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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Whether it's pitching an editor or thinking of a new blog post idea, I'm always trying to craft the right angle for an article. In fact, I need all the help I can get lately. Recently, I had the chance to try out Brainstorm Buddy. How it works is this app will walk you through your idea to see if your idea is ready for the masses. The self-test asks you questions about your headline, your audience, relevancy, length of the piece, usefulness, and its surprising qualities. All of these questions come down to you being honest with yourself. It would be easy to run through the test and answer positively for each question, but how helpful is that? So, running through the quiz …
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This week, I attended a webinar on antagonists so I’ve been giving the possible adversaries for my character a lot of thought. One reason for this is that I don’t tend to go with your classic villain, the mustachio twirling bad guy of silent film. Does this mean I don’t have an antagonist? Not necessarily. There are six different kinds of antagonists your protagonist may face. People Very often, the antagonists in our stories are people. In a cozy it is the murderer, arsonists, or other culprit. In a middle grade story in a school setting, it might be the girl who heads up the most popular clique. But it doesn’t have to be that straight forward. Let’s go back to …
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Robert Hoffman has been enjoying a WOW! Women on Writing Book Blog Tour for his newest work - a book titled Blind Spot. Blind Spot is certainly not Hoffman's first attempt at writing as you'll see in his bio, but it is his first time touring with WOW! and we are excited to wrap up his tour with a special guest post here on the Muffin today as he promotes this humorous work of fiction. Thank you to David Kalish who previously toured with WOW! and sent Rob our way. We love and appreciate referrals! And without further chit chat - here's a fabulous article titled: Aren't We All Just a Little Bit Selfish? Few insults sting quite as badly as having somebody call you selfi…
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I'm excited to announce the WOW! Women on Writing book blog tour with author and Audry Fryer and her book Until Next Sunday. This book is written with so much heart - you can't help but fall in love with the characters from this historical romance! Here's a bit about the book: After bravely leaving the life she knew to come to America, illness threatens Rosina’s happily ever after. When separated, will letters keep their love alive? Rosina leaves Italy to build a better life, but the reality in America is nothing like the dream. She is far from the Italian countryside and the beautiful olive groves where she grew up. Here the work is endless, and the winters are cold a…
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Are you looking for an inexpensive way to promote your book? Or maybe you want to have a boost in your social media following? Today, I'm excited to announce that WOW is hosting another big group giveaway event with the theme of "The Gift of Reading." In case you forgot, when the pandemic started last year, we hosted a "Stay Home and Read" giveaway event. We had over 100,000 entries in that event! We featured some amazing authors and shared their books with the masses. How a group giveaway works is that we'll be hosting the giveaway on The Muffin and we'll be featuring your book alongside some other amazing books by authors taking part in the giveaway. Not only do you ge…
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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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A peek at one of my fiction shelves. I’ve always been an avid reader, and I know I’m in good company on this blog. Ask for a book recommendation and you’ll get it in spades! But for some reason, while a lot of people found themselves with more time to read during the pandemic, I took that extra time to read and research true crime, mostly in the form of archived newspaper articles, as I worked to launch that passion project. Once it got off the ground, I found that after my work editing and writing for magazines and producing the podcast, there was little time left to read. Or maybe my brain was tired, along with my eyes. Instead, in the evenings I would spend any spare …
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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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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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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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You know that saying, "If it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true"? I was reminded of it recently when checking my email, and I thought: This subject would make a good WOW! blog post. Probably other writers are receiving emails like this or will be soon, and so let's discuss... These are the kinds of emails I'm talking about: Dear Ms. Dill: We want to market Finding My Place for you. It is such an excellent book! We will put your book in front of thousands and thousands of our followers on Twitter by tweeting about your book every day for XX days for $XXXXX dollars. Don't wait. Sincerely,Book Marketer Extraordinaire #eyeroll I'm not trying to be mean …
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We are excited to announce the launch of author Elizabeth Kirschner's story collection Because the Sky is a Thousand Soft Hurts. Join us we celebrate the launch of this profound hybrid collection of short stories, prose, and memoirs, interview the author, and give away a copy of this book to one lucky reader. It is the perfect read for those who wish to engage with what’s most profoundly human in each of us, as it reveals the whole spectrum from the tawdry to the sublime. But first, let us tell you a bit more about this book: Because the Sky is a Thousand Soft Hurts is a raw, intense collection of intricately layered short stories that touch on the recurring themes of …
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Recently I went to a working retreat. The working part: we were planning professional development sessions for DESE (Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education). The retreat part: it was in a funky, charming hotel situated in a small town… close to walking trails and down the street from wonderful bars and restaurants. It’s a place this group has been to before, and luckily, I got the same kind of room I stayed in before--a room with a glass bathroom. Yes, you read that right. In the corner of my room was a bathroom with glass walls. No shower curtain. The toilet, the shower, the sink--surrounded by two walls of glass. Since I was the only one sleeping in the room, I wa…
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I do love a good secret, don’t you? And when I hear that something is a best kept secret—like a new hometown restaurant off the beaten track or a mysterious walking trail—I can’t wait to give the secret a try. But here’s the thing about best kept secrets: they don’t stay secret very long. You just can’t keep people from extolling the virtues of something wonderful. And before long, it’s not secret anymore; everyone’s in on it. That’s what’s happened over at Nonfiction Fest, a writing challenge that on February 1st will be starting their third year. I expect Nonfiction Fest to draw even bigger numbers this year so yes, it may not have that cozy, isn’t-this-great-just-the…
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Blogging Imperfection I'm putting together a fun book blog tour for Audry Fryer's new book: Until Next Sunday and part of organizing a tour is reaching out to book bloggers asking how they'd like to help (review the book, author interview, etc...). One blogger signed up for the tour on Tuesday and declined on Wednesday saying " on second thought, I have been awful about blogging...". That conversation prompted me to write today's post about an imperfect blog. Years ago, I read an article by some sort of business/life coach advising that your blog doesn't need to be perfect. I forget exactly who said it or their reasoning, but I think of it often. Now, your Freshman …
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We're back again with another blog tour! How touching it is to be part of sharing the moving memoir, Breaking the Silence by Nancy King! About Breaking the Silence: Secrets. Lies. Silences. Stories told by parents and their families to protect themselves. A father who defends his wife despite her damage to their daughter’s health and welfare. A mother, shielded by her husband, who perpetuates murderous acts of violence against the daughter, and keeps secret her husband’s sexual “play” with the young girl. And yet … Nancy King, determined to learn the truth of her childhood and the heartbreaking effects it has had on her adult life, uncovers the secrets. Sees through the…
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I recently was the featured author at a book club meeting. This was the third book club (that I know of) that read Greenwood Gone: Henry's Story, my novel. The other two were quite different. One was a church group, and my publisher, Margo Dill was a member; all the readers were white. The other was an all-Black group, and one of my friends, Astra, belonged to it. The group that just met this week involved family... or at least in-laws. We met at my son's mother-in-law's home for a light dinner followed by da da dum: the book talk. I learned some tidbits from each group, and I thought I'd share how I was schooled by the three groups. Be prepared to be surprised. Du…
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It's always exciting news when a WOW member's book gets published. What's even more exciting is Patricia Gable's middle-grade novel, The Right Address, was born from a novel writing course led by WOW's managing editor, Margo L. Dill. And today, you have a chance to win a copy! Here's a little bit about this heart warming book: "This book made me laugh and cry. Willie is comical and he softens the drama the children are going through. I'm sending it to my granddaughter." - Andrea McDonald Annie hears that her foster parents are going to send her little brother, Willie, to another foster home. She can't let that happen! She devises a plan for the two of them to run away …
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When Chitra discovered a stray cat in need of help, she never thought they’d wind up saving each other. Struggling to come to terms with an unexpected diagnosis, Chitra returned home to Oman seeking a sense of familiarity. What she discovered instead was a very special cat who changed her life. But First, Rumi is the story of how, day by day, Rumi and Chitra got to know one another, and as she learned to love the little stray, she began to see greater life lessons about herself, her family, her home country and her place in the world. What unfolds when girl and cat meet? What happens when you follow your heart? What if the world is not as it seems? Is it worth taking a c…
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Time for some real talk. I’m almost 45 years old and have been working as a freelance writer and editor for a long time. Because the flow of my various projects, gigs and responsibilities has always fallen into that “feast or famine” category, it has taken me almost all those 20 years to come to a realization—I really suck at organization and project management. I’m not complaining, but I’m at a point in my career where I have plenty of writing and editing work, but my organizational skills are abysmal, and people are starting to get irritated that e-mails to me are going unread and I’m tired of apologizing for being overwhelmed. This is not a good trait for a freelance …
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Hello December! As a musician, farmer, and mother of six, the month of December is filled with concerts, appointments, schedule changes, and lots of busy-ness. It is also a time of great reflection and anticipation of the new year. This month in particular seems to fly by (which reminds me, I need to order a planner for 2022 for my desk at work). Today I'm reflecting on the challenges 2021 brought for our children. One child in particular comes to mind as she started her freshman year of highschool in September. During a recent parent teacher conference, her teacher mentioned "she needs to be kinder and gentler to herself and stop saying she is stupid". I of course agreed…
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As the summer fades into the fall, I eagerly embrace the cooler weather, rainy days, and pull towards reading a new batch of books. However, despite this being my favorite time of year, this has also been a very difficult year for me, filled with challenges that leave me absolutely exhausted at this point. My energy hasn't been as strong lately, and I battle being too stressed to even think about writing lately. However, as I nudge along, and plug away ever so slowly, progress is being made, even if I don't see it. So, today I wanted to encourage all of you to celebrate the little things in your life right now. It can be the smallest of wins that give you a good feeling.…
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Photo by Harry Cooke from Pexels When I sat down to write this post, I decided to look back on some of the writing goals I shared with my Butt Kickers Writing Accountability Group at the beginning of last year (don’t you love that name?) What I learned is that writing down goals does not help you when you’re one of those writers who tends to chase all the bright and shiny objects that come your way. One of the best things about working in the freelance space is that you have flexibility to chase those random opportunities. This can also be one of the worst things you can do, because it distracts your focus. I’m not sure which camp I fall in, though. When I look back at…
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We welcome Carol Ovenburg today who wrote the creative nonfiction piece, "Mother Bones," and won second place in the Q4 2021 contest! Congratulations to Carol! She connected her essay to her visual art, and the piece is both rich in description and storytelling. You can check it out here and then come back and find out what she had to say about that powerful ending! Here's a little more about Carol: She has been a visual artist for over 40 years, a writer for over 20 years. She is also a Narrative Life Coach helping people find and change their self-limiting stories through writing. She loves writing creative nonfiction and is currently finishing her first memoir titled,…
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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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