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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Today I am excited to interview Vicki Sutherland Horton, one of the runner-up winners of the Fall 2020 Flash Fiction contest. Make sure you read her story The Winter the Moose Moved In and then come on back and read our interview. Vicki's bio: Vicki Sutherland Horton lives in the Victorian seaport town of Port Townsend, Washington. She is a retired educator, with deep roots in the Pacific Northwest. Through her writing, Vicki is interested in exploring the often unrecognized contributions of women in history. Vicki is a wife and mother and finds great joy in being a grandmother. She is a long-time participant in FisherPoets, a yearly gathering in Astoria, Oregon where …
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Jo’s Bio:Jo is a Brisbane based general practitioner who has worked in urban, regional and rural Australia as well as Ireland. She is married with three teenagers, a dog and a cat. She did her first writing course in 2017 and her stories have been long listed, short listed and won competitions. In 2020, she coedited an anthology about people’s experiences of COVID which was published by the Queensland Writer’s Centre and can be found at the State Library of Queensland. Her essays about the impacts of COVID on domestic violence and the mental health have been published by MiNDFOOD. She is currently writing her third novel and exploring publishing options. When Jo is not…
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Yes, I know the holiday season is hectic and stressful with plenty of not-so-very-merry moments, but it’s my favorite time of the year when it comes to my writing path, career, or whatever I’m calling it these days. Because December is when I do a slow roll, take some deep breaths, and review…well, me. And I can hear you saying, “That’s all well and good for you, Cathy. I don’t have time for that!” Well, this blog post is for you! The Website and/or Blog Assessment Before the start of the New Year, it’s a good idea to do a little sprucing up around your writer online home. Not a major reno; this is no time for an overhaul. It is terrific for a quick check to make sure ev…
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Frances Hider is a creative nonfiction writer who has a particular interest in the overlap of nature with art and literature, science and medicine. Her essay, “The Unintentional Contortionist” won the 2016 Frankenstein Workshop of Creation, Writing Competition. Her essays have appeared in the Tyne & Esk Writers anthology, From the Lighthouse, and online with the Scottish Book Trust as well as with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities’ “Dangerous Woman Project” through Edinburgh University. Frances lives in Scotland. interview by Marcia Peterson WOW: Congratulations on winning first place in our Q4 2021 Creative Nonfiction essay competition! What prom…
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A few months ago, I was drowning underneath the deadlines and timelines of a few different clients that I write for and episodes and content for my true crime podcast. I shared this post with the readers of The Muffin and began exploring ways a virtual assistant could help my writing business and productivity. I put out a few feelers for virtual assistants, but then began noticing that most virtual assistants in the creative space also provide content, editing, social media help, etc. This is great, but those services also come at a premium. While I would eventually love to hire a few people to help me create content for my own personal projects and social media accounts,…
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I know that NaNoWriMo (NaNo for short) is kicking off in just five days, but better late than never when it comes to planning, right? And this time, for once, I’m not joking around. Planning is crucial if you’re jumping into this annual November writing challenge. So for those new to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo/NaNo), let me explain what it is (or just borrow from their website as they put it so well): “NaNoWriMo is a non-profit that believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.” Which in practica…
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As part of self-care and trying to take better care of my heart (still no answers for those following my journey), I'm examining areas of my life where I can step back or slow down. I'm still making lists, but I'm learning how to shorten them. A fellow busy mum dropped me a text this week saying: "EVERY DAY IT SEEMS I DROWN IN TO DO LISTS. I'M BETTING YOU FEEL THAT ALSO?" I hadn't actually thought of it that way. I stepped back and gave it some thought (while sipping water, since I have cut my coffee intake back considerably...grumble grumble). Historically I felt like my lists had been the key to my success. The key to my ability to hold down 5 jobs while raising 6 kids…
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Teresa’s Bio: Teresa Boardman’s writing background has largely consisted of legal documents and summaries, policy and procedure manuals, and codes and rules. She started entering flash fiction contests in 2018 to break up the monotony of anything-but-creative writing. She enjoys flash fiction as it gives a vignette in time and often leaves just a bit of uncertainty for the reader to interpret. Teresa is a French Classically trained chef, plus holds a B.S. in Accounting and spent eight years as a Tax Auditor. She describes this transition as going from “cookbooks to cooked books.” She considers herself a multimedia artist who sometimes paints with words and hopes to add …
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It's no secret, I've loved Cheryl Crow forever...like since back in the day when people purchased compact discs and put them on repeat in their boom boxes! I was already smitten back in 2002 when I pre-ordered a copy of the Soak Up the Sun CD and listened to it all the way to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for spring break and then all the way back home to Rhinelander, Wisconsin. I'd smile so big while singing along with the sultry singer/songwriter "I've got a crummy job..." and "I'm still the king of me..." oh those were the days. Fast forward to today's technology driven world (don't worry, I still have my old CD's in a case although my boom box has been retired) and I…
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Sue Hann is a psychologist and writer living in London. Her work was long-listed for the Spread the Word Life Writing Prize 2020. She won the Diana Woods Memorial Award Summer/Fall 2020. Her writing has been published in journals such as Popshot Quarterly, Longleaf Review, Multiplicity Magazine, Brevity Blog and Litro Online, as well as various flash fiction anthologies including Palm Sized Press Vol. 3. You can find her on Twitter @SYwrites. ----------Interview by Renee Roberson WOW: “Exit Wounds” is a great example of a braided essay. What inspired you to use these two separate events to illustrate the mental and physical anguish one goes through with inf…
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Filled with tiny bursts of insight to nourish your heart, warm your soul, and help you to remember your true self. If you find yourself asking big, deep life questions like, "What's my purpose?" and "Why am I here?" then you'll want to curl up with The Little Book of Big Knowing. Three reasons why you’ll love this book: It includes gentle reminders of why you are here, who you are at your core, and why your dreams matter to more than just you. This book will help you to look at life in a light-hearted, joyful way. Consider it spirituality with a playful twist! And the best part is, the book is written in short bursts you can read in any order. So you can pick it up, rea…
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It's funny that Sue recently blogged about picking and choosing your pathway with writing. I ran into that very realization lately. It all started with a flash fiction contest I entered a couple of years ago. Part of the appeal of the contest was that you write the 500-word story in 48 hours, and submit what you have by the deadline. This resulted in little revising and rewriting on my part due to the time constraints. And I loved the little story I wrote and thought it was so charming. Over time, I've attempted to rewrite that story. Through that process, I've come across various flash fiction contests and wondered to myself if my story was worthy. I've even submitted it…
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Think about your current work-in-progress and your protagonist. He or she or it (and your anatognist, for that matter) needs a goal. This is different from their journey that the catalyst sends them on. It's different than the problem they are trying to solve. Your main character's goal is what this person wants more than anything else at this point in life. I know it's only October, and none of us like to think of goal setting before January 1. And I understand that your eyes will be rolling in the back of your head before I can get the S out in S.M.A.R.T. goal. But I want to show you how knowing what your character's goal is can help you when plotting your book, creati…
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We're back again with another blog tour! This time we're excited to announce the launch of Kid on the Go! by Neill McKee. Kid on the Go! is Neill McKee’s third work of creative nonfiction. It’s a standalone prequel to his award-winning Finding Myself in Borneo. In this new book, McKee takes readers on a journey through his childhood, adolescence, and teenage years from the mid-40s to the mid-60s, in the small, then industrially-polluted town of Elmira, Ontario, Canada—one of the centers of production for Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. McKee’s vivid descriptions, dialog, and self-drawn illustrations are a study of how a young boy learned to play and work, fish and h…
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The other day my 8th graders and I were brainstorming emotions for possible memoir stories. We were coming up with ideas like "incredibly excited--when my team won the soccer tournament." The idea was to jot down just a few words to jog our memory, so later, we could write some rough drafts and then even later, we could decide which story we wanted to invest some time in as we revised and edited and shared. image by Pixabay I was sharing my memoir ideas because in my class, I write right alongside my students. To get them started, I went through each emotion as we took notes, and wrote down the experie…
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by Caitlin Hamilton Summie I didn’t get it. I didn’t get it for 6 ½ months. But my editor, Marc Estrin, patiently stuck with me, nudging me, until I did: the opening to my novel was all wrong. The way my characters had met wasn’t “true.” I’d set the scene with the couple meeting at a college football party. Al and Sarah ended up sharing space on a couch to view the game. Despite the team getting trounced and limping off the field, a slightly inebriated but always loyal Al rose to sing the Gopher fight song, and Sarah got a kick out of him. I loved that moment of Al’s, but I came to understand that I had trivialized my characters in this scene, perhaps made Al look silly,…
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For the past six weeks, I’ve been working as a mentor in a program that helps prepare writers for the educational market. The goal is that by the time the program is over they will have all that they need to apply to any educational market, and there are many. One group of educational markets specializes in testing. The authors who write for these markets prepare passages. Some of them also write the actual test questions. Many write for state assessment tests. Another group writes books for the school and library market. Most of these jobs are work-for-hire with a vast range of topics. To write for this market you have to write fast and you have to be flexible. T…
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If you’re a writer who wants to one day attract the interest of an agent or publishing house, or create products to sell on your own, creating a platform for yourself is a must. In essence, this platform is your visibility as an author. There are several different ways you can work on building your platform if you haven’t already. You can: Create a website or blog. Build an e-mail list where you can alert subscribers to upcoming projects, books for sale, and provide free content. Write guest blog posts or articles for online publications. Grow a social media following through sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Become a public speaker on topics you w…
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This past spring, I participated in a WOW! blog tour for the Save the Cat! Cracking the Beat Sheet Online Course. Because I already have the book, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and love it, I decided to use the online course to flesh out a new idea I had for a mystery/suspense novel. I love reading this genre, but have always been too intimidated to attempt my own full-length novel. By the time I completed the course, I had a 3,000-word outline, complete with the 15 essential “story beats” mapped out. Around mid-October, I wondered if I should consider participating in National Novel Writing Month this year. I hadn’t been able to last year, because I was focused on produci…
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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 found hiking the Vermont woods or out on the water catching stories. ----------I…
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It started with Halloween. Or rather, thinking about Halloween and a story I’d written years ago and how that story would be the perfect Halloween post on my personal blog. Yep, I’d share that story with the whole wide web world. Except for one teensy problem: I had no idea what the name of the story was. Okay, Cathy, I said to myself, no need to make yourself crazy. You can figure this out. So off I went to my website to search through the archives of the blog. Because back in the day, I had a feature called “Tooting My Horn” Tuesday and just a key word or two (in this case, fairy tales) would send me right to the story. So step one, I searched my blog and Eureka! …
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by mohamed_hassan on Pixabay This past week I clicked on an article about making passive income as a writer. But after I read it, I was more than a little confused. “Hey, what’s passive income?” I reached over and prodded my husband, Mr. Business-Major-Man. “Money you just sit back and earn. Investments are passive income. Interest is passive income.” That’s a relief. I do actually know what passive income is. But many of the people giving recommendations to writers clearly do not. I know this because I went beyond clueless article #1. I did a Google search. I read something like a dozen articles on passive writing income. They suggested things like. . . 1. …
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Recently, a fellow writer posted about a new banned book list on Twitter. I know it isn’t how I’m supposed to approach a banned books list, because banning is dreadful. It keeps books out of the hands of young readers who may benefit from that book. To be clear, telling the teacher that your child is not going to read whatever-book-she-has-chosen, is not book banning. Good or bad, it is parenting. And who knows? Maybe your child isn’t ready for that book. Telling the teacher, principal, school board, or library that access to that same book should be restricted or eliminated is banning. Books get banned for many reasons. Charlotte’s Web has been banned because ta…
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The other night, I walked outside with Libs for her last business meeting. It’s around 11:00 and there is a distinct chill in the air. Though the moon is peeking through the tree canopy and a light shines from my screened-in porch, it’s dark and my eyes have not yet adjusted to the shapes in my yard. Suddenly, Libs takes off across the shadowed ground and barks her “Leave my yard, intruder!” bark. It’s not yippy; it’s a lower, guttural attack bark and I come down the stairs from the porch, yelling. I can’t see anything in the dark, and there is no counter to her bark, no shuffling on the ground, no hiss, no noise at all, and just as suddenly, Libs comes trotting over to…
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Louise writes novels, short stories and flash fiction, which have won prizes, placed on shortlists, and have been read out on BBC radio. She has published two suspense novels with another on the way in spring 2022 and her short fiction appears in more than twenty print anthologies. You can connect with Louise on Facebook, Twitter @LouiseMangos, and Instagram @louisemangos, or visit her website, www.LouiseMangos.com where there are links to some more of her work. Louise holds an MA in crime writing from UEA and lives in Switzerland with her Kiwi husband and two sons. ----------Interview by Renee Roberson WOW: Louise, congratulations on your win and welcome! We'r…
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