The Goal-Focused Writer

Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

2016-04-27T17:34:00.001-04:00

Issue 12a, July 2014

Hello Again, Fellow Writers:

If you feel like you’re having a flashback when you read the title of this quarter’s blog - you are! It’s one of the major lines used by Commander Quincy Taggert (a.k.a Jason Nesmith) in the 1999 movie Galaxy Quest. Jason Nesmith, played by Tim Allen, is an actor who learns the meaning of, “Never give up, never surrender,” when he is suddenly confronted with real life aliens, call Thermians. The Thermians believe that the cancelled television series, Galaxy Quest, is an historical document. These naive aliens need the help of Nesmith’s character, Commander Taggert, in order to deal with a dangerous enemy. The actor thinks this is just another part in a homemade movie at first, but he soon learns that it’s all too real. Instead of running and hiding, he talks his co-stars into taking the challenge and facing a brutal enemy who is a skilled warrior. They rise from their humdrum lives of unemployed actors to conquering the enemy, saving the Thermians from annihilation. The actors end up with a continuing series of Galaxy Quest when they return to Earth.

This is a fun movie within a movie, which spoofs the original Star Trek series and its’ fans, plus teaches us a lesson for writing and for life. If you haven’t seen this movie, watch it for fun. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen it, watch it again. Fiction, even silly, spoof science fiction, can help us through the trials of real life so we, too, never give up. As you all know, I’ve been challenged with my own quests over this last year. I’ve been knocked down, kicked around, bloodied and bruised since I lost my job in July 2013. But, thank God, I’ve never surrendered to the depression and self-pity that can so easily conquer us!

I took another beating in June when I found a job, a really good-paying job, then lost it before it started when physical challenges and an unexpected illness prevented me from completing the training. I was aggravated and depressed for a while. But focusing on my real goal, writing, has given me the strength to continue even after the unemployment in July, losing more than two years of research and writing in May and then losing another job in June. However, with a little faith and focus on our goal, we can overcome each obstacle just like the heroes of Galaxy Quest. We will eventually win the prize. If I can do it, you can do it, too!

Reading Makes Us Better Writers

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to read well-written novels and stories in our genre of choice. For one thing, it makes us better writers and gives us ideas to experiment with in our own writing. For another thing, it lets us know our competition better and gives us the opportunity to compare our work to theirs. We need to know whether we’re reaching or exceeding the writing quality of other writers in our genre. I recently finished reading the first novel in the Southern Reach Trilogy, Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer and I am seriously impressed by the way he captivates the readers’ attention with detailed descriptions without sacrificing a fast-moving plot. Whether your favorite genre is science fiction or mystery, you will enjoy how this novel unravels one mystery to reveal another. You can read my review of this book at Must Read, Must See Books and Movies, but for now I want to talk about Vandermeer’s writing style.

First of all, Annihilation is written in the first-person, limited point of view, yet this doesn’t limit Vandermeer’s scope of the strange occurrences or history of Area X. Also, none of the characters are named; we only know them only by their occupation. Our narrator is ‘the biologist’ and it is her journal which carries us through the unorthodox requirements which the Southern Reach, a top secret organization, has placed on this twelfth expedition into a ‘contaminated’ coastal region. Vandermeer captures an entire story through the observations of the biologist and the snippets she reveals about her personal life. He uses her attention to detail which creates a rich environment that pulls the reader into the strange landscape of Area X and it is this attention to detail that captivates me the most. It challenges me to step up the detail in my own writing, so let me challenge you, too.

Writing Challenge #12: Mimic the Best 2

We haven’t done this type of writing exercise for a while, so let’s try mimicking Vandermeer now. I thought we’d try mimicry again, this time using a small piece of Annihilation. Remember that mimicry is when we copy the format of the writing (verb for verb, adjective for adjective, noun for noun), but using our own words and our own story line. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I selected a paragraph from the first chapter to practice mimicry:

Far worse, though, was a low, powerful moaning at dusk. The wind off the sea and the odd interior stillness dulled our ability to gauge direction, so that the sound seemed to infiltrate the black water that soaked the cypress trees. This water was so dark we could see our faces in it and it never stirred, set like glass, reflecting the beards of gray moss that smothered the cypress trees. It you looked out through these areas, toward the ocean, all you saw was the black water, the gray of the cypress trunks and the constant, motionless rain of moss flowing down. All you heard was the low moaning. The effect of this cannot be understood without being there. The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.

If you’re already a member of our writers’ group, Contributors’ Corner, log into you member account at Skeptical Reader, Members Only to see my attempt at this challenge. If you’re not a member, you can join at Skeptical Reader as well.

Now you try it, submit your paragraph in the body of an email to rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com. I’ll be uploading our experimental writing through July 20^th. Your paragraph will be entered as a separate blog entry on the Members Only secure page so other members can comment on it.

Remember you must join Contributors' Corner in order to access the Members Only page. Once a member you can share your work and receive comments and suggestions from other writers. You can join at the For Writers page on Skeptical Reader. It’s well worth the $5 a month fee to join.

Members, be sure to log into our writing group to see this month’s Contributors' Corner. We’ll talk about the possibilities for working your piece into a larger one and discuss the publication possibilities. Plus members will be given an additional writing challenge.

Remember, we are in this field to get published so our whispers can be heard.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

A Time to Say Hello and a Time to Say Farewell

2016-03-01T16:39:00.000-05:00

Issue #19 March 2016

Farewell, My Friends and Followers

As you know, we are always focusing on our goals and the actions we must take to achieve them. Evaluating whether or not those actions are relevant to helping us achieve those goals is of great importance. So once the goals are set, the actions selected, then evaluate, we must tweak those actions. Sometimes the activities we’re doing are helping to push us toward our goals, so we keep those activities. Other times our activities have become a distraction from the main goal. There are also times when circumstances in our life have changed and made the once profitable activities impractical. In that case, we need to drop the activity in order to focus better on achieving the main goal.

Well, circumstances in my life have changed. Serious family health issues are demanding more of my time and energy…almost all of it, in fact. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop working toward my goal. It does mean I must evaluate which activities I’m doing are most effective in helping me as much to achieve the goal of becoming a well-known author.

I have found myself working on too many projects which consume a great deal of time and energy…distracting me from the goal of writing. While I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts and ideas in The Goal-Focused Writer, it has not yielded the following I had hoped for. So this is my farewell to whatever friends and followers read this blog and again to encourage you to continue evaluating your activities as per my example. Below is my final published example of tweaking my own goals. I hope this helps you to tweak yours as well. For those of you who prefer a visual representation, see the attached PDF.

Original Goals for 2016

Activities That Go

1. Write four (4) blogs for The Goal-Focused Writer

Write blogs for publication (remember that the writing must be done the month before the publication date): January, April, July, October

Writing this blog helped me stay focused on my goals, but since it never gained any kind of following or increased audience, the blog didn’t promote me as a writer. THIS ACTIVITY STOPS.

2. Develop and push Goal-Focused Writers’ group, writing eights (8) blogs, alternating months with The Goal-Focused Writer

Write a private members-only blog for other writers in conjunction with The Goal-Focused Writer blog (offering free PDF book for joining) and publish: February, March, May, June, August, September, November, and December.

Since this activity is directly related to the above blog, I will not pursue my own writing group online, but possibly pursue building one locally. THIS ACTIVITY STOPS.

3. Create book cover myself for each of the four parts of LWN

Created cover for Part 1 in December; create covers for Part 2, 3 and 4 before one month trial of Photoshop ends

Just because you CAN do a thing, doesn’t mean you SHOULD do a thing. Creating my own book covers takes massive amounts of time and an expensive creative program that I’m not ready to invest in. It is a distraction from my real goal, which is to write and publish. SO IT GOES!

Activities That Stay

1. Write six (6) reviews for The Dystopian Reviewer

Read a book every other month, then review the review for publication; offer free PDF of Sci-Fi Analysis for followers: February, April, June, August, October, and December.

This is an excellent activity, since it helps me improve my own writing and lets me know what authors, styles and approaches work well. The blog has a small following which seems to be growing, therefore promoting my name as a writer. This activity stays.

2. Submit six (6) stories/essays to magazine

Write/edit on new story every other month for publication: February, April, June, August, October, and December.

This is an activity directly related to my major goal, but it’s one I’ve neglected while pursuing the less-focused activities above, which did not help me reach my goal. THIS ACTIVITY STAYS.

3. Write 8,000 per month on new novel (or 2,000 words per week).

This is an absolute MUST DO in order to achieve my goals. SO THIS ACTIVITY STAYS.

4. Rewrite and improve synopsis

This activity is a MUST for finding agents and publishers.

5. Rewrite and improve cover letter

This activity is a MUST for finding agents and publishers.

6. Send out to six (6) agents every two months

This activity is a MUST for finding agents and publishers.

As you can see, it is imperative that your activities…those things you choose to devote your time and energy to…are important aspects of whether or not you achieve your end goal. If you’re a writer, your first choice is whether to self-publish on Amazon, Book Baby or through any of the hundreds of services that charge you a fee to put your book in print or if you choose the traditional route of contacting agents and publishers in hopes of a contract. If you choose the self-publishing route, you’ll be forced to learn how to market your book and then spend precious hours taking all those little marketing steps to achieve your book’s success. This what I have been doing for the past two years, during which time I’ve had odd jobs, my mother had a series of small strokes, requiring my help, and I had a massive amount of reading in a new subject to do! I always felt like I was running behind on everything and the things I did finish didn’t look as well-polished as I would have liked. When my mother had an acute stroke last month, I knew she needed more of my time than ever before and that something had to change in my activities. That’s when I decided to work on publishing though the traditional venues. They take more wait time for responses, but while you wait, you continue writing. And that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Setting and Accomplishing Goals

As I end this writers’ blog, let’s review the baby sets we have to take in order to take the leap of achieving our goals:

1) Set the goal you want to accomplish.

2) Establish activities that will lead you to that goal.

a) Practice, practice, and practice some more.

b) Get feedback on your work whenever possible.

c) Accept that feedback with grace, remember that the growing requires you to be wrong once in a while. Smile and thank that person for helping you grow.

d) Get educated in your field of choice, through reading or courses.

e) Find a mentor or be a mentoring, you’ll learn and grow either way. This is where being part of a writers’ group will really help!

f) Network with people in you field of choice.

3) Revaluate your progress toward your goal regularly.

4) Tweak, change, and alter any activities that are not taking you to the goal you want to achieve or require time away from more meaningful activities that WILL help you grow.

5) Believe you can achieve, even when things go wrong. Only allow yourself a couple of days to mourn any bad luck, then pull yourself back to focus on your goal.

6) Repeat these steps frequently until you have achieved the results you desire.

For those of you who enjoy a more visual representation of this Goal Setting Flowchart.

Good luck, good writing, and thanks for reading my blog. Don’t forget that Dystopian Reviewer will still be available and keep an eye on my website: Icy Thoughts for upcoming publications.

Face Your Fears!

2016-01-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

Issue #17 October 2015

Launching Your Book

Last year I entered my novel, A Long Winter’s Night, in the 22^nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. I was discouraged to not even receive an honorable mention, however, I did receive many suggestions for improvements and encouraging notes about my skills and future as a writer. So, during the summer, I used those suggestions to edit and rewrite my novel. My sisters/editors, God bless them, told me that those changes have made an incredible difference in the entire story. With my confidence restored, I took an online workshop about launching your book with Kimberley Grabas of Your Writer Platform and Joel Friedlander of The Book Designer. They later sent out a fabulous and informative Book Launch Toolkit that included several blank worksheets and an instruction booklet. What hit me in the instructions is the importance of have an established writer’s platform whether you self-publish or go through traditional publishers and agents. Apparently, you can have a good book launch without a writer’s platform. However, if you want to truly “make it” as an author, you HAVE to have that platform in place.

I’ve decided to try to publish my trilogy via an agent, who will have greater knowledge than me about the ins and outs of writing contracts. So I took a step back and made a new TO-DO list, which started with writing the synopsis and sending it out to agents. Cold sweat immediately popped out all over my body and my mind went blank.

Synopsis Terrors

I think we can agree that we all love writing. It’s the one thing that everyone reading this blog has in common. We either currently write our hearts out, trying to publish our work, or we want to take all those pent up emotions and scribble them across the screen. It’s the whole reason we’ve gone to the trouble to set and monitor our goals, which I hope you’ve mastered. Whether you’ve already completed that first novel using the marvelous tool of self-discipline or you’re just beginning it, we all have to face the terror of writing a synopsis for our book. Agents need them. Publishers want them. Writers shutter at the thought of writing them. However, just as writing flash fiction is excellent practice for compressing our writing, so condensing our book to a one page synopsis is an excellent way to learn how to write the back blub for your book. So take three deep, even breaths, then exhale, because here we go!

First of all, don’t try to jump into writing your synopsis without first planning your route. That means research and read about HOW to create a synopsis. There are literally thousands of suggestion out there, so you need to be careful to select credible sources.

My search took me to two good sources: Jane Friedman and Glen C. Strathy. Jane Friedman impressed me because, not only has she been in the publishing industry for 15 years, but she also has “expertise in digital media and the future of authorship.” Plus she’s a guest speaker at book fairs and conferences around the world. When I read Glen’s profile, I learned that he is already an accomplished freelance business writer. He also has several awards for independent publishing and on for being a book reviewer. So I chose Jane and Glen’s as references for two reason: 1) for their experience and 2) for their readability.

Now I had to take the second step: read and study what they had to say about the synopsis. Jane’s article is specifically about “How to Write a Synopsis” and it referenced Glen’s article named “How to Write a Book Now.” The specific reference was about the eight basic plot element, which I thought I knew. However, I was surprised by the new terminology in Glen’s article (i.e. story goal instead of plot, consequences if the goal isn’t reached and requirements to achieve the goal). Glen looks at a story from a more practical standpoint or actual motivation for the characters. While Jane’s article is clean and to the point with bulleted items for what to include and what mistakes to delete.

The third step is obviously to practice writing the synopsis according to their instructions. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right the first time. My first attempt resulted in an overly detailed 26-page synopsis. Unusable, of course. My second attempt was better. It turned out to be four pages. Still too long. Now I need to go back to the articles, reread and actually use Glen’s suggestion of using 5” by 8” cards to organize the eight elements of fiction. I’ll let you know how that turns out. The main point is the old “never give up, never surrender.” The only real reason to fail is if you quit trying. Which reminds me of a story my mother-in-law told me. Ma is a terrific artist who used to give private art lessons when her children were young. Apparently, a young woman came to her wanting to learn how to do fashion drawing for newspapers and magazines. After several lessons, Ma was saddened to see that woman had no talent for drawing. She tried to gently dissuade the young woman from a goal that seemed unattainable. However, the young woman was determined. She practiced continuously, continued her lessons with Ma, and studied the techniques of the current fashion illustrators. I shouldn’t have to tell you the ending of this story, but I will. The young women became a fashion illustrator for the Chicago Tribune. Does this exemplify our adapted motto or what? So even during those inevitable times of discouragement, remember to “never give up, never surrender.”

Writing Challenge #16: Dialogue Delight

Last quarter, I challenged you to enter the Bartleby Snopes Contest, which was writing a story composed entirely of dialogue WITHOUT using “he said/she said” tags we’re used to using. I hope some of you accepted that challenge. Even though it sounded like a lot of fun, I was too tied up with other writing to do it. Let’s hope we all do better with the next challenge.

Writing Challenge #17: Write From What You Know

We have a couple of options for this writing challenge. Notice in our list below that October 15, 2015 is the deadline to submit a story for the RROFIHE TROPHY. You could take something from personal experience and fictionalize it. We also have the topics for CHICKEN SOUP for the remainder of the year. The next deadline is October 30, 2015. These are virtually flash fiction pieces, so give it a shot. Remember to use the plot graph to keep yourself on track.

Still haven’t gotten my author website back, so we’re taking a sabbatical from our writers’ group, Contributors’ Corner, until further notice. But don’t let that stop you from writing!

If you’re not receiving your copy of The Prodigal Writer, please contact me. Or if you’d like to start receiving copies of our newsletter, you can contact me, too. Just click my name below to send an email.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Rhodes FitzWilliam

Venues for Writing

I still don’t have gotten this list on Google Docs yet. Please accept my apology.

Contests

If you still aren’t receiving Hope Clark’s Funds for Writers, here are upcoming opportunities:

RROFIHE TROPHY

http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/no-fee-rrofihe-trophy2015.html

Genre: Literary Fiction

Word Count: 3,500 to 5,000

Compensation: $500, trophy, announcement and publication on anderbo.com

Deadline: October 15, 2015

Special Instructions: story previously unpublished and author previously unpublished on Anderbol; email submissions only. Please read their instructions.

Magazines

CHICKEN SOUP

http://www.chickensoup.com

Genre: Real Stories that are Uplifting

Word Count: 1,200 or less

Compensation: $200

Deadlines:

October 30, 2015:

The Joy of Less

Alzheimer’s and Dementias Family Caregiving

November 30, 2015:

Angels and Miracles

Military Families

The Spirit of America

AE SCIFI

http://aescifi.ca/index.php/submissions

Genre: Science Fiction

Word Count: 500-3,000

Compensation: $0.07 per word

Deadline:

Special Instructions: E-mail submissions only; Subject Line: “INT Sub: ‘Story Title’ (word count, words); Cover Letter; Include your name, byline (if different); Brief Bio (50 words)

AE welcomes submissions from both established and emerging authors. We publish exclusively science fiction, though our interpretation of the genre can be quite inclusive. We are not soliciting poetry or screenplays at this time.

THE THREEPENNY REVIEW

http://www.threepennyreview.com/submissions.html

Genre:	Critical Article	Stories or Memoirs	Table Talk	Poetry
Word Count:	1,200-2,500	4,000 or less	1,000	100 lines or less
Compensation:	$400	$400	$200	$200
Deadline:	Open Reading January through June
NOTE:	No submissions are read or accepted between July and December. No simultaneous submissions. No previously published submissions. Submit ONLY one story or article or five poems. Responds within two months.

The Threepenny Review is a quarterly, international magazine which buys first serial rights in our print and digital editions, and the copyright then reverts to the author immediately upon publication.

Happy 2016: Time to Evaluate Our Goals

2016-01-02T16:56:00.002-05:00

Issue #18 January 2016

Evaluate Last Year’s Goals

If you remember last year’s January issue of The Prodigal Writer, you know that we need to constantly stay on top of our long-term goals by setting mid-term and short-term goals, then checking ourselves to make sure we’re staying on track. As you look at your goals from last year, mark down what you actually accomplished in one column. In the next column determine whether your goals were 1) unrealistic, 2) too difficult to achieve and in need of modification or 3) just right and worthwhile continuing.

Here are the goals I set last year and my evaluation of them. Notice that I’ve made notes about each of my goals before deciding on which goals to select for 2016.

	2015 Goals	Actual Accomplishment
Must Read Must See Books and Movies	6 blog entries	4 blog entries, updated keywords and title
Prodigal Writer	4 blog entries	4 blog entries, updated keywords and title
Contributors’ Corner Newsletter	12 newsletter	Only 4 entries – this was connected to my website, which was cancelled
	Submit 12 stories/essays	Submitted 5 stories; 12 stories was too many in light of the editing and writing for my novels
Icy Thoughts Book 2	Write 4,000 words per week on Book 2	Wrote 32,000 words, 4,000 words per weeks MIGHT have been feasible IF other life issues hadn’t come up
Find & Use Editing Service	Contact 2 editing service per month until finding the best match	Contacted 4 different editing services to find out it would cost $2000 to get my book edited-can’t afford
Have a new book cover created	Contact Arts Alliance to find a suitable illustrator	Tried to contact, but no response
Education	Complete another course in marketing	Took How to Sell a Truckload of books on Amazon, Book Launch Toolkit, read numerous articles on how to write a synopsis and how to write a letter to agents.
Apply the Launch Your Ebook principals to promote A Long Winter’s Night AFTER completing the goals for it below		NONE
Author Facebook Page	1 entry per week, either from the blogs, the website or something new	NONE Apparently this is an area of weakness which requires extra work…and study
Character Facebook Page	1 entry per week entered as a diary or journal	NONE – removed from Facebook due to awkwardness
Author LinkedIn Page	NONE	NONE Apparently this is an area of weakness which requires extra work…and study
Author Website	Maintain weekly updates on the author website via the blogs or new info on the home page	NONE – lost website due financial challenges
Write Synopsis		Read about and wrote synopsis
Compose Letter to Agents		Read about and wrote letter to agents
Contact Possible Agents		Wrote and sent letters to 3 agents

As you can see, I accomplished some goals, but not others. This is a natural part of the process and, if you’re seeing the same pattern in your own goal setting-accomplishment process…don’t give up. It takes stamina to reach for the stars and even NASA didn’t make it on the first attempt!

The next step, of course, is to set your goals for 2016 and break them into monthly goals to be accomplished. This is basically your “to do” list for this year. I like to enter these on my Google Calendar with alerts to keep me on track. If you have another tracking method, that’s fine. Just don’t let yourself fall too far behind or you could get discouraged about actually gaining recognition with your writing.

Goals for 2016	Monthly
Write 6 reviews for The Dystopian Reviewer	Read a book every other month, then review the review for publication: February, April, June, August, October, December
Write 4 blogs for The Goal-Focused Writer	Write blogs for publication: January, April, August, December (remember that the writing must be done the month before the publication date)
Develop and push Goal-Focused Writers’ group, writing 6 blogs, alternating months with The Goal-Focused Writer	Read a book every other month, then review the review for publication: February, April, June, August, October, December
Submit 6 stories/essays	Write/edit on new story every other month for publication: February, April, June, August, October, December
Write 90,000 words	Write 7,500
Create book cover myself for each of the four parts of LWN	Created cover for Part 1 in December; create covers for Part 2, 3 and 4 before one month trial of Photoshop ends
Continue reading and applying marketing information
Launch all four parts of LWN:	Part 1 in February Part 2 in April Part 3 in June Part 4 in August
Create and promote new author web page by February
Rewrite and improve synopsis
Rewrite and improve letter
Send out to 6 agents every two months

So let's look at some of the specific ways to accomplish our goals.

Change is Good

I taught English at a local technical school where the motto was “change is good.” It used to exacerbate me because not ALL change is good. Change is only good if it leads to improvement. After hours of reading and research, I decided changes needed to be made to improve my novel’s presence on Amazon. But more than that, I knew I had to make my blogs more accessible, too. Since this blog is focused on goals, I’ve renamed it to The Goal-Focused Writer. We’ll still discuss the steps we need to take as writers to achieve publication… and hopefully notoriety, but those steps can also be applied to accomplishing any goal.

Re-education

Among the steps to launching any new career path, whether it’s writing or engineering, re-education in the subject area is number one on the TO DO list. That may involve traditional college to improve your writing, but it also means a lot of research and reading on your own. Some of the reading needs to be novels by other authors who are writing in your genre. Reading successful writers has immediate rewards. As you analyze the piece for what works for you as a reader and what doesn’t, then apply this analysis to your own writing, you improve your work. My work as a reader for Gemini Magazine, as well as writing book reviews has increased my awareness of the subtle techniques that change a mediocre novel into a really good one. This is the easy part because it’s right up our proverbial alley.

Other times, though, we must read information which is out of our area of expertise, like how to create promotional material and setting up websites with the correct keywords and linking it to Google Analysis to make sure we’re getting the desired attention. We also have to learn about keywords or tags that word for attracting our desired audience. This type of reading takes time away from our beloved writing and, for we right-brained, creative types, it means working the left side of our brain. When I first began researching how to promote the novel I’d written, I went straight to the horse’s mouth, so to speak. In this case, it was the horses who are professional marketers. I don’t mind telling you, I felt like I’d been stampeded. However, unless you have the good fortune to snag an agent, get a publisher’s attention or have the money to hire a marketing team, it’s absolutely necessary. Accomplishing goals, like getting older, isn’t for sissies.

Luckily, we don’t need to rely solely on marketers for information. Other writers have paved the way for us with FREE easy-to-assimilate directions. One of those writers is Penny C. Sansevieri. Her book, How to Sell Your Book by the Truckload on Amazon, is a must read for any author self-publishing on Amazon. The language is clear and concise and there’s no technobabble to send us in a thousand directions at once. There is, however, a great deal of usable information. So keep your notepad and your TO DO list ready. I’m only halfway through the book and I’ve already learned a great deal about how to improve my keywords and ranking on Amazon. More importantly, I’ve gained the confidence I needed to release of the second, “new and improved,” version of my novel, A Long Winter’s Night. There’s a little more work to accomplish before the new book launch, but I’m well-armed with understanding now. When I finished reading her book, I changed the name of both my blogs. I already explained the change for this blog above. But I also changes my book reviewing blog, Must Read, Must See Novels and Movies, to a more focused title. The Dystopian Reviewer will include a new book review by January. The reviews will still focus on my favorite genre, but they will include other related books as well. Another excellent source of information is Kimberley Grabas’ (Your Writer Platform) and Joel Friedlander’s (The Book Designer) Book Launch Toolkit. While their book feels a little overwhelming, it still has many great suggestions. They offered on online workshop, which included a PDF of the book and a ton of worksheets to help you stay organized.

If at First You Don’t Succeed…

In last quarter’s issue, I told you how I struggled with writing the synopsis for A Long Winter’s Night so I could send it out to literary agents. I chose three agents and simultaneously sent the query letter and synopsis to them. Of the three, only one auto-responded to let me know they’d received the query and later they told me that we weren’t a good match. That’s fine. I read enough to know that this process takes time and, since I’m a rhinoceros (reread the January 2014, Issue 10, Do You Have Thick Skin to remind you what this means) I’m ready to take the hits and keep charging.

The next step is to re-visit my query letter and synopsis, edit them again, select another set of literary agents to submit them to, and continue working while I wait for a response. This is the heart of publication: not giving up, not surrendering to the self-doubt and self-pity that can accompany rejection. Keep moving forward!

Don’t forget to join us at the Contributors’ Corner for insights about writing and to receive feedback on your pre-published work. We’re all here to help one another grow as writers. Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Stay Focused, Be Accountable

2015-06-28T18:45:00.001-04:00

Issue #16 July 2015

Accountability

Last quarter I discussed the importance of monitoring and adjusting our activities according to their value in accomplishing our goals. Remember those goals must be SPECIFIC and MEASUREABLE. Well, ACCOUNTABILITY is another aspect of achieving goals. That’s one of the reasons being part of a writers’ group is so important. As working authors just starting out, we need to be accountable for our production to someone else. We will frequently let ourselves down, feeling like we’re the only one who knows. After all, family responsibilities come first. Right? You’re aging mother needs to have a shopping outing or needs help setting up for the neighborhood yard sale. Your niece’s baby is having his first birthday party out of town. All of these are truly more important than writing. Yet it’s what we do with the time in between these acts of loving kindness and the 8-hour job that can make the difference. How much time do we spent watching television when we could have been writing? Each of us CHOOSES how to spend our down time and, even accounting for those times we’re exhausted, there are still many hours of the day we waste on trivial activities when we should be reading good stories and writing them. That’s one of the reasons I write this blog. I am accountable to my readers. It makes me FOCUS on the goals I’ve achieved, as well as those I’ve missed.

With that in mind, I report my accomplishments and my lack thereof to you, as well as to myself. There are some goals I’ve achieved in this past quarter and some I haven’t. I write them down and add them up to help me focus on them and report them to you to keep me accountable. Here’s what I’ve accomplished since the April edition of Prodigal Writer:

NEW STORIES

No new stories written, but TWO STORIES SUBMITTED in April to The Three Penny Review and AE SciFi, plus I applied for a blogging position to this magazine.

NOVELS

Long Winters Night

Edit Chapters – I spent 42.5 hours in June editing and I’ve completed a thorough editing of this novel

Book Cover Drafts

Synopsis (as per editing)

Find Agent

Icy Deeds at Dawn

Write 2,000 words

Edit

MARKETING

Facebook Entries Weekly

Website (get-rebuild)

Research & Learning

Local Contacts Acquired

BLOGS

The Prodigal Writer (2,000) - Wrote the July issue and uploaded it

Writers Group (500)

Must Read (500-1000)

Read – reading Shift in the Silo Series by Hugh Howey in May and June

Write Review - wrote and submitted a review for Wool – Casting Off by Hugh Howey in June

As you can see, I’ve missed several of my goals over the last quarter, but I’ve also accomplished some large goals. My focus was on getting my rewrite and editing finished for A Long Winter’s Night. I’ve investigated several editorial services and learned that the cost for a professional editor is out of my price range for now. So for the upcoming quarter I’ll be focusing on 1) creating a better book cover, 2) launching the book, 3) writing the second novel in the series, Icy Deeds at Dawn, 4) searching for an agent and 5) getting my website rebuilt. Since my budget is limited, I will probably need to go a more traditional publishing route. I just need to get an agent’s attention with a proven track record. Since I am ACCOUNTABLE to you, as well as myself, I’ll report my progress in the next issue.

I’d love to hear from you, too. Tell me your writing goals and accomplishments so we can be ACCOUNTABLE to one another, keep each other motivated and celebrate each other’s successes. Speaking of which, I hope you accepted last quarter’s writing challenge and are ready to accept the next challenge below.

Writing Challenge #16: Dialogue Delight

I was looking over some of the upcoming writing contest and realized that one of the most interesting is the Bartleby Snopes Contest (listed below). It’s quite a challenge, so let’s take it on! I have only read a story composed entirely of dialogue once. I remember that you could only tell who the characters were by what they said. No “he said, she said” tags can come into play. It is a challenge to create characters, make the plot move and not confuse your reader all at once. Write you story and share it with the writers’ group via email to rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com. Let us help you edit it before the September 15^th deadline.

Venues for Writing

I haven’t gotten this list on Google Docs yet. I’ll let you know when I do.

Contests

BARTLEBY SNOPES CONTEST

From Funds for Writers June 12, 2015 Issue

Magazines

AE SCIFI

http://aescifi.ca/index.php/submissions

Genre: Science Fiction

Word Count: 500-3,000

Compensation: $0.07 per word

Deadline:

Special Instructions: E-mail submissions only; Subject Line: “INT Sub: ‘Story Title’ (word count, words); Cover Letter; Include your name, byline (if different); Brief Bio (50 words)

THE THREEPENNY REVIEW

http://www.threepennyreview.com/submissions.html

Genre:	Critical Article	Stories or Memoirs	Table Talk	Poetry
Word Count:	1,200-2,500	4,000 or less	1,000	100 lines or less
Compensation:	$400	$400	$200	$200
Deadline:	Open Reading January through June
NOTE:	No submissions are read or accepted between July and December. No simultaneous submissions. No previously published submissions. Submit ONLY one story or article or five poems. Responds within two months.

Since my website, www.skepticalreader.com, is still down, you can still receive feedback on your work from our writers’ group, Contributors’ Corner by submitting your story within the body of an email to rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com. Please accept my apology for any inconvenience this causes you.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Tweaking Your Goals

2015-03-31T14:34:00.001-04:00

Issue #15 April 2015

Monitoring & Adjusting Goals

Monitoring and adjusting activities according to their value are two aspects of goal-setting which are commonly overlooked. However these activities are necessary. Accomplishing goals is a lot like taking a long trip. GPS can only help us get there if we pay attention and don’t miss a turn. Goals are the same way. If we don’t pay attention to what we’re doing, how will we know if miss a turn? We can still reach our goals, but it will take a lot longer to get there. Just like a long trip must be monitored for highway changes as we go, long-term goals must be monitored in short-term activities which will take us to our final destination. We need to evaluate each month, each week what we’ve achieved and what we’ve failed to do. We also need to track the success of those activities, then we need to adjust those goals which require more/less time, remove unrealistic goals and add goals that are more likely to help us reach the point of writing profitably. This is particularly challenging for fiction writers, making monitoring all the more important.

In January, I shared my goals for 2015 with you. (They’re listed below for reference.) The goals I listed were a mixed batch of good and bad, given the time I had available for writing. If you’re also a member of Contributors’ Corner, you’ve already seen one set of tweaks to those goals. Now here’s another set of tweaks. As you can see, I’ve been monitoring my goals on a weekly basis, but they still need to be altered to maximize their effectiveness. Each goal must be something SPECIFIC and MEASUREABLE.

Goals 2015________________________________________________________________________

1. Write & Submit a New Short Story or Essay – I managed to submit a story in January, but not in February or March. This goal may be too much since I’m also editing my first novel and writing my second.

2. "Must Read-Must See" blog – I’ve managed to keep on top of this blog and wrote a review in both January and March. So this goal is a keeper because I have to maintain a web presence.

3. "Prodigal Writer" blog – I’ve also kept up with this blog because it’s as important to me as it is to readers who follow it. It keeps me on track and constantly thinking about how I use my time, what writing I’m actually submitting, etc.

4. "Contributors' Corner" to members – This newsletter is also a keeper for the same reasons as “Prodigal Writer”.

5. Author Facebook Entry – I’m still struggling with doing the Facebook entries. I know they’re important to maintaining a web presence, so I’ll keep this goal even though I haven’t accomplished the weekly entry goal. I also know that the entries you do make on Facebook should be relevant to your writing and set you up as an expert. So be selective when you make your own entries.

6. Character Facebook – I deleted both the character and novel Facebook page because I unpublished the novel on Amazon until I can edit it and get a new cover. So I’m removing the goal of weekly character entries.

7. Website Updates – Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep paying for my website at this time so this goal is null and void. Now the goal is to get back my website!

8. Write 4,000 words/week – I didn’t accomplish this goal at all in January, but I was really close in February. In March I was focusing on editing the first novel, so I didn’t write on the second one at all.

9. Find Agent/Editor – I spent several hours in January and February researching agents to whom I could send query letters. I’ve come up with four so far, but I need two more so I can send six query letters at a time. However I have to have the novel edit completely and a synopsis written.

10. Marketing Course – I haven’t taken any new marketing courses, but I am receiving a writing course from the Writers’ Village which includes some really good information.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

I’ve put writing new stories for publication as a top priority, even though it’s been a challenge, because I know it’s important for my writing portfolio. The next priority is getting that first novel ready for republication, hopefully using an agent this time. The next priority is finishing the second novel and editing it. Marketing is extremely important, but calling it that turns my brain to mush. As writers, we have to remember that marketing is really touching people with what we write. In order to alert them that we’re even here, we need a venue, like Facebook or LinkedIn, to let others see our writing. That makes what we write on these venues our first impression – the most important impression we can make.
___________________
April 2015
NEW STORIES
     Write 2,000 words
    Edit
NOVELS
Long Winters Night
     Edit Chapters
     Book Cover Drafts
     Synopsis (as per editing)
     Find Agent
Icy Deeds at Dawn
     Write 2,000 words
     Edit
MARKETING
     Facebook Entries Weekly
     Website (get-rebuild)
     Research & Learning
     Local Contacts Acquired
BLOGS
     The Prodigal Writer (2,000)
     Writers Group (500)
     Must Read (500-1000)
          Read
          Write Review
___________________

The blogs I write for both you and I. They keep me in practice and force me to keep focused. So, thank you all for being there to listen. I’d love to hear from you, too. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Responses to Writing Challenge #14: Opening Paragraphs

I n the January 2015 issue of The Prodigal Writer, I introduced a writing challenge directly from John Yeoman’s Wily Ways to Write. Mr. Yeoman is an instructor, editor and writer at the Writer’s Village, so I suggest checking out this information resource. Yeoman’s FREE eBook talks about the importance of getting your reader’s attention with “Three Dynamic Ways to Open Your Story.” His three suggestions are 1) drop a bomb, 2) introduce an emotional conflict quickly, and 3) enchant your reader. These three suggestions point to one issue: GET YOUR READERS’ ATTENTION! My challenge to you, was to write three DIFFERENT openings, one of each type, for a possible story you may want to write. Below are three openings I tried.

1) Drop a Bomb (168 words)

a. The body lay face down in the water, bouncing on the current as if he was body surfing wrong-side-down. Thomas stared, transfixed by the conservative tan suit clinging to the man’s back, then bubbling out in the water surrounded by brilliant red, yellow and orange leaves. This man belonged in the woods about as much as Thomas belonged in a bank. Yes, he knew the man. Had seen him alive and arrogant just a few hours ago as Thomas’ dad, Dan, argued with him in the kitchen. Thomas squatted on the bank of the creek, unsure exactly what to do. He may be only twelve, but he knew the cops would link Dad to this man’s death. He didn’t want Dad to go to jail, but tampering with a dead body could get him in trouble. The real question was what to do now. The sun was already casting long shadows as it retreated and Dad would be expecting him home by the time it was down.

2) Introduce Emotional Conflict Quickly (216 words)

a. “I’m home, Jake!” Sarah called while pushing the apartment door closed with her foot. She stumbled forward a few steps under the weight of three bags of groceries. She muttered, “Shit,” as she hit the corner of the kitchen cabinet. Sarah heard the closet door slide shut in the bedroom. “I’ll be glad when we can move out of this Cracker Jacks box,” she continued as she walked to the bedroom with a bottle of celebratory wine. Her promotion came through today. She’s be an editor at the Hems and Gems instead of an occasional writer. That meant a regular paycheck instead of getting paid by assignment. Jake was in the bathroom shaving and he smiled at her as she walked up the short hall. As she passed the bedroom door an aroma wafted toward her that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Another woman had made love to her husband and left within the hour. Sarah stopped in her tracks and dropped the bottle of wine. The stench of their loving-making caused her to crinkle her nose and draw her brows together. When she looked back at Jake, he was staring at her, razor poised three-inches from his lathed chin. She knew. She knew and he knew she knew.

3) Enchant Your Reader (263 words)

a. I stood in front of the classroom of street-wise teenagers as tears filled my eyes and flowed down my face. I wiped them away and said, “Anyway, I had to put Pal down because he attacked my little Beagle and locked down on his head.” I had rescued Pal too years ago when he showed up at my fence sniffing noses with Sadie and Sam. His brindle coat was stretched over too-thin of a chest but his black eyes didn’t fawn or plead for handouts. He just looked at me like he wasn’t sure how’d I respond to a Pit Bull looking for love. He’d found it, though, in Sadie and I. Not so much in Sam. Sam just accepted him in his gentle little Dr. Dog manner. As a Rottweiler-Boxer mix, Sadie was twice his size; however Pal was twice the size of Sam’s Beagle-Wirehaired Terrier mix. Plus two male dogs always seem to be territorial. “My dog just had puppies, Ms. Cohen,” said one of my students. “What did you say, Josh?” I asked still lost in my own mourning. “My Pit just had puppies. You can have one of them as soon as they’re weaned.” I just looked at Josh for a moment. He had been a difficult student to reach even in our Alternative School. Yet in this case, he felt my pain and new the answer to the problem: a replacement dog. Embarrassed by his show of sympathy to a teacher, Josh continued, “He’s just a mutt. A Rottweiler got to her when she was in heat.”

Writing Challenge #15: Expand on the Opening

Now that you have three opening paragraphs, let’s fill in the rest of the story. First of all, look over your three opening paragraphs and select on you like best. I liked my first paragraph best, so I’m going to use that one.

Next, you’ll want to look over the possibilities below for submitting your story and decide which venue you think you’re story fits in the best. I’m going to use the first paragraph for a story to submit to PULP FICTION’s The Hummingbird Prize for Flash Fiction, which has a 1,000 word limit. Using the plot graph available through Google Docs, I see that my grabber needs to be about 50 words, 100 for the introduction, 250 till the first plot point or conflict, 500 to the 2^nd conflict, 750 to the 3^rd conflict and 950 till the climax. That leaves 50 words to draw events to a resolution and close the story.

Now that you have a pretty good idea of how many words to use in each section, you need to do a rough Story Map, which is also available at Google Docs. I’ve started mine as an example and you can see, it’s not an exact science. You can see that right now, I’m not sure where I’ll go with this story. I have a few ideas, but they may change as I begin writing.

_____________________________________________________________________________

STORY IDEAS for 1,000 words

GRABBER 50 words – actual 50

The body lay face down in the water, bouncing on the current as if he was body surfing wrong-side-down. Thomas stared, transfixed by the conservative tan suit clinging to the man’s back, then bubbling out in the water surrounded by brilliant red, yellow and orange leaves.

INTRODUCTION 100 words – actual is 54

This man belonged in the woods about as much as Thomas belonged in a bank. Yes, he knew the man. Had seen him alive and arrogant just a few hours ago as Thomas’ dad, Dan, argued with him in the kitchen. Thomas squatted on the bank of the creek, unsure exactly what to do.

FIRST PLOT POINT 230 words – actual is 67 plus the 104 of the grabber and introduction, therefor needs 83 more words

He may be only twelve, but he knew the cops would link Dad to this man’s death. He didn’t want Dad to go to jail, but tampering with a dead body could get him in trouble. The real question was what to do now. The sun was already casting long shadows as it retreated and Dad would be expecting him home by the time it was down.

2ND CONFLICT 500 words

3RD CONFLICT 750 words

CLIMAX 950 words

RESOLUTION 50 words more to equal 1,000 words

_____________________________________________________________________________

Allow yourself that flexibility, too. Once you have an idea for a story, the only thing that’s sure is that you want to write a story. I’ve found that new ideas are generated once I’m actually knee-deep in the stories and have a better feel for the characters. You may find this to be true, too.

Venues for Writing

I’ve found several good writing contests and more magazines where you can submit your writing. I’m starting a spreadsheet so these opportunities to keep as publishing possibilities in the future. Plus, I’m going to put them on Google Docs so I can share them with our writers’ group.

Contests

Flash Prose Contest

Writer Advice

http://www.writeradvice.com/

Entry Fee: $15

Genre: Fiction, Memoir or Creative Non-fiction

Word Count: Up to 750

Deadline: April 21, 2015

Compensation: First Place earns $200; Second Place earns $100; Third Place earns $50;

Honorable Mentions will also be published.

Enlighten, dazzle, and delight us. Finalists receive responses from all judges.

2015 Emerging Writer’s Contest

Ploughshares

https://www.pshares.org/submit/emerging-writers-contest/guidelines

Entry Fee: $24 (includes subscription to Ploughshares)

Genre: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry

Word Count: 6,000 or less for prose, 3-5 pages for poetry

Deadline: March 1 to May 15, 2015

Compensation: $1,000 for each genre plus publication in the Winter 2015-16 Ploughshares.

This contest is open ONLY to people who have not published or self-published a book.

The Hummingbird Prize for Flash Fiction

PULP FICTION

http://pulpliterature.com/contests

Entry Fee: $10-$15

Genre: Short Fiction (unpublished only)

Word Count: Up to 1,000 words in length

Due Date: May 1 through June 15, 2015

Compensation: Winner published in Issue 9: Winter 2016

1-year digital subscription to Pulp Literature

First Prize: $300, Runner up: $75

Magazines

AE SCIFI

http://aescifi.ca/index.php/submissions

Genre: Science Fiction

Word Count: 500-3,000

Compensation: $0.07 per word

Deadline:

Special Instructions: E-mail submissions only; Subject Line: “INT Sub: ‘Story Title’ (word count, words); Cover Letter; Include your name, byline (if different); Brief Bio (50 words)

THE THREEPENNY REVIEW

http://www.threepennyreview.com/submissions.html

Genre:	Critical Article	Stories or Memoirs	Table Talk	Poetry
Word Count:	1,200-2,500	4,000 or less	1,000	100 lines or less
Compensation:	$400	$400	$200	$200
Deadline:	Open Reading January through June
NOTE:	No submissions are read or accepted between July and December. No simultaneous submissions. No previously published submissions. Submit ONLY one story or article or five poems. Responds within two months.

*********************

I am sorry to say that my website, www.skepticalreader.com, is currently down, but you and still receive feedback on your work from our writers’ group, Contributors’ Corner by submit your story within the body of an email to rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com. Please accept my apology for any inconvenience this causes you.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Writers Write!

2015-03-26T12:26:00.000-04:00

Issue #13 October 2014

Write First, Edit Second and Submit Third

Sometimes life feels like you’re running on solid ice in front of a high speed steamroller. Your legs are still moving, but your feet keep slipping near the flattening roller. I’ve certainly felt that way this year. I thought I was getting ahead of the steamroller in June when my mother gained momentum on her recuperation from the series of strokes she had in January and March. The strokes in June were a major set-back, not only for Mom, but for my writing and marketing. Zero sales on Amazon didn’t help my attitude. But we all know that family comes even before our writing career. What you may not realize is that having only a small amount of free time, is a lot like living in a small apartment. The smaller it is, the greater the need for organization. So, Debbie and I organized and coordinated our schedules AGAIN in order to work around Mom’s therapy, get her set up with a day program, see to her many needs and still have time for ourselves.

We thought we had a workable schedule so we could accomplish our own goals as well as manage Mom’s health. But Mom wasn’t ready for a day program and fought with us continually, insisting we were trying to “put her away.” Now she’s quit going to the day program for the two days we had scheduled and neither Debbie nor I have the time we need. Even my time at my son’s apartment has been fruitless. I’ve been so exhausted from the stress of Mom’s attitude that I’ve slept instead of writing. I’m trying to get back in the swing of writing and submitting again. Even during all this chaos I did manage to finish the Digital Marketing Lab: Launch Your Ebook in 14 Days, begin editing my first novel so I can do the “redistribution” after I launch the novel and write two new essays which I’ve submitted to two different venues. You see, you can squeeze writing and publishing into a limited number of hours. It just takes hard work and focused effort. Remember that, of those non-family things you might do in your spare time, writing comes first!

A year ago when I was trying to really focus on my goals, I wrote in my journal, “Writers write, writers write, writers write.” It has become my mantra and it helps me focus on those goals. Feel free to use it anytime you feel the steamroller at your heels. It’s amazing how much you can write if you organize your time to squirrel yourself away for a few hours, then focus on one project that your want to get published at a time. Make sure to do that with this quarter’s Writing Challenge below.

The second thing we have to focus on is editing our work. So after you’ve written it, submit it to our private online writers’ group, Contributors’ Corner, so you can get the feedback we all need. And by the way, I’d like to say thank you to Debbie, who gave me excellent suggestions for smoothing the essays I wrote. You know that we often don’t see the gaps in information in our writing because we know what we meant. It takes a fresh eye to point out those places so we can make the ties necessary for flowing essays and riveting stories. I’m fortunate to have a sister and a niece who are writers, too. However, if you don’t have someone close to read your work, you always have us, your cohorts at Contributors’ Corner. For $5 a month your get two ex-teachers and other professionals who read your work and offer you gentle suggestions for improvement. You can join us at the Members Only page on the Skeptical Reader.

Once you’ve written and edited your work, you must submit it somewhere for publication. Remember we are in this business to share our stories. That doesn’t happen if you’re stories are locked away on a flash drive or hidden on your book shelf. Pick one of Writing Challenges with a fee-free contest or a magazine without a reading fee, then take the plunge and submit it for publication. Don’t wait for a response, you’ll just make yourself crazy with expectation when you should be writing. Go back to step one and start again. Remember, writers write!

Marketing Your Writing

Okay, so you’ve written a good book, had fresh eyes help you with the editing and you’ve self-published it on Amazon or Book Baby or one of the other thousands of self-publishing possibilities. Now you have to get the attention of a wide audience via good marketing. However as writers, we struggle with the whole issue of how, where and when to market our work. Personally, I can vouch that the marketing brain cells are dead. I suspect that you feel the same way. And unless you have enough money to hire your own publicist, we have to engage in this activity at some point. Some of us are trying to learn the marketing field ourselves. Lord knows there are plenty of books and forums about marketing, but they don’t always help. In fact, they sometimes make things worse since you can feel like your brain is turning to mush as you struggle with these new concepts.

It’s always been my motto to get information directly from the horse’s mouth. In this case, it’s people who already know marketing and have a proven track record of success. I’ve found such a source in Direct Marketer guru, Ryan Deiss. He has the required success record and he teaches it to other people in person and on his website. We, whose creativity interferes with this specialized skill, need the help of people who already possess the ability to market. Marketing is not only a learned skill, it is creativity in a unique field. Ryan Deiss offers a series of Marketing Labs that can be informative. As I said above, I’ve finished one called Launch Your EBook in 14 Days. It’s going to require research and work, but the outline is there to guide you step-by-step. I’ll let you know how it works once I set up my launch. You let us know about the marketing techniques that work for you.

Building Your Portfolio

Portfolio, portsmolio! What the heck is a writing portfolio? Well, a big part of it is any piece you’ve had published. Published pieces give you credibility and build your audience, so add this information to your website. But what if you haven’t been published yet? What else do need for a writing portfolio?

First of all, you need a website. This is the place where people can see some of your work, including any blogs you’ve written. Remember to connect it to your Facebook and LinkedIn pages to let everyone know when you’ve updated it and when you’ve had something new published. Speaking of which…take the Writing Challenge below, write your story, submit it to Contributors’ Corner for evaluation, edit your piece and then submit it to a contest or magazine for publication. Sound redundant? It is. This is what we do and then we do it again over and over until we get results.

Writing Challenge #13: Write, Edit, Submit!

Select one or both of the publishing possibilities below and write, write, write! We are the place where the rubber meets the road, so use your drive to complete the challenge by the due date. We’ll read it and help you smooth out the wrinkles with our critiques before you submit it to the publisher.

Writing Deadline: October 22, 2014

Piece will be shared in the November Issue of Contributors’ Corner.

Join Contributors’ Corner at: www.skepticalreader.com
Submit Your Work: within the body of your email to
rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com

FLASH FICTION ONLINE
www.flashfictiononline.com
Word Count: 500 - 1,000
Payment: $50
Submissions Accepted Regularly
Reports in about two months.

Here’s a marvelous challenge that will keep your writing tight. Flash Fiction Online wants stories that have “strong, interesting characters, plots and (to some degree at least) settings,” all within the 1,000 word limit. It’s a terrific place to make use of the Plot Chart & Story Notes to stay focused on your story. All you have to do is change the total word count (highlight in yellow) for the story you're writing and all the numbers on both the Plot Chart and the Story Notes will be updated. Then fill in the notes for your story or essay and watch your word count at you type. For those of you interested in writing science fiction and fantasy, it’s also a prequalifying piece for membership in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. If that’s not your genre, don’t be discouraged. They accept other genres as well and they’re interested in holiday and event related stories. Make sure to read their Submission Guidelines page.

DEATH WHERE THE NIGHTS ARE LONG ANTHOLOGY

http://everywherenowpress.com/books/anthologies-about-our-experience-of-death/
Word Count: 2,500 – 5,000
Payment: $250 plus an undetermined “success fee”
Due: November 1, 2014

This is bound to be a fascinating anthology. Obviously the general topic is death, but there are several facets to the subject, including “experiences and images about what lies beyond our last breath.” Again, read the submission guidelines which opens up all kinds of possibilities for essays, memoirs, poetry and creative non-fiction.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Time to Evaluate Goals!

2015-01-04T12:04:00.000-05:00

Issue #14 January 2015

Just Setting the Goals Isn’t Enough

We often hear that time is the most precious commodity we have. Well, that’s doubly true for writers trying to earn a living with their craft. That’s you and me. If the genre you write is fiction, it’s even more challenging! So, those of us who write fiction must monitor our precious time and make it count toward completing our publishing goals. Since another New Year is upon us, it’s time for us to evaluate the goals we set for ourselves last year, account for how much of the goal was accomplished and set our goals for the coming year to be both challenging, accomplishable and focused on publishing. In an attempt to do just that, I went back to the goals I set in January 2014. They’re below in a table, but I do want to discuss a few things about them.

Goals Set, Accomplished & Reset
	2014 Goals Set	2014 Goals Accomplished	2015 Goals
Blog & Newsletter Goals
Must Read Must See Books and Movies	6 blog entries	5 blog entries	6 blog entries
Prodigal Writer	4 blog entries	4 blog entries	4 blog entries
Contributors’ Corner Newsletter	12 newsletters	10 newsletters	12 newsletter
Science Fiction: An Analytical Approach	6 blog entries	Cancelled this blog to focus on other writing; may turn this into short books to be distributed for .99.	0
New Blog about novel research	Begin & write regular entries	None	0
Write & Submit NEW Stories or Essays
	12 short stories	10 short stories (may have been more, but data lost off disk in April)	12 stories/essays
Novel Goals
Icy Thoughts Book 2	Finish novel by October, publish by December	Currently contains 20,971 words – about 17% of the end product	Write 4,000 words per week on Book 2
A Long Winter’s Night Sales Goals	75,000 distributed by November	365 books sold or given away free	Wishful thinking, NOT a goal
Find & Use Editing Service			Contact 2 editing service per month until finding the best match
Have a new book cover created			Contact Arts Alliance to find a suitable illustrator
Marketing Goals
Education	Continue learning & using marketing techniques	Completed Digital Marketing Course: How to Launch Your Ebook in 14 Days	Complete another course in marketing
Application	Use marketing funnel to promote novels	None – I really don’t understand this concept enough and don’t have the auto responders needed
			Apply the Launch Your Ebook principals to promote A Long Winter’s Night AFTER completing the goals for it below
Author Facebook Page	Build a following by writing regular entries	None	1 entry per week, either from the blogs, the website or something new
Character Facebook Page	Build a following by writing regular entries	None	1 entry per week entered as a diary or journal
Goals Accomplished, But Not Written
Author Website		Created author website linked to blogs and containing a PRIVATE members only page for other working authors	Maintain weekly updates on the author website via the blogs or new info on the home page

First of all, I was pleased to see that I reached at least some them. Not as many as I think I should have, but then, I’m pretty hard on myself. Maybe you are, too. Just remember that we do to push ourselves, but not to the point of breaking. We also want to celebrate our successes, too, even if they’re small ones. So when I looked over last year’s goals and accomplishments in the table below, I saw that of the 12 goals I set, I only accomplished four. That’s one-third of my own goals. I immediately asked myself why I didn’t accomplish more. I know it’s been a busy year, with many family health issues that consumed my time. But that’s life. There’s always something to distract us from our goals. The next thing I considered was whether the goals I set will really help me earn a living with my writing. So I took those goals, divided them into categories and tried to determine their importance to getting published. As you can see, I came up with four major categories: Blogs & Newsletters, Writing & Submitting NEW Short Stories and Goals for both my Novels and Marketing my novels.

I looked at the blogs and newsletters I had been writing and determined that SciFi Analysis was a useless tool to get me to my goal. Likewise, the new blog about researching my novel seemed a useless tool. Both of these goals were nixed for 2015. However, Must Read, Must See, Books and Movies has proven to be a useful tool to help me know what a reader is looking for in a novel and therefore how I should alter my own writing to make it more appealing to potential readers. Prodigal Writer and Contributors’ Corner are both essential to keeping me focused on my own writing goals. You see, as I try to motivate you and keep you focused, I’m also doing it for myself.

Next I looked at my writing goals for Writing & Submitting NEW Short Stories/Essays. I did submit 10 of the 12 stories from my goal. It may have been more than that, but I lost my “Writing Tracking” spreadsheet when my flash drive got erased in April. Writing & Submitting is an essential goal for getting your name out to the reading public, so it has to stay for 2015. Notice that that goals we’ve discussed so far are written with measurable outcomes. However, my Novel Goals for writing the next Icy Thoughts novel are NOT written with a detailed, measureable outcome…maybe that’s why I didn’t accomplish it. So, I broke the larger goal of “finishing the novel” into an easier to measure weekly goal. With this more focused goal, I could easily have any novel finished in six months. By July, I should have Book 2 completed, if I maintain the writing momentum. The goal of 75,000 Sales for A Long Winter’s Night, though focused on a specific number, was unreasonable. It was really more wishful thinking than a true goal. Any increase in sales will only result from better marketing practices, which takes us to the next set of goals.

The Marketing Goals were a bust! I only completed one of the goals. I finished the online course about launching an ebook and I plan on taking another course this year either through the Digital Marketer or through the Office Team website (since I’m still listed as an active member). Applying the marketing funnel was vague and unrealistic, considering that fact that I really didn’t understand how to apply it and I didn’t have the tools needed to use it. That goal will have to wait a while longer. The goal of using Facebook may end up being the best marketing tool, but I HAVE to actually write something on the pages in order for anyone to read them and become interested in my books. So I made the goal measureable: one entry on BOTH the author page and the main character’s page per week. With this specific goal, I will know immediately whether I am accomplishing it and whether Facebook is actually working to promote me as a writer. On the up side, I did get my author website set up even though I didn’t list it as a goal. I’m happy about that because my hits per month are actually growing!

Now that you’ve seen how I set my goals and analyze their effectiveness, I hope you have learned something you can apply to your own goal-setting efforts. I hope that 2015 is the year that you make a breakthrough in your writing goals. I also invite you to join us at Contributors’ Corner for help with your editing, encouragement with your writing and the challenges to keep you on task. Which reminds me, we have a new Writing Challenge for you!

Writing Challenge #14: Write, Edit, Submit!

Start your New Year out right by selecting one or both of the contests listed below. Write your piece, then submit to us by January 19^th so we can read it and help you smooth out the wrinkles before you submit it to the publisher.

Writing Deadline: January 19, 2015

Your piece will be shared in the February Issue of Contributors’ Corner, where we’ll help you polish your writing before you submit it. You’ll have your response prior to the contests deadline so you can make the changes you agree with.

PLAYBOY FICTION PRIZE

https://playboymagazine.submittable.com/submit

Fee: None

Genre: Fiction

Words: 5,000 or less

Pay: 1^st Prize $3,000, 2^nd Prize $300, 3^rd Prize $150

Due: February 13, 2015

To be published in the October 2015 issue of Playboy Magazine

WAGS REVUE 2015 WINTER CONTEST

www.wagsrevue.com/submit

Genre: Fiction, Essays, Poetry

Words: 10,000 or less for fiction & essays, 10 pages or less for poetry

Pay: 1^st Prize, $1,000, 2^nd Prize $500, 3^rd Prize $100

Due: February 28, 2015

Fee: $22

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Does Your Writing Snap, Crackle & Pop?

2014-04-02T22:09:00.000-04:00

Issue #11 April 2014

How Are Your Writing Goals?

Here it is the beginning of April and I’m already falling behind on my writing goals. This blog should have been completed at the beginning of March, but I’m not going to beat myself up. I have submitted two stories and some poems for publication, submitted my novel to two self-published contest and gotten one of my book reviews completed. So I’ve allowed myself the very real excuse of my mother’s return to the hospital, which required a lot of time, as a reason for falling behind. Remember, as writers, we are still people with real lives to live. Sometimes we just have to deal with it and move on. I hope you’ve learned this, too. Real life distractions don’t mean we give up on our goals. It just means we have to adjust our time frame and keep writing.

Marketing Your Writing

Building Your Portfolio

One of the things we all need as writers is a portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of works that have been published, received good reviews or won writing contest. Luckily, as I stated previously, I was able to submit my work during March even though I was very busy with other responsibilities. So that was good. The bad news is, I already know I didn’t make it passed the first round of the one of the contest. Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award Contest has several “rounds” which authors have to pass. During the first round the editors select the top 400 Entries from each Category to advance to the second round based on the Pitch. Judging is based on the criteria: originality of idea, overall strength of the Pitch, and the quality of writing. The first round contestants were listed on March 18th and I wasn’t on the list. Obviously I still have work to do on my Pitch. I managed not to cry…just pout for two days. Now I have to pick up my preverbal marbles and face the next round of challenges. This applies to you, too.

When you have stories inside you, you have to write. Those stories may come out today or tomorrow or a week from now and, if you keep working at it one day they’ll be chosen for publication or they’ll win a contest. Don’t give up! But do limit your periods of depression over rejection to a couple of days. It’s okay to be sad and disappointed. It’s not okay to give up completely. If I can do it, so can you!

Build Your Website

One of the things I’ve been able to do during March is to start building a better website. I wasn’t happy with the website I’d built through Weebly.com, so I moved back to Homestead.com. Though Weebly was free, it lacked some of the elements I needed and it wasn’t as easy for me to manipulate. I had used Homestead before and really liked the control the website had and the customer service that Homestead gave. So I returned Home to start from scratch. This time, I chose a more user-friendly name, The Skeptical Reader. Plus I have an additional domain name just for my new series of books: Icy Thoughts Trilogy. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

If you haven’t started building your website yet, think about what is important to you in your own writing. What readers are you trying to attract? What tone do you want to set? Your website should reflect who you are and what you are offering to other people. It always goes back to who is reading our work. Is your primary focus on the serious reader who wants “meat” or on the young reader who just wants to enjoy feeling empowered? Make your website a reflection of your style. Dark and moody? Light and colorful? There are a lot of places offering free websites, but do they give you what you need? Try them out. Test the waters. Play with ideas to see if you like them. That’s really what all of us have to do.

Read Quality Fiction to Become a Quality Writer

I was thrilled to have been accepted as an intern at Gemini Magazine in January! Since then I have enjoyed reading the submissions and I’ve already learned a lot about what it takes to catch audience attention, keep them reading and have them feel satisfied at the end. I know I have much more to learn. I’d like to thank David Bright, editor/publisher, for this opportunity to learn and grow as an editor and a writer.

When David Bright sent me the first batch of stories to screen for Gemini Magazine, I asked him if there was anything special I should be looking for. As a teacher, I was used to working with rubrics to evaluate writing on standardized test. But David wasn’t looking for the standardly formatted fiction or essay. He wanted something special. He wanted those pieces that stood out from other stories. It might be unforgettable characters, interesting wording, or themes that touched me. He said to watch for stories that lingered in my mind a day or two after I read them. So I read the pieces with this ethereal guidance in mind and I’ve been touched by the stories of several excellent writers.

One of the things I’ve learned from these other writers is that it’s not enough to simply put your ideas into words in an orderly fashion. It’s the way we allow our passion for the subject to come across through choosing those words and weaving them tightly into a compact form that reveals relevant incidents from the past with the story plot while also using them to foreshadow future events. The story must move quickly and smoothly without the arrhythmic heartbeat that can lose the readers’ attention. This is the essence of great writing. This is the snap, crackle and pop of memorable fiction which I hope to emulate in my own work. I hope you’ll join me in this endeavor.

Write in the Rice Crispies Method

What is the Rice Crispies Method, you ask? Well, I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve found my own writing style is quite different when I sit with a pen in hand rather than composing at the computer. With the pen, the words flow unchecked by the review tools in Word documents. I think I get distracted by the green and red squiggly underlines that make me stop and check my spelling and punctuation as I’m composing at the computer. However when I just write, letting the words flow from my heart to the paper through the pen, without worrying about the mechanics of language, my writing has passion. The combinations of words and phrases are more compelling than when I compose at the computer. If you mind goes blank about how to spell something, put a question mark above it and keep writing. That is exactly the kind of snap, crackle and pop which we do in the stream-of-consciousness flow of free writing. So don’t put your pen and paper away in the bottom drawer of your desk. Keep them handy and write the old fashioned way once in a while. Then take those words so freely written and type them into your computer, compressing and correcting them as you go. You may just surprise yourself with hidden ideas and thoughts that are only revealed through free writing.

Writing Challenge #11: Snap Those Words, Crackle That Character, Pop in the Readers’ Mind

30-minute Free Write

Grab your pen and paper, find a quiet place to sit, and concentrate on one incident to write about. Take a few moments to think about the incident. It may be a specific scene in your story or one from real life. It may the past, present or future. It really doesn’t matter. Just concentrate on that moment. Think about what incidents occurred, what smells intruded? What sights and sounds? Was there laughter or tears and angry shouts? Put yourself into this moment and feel it completely.

Now start writing about what happened, who it happened to, why it happened. Names are not important at this point. They are only a marker for who said what. Spelling and punctuation aren’t important either. They’ll be corrected later on. Just write for at least 30 minutes without stopping. You may write for a longer period of time once you get started. That’s okay. Just let it flow.

Then stop and put the piece away for a day or two.

Type and Correct Your Story

After you’ve waited a couple of days, pull out your free writing exercise. During those last couple of days your subconscious has been working on the piece while you were doing your daily chores. My Creative Writing professor in college called her subconscious writer “Fred”. Your “Fred” or “Freda” will come to the surface as you type the piece into the computer, making corrections, adding or changing names, maybe even adding a little more information. Condense the work as you go. Are there too many adverbs? Remove them. Would you like to replace a word? Use your Thesaurus for alternatives.

Next, Join us at Contributors’ Corner and Submit Your Work

We’ll talk about the possibilities for working your piece into a larger one and discuss the publication possibilities. Plus members will be given an additional writing challenge.

Remember, we are in this field to get published so our whispers can be heard.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Do You Have a Thick Skin?

2014-01-01T14:09:00.003-05:00

Issue #10: January 2014

New Year, New Goals to Tackle

Welcome back, fellow authors! Since it’s the New Year, let’s recap last year’s accomplishments and set our goals for 2014. Remember, we are accountable for our own productivity, or lack thereof, not to a boss or a publisher who sets deadlines, but to ourselves. As independent writers, we set the goals, the pacing and evaluate the outcomes. It may be the most difficult part of our “jobs”. Today I’m sharing my goals and evaluations with you, but I hope you’ll do this for yourself as well.

2013 Accomplishments

· 20 Blogs Posted

· 6 Stories Submitted

· First Novel: finished & published as eBook on Amazon Kindle & Paperback on Create Space – 4 eBooks sold, 311 distributed free and 27 in the UK as a marketing technique, 1 paperback sold

· Character Facebook Page created

· Novel Facebook Page created

· Began learning marketing techniques

· Built Author Platform (Author Facebook Page created, Author Website built)

2014 Goals

· Post 29 New Blog Entries (6 blog entries for Must Read, 6 blog entries for SciFi Analysis, 4 blog entries for Prodigal Writer, 12 newsletters for Contributors’ Corner)

· Write & Submit 12 NEW short stories, plus find new possible publishers for existing stories

· Build a following for Author Facebook

· Create a blog about novel research

· Sell total of 75,000 novels by Nov.

· Finish novel sequel by Oct & publish

· Make regular entries on Character Facebook Page

· Use marketing funnel to promote novels

· Continue learning & using marketing techniques

NOTE:

A guest blogger on Funds for Writers (sorry I don’t remember her name), said she set a limit of 200 story submissions before she’d give up. I’m currently at 35 submissions, so I need to continue submitting regardless of outcomes!

I was surprised and dismayed by the number of submissions I made last year. It really should have been more. I’m also dismayed that all of them were rejected by the publishers. But remember, rejection is part of the process. I hope you’re receiving Hope Clark’s newsletter, Funds for Writers, because she included a quote from Thomas Edison in the December 13th issue:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

I’ve found 35 ways that don’t work, which means I’m going to have to work harder to catch up to Edison or Hope guest blogger! This is an excellent reminder for ALL of us that success is about perseverance and perseverance is about taking the hits of “failure” in a different light. Edison obviously had tough enough skin to take those hits and realize he was learning from them. Like others, I’ve had to take a few hits, too, but they’ve given me a tougher skin.

One of those hits was going through a divorce in 1982. During that time I attended “Success Seekers” meeting with AMWAY and learned that other successful people have developed technics to take the hits of failure and keep going. We read a wonderful little book by Scott Alexander called Rhinoceros Success. It is as easy-to-read book as a child’s book, so I ended up reading it to my five-year-old, Chris. This inconspicuous little book is packed with humorous instructions about how to become a successful rhinoceros. It helped me toughen my skin and grow a thicker hide in order to survive the chaos of living through both the divorce and the extreme life changes which followed it. Scot Alexander suggests creating a postcard for your bathroom mirror and reading it every day as an affirmation:

“I am a rhinoceros! I have a damn-the-torpedoes spirit and I can’t wait to get up in the morning to start charging!”

Writers need tough skin, too. We must face the many torpedoes of rejection letters during “the process” of getting published. I hope you’ll join me this year in gaining 600 pounds, developing thicker skin and learning the joy of charging. And since you’re charging, make sure to join our writers’ group and charge after publication. GO, RHINOS!

Need Practice Taking the Torpedoes?
Good news, fellow authors: Contributors’ Corner is now easier than ever to join! Just go to Rhodes FitzWilliam and fill out the form on the home page. Remember, ONLY active writers can join this writers’ group or receive the newsletters. Once you’ve joined, you can submit your stories to us for review BEFORE you submit them to a publisher. We’ll help you tweak your stories and toughen you skin for facing the rejection letters. Just get used to it, because we all take those hits before we get published. Those are the writers’ dues and it can hurt unless you’re ready for it. We can help you over that hurdle. We are a group of writers with one purpose: to help one another improve their writing and get published.

What’s a Writer’s Platform?

Here’s a question for the new age of writing. The 21^st century writer must not only create a good story, she or he must know how to market themselves. To that end, the concept of a writer’s platform has played an integral part of the publication process. From the articles I’ve read, it doesn’t seem to matter if you self-publish or go the traditional route with an agent and publisher. It seems the first question on an agent or publisher’s lips is, “Have you established your writer’s platform?” To which the mouth falls open and the eyes round into saucers and we ask, “What am I paying you for?” whether we actually say it aloud or not.

Ah, the dilemma of the 21^st century, emblazoned as the Age of Technology, has changed life for writers! Marhsall McLuhan said,

As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of ‘do it yourself.’

Since McLuhan was the Canadian philosopher of the communication theory who predicted the worldwide web 30 years before its existence, he might be on to something here. Writers now have to be their own do-it-yourself PR agents. We must create our own writer’s platform and learn how to attract our specific audience. This isn’t easy for most writers, our creative nature seems to make us feel somehow violated by the need to prostitute ourselves for money. But that’s part of the game as well. We’re freelance whores, friends, and we need to stake our claim to a street-corner and market our wares, ergo, the writer’s platform.

Now I’ll make a prediction about technology, too, that seems to already be playing out: As technological advances create further physical distance between people via e-connections, computers and cells phone, people will need to make those intimate connections electonically. And, friends and authors, that’s why Kimberley Grabas writes:

Actually, the most important aspect to building an author platform is understanding that it’s about engagement; about connecting and interacting with people who are aligned with your message and affected by your story.

Your Writer Platform

You are going to want to add her website, Your Writer Platform, to your favorites and reference it frequently. I’m a firm believer in going directly to the horse’s mouth, aka, those people who know what they’re doing and can offer construction advice. Kimberley is an author who has already tread the path of building a platform and she’s willing to share what she’s learned. One of the things she says she’s learned is:

“Don’t hoard creativity; sharing increases both its flow and value.” So true, so true! That’s way we join writers’ groups!

So basically the writer’s platform is you, your passion for what you write about and how you connect with whoever is likely reading your work. Yes, we have tools we use, like Facebook and Twitter, but it’s how we use them that will make the difference. Do we respond to readers’ comments and connect with them as people? We do if we want to attract readership. We are not part of the super-famous and infamous. We are the hidden face behind the words and a lot of people want to know who that is. It is the person we are, the beliefs we have and the ability to be real people who are accessible that will create readership.

Speaking of readers, you have to have something for them to read. So, let’s jump into the writing challenges for this quarter and remember, you must Join Our Writing Group to participate in having your work reviewed and reviewing works by other writers.

Writing Challenge #10:
Toughen That Skin by Submitting!
Write story in which you set your character in a moral dilemma. Maybe they’ve been raised to believe in pro-life and have to make a decision of whether to keep an unplanned child or not. Maybe there faced with the question of “pulling the plug” on a loved one. Or perhaps they’ve done something that goes against their beliefs (had an affair, killed someone, etc.). The process of making the decision or adjusting to their new-found situation is what we want to see in this story. How are you going to get your character from point A, “good” person, through point B’s moral dilemma, and the point C of resolution. Remember if you’re writing for a specific magazine or contest to get your word count through the conflicts, climax and resolution in mind as you write. You can use the tools below to you stay on track.

Plot Graph & Story Map in Excel

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Pitcher Full of Lemonade

2013-09-24T12:35:00.001-04:00

Issue #9 October 2013

Pitcher Full of Lemonade

We’ve all heard the quote, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” and we all know how challenging that can be! Since the last issue of Prodigal’s Daughter, which is now The Prodigal Writer, I’ve received some humongous, over-ripened, curl-your-mouth-inside-out lemons. So I’m trying to turn those lemons into lemonade. I’ve taken an unexpected unemployment, mixed it with too much time on my hands and sweetened it with a lot of writing. I completed several pieces and submitted them for publication in the last two months. How about you? Have you found a way to work your writing into the limited hours left after your nine-to-fiver? I hope so. It’s what gives each of us hope for something better tomorrow, or the day after, or the month after that, or the year after that. Maybe publication! But publication requires patience, so be productive, but also be tenacious!

I just completed a story I’m submitting to Glimmer Train’s Standard Submissions called The Battle of Straight Lines. It’s about 7,500 words long and it’s a story about Basic Training. I won’t know for sure if it’s accepted until December 31^st. Check out Glimmer Train online at http://www.glimmertrain.com/ishig.html. They have regular writing contest you can for a fee, but they also have Standard Submissions in January, May and September which is free. The rewards are well worth the effort.

Last month I wrote a 1,000 word piece for Gemini Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest (I won’t hear back from them until October) and A Love of Life: A Dog’s Story, a 2,000 word essay for Wag’s Revue’s Summer Writing Contest. Gemini Magazine has regular contests for short stories, flash fiction and poetry. Their entry fee is very reasonable and the work they publish is really good. You should check them out too at http://gemini-magazine.com/. I love the stories in Wag’s Revue (http://www.wagsrevue.com/)! They have contests for essays, short stories and poetry. It’s another excellent venue for writers.

I posted a new blog to Must Read, Must See Books and Movie about the Rapture Trilogy by Phillip W. Simpson, (www.mustreadmustsee.blogspot.com) and, oh, and by the way, I also finished my novel, A Long Winter’s Night. Watch for it in November at Amazon. I still have to write that difficult synopsis and start researching agents. All in all, a productive, if non-financially rewarding month. But that’s the way it is with writing: you work your butt off to produce a decent piece, but you have to wait a month or more before you know if it’s going to get published. Then you have to wait until it’s published to get paid. Now, on to business.

The Prodigal’s Daughter, Now a Blog

I decided that Prodigal’s Daughter should now be a blog which will make previous versions more accessible. I’ve had to rename it to Prodigal Writer because my original name was already taken. It will still be a quarterly newsletter available to the public and it will still be linked to my FaceBook page, so join us there, too. The Prodigal Writer will still contain suggestions for improving your writing and getting published, as well as the Writing Challenges to stimulate your imagination.

Changes in PD Contributors’ Corner

The Change: Limited Access

I’m changing the distribution policy for Contributors’ Corner. Now you will only receive the Contributors’ Corner portion of The Prodigal’s Writer IF you have joined us an active writer and request to be included for editing and comments. If you want to JOIN our online writing group, select “Join Contributors’ Corner” on the right. Members will be encouraged to contribute their writing for review and evaluation by other members of the group, plus they will be expected to add their opinion about other writers’ work via responding email. Comments will be included in the next Contributors’ Corner newsletter along with the piece being evaluated. Contributors’ Corner will be a monthly newsletter for active writers ONLY and will include your submitted pieces. If you’re still working up the nerve to face the publication lion, that’s okay. We’re here to help you tame the beast and grow as a writer. Having others evaluate your work is an excellent step to getting brave enough to submit work for publication. Rejection is tough and part of the business, so start with people who care enough to be gentle.

Contributor’s Corner will no longer be available online at Facebook or any other venue. If you don’t join, you won’t be included in any future emails.

Why?

We want to protect our working writers and help them get published. Since most publishers want fresh pieces that have not been “published” in print or electronic format, only active members of this writers’ group will have access to anything written by its members. So let’s talk about the craft of writing.

Focus Your Stories

Writer’s Digest often has really good advice from authors who have already transversed the mine fields of writing. I strongly suggest you sign up for their newsletters. That’s how I came across “The Story Idea Map”. It was part of a free download from the book Novel in 30 Days. I’m not so sure I can complete my next novel in 30 days, but the “Story Map” helped me stay focused for the last two stories I wrote. I used the map in conjunction with my own “Plot Graph” to keep me on track as I wrote. Below are examples of the “Story Map” and “Plot Graph” I used to write The Battle of Straight Lines.

Story Map & Plot Graph Examples

Notice that the Plot Graph is already set up to estimate the word count for each spike in your story. This is a handy tool to make sure the timing of the conflict will keep your readers’ attention. If you’re a Member of Contributors’ Corner, I’ll email you the Excel spreadsheet that you can alter and use as needed. If you haven’t tried composing at the computer, try it now. It makes keeping track of your work count 100 times easier because it keeps a running total at the bottom of the screen. This will help you condense your writing and eliminate unnecessary phrases.

Next fill in the main points that should be covered within each step of the story. If you know you only have 350 words to write something that will grab the reader’s attention, put that on your story map and watch your writing as you go. Get used to questioning yourself. Would I continue reading a story with this beginning? Or would I pass it over? When you know your introduction can only last for those first 700 words, you know to make those words count. The same is true for the First Plot Point. Don’t take my word for it!

“First Plot Point needs to happen at about the 20^th to 25^th percentile of the story.”

From

“The Most Important Moment in Your Story”

A guest blog by Larry Brooks

Posted by Stephanie Shackelford

Published in Craft

Try this technique as you write your next story. Writing Challenge 9 is below. Remember you must Join Our Writing Group to participate and to see works by other writers.

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Rhodes Fitzwilliam

Writing Challenge #9: Spring into Action!

Any work we submit now probably won’t get published until Spring 2014. So for this writing challenge, I want you to pick any topic, setting, plot you wish, as long of you link it to what spring means to you. You are NOT to write specially about the spring season or even allowed to use the word in your stories or essays. I want the way you write, the feel of the words as they grow off the page, to provide the SENSE of spring without ever saying it.

Here are two possible venues for submitting your work:

1. Wag’s Revenue (http://wagsrevue.com/submit) is in the midst of their Standard Submission, which is September, October and November. The compensation is $100 for interviews, poetry, essays or short fiction. Word limit is usually 2,000,

2. American Short Fiction (http://americanshortfiction.org/submityourwork/) accepts regular submissions year round, plus runs writing contests. Submissions for the online magazine are limited to 2,000; however submissions to their triannual print magazine may be longer.

3. Contributor’s Corner is own our writing group. We do not publish or pay for the stories, but we do edit and critique your piece to help you grow as a writer. You MUST be a member to participate. Send your stories to us by October 25^th for critiquing. Remember to put "Writing Challenge #9" in the subject box.

Definitely read some of the other stories in both Wag’s Revue and American Short Fiction. Each magazine tends to have its own preferred style of story for their audience. Remember, we are selling to a specific audience. Don’t forget them as you write.

Endings That Cheat

2013-09-24T11:42:00.002-04:00

Issue 8: July 2013

Endings That Cheat Lose Readers

Have you ever read a book that you enjoyed until you reached the end, and then you felt cheated? In the April issue of The Prodigal’s Daughter, I recommended the book TheHost by Stephenie Meyer. This young adult novel offers an intensified view of inner conflict, through the story of a violent human host, Melanie Stryder, struggling to reassert her will over an invading alien named Wanderer. This conflict paints humans as violent creatures whose anger overrules reason, while at the same time depicting the body-snatching aliens, called “souls”, as benevolent creatures who “improve” the worlds they invade. While we fierce humans can see part of the truth in that scenario, it can also be offensive. Luckily, Meyer balances the negativity by having humans learn to “use their words” instead of their fists and by having aliens learning to love humans. By the time we near the end of the story, Melanie and Wanderer actually become friends. Wanderer feels guilty for hijacking Melanie’s body, so she decides to vacate the premises. After this, the plot leaves the reader feeling cheated.

I know this novel is written for young adults, but teenagers aren’t stupid and, in today’s society, they aren’t naive either. The plot is set up from the beginning as a win-lose situation from the body-snatching aliens versus alien-killing humans to the two men, Jared and Kyle, in love with different women in one body, Melanie’s body. We expect someone to lose and someone to win. We expect someone to be noble and, since “the souls” are the epitome of nobility, we expect it to be them. We also expect either Jared or Kyle to walk away with a broken heart because none of us can have our cake and eat it too. But that’s not the way the story ends and we are left feeling cheated. Cheated from our victory; cheated from our noble self-sacrifice, and cheated from our no-pain, no-gain reality. Now it’s going to be difficult for me to pick up another Stephanie Meyer book.

Since this is not a book review and I’m only talking to a handful of venturing authors, I’ll tell you the ending. Jared, Kyle and others in the friend-of-Wanderer club find her a new body, one that isn’t inhabited by another alien or by a human with long-term residency. No, they find her a beautiful, flawless young thing that is somewhere between fairy princess and Christmas tree angel. A body that almost makes Kyle a pedophile and, in one fell swoop, allows everyone to have the happy ending of their dreams. And that’s just what it is….a dream! Meyer turns a good story with a lot of potential for drama and moral lessons into a story with happily ever after more suitable to grade-school children.

Yes, I’m a disappointed reader, but as authors we should also learn from this writing mistake. Love hurts. Life sucks. At times we win; at times we lose. And an ending that cheats closes the door on readership.

Writing Challenge # 8 Write Your Little Hearts Out

Have I been remiss in challenging you to write? Let me remedy that now! Our goal as writers is to get PAID to have our work published. Whether that means submitting to a contest or a paying publisher doesn’t matter. You have to write, improving your work as you go along, and SUBMIT work someplace. Yes, this means chancing rejection. It’s a difficult blow to take, but if you don’t risk it, you’ll never gain the rewards. As I said above in “Endings That Cheat”, we live in a no pain-no gain society. So get ready to toughen your skin and go for the gains.

Though I’ve been reading at lot and publishing my own work via blogging book reviews and working on my novel, I have also been lazy these past few months about actually submitting my for pay of any kind. That’s about to change because I, too, want the financial gain that publishing can bring. So let’s be specific about that gain. How does $1, 250 for 5,000 words sound? Is that enough to challenge all of us to write and submit a short story? That’s what Tor.com is offering for speculative fiction. They pay 25 cents per word up to 5,000; then they pay 15 cents per word up to 12,000 words. I don’t know about you, but I could put an extra thousand or so dollars to good use. So I challenge you to write a speculative fiction AND SUBMIT it to Tor.com. Their submission guidelines can be found at: http://www.tor.com/page/submissions-guidelines. And don’t cheat your reader with cheesy endings!

Remember, we’re not competing against one another. We’re competing with every well-written, frequently-published author who has ever made an appearance on Tor Magazine’s website. We can work together, helping each other with honest, constructive criticism of each other’s stories. Remember these are stories that ONLY those who submit to PD Contributors’ Corner will ever read. These stories won’t be published on the Rhodes FitzWilliam FaceBook Page and no one will see them unless they are part of this writers’ group. For this challenge we’re saving ourselves for Tor. So if you don’t submit, you won’t get the critique and you won’t be able to comment on other authors’ works. This is for active writers only. Here’s a reminder of our sharing guideline and our deadlines for drafts and comments.

Sharing Guidelines:

Copy/paste your story into the body of your email with “Writing Challenge 8” in the subject box and send it to:

1^st Draft Due Date: July 26, 2013

To be shared in August Issue of PD Contributors’ Corner. Once I’ve sent out PD Contributors Corner to our writers’ group, each of you should read and make comments/suggestions in an email back to me. These comments will be included with the draft to which they pertain in the next edition of PD Contributors’ Copy.

Comments Due Date: August 23^rd

To be distributed in September.

Final Draft Due Date: September 20^th

To be shared with the group in October. These final drafts should be edited by each author and ready for submission to Tor Magazine. We’ll anxiously wait to see if Tor publishes any of our manuscripts. Be sure to let me know if you get accepted!

By Tor’s own admission, they are slow to respond, so we’ll have to be patient. That means, we’ll occupy our time with Writing Challenge #9 in the November Issue of The Prodigal’s Daughter!

Comment Guidelines:

Remember that the goal of a writers’ group is to help each other improve our writing skills, so focus your comments on what works in the story and what doesn’t. As writers we might know the story we want to tell, but that may not reach our readers.

· Let the author know what you liked about the story. Did you like the idea? The characters? Did anything touch your heart about the story? Did you laugh, cry or were you unaffected?

· Tell the author about any places in the story that “tripped” you up as a reader. Is more information needed? Is the wording funny or difficult? Does the story make any point?

· Do NOT make derogatory comments about the author or his/her intelligence or skill level. Comments that are excessively negative or simply mean spirited WILL GET YOU BUMPED OFF THE NEWSLETTER mailing list.

Make It Immediate & Present

2013-09-24T11:31:00.000-04:00

Issue 7: April 2013

Make It Immediate & Present

In today’s fast-paced, cybernized, Twitter-it-now world, it can be difficult to get a reader’s attention and keep it. We are all so dazed by the multiple e-mails, instant messaging, newsletters and podcasts that there is little time for the new kid on the net, especially if the new kid doesn’t capture the reader’s attention. So the two challenges we face as writers are) 1 getting the reader’s attention in between those multiple light speed communications and 2) keeping their attention once we have it.

The first issue of getting attention is in a category of its own: marketing. We writers tend to be weak in that area, but we can all improve as we go along. We can definitely improve the second issue of keeping attention by doing what we do best: work on our writing technique. One of the techniques I’ve noticed in popular fiction is the use of present tense. “Andy runs through the dense jungle” as opposed to “Andy ran through the dense jungle.” Present tense has the advantage of placing the characters and action in the here and now. It gives readers the feeling immediacy that encourages their attention. It also reduces your word count, especially if you’ve been using past perfect. That last sentence is a perfect example. “If you use past perfect,” instead of “If you have been using past perfect.” Bam! Three words are reduced to one!

In the last issue of The Prodigal’s Daughter I talked about The Hunger Games and character. Well, The Hunger Games is an example of a novel written in present tense. I enjoyed the book so much I decided to use present tense in my novel-in-process, A Long Winter’s Night. I edited the entire manuscript, changing past and past perfect tenses to present tense and guess what… I cut about 200 words out of each chapter and tightened the writing at the same time. However, I didn’t change the flashback scenes to present tense. I left them in past tense to help the reader know that these events happened before my opening page.

I’m currently reading The Host The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer. She uses this technique in reverse. The sequences written from “the souls” point of view are in past tense, while the scenes written from “the hosts” point of view are in the present tense, even though they occur prior to the soul taking over the host. The beauty of this reversal is that it makes the hosts seem more immediate, more important, more prescient than the souls. Kudos to Stephenie Meyer for applying the tense-shifting technique to focus on her heroine! Though I’m only on Chapter 5, I recommend you read this interesting twist on Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Writing Challenge #7: Swim Little Fishes, Swim!

So did any of you take the plunge into the deep end and submit a story for publication? Remember, sink or swim, accepted or rejected, that’s why we write. You can’t earn the cash unless to take that risk. I’ll admit it…I haven’t submitted anything since January 2013. I could get on a guilt trip about it, but that won’t change anything. So if you, like me, didn’t accept last issue’s challenge, there’s always today. In the every present hope’s of reaching our writing goals, here’s another challenge. Come on little fishes and swim with me! The sharks may be big and scary, but even little piranha have teeth!

Building Character & Plot

2013-09-24T11:23:00.002-04:00

Issue 6 January 2013

Building Character & Plot

We are continuing our discussion on character and plot in this edition. As we all know, if readers don’t care about the character, they aren’t likely to read the story. Conversely, the readers may care about the character, but if nothing happens, we’ve still lost them. There is a delicate balance that we need to maintain between character and plot. I like the way Larry Brook put it:

“When what the hero believes is her reality experiences a sudden shift. Suddenly there’s a new deal on the table that sends your hero down an altered, unexpected path…. The more invested the reader is in the characters… the more the stakes of the story have been made relevant to those characters…”

From The Most Important Moment in YourStory

– a guest blog by Larry Brooks

Posted by Stephanie Shackelford on

“Routines for Writers” Published in Craft

Brooks says this shift in the character’s experience should occur with the first 20-25% of the story. He calls it the First Plot Point and the point in the story where we need to captivate our audience. So while we’re concentrating on endearing our character to the reader, we must also think about what situation will occur to cause this shift.

As an example, I’ll use Katniss, a very popular character from the best-selling novel by Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Katniss’ most endearing traits are that she is strong, yet self-effacing, and she loves her family. Katniss’ shift in reality comes when her younger sister, Prim, is chosen from the lottery of tributes to participate in the fatal Games and suddenly Katniss is compelled to volunteer in order to save her sister.

Now writers can’t just come out and say the character loves their family if they want the audience to truly understand that character. The readers have to SEE these characteristics in action, through the character’s movements, the choices he or she makes and his or her reactions to others. Let’s take a look at Katniss through the actions that define her.

Collins SHOWS us that Katniss loves her family in several ways. It’s not just in the way Katniss volunteers for the Games in order to save Prim’s life. It’s the way she pushes through the difficulties of losing her father, and essentially her mother, when she is twelve. Katniss could have become bitter towards her mother, who sinks into an immobilizing depression. She could have just shared the food with Prim and refused to give any of the scant supplies to her mother. But she didn’t. Katniss scavenges for food in garbage cans, at the edge of the forest, and eventually learns to hunt to keep her whole family alive. It’s the way Katniss buys food for her family by adding her name extra times into the Games lottery, increasing her chances of being called to fight and die for others’ entertainment. The reader respects Katniss’ choices and understands her shock when Prim is selected as a tribute her very first year of being entered into the lottery for the Games. The odds for Katniss becoming a tribute are huge, while the odds are against Prim being selected.

From the moment that Prim is picked from the lottery, Katniss’ perception of reality changes. Suddenly betting on the odds is thrown out the window. Her beliefs are crushed by the unlikely event of Prim being drawn from the lottery. Now the author has us hooked and she can show us more of the spunk that makes Katniss likeable to the reader. One such time is when Katniss is ignored during her private training session with the Gamemakers. Her anger gets the better of her and she shoots an arrow into the roast pig which the Gamemakers are about to eat. Then she leaves the stunned group without being officially dismissed. Katniss’ biggest worry isn’t about what punishment will befall her; it’s about what repercussions her action will have on her family. These are just two examples from many about how Katniss’ love for her family is displayed in her actions.

I encourage you to read both The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and “The Most Important Moment in Your Story” by Larry Brooks. One will entertain you and the other will inform you about writing. Use what you learn to develop your own writing skills in this quarter’s Writing Challenge.

Response to Writing Challenge #5

Topic: Why Should I Care?

Since we’re talking about character, let’s combine two exercises into one. Select the characteristics from someone in your own life who you feel strongly about and put them into the below situation. Whether you love them or hate them doesn’t matter; just keep them as close to the real person as possible WITHOUT using any real names. Your goal is two-fold: keep your action moving along the plot graph for 500 words AND show the aspects of your character through their choices and thoughts.

The Gift

Georgia picks up a rectal thermometer hanging on a shelf in the Infants Department of Macy’s Department and smiles. “Do you think Angie will understand my commentary on having a baby out of wedlock?” she asks Diane. Diane looks down and giggles softly as she says, “No comment.”⁴⁸

Georgia’s wide smile reveals perfectly aligned false teeth and well-defined crinkles around her blue eyes. She clutches the tables filled with baby blankets, having refused to bring her walker once again. Diane follows close behind her trying to steady Georgia by the elbow. A loud cracking sound vibrates the floor and rattles plastic baby bottles at the end display and the entire store is thrown into darkness. Georgia’s ailing feet betray her and she stumbles forward.

“Mom,” Diane cries out. Her voice is soft, but filled with hysteria. She visualizes Georgia’s round body pitching forward, hitting her head on the corner of some unseen glass shelf. Diane grabs the back of Georgia’s sweater. Georgia catches herself on the table.

“Will you calm down? I’m fine.” The emergency lights sparsely dotting the store ceilings come on in time to show that Georgia just missed toppling over a cardboard display of disposable diapers. The display is still quivering from her impact.²⁰⁸

“If you would at least use your cane I wouldn’t get so worried.”

“You like it; you use it.” Georgia puffs slightly from the exertion and rubs her shoulder from the strain of catching herself. Her coloring has turned yellowish. Diane puts an arm around Georgia’s shoulders and guides her through the dark to a nearby bench. Her own heart pounds madly as she leans against a clothes rack of miniature suits with little ties in primary colors. Before Diane recuperates, Georgia calls out, “Oh look at those cute frilly dresses,” and fairly runs headlong to the display.

“You are going to be the death of me,” Diane announces, shaking her head.

“I loved dressing my girls in pretty pink dresses when you were little.” Georgia wistfully fingers the ruffles remembering special days. “Girls don’t even wear dresses anymore,” and she turns on her heal heading down another dark aisle.³⁵⁷

“Maybe we should just stay still until the lights come back on,” says Diane, catching up with Georgia by a shelf of baby medicine. It is directly under one the emergency lights.

“You still afraid of the dark?” Georgia gives her that mischievous smile again, holding up a baby of baby aspirin. “You know the best birth control? An aspirin held between your knees. Maybe we should give Jane this bottle with a note.” She heads toward the cashier with both the bottle of baby aspirin and the anal thermometer.

“No electricity, no service,” says the cashier. “You’re welcomed to wait it you want.”

“Darn waste of my time,” complains Georgia as she drops the items on the shelf and head for the door. “Let’s go home.”

“Thank God!” says Diane, trying to keep up with her.⁴⁹⁴

THE END

Writing Challenge #6 Impress Me!

Are you ready to dive in the deep end? I’m hoping some of you will take the plunge and submit the results of this next writing challenge for publication. The risk is drowning in a rejection, but that’s the only way we writers can learn to swim into earning money. Take the plunge; take the chance; toughen your skin up for the long haul!

For this quarter’s writing challenge I’ll refer you to my favorite writers’ newsletter, Fund for Writers. If you don’t already receive this newsletter, I encourage you to subscribe. Hope Clark creates a wonder source of information for all writers struggling to get published. I’ve drawn on information Hope presented in January 11, 2013, Volume 13 Issue 2. Her guest article is “Selling Halloween:Making Money with Spooky Stories” from Steff Green. You may want to read it for additional sources of income for writers.

One of the possible publishers Steff mentions is Tor.com. I chose them because they pay well (25 cents/word for the first 5,000 words). So let’s sum up that courage, write a decent story, help each other improve it, and submit that story for publication! This story will NOT be published on my Facebook page. It will only be sent to the small group of writers who are currently receiving PD Contributors’’ Corner so we can give and receive suggestions and support to one another.

Story Topic: a Halloween Horror Story

Number of Words: 5,000 or less

You can use the plot graph below to help you stay on track. Make your character realistic and story spooky. If you’d prefer to try your hand at short articles, read Green’s article and make your own selection. We can still critique each other’s work.

Marketing Yourself

2013-09-24T11:06:00.001-04:00

Issue 5: September 2012

Marketing Yourself-Remaking Yourself

I am in the process of remaking myself in order to market my product: my writing and essays. As a creative personality type thinking about marketing is alien to me. Maybe you’re the same way. Maybe the idea of having to work this portion of the writing business frightens and frustrates you. I does me. I don’t think we can avoid this aspect of the business for very long in today’s market, not if we want to make money with our writing. So I will share my progress, or lack thereof, with you in my newsletters.

For the last year I have been concentrating on getting my name, C.Lynn, out on the internet in order to promote my work. The problem I encountered is that there are many C.Lynns out there. There is poet who contributes to Poetry.com with that pen name and an artist in California who also has that pen name. Plus there are others too numerous to name. Since I chose this pen name shortly after I got married in 1974, you can imagine my frustration. Now I find it prudent to select another name for my writing, hopefully one that has less competition on the internet. I decided to “test” the pseudonym Rhodes FitzWilliam. I Googled this name and didn’t find any matching it. Maybe that’s a good start, but I know I have more to do.

Step one of my marketing strategy is simply to learn more about how to do marketing. There are many sources of information about marketing available, just make sure you select a reputable source. Right now I’m using “Marketing”, a free online source produced by the Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Center and the University of Missouri Extension. I’m sure it won’t be the only source I use, but it’s a start and I’ll keep you posted.

Why Should I Care?

Oh, I am late again! This should have been a July issue, but I got distracted again. Well, remember that writing takes discipline and keep trying to perfect it like I do. We’ll all get there one day.

Last issue we talked about the plot graph with its rising action, climax, resolution and denouement or closing. It is important to keep something happening in our stories so they don’t turn into simply long vignettes. In escapism, plot drives the story. But in literary fiction, characters drive the story. The story will unravel based on how the characters will respond to what is happening in the situation, so it is important to create characters that compel our reader. The story becomes even more interesting if the characters’ ideas are challenged and they must either reaffirm their own beliefs or alter them to incorporate the new situation.

So what makes characters compelling? Call on what you know about people in your own life. What behaviors or beliefs do the people you love and admire possess? What about the ones you really don’t like? People who are real give us the material to work with to create fictional characters that connect to our audience. Characters, like real people, should have aspects you admire and ones you hate. So that character who is compassionate and caring may have bad habits like lying about trivial things. Or the character who is a real jerk to women or people of color may rescue stray dogs and cats. People are complex, so our characters should try to emulate that.

Results of Writing Challenge #4

The Challenge: To Be or Not to Be?

I’m going to give you the first line and the climax for this fourth writing challenge. We’ll extend the word count for this challenge to 1,000 words so you can build a decent story line.

Ken stood on the roof of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati. It was almost midnight and the full autumn moon frowned down from a partially overcast sky.²⁷

Climax: Does Ken jump or not?

You have the first 27 words now finish the “grabber” within 100 words. Remember this is the part where you connect to your audience and give them a reason to keep reading. Then your challenge is to create the background which led Ken to the critical point of considering suicide, which will include Ken’s first conflict at about the 400 word count, the second conflict at around 650 words and the final conflict that leads to the climax at 950 words. After that it’s all downhill (no pun intended). The last 50 words will close the story with some resolution and make your audience glad they read your work.

The Story: Carew Tower Jumping

Ken stood on the observation deck of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati. It was almost midnight and the full autumn moon frowned from an overcast sky.²⁶ It glared against a backdrop as black as Ken’s mood. He pulled out a Camel and lite it, drawing a deep suicidal breath. Barb’s petition for divorce was scrunched into a ball in the left pocket of his work uniform. Should he leave a note like Hazel Gundrum did in 1953 before she plunged from the 43^rd floor? “Sorry things didn’t work out. I loved you with all my heart.”⁹⁶

“Sorry it didn’t work out,” didn’t relate the depth of Ken’s sorrow. It didn’t tell Barb that he loved her as much today as when they met at that coffee shop at Miami University. It didn’t tell her how his love only grew when their son was born two years ago or that the affair he had was a meaningless backlash to his need for HER attention.¹⁶³

The walkie on Ken’s hip crackled. “Where are you, numb-nuts? I’ve got a busted pipe in the basement and I’m ankle-deep in water.” Ken flicked the Camel over the edge of the observation deck and watched it sail down to the 16^th floor ledge where Henry Bettman had landed after five years of harassment because McCarthyism labeled him a communist sympathizer. Ken grabbed the walkie from this belt and slung it off the building. “Sorry, Bob. You’re a cool guy to work with, but not tonight.” Nine years of working on the creaking pipes, questionable electric and cheap management was enough. Built in 1930, the Carew Tower had been renovated, but she was still demanding. Oh well, it wasn’t Ken’s problem anymore. The pink slip crumbled in Ken’s shirt pocket testified to that. If he threw himself off the building now, people would compare him to Norma Jean Haller who in 1956 plunged off the ledge of the 29^th floor leaving a note to tell her husband that the “Children will be better off.”³³⁷

The night air turned frigid as it gusted around him. Autumn would give way to winter early this year, just as his life would give way to and early death. Ken stood on the wall and paced in a pantomime of the trapeze artist at the circus where he took Barb and Justin last year. Justin was excited by the sights and sounds and smells which were so new to him, and they were ecstatic to be with each other and to watch Justin’s wonder at it all. They had made love in the back of the mini-van parked at Mount Lookout that night as Justin slept in his car seat. It was something they had never done before and it was a kind of testimony to their growing love. It was hard to believe that only a handful of months passed before Ken made his fatal screw up: a drunken night after an exhausting second shift and a ridiculous tryst with a college girl on a binge. Then Barb found out and her face, once so full of light and love, turned dark and hateful. She would never forgive him.⁵²⁸

Suddenly Ken’s vision blurred, he caught his breath and a dizzy, surreal feeling came over him. He felt the world tilt as his balance swayed out of control toward the tiered floors below and the quite Cincinnati streets. He heard a gentle swooshing of taffeta skirts in the wind and the sound helped him focus. He turned to see an African-American woman in a green formal gown standing a few feet away. Ken looked left, then right. “What the…” he started, and then rethought his words. “What are you doing up here?”⁶²⁰

“I think the better question is, what are you doing up there?” Her voice was like whipped butter, all melty and smooth.

Ken jumped down beside her on the observation deck. “How did you even get up here? The elevator to the 48^th floor is locked and I have the key. Besides, you shouldn’t even be in the building. Where are the security guards?”

Before he could continue the interrogation, she interrupted him. “Jumping off that ledge won’t make you feel any better.”

Ken took a step back. “What…how?”

“I just knew. Let’s leave it at that.” She walked over to the retaining wall with a swooshing of her green gown and looked down. A sigh escaped her and her glistening brown shoulders sagged. Her black hair was pulled up into a tight bun surrounded by lilacs. Ken thought of Barb’s hair, black and shimmering with subtle light as it fell across his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying block the image of her silky veil and the icy blue eyes which had contradictory affects on him: exciting him one moment and lulling him into contentment the next. The fresh lilac smell of her filled his nostril’s along with the smell of a freshly washed baby. Justin looked so much like Barb, black hair, pale eyes and pure joy of life. How could he live without them? Would they be better off without him?⁸⁵⁵

“No, they won’t,” the black lady answered. “Ask her forgiveness; she’ll give it to you.” Ken opened his eyes. Brown exotic eyes stared at him.

“I can’t. She won’t.” Ken hung his head, leaning over the retaining wall as if to vomit.

“Have you tried?” Her voice dripped sadness. “Don’t make the same mistake I made. I assumed my husband wouldn’t forgive.”

“Did he forgive you then?”

“I learned that he loved me enough to try again, but it was too late. I had already jumped.”⁹⁴⁵

Ken turned, but she and her green taffeta dress were gone. The Lady in Green wasn’t a just a ghostly tale after all, but she was a friend. Ken headed down the stairs to the 48^th floor and the nearest phone. He wouldn’t wait till it was too late to win Barb’s forgiveness and save his family.⁹⁹⁸

The Challenge of the Challenge

I liked the idea of including a little history of the Carew Tower in the story, so I did some online research. It helped me find a legitimate reason for a suicide jumper. Of course, lost love, insanity and public humiliation were the top reasons. Once I settled on love as the motivation for Ken’s planned jump, the words just tumbled out. In fact, too many words tumbled out! So the greatest challenge was to tighten the writing by removing phrases that were unnecessary or redundant. It’s surprising how many times you can repeat yourself without realizing it. Once I had done that, I still had too many words. I realized that I needed to introduce the Lady in Green earlier in the story. Originally she didn’t make an appearance until 800 words. It was way too late! By moving her up the 500s and timing her appearance as Ken was ready to fall, rather than jump off the building, I gave her time to talk Ken out of it. Having her appearance help Ken refocus and prevent him from falling, showed that she good. There is actually a story about the Lady in Green riding in the elevator and simply talking to a security guard, then disappearing. She intrigued me ever since I read the blog about her, so I knew I had to incorporate her into my story.

This whole idea of counting and double checking your plot line has been advantage to my writing and it’s helping me to polish my skills. I hope you find it advantage and fun, too!

Writing Challenge #5: Why Should I Care?

The Situation: Your character is in a department store shopping for a last-minute gift when an electrical storm shuts down the power. Who is the gift for and how does the character decide what gift is best? How does the character respond? Anger, frustration, fear?

Remember to copy/paste your story into the body of your email with the Writing Challenge # in the subject box and send it to: rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com.

Good luck!

Got Plot?

2013-09-24T10:51:00.002-04:00

Issue 4: April 2012

Got Plot?

One of the issues I’ve dealt with as a writer is whether the piece is a vignette or a story. So let’s examine some of the details of each.
We can always start with the dictionary definition of vignette: “a short descriptive literary sketch or a brief incident or scene”. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vignette) And though this may be a good definition, when we sit down to write, it may not provide us with the information we need. I really liked the way Pinckney Benedict put it in his blog, “Vignette VS Story: The Apocalyptic Arc”: a story “involves apocalypse”, whereas “in a vignette, nothing much changes.” (http://redroom.com/member/pinckney-benedict/blog/vignette-vs-story-the-apocalyptic-arc) Apocalypse might seem like an extreme word to use, one more appropriate for science fiction writers, however Benedict does point out the word means “lifting of the veil.” We can also call this an external change or the internal epiphany, though most escapism stories do not include the “ah-ha” moment. Here’s a simplistic table to show the difference:

Elements of Fiction	Vignette	Story
Protagonist	Yes	Yes
Antagonist	Maybe	Yes
Setting	Yes	Yes
Plot, Including:
Conflict	Maybe	Yes
Climax	No	Yes
Resolution	No	Yes
Apocalypse/Change/Epiphany	No	Yes
Stands Alone as a Reading	No	Yes

So a true story must have conflict and change. Something needs to happen, whether it’s an internal conflict for the character resulting in a fundamental paradigm shift or an external conflict with outside forces which cause the character to react to stimulus. That’s all fine and well on paper, but how do we get there from the starting point? How can we track that, yes, we have conflicts and changes? These questions about my own writing nagged at me until I came up with a possible solution.

A good story, I thought, should have at least three conflicts which lead to a climax, then a resolution. This led to another question: How long (how many words) should it take for the story to have those conflicts? So I came up with a guess-timation based on a 500 word flash fiction I was working on at the time. Thank heavens for the modern computer, which counts your words as you type. Make this tool work for you as much as possible.

First of all the opening must have some kind of “grabber”. This is where you give your reader a reason to keep reading beyond the first paragraph. I allowed ½% of the total word count for this portion, because it has to happen right away. In a flash fiction piece, this means by the time my word count reaches 25, I better have said something interesting. Once you’ve gotten your reader’s attention, you can give some background on the character or set the stage for your story in an introduction, which probably shouldn’t be a lot more than 10% or 50 words out of the 500. Now by 40% (200 words) you should have your first conflict which will take the story where you want it to go. The second conflict should in progress by 325 words (another 25%), the third by 450 (another 25%) and the climax by 475 (25% again). That leaves just 5% or 25 words to resolve and close the 500-word story.

Word Count	Beginning	Grabber	Introduction	Conflict 1	Conflict 2	Conflict 3	Climax	Resolution
	0	0.05	10%	40%	65%	90%	95%	5%
500	0	25	50	200	325	450	475	25

This can also work for longer pieces. In a short story of 4,000 words the distribution looks like this:

Word Count	Beginning	Grapper	Introduction	Conflict 1	Conflict 2	Conflict 3	Climax	Resolution
	0	0.05	10%	40%	65%	90%	95%	5%
4000	0	200	400	1600	2600	3600	3800	200

As you read the last Writing Challenge you will notice periodic numbers in superscript. This is the word count for this short piece. It’s what I used to try out this method. And I have to say, thank heavens for the modern computer, which counts your words as you type. Make this tool work for you as much as possible.
Thanks again for reading and sharing!

Rhodes Fitzwilliam

Results from Writing Challenge #3: Awake

It’s 3:00 o’clock in the morning and you’re still awake. Write a 500 word story explaining why you are awake and describing the scene around you. This could be the potential opening paragraph of a short story, so make it interest-catching.

Edge of Night, Middle of Dark

Karen sat under the bushes, shivering against the cool night air. Her knees and the butts of her hands were scuffed with grass stains from the hard fall she’d taken just after midnight, just after the police broke in her door and her boyfriend, Jimmy, pushed her off the second floor balcony.⁵¹

She curled into a tight ball, hugged her aching knees to her chest under the bush as flashing blue and white lights slid down the quiet street. Karen wasn’t sure where she was right now or where Jimmy had gone. She only knew she couldn’t run anymore.¹⁰⁰

A bark from the yard next door startled Karen. She held her breath as the deep-throated barking continued, broken only by the irritated, “Shut up, already!” from the house. Chains strained against a jumping mass of dog as it pulled the chain anchor out of the ground with a definitive, woomph! He was on his way at a gallop, toenails clapping on the driveway as he headed toward her. Karen rolled from under the bush and took off from a sprinter’s stance, 100 pounds of red mastiff right behind her dragging his clanking chain.¹⁹⁴

Karen ran around the corner of corner of another house and slammed into a cop sneaking around from the opposite direction. She fell back on her butt and the mastiff barreled past her into the cop. The cop fell on his back and the mastiff stood on his chest, barking and slobbering into his face. The mastiff clamped his huge mouth over the cop’s hand. Karen regained her senses, jumped and ran while the mastiff kept the cop pinned. She slid through the alley behind the houses and over two streets to theplayground, where she hid in the tunnel under the statue of a mammoth.³⁰⁰

Another police car drove slowly past the playground, creating grotesque shadows while shining a searchlight left and right. Light filled half the tunnel under the mammoth and Karen retreated further into the jowls of the tunnel, feeling along the steel rippled walls. Her hand slide in a puddle of slime and she felt hot breath on her face. The blackness of the tunnel, the hotness of the breath against the chill night and the slime dripping from her fingertips after her harrowing run through bushes which scraped her legs all worked against Karen’s nerves. She screamed out in a long, high-pitched screech and was answered by a deep-throated howl so close it rattled her eardrums. She scrambled from the tunnel and ran into a muscle hard body which wrapped its arms around her. She started to struggle and scream again.⁴⁴⁰

A warm chuckle vibrated the chest against which Karen’s cheek and Jimmy’s reassuring voice said, “It’s okay, hon!” She looked into Jimmy’s impish eyes knew she was the focus of his pranks. The drooling mastiff trotted out of the tunnel and greeted a laughing cop. “I got the job in the sheriff’s office,” said Jimmy. “Surprise!”⁴⁹⁶

Writing Challenge #4: To Be or Not to Be?

I’m going to give you the first line and the climax for this fourth writing challenge. We’ll extend the word count for this challenge to 1,000 words so you can build a decent story line.

Ken stood on the roof of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati. It was almost midnight and the full autumn moon frowned down from a partially overcast sky.²⁷

Climax: Does Ken jump or not?

Editing Your Baby

2013-09-24T09:37:00.003-04:00

Issue 3: January 2012

Editing Your Baby

Oh, how bad I've been for two months! I haven't written a word and I've neglected my readers. I've even neglected updating my website. But we writers know, it's not getting stymied that matters, it's overcoming stasis and continuing to write that counts. So here we go again...back on track and back to the keyboard!

Anyone who has attended public schools knows that writing involves four steps:

Prewriting
Drafting
Editing
Publishing never go for the heart. Look for the appendix! It's much less painful that way

The most challenging of these steps is editing. Here you have created a story with all your heart, soul and hard work poured into it and you realize it's too long. How do you cut your baby into pieces? The answer is, look for the parts that are not essential to your story. Condensing long descriptions into more concise wording is the key to successful editing.

I recently wrote a story for a contest which required a limit of 500 words. I wrote carefully. I sweated bullets and I was still over the word limit. So I called my sister, who is also an excellent writer, and read the story to her over the phone. Reading your story out loud, whether it's to a family member, a friend or your dog is invaluable. You will hear where the writing becomes awkward and where there is wording you were subconsciously not very happy with. When I read my story to Debbie, she caught two important things wrong. One was a sentence in which I used the word "beast". As I read it, I tripped over the word and she said I should change that sentence a bit. The second thing was an overly long description about the road system in the town. The road layout was important to the story because the roads formed a pentagram. Here's an example of how editing that description helped eliminate unnecessary words. The red parts I changed or completely deleted and the blue parts I added to enhance the story.

Original (339 words):

She pulls over to the curb and unfolds the map she's torn from the yellow pages. Celia highlights the five major roads in orange. Guinevere and Arthur merge to form southbound 1303; Arthur and Percival merge to form northbound 1303. Celia stares at the map for a moment. Amid the hundreds of crisscrossing side roads, she sees the overall layout. These five roads for a five-pointed star outlined by Round Table Road. "Now that's just more than obsessive," Celia says, turning onto Guinevere and following it to where it merges with Lancelot to create west 88. Finally she's on her way home to the dozen unpacked boxes and partially stocked kitchen of her lonely Ranch style home.

Street lights end two blocks outside the city limits and half the roads are unmarked. Suburbia is dramatically transformed into countryside with miles of undeveloped land dipping into dark valleys and climbing onto barren foothills. Celia's property is down this narrow two-lane road which twists and turns until she doesn't know if she's heading north or west. There no should or driveways. No headlights mark a passing car. Blackness surrounds her like a cloak. As the curves sharply to the left, Celia sees a flash of yellow and feels the jolt of hitting something. She touches the breaks, but loses traction on the wet road. The Mustang fishtails left, then right, then left again, finally coming to a stop on the wrong side of the street. Celia sees a yellow form in the reddish tints of her brake lights. "Oh, god...oh, god, I've hit someone's dog!" is all Celia can think, She grabs her umbrella and gets out of the car. A young Gold Retriever lies on the pavement panting. "It’s okay, girl," Celia says as she approaches the animal. Whimper comes from the wound beast and Celia kneels on the puddled pavement to inspect it for injuries. There isn't any blood, but there could be internal injuries. Celia touches the dog's ribs. It lifts its' head and turns to face her.

First Edit (199 words):
She pulls over to the curb and unfolds the map she's torn from the yellow pages. Celia highlights the five major roads in orange. Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Percival and Gawain. Amid the hundreds of crisscrossing side roads, these five roads and Round Table Road create a pentagram encircling the town. "Now that's just more than obsessive," Celia says, heading for the dozen unpacked boxes and partially stocked kitchen of her lonely Ranch style home. Most of the roads are unlit and unmarked just past Round Table Road. Suburbia is dramatically transformed into countryside with miles of undeveloped land dipping into dark, valleys and climbing onto barren foothills. Celia's property is down this narrow two-lane road which twists and turns until she doesn't know if she's heading north or west. There's no shoulder or driveways. No headlights mark a passing car. Blackness surrounds her like a cloak. Principal Wolfe calls it, "Living outside the circle."

I liked some of the darker descriptions that helped set up the isolation of living "outside the circle". It was an important piece of information that I left out of the original. However, I ended writing more words than I cut, so I tried again.

My third edit took the word count down to 154, which helped me meet the limit for this contest:
She pulls over to the curb and unfolds the map she's torn from the yellow pages. Celia highlights the five major roads in orange: Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Percival and Gawain. Amid the hundreds of crisscrossing side roads, these five create a perfect pentagram with Round Table Road as the circumstance. "Now that's just more than obsessive," Celia says, heading for the dozen unpacked boxes and partially stocked kitchen of her lonely Ranch style home. Most of the roads are unlit and unmarked just past Round Table Road. Suburbia dramatically transforms into countryside with miles of undeveloped land dipping into dark valleys and climbing onto barren foothills. Celia's property is down this narrow two-lane road which twists and turns until she doesn't know if she's heading north or west. There's no shoulder or driveways. No headlights mark a passing car and blackness surrounds her like a cloak. Principal Wolfe says she's, "living outside the circle."

Thanks again for reading and sharing!

Rhodes Fitzwilliam

Writing Challenge #2 Mimic the Best

One of the reasons we read the best authors is so we can learn from them and one of the best ways to learn is to mimic. So for this writing challenge I've chosen one paragraph from the first chapter of The Windup Girl. You are to write your own original paragraph using Bacigalupi's as a template. Where there are nouns, use nouns; where there are adjectives, use adjectives. The difference will be in which nouns and what adjectives you use to describe them. Send your finished paragraph to rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com in the body of your e-mail. Put "Writing Challenge #2 in the subject line. The three best paragraphs will be published in next month's newsletter. Submissions are due by August 27th. (I am trying to get on track with publishing this newsletter one the 1st of the month!) Here's the paragraph from The Windup Girl to mimic:

"Anderson nods absently. Around him, the market soi bustles with Bangkok's morning shoppers. Mounds of durians fill the alley in reeking piles and water tubs splash with snakehead fish and red-fin furnace. Overhead, palm-oil polymer tarps sag under the blast furnace heat of the tropic sun, shading the market with hand-painted images of clipper ship trading companies and the face of the revered Child Queen. A man jostles past, holding vermilion-combed chickens high as they flap and squawk outrage on their way to slaughter, and women in brightly colored pha sin bargain and smile with the vendors, driving down the price of pirated U-Tex rice and new-variant tomatoes."

Response to Writing Challenge #2

Our second writing challenge was to mimic a paragraph from Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula Award-winning novel, The Windup Girl. Here is the original paragraph:

"Anderson nods absently. Around him, the market soi bustles with Bangkok's morning shoppers. Mounds of durians fill the alley in reeking piles and water tubs splash with snakehead fish and red-fin furnace. Overhead, palm-oil polymer tarps sag under the blast furnace heat of the tropic sun, shading the market with hand-painted images of clipper ship trading companies and the face of the revered Child Queen. A man jostles past, holding vermilion-combed chickens high as they flap and squawk outrage on their way to slaughter, and women in brightly colored pha sin bargain and smile with the vendors, driving down the price of pirated U-Tex rice and new-variant tomatoes."

Here is what I wrote mimicking Bacigalupi’s paragraph:

Hamsted listens quietly. Near him, the child illegal breathes in the office’s cold air. Mounds of flesh expand his chest in rattling rasps and lungs gurgle with aspirated fluids and yellow-filled airways. Nearby, his overworked sick grandmother stands with the stiff backed determination of the only parental figure, refusing to succumb with hard-nosed patience of mountain stone against wind and the face of an undiluted love. The receptionist clatters pans in the kitchen, warning that a suspicious-looking visitor enters as they search and question ruthlessly to find their hidden prey, and the television is turned loudly to avoid discovery and drowns the visitors in sound, making them yell their belligerent question with new-found vigor.

The Challenge of the Challenge

I chose to utilize this challenge into a short story I’m writing about an Asperger’s child who is marked as illegal by the laws of a futurist government. The most difficult thing I found was keeping my story line intact while staying true to Bacigalupi's style. I’m not entirely sure it worked. I may have to tweak it a bit to also stay true to my own style in the actual story, but you can catch the drift of what I mean by mimicking another author’s style. It’s excellent practice to expand and grow your own voice by “hearing” you words in someone else’s.

Organizing Yourself

2013-09-24T09:34:00.000-04:00

Issue 2: August 2011

Organize Yourself

There is a lot of online advice about writing. Most of the advice recommends staying at the writer’s desk and continuing to write regardless of the content, your mood or the distractions in your life. It’s excellent advice, but one that’s very difficult to achieve in the light of the current financial challenges facing us, the family emergencies that inevitably arise, or the work responsibilities that we beginning writers face. After all, many of us are still working a j-o-b instead of making a living by writing fiction. I struggle with staying on task, too. I get too many ideas to complete any of them within the constraints of my time and energy. I work a full-time job, have family members who are frequently either in the emergency room or the hospital and need my help, two dogs that I try to get to doggie play group, plus the weekly responsibilities of keeping up a house. It’s a challenge, but it’s not impossible. Sometimes the house doesn’t get cleaned, but I have to prioritize my responsibilities. Prioritizing tasks is what organizing yourself is all about. When you have several demands on your life it can be overwhelming to decide which tasks must be finished immediately and which ones can be postponed to a later date. I’ve been told I’m an organizing freak, so I hope that some of my advice will be helpful to you.

Create a Visual Focus

One of my greatest challenges is starting too many projects at once and then going in a thousand different unproductive directions. One of the first things I did to channel my ideas was to put a write-and-wipe board up in my office. I tapped a large stop sign from clip art at the top of the board and wrote, “FOCUS! 3 goals – 5 tasks until 1 is FINISHED!” Remember that your goal is where you want to end up and each task should be a mini-step to get you there. My Goal #1 is to submit short stories monthly to either magazines or writing contests. I listed my tasks as writing new stories or editing older one weekly. I probably should have been more specific, but for this works. Since I put this sign up in August 2010, I’ve submitted 11 stories, whereas I hadn’t submitted any in the past few years. Granted this is a small step toward getting published, but it is a step forward. Goal #2 is to finish my novel. I should also be writing weekly on this since writing weekly is one of my tasks. Admittedly, I don’t always work on the novel, but remember that the purpose of this sign isn’t to beat yourself up over what you don’t do, it’s to help you move closer to your goals. Goal #3 was to get recertified for teaching. The tasks were to take the courses I needed and submit the state-required paperwork. Since I have completed this goal, I really should erase it and write my new goal, which I’m working on now: write a monthly science fiction blog and a newsletter for writers. Remember that these goals and tasks are fluid and meant to be updated or changed as you go along.

Connect with Other Writers

My second suggestion is to either join a local writers’ group and/or sign-up for some online writers’ newsletters. There are hundreds available. Some of them better than others, but you should check out a few to determine which ones are best for you. I personally like FundsforWriters.com, written by Hope Clark. She gives suggestions for writers and a good listing of writing competitions, freelance markets, grants, publishers and agents. Most of the stories I’ve submitted were submitted to contests and magazines on her listing. Another blog that’s very informative is Writer Beware. These blogs, written by Victoria Strauss, keep you posted on the legal and contractual challenges which authors face. If you’re concerned that you might be duped by unscrupulous publishers or agents, this is a must-read blog. As writers we rarely understand the intricacies of contractual agreements or the terms we should be leery of, and this blog give you that information. Writer’s Digest puts out a blog called Feed Biz which keeps you updated on what they consider some of the better writing blogs, classes and interviews with professionals in the field. They do send out a lot of blogs, but they’re short and it’s fairly easy to filter through the ones you want to read thoroughly.

Track Your Submissions

Since I’ve been writing and submitting work regularly, I’ve found it’s important to keep track of what stories you’ve submitted to the various contests and magazines. I’ve tried a couple of different methods and found one that works for me. First of all, I keep a simple running list of the dates of each submission, the titles submitted and the results. This can be a hand-written list or one in a spreadsheet. I like the spreadsheet best because I can short the information by title and find out who I’ve submitted a story to already. The last thing you want to do is submit the same story to the same contest that has already passed on it. I also hand write a list of which contests I’ve submitted a story to right on the file folder or notebook tap where I file the story. This is convenient in case you don’t have your spreadsheet handy.

Watch Your Time

Once you start working toward your publishing goals it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with information and things to do. Lord knows, I did! I decided to use an organizational method that I use at work. I keep a monthly calendar on my bulletin board simply to mark off the days and keep myself aware of the passing time. I write a couple of things that are important for me to finish on the calendar large enough to see from my desk. For example, on the 15^th of the month I want to publish my science fiction blog, Sci-Fi: Write or Wrong. So I’ve written “sci-fi blog” on the Friday before the 15^th and highlighted the square it’s in. I want to publish my newsletter, The Prodigal’s Daughter, by the 1^st of each month, so I’ve highlighted the square on Friday before the end of the month and written “writing newsletter” in it. I chose Fridays because, aside from Saturday morning, that’s the when I have the most time to write. When there’s a contest I want to enter, I put a highlight around that date, too.

The monthly calendar is just a generic solution to tracking the time, though. So I keep a weekly calendar on my desk and mark off how I’ve used my time in different colors for different tasks. Household and family time are highlighted in yellow, reading newsletters and doing research are highlighted in orange and actual writing time is highlighted in green (for the potential money to be earned). I also make notes about when stories for contest should be completed, hence when I should spend more time writing than reading my e-mail. This doesn’t need to be an expensive calendar from an office supply store. In fact it’s better if it isn’t. I like printing out a Microsoft Outlook calendar in weekly format with the times on the sides. I print five weeks at a time in order to stay ahead of submission dates. This method has served me well. It might help you, too.

I hope your find these suggestions useful for accomplishing your goals, too. In future newsletters we’ll talk about the actual work of writing and what technics seem to work. Until then, I hope you enjoy the Reading and Writing Challenges for this month and that you’ll share some of your writing with this newsletter. It will only be published once in this newsletter and I will not abuse your rights as an author.

Reading Challenge

2009 Nebula Award Winner, The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi.

Writing Challenge #2

One of the best ways to keep at the writing desk is to join a writer’s group. There are writer’s groups online, but I’ve found that face to face discussion is the most helpful. So if there is a writers’ group in your area, I encourage you to join it. In the right writers’ group, you will grow more than in any writing class offered. In lieu of a writers’ group – or in conjunction with one - I will propose writing challenges in each issue. I encourage you to participate and send them to me at rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com. I will publish the best three pieces, along with my own, in the upcoming month’s newsletter.

So let’s get started.

Writing Challenge #1: Since this is our first issue, let’s base the first challenge on our opening theme: the prodigal’s son. Rewrite the parable of the prodigal’s son giving it a new time period, setting, or point of view. It might be a modern story or one set in the future. The point of view may be from any of the existing characters or one you have added. The challenge is to make this story come to life within 500 words. Get creative…it’s your world.

If you haven’t read this parable or you need to reread it, it’s available at BibleGateway.com (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+15%3A11-32&version=NIV)

I will publish my version in next month’s newsletter and talk about the challenges and where I would like to improve my own Writing. I will also share the three best versions I receive by the last week of July, along with any appropriate comments about this challenge and how you approached it.

I look forward to reading and sharing ideas with you so we can challenge one another to stay on task with our writing!

Until next month, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!

Rhodes Fitzwilliam

Response to Writing Challenge #1:

Our first challenge is based on the theme: the prodigal’s son. Rewrite the parable of the prodigal’s son giving it a new time period, setting, or point of view. It might be a modern story or one set in the future. The point of view may be from any of the existing characters or one you have added. The challenge is to make this story come to life within 500 words. Get creative…it’s your world.

My Brother Keeper

I am my brother’s keeper. He’s in that clay pot with the Wondering Jew. I think he’s doing well; he’s certainly helped the plant. When he came home, Dad threw a party him like he was a returning war hero rather than a drugged out loser who squandered his inheritance on partying and whores. Look at him now. He’s still doing better than me.

Look at this place I’m forced to live in. Walls made of broken bricks stacked with mud. When the wind comes through this valley it rips right through the walls like they weren’t there. My bed is dry prairie grass covered with whatever clothe I can find that hasn’t rotted. My food is prairie rats and snakes. I trapped a rabbit once, but it was bitter and tough, not even as good as snake. Meanwhile my father lives down there in the shelter sleeping on a matter with clean sheets, eating carrots grown in hydroponics and lamb from the genetics farm. Life’s just not fair.

Dad would say I should be thankful that the radiation level has dropped. He doesn’t know; he hasn’t lived above ground since the accident. I have bouts of illness that lasts for days followed by periods of weakness when I can’t even hunt my own food. I’ve got you’re thankfulness right here. It wasn’t right for them to exile me. They didn’t have proof that I killed him. After all, there wasn’t a body. Ha-a-a. Ha-a-a. Haa-couch-choke-gag. Damn, there’s blood again. The irradiated water taste okay. Here, brother, have a drink. You’ll probably live longer than I will. Now there’s an irony.

Dad would call that God’s justice.

It gets dark out here early. I’ve never seen such darkness even during a power outage. we always had the emergency lights down there. But here, here there’s nothing. When we were little, Dad used to tell us stories about the moon and stars lighting the night sky. He was lying to us, huh, brother. I don’t see any stars. Do you? Haa-ha-couch-choke-gag. Shit. Children’s bedtime stories, like the existence of God.

Here comes that wind again. Yeah, that’s your merciful god for you. These clothes won’t hold out a sneeze or the cold. Look at that. The sky’s changing. The gray is parting. What’s that? What the…the sky has sparkles on it. Are those stars? And what’s that? It’s so bright and round. Ah! That must be the moon. Cough-hack-gag. I think I’ll just lay down here and admire it. You know, brother, if Dad wasn’t lying about the moon and stars, maybe he wasn’t lying about God either. Maybe I did do wrong by you and Dad. I’m sorry I killed you. Is there forgiveness for that? I’m glad I can see the sky Dad used to talk about, all filled with sparkling diamonds and a silver moon. You know, I don’t feel so cold either. My chest has stopped hurting, maybe I can sleep now.

The End

The Challenge of the Challenge

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of writing this piece was keeping to the limit of 500 words. It's difficult to limit yourself once an idea starts flowing, however most magazines have word count limits which must be maintained. I composed this one in MicroSoft Word, which keeps a count of your words at the bottom of the screen. As soon as I saw I was going over the limit, I back-tracked, edited out irrelevant copy and added only what was most important. I'll be using this editing technique (only on a different piece) in upcoming editions of The Prodigal's Daughter. In the mean time, I hope you will accept Writing Challenge #2 and mimic the excellent work of Paolo Bacigalupi.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597801585/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1597801585&linkCode=as2&tag=scwrorwr-20">The Windup Girl</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=scwrorwr-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1597801585" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

Welcome to Our First Issue!

2013-09-23T14:25:00.001-04:00

Issue 1: July 2011

Welcome to Our First Issue!

The Prodigal’s Daughter is a monthly newsletter about the business of writing fiction, from its techniques to its frustrations. The name of this publication comes from the Biblical parable about the Prodigal’s Son (Luke 15:11-32), who takes his inheritance at a young age and leaves home to seek his fortune. But being inexperienced in the ways of the world, he loses his inheritance and quickly falls into poverty and ruin. He must then return home in failure and shame to beg for food from his father’s table. Yet his father welcomes him with open arms and orders a feast prepared in celebration of his son’s return. The older brother is upset by his father’s acceptance of this disobedient son. He rants, “I’ve been obedient and hard-working all these years and you haven’t given me a feast! Why are you throwing a feast for him?” The father’s responds, “You’ve been here with me and have everything I own all the time, but your brother was lost and is now found. We must celebrate his return.”

So how does this relate to writing fiction? As a general rule, we who write fiction, are like the prodigal’s son, at least I know I am. We have a gift or a drive or the right training – the inheritance - to produce quality fiction, and maybe even make a living at it. However, the world entices us and we get distracted from the actual work of writing. There is a good movie on we’ve been waiting to see, so we don’t edit that short story. The house needs to be cleaned and so we don’t write the next chapter in our novel. The dogs are desperate to go to their play group, so we don’t finish writing the blog. There are as many distractions as there are cells in the human body, so we fall into the poverty of no productivity. But we can return to the computer and feast on the words which celebrate life and its multitude of possibilities, striving for that special piece which captures an audience. What of our brothers, those steady, hard-working writers of fact? They also want their work acknowledged, so I salute you now for your steadfastness and showing we wayward fiction writers the value of consistent production. You who accept a writing assignment and crank it out post haste are role models for us to follow. The value of regularly sitting down and writing something new is what this newsletter endeavors to encourage in both novice fiction writers and those struggling to be published.

Reading Challenge

One way to grow as a writer is to read successful literature. Reading and writing are linked in two important ways. First and foremost, reading novels that are on the bestselling book list or have won awards gives us an example of what kinds of books are popular. This can guide you to either follow the example or stretch into new venues to create a unique approach. Secondly, a good novel can re-inspire you to write more on your own novel. For these two reasons, this newsletter will take a closer look at popular fiction and analyze aspects like opening lines, plot, character development, setting and how they relate to the theme. Most of the works will be science fiction or fantasy, since that is my favorite genre. I am currently reading the 2009 Nebula Award Winner, The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. I will be discussing this book and the writing techniques in the next newsletter. I encourage you to get a copy for yourself to read.

For those of you curious about the social and political aspects of science fiction, check out SciFi: Write or Wrong. As always, your comments are welcome.

Writing Challenge

One of the best ways to keep at the writing desk is to join a writer’s group. There are writer’s groups online, but I’ve found that face to face discussion is the most helpful. So if there is a writers’ group in your area, I encourage you to join it. In the right writers’ group, you will grow more than in any writing class offered. In lieu of a writers’ group – or in conjunction with one - I will propose writing challenges in each issue. I encourage you to participate and send them to me at RhodesFitzWilliam@gmail.com. I will publish the best three pieces, along with my own, in the upcoming month’s newsletter.
So let’s get started.

Writing Challenge #1: Since this is our first issue, let’s base the first challenge on our opening theme: the prodigal’s son. Rewrite the parable of the prodigal’s son giving it a new time period, setting, or point of view. It might be a modern story or one set in the future. The point of view may be from any of the existing characters or one you have added. The challenge is to make this story come to life within 500 words. Get creative…it’s your world.

If you haven’t read this parable or you need to reread it, it’s available at BibleGateway.com (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+15%3A11-32&version=NIV)

I will publish my version in next month’s newsletter and talk about the challenges and where I would like to improve my own Writing. I will also share the three best versions I receive by the last week of July, along with any appropriate comments about this challenge and how you approached it.

I look forward to reading and sharing ideas with you so we can challenge one another to stay on task with our writing!

Until next month, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!