Posts that inform and inspire.

In the past few months, I’ve made some great additions to my Writers’ Resources page, where I curate posts about craft, submission, and blogging advice. It’s time to highlight a few of them.

Submission Tips

Now that I’ve ventured into the world of essay writing, I’ve been reading a lot more essays, as well as reading about how to write them and where to publish them. In the process of doing so, I’ve come across some great posts about where to submit essays by Anittah Patrick, herself an accomplished essayist. All published on the beautiful, curated site Librarienne, Patrick’s posts are full of helpful information, including word limits, submission periods, types of credentials preferred to apply to certain mags, etc.:

• “10 Great Lit Mags for Straightforward Personal Essays”
• Anittah Patrick, “12 Places Accomplished Writers Can Submit 7K Word Essays”
• “Great Lit Mags Accepting Straightforward Personal Essays Right Now”

In her excellent post “Submitting Like a Man: How Women Writers Can Become More Successful,” Kelli Russell Agodon, former co-editor-in-chief of Crab Creek Review, notes that women submit their work differently than men. Men are much more inclined to follow up quickly (as in within a month) when invited by a magazine to submit more work, while women are more likely to wait six months to a year if they send more work at all. Agodon’s advice to women writers: “When an editor tells you they like your work and asks you to resubmit, do so and do so soon after.”

In his post “Is It Time for Literary Magazines to Rethink the Slush?” Lincoln Michel takes the debate about whether lit mags should charge a submission fee one step further and makes suggestions about how magazines could reduce their slush piles without charging a fee. He makes some interesting suggestions that instigated a lively debate in the comments section (in which I participated).

You can find these and other posts about submitting and publishing under the category Advice: Submission and Publishing Advice on the Writers’ Resources page.

Writing Tips

In keeping with my recent focus on essay writing, I read Jessica Smock’s post “How to Write a Personal Essay That Will Dazzle an Editor” with great interest. I particularly love her point about the difference between revising and editing, both of which are essential to any well written piece, fiction or nonfiction. When revising, says Smock, you must “make sure that your theme and purpose for writing are clear; try out different leads (ways to begin the piece); rethink your conclusion; change the organization.” Only after revising should you move on to editing, the nitty-gritty of grammar and sentence structure.

Ann Packer offers some simple yet inspirational writing tips in her Publishers Weekly post “5 Writing Tips.” My favorite: explore silly ideas since those are the ones that often take you down the most unexpected and rewarding paths. Says Packer, “Disarm your [internal] editor during the early stages of writing so you can follow the least likely or promising idea anywhere it might take you.”

In a lovely, lyrical post, “On Writing,” Paulo Coelho advises all writers to find their allies, not necessarily in the most successful writers they know, but in those other writers who are willing to take risks:

…people who are not afraid of making mistakes, and yet they do make mistakes. That is why their work is not always recognized. But that’s the type of people who change the world, and after many mistakes they manage to get something right that will make all the difference in their community.

It’s an inspiration essay that deserves to be read multiple times, especially in moments of self-doubt.

All of these posts are listed with other posts about craft and writing inspiration under the category Advice: Craft Advice on my Writers’ Resources page.

Blogging Tips

I recently discovered a site by Mike Wallager that aims to help new bloggers start a website. “How to Start a Blog: A Step By Step Guide” offers clear, helpful, and easy-to-follow instructions and suggestions that even the biggest technophobe will be able to follow.

Belinda Pollard, in “The One Big Reason Authors Need to Blog,” advises that bloggers should keep in mind the lives blog posts have beyond their initial publication. She notes, “A blog post is very, very SHAREABLE. Long term.” Blog posts can be reposted, by the writer and others. A post can take on a life of its own, either immediately or years after its original publication. An excellent point to keep in mind when questioning whether blogging is worth the effort.

You can find these posts under the category Blogging Tips on my Writers’ Resources page.

Suggestions?

If you have suggestions about articles you’d like me to add, or topics you’d like me to research and report back on, or a more helpful way to organize my Writers’ Resources page, please add a comment below or to contact me through my Contact page.

I’m here to help!

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