Taken from Maya
25 Reasons to Keep Writing
1. Because sometimes metaphors work better than just words
2. Angst makes me feel alive
3. Impossible yearning is the most powerful feeling of all
4. Drugs are expensive
5. I like infinity, and combinations of letters are endless
6. Because I am a gateway to the Land of Unwritten Ideas
7. I like feeling important
8. I like laughing at typos
9. I want to remember everything
10. Because sometimes you just have to escape
11. Because sometimes no one can tell the story better
12. Characters are counting on me
13. Friends are counting on me
14. The what-ifs are more entertaining
15. Absolute omnipotence and power
16. There is nothing else
17. I’m bored
18. Keyboards make funny sounds
19. Dreams are more realistic anyway
20. To educate the world on the importance of cats over men
21. Everything sounds better in poetic format
22. Because being brainless is overrated
23. Cause people fear you easier
24. It helps with the loneliness
25. The electric possibility of getting it right, and the smaller, quiet beauty of almost.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Saturday, November 18, 2006
So you wanna be a writer?
All right. It's time to buckle down and get on it.
Introduction to Publishing:
1) Write a good piece. Don't roll your eyes at me; this is a vital step. So far all we've talked about is the writing process. You should have that down by now. So don't forget this step.
2) Research. You want to start submitting your pieces. Okay. Where do you submit them? You should submit them to a literary magazine.
What literary magazine? How do I find out about literary magazines? You're in luck. I have a website for you: Click here!
the above is a comprehensive list of literary magazines that welcome submissions. Now we have to get into the tricky stuff.
Why research? you say. You should be able to find the 'submissions' page pretty easily on any literary magazine site. VERY CAREFULLY read their requirements. If you do not conform to what the magazine wants you to do, they will dismiss you as an idiot and you don't get published.
3) What is an SASE? An SASE is a Self-Adressed Stamped Envelope. You should include this in your literary package so if you are rejected they can send you a rejection letter. Also, if you want your manuscript back, you should include an SASE big enough to send it back in.
4) What is a cover letter? A cover letter is the very short and brief business letter that you put as the first page of your work. You can find out a lot about cover letters on the Internet, but to save you the trouble of searching through the flak, here are the ones I found helpful:
Cover letters in general:
Making Light
Sample Cover Letters
Poetry:
Poetry Submissions
Novels:
Novel Submisions
5) How do I format my work? I'm glad you asked. The correct way to do it is, first of all, put everything in font sized twelve, and a basic font. Times New Roman is preferrable. Next, center your title and put it in all capitals. Then push it all the way down to the middle of the page (this, apparently, leaves room for editor comments or something).
At the top of all of your pages should be a header. On the first page, make the header say your name, in the next two lines your address, then your phone number, and then your email address. This should all be left-aligned.
Still on the first page, right aligned -the amount of words your work is.
Next we move on to the other pages. The first problem you're going to encounter, if you're using Microsoft Word (This is the only kind of thing I'm an expert in, so if you have problems in other kinds of documents, you're on your own), is that the headers do not want to be different on different pages. You can easily fix this by double-clicking in the header, and a menu bar will pop up. Click on the icon that looks like an open book (it should be blue and white).
Then, when the new menu pops up, click on 'Different First Page'.
You may now go and edit the headers on the rest of your pages.
The headers on the rest of your pages should be right-aligned, with your name, then the page number, and on the next line the title of your story, in capitals.
You can make the header put in the pages automatically for you by, in the header menu, pressing the white page with the # sign on it.
Font in the headers should be the same as in the document, and the size should be 10, if you're using a 12 font.
Now for the finale -the ending.
There are multiple ways to signal that you are done with your piece. You can do this:
I don't know why these are acceptable signals for 'the end', but they are. Make sure they're centered.
Also, one final tip....
If you are including multiple pieces, you only need one cover letter, but you should put a blank piece of paper between submissions.
Also, if you are submitting poetry, there is no need to doublespace.
Hope this was helpful!
Introduction to Publishing:
1) Write a good piece. Don't roll your eyes at me; this is a vital step. So far all we've talked about is the writing process. You should have that down by now. So don't forget this step.
2) Research. You want to start submitting your pieces. Okay. Where do you submit them? You should submit them to a literary magazine.
What literary magazine? How do I find out about literary magazines? You're in luck. I have a website for you: Click here!
the above is a comprehensive list of literary magazines that welcome submissions. Now we have to get into the tricky stuff.
Why research? you say. You should be able to find the 'submissions' page pretty easily on any literary magazine site. VERY CAREFULLY read their requirements. If you do not conform to what the magazine wants you to do, they will dismiss you as an idiot and you don't get published.
3) What is an SASE? An SASE is a Self-Adressed Stamped Envelope. You should include this in your literary package so if you are rejected they can send you a rejection letter. Also, if you want your manuscript back, you should include an SASE big enough to send it back in.
4) What is a cover letter? A cover letter is the very short and brief business letter that you put as the first page of your work. You can find out a lot about cover letters on the Internet, but to save you the trouble of searching through the flak, here are the ones I found helpful:
Cover letters in general:
Making Light
Sample Cover Letters
Poetry:
Poetry Submissions
Novels:
Novel Submisions
5) How do I format my work? I'm glad you asked. The correct way to do it is, first of all, put everything in font sized twelve, and a basic font. Times New Roman is preferrable. Next, center your title and put it in all capitals. Then push it all the way down to the middle of the page (this, apparently, leaves room for editor comments or something).
At the top of all of your pages should be a header. On the first page, make the header say your name, in the next two lines your address, then your phone number, and then your email address. This should all be left-aligned.
Still on the first page, right aligned -the amount of words your work is.
Next we move on to the other pages. The first problem you're going to encounter, if you're using Microsoft Word (This is the only kind of thing I'm an expert in, so if you have problems in other kinds of documents, you're on your own), is that the headers do not want to be different on different pages. You can easily fix this by double-clicking in the header, and a menu bar will pop up. Click on the icon that looks like an open book (it should be blue and white).
Then, when the new menu pops up, click on 'Different First Page'.
You may now go and edit the headers on the rest of your pages.
The headers on the rest of your pages should be right-aligned, with your name, then the page number, and on the next line the title of your story, in capitals.
You can make the header put in the pages automatically for you by, in the header menu, pressing the white page with the # sign on it.
Font in the headers should be the same as in the document, and the size should be 10, if you're using a 12 font.
Now for the finale -the ending.
There are multiple ways to signal that you are done with your piece. You can do this:
I don't know why these are acceptable signals for 'the end', but they are. Make sure they're centered.
Also, one final tip....
If you are including multiple pieces, you only need one cover letter, but you should put a blank piece of paper between submissions.
Also, if you are submitting poetry, there is no need to doublespace.
Hope this was helpful!
Friday, November 17, 2006
Published!
I return to you triumphant, for I have been published for the first time.
In May, I sent a personal narrative to this large, paper magazine my school got, called TeenInk. Usually I shy away from 'teen-focused' things, because they tend to be cory and silly, and who wants to be associated with that?
But I was desperate, and so sent off my article. Nothing happened. I figured it hadn't been accepted, so no big deal.
Then today, just after submitting professional articles to The Paris Review, I get a package in the mail, from TeenInk. I figure it's the free copy I requested that they /finally/ got around to sending, but there's also this letter in it, and the first line says 'Dear Published Contributor'....
After a lot of screaming and jumping around and feeling silly, I was able to calm down and realize that this is the first time I have been professionally published anywhere.
So this post is all about celebration.
You can read the article Here for the month of November.
Thank you, and goodnight.
In May, I sent a personal narrative to this large, paper magazine my school got, called TeenInk. Usually I shy away from 'teen-focused' things, because they tend to be cory and silly, and who wants to be associated with that?
But I was desperate, and so sent off my article. Nothing happened. I figured it hadn't been accepted, so no big deal.
Then today, just after submitting professional articles to The Paris Review, I get a package in the mail, from TeenInk. I figure it's the free copy I requested that they /finally/ got around to sending, but there's also this letter in it, and the first line says 'Dear Published Contributor'....
After a lot of screaming and jumping around and feeling silly, I was able to calm down and realize that this is the first time I have been professionally published anywhere.
So this post is all about celebration.
You can read the article Here for the month of November.
Thank you, and goodnight.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Three-Line Poetry
The benefits of short poetry:
1) They don't take forever to write!
2) Editing is a cinch.
3) The point comes across loud and clear.
4) Easy to memorize.
5) Easeir to be humorous and sarcastic
Something I wrote (comedically) today:
The Three-Year-Old’s Threat
Don’t leave me alone.
You’ll regret it.
I’ll scream.
1) They don't take forever to write!
2) Editing is a cinch.
3) The point comes across loud and clear.
4) Easy to memorize.
5) Easeir to be humorous and sarcastic
Something I wrote (comedically) today:
The Three-Year-Old’s Threat
Don’t leave me alone.
You’ll regret it.
I’ll scream.
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