Women on Writing - WOW and WOW!
Women On Writing is an online magazine and community for women writers. Among major topics are novel writing, indie publishing, author platform, blogging, screenwriting, and more. Lots of contests and general jocularity sans frittering on the part of Earth's most powerful humans.
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Congratulations to Courtney Harler and Divorce Ranch and all the winners of our 2021 Quarter 1 Creative Non-Fiction Essay Contest! Courtney's Bio: Courtney Harler is a freelance writer, editor, and educator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA from Sierra Nevada University (2017) and an MA from Eastern Washington University (2013). Courtney has been honored by fellowships from Writing By Writers, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and Nevada Arts Council. Courtney’s creative work—which includes poems, flash fictions, short stories, literary analyses, craft essays, book and film reviews, author interviews, personal essays, and hybrid pieces—has been published wo…
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Photo by Christopher TovoToday I am excited to have another instructor from Odyssey Writing Workshop: author Meagan Spooner. Meagan Spooner will be a guest lecturer at this summer’s Odyssey Writing Workshop, where she will discuss techniques for building characters and character arcs, participate in workshopping sessions, and meet in private conferences with students. She grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Odyssey in 2009 and currently lives and writes in Asheville, North Carolina, but takes every opportunity she can find to travel the world--th…
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by Angela Cheveau As a child I loved stories. The artillery fire of my parents insults towards each other raging above my head across the no man’s land of the carpet, I would retreat to my trench for shelter. Climbing inside the pages of a book for cover I smeared my face with a war paint of words. Stories were my shield. I hid behind them. Hid inside them. Words wrapped magic around my young shoulders and threaded starlight through my hair. I wore daisy chains of words around my neck. Stories lit my pathway through the dark and foreboding forests of childhood. In stories I could be anyone. Or anything. I could go anywhere. In stories I was strong. Fearless. I fought dr…
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Hello WOW Readers! I have been one of the first-tier contest judges for WOW’s quarterly flash fiction contest for over a decade, and it has been a huge pleasure to read your stories. I am writing this blog series on Flash Fiction Contest Tips to help you strengthen your flash writing and maybe even place in one of our contests! Tips are based on our scoring criteria and craft trends I’ve seen throughout the decade. TECHNICAL is one of the scoring categories for the flash fiction contest, and one criterion within that category is overuse of passive voice (as opposed to active voice). Passive vs. Active Voice Active Passive They receive…
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This is my Bear Chair. From the seat to the tip of Mister Bear’s ears is a little more than 20 inches. For the past couple of years, it’s been the repository of what I call, “Writing Whatnot.” Lots and lots of paper stacked all the way up to the tippy top! So in January of this year, I started clearing off the chair, which was mostly scraps (with quotes and ideas) and manuscript pages (with lots and lots of critique notes from writer friends, agents, and/or editors). Eventually, a few thoughts became crystal clear (I mean besides the obvious thought about 1,237 pages sitting around for years…) and so I’m sharing what I learned, starting with a favorite quote I found am…
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Recently, I came across a funky little article that reminded me of a story I had written. My story was unfinished, but I've become less and less afraid of leaving unfinished work. So, re-inspired to return to the story, I looked for it in the last place I thought I left it. It was gone. How could that happen? I wondered to myself. I had left it in an app that I really don't use anymore, but it supposedly backed up my work onto Google Drive. So, I felt fairly confident not babysitting it anymore. I had other stories in there. I even have a half-finished attempt at a story about outer space (not an attempt I make often). Examining closely, I looked in each file. I knew the…
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Can the simple act of putting pen to paper lead to healing? Author and musical artist Mari L. McCarthy used her own journaling power to relieve her symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Now, it’s time to access the power of journaling for yourself. Inside of Journaling Power, Mari L. McCarthy, founder of CreateWriteNow.com, shares her personal tips on how to use journaling that will lead to self-growth and life-changing transformation. You will also read about scientific medical studies that discuss the healing abilities of journaling while learning step-by-step guidance on how to:Reduce physical pain and overcome illness Heal emotional wounds from past traumas …
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Meredith Towbin never wins things (except for a coloring contest when she was nine), so she is very excited to be recognized by WOW! After graduating from Wellesley College, she taught English literature to high schoolers. Her teaching career was short-lived, however, as she was repeatedly mistaken for one of the students and berated by a colleague for using the faculty bathroom. She left teaching and worked as an editor at a local newspaper and, later, as an associate editor for a trade magazine covering the salon and spa industry. After acquiring a lifetime supply of hair gel, she decided to give up the glitz and glamour, much like Grace Kelly, and become a stay-at-home…
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As a child, my older sister and cousin often called me a tattletale. There I was in my plaits with ribbons on the ends of each one and white Ked sneakers, dingy from playing, running through whoever's house I was in to tell on them. "Ooh I'm tellin'," I'd cover my mouth and yell, always leaving off the end letter g. Whether it was finding out my sister had a crush on a boy, or my cousin said the word, "Dang," which I thought was a curse word, or they kicked me out of their room, I was tellin' my parents or any other adult that was nearby on them. I'm sure that irritated my sister and cousin to no end. I know it was most likely why they mumbled under their breath and …
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by Anne Marie Scala I write because I can’t not write. Anyone who gets as wildly excited as I do when Staples has notebooks on sale for $.25 has to write. Finding my favorite pens makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Writing is part of who I am. Almost a decade ago, I attempted to turn my writing hobby into a profession. Despite initially having success, I couldn't find a rhythm to sustain it for long. A year of overwhelm and exhaustion followed and I concluded my energy would be better spent elsewhere. Recent events propelled me to revisit my dream of being a writer. Hoping to avoid my previous missteps, I signed up for a course offered by an experi…
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Not long ago, I attended a webinar on writing concept books. For those of you who don’t write for kids, a concept book is a picture book about . . . a concept. Alphabet books, counting books, and books about the Fibonacci sequence are all concept books. Yes, there are picture books about the Fibonacci sequence. Check out Joyce Sidman’s Swirl by Swirl and Sarah Campbell’s Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. The presenter for the webinar was Liz Garton-Scanlon and she recommended a long list of concept books. When they arrived, I eagerly sat down to read. I had to laugh after I finished One Dark Bird by Liz Garton-Scanlon and Counting Crows by Kathi Appel…
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Sometimes bigger is better. A bigger paycheck. A larger brownie (which results in a bigger butt, which is not a good thing). A bigger spot to parallel park into. And sometimes smaller is better. A smaller waist (for me, that train left the station decades ago). A gift in a tiny box from your SO at Christmas. A smaller credit card bill. Sometimes, as writers, we dream of running with the big dogs. Signing with a big publisher. Getting a big advance. Getting big, splashy promotion events set up. I thought about this after I read Cathy C. Hall’s post. It came at the perfect time, because recently my manuscript was accepted by a small publisher. Margo Dill began her press n…
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We write a lot about success on this blog—last week on Wednesday, Cathy C. Hall wrote about the seduction of the spectacular. Sometimes, we're chasing the spectacular—an agent, the best-sellers' list, a no. 1 badge—and we don’t celebrate success of all kinds, like a published book with a smaller publisher or a story published on a website. I nodded my head the whole time I read Cathy's post because I'm the worst offender of this. I'll look at all I've accomplished so far and constantly be disappointed in myself that it’s not enough--there aren't enough reviews or followers or national publications on my bio. I had a book review column in the Sunday edition of The News-Ga…
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We are excited to announce the launch of another Save the Cat!® blog tour. If you are finally ready to outline your novel or screenplay, you'll want to follow along on this tour. We'll be talking about their Cracking the Beat Sheet Online Course and their Story Cards. First, what is Save the Cat!®? Save the Cat! provides writers the resources they need to develop their screenplays and novels based on a series of best-selling books, primarily written by Blake Snyder (1957- 2009). Blake’s method is based on 10 distinctive genres and his 15 story beats (the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet). Our books, workshops, story structure software, apps, and story coaching teach you everythi…
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Leah’s Bio: Leah Olson is an aspiring writer (mostly by night) and an attorney currently working as in-house counsel for a nonprofit network of charter schools (by day). After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism in 2007, she put her passion for writing on hold as she entered the professional abyss otherwise known as “being a Millennial in her twenties.” She spent two years working as a third grade teacher in Las Vegas with Teach For America before going to law school. She graduated from Harvard Law in 2012 and then spent four years working at two different corporate law firms in New York and San Francisco before moving on to the educatio…
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Over the past few months I’ve been thinking about my leadership style, and after reading an article my husband plucked from his files and gave to me, I’ve figured out I aspire to be a servant-leader. Servant leadership was coined by an author and business consultant named Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. He first began formulating the idea after reading a novel about a mystical journey by a group of people on a spiritual quest. A servant-leader is one whose primary motivation is “a deep desire to help others.” Here are 10 characteristics of a servant-leader: Listening intently to others. Having empathy. Helping oneself and others to heal. Awareness in understanding issues i…
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by Anne Leigh Parrish My first short story was written on brown paper using a second-hand Underwood typewriter I picked up at antiques store. I felt so writerly, perched on my stool at my kitchen counter, banging away. My husband was studying for the bar exam, and had trouble concentrating with the noise I made. Luckily for him I wrote in spurts, lasting no more than fifteen minutes at a time. Then I’d get up and wander off, overwhelmed with doubt and a growing sense that I had no idea what I was trying to say and why it mattered. I persisted. “Among The Bohemians” was an uneven, heartfelt ramble about a recent party we’d attended which read more like an essay than a pi…
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By Margaret Buapim Karen Brown Tyson had been here before, wondering how to recover professionally and personally after a lay off. Multiple layoffs in fact. With it came the need to reframe what was once seen as a career failure and relegated to a place of silence. It was what drew me to Karen’s work in the first place and the works of the growing number of writers who are addressing the shame that can block one from authentically moving forward after a job loss, goal fail, or repeated rejection. Here at WOW, we’ve come to recognize it as a serendipitous chance to “fall forward” and writers like Karen Brown Tyson are taking the lead in showing us how. In Time to …
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Check out this fun song! I was looking for some cool photo relating to the acronym: P.U.S.H. (Persist Until Something Happens) and I came across this song I had never heard of. It won't be making my top ten list for running or working out, but it's not half bad. Anyway... If you're an author, you've found yourself working hard to pitch your book to a publisher, to market your book, to get your book onto bookshelves and into the hands of readers, and then working hard again asking readers to refer you to friends as well as leaving reviews. You're no doubt dealing with people by phone, email, in person, and more! Non-writers also have many opportunities each day where they …
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Lent starts tomorrow and so I had Matthew Kelly on the brain. Kelly is the author of quite a few Christian books; he’s also a motivational speaker and just in general, a down to earth guy who’s very relatable when it comes to the spiritual. And so I often jot down his interesting talking points, which explains the note on my desk. It was all caps with the words, “SEDUCTION OF THE SPECTACULAR.” It doesn’t, however, explain why I posted this note on my calendar for a Muffin topic. That’s for this Mardi Gras Tuesday, so have a slice of King cake (or a cupcake!) and see what you think. Oh, how I’ve been seduced by the spectacular when it comes to my writing career! And I s…
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Neill McKee, author of the award-winning travel memoir Finding Myself in Borneo, takes the reader through 400 years and 15,000 miles of an on-the-road adventure, discovering stories of his Scots-Irish ancestors in Canada, while uncovering their attitudes towards religion and guns. His adventure turns south and west as he follows the trail of his maternal grandfather, a Canadian preacher who married an American woman in Wisconsin, and braved the American Wild West. Much to his surprise, McKee finds his American ancestors were involved in every major conflict on North American soil: the Civil War, the American Revolution, and the French and Indian War. In the last chapters,…
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We are excited to welcome 2nd place creative nonfiction essay winner, Jacqueline V. Carter, with her winning essay, "The Colors of My Life," to our blog this Valentine's Day to talk about writing and contests and her essay! Here's a little about Jacqueline in her own words: This is the first time I’ve entered a writing contest, and I’m very encouraged by the response to my essay. I’ve always wanted to be a creative writer. But my professional life went in another direction. For years, I worked with government agencies and national organizations to develop and promote public health campaigns targeted to policymakers, providers, consumers, patients, and the media. I loved…
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Whether you are submitting your first manuscript or your thirteenth, on some days rejection is no big deal. You will have other opportunities. Perhaps the next person to read your manuscript will want to publish it or represent you. No matter. You get on with your day. But other days? On those days rejection makes you question why you keep putting yourself through this. Here are five things to help you lessen the sting. Set a Limit I’m not going to get into the psychology of rejection and why some rejections are worse than others. But if this one rocks you back, take some time to feel the agony. No really. Stomp around the house. Gripe at the cat. Whatever it t…
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Hello WOW Readers! I have been one of the first-tier contest judges for WOW’s quarterly flash fiction contest for over a decade, and it has been a huge pleasure to read your stories. I am writing this blog series on Flash Fiction Contest Tips to help you strengthen your flash writing and maybe even place in one of our contests! Tips are based on our scoring criteria and craft trends I’ve seen throughout the decade. TECHNIAL is one of the scoring categories for the flash fiction contest, and one criterion within that category is overuse of adverbs. Adverbs are words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, clauses, or other adverbs. If a story contains too many un…
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When I was a child, I loved watching my maternal and paternal grandmother cook whenever I visited for the weekend or for a family gathering. I'd stand beside them full of questions and learn that the blackened skillet they used to fry a batch of chicken or catfish in, or to make skillet cornbread, was what seasoned the food and gave it flavor. I'd watch as they added fresh herbs or spices to their recipes, and get lessons on snapping the ends off of string beans, and how to clean collard greens. I treasured being in their company as delicious aromas wafted through their kitchens. I especially loved when they lifted a pot lid off of a pot of stew or soup simmering on the s…
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Stephen King's War on Plot
An Algonkian Success Story
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Sci-Fi, Scots, & More
Unbuttoning the CEO Unbuttoning the CEO by Mia Sosa is 99c! This contemporary romance has a bit of a taboo relationship element. However, I’m skeptical about the hero and his redemption arc. Reckless driving is no joke. This is also part of the Forever Yours digital imprint, so it’s a little on the shorter side at less than 300 pages. WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T MIX BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE? As the CEO of a large tech company and a semi-reformed bad boy, Ethan Hill is used to calling the shots. But -
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a:The Odyssey Writing Workshop
The Odyssey Writing Workshop One of the top workshops in the world for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror Held at Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, June 7-July 16, 2021 Only 15 students. The most intense learning experience you’ll ever have. Application deadline: April 1 Six weeks of directed study with Jeanne Cavelos, former senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, bestselling author, and winner of the World Fantasy Award Guest Lecturers: David Farland * Gregory Ashe * Meagan Spooner Djéli Clark * Melissa Scott * Sheree Renée Thomas Virtual Guests: David Brin * -
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The Heiress by Molly Greeley
TW: child abuse, drug abuse, addiction and recovery Fans of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice might recall meeting Anne de Bourgh for a hot minute and also hearing her referred to incessantly by her domineering mother, Lady Catherine. The Heiress tells Anne’s story from her point of view, beginning in early childhood and extending through the entirety of her life. This book was not what I expected, but I loved it once I adjusted to its tone. While The Heiress contains a romance, it is less about romance and much more about the search of the protagonist for autonomy and purpose in her li -
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a:WOW! Interview with Contest Runner Up Courtney Harler for "Divorce Ranch"
Congratulations to Courtney Harler and Divorce Ranch and all the winners of our 2021 Quarter 1 Creative Non-Fiction Essay Contest! Courtney's Bio: Courtney Harler is a freelance writer, editor, and educator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA from Sierra Nevada University (2017) and an MA from Eastern Washington University (2013). Courtney has been honored by fellowships from Writing By Writers, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and Nevada Arts Council. Courtney’s creative work—which includes poems, flash fictions, short stories, literary analyses, craft essays, book and film revi -
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Fantasy, Historical Romance, & More
All In RECOMMENDED: All In by Simona Ahrnstedt is $1.99! Redheadedgirl gave the book an A: I felt like this was full of Shakespearean drama, and scheming families, and hot sex, and gorgeous clothes, but also some important things to say about how the world is functioning. There’s a lot going on, though, and the ending a tad rushed. In the cutthroat world of Sweden’s financial elite, no one knows that better than corporate raider David Hammar. Ruthless. Notorious. Unstoppable. He’s out to -
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She's a Literary Agent
Overall, this is a great, comprehensive video for new writers just starting out. Heck, it's also good for writers who just finished their first manuscript and have no clue what to do next. Something I very much appreciate about this video is the tempering of expectations, and the emphasis on curating writing advice by its source. Too often I see new writers falling down rabbit holes of terrible advice from friends, family, or writing groups who don't quite know what they're talking about. For new writers, one of the best ways to learn is to know WHO and WHERE to learn from. I once joined -
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a:Congrats on Finishing Your Quarantine Novel
* sense of humor required Warning: Hacks for Hacks tips may have harmful side effects on your writing career, and should not be used by minors, adults, writers, poets, scribes, scriveners, journalists, or anybody. Happy Quarantiniversary! Time flies, does it not? Now we’re one year into the pandemic, and many of you reading this have already been vaccinated. It’s time to celebrate not just the prospect of life returning to normal, but also your forthcoming literary success. When all this nonsense started, writers everywhere said, “This sucks, but at least I’ll have more time to write.” A w -
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a:Interview with Meagan Spooner, Instructor with Odyssey Writing Workshop
Photo by Christopher TovoToday I am excited to have another instructor from Odyssey Writing Workshop: author Meagan Spooner. Meagan Spooner will be a guest lecturer at this summer’s Odyssey Writing Workshop, where she will discuss techniques for building characters and character arcs, participate in workshopping sessions, and meet in private conferences with students. She grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Odyssey in 2009 and currently lives and writes in Asheville, -
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Outlawed by Anna North
A- Outlawed by Anna North January 5, 2021 · Bloomsbury Publishing TW/CW for the book and this review: discussions of infertility, death in childbirth. Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish I could read a Western that has a queer girl gang”? Well, guess what? I have great news. While I don’t typically read Westerns, I was drawn in by the blurb for Outlawed: The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada’s life looks good; she loves her -
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She's a Literary Agent
Her take on the learning curve to becoming a marketable author was realistic. The special "helium voice" effects were annoying, but her delivery overall was professional. Check the box with her on: - DO YOUR HOMEWORK on plot, characters, etc. - READ BOOKS on how to write a novel (okay, but the right ones). - OUTLINING a better idea than PANTSING. Uncheck the box on: - READ BLOGS AND ONLINE VIDEOS to learn how to write. They will inevitably be filled with quasi-productive, very poor, or contradictory advice unless chosen very selectively. How is a neophyte novel wr -
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She's a Literary Agent
Meg Latorre's "11 ways to improve your writing" are worth learning about if you're a new writer. While I find that she covers a lot of the same points that have already been addressed in other videos, there were a couple things that stood out that I think new writers should definitely take note of. Critique groups vs. beta readers - Meg takes the time to explain the difference between these and why you would find them useful during the editing phase of your manuscript. More than once she kindly encouraged writers to be open to making changes to their story upon receiving constructive crit -
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Staff Picks: Raisins, Rhythm, and Reality
Allan Gurganus. Photo: © Roger Haile. Courtesy of W. W. Norton. In his Art of Fiction interview, Allan Gurganus preaches the power of the sentence. But for me, the real satisfaction to be had from the newly released Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus comes from the layers: a shrewd grad student’s thrifting trip becomes the story of a portrait, which is actually the story of a tragic moment in a small town’s history; a local news report becomes a firsthand account of the incident told by a police officer to his tape recorder. (In fact, local news reporters are more than once a way of gettin -
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Episode 447, Your Transcript is Ready!
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/themes/smartbitches/images/podcast/header_05c.jpg The transcript for Podcast 447. Hanging Out with Sarah J. Maas has been posted! This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks. ❤ Click here to subscribe to The Podcast → View the full article -
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Hot Contemporaries, Princess Brides, & More
Hot and Badgered Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston is $1.99! This is the first book in the Honey Badger Chronicles. Sarah read this one and gave it a B grade: Among my favorite things about Laurenston’s writing is how very affirming and inspiring and a whole lot of fun it is, because angry, fearless women make room for themselves, they get shit done, and they’re the heroines. More honey badgers, please. It’s not every day that a beautiful naked woman falls out of the sky and lands fac -
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Author Spotlight – Gabriela Houston (THE SECOND BELL)
Gabriela Houston is a London-based writer. She was born in Poland and raised in a book-loving household on the nourishing diet of mythologies, classics and graphic novels. She had spent much of her early school years holed up in the library, only feeling truly herself in the company of Jack London’s trappers and Lucy Maud Montgomery’s red-headed orphan, among many others. She came to the UK at 19 to follow her passion for literature and she completed her undergraduate and Masters degrees at Royal Holloway, University of London. After her studies she worked in publishing for a few years. She
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