Windshift Press
Newsletter Archives
October brings thoughts of harvest suppers, exercise classes beginning, and groups with particular interests regrouping after a summer hiatus. They underline our basic sense of community. In this modern busy world we may feel the loss of community because we no longer have time to even know our neighbour. As often solitary writers how can we reach out and become part of the greater community? Several thoughts come to mind. We can of course create a writing group. Put up a small poster in your local café or library for writers who might live in your immediate neighbourhood. It makes it easier to get together if everyone is close by. You can look through your local arts or service directory for a group that you might like but have never thought to join [bird watchers, model train builders] and offer to help with their monthly newsletter. Some groups don't have the expertise amongst their members to do a small monthly newsletter. At the risk of sounding like a writer, producing a newsletter for a group could give you lots of writing ideas.
Writing Tip: - Writing dialogue in a novel or story often challenges new writers. Here is the acid test. If you get the dialogue right, you don't need to see the character's name on the page. From the tone of voice and language used it will be self-evident.
Markets
The Georgia Review seeks poetry, fiction, non-fiction and book reviews. They
pay $40.00 US per page of prose and $3.00 US per line of poetry. Submission
guidelines: http://www.uga.edu/~garev/
Nimrod, the international journal of poetry and prose seeks submissions for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. First prize in both categories is $2,000.00 US. Poetry is 1,900 words [max.] and prose is 7,500 words [max.]. They also publish themed issues of the journal for which they accept submissions. Submission details: http://www.utulsa.edu/Nimrod/
The Marlboro Review publishes contemporary fiction, poetry and essays. Details for their 2005 Marlboro Prize will be announced shortly. Check out the 2004 winner and guidelines. First Prize is $1,000.00 US. Submission guidelines: http://www.marlbororeview.com/
The Crab Orchard Review offers a variety of submission and contest opportunities for writers and poets in the areas of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. They also offer a first book prize for poets. Submission guidelines: http://www.siu.edu/~crborchd/
Prairie Schooner seeks submissions of short stories, poems and imaginative essays for their journal. Don't be daunted by their reference to scholarly journals. Remember writing is your gift. Submission guidelines: http://www.unl.edu/schooner/psmain.htm
The Kenyon Review has a new on-line submission form. They publish short fiction, essays, poetry and plays. Submission guidelines: http://www.kenyonreview.com/magazine/submission.asp
Cue Time - Every month we include a couple of writing ideas to help you kick start your writing sessions.
1. Write a paragraph that contains a character in a landscape. Now totally change the landscape and see how that changes how you feel about the character.
2. Did you experience any synchronicity this week? Write about it.
Industry News: Indigo has taken a hard look at the superstore business and decided they'd like to be a little more like Borders than Barnes & Noble. CEO Heather Reisman said at the company's recent annual meeting, "We imagine over the next three or four years that books, which are now 80 or 85 percent of our offering, will evolve to be approximately 60 per cent of our offering." They are also turning their 167 Coles locations into IndigoLite stores selling more gift and paper products. All of this does not bode well for authors.
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The answers offered in this column are the personal opinions of the staff at Windshift for Writers. They are in no way meant to take the place of the professional advice you may need to seek for your specific query.
Questions and Answers
Q. I have been told that my bridging scenes in my novel are weak. What are they and how can I fix them? - Mike P. -
A. Bridging scenes or transitional scenes are necessary to inform the reader
that the action of the story has moved from one place to another. This can
be shown by a short paragraph, a sentence or a short row of asterisks between
two sections of text.
Win a FREE place at one of our Workshops - Writers who wish to host a workshop can do so by inviting interested friends and acquaintances to a venue (It could be your dining-room table.) and providing the coffee. If you host a workshop, your participation is free. Check the Workshops page for further details.
Home News: Windshift Press has settled nicely into its new office space.
We are redefining the role of Windshift for Writers and looking at changes
to the on-line workshops and writing services we offer. If you have any thoughts
on what you might like to see please Contact me
.