What’s NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month

Yes it’s almost November the month when many writers, intent on writing a book, latch onto the enthusiasm and support of the community of NaNoWriMoers.

Since 1999 NaNoWriMo has been there for thousands of writers providing a community of support as well as tips and hints on how to achieve the goal of 50,000 (unedited) words – a first draft of your book- in one month.

It doesn’t matter if you edit half of the words out later on. You’re not looking for perfection.
Quite seriously, it’s quantity not necessarily quality you’re aiming for.

Why am I giving it a plug?

Without NaNoWriMo, my book PATIENT would never have seen the light of day.

It’s not a novel… and I didn’t manage to write anywhere near 50,000 words . But I did set aside that month just for starting on my memoir. I wrote as much as I could, even when it meant refusing other writing projects and letting the family live on cornflakes for most of the month.

I wrote far more than I have written in any other month in my life

And the result was enough for a publisher to say “Yes please – keep going as fast as you can.”

And that was more than enough to sustain me through to the end of the first draft in February.

It’s not easy to just sit down and write a book.
It takes preparation and practice and that’s where the NaNoWriMo community steps in and helps.

Do you have an idea for a book?
Check out their site. Get a writing buddy to join you so you can have fun together and be accountable to each other.
And when it seems you can’t write another single word your buddy and the writing community will egg you on.

Go for it and good Luck.

Have you written a book? Did NaNoWriMo help you?

Please let me know.

It’s every writer’s dream to be approached by an editor to write an assignment. But this doesn’t happen by chance.

First of all you need to show that you are a professional writer by sending in relevant pitches.

If your pitch is accepted you should then follow up with a well written article, submitted in time having been well edited and proof-read.

Do this a few times and you may well find that the editor starts to approach you with ideas

Here are a few tips to get you to that situation:

HOW TO TURN A MEMORY INTO A MEMOIR ESSAY

To make your memory into a publishable essay it needs to leave the reader with some message, you need to make your memory universal in its message.

Perhaps an unhappy memory about school taught you to be more sensitive to your children.

But your memory doesn’t have to be unhappy or even traumatic to be essay worthy.

A happy memory baking with your grandmother made you understand the importance of keeping family traditions and ensuring your children remain in touch with all their relatives.

Once you have found a universal message, remember to use all five senses when writing – sight,smell,touch,hearing and taste with lots of details to bring the story alive.

Then check your intended publication/website’s guidelines and make sure your essay fits in with their requirements – and when you’re sure it’s the best you can make it ….

click SEND

Writing well is always important – but it’s no use writing a great article/essay and then submitting it at the wrong time, almost guaranteeing rejection.

Timing your submissions can be extremely important

Here’s how to ensure you don’t ruin your chances before your submission has even been read.

1. Let’s say it’s a week before Pesach and you’re knee deep in cleaning. Suddenly you have this great idea for streamlining the whole process and getting it done in record time. So you happily take a break from cleaning, sit down at your computer and run off a terrific article. You’re about to click send…

STOP

If you’re in middle of preparations for an event it’s almost always too late to submit an article about it for this year.
Write the article- or at least make extensive notes – and file it under ‘submit next year two months before Pesach’

2. You read an article which you totally disagree with and race to your computer to run off your rebuttal article.

STOP

Publications almost never print rebuttal articles. People who disagree with an article write a ‘letter to the editor’ and they are printed there . No fee is paid of course for these letters.

If it’s an article connected to a specific event/ time of year/ anniversary then write away …… and file it for sending next year , two months before the date.

3. It’s two weeks before a famous person’s yahrzeit , anniversary of their death, and you’ve just had this great idea for an article to write. You know it’s very short notice but this new insight and information is so amazing that you’re sure they’ll want to print it.

STOP

Check – did you put VERY TIME SENSITIVE in the subject line. If you didn’t it’s quite possible that it wont even be looked at in time

4. You’re busy writing various articles about Purim. One on kids dressing up outfits, one on mishloach manot, a great one for the seudah menu.
Exhausted and happy at having got them all done in time, you click send on the final one just after Tu B’shvat …… and sit back and relax.

STOP

well I really mean’t don’t stop

No time to relax now – it’s time to start on your Pesach queries/ submissions. Pesach and Sukkot are peak times at Jewish publications. Extra large issues are published which need a lot of material – but they need it early as it requires a lot of planning to get these super large issues out.

5. Shavuot is over but you have a great idea for an article about Sefirat HaOmer ( The counting of the Omer between Pesach and Shavuot).
You’re scared that you’ll forget about it by next year, so, full of enthusiasm you write this great piece and decide you’ll leave it to the editor to accept and file away away for next year. You’re about to click send…

STOP

It’s possible the editor will laugh at your bad timing. That’s not the reaction you want.
Wait another eight months and then send it.

If you have ever done this and were fortunate enough to receive an acceptance, then be aware that it’s likely to get lost during the next eight months until it’ll be of immediate interest to the editor.
You need to be the one to remind her nearer the time (politely of course) that she has accepted your article.

REMEMBER TIMING IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF MARKETING YOUR WRITING.

There’s a writer’s conference advertised . Should you go?

Is it worth it?

It costs quite a lot – will you make your  money back?

Maybe those are  the wrong questions to ask.

Try these questions.

Will you enjoy it?

Will you meet other writers facing the same challenges and fears, rejections and deadlines?

Will it make you feel that writing is a bit less of a solitary occupation?

Will you enjoy and learn something from the lecturers and workshops?

Will you  meet editors face to face so that you’re no longer just a name on a query  email?

Will you get a chance to have a one on one meeting with an editor to discuss a book idea that’s been burning inside you?

Will you go home fired and inspired and ready to sit down at your computer with a bunch of ideas?

If the answer is yes – then go for it- and ENJOY

 

 

 

 How can you improve your Writing?

By writing…regularly.

At best you could write articles, stories and pitches – but if you’re staring blankly at a blank page, then describe yesterday’s breakfast /  the contents of your closet / an email to a friend – anything to get the writing going.
Aim not to stop until you’ve written at least 250 words and preferably 500-1000

How do you improve it even more?

By reading….regularly.

Articles, stories, books, newspapers, Especially things in your genre, but also anything else that’s good writing as well.

Read as a writer. Analyze why the writing resonates with you, why it sounds so good. Remember all the things you learned about and see how it measures up. Does the author show and not tell / use dialogue appropriately / keep the suspense up but not confuse or disappoint you.

Look at the opening and ending. What technique is the writer using.

How  do you  improve it even more?

By taking appropriate writing courses… regularly.

With the aid of a good teacher and critique your writing will continue to grow and improve even after you’re already being published.
Try a new genre or if you’re happy with the type of writing you’re doing then take a course with another teacher.
Even though I write and teach writing, I still take courses regularly and learn and gain from each one.

Check out these sites and courses

Make A Living Writing

Writers Digest

Women on Writing

and of course this one

How do you continue to  improve your writing?

Find a writing buddy. Someone whose writing you admire and who will give honest, constructive criticism – just as you will for him /her.

Good Luck

 

We all need  some new or different markets to keep our creative juices flowing , otherwise  the blank page, the most threatening aspect of a writer’s life, stares at us daring us to write something that is unmarketable.

CHICKEN SOUP

One site that always inspires great stories is the Chicken Soup book site. Here they give a list of all the current titles they are working on and for which they are collecting stories. The variety of options is bound to spark some great ideas.

Check their deadlines carefully although none of them appear to have a immediate deadline looming.

WRITERS ABROAD

Do you live and write  somewhere other than your  native country. If so you should take a look at the site  Writers Abroad which, from May 1st will be collecting  submissions for their next anthology entitled Kaleidoscope. The are looking for short stories, flash fiction or poetry connected to their broad theme of ‘light’.

The theme is open to interpretation: your light might dispel evil, or reveal something unexpected in the darkness; perhaps your character ‘sees the light’ in a revelation; or light may have an important role in your setting. Firelight can destroy or warm and illuminate; or you may be inspired by the difference in light in other countries. The anthology will be print published and later available as an e-book.

All the details and entry rules are on their website.

SASEE –   It’s All About Women  

Essays of interest to women on any subject: essays, humor, satire, personal experience.

Every month has its own theme and the deadline is six weeks before i.e. the 15th of the previous month.

August’s theme is The Joy of Friendship with a deadline of June 15th
Ideas they give you to start your creative juices flowing are
August- The Joy of Friendship
Deadline 6/15/15
How did you meet your best friend?
Does your best friend have four legs and fur?
Why are our pets so important?
Why did you adopt a shelter animal?
Girls’ night out – one or two friends or a large group?
Reconciliations with old friends
Stories of childhood friends
Social Media – have you heard from your high school boyfriend?
Which friend makes you laugh the most?

SKIRT 

Their monthly theme for August is

August – The Local Issue – deadline July 1st
Essay Theme:
What “home” means to
you, widely interpreted…
a take on “no place like
home” or “home is
where the _____ is…”

 

BRAIN,CHILD    The magazine for thinking mothers

To get a good idea of what they are looking for,read through their guidelines and submission procedures.
They are not your usual happily-ever-after- market.
They cover some difficult, painful  parenting experiences.

Especially on the look out for humorous essays and essays about teens.

Now also welcomes flash fiction.

Do you know of other markets we can add to this list?

 

Freelance writing can be a very lonely business, just you ( or me) and our computers, so whenever I get the chance to meet up with other writers, I grab it.

Any kind of occasional  get-together and swapping of ideas and experiences is good but if it’s possible  I think all writers should treat themselves, once a year, to a writers’ conference.

What are the main elements you should look for that will make a conference  a success for you?

a) Does it cover subjects/ genres that you  write about already  or want to learn about.
b) Are the magazines and publishers whose representatives are speaking at the conference the ones you are interested in writing for.
c) Will you get a chance to network with other writers, editors. and publishers.
d) Are the speakers successful, published experienced writers/ authors who have something specific to offer you in ideas, information and tips.
e) Will you get an opportunity to meet editors and publishers in your genre and have a one on one session with them. If so make sure you come prepared with ideas / pitches and a clear statement about what you write.
f)Are the workshop sessions practical and with a variety of choices.
g) Is the venue accessible, the price reasonable and  is food provided or a reasonably priced restaurant nearby. If the conference is for more than one day are there reasonably priced hotels in the vicinity.

 

For women writers who live in Israel, the one-day Jerusalem Women Writers Seminar, which takes place soon after Pesach/ Passover every year is  everything a writer’s conference should and could be.

This year there was an array of excellent  keynote speakers, well-known in the world of Jewish writing, the chance to participate in two workshops from a choice of about fourteen, including self-publishing, editing, translating, interviewing and writing for teens – there was little missing from the list of criteria.
Everyone who applied in advance was given a private session with a publisher or editor and  representatives from two magazines  gave a run-down on what it takes to get published in their publications.
The writer’s cup pictured above was included in the collection of ‘goodies’ all participants were given.

What do you think makes a successful writer’s conference anywhere in the world?
Tell me in the comments section below.