Word Pirates

I haven’t had a chance to fully check it out for myself, but this looks like a cool place to find ideas for where to submit your writing: Duotrope’s Digest, “a database of over 2050 current markets for short fiction, poetry, and novels/collections.”
Check it out and tell me what you think. I’ll do the same […]

Some writing advice by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. on the subject of short stories, from Bagombo Snuff Box:1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should […]

See the rest of my photos here.

Stolen from here:
In addition to being fun to write, flash fiction boosts your writing skills.
1. The limits of the form can spark your creativity as a prose writer, just as haiku and sonnets do for poets. The challenge of staying within the word length engages your inner critic and allows your creativity to come out […]

Word Pirates tonight at my house. Hope you all come!
I get an e-mail newsletter called “Writing for Dollars,” which you can sign up for here. The most recent issue had an article about procrastinating by Jennifer Brown Banks that I am re-posting here. The advice is kind of elementary, but also encouraging and a good […]

In case you need guidance on how to do this whole critique thing, here are some thoughts:

Read each piece
Summarize for yourself what it is about
Think of things you like about it
Think of ways to help the writer revise it
Consider any particular questions that the writer asked and try to answer them

When reading:

Keep in mind that […]

This is copied from a page I was given in my first workshop class in grad school. It’s extremely wordy, but having never workshopped before, I found it very helpful in terms how how to approach and critique someone else’s work. Hope you find it useful. I’ve cut out some parts about writing up a […]