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WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!
Cartoon used with permission by Brad Shorr, Word Sell, Inc.
Words: A Writer’s Perspective
Words: the writer’s stock-in-trade…the intellectual currency with which we transact our business of touching the hearts and minds of those for whom we write
Words: the attire with which we dress our thoughts before sending them forth to greet our reader, make his or her acquaintance, and hopefully create a wonderful first—and lasting—impression
Words: the vehicles which transport ideas across streets or across continents, spreading them far and wide for all to encounter on near or foreign mental soil
Words: the soul-fed fires which ignite emotions…passions…hopes…and dreams…inspiring action while themselves sitting dormant on the page…or, no sooner spoken, dissipating, like a cooling summer’s breeze
Words: the silken threads of color woven artfully into tapestries of beauty, strength, and grace by artisans who patiently hone their skills and ply their craft with care
Words.
Using Words Effectively
As writers, we are intimately involved with words. We use them every day to convey meaning. Yet, the degree of meaning we succeed in conveying to our readers through our words is directly proportional to the degree of skill with which we use them.
The Book of Proverbs contains a wonderful saying about using words effectively:
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” –Proverbs 25:11 (NKJV*)
What a lovely picture of the carefully chosen word!
The Writer’s Job
Our job as writers is to continually seek the best possible words to convey the precise thoughts we intend our reader to take away from our work. At times these words won’t come immediately, or easily, and we’ll have little choice but to think a while longer—maybe even to go back to that section later, or even tomorrow, looking at it with fresh eyes, a fresh perspective, and a fresh infusion of thought and inspiration.
Don't Let Deadlines Create Carelessness
Yet, when we face a deadline and have no time to wait for inspiration to strike—no time to let our writing “age” and return to it tomorrow—we simply have to tough it out. We must refuse to give in to the temptation to use a careless word or phrase—one that we know deep inside just isn’t “right.” (And the temptation to do so can be strong.) We need, instead, to mentally wrestle with the thought, to visualize the image we hope to convey, and pull from somewhere within ourselves—or if need be our thesauruses—the word that paints the most vivid picture of the thought we’re envisioning so the world can see it, too.
Poorly Chosen Words Create Misunderstanding
When we refuse to take the time to choose our words with care—and no doubt about it, that’s hard work—we’re often misunderstood. Our job as writers, then, is to anticipate the information the reader will require for accurately processing our ideas and then distill that information into a form (word, phrase, sentence, line) that the reader can grab hold of mentally and make sense of. This gives our readers satisfaction as they read our work—a sense of connection with our own thought process which helps them relate to our words and appropriate their meaning for themselves.
The Final Read-Through and Revision
When we’ve come to the end of a piece of writing (a blog post, article, chapter, or poem), we still aren’t finished yet. No matter how wonderful we feel about the job we’ve done, how clever we think our work is, or how pleased we are with ourselves, there’s one more step that we ignore to our peril: We absolutely must reread our work for structure, rhythm, sense, and flow. The very best way to do this is aloud, because sound is an important indicator of trouble in one or more of these areas.
Finishing Touches
As you read, look—or better yet, listen—for awkward phrasing, confusing sentence structure, unclear meaning, or unpleasing, abrupt, or non-melodious language. Be sure you’ve used transitions that draw your reader smoothly and effortlessly through your text, creating literary bridges from one paragraph or sentence to the next. Take special note of the word order you’ve chosen and the rhythmic effect it creates, and when needed, reorder your words to give your writing a smoother, more fluid quality.
Ruthless Revision
You’ll nearly always find sections you thought were absolutely brilliant while writing them that on final read-through sound confusing and unclear. Please do your readers a favor and revise them—regardless of how clever or inspired they may have seemed at the time. We often become enamored with our phrasing, and convincing ourselves to let it go can be a struggle. But always remember that there’s lots more inspiration where that came from, so you can afford to cut a clever phrase for the sake of clarity.
The Finished Product
When we’ve finished revising our work, our goal is to have a piece of writing that’s clear, engaging, and easy for our audience to read, understand, and enjoy. And at all costs, we want to avoid repeating the mistake made by our friend in the above cartoon. He either didn’t give enough advance thought to the wording of his sign, or he didn’t reread it before posting it. (If he did reread it, he did so without considering the possible ways the public might construe it.) And that’s a mistake we never want to make with our writing.
Happy revising!
Jeanne
* New King James Version
This post is my entry to Brad Shorr's Word Sell Writing Contest.
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September 29th 2007 21:20
Sugar & Spice Anthology Needs More Conventional Online Poetry Written By Women
Gerald Bosacker of Bosacker Books, is putting together a poetry anthology, to be entitled Sugar & Spice. This compilation of the works of various female poets which have already appeared online in one internet venue or other will be comprised of conventional, mostly rhymed and metered poetry.
A number of my own poems will be included in the anthology, and I wanted to share this opportunity with my female readers who have written poetry of this type and had it published--or may yet have it published--online. Remuneration will likely be small; however, your inclusion in the anthology would give you one more--or perhaps your first?--published clip. And since it will be in a print publication, it will likely carry a bit more weight among future potential publishers than an online publishing credit, as it's generally so much easier to be published online.
The Opportunity, In Mr. Bosacker's Own Words
Here's what Mr. Bosacker had to say to me in an e-mail written in response to my submissions back in July:
If your intent is monetary compensation, refuse permission as the financial yield will not be great. I sell poetry, and receive but a small fee, even from large magazines. I do take pleasure in the paid recognition, no matter how small. SUGAR & SPICE does not auger huge sales, but all of the royalties will be divided amongst the authors, in proportion to their share of print. I will not contribute, nor share royalties. I have no idea how well the anthology will sell, but it is not a scam, nor profit making venture.
Let me know if you wish to be included...
Anthology Release Delayed Due to "Scarcity of Good, Conventional Poetry, Written By Women and Posted on the Internet"
Mr. Bosacker had hoped to release Sugar & Spice by October 1st, but has had trouble amassing enough good conventional poetry written by women which has been published on the internet. His latest correspondence of a few weeks ago informs me that, at this point, he only has about one-third of the poetry he needs to fill the 200-page book. At that rate, it could be a while before the book goes to print--unless the internet poetesses among us will begin submitting our best work ASAP.
Visit BosackerBooks.Com for Submission Information
Feel free to visit the Bosacker Books website for more information about the planned anthology and/or to find out how to submit your work. The book's cover may be viewed at the following link: Sugar & Spice Poetry Anthology.
While Sugar & Spice will likely not be a high-profit venture for those of us whose work is included, there is always the possibility that it will sell better than Mr. Bosacker expects. Whether or not it does will no doubt--in part, at least--be dependent upon how much buzz we ourselves are able to create for the book via our websites, blogs, word-of-mouth, and possibly even through asking our fellow writers and bloggers for their help in spreading the word.
Are You a Conventional Female Poet Who Has or Will Soon Put Your Work Online?
If you are a female poet and you have some well-crafted conventional poetry sitting in the bottom drawer of your desk, the back of your closet, or even the darkest corners of your garage or attic, you might just want to consider digging it out, reassessing its quality and appropriateness for this market, touching it up if needed, posting it on one of the online poetry websites* first, and then submitting it to Mr. Bosacker for the Sugar & Spice Poetry Anthology.
If your work is already posted online, so much the better! You will be able to submit it to the anthology with a minimum of hassle. So, scour the sites you've posted your work to, find your best poetic masterpieces, and consider submitting them if you'd like to be a part of this book project.
If you don't already have some conventional poetry hidden away somewhere--either online or off--but have the heart of a poet(ess), why not write a few poems, submit them to the poetry site(s), and then forward them to Mr. Bosacker. Send your best work, though, because Mr. B is looking for very well-executed conventional verse. Let's show him that good conventional poetry written by women and published on the internet isn't really as scarce as he thinks it is!
Best of luck to you!
Jeanne
*A few of the better websites that accept poetry are Creative-Poems.Com and MoonTownCafe.Com. To learn more about submitting your work to these sites, please see my earlier posts, Calling All Poets! More Info About Creative-Poems.Com and Calling All Poets 2: More Info About MoonTownCafe.Com. Other possible websites for posting your poetry--though they are not exclusively poetry sites--are Helium.Com and Associated Content.
Did you enjoy this post? Was it helpful? Have anything to add? Please feel free to comment!
Just in case you fiction writers out there need a bit of inspiration to sit down and pen a tale--particularly a suspenseful crime tale, I will share with you my flash fiction piece, Confession. This short story won a recent writing contest at Iron Pyramid Publications (out of 64 entries) and is currently ranked #1 out of 52 stories about "The Other Woman" on Helium.Com. (Though the rankings at Helium can change daily, Confession has so far held the #1 slot since its posting in January 2007.) It's quite suspenseful--or so I'm told.
Read on--and then sharpen your pencils, fire up your computers, get creative, and start writing!
Confession
A Wife Lets Her Unfaithful Husband in On a Murderous Little Secret
Hello, Darling.
You'd better sit down. I have something to tell you.
I went for a walk tonight...to your mistress's house. Yes, Darling, I've known about her for weeks. And, you know, it wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined it would be.
She didn't utter a sound when it hit. I hadn't really expected her to. Her eyes merely took on a fleeting expression of...shock--as if she couldn't comprehend what was happening and was absolutely petrified by it all--and then...it was over.
All it took was one shot. It was what a pro might call "a real clean job," though now I know that pros don't mean the same thing when they say "clean" as we amateurs are likely to think.
Actually, it was quite messy. You know, Darling, people like me--average, everyday folks, who've never had occasion to handle firearms (previously, that is)--tend to think of them as instruments that drill neat little holes into people and that's that. For some reason we visualize no blood; we imagine no gore. How naive we are, Darling!
That's not at all the way it is! In fact, it's terribly shocking the first time you look down at that...corpse...covered in real, red, blood--the kind you could never stand the sight of--and staring, like something out of a horror movie, at...nothing. And it's eerie the way it lies so still, exactly the way it fell. You keep expecting it to move, to look up at you and say something...but it doesn't. It just lies there...staring.
Well, Darling, I stood there looking down at her...at it...for a while--a few minutes, perhaps--to be sure that she was dead. But, no, that wasn't the reason. I knew she was dead. I suppose I simply couldn't draw myself away. After all, I'd never seen a...corpse...before.
You must understand, Darling. I hadn't wanted to kill her. As they say: In other circumstances, we might have been the best of friends. But try to imagine what it must be like to lose the one you love most in life, the one who supplies the little sunshine there is in your drab existence, the only one you've ever trusted! Have you any idea how it feels to have that trust betrayed? But how could you, Darling? You've never had the misfortune to experience it. If you had, you'd understand that the act was committed in desperation. You'd see why I had to do it.
I freely admit that I went to her house for the express purpose of killing her. But I wasn't responsible for my actions. You've no idea how the hatred and jealousy seethed in me as I left the house earlier this evening. The emotions were beyond my control; they'd grown and multiplied since the first day I learned of your affair, until I simply had no choice but to satisfy them. They drove me to an act I would never even have contemplated before they dominated my life.
I did it because I loved you, Darling. But, you know what's funny? Tonight I discovered something infinitely more satisfying than love. Can you guess what it is, Darling?
Yes, that's right--revenge!
Good-bye, Darling...
**************
Now, you try it! Then, check out the second Relate This Post listing at the end of this blog entry for some info on a possible market for your crime-related masterpiece. (To learn more about Helium.Com, check out the first Relate This Post link.)
Happy writing!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
The following is an update added to my recent blog post about Iron Pyramid Publications' Writing Contest, which had previously been slated to run from April 1st to April 30th, 2007:
UPDATE 3/19/07: I've just learned that the new contest is open NOW, as R.D. has apparently decided not to wait until April 1st to begin accepting submissions, after all. So, if short stories are your literary 'cup of tea,' sharpen those pencils, fire up those computers, and get a head start on your entry! As far as I know, the deadline is still the same: April 30th.
For more info about the contest, see my March 17th blog post, Iron Pyramid's Latest Writing Contest Winner: 'Yours Truly'! New Contest Coming Soon!
Good luck!
Jeanne
P.S. New to short story writing? Or just a little rusty at it? Have a fantastic idea for a story and the writing skills to pull it off, but just need a little guidance in putting it all together? Check out this link: Short Stories: 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers. It's a fairly in-depth resource that dissects and explains each element of the literary form--a resource that just might help make you a contender in the highly competitive short story market--not to mention the highly competitive short story contest! Even seasoned short fiction writers can find something of interest here.
Here are two other links that might prove helpful in your quest to win short story contests:
1. Short-Story Competitions: Increasing Your Chances of Winning.
2. Writers-Editors.com Contest Tip Sheet.
Yes, I Won!
I found it most ironic that, not long after completing and posting my blog entry about MOUTH FULL OF BULLETS, a website that publishes crime-related stories, poems, and articles, I received a phone call from Ron "R.D." Peters of Iron Pyramid Publications informing me that my flash fiction piece, "Confession," a--you guessed it--crime-related story, had just won his website's current Writing Contest.
What a Surprise!
I must confess I was quite amazed by this turn of events, simply because, while I'd figured the story was worth entering into the competition, I truly didn't expect it to win--though, of course, I hoped it would. There's simply too much good fiction out there--and my story was, after all, competing against 63 other stories, many of which were very good. So, needless to say, I felt quite honored to receive both an e-mail and a phone call from R.D. this morning telling me not only that my story had won, but that it was 'superb' and 'writing at its best'! That was truly a great compliment!
You Could Win, Too!
The main reason I share this story here, however, is not simply to tell you that I have won the latest competition at Iron Pyramid or to gloat over the fact, but to share with you what R.D. told me this morning about the next short story competition he will be sponsoring on his website very soon. I was, in fact, surprised to hear how soon he's planning to do it all over again--but pleasantly so: it will run from April 1st to April 30th, 2007.
[UPDATE 3/19/07: I've just learned that the new contest is open NOW, as R.D. has apparently decided not to wait until April 1st to begin accepting submissions, after all. So, if short stories are your literary 'cup of tea,' sharpen those pencils, fire up those computers, and get a head start on your entry! As far as I know, the deadline is still the same: April 30th.]
R.D. also said, in response to my question to that effect, that he is giving some thought to the possibility of offering a Poetry Contest in the not-too-distant future; that is, however, not actually on the drawing board as of yet.
Some Contest Info
Iron Pyramid features 'dark tales,' though the contest is open to all genres! (However, according to R.D.'s Craigslist post publicizing the recent contest, neither erotica nor vulgarity are welcome and, if posted, will be removed from the Forum and disqualified from the contest.) If you haven't already got a story or three written and ready to go (multiple entries allowed,) you have several weeks in which to work on it! Check out the site for samples of the types of writing found there.
Site Navigation Tips
Iron Pyramid's contests are found in the site's Forum, which is where you'll also find info about upcoming contests. The Writer's Contest has its own section on the Forum page, which is where you will be expected to post any entries you'd like to submit for consideration as part of the competition. Check out and familiarize yourself with the Forum page, so you'll be prepared to post your entry when ready to do so.
Other I.P. Posting Opps
In addition to the Writing Contest, there are quite a few other categories in the Forum, such as Poetry, Politics, Business, Humor, and many others too numerous to mention, in which writers' thoughts or works may be posted--so be sure to check these out when you visit, as well.
Give It a Try!
Iron Pyramid Publications' Writing Contest just might be your way to get some well-deserved and much-craved recognition for your work. So, why not check it out!
And good luck!
Jeanne
P.S. Forgot to mention that there's a $50 prize--and no entry fee!
Check out Short Stories: 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers. It's a great guide to short fiction writing!
And here are two online guides that can help make you more short story contest savvy:
1. Short-Story Competitions: Increasing Your Chances of Winning.
2. Writers-Editors.com Contest Tip Sheet.
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