The Let’s Get Published website and upcoming online mastermind for writers are all about taking action and actually getting published.
It took me years to have the guts to submit my work, and I regret having wasted so much time beginning to establish my name.
Once I finally began submitting, guess what happened?
I got published!
Within the last year, I had one flash fiction, two short stories, one essay, an interview, and a book review accepted for publication.
Becoming a writer is hard, but not as hard as we make it for ourselves.
I’d like to share with you and amazing resource called Authors Publish. It’s a weekly email that lists the best publishers of books, magazines, ezines, and more. They cover fiction, non-fiction, and poetry!
If you are ready to submit, this list is a huge timesaver. If you are not ready to submit, it’s a great way to explore what publishers are seeking and where you can fit in.
How will you be ready to write your best book, deliver a kick ass pitch to an agent, or rewrite your manuscript before your publisher’s deadline?
By being ready.
I’m not talking about having all your files edited to perfection.
I’m talking about being mentally and physically prepared for anything.
Without mental and physical health, we can’t even remember that our reading glasses are on our heads much less shine for an unexpected opportunity.
This is simple, but it isn’t easy. Make these things a priority every day.
exercise
deep sleep
nutritious food
downtime doing something you enjoy
mental cleansing (could be meditation, could be wailing at a punching bag)
time with people whose company lights you up
We writers get obsessed with our ideas and let them run us into the ground.
The human body and mind can only take so much, and if we let ourselves get burned out, it means we won’t have the energy or mental resources to be ready when a big break strikes.
On Sunday, or whenever you have your day off, invest in the vehicles that make writing possible.
Happy Writing!
–Christa
P.S. A huge thanks to all the participants in our writing contest. It was a wild success! Stay tuned for the results in the coming month.
I’ll be sharing any great resources I find on Dear Writer. We’d all love to be getting our work out there, but it’s hard to keep track of writing contests and submission deadlines.
Today I want to introduce you to CompsandCalls.com. It’s a free website that provides a monthly list of free-to-enter writing competitions, contests, and calls for submission for all genres in one spot.
I connected with its creator, Cathy Bryant in 2015, and the service she provides writers is amazing.
Here’s a little bit about Comps and Calls.
Tired of being expected to buy litmags and pay submission fees just to have your work considered? Can’t afford to pay hefty writing competition fees? Don’t have time to rally thousands of Facetwit followers to vote for your story or poem? Then spend some time here, browsing my listings of free-to-enter writing competitions and calls for submission, all of which can be entered online and not via post/mail!
The listings are updated on the first of every month, with the odd top-up in between. Subscribe here.
Cathy prepares these massive lists herself. It’s a huge time-saver for writers so if you enjoy using this great resource, be sure to leave her a PayPal tip or become a member of Cathy’s Patreon.
Don’t forget to follow Comps and Calls on Facebook and Twitter.
And get Cathy’s book, How To Win Writing Competitions (and Make Money), on Amazon USand Amazon UK.
Don’t forget to enter your 1000-5000 word flash fiction or short story to our contest.
Many writers have huge to-do lists along with families, jobs, household duties, and social obligations. Sometimes, life doesn’t allow us to get in our writing time.
We get depressed.
We snap at people.
We are suffering from writing withdrawals.
Our creative horses are chomping at the bit, but we’re stuck doing some mundane task that feels like it’s sucking the life from us.
During these days when it seems like the world has conspired against your creative goals, give yourself a quick fix.
Write a poem.
Don’t overthink it. Freestyle on the page and see what happens.
Poems don’t need to have a beginning, middle, or ending. They can be impressions, abstractions, or silly word play.
I promise you’ll get a tiny jolt of gratification, or at least a bit of relief from writing withdrawals.
How do you feel when you’re kept away from your writing?
I’m going to begin sharing some excerpts of the most astonishing writing I’ve ever come across.
There are writers who entertain, and there are writers who drill to the core of the human heart.
Leo Tolstoy is one of these legends that inspire me to go beyond storytelling to create something deeper.
This passage is from Anna Karenina just after she and Count Vronsky commit adultery.
He felt what a murderer must feel, when he sees the body he has robbed of life. That body, robbed by him of life, was their love, the first stage of their love. There was something awful and revolting in the memory of what had been bought at this fearful price of shame. Shame at their spiritual nakedness crushed her and infected him. But in spite of all the murderer’s horror before the body of his victim, he must hack it to pieces, hide the body, must use what he has gained by his murder.
And with fury, as it were with passion, the murderer falls on the body, and drags it and hacks at it; so he covered her face and shoulders with kisses. She held his hand, and did not stir. “Yes, these kisses–that is what has been bought by this shame. Yes, and one hand, which will always be mine–the hand of my accomplice.” She lifted up that hand and kissed it. He sank on his knees and tried to see her face; but she hid it, and said nothing. At last, as though making an effort over herself, she got up and pushed him away. Her face was still as beautiful, but it was only the more pitiful for that.
“All is over,” she said; “I have nothing but you. Remember that.”
