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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Sometimes bigger is better. A bigger paycheck. A larger brownie (which results in a bigger butt, which is not a good thing). A bigger spot to parallel park into. And sometimes smaller is better. A smaller waist (for me, that train left the station decades ago). A gift in a tiny box from your SO at Christmas. A smaller credit card bill. Sometimes, as writers, we dream of running with the big dogs. Signing with a big publisher. Getting a big advance. Getting big, splashy promotion events set up. I thought about this after I read Cathy C. Hall’s post. It came at the perfect time, because recently my manuscript was accepted by a small publisher. Margo Dill began her press n…
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Congratulations to Courtney Harler and Divorce Ranch and all the winners of our 2021 Quarter 1 Creative Non-Fiction Essay Contest! Courtney's Bio: Courtney Harler is a freelance writer, editor, and educator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA from Sierra Nevada University (2017) and an MA from Eastern Washington University (2013). Courtney has been honored by fellowships from Writing By Writers, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and Nevada Arts Council. Courtney’s creative work—which includes poems, flash fictions, short stories, literary analyses, craft essays, book and film reviews, author interviews, personal essays, and hybrid pieces—has been published wo…
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Last weekend, I was sitting around a kitchen table, meeting with a few adults, enjoying a delightful brunch. We were joined by my friend’s eight-year-old daughter. Out of the blue, she asked, “Do you work?” I paused for a minute, thinking—oh, lots of things about how I work, if I work, this industry I’m still engaged with in a love/hate relationship. But to keep it simple with my new friend, I said, “Yes, I do. I’m a writer.” “An author,” she said, her voice dropping in that way we do when awestruck. (A tone I reserve for astronauts or rock stars.) The conversation moved quickly to the next topic but I was stuck, pondering this little girl’s reaction to what I do. To an…
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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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By Bobbie Christmas Q: One of my critique partners said I use too many gerunds and participles and said I have several dangling participles. I thought I knew the parts of speech, but I’m not sure what the person is talking about. A: In simple terms, a participle is a form of a verb (often ending in “ing”) that is used as a modifier, as in the following: the dancing bear. A gerund is a present participle used as a noun, as in the following: Sleeping nightly is essential. The use of too many words that end in “ing” can slow the pace, weaken writing, and become repetitive. They often turn potentially strong verbs into weaker forms: nouns or adjectives. As adjectives, parti…
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by Bobbie Christmas Q: Is The Chicago Manual of Style the standard for editing nonfiction book manuscripts? What do you say about the comments below made by two editors I’ve used? Original line of text from the manuscript: In the late 80’s, I was living in Dallas, Texas running a company that I had founded. Here’s the ensuing discussion over it: Editor 2: 80s (no apostrophe because there is no possession—and you might want to use 1980s to make it even clearer) Editor 1: This is a question of style. Each publisher will have its own style. This is one style. A: Chicago Style is preferred by most book publishers, so it is safest to use it for any book-length manuscript, whe…
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(Illustration by storyset - freepik.com) By Bobbie Christmas Q: I keep on hearing “write tight, write tight,” from fellow writers and others. I’m not so sure what they’re trying to say to me. The whole darned issue is driving me a little crazy. How can I ever know what’s loose and what’s tight writing? A: Creative writing, whether fiction or nonfiction, reads best and sells better when it gets to the point without wasted words. If I were to tighten your question, I might recast it this way: I keep hearing “write tight.” I’m not sure what people mean. The issue drives me crazy. What is tight writing? The recast says the same thing as the original, but it’s tighter. Wr…
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By Bobbie Christmas Q: I want to write articles for magazines. I’m especially interested in travel writing and hope a periodical will pay for my travel. I don’t know where to start, though. I need a step-by-step process. A: The process isn’t simple enough to cover in brief, although I’ll give you a few tips. In addition to my information, please read and follow the instructions in a book about how to write for magazines and other periodicals. Warning: resources, payments, periodicals, and methods have changed over the years, so choose one of the most recent books on the subject. Editors need to see proof that you are a qualified writer, so before you can get hired to wri…
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It's hard to see a technology designed to replace people's need for your work as being anything but an enemy. However, it's undeniable that AI technology is here to stay. Much like the introduction of the internet, it's likely to have a major impact on our society. In writing groups I'm in, people are asking each other: what do you think of AI technology? Some people have used it and loved it. Some are outraged by it. Others remain in the middle, uncertain of how this technology will hit them on a day-to-day basis. Lately, I've tried out using ChatGPT for my day job. Although it's helpful, I've discovered it's repetitive in its helpfulness. However, sometimes it helps me…
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Recently Nicole wrote a post about AI writing. She wanted to know if we consider it helpful or harmful. I must admit that I’ve been ambivalent but curious about AI’s ability to produce content. I write nonfiction so I do a lot of research. When I research current events, I often find AI generated news stories. They are never labeled as AI generated, but it is easy to see these slight, illogically organized pieces with no new content for what they are. But since I read Nicole’s piece, I’ve been curious. And when I’m curious I tend to spot related information. I was watching a recording of an industry panel at the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustra…
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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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Last Saturday, my cell phone rang at 8:10 AM. When I picked it up it read “Nancy Next Door.” Uh-oh. Nancy Next Door only calls when there’s something wrong. A coyote jumping into my yard. A fallen tree on our shared fence. A broken gate…that sort of thing. Naturally, I thought a tree had fallen since A. there are lots of trees in the woods and in my yard that are leaning in a bad way and B. after over a year, I’d finally fixed the fence from the last fallen tree. “Are you home?” asked my neighbor. I was not. I was five hours away, at the beach. “There’s an alarm going off in your house,” she said. “I don’t see smoke but it’s been going off for about 15 minutes.” No …
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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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“Do you read Colleen Hoover’s books? Great success story.” My friend’s message came with a link to a New York Times article on . . . who? Colleen Hoover? I clicked through to see who she is and what she writes and was thrilled to find a success story about a woman writer who is crazy successful. Earlier this month, she had not one spot on the NYT paperback best seller list but six. Six! Hoover self-published her first book in January 2012. Slammed is a young adult novel and seven months later it was on the NYT bestseller list. By May 2012, she had made $50,000. She did this without a publicist or a mega-publisher’s marketing team. In short, her success was and …
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As an editor, it’s a little absurd that I fear revising words. Not all words. Just mine. I can edit the hell out of your words and bask in the task but sit me down in front of my work and I cringe. It’s about trusting myself. Or something of that sort. Something about how I fear that I won’t like a single letter of what I’ve written. That while I’m writing, it feels powerful and meaningful and makes sense and has a solid rhythm to it. And then I re-read it. Usually I’m right on that rhythm part because I can get that beat down, but making that beat say something is a different sort of story. It’s a revising story and sometimes when I go to revise, I feel like I’ve shifte…
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I'm so excited to launch the blog tour for An End to Arguing by Linda and Charlie Bloom. This book is perfect for people who are interested in having great relationships that need help with conflict management, prevention, and repair. Continue reading to learn more about this helpful book and read an interview with the authors. You'll also have a chance to win a copy of the book! First, here is a bit more about An End to Arguing: Now more than ever, couples need guidance for navigating conflict wisely and skillfully. Drawing on insights from their work with couples since 1975, the Blooms offer practical tools and strategies that apply to all relationships. An End to Argui…
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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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This may seem like a silly thing to be bothered by, but I recently read a blog post by a writer I follow who asked whether or not you are taking writing seriously, questioning whether you are just writing as a hobby. Somehow, this bothered me. And it did because creating writing has taken a back seat like I feared this January. Of course, it's only week two of the new year and this was a stressful week at work, but still... The blog post, which I'll admit I skimmed, suggested that many of people have grandiose dreams of writing and publication without actually wanting to put in the effort of writing. You know the whole pen-to-paper and butt-in-chair type of thing. That …
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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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