Take Your Career to New Heights!
This giveaway was a huge success last year! This year we’ll have more books to give away and more thought-provoking career questions for you to answer to qualify to win.
Participants last year commented on how much they learned both from answering the questions as well as from each other. You don’t have to be a mama, just a writer. Don’t miss it!
Please share the WM Back to School Giveaway badge with all your friends with a link to the Writer Mama blog. Thanks!
Writing and Publishing The Short Stuff
Especially For Moms (But Not Only for Moms)!
Class Begins on January 14th
Prerequisites: None
Finally, a writing workshop that fits into the busy lives of moms! You will learn how to create short, easy-to-write articles-a skill that will make it easier to move up to longer, more time-consuming articles when you’re ready. Try your pen at tips, fillers, short interviews, list articles, how-tos, and short personal essays-all within six weeks. Now includes markets!
Cost: $199.00.
Register at Writers on the Rise
Personal Essays that Get Published with Abigail Green
Class Begins on January 14th
Prerequisites: None
The popularity of reality shows, blogs, and tell-all books proves that it pays to get personal these days. Whether you want to write introspective essays, short humor pieces, or first-person reported stories, your life is a goldmine of rich material that all kinds of publications are pining for. Personal Essays that Get Published will teach you how to get your personal experiences down on the page and get them published. Students will learn how to find ideas, hone their voice, craft solid leads and endings, reslant their work for different markets, and submit their essays for publication.
Cost: $199.00
Register at Writers on the Rise
Platform Building 101: Discover your Specialty
(Formerly “Targeting Your Best Writing Markets”)
Class Begins on January 14th
Prerequisites: None
Identifying your writing specialty is one of the trickiest and most necessary steps in launching a writing career today. This class will help you find your best audiences, cultivate your expertise, manage your ideas, develop marketing skills, claim your path, serve editors and become portfolio-minded. You’ll learn how to become the professional you’ve always wanted to be and, most importantly, how to take your writing career more seriously.
Cost: $199.00.
Register at Writers on the Rise
Craft A Saleable Nonfiction Book Proposal
Winter Class Begins on January 14th
Prerequisites: Former student or Permission from Instructor
Most writers underestimate the comprehensiveness needed in a book proposal that will garner the interest of agents and editors. They also mistake the definition of platform and importance of alining their proposal to a solid track record. A two-time author, Christina has helped hundreds of nonfiction writers succeed over the past seven years. Now she’s making her proposal-writing advice available in a six-week e-mail course to aspiring authors who want to nail the proposal the first time around. The best way to have a short, tight proposal that will impress agents and editors is to start now!
Cost: $299.00 [Priority to former students]
Register at Writers on the Rise
The August 20th Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff class is full.
The August 20th Platform 101: Discover Your Speciality class is full.
The August 20th Personal Essays that Get Published class has only a couple spaces left.
But hurry, if you are interested. Class starts on Wednesday. 
Learn more and register at: http://writersontherise.com/classes.html#Essays
The next round of classes begins on October 8th.
Stay tuned to hear about a new class coming in 2009. Plus addition twice a year of two live intensive classes with Christina Katz.
A good query letter sent to the right editor will not only increase the chances of a sale, but it’s also the most effective way to pre-sell an idea. This comprehensive guide to all types of queries gives writers the tools they need to craft powerfully persuasive letters that connect with editors and agents. Writers will learn how to recognize, develop, target, and pre-sell their ideas; hook an editor with a tantalizing lead; and sell themselves as the writer for the subject. With dozens of sample query letters, this guide is a must-have for every writer’s bookshelf.
More at Wendy’s Web site.
By Kristin Bair O’Keeffe
You’ve heard this before, right? When you’re writing a personal essay, use fiction techniques to make it lively and interesting. But what the heck does that really mean?
Well, remember that dinner you had last week with your best friend Jennifer? The one at that amazing new Italian restaurant on the corner with red leather booths and silky, white lanterns? You know-the one where you had that mouth-watering pumpkin gnocchi and Jennifer had, had, well, whatever it was, she adored it because she slapped her hand on the table and yelped over and over again in a voice that was way too loud for the hushed atmosphere, “God, I’m going to eat here every night from now on. Every single night. They’re going to have to kick me out to get rid of me”?
Ah, it’s coming back to you now, isn’t it?
Well, would you even consider writing a personal essay about that dinner without including the red leather booths, the silky, white lanterns, the mouth-watering pumpkin gnocchi, the slapping of the hand, or the fact that every single time you and Jennifer eat at a new restaurant-any new restaurant-she always says the same thing in the same too-loud voice?
Nope, you wouldn’t.
Why not?
Because the story would be flat, boring, and completely uninteresting-to your listener, your reader or your potential editor. It would go something like this:
There is a new Italian restaurant on the corner. There are booths and lanterns. I ate there with my friend last week. I liked my food. So did my friend.
“Aahhhh! Aahhhh!” cries your potential editor (followed by sounds of said editor thunking her head against a wall).
Listen up, writers! You’ve got to entertain your readers. You’ve got to keep them interested. A good hook is great, but if you don’t follow it up with something equally compelling, you’ll lose your readers as fast as you can say, “I remember now! Jennifer had the cod!”
So, yes, fiction techniques will help you do this. When you sit down to write your personal essay, utilize the same techniques you would if writing a novel or a short story:
Try it! It’s much more fun-for your reader, your editor and you.
Personal Essay Marketplace: Like to write with your funny bone? Try your hand at Smithsonian Magazine’s “The Last Page.” Check out the submission guidelines for this 550-700 word essay market at Smithsonian Magazine.
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Kristin Bair O’Keeffe moved to Shanghai, China, in April 2006 and has been writing about this incredible country ever since. Her blog, “Shanghai Adventures of a Trailing Spouse,” chronicles her adventures (and misadventures) in Shanghai and garners the attention of readers all around the world. Her essays about the China experience can be found in The Baltimore Review and To Shanghai With Love (forthcoming). As a respected writing instructor, she has taught hundreds of writers over the past fourteen years and is currently teaching both fiction and nonfiction writing in Shanghai.
By C. Hope Clark
We are familiar with greeting cards companies’ reminder notices about birthdays and anniversaries. A pop-up or email advises that we’d better get that gift in the mail for our sister’s birthday one-week away. Birthday Alarm is one such service. Frankly, it’s helped me more than a couple of times when I had my nose so far into a writing project that I forgot an occasion until it was almost too late. Such online reminder notices can be lifesavers for a serious writer slinging paper and deadlines so fast that dates fly by unnoticed.
But when we need more than birthday reminders, that’s the time to sign up for services like:
Freminder — A free online calendar, free date book and free reminder service all wrapped into one, easy-to-use tool.
Online Reminders — This service sends you a weekly reminder about the items on your to-do list.
American Greetings — American Greetings offers a calendar with icons for holidays, appointments, book club meetings and more. You can make requests, inform others of appointments and customize email reminders to yourself.
BlueMountain — This greeting card service also can help you manage your time. A simple reminder service can send emails to you and others to let you know when that article is due or when your interview needs to be scheduled.
Google To-Do list “gadget” — This virtual, yellow notepad lists your immediate goals for the day; it’s visible each time you log into Google.
Blogs as calendar – On my blog, I keep a list of pending appearances not only to inform readers, but also to serve as a constant reminder of preparations I need to make for those events. Every blog platform will allow you to create such a list.
If you have a tendency to fall so deeply into your writing that deadlines loom more quickly than expected, instant reminders can actually give you more latitude to write. Knowing that you have several tools to nudge you about deadlines may help you relax and write with far less pressure.
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C. Hope Clark is founder and editor of FundsforWriters.com, annually recognized by Writer’s Digest in its poll of 101 Best Web Sites for Writers. She delivers four newsletters each week to thousands with her specialty being grants and income opportunities for writers of all sizes. She’s published over 200 articles on paper and online. Those reluctant to promote their writing cherish her trade paperback The Shy Writer: An Introvert’s Guide to Writing Success. Find more hope for your writing career at www.fundsforwriters.com & www.theshywriter.com.
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Interview By Cindy Hudson
When Colleen Sell is not editing one of the many books in the popular A Cup of Comfort book series (published by Adams Media), this freelance editor spends her time writing for magazines as well as editing and ghost writing for other clients. Plus, she always has an idea for a project or two she would love to develop if she had more time. With over 25 books under her belt in the A Cup of Comfort series and more on the way, there’s precious little free time in Sell’s life these days. She took a moment out of her busy schedule recently to talk about what she strives to create with A Cup of Comfort and to give readers of Writers on the Rise tips for submitting their personal essays.
When you first started as editor of A Cup of Comfort, what did you want to bring to the series?
One of the things that was important to me is that the stories we included were not homogenized to have the same tone and the same voice. I wanted variety and I wanted to allow as much literary influence as possible. I wanted the stories to read like fiction; but I wanted them to be absolutely true. I wanted the stories to capture readers and pull them in.
How many submissions do you usually get for each book?
It varies on the topic but between 1,500 and 3,000. I select about 50 for each book, but I will not take a lesser story over a better story just to get that number. For me, the quality of the book is always the most important thing.
Does each A Cup of Comfort volume have its own personality?
Yes, definitely. There’s commonality with each volume, but each of the books I’ve worked on has a very distinctive personality as well.
What do you look for when you’re selecting stories to include in a particular A Cup of Comfort volume?
Authenticity is really important to me. It’s been said that there are no new stories. But your perception of what happened in your life and how it affected you is unique. And there’s always something that’s unusual, that’s specific to your life and your situation that’s different from everybody else’s and that’s what I want to see in stories. I also think the best stories have a universal truth. Something in that story needs to resonate with just about everyone who reads it. And it needs to have a nugget of truth, that thing that makes us human coming through in the story without actually saying it. When a story lets readers come to that conclusion themselves, that is an excellent essay.
If you choose an essay from a writer for one volume will you consider something else they’ve written for another?
I consider the essays individually every time. And we have published more than one essay from a writer in the same volume. People can submit as many stories as they want for as many volumes as they want. Our policy says that I cannot publish more than three stories from any author in any single book. It’s usually better for the reader if there’s variety. But sometimes the very best stories that provide the most variety and flavor and different points of view are by the same author.
Do you choose essays from people who haven’t been published before?
About 25 percent of the essays in each book are by people who have not been published before. If I see a good story, even if it needs a little work, I’m going to grab it.
Do the authors participate in the promotion of the books?
They do, but it’s not required. Many of the contributors set up signings at bookstores. We also have authors who participate in local art fairs that feature local authors, library events and charitable events.
When submitting to A Cup of Comfort, what can authors do to make their writing stand out?
I’m a firm believer that you’re going to write the best story if you write what you know and write from your gut and not think too much about what we want. A lot of the stories deal with challenging and painful events in life. Write honestly about that, but for our purposes it’s about comfort, hope and inspiration. So keep that in mind. No matter what you write about it has to resonate with a large audience, it has to have some kind of insight or redemption quality or something that’s uplifting.
What kinds of stylistic and submission no-no’s should people avoid?
One of the common tendencies in writers is to overwrite, to say too much. Make sure every word counts. Also, preachiness doesn’t work for A Cup of Comfort. And, believe it or not, I get submissions with no contact information, no name. So if I want to publish the story I don’t know how to contact the author.
It’s not a good idea to submit something, revise it and submit it again. Sometimes people submit something because they’re excited and then after a couple of days they think, “Oh shoot, I have a mistake in there so I’m going to resubmit it.” It happens a lot with new writers. Sit on it a couple of days and make sure you want to submit what you submit. And if you find something you’d like to change after you submit, don’t worry. Editors don’t expect every submission to be perfect. We can tell if a story is close to what we need, and we’re accustomed to fixing things later.
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Cindy Hudson writes for national trade magazines, regional magazines, online publications and daily newspapers. Her website and its companion blog, publishes reading lists, book reviews, author interviews and other book club resources. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Portland, Oregon, where she writes weekly for The Oregonian. Visit her online at http://www.cindyhudson.com.
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By Susan W. Clark
“Living Wisely, Living Well” is the motto of Natural Home Magazine, formerly known as Natural Home and Garden. A cousin of Utne Reader and Mother Earth News, this green publication is part of Ogden Publications and reaches over 100,000 readers from its Topeka, Kansas home.
Recent magazine topics span the lifestyle map, including a solar home in Bend, Oregon, medicinal herbs, a slow-food Thanksgiving, and regular reviews of green appliances and upscale technology. A few illustrative article titles include, “Composting? Make it Pretty” and “America’s Best Eco-Neighborhoods.” There is room in this magazine for your writing on natural décor, health, green homes, all sorts of gardening subjects, and the latest in natural products. Just plan ahead and research well. As always, read the magazine before you query.
Robin Griggs Laurence is the editor-in-chief, but submissions should be directed to Jessica Kellner. She is the coordinating editor (jkellner@NaturalHomeMagazine.com) of this bimonthly publication for health- and earth-conscious readers. She asks for a query eight months prior to publication. The query should include a complete outline, written description, sample pages (if applicable), or sketches—whatever it takes to provide a clear sense of what you are proposing.
If you are accustomed to providing your own photos, please note that Natural Home wants 35mm or large-format slides. They pay on publication and may take some time to decide if they want your piece, but will send an acknowledgement of receipt, which we applaud. Their rates range from $.33 per word to $.50, and the acceptable length is three to sixteen typewritten pages (about 750-4,000 words), each featuring your name, address, and phone number at the top.
You’ll find the writers’ guidelines online at http://naturalhomeandgarden.com/contact-natural-home-magazine.html. Now is the time to get that query in the mail. You can do it!
Award-winning writer Susan W. Clark champions sustainability and farming in her writing. Her writing has appeared in the Capitol Press, In Good Tilth, Small Farm Journal, Touch the Soil, and Permaculture Activist. Check out her land trust work at (www.osalt.org).
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