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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Do you have any family road trips planned in the upcoming months? If a vacation isn't in your immediate future, a short drive in the country may be the perfect excuse to start a new audio book too! Many people know I'm involved in the book business, so it just makes sense that a friend recently texted the following: Here's a challenge for you: 4-6 audiobooks that we would all enjoy (road trip prepping for late June). Got any good ideas? Let's help a mama out! This particular friend will be traveling with her newly turned adult daughter and her preteen son. I turned to my Mama friends (Real Mommy AF) on Facebook and here's what we came up with (along with some comments): …
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For years there were so many things that held me back as I pursued a writing career. One particularly was waiting for the perfect time to write. I told myself far too often that I would write when my world, my family, my home life, even the weather at times, was perfect. I told myself I would write when I was in a better mood and not full of melancholy, or I would write when every room in my home was impeccably clean, or the laundry was done, or a meal cooked, or when a loved one who was ill felt better, or when whatever storm I might be going through passed. During that season of my life, I felt that a perfect life was the only means to bring about a perfect writing life…
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What's great about the picture book genre is that two mediums are telling the story: the author's words and the illustrator's pictures. What picture book writers who aren't illustrators often forget is that there are two mediums telling the story. (I'm raising my hand--I used to be one of these!) How can you let the illustrations do some of the work of telling the story? Here are a few tips below. Tip one: Let the illustrator handle the description. Picture book writers are telling an entire story with a problem, solution, and character development in about 1000 words or less. There's no time for a paragraph of what grandma's living room looked like after the kids finish…
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Interview with Kelly Eden: Q2 2021 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest Third Place Winner
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Kelly’s Bio: Kelly Eden lives with her family of six on the edge of a rainforest in New Zealand. She has been a writer for print and online magazines for over 12 years and now runs a Creative Nonfiction Academy and Personal Essay Course to help other writers tell their stories. Kelly was a school teacher before entering the writing world, completing her Bachelors in Education and Post Graduate Diploma in Health Sciences, which eventually led her into writing for parenting magazines. She also focused on short fiction early in her career, winning several local awards including a scholarship with the New Zealand Society of Authors to be mentored by international author, Shi…
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Like a half-eaten sandwich, half-finished stories used to pose as a problem. Much like the sandwich that slowly goes soggy thanks to a generous amount of mustard and mayo, I wonder to myself if I really want to keep around a half-finished story. It wasn't until this past year that I came to embrace the idea of accepting a story that didn't have an ending. It all started thanks to this one mannequin story that I wrote without an ending. It had been years since I had worked on it, and suddenly, this fresh perspective came in. I discovered my ending, and I never thought I'd get to that point with this story. Prior to this experience, I used to feel bad for not finishing. I …
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I was browsing through one of my books on writing (specifically, The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques from Your Writing Career Coach by Christina Katz) and a tip regarding writing about the body caught my eye. The author spoke of how we have so many memories stored inside our bodies. This led me to thinking that if I brainstormed creative nonfiction essay ideas or journal entries about my own body, what would I write about? I’ve already written about the bump in the middle of my nose, and how I received it after falling off a pogo ball my stepfather bought me in the 1980s. I can still remember the taste of blood as it poured from my nose and onto the co…
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As a woman of a certain age, I find myself reading more and more about retirement. What comes up frequently in these articles are the bad financial habits that must be stopped in their tracks and replaced with good financial habits. Which is a bit easier said (or written about) than done since time is not exactly on the retiree’s side. As I have a bit of experience with lots of bad habits, and more specifically bad writing habits, I thought I’d share a few now so as to help you sooner rather than later. Though unlike bad money habits, when it comes to starting good writing habits, it’s never too late. (Yay!) Procrastination Show me a writer who has never engaged in this …
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We are excited to be back with Allen Long and announce the blog tour of his latest memoir, Praying for Restraint. Join us as we interview the author, highlight upcoming spots on the blog tour, and give away a copy of his book. First, here is a little bit about Praying for Restraint: Allen Long works as a CNA-certified nursing assistant at that supposed sanctuary of caring, an inner-city general hospital. What an unforgettable parade of bizarre, needy, abusive, menacing, endearing, and poignant humanity passes through its doors. And those are just the staff and administrators! Meanwhile, the patient population spans the affluent and sophisticated to the homeless, the ment…
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Interview with Melissa Knox, Runner Up in the Q2 2021 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
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Melissa Knox’s book, Divorcing Mom: A Memoir of Psychoanalysis, was published by Cynren Press in 2019. Her recent writing has appeared in Image Journal, Another Chicago Magazine, and Lamplit Underground. She writes a blog, The Critical Mom. Read more of her writing here: melissaknox.com. ----------Interview by Renee Roberson WOW: Melissa, congratulations once again and thank you for joining us here today! It can be difficult when writing about grief. What was the process like for you in developing in writing “Widow’s Walk?” Were there times you had to walk away from it and sort through things in your mind before returning to the page? What advice would you g…
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by Marilyn Kiku Guggenheim The hapa (half-Japanese) hero of a novel I obsessively re-read, grew up with a mother who cherished her. Even when teenaged Sarah betrays a family secret, her mother Yoko forgives her, and they reminisce while holding hands and strolling a leafy Kyoto lane. With Yoko, Mary Yukari Waters conjured my fantasy mother in The Favorites. Mine lacked time or energy to see or hear me, which another reading obsession, The Bilingual Edge, helped me psychoanalyze: “Many researchers have concluded that immigrants...who maintained their cultural heritage at home...also provided their children with the strength to face challenges….[T]o know who they are and…
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My grandmother. Recently I got an e-mail from my editor. “Would you be willing to take this on? One thing – all of the writers working on this project have to use pen names.” There are a variety of reasons that writers use pen names. A friend of mine who writes romance told me about the male members of Romance Writers of America who often use pen names. Another friend uses a pen name for her work for hire and her own name on her royalty paying jobs. Yet another writing friend, an engineer, writes science fiction and cozy mysteries under her own name and erotica under a pen name. I’ve heard from some writers that they use one name for their work for young readers an…
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Today I am excited to talk with Caroline Michalicki, one of the runner-ups to the Fall 2020 Flash Fiction contest. Make sure you read her story Three Wishes then come on back and read our interview. Caroline's bio: Caroline gained confidence in her writing when her screenplay “The Journey” won honorable mention in the 2005 Maine International Screenwriters’ Competition. In 2008 her screenplay “Little Flames” was placed on the Hot List of Ten Best Scripts mentioned in Moviemakers Magazine. 2009-2018 seven of her ultra short (150 words or less) fictions were published in The Binnacle affiliated with The University of Maine in Machias. Five of those stories won honorable me…
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Olive is searching for her missing dog Ginger, but the dog has fallen into a hole and is trapped. Along comes Zen, a homeless dog who helps free Ginger. Together, they make their way back to Olive. This book is perfect for teaching young readers how to trust, make new friends, get out in nature, explore and investigate the world around them and learn about the best doctors, sunshine, diet, fresh air, fresh water, a goodnight's rest, and exercise. Print Length: 24 Pages Genre: Children's ISBN-13: 979-8616441805 Publisher: Independent Zinger in The Woods is available to purchase at Amazon.com. You can also add this to your reading list on GoodReads.com. About the Autho…
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Mary Jumbelic is an author from Central New York, and the former chief medical examiner of Onondaga County. Performing thousands of autopsies in her career, she elaborates a strong voice for the deceased. She explores through creative non-fiction the imprint the dead have made on her humanity. She has published with Rutgers University Press, Tortoise and Finch, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Vine Leaves Press, GFT Press, and Jelly Bucket. In 2014, her piece was selected for the top ten in the AARP/Huffington Post Memoir Writing Contest. In 2021, another was chosen in the top ten for the Tucson Literary Festival. She is co-teaching an on-line course on memoir for the D…
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Whenever Mother's Day draws near, I must admit I go into overdrive reminiscing about my late mother and thinking of ways to pay homage to her and all that she ever taught me, through my writing. I have my fill of so many memories that I try to slip into those stories. Whether it's a fiction story about a family matriarch, a nostalgic essay about my mother's life, or a children's picture book story where she is the adoring Grandma doling out love, wisdom and peppermints, she is there, her voice, her advice, her mannerisms, the way she dressed, the wigs she loved wearing, the songs she hummed, the television shows she watched, the delicious meals she prepared, the prayers s…
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by Nancy Hayes Kilgore When I signed with Sunbury Press for my latest novel, BITTER MAGIC, I was given the option of using the publisher’s cover designer or choosing my own. Either way I could work with the artist to help shape the design. This is one of the perks of working with an independent publisher, and I was pleased, since I, like most of us authors, have a real emotional investment in how my cover looks. BITTER MAGIC is inspired by the story of Isobel Gowdie, whose witchcraft confession in 17th century Scotland, is one of the most famous of recorded confessions. The novel brings you into a world immersed in both religion and magic, a world where conflicting bel…
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There are a lot of posts and articles, conference talks and YouTube videos and classes, that tell you the dos and don'ts of picture book writing. (Click the link for one by our very own Sue Bradford Edwards!) There are a lot of rules and best practices for picture book writers, and so when I said a couple of weeks ago that I was writing about the dos and don'ts of picture book writing--you probably rolled your eyes. But bear with me. I want to present a different kind of dos and don'ts list--one that reaches into your writer's soul and grabs on. One that allows you to write the best book you can for our youngest readers. The only "rule" I'll mention before I go on to t…
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Bracelets used to be super popular that said WWJD (What would Jesus Do?). I'm more prone to looking for a WWSD bracelet--What would Sioux do?... and then advising everyone to do the opposite. You name the wrong fork in the road, and I've not only taken it, I've dilly-dallied along the way, I've backtracked to go along the wrong fork several times, I've bought houses situated on the wrong fork, I've set out a lunch on a blanket on the ground and gazed at the sights along the wrong fork in the road, I've... well, you get the picture. image by Pixabay Don't get me wrong. I've fallen into some i…
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Deborah Tomkins lives in the historic city of Bristol, UK, with her family. She gained an Honours degree in French & Linguistics, then became a dictionary writer, before educating her children at home for 15 years. She’s passionate about the natural world, and now works for a UK environmental charity. As a child Deborah loved reading, and secretly harboured the idea of writing fiction, but didn’t begin until her late forties. She writes novels, novellas and short stories, in inconsistent bursts of activity. Now We Are Seven is the first story in a science fiction novella-in-flash set in an alternate universe. A contemporary climate fiction novel has reached long and …
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I’ve always considered myself a pantser when it comes to writing, whether I’m working on a long or short work of fiction. With non-fiction articles, I tend to be a little more structured, fleshing out a rough outline with subheads and then filling in the sections with details. But lately, I found myself growing frustrated with my notebooks and lists of topics for my true crime podcast and for my blog. None of my ideas were in one central location and I needed to put some sort of plan in place, especially for the podcast content. Begrudingly, I went to my husband and asked him for his kit of Post-It Notes. He has them in every shape and color because he uses journey mappi…
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I often have the wonderful opportunity of interviewing authors, and a question I enjoy asking is: Even if you aren't a writer, that's a great question to ask yourself regularly. I find that giving this the thought it deserves helps me as a mother and as someone who interacts with younger people socially and professionally. This could also be a writing prompt for your journal or an essay. Like my own small children, I smiled a lot as a toddler and elementary student. Middle school kicked my butt and I wish I had known then what I know now...so this particular question really hits home for me. I think about the angsty teenage Crystal and just wish I could give her …
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Have you ever been faced by the good news/bad news question? Like when your first-born kid walks in the door and says, “I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” I always say give me the bad news first (“I flunked the Algebra test”). I like to have something positive to end the discussion/encounter on a high note ("But almost the whole class flunked it"). Granted, that’s not exactly good news anywhere except in a high school classroom, but the point is, there’s hope, right? Maybe the teacher will do a re-test. Or maybe she’ll allow half credit if the wrong questions are turned in with correct answers. Or maybe the students can drop their lowest grade. Se…
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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. I read a piece of flash recently that grabbed my interest from the first line. It was a magical realism piece with a strong character and an unusual voice and odd events and images, and I kept reading to see how the author would tie all these strands together.…
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Shala’s Bio: Shala Alert is a Jamaican living with her husband and three children in Trinidad. She has an MPhil in literatures in English and has lectured in literature at the university level. She has also taught English to high school students. Her love of literature started very early in life, and it has never let her go. With that love came the desire to write her own stories. Shala also has a keen interest in postcolonial studies, specifically as relates to the formation of black identity, and the experience of disenfranchisement experienced by many postcolonial “subjects” in a supposedly “post”-colonial world. This is a theme that necessarily informs her stories. …
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We are excited to be back with Nicole Souza and announce the blog tour of her dystopian fiction book Sins of Our Mothers. Join us as we interview the author, highlight upcoming spots on the blog tour, and giveaway a copy of her book. First, here is a little bit about Sins of Our Mothers: It has been fifteen hundred years since the solar flare devastation of the Global Catastrophe. Due to the radioactivity in the harvesting fields, society dismisses its defective children as nothing more than flawed products of the malfunctioned seeds in the field. But Lyratelle, a hyper-observant musical prodigy, believes these “defects” are intelligent, particularly her own sibling, th…
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