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| << March02, 2005 - March 2005 - Writer Buddy Gazette - Issue #7 |
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------------------------------------------------------------- The Writer Buddy Gazette April 1, 2005 Issue #8 ------------------------------------------------------------- IN THIS ISSUE => News From the Top => Featured Article: Are You Achieving Your Writing Goals? => Featured Article: Five Secrets of Winning Book Proposals => Featured Article: The Search for the Story: One Writer's Approach to Fiction => Featured Article: Break in with Fillers: The Best Market for New Writers => Writer Buddy Community News => Contest Corner => Writing Markets => The Gazette Writers' Submission Guidelines => Support My Writer Buddy => Classified Ads => Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information ------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS FROM THE TOP ------------------------------------------------------------ Spring is the time for new beginnings and in keeping with that theme, a new feature will be unveiled on WB in April, the Featured Product which will examine books, software and services for writers. --------------- Topic Chats in April The Saturday night chats are gearing up and April will have chat guests providing a bumper crop of helpful hints and tidbits for our members. On April 9, WB member Meloise will host a chat on writing for women's magazines. She is a professional freelance editor and writer for a small group of beauty, health and wellness magazines for women and teens and contributes regularly to magazines such as Marie Claire, Modern Bride and Redbook. Topics to be covered include, breaking in, how to find the right contact, what to pitch/finding the mag's "voice," online resources and promoting yourself. On April 16, you will have the opportunity to learn everything you ever wanted to know about query letters when author Mridu Khullar joins us. Mridu is the author of the new book, "Knock Their Socks Off! A Freelance Writer's Guide to Query Letters That Sell." In addition, Mridu is a regular contributor to the Writing Articles section at WB. On April 23, members are invited to a brainstorming session on how we can help our published WB members promote their work. This is a very important part of being a Writer Buddy. After all, someday it will be your turn, too. If you would like to host a chat or know someone who would make a great chat guest, be sure to PM me or Polar. I guess that about does it for another month. Keeps those pens and pencils moving, boys and girls. Until another month.... Happy Writing! Denise ------------------------------------------------------------ FEATURED ARTICLE: Are You Achieving Your Writing Goals? ------------------------------------------------------------ by Mridu Khullar At the start of this new year, like at the start of every other new year, I came across dozens of articles about the importance of setting achievable goals, challenging myself to do new things and fixing measurable standards and working towards them. But what happens when you mess up the goals from last year? Where??™s the real advice about missed deadlines and lost goals that all but kill the inspiration to come up with new ones? I didn??™t achieve three out of the ten goals I had set for myself last year, even though I was obsessive-compulsive about looking at them each day and measuring my performance regularly. I??™m tempted to say that life got in the way or blame the shift in priorities that happened mid-year. But these are things that can and will happen each year. Instead of putting your life on hold the year when the strains and stresses get too much, plan your goals accordingly right at the beginning. If you didn??™t meet some of your goals last year, here are some questions that you need to answer honestly, so that you do this time around. Read on: http://www.writerbuddy.com/wbhome/articles/achieve_goals.html ------------------------------------------------------------ FEATURED ARTICLE: Five Secrets of Winning Book Proposals ------------------------------------------------------------ by Melissa A Rosati Cornered in frozen foods at the grocery, black-tie events or at the bus stop, I??™ve been ???pitched??™ as we say in the business, with such book proposals as: A Cat??™s Tale of Christmas; Old Testament Aphrodisiacs; Break Out (after being committed to a mental institution by jealous relatives, the story of one man??™s quest for revenge); and Suck it and See: A Guide to Tropical Fruits. Admittedly, I chose to share with you the more colorful examples. My point being that the purpose of a proposal pitch is not to motivate the publisher to love the idea as much as you do. That??™s the misconception. The publisher is listening for signals that you understand the process of transforming a book concept into a business plan. It??™s not just about your passion for the topic: it??™s how well you filter your passion through the publisher??™s prism of marketing and distribution. That??™s the difference between a contract and a polite rejection letter. Let??™s take a look at five typical questions that an agent or a publisher will ask in their submission guidelines. Read on: http://www.writerbuddy.com/wbhome/articles/book_proposals.html ------------------------------------------------------------ FEATURED ARTICLE: The Search for the Story: One Writer's Approach to Fiction ------------------------------------------------------------ by Jonathan Rabb The process of writing a book starts, for me, with a place in time that I find intriguing. I begin to do a little research -- if possible, with novels written at the time -- and then, if all goes well, I experience a kind of flash of complete understanding a few weeks later. Every character, every setting, every moment of tension, choice, betrayal, and resolution comes into perfect focus. But only for an instant. It??™s as if I??™ve been given this one chance to see how the book is meant to be, and the rest of the process -- the next year to year and a half -- is spent trying to recapture everything from that flash. Of course, I never manage to get it all, but that moment floats above and acts as a kind of guide. Luckily, there are some bits that remain clearer than others. The general arc of the book -- the scenes that I know I have to get to -- usually seems pretty well fixed, but what happens between the scenes is left for me to discover. And, I suppose, I prefer it that way. I??™ve never been one for detailed outlines. I have the five or six scenes that stand out -- usually those when choices are made and, later on, when consequences play out -- but, aside from that, I like to see how the characters get from one place to another as they go. Read on: http://www.writerbuddy.com/wbhome/articles/search_story.html ------------------------------------------------------------ FEATURED ARTICLE: Break in with Fillers: The Best Market for New Writers ------------------------------------------------------------ by Shelley Wake Fillers Are In Demand I've spoken to hundreds of editors and been told over and over again that fillers are the one thing they never get enough of. Most publications tend to publish more freelance fillers than they do freelance articles. Yet, they often receive 100 times more articles than fillers. This is a gap in the freelance market that you can take advantage of. Fillers are a Great Place to Get Started Many publications are careful about publishing feature articles from writers they don't know. Even if your article is good, an editor might decide not to publish you because they don't know you as a writer. This is especially true if you don't have a lot of experience or any clips. But even without experience or clips, most editors will consider a filler. In fact, many editors treat writing fillers as the testing ground to see if a writer can be relied on to write feature articles. Here's what one editor had to say about fillers: Read on: http://www.writerbuddy.com/wbhome/articles/fillers.html ------------------------------------------------------------ WRITER BUDDY MEMBER & COMMUNITY NEWS ------------------------------------------------------------ WB Members Published!! Ahri's story "Why the Balloon Man Floats Away" has been accepted for issue 17 of Flesh and Blood magazine, which is due out in mid-summer. Be sure to check it out. bfdc and Islandscribe were two of the authors whose short stories were accepted for Issue #2 of WB's own Buddy Tales Magazine. Be sure to buy a copy and read what your Writer Buddies are writing. For more info, visit www.buddytales.com Congrats to all our recently published members. Keep those queries and submissions going. --------------- Other Member News Two of our winners from the 2004 Writer Buddy/ArcheBooks Novel Writing contest are continuing to receive well-deserved attention. Everyone in and around the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area should be sure to attend Schell's book release party set for Monday April 4, 2005 at Blue Plate Restaurant in the Hotel Harrington, 11th and E streets NW. The party is from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Celebrate with her and get to meet her person. The chief editor at Playboy has sent for a copy of "Grandfather's Song by Achgook. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he gets a rave review. Karin Rex and Erin Huffstetler were appointed Deans of Suite University's Writing & Publishing School www.suite101.com/suiteu/school.cfm/15917 Between them they have many years of successful freelance writing experience and are looking forward to working with both established and aspiring writers the school attracts. --------------- Member Birthdays Be sure to send your best wishes to the following WB members celebrating birthdays this month: April 7 - DaRkFiReAnGeL turns 19 30 - Yzerbear's birthday If you would like to have your birthday recognized in the WB Gazette and receive tons of birthday wishes from your Writer Buddies, be sure to add your news to our events calendar by visiting: http://writerbuddy.com/wbhome/modules.php?name=Calendar --------------- Mew Members Our WB family grew by leaps and bounds this past month. In fact, in March, our family increased by 108 new members. Join me in welcoming: ed, jumbo, Tlutha, Gustav, Star-fire, Dylanphile, nanoboye, Carol, Serp, spiritwhiteeagle, Joanna815, Carrot, eussie, BrideofChucky, al_1801, AmyPearce, aankitha, SilentWolf, JACKIE, rocsanne, LadyGryWolf, nativewriter, ephiny, ashleyb, Wolfcat, akchaney, ejay, iahp_mom, dstave, SylviaShults, periwinkle_kringles, cse021, Silhouetted, DancingMaenid, Reelwriter, Faster, thorwdfx, penstikin, GreggBlakk, carl1952, Nenharma, upallnight420, Creativej20, robertsloan2, Spanner, lotusindigo, Jeni-Louise, awriter, canicula, reflexdavis, turtlefart, LMEighmy, Archie, Alewin, kathiemetzger, Nixies, twistedvisionsdeneta, AaronAgassi, Hawk66, Buck, wordglutton, moesia, Wilf, Blewin, GSV, Skylar, Goatlady, Muriaz, dracon, RHHammond, MedicineJar, peterkaan, tjwm500, Edythe3040, pallor17, SoullessDeath, Trilby_Cole, gambit56, Kurt, Emelis, seriouswriter, Edith, korori, Simone, vixylulu, piholmes, prettygirl, blue, fictionlover, WriteAway, LadyStella, deja_vu_poet, wdwfanatic17, majilique, Movinup, fxn2write, bgaineshunter, mollbird, TkyToaster, Tanya, Cadey, Troubadour, JE, resipsa, Kaizer_Xi, will, Wallgame and Jia. Thanks for joining and welcome home. --------------- Do you have news you'd like to share with your fellow Writer Buddy members? Have you recently been published? Do you have something to crow about? This is the spot. Send your news items to: thegazette@writerbuddy.com ------------------------------------------------------------ CONTEST CORNER ------------------------------------------------------------ The 2005 Writer Buddy/ArcheBooks Novel Writing Contest began last month. Submissions are being accepted in three genres: Mystery-Suspense, Science-Fiction/Fantasy/Horror, and Women's Fiction. All participants must be previously unpublished (i.e. novels only, it's OK if they've published a short story, magazine article, or poems). The submission deadline is June 30, 2005. Ten semi-finalists in each category will be announced July 15, 2005 and the three finalists in each category will be announced July 30, 2005. One winner will be selected in each category. Winners will be announced during the last week of August 2005. The winners' books will be published and released in late Fall 2005. For complete details, visit: http:\\www.archebooks.com\Contest2005.htm --------------- April 2005 Monthly Writing Contest The phrase for April is: Time grows short. This entire phrase must appear at some point in your story. Deadline for entries is April 15, 2005. Voting will take place April 16-23 and the winner will be announced Friday, May 1. The winning story will be published in the Winner's Circle and the winner writer will receive a one-year subscription to Buddy Tales, WB's new electronic magazine (a $12 value). For more information, visit the WB Contest Corner at: http://www.writerbuddy.com/wbhome/contest_corner/index.html E-mail your entry to: thegazette@writerbuddy.com Make sure to put the words Contest Entry in the subject line of your E-mail. The entire story should be typed in the body of the E-mail. No attachments will be opened. That's it folks. Gets those pencils and pens moving and those keyboard keys clicking. --------------- March 2005 Monthly Contest Winner The voting was fast and furious but after more than 100 ballots cast, we had a winner of the March contest, Polyhedron with his story "At Last." Congratulations, Poly, and great job to the other six contest entrants. ------------------------------------------------------------ WRITING MARKETS ------------------------------------------------------------ Buddy Tales Buddy Tales is a themed, bimonthly, digital magazine featuring fiction and non-fiction from new writers, particularly those from members of the My Writer Buddy online community. Seeks short stories of any genre and non-fiction articles related to a central theme. Also seeks queries for book reviews and author interviews. Pays: $5 for each published story or article. Guidelines: www.buddytales.com They Lied! True Tales of Weddings and Honeymoons Seeks funny, unexpected, knee slapping stories ??“ the ones that sound a little hard to believe and may not have seemed all that funny at the time, but you look back on them now and can??™t stop yourself from laughing out loud ??“ that??™s what we want! From off-beat engagements, to ceremony catastrophes; from dueling in-laws and reception disasters to honeymoon hijinx, they want to hear it all. The deadline is Oct. 15. Pays: $100 Guidelines: www.theyliedtruetales.com Poe Little Thing - The Digest of Horrific Poetry Seeks poetry covering all subjects as long as dark in tone. Also seeks cover artists in any medium, including photography, digital, pen & ink, as long as it will translate well to grayscale print. Pays: $5 Guidelines: www.nakedsnakepress.com The Vacant Funhouse Bi-monthly webzine featuring original works of horror, dark mystery, crime and suspense. Seeks unpublished, original horror, dark mystery, crime and suspense short stories up to 2500 words and unpublished dark poetry 30 lines or less. Pays: 5 cents/word up to 2,500 words for fiction, $1 per line of poetry up to 30 lines and $15 per review. Guidelines: vacantfunhouse.com Scrybe Press Seeks short fiction in the horror, fantasy or science fiction genres from authors with at least one published sale or membership in either the HWA or SFWA. Unpublished authors must obtain permission first. Publishes staple-bound chapbooks, online publication and trade paperbacks. Pays: For chapbooks, pays $50 plus 10% on gross sales. Pays one cent per word up to $25. A maximum of a $200 advance plus 10 percent on gross sales is paid on trade paperbacks. Guidelines: www.scrybepress.com/submissionguidelines.html ------------------------------------------------------------ THE GAZETTE WRITERS' SUBMISSION GUIDELINES ------------------------------------------------------------ The Writer Buddy Gazette needs writers. We need regular monthly features of interest to all writers and news of interest specifically to Writer Buddy members. Of special interest are how-to articles on all aspects of writing. We are also always looking for interviews with published authors or publishers. Book reviews of published fiction or books on writing are also needed. All articles should be 500-1,500 words. The WB Gazette is unable to pay for articles/stories at this time. In lieu of payment, all contributors and regular columnists will have a short bio with a link to their email address and Web site listed at the end of the story or article. The Gazette seeks non-exclusive rights to reprint articles in this newsletter and in the reference section of the My Writer Buddy site: http://writerbuddy.com/wbhome/modules.php?name=NukeWrap&page=articles/index.html To suggest an idea for a regular column or to query an article, book review or author interview, send an email to: thegazette@writerbuddy.com ------------------------------------------------------------ SUPPORT MY WRITER BUDDY ------------------------------------------------------------ Since its inception in 1999, My Writer Buddy has been committed to the ideal of writers helping writers. In that time many of our members have achieved the elusive goal of publication. 2005 will bring other publication opportunities for WB members, including our very own paying e-zine - Buddy Tales. How can you help? Donations of any amount will be greatly appreciated. All members who donate at least $5 will receive a "three-star Community Sponsor" designation under their names. They will also receive a note of gratitude in The Writer Buddy Gazette newsletter. Our most recent three-star Community Sponsor is Inkling. To make a donation, visit the Writer Buddy site and click on the Donate button. All donations are handled through PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account or prefer to send your donation via snail mail, write to: thegazette@writerbuddy.com for address information. ------------------------------------------------------------ CLASSIFIED ADS ------------------------------------------------------------ The TotallyWrite 3-Hour Screenwriting Crash Course by successful screenwriter/director/producer Jeffrey Alan Schechter was recorded live at one of his seminars. He demystifies the common structure of all well-crafted screenplays and shows you how you can use this structure in your own writing. For more information, visit: http://payloadz.com/go/jump?id=53158&a=editor@buddytales.com ********* Write poetry and have no idea where to submit it for attention, much less payment? Here you can find 300+ listings in the form of markets, contests, and publishers who want to pay for your verse. 100 pages. PDF ebook format. For more information, visit: http://payloadz.com/go/jump?id=94267&a=editor@buddytales.com ********* Mystery, Romance, Non-Fiction, Memoirs, Film Scripts: write them all in under 28 days, working less than 1 hour a day. For more information, visit: http://www.writequickly.com/?afl=8854 Do you have a product or service of interest to writers? Put your classified ad in front of nearly 2,100 WB members. For more information, write to: thegazette@writerbuddy.com ------------------------------------------------------------ SUBSCRIBER MANAGEMENT / CONTACT INFORMATION ------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 2005 - Denise Williams All Rights reserved http://www.writerbuddy.com To Subscribe: http://www.zinester.com/mpb/ml_fs.cgi?topic=91205 43832/ "h 43832/ p://www.zinester.com/mpb/unsub.cgi?91205 Archived issues of this newsletter can be found at http://archives.zinester.com/91205 Denise Williams, Editor The Writer Buddy Gazette email: thegazette@writerbuddy.com |
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