Useful Links to Stir the Creative Soul

All of these links relate in some way to a recent topic of discussion in the Writing Practicum -- a group of talented writers that I facilitate on Tuesday nights. Each of the first four is a sort of C.S. Lewis-like "Wood Between the Worlds" that serves as a jumping-off place to other, related sites that merit additional exploring...

For those who are outlining a story, organizing thoughts, brainstorming, or heavily involved in plot or character development, mind-mapping is a useful exercise. For highly rated and reviewed (free) mind-mapping software, try FreeMind.


If you are considering signing with a literary agent or manager to further your career, first read this excellent blog post on Questions to Ask before signing with an agent. The comments at the end are also enlightening.

If you are interested in finding ways to harness and direct your creative impulses, this blog post by the author of the bestselling "The 4-Hour Work Week" is a great introduction to the particulars of Lucid Dreaming.

And this blog post contains a very good primer on Personal Branding – important for authors interested in developing and establishing a platform. Pay special attention to the presentation embedded within the post. It's a whole mini-seminar in itself.

Writing Contests of Note

Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards (For poems less than 32 lines.) Deadline Dec. 1, 2009.

Genre Wars Short Story contest. For stories up to 2,000 words. Free to enter. Small cash prizes. Publication in anthology for winners.

And the Big One...

Writer’s Cruise with Cynthia Whitcomb

Depart April 10, 2010 for a 14 day cruise from Miami trans-Atlantic, to the Canary Islands, Barcelona, Spain; Villefranche, France; Florence or Pisa, Italy; ending in Rome on April 24 on the Royal Carribbean cruise line. Prices begin at less than $100 per day (not including airfare). Includes the Writer's Workshop, all meals, great networking, and being treated like royalty.

Find out about what happened during the 2009 cruise. Then, set your sights on the seas!

Top 10 Movies For and About Writers...

or, Thoughts on Completing "The Night Was..."


I rewatched Throw Momma From the Train last night, after my friend and co-writer Paul Martin reminded me of the dreck the members of Billy Crystal's writing class came up with.

(Ya gotta love Mrs. Hazeltine's contribution to literature:

"Dive... DIVE," yelled the captain through the thing. So the captain pressed a button, or something, and it dove. And the enemy was foiled again!

I was freshly reminded how fortunate I am to associate with the truly talented writers in the Writing Practicum!)

Though I like "Momma," I found myself wondering how it would be reworked and rearranged if released today.

I suspect the entire opening "Writer's Block" scene would be excised completely and the movie would actually begin with Danny DeVito enduring the Momma from Hell -- all in the name of grabbing the all-powerful Reader by the throat and not letting go. In fact, it might be an interesting editing exercise to re-cut the film for "Today's Audience" and see how the story fared in the re-imagining.

Dated or not, the movie remains one of my favorite about the Writing Life. (What's not to like about Danny DeVito's hapless Owen confessing about killing Billy Crystal's hated ex-wife?: You're right. You're right, I'm no good. How could I do that? I'm a sick pers--[a billboard with a pastoral scene distracts him] Cows!)

Watching Billy wrestle with how to best complete the sentence "The night was..." got me to thinking, and inspired me to compile a quick and not-terribly-well-thought-out list of other favorite films that prominently feature writers. In no particular order, these include:

* The remake of D.O.A., which serves to remind us that people will kill for a good book.

* Atonement (though, truth be told, I tend to watch this more for Mr. McAvoy's performance than for Briony's story...)

* Moulin Rouge ::sigh::

* The hilarious and under-seen Tune in Tomorrow, with Peter Falk as the writer for a hot radio soap, and Keanu Reeves, Barbara Hersey, John Larroquette, Peter Gallagher, Elizabeth McGovern, and many, many more, as his pawns.

* Stranger Than Fiction, which is about the closest I've ever seen a movie come to the weird reality of a writer "with book."

* The inspired-by-true-life Shattered Glass (Say what you will about Hayden Christensen, I thought he was very good in this tale of a writer who fakes his way to the top...)

* Adaptation ("Don't call it 'the industry...'"),

* And, thanks to my 6-year old daughter, I would have to add both Miss Potter and Nim's Island for their accuracy in illustrating how obsessively real a writer's characters can become...

Of course there are others that feature writers: "The Muse." "Something's Gotta Give." "The Player." Even "Romancing the Stone" qualifies. Without trying too hard, you could probably rattle off several I haven't mentioned.

I suppose I should find it mildly concerning that in most movies, we writers don't come off as a terribly balanced or rational lot. But I don't. We have rich inner lives. We take reviews too seriously and ignore deadlines that we shouldn't. We're neurotic, creative, scheming, and driven. We plot the perfect murders. We manipulate kings and peons. Within realms of our creation, we decide who lives, who loves, who triumphs, and who fails. We fall in love with our words and -- subsequently -- with our characters. We are an odd but interesting lot, forever searching for the perfect way to finish the sentence, "The night was..."

Let the Judging Begin...

Updates From the Front of the 3-Day Novel Contest

I received word from the Powers That Be in the 3-Day Novel Contest that my manuscript has been received and logged and is now with their judging committee.

Since my entry has been officially processed, I get banner-display bragging rights (see accompanying "I Survived..." pic). I find this oddly gratifying, and suddenly have a greater understanding of the importance of war medals.

And now, of course, those of us who entered the fray must return to our normally scheduled lives while The Committee spends the next few months reading (and hopefully rereading) the submissions and debating their favorites.

In my mind's eye, I see several harried readers half-hidden behind stacks of submissions. Each desperately searches for a manuscript to love. Each knows that the likelihood of doing so is roughly the equivalent of finding one's Perfect Life Partner during happy hour at a singles bar. Hope, however, burns eternal. But time marches on, and no reader can spend too much time on any one manuscript because there are still so many others awaiting perusal. I envision an overworked coffeepot, boxes marked "Yes!" "No!" and "Kill Me, Kill Me Now!" and a stash of donuts to give the calorie-laden courage necessary to begin reading another draft.

The winners will be announced in mid-January, 2010. In the meantime, we are free to work on our drafts however we see fit (I am already inflicting portions on the Writing Practicum members), though we are reminded to save a copy in its original form.

Because of the cataloging process, they don't yet have total figures of entries for this year's contest. One wonders just how many of us were gluttons for such punishment. Best of luck to all who entered -- I feel a certain affinity with them, based largely on a shared lack of sleep.

I'm currently working on a book project that takes one elite athlete's insights, training tips, and strategies and applies them to Real Life. It's shaping up to be a fascinating look at what makes people successful -- no matter what arena they choose to compete in. One of the big tentpole tenets is simply: once you've raised the bar, that level of performance becomes your new norm.

I know that writing a novel in less than 3 days raised the bar on my craft. I would strongly recommend the experience to any writer. Though the contest has been over for weeks now, I continue to benefit from it.

Yesterday, I spent 5 hours working on a new novel. I completed 5 pages. Before the 3-Day contest, I'd have been content with that. Now, I'm not. I've been on the front lines of battle and lived to tell about it. I have a better understanding of what I am capable of. I know I have it in me to do better...

More Useful Links for Writers

Blogs & Databases of Interest

Another database of agents


Blog with a great (recent) rundown of average advances and current sales info for several genres. (Look on the right under The Essential PMN for the list).


Insightful, frank, and hilarious blog written by an intern at a publishing company. (Kelly from the Writing Practicum highly recommends her!)


An interestingdiscussion and examples of omniscient and limited omniscient POV from
the blog of literary agent Robert Brown.

Bay Area Editor's Forum: Information on image Research and Permissions.

Call for Submissions:

• 

The Ambassador Poetry Project

The Ambassador Poetry Project, a new online journal featuring poetry from and about Michigan and Ontario, is seeking submissions for the December and March issue. 

 


• Blade Red Press

Small press looking for short stories for anthology. (See site for full details, but here's a bit...) The first Blade Red Press anthology of dark speculative fiction is now open to submissions. The anthology will be available in print and e-book format through online retailers in early 2010 (assuming sufficient submissions are received). Only submissions received between September 17th 2009 and November 30th 2009 will be considered.

Enjoy! And, as usual, Happy Writing!

Against the Wind

or, Marathon Man Movie Has a Name!

The results are in! We have a winner!

Over 450 entries were submitted in the Name the Dick Beardsley Movie contest. Thanks to all who participated. Your creativity and obvious enthusiasm were appreciated.

The Grand Prize winner is the title Against the Wind, submitted by Tommy Tidwell. Tommy will receive a $150 gift certificate from New Balance, a Dick Beardsley Foundation T-shirt, and bragging rights for naming the project.

The top 5 Runners-Up are:

Beyond the Finish Line – Sarabeth Orlowski
Hitting The Wall – Jack Royal
Running on Empty – David Edwards
After the Finish Line – Mark Berman
One More Mile – Jeff Smith

Each runner-up will receive a Dick Beardsley Foundation T-shirt. Congratulations!

Please note, some of the titles were submitted by more than one person, so the first one who entered the title will receive the T-shirt. But we would like to acknowledge the following people for their submissions:

Jeff Rayburn
Stephanie Kurpiewski
Julie Threlkeld
Renee Saxman
Leland Baskin
Ed Dodak
Janet Cain

We invite you to become a fan of Against the Wind on Facebook. There, you’ll find updates on the status of the film project and you’ll be the first to learn of other contests related to the project. Making a movie is just like running a marathon, and we are on mile 1. Thanks for your continued support, and we’ll see you at the finish line!

On Dreamers and Doers

Every Tuesday evening, I facilitate the Writing Practicum, a group of writers dedicated to honing their craft and polishing their prose as they actively pursue publication.

We are all focused on the same goal – to become fabulously successful bestselling authors – and we are all committed to helping each other press on toward that goal.

Every week I am impressed anew with both the talent and the work ethic represented in our group. I am equally impressed by the lack of debilitating ego. We all know that we can write and are confident in our abilities. But no one feels compelled to pontificate and hold the rest captive. Instead, we are sincere in wanting to use what we know to help the others grow and improve.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, the Practicum is mostly comprised of adult women with complicated histories. And then there is our newest member: a very gifted 17-year old young man. He only recently got his driver’s license, he has just started college, he still lives at home… He’s just getting started in life.

His writing would be good even if he were 20 years older, but coming from someone his age, it’s quite remarkable. Not only can he put words on paper, but he also has good insights into what makes a piece work. He isn’t just there to get our opinions on his writing; he contributes opinions to the rest of us as well. In our Practicum of MFA’s and published authors, he holds his own quite well.

His mother keeps a fairly close watch on what he does, and every week he has to leave the meeting right at 7:30, whether we’re done or not. We all wish he could stay.

This past Tuesday as he was packing up his computer to slip away, a woman who has been in the workforce longer than he has been alive asked, “Do your parents have any idea how talented you are?”

They don’t.

“Would it help if we told them how good you are, how important this group is, and how we’d like you to stay?” another member asked him.

“Please don’t,” he said quietly. “You’ll just make it worse.”

His parents are not writers. They don’t understand how he feels driven to stay up until all hours of the night creating characters and worlds, bringing them to life, and seeing what they’ll do. They don’t realize how remarkable it is that he completed his first novel when he was 16 AND is willing to ruthlessly edit and rewrite it to make it better. They don’t grasp the magnitude of what it means when he can effortlessly turn out 50 very readable pages in a weekend.

I can only imagine what they think their son is doing for two hours every week with 10 ladies “of a certain age.” I like to believe that if they only knew the extent of the practical writing education he is getting, they would allow him to stay and give their blessing. But I may be deluding myself.

Though it may be true that a writer’s greatest resource is a miserable, misunderstood life, I firmly believe that a writer’s greatest asset is at least one person who provides support and encouragement to follow the Muse wherever it leads.

I have taught workshops where I heard horror stories of writers whose spouses ridiculed their efforts and their ambitions to the point where the writer hid his or her work and only worked on it surreptitiously. Clandestine creativity -- how sad. I daily consider myself richly blessed with a husband who wholeheartedly supports my chosen path in life.

Support aside, I would further argue that a writer’s greatest contributor to success is his or her commitment.

I spent Tuesday with Janet, a woman who has always known she wanted to be a writer – but life kept getting in the way. Now her children are grown and she is finally able to revisit all of the projects she has been thinking about for the past 20 years. She, too, is talented. But she has decades of putting a dream on hold to overcome. (We all know that once a thing is done, it’s easier to do it again…)

Sometimes, the older we get, the more we become used to not doing a thing. That inertia can be difficult to surmount.

I give Janet a lot of credit, though. She has lived in the state for less than a year. She attended her first writer’s conference this summer (that’s where we met). She drove over 3 hours one way just to have a face-to-face meeting and to talk writing with me – knowing that I am neither an agent nor a publisher. She is actively pursuing her writing and is learning about the publishing industry, too.

Which just goes to show that even with unqualified support from your family, friends, or significant other, they won’t make your writing dreams a reality. You still have to commit to making them happen.

I applaud the members of the Writing Practicum -- from the 17-year old to those in their 60’s – who are willing to say “my writing is a priority.” I applaud people like Janet, who are unwilling to let the vagaries of life wrest their aspirations from them without a fight. Their dedication and perseverance never ceases to inspire me.

In the end, I think that’s what it all comes down to – finding those qualities in others that encourage us to continue pursuing our own dreams.

Writer-Related Sites of Note

or, Resources Make the World Go Round

Thanks to the tireless online efforts of Kelly, a member of the Writing Practicum (a weekly critique group for serious writers that I facilitate), these sites have come to my attention lately. Some, like Preditors & Editors and Absolute Write, I already knew about. Others were new to me. All, however, are indisputably useful to the working writer.

Practicing Writing: This blog includes (among other notable posts) a weekly posting of serious, legitimate contests, scholarships, and employment opportunities for writers.

Query Tracker

Preditors & Editors(for checking agent & publisher legitimacy)

Absolute Write (writer's forum)

Two excellent "from the front lines / I'll answer your questions" blogs:

Literary Agent Nathan Bransford's blog.

Literary Agent Chip MacGregor's blog.


Here, also, are two current competitions of note:

Writer’s Digest Short Story Contest Offering a $3K Grand Prize for the best story under 1500 words.

Graywolf Press New Writer Non-Fiction Prize Awarding a $12,000 advance and publication by Graywolf Press to the most promising and innovative literary nonfiction project by a writer not yet established in the genre.

The Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize emphasizes formal innovation, and rewards projects that test the boundaries of literary nonfiction.

Open to any writer who has published at least one previous book (in any genre) and resides in the United States is eligible. Submissions must arrive in the Graywolf offices between October 1–31, 2009. The winner will be announced in early 2010.

Required materials:
• One-page cover letter containing a one-paragraph biographical statement and brief (2-4 sentence) description of the project. Please include any previous publications in the biographical statement.
• A two to ten-page overview of the project, including a description of what is already complete and what work remains to be finished.
• A minimum of 100 pages (25,000 words) from the manuscript.

We writers can use all the resources we can find. Here's hoping you find these of use!

Happy writing!