompts: http://writingfix.com/Duotrope Digest:

http://www.duotrope.com/digest.Beginners Guide:

http://www.beginnersguide.com/freelance-writing/

A Long Story Short: http://www.alongstoryshort.net/

E Literary Agent: http://www.e-literaryagent.net/

Freebie Writers Tools

Auto Crit Automatic manuscript checker: www.AutoCrit.com

I’ll be adding to the above list as time goes on and I find more newbie friendly sites.

Writers forums, are they worth the effort?

Are they worth it?

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."-- Ray Bradbury

I write short stories. As I’ve said before, I think it’s one of the quickest ways to polish ones abilities and hone ones writing skills. Part and parcel of writing short stories, to me, is belonging to a good writers group or forum. I belong to a small group headed up by one of the editors of A Long Story Short. The group is called My Writing Friend and I initially joined it because I felt that the critiques would be valuable and help me on my path to publication.

Needless to say, as a Newbie, I was also scared to death. I had two major concerns. One, that I would find out that I’d make a better dog catcher than a writer. (Read as harsh critiques) Two that I would offend someone with my critiques and they would be out for revenge which would, at that time, crush me and put an end to my writing.

I found that my initial thought was more than correct, it was right on and my concerns were groundless. Thanks to my forum, I've had my first short story “Savannah” published, then a few months later had another story “Granny O’Tooles Recipe" accepted which will be published December 7th. Then I had a poem “Veterans of War” published. Now, as of this writing, I've been advised that my story, "Savannah" won honorable mention in the 75th annual Writers Digest writing competition. I even received a Certificate of Achievement. Now that's not bad considering there were 19,000 entries.

What’s all that got to do with a writers forum? Everything I’ve had published has been run through the forum. I post a rough draft, get suggestions and critiques then do rewrites. Once the rewrite is posted I get more feedback. Then, when the process is complete and I’m happy with the result, I send it out to publishers that I think will be interseted in it. Needless to say I also critique the works of the other members in my group and they too, go through the process. This whole thing takes a month to complete as each month a choice of new topics are assigned to write about. As I said at the beginning, this is a crash course way of learning the art of writing. I also attend every writing school that I can.


Speaking of writing schools, one of the best is the Long Story Short School of Writing and the Ezine They are presently offering a free mini course sampler each week. This week they have Janet Wellington's Pitch Perfect Course Sampler: How to present your story ideas within query letters, synopses, and during frightening agent and editor appointments at writing conferences – there is no obligation, it’s all for fun. Check it out here . Sign up and write up your best response to her assignment – you might win an autographed copy of her latest novel! And you'll improve your writing skills!

We also had great success with our last free Course Sampler offered by Roseanne Dowell, instructor at the Long Story Short School of Writing. She teaches Show, Don't Tell and the writer of the best scene received an autographed copy of Roseanne's new book, Satin Sheets and publication in the LSS ezine. Those who signed up for her full course received a 20% discount.We are offering some classes in E-Book format now – a downloadable .pdf file for $18.95-$39.95.

Now available:The Reel Deal: Writing About Movies with award-winning author and movie reviewer, Betty Jo Tucker - $22.95. Learn how to write movie reviews by developing a movie philosophy, learn how to conduct interviews and find outlets for your reviews. Purchase The Reel Deal and receive a free copy of Betty Jo's book, CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT.


You, Me and Poetry by award winning poet, Floriana Hall. This Course offers twelve lessons on a dozen different types of poetry, biographies of famous poets, poetry tips and sample poetry. $39.95. (It is possible to split this course into two segments for $22.95 each). Contact us directly for more information on the two-part course. There will no teacher contact or feedback, but you’ll own the course to study at your leisure and return to again and again! You will have the option at anytime of purchasing the interactive course for the difference in cost. Click here to Buy the E-Courses.


(The forum that I belong to) Linda Barnett-Johnson offers some terrific writing forums, My LSS Writing Friend. Here, Linda offers a prompt and the members write a first draft, rewrite and final story, all with intensive critiques by the other members. At the end of the month, they all have publishable, completed stories. If you or anyone you know is interested in joining, contact Linda Barnett-Johnson


Did I mention that my short story, Granny O-Toole’s Recipe, will be published online December 7th at A Long Story Short? Ha, I told you I wouldn’t let you forget. Their website is http://www.alongstoryshort.net/ . Well, enough for now, I’m working on a new children’s short story called The Good Deed Bug and am just about ready to send it out to publishers.

Sites to see, places to go and groups to join

MyWriting Friend:mailto:writingfriend@yahoo.com

Nick Daws Writers Circle:Click link on this page.

Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/

Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/

Writers Prompts: http://writingfix.com/

Duotrope Digest: http://www.duotrope.com/digest.

Beginners Guide: http://www.beginnersguide.com/freelance-writing/

A Long Story Short: http://www.alongstoryshort.net/

E Literary Agent: http://www.e-literaryagent.net/

I’ll be adding to the above list as time goes on and I find more newbie friendly sites.