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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Barbara’s Bio: Predominately a visual artist, Barbara Olsen has been creating art for several years, exhibiting her work in numerous shows and publications. Unapologetically a lifelong list maker, journal nerd, and travel diarist, she also has an innate interest in the written word. In the last couple of years, she’s dipped her toes into the world of writing poetry and prose through enrollment in local classes. Within these circles of talented, passionate writers, she’s found a supportive community. Her vision is to ascribe, through imagery and words, personal, but at the same time universal, stories borne from observation and transformation. When not writing or painting…
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No, this is not about Sioux's past life as a cheerleader. I can semi-coordinate my legs (sometimes) and can control my arm movements (most of the time) but I can't do both at the same time. No, this about our family and friends who are cheerleaders--the folks who are cheering us on as writers. I read Jeanine DeHoney's moving post, and thought about the sweet way her family encouraged her witing... and I thought I would throw my two cents one and half cents into the conversation. My cheerleaders are a mixed bag. My cheerleaders are 99% over the top... and then, there's my husband. My hubby means well, bless his heart. He doesn't love to read, so that is responsible …
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On a day trip to Greenville, S.C. Financial expert Dave Ramsey has a philosophy that people have different personality types when it comes to managing money. “Nerds” are the ones who like creating a financial budget, sticking to it, and keeping a close eye on the finances because it gives them a sense of security. “Free spirits” don’t like to be constrained by the budget and have more of a “I want to live life to the fullest—we’ll figure out how to make more money!” attitude. In our house, my husband is definitely the nerd most of the time with our finances and I’m more the free spirit. He’s always had a practical approach to money, although he does have a free spirit si…
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About two weeks ago, I got two rejections in a single day. One was from a dream agent and it was a FORM rejection. But I was simply too busy to let it bother me. Whatever. Deadline dead ahead. Then a friend spoke about a similar pair of rejection that really shook her. She’s an amazing CNF writer and has had work in places I would never dream of approaching. But the rejections flattened her. Both of our responses made me wonder. Why do writers react to rejection the way we do? I turned to psychology for answers about how we react and what can be done about it. Why It Hurts For answers as to why rejection hurts, we need to look to the past. Early humans, without…
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Roxane Sloan, a life-long Hoosier, resides in Southern Indiana near the Ohio River and teaches English language learners in kindergarten through sixth grade in the public school system. She was fortunate enough to be awarded two Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowships which allowed her to study TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in England, to experience life in Kyoto, Japan, and to teach English in a remote village in Mongolia. Roxane is currently putting the finishing touches on one middle-grade novel while revising the second draft of another. She is fascinated by language and the power of words to alter a thought, shift a mood, or change a…
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We are excited to be back with Hugh Fritz and announce the blog tour of Book #2 in the Mystic Rampage Series, Public Display of Aggression. 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 Public Display of Aggression: Soleil and Flarence are immortal Genies who can bend the fundamental forces of the universe through willpower alone. For centuries, they have considered themselves the most formidable beings in the world, but some newcomers just might give them a run for their money. Magic has always been limited to living things. Throughout his life, Soleil has never come…
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In 2016, Robyn quit her demanding teaching job to become her husband’s full-time caregiver. After he died 2017, she walked the 500-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain, sold her Pacific Northwest home of 25 years and finished writing her forthcoming memoir, You Remind Me Who I Am: A Memoir of True Love and Lewy Body Dementia. She writes, blogs and podcasts about healing from loss, hiking and walking, and mid-life reinvention. She currently divides her time between the Pacific Northwest and Maui, documenting her walks and thoughts on Instagram @robynpassowfisher. “The Glass Sliver” is an excerpt from her memoir. Find her blog and more at www.robynpassowfisher.com. …
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As part of my health journey, I recently read the following: (thanks Noom) I also read this on my oldest daughter's 23rd birthday...so I'm the old dog referenced in the title. Whether we are old or young, we can change our behaviors and today let's brainstorm about how we can change our writing/journaling behaviors to become more successful. Back in the day, before I started writing for WOW! and managing tours, I read a fabulous article by Sarojni Mehta-Lissak titled 13 Strategies for Freelance Writers . If you don't have time right this minute to visit this article from 2007, let's look at some quick tips: * Read Writing Magazines (you're here, aren't you?)* Have…
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by Maruable (Marusa Zemva) In recent years I've often dreamed of flying. These kind of dreams has always been my favorite. If I could be any animal, I would choose to be a bird. So I can fly wherever I want to, whenever I want to. From a bird’s eye perspective, everything looks so clear, so small, almost meaningless. Well, the dreams where we can fly are supposed to tell us that we need to change something. And when we finally decide we will do something different, our insecurities come to the fore. When I decided I will pursue my writing career I was overwhelmed by a strong doubt. I doubted my ability to describe and summarize my views. I doubted my ability to correc…
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MM Wittle Bio: MM Wittle is a writer of all genres who is a high school and middle school teacher during the day, a college professor at night, and a book worm and writer on the weekends. Wittle also knits book scarves because to her, books need to be kept warm, too. Wittle’s play “Family Guidance'' had a reading at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA and was selected for honorable mention at the 5th Annual Philadelphia Theatre Workshop’s Playwriting Competition. “The Education of Allie Rose'' was a finalist in the Philadelphia Ethical Society Playwriting competition and was shortlisted in the Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama in England. Wittle…
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This past weekend my family surprised me with flowers and a cake. There wasn't any iced inscription on it that said, "Happy Birthday," or some other celebratory salutation most would expect on a cake. Instead, as my grandchildren held it in front of me with a lone candle, was the word, "Writer,"... plain and simple in blue icing. My heart swelled. Joyous tears filled my eyes. So often we writers feel others, even those closest to us, aren't aware how long and hard we toil at our craft. Sometimes we assume they don't know the behind the scenes work ethics we have, the sweat and tears we pour into our work, the disappointments we have faced, and the tenacity it takes to wr…
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Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. She received her MFA from American University. Previous publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Wigleaf, Jellyfish Review, Booth, Strange Horizons, and CRAFT Literary. She’s the author of a novel, TreeVolution, and three collections: Circe’s Bicycle, Midnight at the Organporium, and Political AF: A Rage Collection. Her fourth collection, Cabinet of Wrath: A Doll Collection is forthcoming from Aqueduct Press in 2021. interview by Marcia Peterson WOW: Congratulations on your first place win in our Winter 2021 Flash Fiction competition! What prompted you to ente…
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Now announcing a blog tour featuring two clean and sweet books: Read-Aloud Stories with Fred Collection and Only My Horses Know. Both books are perfect for parents who worry about the material their children are reading or they are reading to them. Both are clean and sweet. Published by Editor-911 Kids, an imprint of Editor-911 Books, a small, independent press owned and operated by Margo L. Dill that publishes books that readers love but aren't traditional. Join us as we interview the authors, share more about the books, and give you the chance to win a copy! Also, by actively participating in this tour, you have the chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card. Read-Aloud S…
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Congratulations to Helen K. Hedrick and Le Pen de Amazon and all the winners of our 2021 Quarter 2 Creative Non-Fiction Essay Contest! Helen's Bio: Helen has her master’s degree in social work. She completed her career as a school social worker and raised her two children to young adult age in Boulder, Colorado. She now lives in a highrise in downtown Denver with her husband who is required to read everything she writes. Her formal writing training is from Gotham Writers’ Workshop in New York City and Lighthouse Writers’ Workshop in Denver. Recent classes at Lighthouse have moved her towards writing in something like a “hybrid/narrative nonfiction” genre and she is d…
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When Sioux contacted me a few years ago for developmental editing before I had started Editor-911 Books, like so many Americans, I also hadn't heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre. She told me her big picture idea and bought a novel draft package. With my developmental editor hat on, I read her manuscript (Sioux is a wonderful writer) and knew that she had spent most of the pages skirting around the actual massacre because she was writing a middle-grade novel, and she was thinking of her audience. I think she wondered if she could write about the horrific details of that event for that age group. But my advice was: Kids, teachers, parents, and librarians will want to read abo…
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Interview with Carole Mertz, Author of Color and Line (and poetry collection giveaway!)
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Today, I am excited to introduce you to an incredible author who just released a book of ekphrastic poetry and prose poems. She's here to talk about her new book Color and Line and share her writing journey with us. Color and Line, Carole Mertz’s 2021 poetry collection, presents ekphrastic poems, and other poems of various literary references in formal poetry and free verse. Her ekphrasis treats some well-known paintings, such as Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” Van Gogh’s “La Guinguette,” and Pippin’s lesser known “The Domino Players.” Mertz’s prose poems present colorful essays and vignettes, telling little stories that record her deeply emotional responses to …
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The Greenwood Cultural Center had a fundraising brunch as part of the commemoration of the Tulsa Race Massacre. A friend of mine (Darice) and I went to Tulsa, and reserved two spots at the brunch. I thought the highlight would be hearing Alfre Woodard speak. She did make a lovely and moving (prepared) speech, but Garth Brooks stole my heart. Let me preface the rest of this post with this: I am not was not a real fan of his. There is a popular Garth Brooks bar song that I sang--one time--along with a large group of people (surprise--in a bar), but I’m more into Trisha Yearwood. So, when I heard about this brunch, I squealed about other stars who would be in attendance… bu…
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The last time I opined about my writing faults (and tips for correcting them), many of my talented Muffin bloggers admitted that they, too, shared my bad writing habits. One of our bloggers, Sue Bradford Edwards, went so far as to ask: Seriously - don't any of us have unique bad habits? Something quirky but adorable? Never let it be said that Cathy C. Hall would back down from a dare. (Technically, there wasn’t a dare but I definitely felt it was implied.) And so today, allow me to present my quirky but adorably unique bad writing habits: The Folder That’s Stuffed With 87, 567 Non-Fiction Ideas That Are Gathering Dust (And Will Most Likely Never See the Light of Day) …
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Pexels.com I’m about to catapault headfirst into the whirlwind of helping a child apply for colleges in the coming months. I’m not ready for this—but I’m not sure I’ll be ready for this by the time my second child begins the college application process two years from now, either. I am grateful we weren’t experiencing my daughter’s senior year in the 2020-21, when proms, end-of-year-celebrations and so many high school graduations were simply canceled as the world began shutting down and sheltering in place due to COVID-19. About a month ago our school hosted a guest speaker discussing the current trends in writing college essays. My daughter had track practice so she w…
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We are excited to welcome back, Natalie Beisner, who placed twice in our Q2 2021 Creative Nonfiction Essay contest. Links to these incredible essays are below in the questions that ask about each one. Plus, Natalie gives us a lot of words of wisdom and inspiration in this interview. But first, a little about Natalie: Natalie Beisner is a Los Angeles-based storyteller and writer. Her personal essays have been featured in The Selkie, The Dead Magpie, antonym lit, ArtAscent, VISIO, Weird Women Co. Her writing has been previously awarded by Kaleidoscope: A Reflection on Women’s Journeys, Gulf Stream Lit, as well as WOW! Women on Writing. Natalie is a previous StorySLAM winner…
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This market loves me, it loves me not. Not too long after I started yoga, I met another newbie. We laughed when we realized we are both writers. But Kay was shocked when she learned I did work-for-hire. My educational writing is work-for-hire, meaning I get paid a set fee and the publisher owns the copyright. “You should self-publish like I do,” Kay said. Her work focuses on personality assessment and group dynamics. She speaks at businesses, churches and women’s groups. Her workshops sell out fast. When I told her that I write for the school library market, Kay laughed. “Just ignore me. Your market would never find you if you self-publish.” Finding the right ma…
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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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FLAMES OF MIRA by Clay Harmon (COVER REVEAL)
Today we’re thrilled to host a cover reveal for Clay Harmon’s debut novel, Flames Of Mira. Described as an epic new fantasy series set in a world of ice, fire and magic, this is a tale of redemption with a magic system to rival that of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. Want to know more? We got you covered, here’s the official blurb: People like Ig are born from life-threatening trials that bind periodic elements to the human body, forged in the boiling volcanoes and subterranean passages under Mira’s frozen lands. One of the most powerful known elementals, he is forced to work as an -
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Writing in Both Directions
Start your story at the beginning, write until you reach the end, then stop. Then start your revisions with page one and work straight through from there, too. Although there is no best way to write a novel, a lot of writers take this approach because it’s the most natural. And it may work for you. But stories aren’t always so linear. Instead, they loop back and forth, with later events affecting earlier ones. Your characters might veer in unexpected directions, plot points that seemed minor when the story started may turn out to be critical, and vice versa. The ending can change the me -
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How the “Victorian Mystery” Was Born
The Victorian era is, for what seem like obvious reasons, defined by the life span of the British Queen Victoria, which dates from her birth in 1837 and ends with her expiration in 1901. Those early years, when she was an infant and then a toddler and then an adolescent (although it may be difficult to envision her as such) did not actually produce much in the way of what we recognize as “Victorian fiction,” which developed later in her life—and beyond. Indeed, much Edwardian fiction, if we read it without being aware of publication dates, has precisely the tone and attitude of the works prod -
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A List of YA Speculative Thrillers That Will Completely Blow Your Mind
If you’re anything like me, the books that tend to stick with you are the ones that simply blow your mind. The ones that take you away from reality and make you think about everything in a completely new way. My personal favorites are the ones where I can’t decide if I would really love the tech or speculative situation to be real, or if I’m super thankful that it’s not. Speculative fiction is a broad category of fiction, which includes any genre that has elements that do not exist in reality—we’re talking sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, etc. It’s these “what if” scenarios that my mind tends to -
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Five Thrillers Set In the Woods
A few years ago, when I decided to move from my city apartment into an old small house in the woods, everyone thought I was crazy. And actually, maybe I was, because the forest and I are not always best friends, to be honest. During the day, I love the surroundings – the peace, the specialness . Then again, some nights I cannot sleep: animals scream, the wind rushes through the trees, everything creaks. This is when my brain starts to develop dark visions and strange fears. So what else should I do but write thrillers? And is it a coincidence that so far all of my books are at least partially -
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John Banville Returns to Crime Fiction—This Time Under His Own Name
At the conclusion of the seven Quirke novels, starting with Christine Falls and concluding with Even the Dead, it seemed as though Benjamin Black, aka John Banville—(and more later about the name game he’s adeptly played) had achieved a perfect narrative arc. Over the series, we learned how Quirke had become the misanthropic misfit he is and how the repressive Catholic Church’s control of Dublin in the 1950s permeated all aspects of an often depressing, yet occasionally vibrant life. Quirke, a pathologist who seldom actually practices his trade, cannot help but involve himself in any number o -
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HaBO: Train Bridge Collapse
This HaBO is from Michelle, who wants to find this American historical romance: I’m looking for some help finding the name of a book that I read in the early 90s. It may have been published in the mid to late 80s as it was part of my Mom’s book stash. The setting is the American Old West when railroads were still fairly new-ish. The male main character may have been either raised by an Indigenous tribe or part/all Indigenous himself. I have no real memory of the female main character. Romance blossoms but is thwarted when the hero discovers he is a father and has a son who was born to a ric -
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Interview with D. Slayton Avery, Runner Up in the WOW! Spring 2021 Flash Fiction Contest
D. Slayton Avery, recently retired from teaching, now works at playing with words. Her fiction and poetry has appeared in online and print journals and anthologies—Boston Literary Magazine, The Hopper, Enchanted Conversations, and Santa Barbara Literary Journal among others. She is a regular contributor at Carrot Ranch Literary Community. D. has two books of poetry, Chicken Shift and For the Girls, and a collection of flash fiction, After Ever, Little Stories for Grown Children. D. Avery’s writings are available for online sampling at ShiftnShake. When not writing, D. Slayton Avery can be foun -
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New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2021
1. Story Statement After a soldier she’d just met at the Nashville USO Club rapes her, 18-year-old farmgirl Grace Pennington flees to Oak Ridge to work on a top-secret project. Promiscuity soon leads to pregnancy. Desperate, Grace chooses the older, more mature Royal DuPriest as the father. When he abandons a fiancée back home to marry her, Grace fully commits. Over the next 7 years, as Royal drinks to excess and bankrupts his business, young Grace reluctantly bears 5 children. When Royal dries out, they move to Pennsylvania where Grace feels isolated, but happy—until her first, favo -
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New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2021
1.Rampart Story Statement: Born into poverty, mama is a prostitute, papa is not around, Louis must make his own way. He luck will change when he starts working for brothers, Morris and Alex. He overcomes his life’s demons with the encouragement and support from the brothers’ family. He must face his own family, square up with the law, learn to blow the horn, all while figuring out a way into musical greatness. 2.Antagonist: Louis Armstrong Sr was too busy in his debauchery to give his son anything but a name. Louis Jr learns as a youngster that his papa wasn’t someone he -
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They Both Die at the End: A Lesson in Boring the Reader
Sometimes even death can be boring. I was drawn to They Both Die at the End when I saw it listed alongside my previous read, How To Stop Time. After watching the multi-year buzz for this book, not to mention seeing the raving reviews, I wondered if it might be worth finally giving it a try. Maybe it wasn't as melancholy and naval-gazing as I worried it would be. And the concept of a near future in which a faceless organization called Death-Cast calls people to let them know when they're going to die was intriguing. I checked it out almost two weeks ago. Reader, I still have not -
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Perfect on Paper: How to use a Plot Device
Elevate the mundane with an expertly-crafted plot device! I suppose it's no secret how much I enjoy a good romcom. If an author can make me laugh while also providing some of the romantic warm and fuzzies, then here, take my money! But the problem is that romance is heavily trodden ground. It's incredibly hard to find something that hasn't been done a thousand times, and better. In the game of publishing statistics, the odds of writing a novel romance (pun intended) are against you. Enter: plot devices. Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales has a lot of tropey elements. The -
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THE NEW GUARDIANS: DEADLY GENESIS, Young Adult Modern Fantasy - Luis Manuel Santiago III
Introducing the birth of the main character of the book, two major supporting characters, one of the major settings, one of the main antagonists is mentioned, and introduces the foundation for one of the main conflicts for the book and series. Chapter One New Pangea, an island nation residing in the North Atlantic, was the first sovereign state established on Earth following the Great Orb Wars. Located west of Ireland and south of Iceland, the country is roughly the size of Great Britain and Ireland combined. There are five provinces that divide the land--the Arncola Wilds in -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
Assignment 2 - Sketch the Antagonist - Sixty Eight by Brian Freeman The Johnson Administration existed during a time where the mantra of young people was "don't trust anyone over thirty." LBJ was one of our final WWII presidents, while members of his National Security Council shared similar views on foreign policy. Walt Rostow, one of the biggest hawks in Washington and LBJ's National Security Advisor, as well as Bob McNamara, the Secretary of Defense, played vital roles in exacerbating America's war efforts in Vietnam. They convinced LBJ that the war was winnable when it never was, incli -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
Assignment 1 - Story Statement - Sixty Eight by Brian Freeman A time and space bending tale of the massive challenges America faced in the late sixties, Sixty Eight centers on Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president of the United States. After losing his life to a heart attack on his ranch in Texas, he awakens in Vietnam at the height of the Tet Offensive. Unseen and unheard, like a revenant, he witnesses the chaos of the war around him while following a platoon of Marines. He’s then transported to Washington where he’s finally seen, overwhelmed by the challenges he endured before; the Civil R -
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Magical Realism, Non-Fiction, & More
Winter’s Orbit RECOMMENDED: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell is $2.99! Ellen read this one and gave it an A-: If you enjoy sci-fi, arranged marriage/marriage of convenience stories, courtly intrigues, and/or slow-burn romance, I think Winter’s Orbit is a great choice. Ancillary Justice meets Red, White & Royal Blue in Everina Maxwell’s exciting debut. While the Iskat Empire has long dominated the system through treaties and political alliances, several planets, including Thea, have
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