Only Today....

Just a quick reminder on this Sunday, to stop and think about the important things in your life.

God has been gracious enough to give us this day, this minute, but he's made no promise about tomorrow.

What have you done today that's really made a difference?

New Contest...Why not try one?

Sometimes we sit back with great stories hiding in diaries and journals and never get them out for others to enjoy. Then one day, a contest comes along that we think, "Maybe this time" and we throw caution to the wind and pop a story in an envelop and forget about it. Don't be scared. Here's a great place to send out something, even something simple. This is a great and very reputable contest open to anyone willing to lay their work out to the public. Why not give it a shot! Good Luck!



GLIMMER TRAIN
http://www.glimmertrainpress.com/writer/html/index2.asp

FICTION OPEN
Deadline: March 31

Prizes:

1st place wins $2,000, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and 20 copies.
2nd-place: $1,000 and possible publication.
3rd-place: $600 and possible publication.

Results post on May 31. Winning story will be published in Issue 79.

Other considerations:

Open to all writers.
We welcome any length from 2,000 to 20,000 words. (Don't worry: A great 2,000 word story can compete against a great 20,000 word story. It's the story that counts.)
Reading fee is $20 per story.

So you've got a story...Now what?

Over this past few years, I've had the distinct pleasure of learning what it's like to face rejection and criticism as well as acceptance and praise for my work. To tell you the truth, I've learned more from the rejections and criticism!

I'm also learning what publishers and editors are looking for and what they won't put up with. In January we (the MFA students) were honored to stand in front of several editors and publishers and allowed to "pitch" our respective stories. Some of the comments that came out of this were very honest. They said:

1. You don't know your story well enough to explain it to us
2. That's been done to death
3. What genre is your book? (we'll discuss this later)
4. You sound too rehearsed, unnatural
5. Really?
6. Your pitch is way too long
7. I wouldn't know where to try and place this book
8. You don't seem very confident about the book, why should I be?

All of the comments were delightfully helpful, albeit a bit crushing for a new writer. But what I did learn was that this IS a business. They really do hope we have a good product, because they need good products. They want us to have a bestseller so we can all do well. But they don't want to get a book where the author will be absolutely no help to them in promoting it!


So, if I learned anything was that I have to:
1. Know my target audience
2. Be prepared, but not too rehearsed
3. Have a "log" line prepared that can be expanded upon as time allows
4. Know my story and then present it in a way that they want to know more as well.

These were good lessons I am grateful to have learned. So, back to the drawing board to study the way I can explain my story to others in a natural way that makes people want to read my book! Next time I'll be ready!

What is a "writer's voice"?

It is amazing how many people I have run into lately that are talking about how they love to write! I was in Texas today, Houston to be exact and talked to someone who said his dream would be to quit working and just write. We talked back and forth about the kinds of writing he enjoyed, etc. He told me he was working on a historical fiction book set in Wyoming. It was about a family who was left motherless in the early 1800's.

I asked him if I might read a short bit of his piece so I might be able to "see" his "voice". He gave me the same puzzeled look I had given one of instructors at Wilkes the first time I heard the term.

The writers voice is the way you,the writer, uses dialogue, character development, puncuation, etc. Are your sentences short and choppy or long, dissertations of flowery language? Do you always seem to use slang? Unusual dialect?

Your voice is what makes you different from other writers! We can't all have the beautiful language skills of Shakespear, in fact, most of us don't. But what I have found after reading my cohorts stories and poems over the past year and the wide variety of books and authors, each of them have a distinct writing style that tells me immediately as a reader, who wrote the story.

So the next time you pick up a favorite author, pay attention to the "voice" of the book. Is it certain words the author uses that makes you know who wrote the book? Is the visual aspects of the language? Is the way they write the reason you continue to go back to the same author when a new book comes out?

My husband is reading a series of books one after the other because he loves what he calls "the way the author writes". What he described to me was "the author's voice."

So go on out there and find yours!

Prompts...are they useful?

Right now I am involved in a contest called The Whiitier Prize Competition. The contest started March 7 and goes to July, with the entrants having to submit a 2500 word fiction piece evey other week. The directors give 3 prompts the writers can utilize as part of their story...or not. Something as simple as:
"Stick out your tongue" was a prompt I used to create a story about street urchins in Portugal.

I've never been a fan of prompts until I read Natalie Goldberg's book "Writing Down the Bones". This book is full of great prompts, which is sometimes all a writer needs to start a story. So with that here are two prompts to get you going. See if you can write 1000 words utilizing these prompts. You'll be surprised at what comes out! Have fun!

1. All he could see through the small opening was three fingers clutching the edge of the bathtub and a chicken sitting on an old porcelin toilet.

2. Saturday afternoon was no time to realize his pants were still in the cleaners.

Try Something New Will You?

Sometimes as new writers we are afraid to try and figure out what we need to do to get our work out to the general public! We don't know where to turn or what we might need to do first.

I found an interesting book called "A Step in the Write Direction" and web site that seems like a good directional tool. It's written by an older woman, Donna Goodrich, who writes Christian works. Her tips on writing cross many boundries for writers. So why not read a good site with great tips at www.thewritersfriend.net/ and try something outside your genre!

Then have a great day,won't you!

The Plan

Starting a new blog is a challenge if you've not had a blog of your own. Creating a balance between sharing good information and getting to know each other is critical. I want this site to be a valuable tool to new writers, so I'm from now on I am going to post daily on the following schedule. Let me know what you think!

Mondays-A new web site that you might enjoy
Tuesdays= A writing tip on craft
Wednesdays=Comments to questions you might ask
Thursdays=A Publishng tip
Fridays= New contests
Saturdays=What I'm up to this week
Sundays=Photos with words of wisdom

If there is some question you'd like answered, please email me at author@gingermarcinkowski.com. I'll do my best to get you the answer! See you tomorrow!