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Winter 2024 Writing Advice

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What happens if…

Some Writing Prompts to Ponder during March 🌹

What happens if you pick one prompt, complete the sentence, write the next sentence, and keep going?

What happens if you write for 20 minutes?

  • When spring comes…
  • Did you hear…
  • Rolling around in the grass, she was shocked to find…
  • Did you have to take…
  • What if…

If you’ve tried all of these, send me a note, and ask for more.

Or use one of these photos as a setting for what you wrote.

Or start with a physical description of one of these three and let it lead you into a story.

Questions? Please ask. 

 

We’d love to read anything from your favorite sentence to the whole piece. Submit it in a comment at the bottom of the form, or if you’re shy, send it to me through the contact box.

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“Though the book leaves my hands, we are still umbilically connected.” –Dawn Reno Langley 

The Writer Life

By Dawn Reno Langley

Editor’s Note: Dawn Reno Langley is the author of Analyzing the Prescotts. Cotton Barnes, a Raleigh, NC, therapist, leveled by a client’s recent suicide, is struggling to resume her practice when she begins working with the Prescotts, a family fractured when the father comes out as transgender and begins transitioning. They relate their stories in their chosen voices, each family member’s narrative in a different format. Journals, social media, and other nontraditional narratives challenge Dr. Barnes’ therapeutic skills. While each member of the Prescotts dodge land mines behind the closed doors of her therapy office, the Raleigh, North Carolina area is rocked by a series of LGBTQ+ hate crimes. As Cotton finds herself stalking the family, worried that she might not be able to “save them,” her husband slips away, and Cotton is forced to make a decision that will determine whether she saves her own marriage or the Prescotts.

Here are her thoughts about the writer’s life:

            I’ve been a writer for so long that I don’t have any idea what it is to not be one. For me, a writer’s life means spending a lot of time in front of a computer screen trying to imbibe life into words that another person will read and understand. Or use.

            Living a writer’s life means often being frustrated that the words I struggle to produce every day stall at the proverbial publisher’s door. In my version of a writer’s life, I’ve experienced thousands of rejections. If I were to figure out odds the Las Vegas way, I’d probably have hit pay dirt 1 in every 314.5 submissions. That’s a lot of rejections. I’ve been persistent throughout my publishing career, and my odds are probably a bit better than most. Yet, still, when I think my work is a perfect fit and I hear that “no,” it’s still frustrating.

            However, my life as a writer is something I’d never give up. I am extraordinarily lucky to have a super-charged imagination that builds stories based on the simplest detail: the wrinkle in a husband’s brow, the shadow on the dining room wall, the heartbreak in a mother’s eyes. I live every day with stories, and while they can sometimes become blown out of proportion, the narratives in my brain are a pleasure to live with, especially on rainy afternoons by the fire under a mohair comforter when you have nothing to do but daydream.

            I get to play with people who are complicated, complex, or emotionally motivated. I can change any of their stories by dropping a paragraph or adding another character. I write their lives and those living beings create their own narrative…sometimes running away with the story. And I also get to design places, to give names to trees, and to decide whether those are marigolds down the sidewalk or tiger lilies. I can make place a character by providing atmosphere, which is often my favorite part of writing fiction.

            When all the writing is done, the business side of the writing life begins. I take the piece of work I’ve created and send it out into the world, hoping for a phone call from someone who loves my work and understands what I’m trying to say. When that call comes, I learn about how the work is seen and also about what it’ll take to edit my words.

            Though the book leaves my hands, we are still umbilically connected. The work continues through the physical building of the book: the cover, the typeface, the weight of the pages, the bio on the back cover. Creative forces are called forth to give my babies life, and yes, that sounds trite, but it’s true. A writer’s work is an extension of the writer. And some mothers have a harder time of letting go than others.

            But let go, we must. We must release our works with as much marketing as we can muster. It’s then that the writing life becomes the promotion and marketing life. We talk about our work (and for some, that’s the best part of writing, while, for others, it’s not fun at all) to those who are kind enough to come to our readings and to offer us reviews. We spend valuable writing time making sure everyone knows about the new work. We connect with new people who support you in ways you’d not imagined.

            Writers are not a well-paid lot, so reviews from influencers and the support of a fan base mean a lot. I can safely say that most writers treasure their good reviews. Good interviews are even better, because the host helps us expand our audience. And competition is stiff. More than 11,000 books are published every day.

            Even as I write this and think about how much more I can say about the ways I live my writing life, I know without a doubt that I would never stop writing. I can’t. It’s who I am. No matter what happens in my life, my writing is there to carry me through the heartache or the joy. It truly is my life.

            We writers use the term ‘creation’ when we think of a new idea or begin plotting a new story.  The writing life is simply just that: the creation.

            @@@

A Fulbright scholar and TedX speaker with an MFA in Fiction from Vermont College and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (concentrations in gender studies and creativity) from The Union Institute and University, Dawn Langley Reno lives on the North Carolina coast. She offers writing retreats for other women and teaches for Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA program. Her latest book, You Are Divine: A Search for the Goddess in All of Us (Llewellyn) was released nationally and internationally in January 2022.

You can follow her at:

 

Writing Prompts for February:

Use any of these sentence starts and go where the writing takes you. Prose, poetry, graphics, sci fi, romance, contemporary, historical, personal . . . Do whatever appeals. See where it takes you. If you like the results, I invite you to share them. 

🎯🌹✍️

  • I was late because  . . .
  • Listening to sound but not language, she realized . . .
  • If you eat food you’ve never tried . . .
  • Listening to the slot machines in the casino . . .
  • What if  . . .
  • The old man refused to . . .
  • I’m early because . . .

If you’d be willing to post one sentence from your writing some or all of it may appear as a future prompt. We’ll credit you and list your website of course.

A Dozen Ways to Build Your Platform

How does a writer build her credibility or his platform? Here are 12 ways. You’ll notice that sometimes one idea leads to another, just as it probably does in your writing. We’d love to hear your ideas in the comment box below.

  1. Write well.

Make your writing the best it can be. Share with friends. They’ll give you confidence. Editors will give you advice.

  1. Write from the heart.

Write about the people, places, activities, and ideas that interest you. If you don’t have passion for your writing, no one else will either.

  1. Tell the story that only you can tell.

No one has your voice. No one knows your narrator better than you do. What is unique about your view of the world? Why should it matter to others?

  1. Share your work on blogs.

Look for blogs concerned with the same subject matter you are. Offer them your article, story, or poem. If they say they like it but it doesn’t fit, ask where they suggest you send it. Most bloggers welcome new content from all voices.

  1. Submit to e-zines.

You can find out which e-zines are seeking submissions at https://www.newpages.com/submission-opportunities/calls-for-submissions/

Or https://www.pw.org/writing_contest_updates

Or https://writeradvice.com/category/contests-and-markets/

Or https://www.freedomwithwriting.com/freedom/

Or https://fundsforwriters.com/markets/

Or Google “Seeking submissions of (your genre)

Keep searching. Some are contests. Others want to share your work. Contests pay and so do some blogs.

  1. When a rejection comes, go to the next contest or market on your list.

In other words don’t get discouraged. Each contest judge brings her or his own expectations and beliefs. You don’t know who else entered. You don’t know what any judge is thinking. Try a different contest with a different judge. First, though, double check your work, not because you doubt yourself but because we’re all human and you might see something you missed before.

  1. Share your work in a newsletter.

If you don’t have your own newsletter or a list of followers, share your ideas or an opening paragraph or chapter on Medium or Reddit or anyplace where you can submit. Get feedback. If you get the same comments from several people, they’ve spotted something you need to look at.

  1. Share it on a blog.

Don’t have a blog? Consider starting one. Enter your blog posts into contests.

  1. Invite people to comment.

This is one way to get noticed and get a following. Some may not like your work, but controversy increases visibility.

  1. Thank them when they comment.

You can always find something to thank a responder for. People love it when you say, “Thank you.”

  1. Share progress and insights on Facebook.

It’s common practice to share your progress, excerpts from great reviews, and your newest insights on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. When people like what you have to say, they’ll follow you.

  1. Enter contests. Even being long listed separates you from the crowd.

Start with the list at #5. Pick two to five pieces that are ready for an audience. Then select the one that meets the stated expectations of the e-zine you’re looing at. Let one idea for submissions lead to another. Keep submitting and remember that a personalized rejection or a rejection that asks to see more of your work is a victory. The bigger ones will come soon.

Follow your plans but be prepared to pivot. Writing is a process allowing you to grow, shift, and become the writer that only you can be.

 

Prompts for January 2024

Look directly in front of you. What do you see?

Describe the physical detail. Then go wherever the writing takes you. We’d be happy to share what you write and will only say what we love. 

Sample: 

Behind my laptop screen, which is open to WordPress, I see the wood grain on the drawers and cubbyholes of the desk in my office. Dark streaks in the grain remind me of the woods. The little drawer pulls remind me of the handles on old card catalogues in libraries — the kind we used to use before computers launched us into new ways of being in the world. The stacks of books and greeting cards and an old mug that belonged to my father and says “Ioki” which is Jody in Hawaiian, make this desk uniquely mine. 

This was supposed to be my husband’s desk. He bought it at an estate sale before he cleared his own desk off so he could move this one in, then decided he liked the surface and size of the old one, and talked me into taking this smaller one. Even though it meant I’d need to rearrange my office,

I finally agreed, and he hired a couple of men we know who live in their cars outside our church to move the bookcases in my tiny office, put this against the far wall, and haul away my old desk that used to sit by the window. We’re septuagenarians, and moving things this no longer in our skill set. 

The window that I used to look out of is now behind me, and the daylight glares whenever I’m on a Zoom call, but I like the way it reflects off the wood. It dances against the grain, which makes me wonder where the trees it’s made from once grew. Where were they sacrificed? Who put in the labor? What is this desk’s history? Am I making good use of the space? And who will use it next? 

Alternate topics: .

  • What are the resolutions people rarely keep (or you never keep)?
  • What resolutions should no one ever make?

Set a timer, write for 20 minutes, read it over and share your favorite lines or the whole piece. Use the comment box below. We’ll only say what we love in the writing.  

We’d love to read your responses to these prompts. Please post them in the comments box. We’ll only say what we love in the writing. Watch this space for more Writing Advice coming soon.