April 20, 2023
By Jane Lo I’ve always loved to write stories. Prior to 2020, I had written a few short stories and personal essays – and when I was in high school, had even written a long, meandering tale I liked to think of as a ‘novella’ – but it wasn’t until January 2020 that I really…
April 13, 2023
By Garth Pettersen Historical fiction can be defined as made-up stories involving true events or series of events that happened at an earlier time. Some suggest historical fiction should be set before mid-twentieth century, but to my thinking if a reader accepts a time setting to be recognizably different from the present, it is history….
April 6, 2023
By Ratika Deshpande I started writing every day when I was 16. Because I was young, I’d developed certain ideas about how writing works by learning about other writers’ processes. I took these notions with me to my writing desk every day for over three years. And I watched as each was built upon or…
March 22, 2023
By Emily-Jane Hills Orford I have always loved apples, applesauce and cooking with apples. It’s all rooted in a fond memory that makes a great story, well worth the telling and sharing multiple times over. But, to just say I like to make applesauce isn’t enough. I am a storyteller, after all, and even my…
March 9, 2023
By Emily-Jane Hills Orford Whose story are you telling? Yours? Or someone else’s? Are you planning to share the story from multiple perspectives? From the point of view of the protagonist as well as the antagonist? Not to mention the other characters in the story? Multiple points of view can be complicated, both for the…
March 2, 2023
by Ellen Levitt Authors are constantly reminded to use social media in order to promote their books, articles, essays and other writing. There are many options and various platforms available to us. Should TikTok be one of them? TikTok has a mixed reputation. On the one hand, it is wildly popular with various age groups,…
February 23, 2023
By Abdulraheem Jameel Ango I’ve started more writing projects than I’ve finished. If you’re anything of a passionate writer, then the same is probably true for you. Once you turn your hand to writing, the perceived difficulty of starting a writing project fades away almost immediately and yet a couple of thousand words later, numerous…
February 16, 2023
By Rod Martinez Traditional or Self-Pub? It’s a question we all ask. Once you have edited, and re-edited… and re-re-edited your masterpiece, the bug bites. “I want this book in the hands of readers!” The quickest method, it seems, is to self-publish. It’s easy, it’s actually free on most sites and you can have readers…
February 9, 2023
By Dawn Colclasure Some writers fear writing a first draft. The first draft is that blank page looming before them, daring the writer to compose a masterpiece. Feeling as though they must write a perfect first draft is just one of the roadblocks writers face when it comes to writing something new. It is also…
February 2, 2023
By Samuel Edward Imagine squeezing time out from other daily engagements and committing some of your brightest of creative ideas into a 5,000-word story, with a deadline for submission fast approaching. The late nights, the backaches from hours of sitting, the many rough drafts. And then the joys of putting the final touches to your…
January 26, 2023
By Jonathan Riley Being a writer requires the ability to generate a regular flow of work knowing that being in this profession, either as a magazine writer, author or in some other writing field, we must also constantly compete with other creatives. LinkedIn has helped me meet the challenges, because having followers and establishing a…
January 23, 2023
By Trish Hopkinson There are a variety of reasons you may want to volunteer as a reader for a literary magazine or journal. The majority of reading and other volunteer responsibilities will be conducted online, so you need not be in the same geographical area. Below are some of those reasons to consider, as well…
January 12, 2023
By Ellen Levitt I live in a city that plays host to lots of fun events that can also be beneficial to my writing career. There are free events such as book festivals and pricier gatherings such as Comic Con. Both types of events provide me with opportunities for schmoozing with magazine, website and book…
January 5, 2023
By Michael Barrington Marketing one’s books can at times appear to be a daunting task. Like most authors I have a well-developed plan which includes good use of social media, a solid website from which I also blog, make an occasional presentation and promote my books by writing articles for various magazines. But over the…
December 22, 2022
By Dawn Colclasure It can happen to any writer: A brilliant opening scene for a story or novel suddenly pops into their head. The writer gets excited by this particular scene and feels confident of banging out that story or first chapter in one go. They rush to the desk and get to work, writing…