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| You are receiving this email from The Writer's Chatroom because you signed up for our announcement list. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add audrey@writerschatroom.com to your address book today. Unsubscribe instructions are at the bottom of the email. |  The Writer's Chatroom | | A Monthly e-Newsletter January 2007 Visit the archives at http://archives.zinester.com/58237 | | Letter from the Editor Ah, here we are at the beginning of a brand-new year! Time to set your goals and get ready for an amazing twelve months. Time to make changes
to to get and keep you on the right track. Check out Linda's article below for help with goal-setting. And see the Contest announcement to find out how Renee' is going to help you get your name out there and win some great prizes in the process! We at The Writer's Chatroom are making changes too. This month, I will use this space to update you on all the new things we have in store for 2007. One by one, these are the changes you can expect for the new year. No more passwords! When a chat is on, the room will be open for anyone to join in. Guest chats will still be moderated, using the :? and the queue. Guest chats will be Sunday, 2 pm EST. No more Wednesday night
guest chats. The late night chats in the middle of the week were really hard on our team. We are moving to a time that works better for us, and also should be easier for the rest of the US. Moving to Sunday afternoon EST will make it possible for our European members to finally attend chats. I understand that this time will be difficult for our members from Australia, and I apologize for that. We DID take you into consideration. But staying up until nearly 1 am on Wednesday night and then getting up at 5 am on Thursday was too much for our team. The time had to change. The Sunday evening general chats are over. Now that the forum is up
and running, you have a place to discuss writing 24/7. The forum has a private message capability, so you can message with a specific person if you want to. Also, a lot of people have listed their Instant Messenger IDs on their profiles. If you have IM capabilities, you can find people to talk to in real time. Most systems even have a group option, so more than one person can have a discussion between chats. Our announcements are changing too. Instead of sending one for each chat, we will be mailing our new monthly newsletter. Plans are for it to contain an article about writing, information on the guests scheduled for that month, any announcements we may have, and a letter from the editor. The newsletter is scheduled to go out the beginning
of the month. Then there will be weekly emails sent to remind you about each Sunday's guest. We are finally running that contest we've talked about since last summer! More information is below, and is also posted at the forum. We are working on some workshops for the upcoming year. Our goal is to run a workshop each quarter. This will start the second quarter of the year. Workshops will be run through a combination of the forum and the chatroom. More information will follow as we get it set up. We have tentative to open the chatroom 8-11 pm EST on Wednesdays, starting January 10. This will be unmoderated,
but will give members a time and place to get together and talk without having to download an IM program. A couple warnings of a legal nature: We do retain raw transcripts of whatever is said in the chatroom, including the IP address of the speakers. If we find that anyone has used our chatroom for illegal purposes, the transcripts will be turned over to the authorities. If the room is abused, the open time will be discontinued. We have to do this to protect ourselves. I'm sure you understand. Are those enough changes? Anything else you would like to see us implement? Let me know! Email audrey@writerschatroom.com Keep writing! Audrey | 
| The Writer's Chatroom Writing Contest! PRIZES: Honorable Mention: A critique of your story, provided by Glenn Walker, of Writer Circle fame. All entries will be published in our forum at least for the duration of the contest. GUIDELINES: NO ENTRY FEE! Genres --All (with the exception of Poetry, R+ rated Language or Adult Content*) Word Count --500 or under Theme --New Beginnings (must use one of 10 provided prompts**) Entry Deadline --March 1st Announcement of Winners --No later than March 15th You must be a forum member to enter. There is no charge to join the forum. Send submissions
to "renee" through our forum PM system. Put your user-name in the subject-line. Do not include your name or any other identifiable information in the text of the submission. Forum members will vote through our forum PM system. *We reserve the right to reject any offensive material without explanation. SPONSORED BY: | | We have a forum! Meet our members. Keep the discussions going after chat. Learn where the hottest markets are for your genre. Find a critting or writing partner. Get inspiration, education, and social interaction at the same place: http://writerschatroom.com/forum/index.php | | ARTICLE Set Your
Sights on the Goal by Linda J. Hutchinson What an honor to write for this inaugural issue of The Writer's Chatroom newsletter! With a brand new year before us, there isn't a better time to talk about goal-setting. There is no better time to assess-or re-assess-our writing goals. I always look forward to this time of year. It's a time for renewal in my life-and my writing life. From my years of sales training I know the old adage is true: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!" Does that sound trite, over-used, tired? Maybe so, but
if you plan to become a successful writer, you'd better heed the wisdom of it. Unless you're planning to write only for yourself, or for your family and friends, you've already made the decision to make some money from it-or at least to become famous. Whichever or both, decide how you'll go about getting there. That's what goal-setting is. Goals must be believable to be achievable. It doesn't matter whether you write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or copy for advertising. You need a roadmap to guide you to success. Saying that you'll make X number of dollars from your writing this year won't help much either, without a plan for getting it done. The key to reaching your goals is to write them down. Break each goal into manageable portions. If your goal is to complete a novel this year, calculate how many words per day you'll need to write to reach the desired word count (before the dreaded edits and re-writes). If your plan involves selling a certain number of articles for publication, calculate how many queries you'll need to submit to sell that number of articles. Keep track of your queries to help you target submissions better. Tracking submissions and sold articles will also ensure you get paid. Define how you'll make time to write. Identify time wasters and potential roadblocks to reaching your goals.
Be honest with yourself, brutally honest if necessary. If you only have 15 minutes a day to write, that's okay, but don't tell yourself you'll finish a novel in 2007. Sacrifices will be necessary to find additional writing time; sleep, television, lunch with friends, time with family. Only you know what you're willing to give up. Garner support from your family and friends. If you show them you're serious about "this writing thing", they'll most likely offer you the support you need. If not ... well, you're stuck with your family, but you can find a more supportive class of friends. This will be one of the few times in your life when there is no right way or wrong way, only
your way. What works for me may not work for you. Define your own protocols when setting your goals. The important thing is to know what your goals are, and your plan for reaching them. And if life gets in the way, adjust your goals and then get back on track. As with life, achieving whatever success we choose for ourselves is a journey, not merely a destination. Enjoy life along the way. It makes the whole process of living much more pleasant. The bottom line is this: If you want to be a successful writer you must write well, do your homework, hone your craft, submit your work, and keep track of your business. Writing is a
business. Never forget that. Bio: Linda J. Hutchinson (www.lindajhutchinson.com ) is a freelance writer and copywriter who wishes she had the chops to write about beauty and fashion. However, you'll find her articles in newspapers and magazines, in newsletters like this one-wait, there isn't another one like this one-and other places on the 'Net. She also interviews very famous writers and other notables regularly at The Writer's Chatroom. | | Please nominate The Writer’s Chatroom for Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Sites for Writer’s list! Email writersdig@fwpubs.com, with "101 Sites" in the subject line. Type "The Writer’s Chatroom http://writerschatroom.com" in the body of the email. It’s that simple! And “thank you” from the team! | | January Chat Guests Chats
are held Sundays at 2 pm EST, and last around two hours. January 7, 2007 - Diana Ossana, co-screenwriter and producer of Broke Back Mountain. In 1992, Ms. Ossana began a writing collaboration with Larry McMurtry, which continues to this day and has expanded to encompass film and television projects that they write and produce. January 14, 2007 - Poetry chat with Betty Dobson http://inkspotter.com/ January 21, 2007 - Chat with author Sonja Baines www.sonjabaines.com , also writing as S. W. Vaughn www.swvaughn.com
January 28, 2007 - Andrea Campbell http://www.andreacampbell.com is the author of ten nonfiction books on a variety of topics including forensic science, criminal justice, and entertaining with interactive parties in mind. For more information, visit our schedule page. | The weekly chats at The Writer's Chatroom are wonderful!
Each night I attend a chat, I learn something new. The support and encouragement during the "general chats" keeps me motivated and excited about writing. The weekly "guest" chats are informative, educational and fun! I leave each chat saying "I can do it, I know I can. Patty Hopkins | | Kudos Have you just gotten an acceptance? Your book is finally out? Some other special happening in your writing
life? Let the world know! ============== Infinite Space, Infinite God is an EPPIE Finalist for best science fiction! Find out more at http://isigsf.tripod.com.
Karina L. Fabian www.fabianspace.com ============== I would like to announce the fact that somehow, after a very long time, I've managed to get the book I wrote for my two daughters published. If anyone's
interested in a kids comic fantasy (age between 7 & 14) you can find out more about it at http://www.bravedave.co.uk/ . ============== Email your brags to audrey@writerschatroom.com and we will share them in future newsletters. | | If
you'd like to suggest a guest, topics for a theme chat, offer yourself as a chat guest, or give feedback about a chat you've attended, contact Audrey Shaffer at: audrey@writerschatroom.com Please check the Chatroom Schedule for information on upcoming guests and writing-related chat topics. Visit our Previous Guests page to catch up on what you've missed.
On the Products page you will find some great recommendations. Please use our links to buy, and help support the chatroom! | | | We look forward to chatting with you! Audrey Shaffer Linda Hutchinson Renee Barnes Glenn Walker |
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