Writing Tips

I get a little surprise every month when the latest issue of Popular Science arrives in my mailbox. It is a fun magazine to read. It's all about big dreams and big ideas. The magazine offers a variety of articles that range from the quick to the more in depth stories. This format makes it perfect for any moment you have to flip through to find something for your moment.

I was intrigued by a small article near the back of the April 2010 issue titled 5 Things to Help You Write Your Masterpiece.
1 - Start somewhere. Anywhere. We all need to Practice, Practice, Practice. They suggested a collaborative story website protagonize.com. I have also found onemillionmonkeys.com and occasionally writers will host a collaborative story on their blog.

2 - Focus. They mentioned minimalist word processors like Dark Room and WriteRoom. "The bare bones text editor nix the features you don't need so you can focus on getting the words down."  Personally, I thought, well, maybe that is why Rachelle likes her Dana so much - it is just a text editor, very basic and to the point.

3 - Their advice for getting an agent was to register for free access to LiteraryMarketPlace.com, a giant database of publishers and agents, searchable by city and genre. For a substantial fee you can actually get their contact info.

4 - Getting published: Go to Poets & Writers web site, pw.org, which lists summaries of more than 450 fiction , poetry  and essay journals which let you submit your work online and find information on writing contests and MFA programs, etc.

5 - Copyrights: Go to Myows.com to defend against plagiarism.

Rachelle Christensen has been putting together some of her tips that helped her publish her first book on the national market.