Writers Unbound

I must thank Write From Home for this one!

The Parenting Publications of America Association will charge you 50 bucks if you wish to have a listing of their parenting publications who are members….Sounds like great thing to have for us writers, right? Sure…but who wants to spend 50 bucks on it? (not me, thanks, I’m saving for a new printer that works with my Vista).

So, as Write at Home explains, you can get around that by visiting the site, clicking on ‘Find a Member’ in the left navigation, and then plugging in your state and searching. POP! You’ve got all the parenting publications in your state, just waiting for your well thought out query!

Many people answered my post from yesterday about what you NEED in yet another writing website, and I will most certainly get on that soon. Items mentioned were blogging and cold calling, among others. So let’s start brainstorming!

Hump day’s near done everyone!

Don’t we all have an excuse for that unfinished novel on our hard drive and in our heads?

I do, anyway, and I like company. 

Over the summer I stumbled onto an August issue of O Magazine where Walter Mosley, author of 47 and multiple other books in several genres, tells you that This Year You Write Your Novel. That article was singlehandedly responsible for getting my novel out of my head and at least halfway on through my fingers (I’m still working on it). 

Mosley addresses a couple of my novel writing fears:

1) Similarity of my characters to real life
2) Lack of an ending. I didn’t know the ending.

Mosley helped me both via this highly recommended article in the August 07  issue of O Magazine.

Another way to go about getting your novel out would be to join National Novel Writing Month. For all the would-be NaNa novelists out t here, I wish you the best of luck! Keep us updated!

Happy writing!

Not long ago, I received my copy of the inaugural issue of Coastal Homes Southern Style, a new upscale bimonthly magazine. The magazine focuses on luxury living along the “Sweet Tea Coast,� an area spanning Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay to Florida’s Palm Coast. The magazine is glossy, with lots of color photographs, features and community profiles.

I wrote a story about Palencia, an upscale, environmentally friendly development near St. Augustine, Fla. I covered available properties, feedback from residents and information about the tennis courts, golf course and other amenities. There’s a lot of nuts and bolts information, but the story is also a feature, so quotes from residents and anecdotal information about the community and its history are also included.

The first issue totaled 84 pages and hits newsstands July 31. Coastal Homes is the latest periodical of 35-year-old Leisure Publishing of Roanoke, Va. Leisure publishes 18 titles.

“Coastal Homes provides that connection between boomers and the developers of quality coastal communities,� says Richard Wells, publisher and Leisure founder. Wells says the magazine is “a relocation guide for those who want to compare living on the Chesapeake Bay with the Palm Coast of North Florida…to understand the lifestyle considerations between, say, Nags Head and Hilton Head.�

CH editor Marie Hodge, winner of a National Magazine Award and former New York-based editor of Sesame Street Parents and Longevity, says another important factor in the purchase of retirement/vacation homes is proximity to current residence. “Studies of buying trends suggest the majority of buyers want to remain within a three to four hour travel time from their primary residence,� Hodge says. The magazine’s targeted distribution will be focused geographically within four hours of the coast and in key metro markets where air service provides less than four hours travel time.

I got the first assignment to write for Coastal Homes by way of my Freelance Marketplace listing at MediaBistro.com. Working with the magazine was a pleasure, and I’m working on my second assignment for the next issue.

If you’re interested in submitting, visit the Web site and study the content.

Writers may submit queries directly by snail mail:
Editor
Coastal Homes
3424 Brambleton Avenue
Roanoke, VA 24018

Include a brief bio, your pitch and 2-3 clips of published work.

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How do you know a contest is fair?

Most writers enter a contest at some point, and it’s often hard to tell when a contest is fair. The poetry world, aka Po-Biz, experienced a severe shakeup several years ago when a librarian founded the site Foetry to help poets make wise decisions before parting with entry fees as high as $35. Poets and Writers recently featured an article about two poetry contests that left entrants empty-handed.

There’s never a perfect method for determining fairness. But along the way I learned to be cautious. Here are some tips I learned the hard way:
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For some writers, reading is just as natural as writing. And studying a publication prior to pitching the editor is a must.

The first thing I do every morning after I find a cup of coffee and pry my eyes open is read the metro section of our daily newspaper The Florida Times Union. I do visit the paper’s Web site during the day for breaking news, but I value the feel of the day’s news in my hands. I’d read the paper even if I didn’t write for it.

I read a lot of different magazines and newspapers, in part because I write for some of them. The Christian Science Monitor is a favorite. This Pulitzer-winning newspaper, is in my opinion, one of the most level-headed publications about world affairs. I’ve published there several times.

I also read The Writer. I’ve read that magazine since I was 17 years old. As an aspiring writer, I determined one day I’d be published there. It took some years and hard work, but I met that goal. And if I had to pick one publication that influenced my career beyond all others, it would be this magazine.

Other magazines that get my subscription bucks include Time, National Geographic, The Atlantic, Reader’s Digest and Inc. Still others come in the mail by way of my daughter and husband’s subscriptions.

I spot surf Web sites like The Drudge Report and Google® News throughout the day.

The latest books I’ve read are George Tenet’s “At the Center of the Storm� and I’m working my way through a bio of Hillary Clinton at the moment. For poetry, I just ordered Shoshauna Shy’s new poetry book “What the Postcard Didn’t Say,� and I’ll write about her poetry in an upcoming column.

Sometimes I have writers tell me they don’t like to read. That’s hard for me to understand. Courtesy of print and Web, I not only learn about what’s happening in the news but also how other people write. I wish sometimes I could read without paying attention to the way writers structure their work. I guess that would be like a car enthusiast looking at a ’57 Chevrolet, without thinking about the engine.

So many of the articles, essays and poems I write are inspired by words written by others.

And naturally, if I want to write for a publication or Web site, I read it diligently. That’s the best method for market study I’ve found yet.

So what’s on your reading agenda?

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