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Writing Sparks Newsletter
March 14, 2008
Greeting |
My warmest greetings to you all. I hope this email finds you all happily pursuing your writing dreams. Life has been beyond hectic this past week. The new job is turning out to be more fun than I expected, but the mechanics of having to go to an office (even though it's just once or twice a week) are more than I expected. The office is more or less a 40-minute drive from my home. In Los Angeles, though, more or less can vary from five to twenty minutes. Add in a stop at my local Starbucks, and I'm never quite sure when I'm going to get to the office. Luckily they've been kind about me figuring that stuff out. For, those of you that haven't been following my newsletter that long, I recently took the position of online editor at TravelAge West Magazine. The magazine is a travel publication, distributed to travel agents throughout the Western U.S. I'd been freelancing for them for the past three years and now that they are redoing their website, I've come aboard in a more permanent position. The magazine just posted my Fiji article at www.travelagewest.com/articles.aspx?article=7280 but unfortunately you have to log in to be able to see it. An easier way to read about the trip (and all of its blustery cyclone weather) is to visit my blog at Monicas Rants. Needless to say, I'm loving the fact that there may be increased opportunities for travel as well. There might be a few cool trips in my future, but I don't want to say anything here yet, for fear of jinxing them. At any rate, there are big changes planned for OnceWritten.com in the coming months. We're going to be upgrading content at the site, offering more features, including re-launching our book reviews page, adding literary journal listings, and adding interactive comments to our articles and posts. I'm also in the early stages of thinking about a complete web design, but haven't decided if I want to commit that time and energy yet. This week I added social bookmarking icons to some of the major pages on the site, such as our Free Creative Writing Prompts page. So if you belong to Deli.cio.us, StumbleUpon or any of the other bookmarking sites, please do take a second to add us to your favorites page. Another challenge/goal in the very near future is to identify a new moderator for our forums. Our current moderators, FunWriter and Terry are awesome, giving, terrific people, but they are way overworked (and just voluteers to boot), so I'd like to get them some help. I'm most interested in finding a moderator with creative writing critique experience, to post helpful yet not harsh comments on the Post Your Short Stories and Post Your Poetry sections. If you're interested in helping out, please let me know. I'm also continuing to identify other new changes and additions needed at the website. In the coming weeks, stay tuned for a survey (and a chance to win a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate) about OnceWritten.com. We'll be asking you to identify your favorite features and tell us what you don't like, what you think is missing, and generally what's on your mind. Can't wait a couple weeks? Feel free to drop me a note now with your comments and suggestions now. If my schedule isn't ridiculous enough, I'm also heading back to school in April. Some years back I started the Creative Writing Certificate Program at UCLA, and true to form, never finished. So I've re-enrolled and am feeling charged up about my own fiction writing. I hope things are rosy for all of you, and as always, I wish you all the very best. Happy writing! Monica |
Get Past |
Publish Your Own Coffee Table Book Blurb.com takes self-publishing to a new level. If you're looking for a cool way to organize your photos, your blog entries, your recipes, this is a lovely and graphically easy way to put them together. You won't get a listing at Amazon.com, and I couldn't find any mention of an ISBN number, but if you are looking for a unique gift idea for your friends, this is a great way to go about it. www.blurb.com. |
Writing Sparks |
Creative Writing Prompt #1 First Line -- Sometimes Koko's rabbit would tell her stories. Creative Writing Prompt #2 Build Character -- Write a story or scene about a character you're working on who must bail a friend out of jail. Want More Prompts? Monthly Membership Writer's block, be gone! For less than the price of one cup of coffee a month, you can receive daily creative writing prompts designed to get your pencils blazing. www.oncewritten.com/DailyWritingSpark.php. |
Meet |
Publishing My First Book: Orna Ross To turn Dickens back to front, it was the worst of times, it was the best of times. For me, the path to publication was long, full of emotional twists and turns, highs and lows – not unlike the novel, Lovers Hollow, that I was trying to get into print. Every writer who wants to be published, especially ones who don’t have a best friend in the publishing industry, has been there: the please-like-me-and-my-book subjection and . . . More Orna Ross Read more Publishing My First Book essays now. Meet the Author: Tracy Fabre  If you asked my mother, she'd tell you I always wanted to be a writer but the truth is, I don't really remember any grand passion in that direction. I went to the University of Iowa with a dim hope of getting into their Writer's Workshop, but in retrospect, there was no way it was going to happen: I had few skills, little to say, and no way to fake it through. I did take some wonderful writing and literature classes (thank you, Ehud Havazelet . . . More Tracy Fabre Read more Meet The Author essays now. |
OnceWritten.com Writing Contest Deadlines |
OnceWritten.com In the Midnight Hour Halloween Fiction Contest Award: $500 & publication Fee: $15 Deadline: August 31, 2009 http://www.oncewritten.com/Contests/MidnightHour.php OnceWritten.com Fall Fiction Contest Award: $1,000 Fee: $15 Deadline: October 31, 2009 http://www.oncewritten.com/Contests/FictionContest.php To view past winners of OnceWritten.com writing contests, visit our Literary Lounge now. |
More |
July 5, 2009 Short Fiction Competition July 13, 2009 Warren Adler Short Story Contest July 15, 2009 Astrea Foundation Lesbian Writers Fund Literal Latte Poetry Awards July 18, 2009 Narrative Magazine First Annual Poetry Contest July 20, 2009 Horror Screenplay Contest July 31, 2009 Dreamquestone.com Poetry Contest Dreamquestone.com Writing Contest Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award Review Fuse Flash Fiction Contest August 1, 2009 Memoirs Ink Writing Contest Nano Prize August 8, 2009 Gival Press Short Story Award August 15, 2009 Chamber Press Chapbook Award On Angels Magazine Art & Literary Contest August 17, 2009 National Book Awards August 25, 2009 Dream Wedding Writing Contest August 29, 2009 Summer 2009 Short Story Competition August 31, 2009 Aesthetica Creative Works Competition Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award Best of the Best Ebook Contest OnceWritten.com In the Midnight Hour Halloween Fiction Contest September 4, 2009 A Slice of Life September 8, 2009 2008 Zoetrope Screenplay Contest September 15, 2009 Ascent Aspirations Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest Write Real Good Poetry Chapbook Contest September 17, 2009 Life Lessons Essay Contest September 25, 2009 Review Fuse Poetry Contest September 30, 2009 Ohio State Press Charles B. Wheeler Prize in Poetry Ruskin Art Club Poetry Award OnceWritten.com keeps a comprehensive list of contests that pay a grand prize of $500 or more. See an updated list at www.oncewritten.com/WritingContests.php. |
Enter to Win Free Books |
Enter to Win Free Books We have some great books for this month's giveaway contest. To enter to win a copy of any or all of these books, visit www.oncewritten.com/Win-Free-Books.php now. You may enter as many giveaway contests as you like, but in order to win, you must enter each contest separately.
Want to See Your Book Listed Here? OnceWritten.com Featured Author package includes a listing in our book giveaway contests, which generates more than 1,000 page views per month. Learn how to Advertise your Book at OnceWritten.com. |
Email Options |
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