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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If you've been keeping track of my blog posts, you'll remember that I've been battling with an incredibly stuck and stubborn short story of mine. In case you forgot, here's one post I wrote about being in pursuit of conflict and another about finding treasure in your first draft. Both were inspired by a story of mine that wasn't moving forward. I didn't want to end the month of February without reaching a resolution in this story. I had been reading endless pieces of advice on how to jumpstart your story, improve your characters, and ratchet up your plotline. Last week, I thought my only option was really to just let the story go and come back to it a few months later. Y…
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Know what you want Most writers reach a point when our work is as good as it is going to get. The only way it will get better is to turn it over to our critique partners or to hire an editor. That sounds pretty straightforward, but recently I’ve seen numerous twitter threads from freelance editors. These threads stood out because these are people I’ve worked with. One editor made a simple suggestion about changing the relationship between two characters in my story. I had to sit back and consider the changes that would echo throughout the whole story. They were amazing. Yet she and other editors sometimes get nasty-grams from clients. Nasty-gram is my own term for a…
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Here we are, February 2022 (and believe it or not, tomorrow it'll be March!). It's been a long time friends. This post may not be as inspirational as my usual banter - it may even be a bit sad. I'll try to make the sad part quick so we can get to the happy ending. Everyone loves a happy ending, right? I haven't put pen to paper this year. Until now... I have been so incredibly lost and I'm trying to get home. You know that feeling when you're driving and realize you've somehow managed to get off course? Your heart rate increases. Your palms get sweaty as you grip the wheel tighter. You turn off the radio in hopes concentration alone will help the situation. That's how…
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Tiffany Doerr Guerzon is a freelance writer, essayist, and mixed media artist. Her work has been featured in This Land Press, CNN, The Christian Science Monitor, Parents.com, Submittable, ParentMap, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. She lives near Seattle, Washington with her husband and three children, where she teaches creative nonfiction at a local college. She loves to hike and make art. ----------Interview by Renee Roberson WOW: Hi Tiffany, welcome! I loved your essay and am excited to talk to you about the process of developing it. In “Red Dirt” you explore your Oklahoma heritage with the storied past of the land that once belonged to Native Americans. Ho…
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By Bobbie Christmas Q: If I mention a song in my book, could I get in trouble? Here’s a sample sentence: Evanescence’s “Good Enough” was playing on the radio. I have quoted nothing from the lyrics. If I just mention that Evanescence is the character’s favorite band, do I need to do any legal things? A: I am not an attorney, but I do know that titles cannot be copyrighted, so you can certainly quote a title. Using even a few words from the lyrics of a song not in the public domain, however, can open you up for trouble if you haven’t received permission. Q: Please be so kind as to define the rules and regulations for quoting song titles and lyrics in published works. I …
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I’ve got a writing predicament over here and I don’t know quite how to fix it. It’s not the usual problem, like a muddled middle, a runaway plot, or a flat character. It’s a bit more complicated and a lot more embarrassing. On the other hand, I feel like my writing friends will understand. Because I need a little validation, a smidgen of compassion. But then again, I might get a swift kick in the laptop instead. Anyway, here goes: I can only write under certain circumstances and that’s about to change! Whew. It’s a relief to finally say it out loud. Except I sense you might be confused, struggling as it were to get on board the Cathy C. Hall Support Train. So let me e…
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We took advantage of an unusually warm day by strolling through Central park. This past weekend, my family took one of those trips that we will remember for a lifetime. My son recently turned 16, and since his older sister still drives them to school and sports and we don’t need a fourth car, I suggested we take a trip to a place he’s never been before in place of a gift. Now, he was hesitant at first because he’s a homebody and he felt like that would be “too much.” My daughter is 18 and she was all on board. We took advantage of them being out of school last Thursday and Friday for teacher workdays and booked our flight and a modest hotel in the Garment District. As I…
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Carol’s Bio: Carol Ovenburg has been a visual artist for over 40 years, a writer for over 20 years. She loves writing creative non-fiction essays, was recently published by WOW-Women on Writing as a 4th quarter, 2021 2nd place winner. She is currently finishing her first memoir titled, Pearls about her struggle growing up the daughter of an alcoholic mother with borderline personality disorder. She reads and screens and scores plays for the Ashland New Plays Festival. Carol is in two local writing groups with timed writing exercises a la Natalie Goldberg. On occasion she finds the time to sit down with a good book, usually a memoir or something of historical interest. She…
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By Bobbie Christmas Q: Are author photos and biographies essential to have on your books? Would I be making a mistake if my back cover had only my blurb? A: The back cover is the strongest sales piece for a book. Everything on the back cover should make people want to buy the book. The back cover should contain a powerful, interesting blurb regarding the content of the book or novel. Your bio, however, is important only if your book is nonfiction and you are an expert in your subject. Your bio may be insignificant on novels unless you become famous and people want to know more about you. A snapshot, however, may have significance in a few cases. For example if the book …
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http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs165/1101417136261/img/2027.jpgBy Kelly L. Stone Time to write is sparse, so you need to sit down and get going quickly. Even if you only have 15 or 20 minutes to get words on the page, springing into a creative state of mind is as simple as one-two-three when you establish a pre-writing routine. A routine, or doing the same tasks in the same order before you sit down and write, establishes a habit and engages the subconscious mind; you can train your brain to shift into an alpha mode just by creating a routine. It helps you make the transition from day-to-day life (work, kids, chores) to your creative project quickly and easily. The us…
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Today I'm so excited to be interviewing Jeanne Porter, the founder of Odyssey Writing Workshops. We'll be chatting about her new program, Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop. Jeanne Cavelos is the director of the Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust. She was a senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, where she worked for eight years, editing the fantasy/science fiction program, the Abyss horror line, and other fiction and nonfiction. Jeanne is also the bestselling author of seven books and numerous short stories and articles. She has won the World Fantasy Award and twice been nominated for the Stoker Award. Jeanne has run the Odyssey Writing Workshop for the last…
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Today I'm excited to interview Dr. Jo Skinner, runner up in the Summer 2021 Flash Fiction contest. Make sure you read her story Black Man Running then come on back for our interview. First, a bit about Dr. Jo Skinner: Jo is a Brisbane based general practitioner who has worked in urban and rural Australia as well as Ireland. She is married with three teenagers. Her stories have been long listed, short listed, won competitions and been published. Last year, she coedited an anthology about people’s experiences of COVID which was published by the Queensland Writer’s Centre and can be also found at The State Library Queensland. She is currently writing a novel, A World of Sile…
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We're so excited to announce the launch of our next blog tour, Mindset Medicine by Mari L. McCarthy. This book is perfect for health-conscious, action-taking writers who want to manifest everlasting self-love write now. Want the cure for culture chaos? Grab your pen and pad and prescribe yourself, Mindset Medicine: A Journaling Power Self-Love Book. The news, the fear, the media, the texts, the constant bombardment of electronic sludge. It can all tear you down and rip you away from being YOU! You can choose to give into this madness and be manipulated into submission. Or you can join the Journaling Power Revolution, reconnect with your higher self, and love yourself w…
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Susan Triemert's essay, "How to Activate Your Ancestry DNA Kit" was a runner up in WOW! Women on Writing's Q1 2022 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest. I'm thrilled to say her essay is just as gripping as the title! Read on for a discussion about borrowed form, Susan's work as a journal editor, and her latest essay collection. Susan’s collection of essays, Guess What’s Different, will be out in May of 2022 by Malarkey Books. She is an assistant non-fiction editor at Pithead Chapel and Red Fez. She has been nominated for a Pushcart, Best of the Net, and two Best Microfictions. She holds an MA in Education and an MFA from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. You can find her w…
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By Bobbie Christmas Q: What does my editor mean when she says my manuscript has danglers? A: She means that some sentences are missing important words. Without seeing the manuscript I don’t know whether the sentences have dangling participles, dangling modifiers, or missing modifiers, but let me explain. All dangling (or missing) modifiers can make readers misinterpret a sentence. A dangling modifier is missing a subject and is usually a participle. A dangling participle is always a dangling modifier, but not all that dangles is a participle. Participles are words formed from verbs (such as the word “sitting,” formed from the verb “to sit” or the word “opening” from the…
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Monday Marcia showed us all how she blacks out newspaper or magazine articles to create inspirational black out poems. Her post inspired me to write about my own recent inspiration which has has come in the form of drawing, and it all started with a WOW! Women on Writing Class. I’ve got a mostly finished graphic novel sitting in my file cabinet. I’m not going to admit how long is has been missing only a satisfying ending, but I’d really like to wrap it up and send it out. When I saw Melanie Faith’s graphic novel class I didn’t hesitate to sign up in spite of the fact that she expects us to draw. Really? How serious could she be? After all, we’re writers. And yet eac…
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Writers are often told “write what you know” but if I wrote only about what I had firsthand experience with, I’d have put down my pen years ago. So I borrow other people’s firsthand experiences. But don’t worry about me engaging in any criminal business. When I borrow, it’s perfectly legal and (sort of) honorable and you, too, can benefit from the resource I use. To wit, advice columns. I love advice columns! And lucky for me, there are A LOT of advice columns out in the world. Which honestly, have come a long way from the days when I was a teenager reading “Dear Abby” in the daily newspaper. But there’s one constant with these columns: they’re still mostly about love …
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Linda’s Bio: Linda Davis is the author of Food Fight, a forthcoming middle grade novel in which an overnight class trip becomes a survival mission for a boy living with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), a little-known eating disorder often characterized as “extreme picky eating.” Food Fight will be published by Regal House Publishing in 2023. Linda holds master’s degrees in social work and developmental psychology and is passionate about the need for accurate and accessible mental health information in children’s literature. She lives in Northbrook, Illinois with her family and more books than she can ever possibly read. If you haven't read her story, …
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I admit to holding on to the ridiculous belief that engaging in playful, no-destination creative activities are “wasting time.” But when I do let myself work on creative projects, it ends up feeling like time well spent. There is always a payoff, whether it’s inspiration to create more things, a therapeutic benefit or just having fun. I’ve recently been revisiting Austin Kleon's books, and decided to try some newspaper blackout poetry. If you’re not familiar with this, you choose a section of a newspaper article (though I tend to prefer a magazine piece), and use a marker to cover everything except the words you want to remain shown. It’s an enjoyable creative exercise …
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I'm thrilled to interview Sue Hann about her essay, "Notes on a Pregnancy," which won second place in WOW! Women on Writing's Q1 2022 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest. You may remember Sue from last year's Q1 contest where she placed as a runner up. In today's interview, Sue and I chat about visceral writing, incorporating research, her submission process, 2022 goals, and more! Sue’s work was long-listed for the Spread the Word Life Writing Prize 2020. She won the Diana Woods Memorial Award 2020. Her writing has been published in journals such as Popshot Quarterly and Litro Online, as well as various flash fiction anthologies. She lives in London with a problematic numbe…
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By Bobbie Christmas Q: I’ve heard conflicting information about attributions. Some places say that using “said” is the best way to attribute dialogue to characters in fiction or interviewees in nonfiction. Other sources say to avoid using “said.” What’s the scoop? Who’s right or wrong? What’s a writer to do? A: Interestingly both views have merit. Attributing quotations keeps readers fully apprised of who says what. On the other hand, too much repetition of the same word leads to weak writing. The issue is a creative one, not an issue or what’s right or wrong, so I have some creative suggestions. It’s true that strong writing avoids overusing attributions, also called …
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by Barbie Beaton Writing a memoir proposal felt as desirable as gasoline sliding down my throat. For years, dread shadowed every writing session, ramping up doubt’s volume until every eloquent phrase was masterfully nipped and tucked to perfection. Desperation policed every writing session. This book would sell. A proposal simply couldn’t, wouldn’t, capture my artistry. But, she suggested writing a proposal. She is a recently published author who hit the big times with her memoir, somebody whose reach expands from a small community to a world of literary stars, somebody who taught a group of six memoirists by a large window in a local bookstore, somebody whose suggestio…
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Writing. Sometimes it has to take a backseat to life. Sometimes the things that are competing with our writing are what I call everyday pulls: children (two-legged as well as four-legged ones), spouses, and daytime jobs (if we do something other than writing full-time). Usually we can find ways to carve out pieces of our day, surrounded by spousing and housekeeping and cooking and child-raising and dog walking. It makes us occasionally frantic and often exhausted, but it can be done and is done all the time. Other times, what throws writing into the backseat (or the trunk) is more serious. Most of the time Sometimes Occasionally I battle with depression. It's gene…
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After reading Bethany Jarmful’s "Friday Speak Out" post about making sure you write even when you’re busy, I thought of my early days of freelancing. I would often have my four-year-old daughter putting together a set of railroad tracks for my toddler son in the playroom so I could interview someone for a weekly newspaper column I wrote. I never could seem to coordinate phone calls with nap times, especially when my precocious daughter decided she was done with napping at the age of two. My kids are teenagers now and for a brief window of time after the oldest got her driver’s license and began driving her brother to and from school and to sports practices, I blissfully w…
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Many of us have heard over the course of our writing life that first drafts are meant to be terrible. Many authors, ones more successful than me, have said that is the key to getting them done. Let them be awful! And that's true. Except sometimes we get stuck so far down on the road of revision we lose sight of some things in the story that was so important before. Recently, I've talked about my journey to revise a story that has had a character that felt underdeveloped to me. Nothing felt right in my tweaking, and I decided to go back to earlier drafts. I wondered what happened along the way that I lost so much sight of my story and my character. In the midst of feedbac…
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