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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Photo by Christopher TovoToday I am excited to have another instructor from Odyssey Writing Workshop: author Meagan Spooner. Meagan Spooner will be a guest lecturer at this summer’s Odyssey Writing Workshop, where she will discuss techniques for building characters and character arcs, participate in workshopping sessions, and meet in private conferences with students. She grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Odyssey in 2009 and currently lives and writes in Asheville, North Carolina, but takes every opportunity she can find to travel the world--th…
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by Angela Cheveau As a child I loved stories. The artillery fire of my parents insults towards each other raging above my head across the no man’s land of the carpet, I would retreat to my trench for shelter. Climbing inside the pages of a book for cover I smeared my face with a war paint of words. Stories were my shield. I hid behind them. Hid inside them. Words wrapped magic around my young shoulders and threaded starlight through my hair. I wore daisy chains of words around my neck. Stories lit my pathway through the dark and foreboding forests of childhood. In stories I could be anyone. Or anything. I could go anywhere. In stories I was strong. Fearless. I fought dr…
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Hello WOW Readers! I have been one of the first-tier contest judges for WOW’s quarterly flash fiction contest for over a decade, and it has been a huge pleasure to read your stories. I am writing this blog series on Flash Fiction Contest Tips to help you strengthen your flash writing and maybe even place in one of our contests! Tips are based on our scoring criteria and craft trends I’ve seen throughout the decade. TECHNICAL is one of the scoring categories for the flash fiction contest, and one criterion within that category is overuse of passive voice (as opposed to active voice). Passive vs. Active Voice Active Passive They receive…
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This is my Bear Chair. From the seat to the tip of Mister Bear’s ears is a little more than 20 inches. For the past couple of years, it’s been the repository of what I call, “Writing Whatnot.” Lots and lots of paper stacked all the way up to the tippy top! So in January of this year, I started clearing off the chair, which was mostly scraps (with quotes and ideas) and manuscript pages (with lots and lots of critique notes from writer friends, agents, and/or editors). Eventually, a few thoughts became crystal clear (I mean besides the obvious thought about 1,237 pages sitting around for years…) and so I’m sharing what I learned, starting with a favorite quote I found am…
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Recently, I came across a funky little article that reminded me of a story I had written. My story was unfinished, but I've become less and less afraid of leaving unfinished work. So, re-inspired to return to the story, I looked for it in the last place I thought I left it. It was gone. How could that happen? I wondered to myself. I had left it in an app that I really don't use anymore, but it supposedly backed up my work onto Google Drive. So, I felt fairly confident not babysitting it anymore. I had other stories in there. I even have a half-finished attempt at a story about outer space (not an attempt I make often). Examining closely, I looked in each file. I knew the…
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Can the simple act of putting pen to paper lead to healing? Author and musical artist Mari L. McCarthy used her own journaling power to relieve her symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Now, it’s time to access the power of journaling for yourself. Inside of Journaling Power, Mari L. McCarthy, founder of CreateWriteNow.com, shares her personal tips on how to use journaling that will lead to self-growth and life-changing transformation. You will also read about scientific medical studies that discuss the healing abilities of journaling while learning step-by-step guidance on how to:Reduce physical pain and overcome illness Heal emotional wounds from past traumas …
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Meredith Towbin never wins things (except for a coloring contest when she was nine), so she is very excited to be recognized by WOW! After graduating from Wellesley College, she taught English literature to high schoolers. Her teaching career was short-lived, however, as she was repeatedly mistaken for one of the students and berated by a colleague for using the faculty bathroom. She left teaching and worked as an editor at a local newspaper and, later, as an associate editor for a trade magazine covering the salon and spa industry. After acquiring a lifetime supply of hair gel, she decided to give up the glitz and glamour, much like Grace Kelly, and become a stay-at-home…
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As a child, my older sister and cousin often called me a tattletale. There I was in my plaits with ribbons on the ends of each one and white Ked sneakers, dingy from playing, running through whoever's house I was in to tell on them. "Ooh I'm tellin'," I'd cover my mouth and yell, always leaving off the end letter g. Whether it was finding out my sister had a crush on a boy, or my cousin said the word, "Dang," which I thought was a curse word, or they kicked me out of their room, I was tellin' my parents or any other adult that was nearby on them. I'm sure that irritated my sister and cousin to no end. I know it was most likely why they mumbled under their breath and …
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by Anne Marie Scala I write because I can’t not write. Anyone who gets as wildly excited as I do when Staples has notebooks on sale for $.25 has to write. Finding my favorite pens makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Writing is part of who I am. Almost a decade ago, I attempted to turn my writing hobby into a profession. Despite initially having success, I couldn't find a rhythm to sustain it for long. A year of overwhelm and exhaustion followed and I concluded my energy would be better spent elsewhere. Recent events propelled me to revisit my dream of being a writer. Hoping to avoid my previous missteps, I signed up for a course offered by an experi…
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Not long ago, I attended a webinar on writing concept books. For those of you who don’t write for kids, a concept book is a picture book about . . . a concept. Alphabet books, counting books, and books about the Fibonacci sequence are all concept books. Yes, there are picture books about the Fibonacci sequence. Check out Joyce Sidman’s Swirl by Swirl and Sarah Campbell’s Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. The presenter for the webinar was Liz Garton-Scanlon and she recommended a long list of concept books. When they arrived, I eagerly sat down to read. I had to laugh after I finished One Dark Bird by Liz Garton-Scanlon and Counting Crows by Kathi Appel…
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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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We write a lot about success on this blog—last week on Wednesday, Cathy C. Hall wrote about the seduction of the spectacular. Sometimes, we're chasing the spectacular—an agent, the best-sellers' list, a no. 1 badge—and we don’t celebrate success of all kinds, like a published book with a smaller publisher or a story published on a website. I nodded my head the whole time I read Cathy's post because I'm the worst offender of this. I'll look at all I've accomplished so far and constantly be disappointed in myself that it’s not enough--there aren't enough reviews or followers or national publications on my bio. I had a book review column in the Sunday edition of The News-Ga…
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We are excited to announce the launch of another Save the Cat!® blog tour. If you are finally ready to outline your novel or screenplay, you'll want to follow along on this tour. We'll be talking about their Cracking the Beat Sheet Online Course and their Story Cards. First, what is Save the Cat!®? Save the Cat! provides writers the resources they need to develop their screenplays and novels based on a series of best-selling books, primarily written by Blake Snyder (1957- 2009). Blake’s method is based on 10 distinctive genres and his 15 story beats (the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet). Our books, workshops, story structure software, apps, and story coaching teach you everythi…
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Leah’s Bio: Leah Olson is an aspiring writer (mostly by night) and an attorney currently working as in-house counsel for a nonprofit network of charter schools (by day). After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism in 2007, she put her passion for writing on hold as she entered the professional abyss otherwise known as “being a Millennial in her twenties.” She spent two years working as a third grade teacher in Las Vegas with Teach For America before going to law school. She graduated from Harvard Law in 2012 and then spent four years working at two different corporate law firms in New York and San Francisco before moving on to the educatio…
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Over the past few months I’ve been thinking about my leadership style, and after reading an article my husband plucked from his files and gave to me, I’ve figured out I aspire to be a servant-leader. Servant leadership was coined by an author and business consultant named Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. He first began formulating the idea after reading a novel about a mystical journey by a group of people on a spiritual quest. A servant-leader is one whose primary motivation is “a deep desire to help others.” Here are 10 characteristics of a servant-leader: Listening intently to others. Having empathy. Helping oneself and others to heal. Awareness in understanding issues i…
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by Anne Leigh Parrish My first short story was written on brown paper using a second-hand Underwood typewriter I picked up at antiques store. I felt so writerly, perched on my stool at my kitchen counter, banging away. My husband was studying for the bar exam, and had trouble concentrating with the noise I made. Luckily for him I wrote in spurts, lasting no more than fifteen minutes at a time. Then I’d get up and wander off, overwhelmed with doubt and a growing sense that I had no idea what I was trying to say and why it mattered. I persisted. “Among The Bohemians” was an uneven, heartfelt ramble about a recent party we’d attended which read more like an essay than a pi…
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By Margaret Buapim Karen Brown Tyson had been here before, wondering how to recover professionally and personally after a lay off. Multiple layoffs in fact. With it came the need to reframe what was once seen as a career failure and relegated to a place of silence. It was what drew me to Karen’s work in the first place and the works of the growing number of writers who are addressing the shame that can block one from authentically moving forward after a job loss, goal fail, or repeated rejection. Here at WOW, we’ve come to recognize it as a serendipitous chance to “fall forward” and writers like Karen Brown Tyson are taking the lead in showing us how. In Time to …
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Check out this fun song! I was looking for some cool photo relating to the acronym: P.U.S.H. (Persist Until Something Happens) and I came across this song I had never heard of. It won't be making my top ten list for running or working out, but it's not half bad. Anyway... If you're an author, you've found yourself working hard to pitch your book to a publisher, to market your book, to get your book onto bookshelves and into the hands of readers, and then working hard again asking readers to refer you to friends as well as leaving reviews. You're no doubt dealing with people by phone, email, in person, and more! Non-writers also have many opportunities each day where they …
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Lent starts tomorrow and so I had Matthew Kelly on the brain. Kelly is the author of quite a few Christian books; he’s also a motivational speaker and just in general, a down to earth guy who’s very relatable when it comes to the spiritual. And so I often jot down his interesting talking points, which explains the note on my desk. It was all caps with the words, “SEDUCTION OF THE SPECTACULAR.” It doesn’t, however, explain why I posted this note on my calendar for a Muffin topic. That’s for this Mardi Gras Tuesday, so have a slice of King cake (or a cupcake!) and see what you think. Oh, how I’ve been seduced by the spectacular when it comes to my writing career! And I s…
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Neill McKee, author of the award-winning travel memoir Finding Myself in Borneo, takes the reader through 400 years and 15,000 miles of an on-the-road adventure, discovering stories of his Scots-Irish ancestors in Canada, while uncovering their attitudes towards religion and guns. His adventure turns south and west as he follows the trail of his maternal grandfather, a Canadian preacher who married an American woman in Wisconsin, and braved the American Wild West. Much to his surprise, McKee finds his American ancestors were involved in every major conflict on North American soil: the Civil War, the American Revolution, and the French and Indian War. In the last chapters,…
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We are excited to welcome 2nd place creative nonfiction essay winner, Jacqueline V. Carter, with her winning essay, "The Colors of My Life," to our blog this Valentine's Day to talk about writing and contests and her essay! Here's a little about Jacqueline in her own words: This is the first time I’ve entered a writing contest, and I’m very encouraged by the response to my essay. I’ve always wanted to be a creative writer. But my professional life went in another direction. For years, I worked with government agencies and national organizations to develop and promote public health campaigns targeted to policymakers, providers, consumers, patients, and the media. I loved…
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Whether you are submitting your first manuscript or your thirteenth, on some days rejection is no big deal. You will have other opportunities. Perhaps the next person to read your manuscript will want to publish it or represent you. No matter. You get on with your day. But other days? On those days rejection makes you question why you keep putting yourself through this. Here are five things to help you lessen the sting. Set a Limit I’m not going to get into the psychology of rejection and why some rejections are worse than others. But if this one rocks you back, take some time to feel the agony. No really. Stomp around the house. Gripe at the cat. Whatever it t…
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Hello WOW Readers! I have been one of the first-tier contest judges for WOW’s quarterly flash fiction contest for over a decade, and it has been a huge pleasure to read your stories. I am writing this blog series on Flash Fiction Contest Tips to help you strengthen your flash writing and maybe even place in one of our contests! Tips are based on our scoring criteria and craft trends I’ve seen throughout the decade. TECHNIAL is one of the scoring categories for the flash fiction contest, and one criterion within that category is overuse of adverbs. Adverbs are words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, clauses, or other adverbs. If a story contains too many un…
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When I was a child, I loved watching my maternal and paternal grandmother cook whenever I visited for the weekend or for a family gathering. I'd stand beside them full of questions and learn that the blackened skillet they used to fry a batch of chicken or catfish in, or to make skillet cornbread, was what seasoned the food and gave it flavor. I'd watch as they added fresh herbs or spices to their recipes, and get lessons on snapping the ends off of string beans, and how to clean collard greens. I treasured being in their company as delicious aromas wafted through their kitchens. I especially loved when they lifted a pot lid off of a pot of stew or soup simmering on the s…
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It’s no secret I’m a fan of the book You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero. I’ve written about it on The Muffin and my own blog before, but today I want to talk about a particular idea that the author presents which I think pertains to most writers--even non-writers--but especially me. Here's the quote from the book (on the daily calendar page from a couple years ago. I like this quote so much I saved this and posted it on my bulletin board.): Break on through to the other side! Won't you come with me? When I read this section the first time in the book, it was an "a-ha" moment for me. I feel uncomfortable all the time--I don't know if it's more or less than any other human …
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Steinbeck's Rules for Writing - But do They Apply to Modern Genres?
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Links: Lee Pace, Fundraising, & More
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Depositphotos_52671211_original-300x200.jpgHey there! Welcome back to Wednesday Links! This is our little cozy routine where we huddle around and talk about cool or interesting or funny things we’ve seen on the internet recently. If you’ve been keeping up with me, I had a tattoo appointment on Saturday. The artist did an amazing job on the stencil. It’s larger than I was expecting (not a bad thing!), though that meant we had to split it up. Just the line work is finished. I’ll get the color and shading done in February and I’m v -
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Why Horror of Dracula is still the best, strangest, campiest Dracula movie ever made
I don’t really love Halloween, but I love one of its main characters. I love Dracula. I don’t even care about vampires but I care about Dracula, and, not to presume that the readers of this site are particularly attuned to the oeuvres of any one of its writers, but if you have noticed a glut of Dracula content on CrimeReads throughout the past few years, especially around this season, it’s probably because of me. I love Dracula, from Transylvania to London and back again. So, if you’re looking for something to watch this Halloween weekend, I ask you to look no further than Halloween’s undying -
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The Paris Review Podcast Returns
With our acclaimed podcast, The Paris Review gives voice to the sixty-eight years of our archives. Season 3 launches today, with the release of episode 19, “A Memory of the Species.” We open with a recording of the literary critic Richard Poirier in conversation with Robert Frost for the poet’s 1960 Art of Poetry interview, from issue no. 24. Next, the Italian poet Antonella Anedda and her translator Susan Stewart discuss Anedda’s poem “Historiae 2,” published in issue no. 231. The American vocal ensemble Tenores de Aterúe then reimagines the poem as a song in the folk tradition of Anedda’s n -
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Author Spotlight: Malcolm Devlin (UNEXPECTED PLACES TO FALL FROM, UNEXPECTED PLACES TO LAND)
Malcolm Devlin is the author of the collection ‘Unexpected Places to Fall From, Unexpected Places to Land’, published by Unsung Stories, and the novella, ‘And Then I Woke Up’, published by Tor.com in April 2022. His first collection, ‘You Will Grow Into Them’ also published by Unsung, was shortlisted for the British Fantasy and Saboteur Awards. He currently lives in Brisbane. Welcome back to the Hive, Malcolm. Let’s start with the basics: tell us about Unexpected Places to Fall From, Unexpected Places to Land. What can readers expect? Unexpected Places to Fall From, Unexpected Places t -
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“The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.”
When day comes, we ask ourselves: Where can we find light In this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. Amanda Gorman The Hill We Climb Anyone who has ever walked through tough times can tell you that light isn’t always easy to find. Tough times can either make us or break us, but we exist in the in-between for the longest part of the journey. When we lose something we love — whether it be a job, a lover, a friend, or a family member — we are thrust into a world for which there is no simple escape. We exist between the tough times and the breaking or strengthenin -
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Horror Fiction In The Age of Covid: A Roundtable Discussion
I came to horror the same way I came to Rihanna—later than most, but with the commensurate fiery passion of a true convert. Crime and horror have, after all, been slowly converging for many years, as domestic suspense transformed into the New Gothic, and psychological thrillers took over from procedurals as the dominant trend in the genre. And yet, despite my newfound fandom, I’m about as poorly informed a horror reader as one could be (I’ve only read one Stephen King novel and it was Mr Mercedes). So I invited a whole bunch of authors with horror novels out in 2021 to join me for a roundtable -
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Scary Monsters and Spooky Freaks: Bernie Wrightson Unleashed
After mom confessed to binging on Creature Feature/Chiller Theater flicks when she was pregnant with me, I realized that my passion for horror was in the blood. By the time I was seven I’d already seen Night of the Living Dead, which gave me nightmares for a week, and was a regular viewer of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, One Step Beyond and horror/monster movies on Saturday nights. As a comic book fan since I was a six year old New York City kid, my tastes eventually swayed from Marvel’s Manhattan-based superheroes to spooky four-color supernatural strips. While comic book shopping in -
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October’s Best Debut Novels
CrimeReads editors select the month’s best debuts in crime, mystery, and thrillers. * Erin Mayer, Fan Club (MIRA) If Catie Disabato and Amina Akhtar had written the screenplay for Josie and the Pussycats, it might read something like Fan Club. In former Bustle editor Erin Mayer’s blistering debut, her millennial narrator is bored out of her mind working at a women’s magazine, obsessing over the beauty editor’s many freebies and taking as many coffee breaks as possible. “One day, she finds new purpose in the hidden meanings of a pop star’s new hit, joining a devoted group of superfans who -
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As the Wicked Watch
“Jordan, we’re live in sixty,” said Tracy Klein, my favorite field producer, nudging me to get into place. “Okay, hang on,” I said, distracted by a rush of butterflies and the sudden urge to pee, which happened every single time I was about to go on the air. I guess it was my body’s way of preparing me for the moment that never got old, but soon panic struck. My earpiece was in, but the anchors’ voices sounded like Charlie Brown’s parents. “Hey, you guys. I can’t hear. You’re not coming through very clearly. The echo is killing me,” I said. I looked up. Please, not today. In an instant, t -
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The Liar of Red Valley by Walter Goodwater
B+ The Liar of Red Valley by Walter Goodwater September 28, 2021 · Rebellion Publishing Ltd. Science Fiction/Fantasy TW/CW TW for: violence, police brutality, racism, unjust incarceration, house fire that spreads and burns down large sections of a town and causes mass evacuations, pressure to continue an unwanted pregnancy, death of a parent The Liar of Red Valley is kind of awesome, despite an abrupt ending and some world-building is -
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NaNo Planning
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, achie -
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Holiday Romance, Book Bundles, & More
John Eyre John Eyre by Mimi Matthews is $1.99! Thanks to everyone who commented and let us know about this sale! This is a retelling of the Bronte classic and has similar elements of a Gothic historical romance. Have you read this one? From USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews comes a supernatural Victorian gothic retelling of Charlotte Brontë’s timeless classic. Yorkshire, 1843. When disgraced former schoolmaster John Eyre arrives at Thornfield Hall to take up a position as tutor t -
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Redux: Sick Fish
Every week, the editors of The Paris Review lift the paywall on a selection of interviews, stories, poems, and more from the magazine’s archive. You can have these unlocked pieces delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday by signing up for the Redux newsletter. Samuel R. Delany in his New York City apartment in 1983. This week at The Paris Review, we’re dreaming of other worlds, and highlighting writers of speculative and science fiction. Read on for Samuel R. Delany’s Art of Fiction interview, an epilogue chapter to Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series, and Margaret Atwood’s poem “Frogle -
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The Undead, a Thriller, & More
Mating the Huntress RECOMMEND: Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert is $2.99! That might be the regular price for this paranormal romance novella. Elyse loved this one and gave it an A: Overall this book was a delight. It locked on to my need for female rage, for men to support that rage, and for cupcakes, and it was funny. This Halloween, love bites back… hard. Chastity Adofo knows a monster when she sees one. As soon as Luke Anthony wanders into her family’s coffee shop, she recognises
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