Archive for the ‘writing tips’ Category
A Must for Every Christian Writer & Freelancer
January 30th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Have you seen Christian Writers’ Market Guide 2009
The guide breaks the writing market into three broad categories – book publishers, periodicals, and specialty markets (greeting cards, gifts, software, games, CD/DVD/Video).
The book publishers section starts with a listing of topics and the names of publishers interested in that topic. Over 150 topics are included ranging from autobiography to fiction for teens to marriage to self-help to worship resources. What a great way to find publishers to target!
Following the topical listing is a detailed listing of each book publisher. The alphabetized listings detail contact information, basic guidelines, special needs, and lots more for each publisher. A separate section is devoted to subsidy publishers. Those publishers that do not accept unsolicited manuscripts and require an agent are noted along with those who accept book proposals via The Writer’s Edge and Christian Manuscript Submissions.
Next is a list of book distributors followed by a market analysis. This section is useful for the discerning writer who wants to target the best publishers. The analysis covers the number of books published, what topics are most popular, and who had the most bestsellers.
After book publishers comes the periodical section. The divisions are similar to publishers – topical listings, alphabetical listing, and market analysis. The major difference is within the alphabetical listing, the periodicals are alphabetized within their type, such as children’s, pastor/leadership, music.
Because of this method of organization, when I found a periodical in the topic listing that I was interested in, I turned to the index for finding the detailed listing of the magazine. Otherwise, I would have to look in each periodical type for the name.
The back section of the book contains valuable information for writers – conferences and workshops, writers’ groups, editorial services, literary agents, and contests. With the exception of literary agents and contests, the groups are organized alphabetically by state location.
As a special bonus, a CD is included with the book. This CD is perfect for the writer that travels frequently and doesn’t want to lug around the actual book. What’s on the CD? The entire book in a searchable format along with additional resources for writers! I could spend hours pouring over the additional resources and have barely comprehended all that is included. To say that the CD is priceless to a freelancer, a beginning writing, or an author doing his own promotion would be an understatement.
The big question on my mind about Christian Writers’ Market Guide 2009
I flipped to the teen section of periodicals since her story is geared for that age level. A couple of minutes of scanning gave me information for 2 magazines that will accept her word count. Then I looked at the topical listing section for periodicals, cross-referenced the names to the alphabetical section, and found another possible magazine for her. Two of the three magazines are ones that I’ve never heard of so probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.
If you’re concerned about the cost of a book that will go out of date in a year, realize that the detail listings for most companies include their website addresses. While the contact information, such as the editor, might change over time, a website address will probably remain the same and give you a good starting point for finding the current information in the future.
If you are a writer interested in the Christian publishing world, buy your copy of Christian Writers’ Market Guide 2009.
Product Details:
List price: $34.99
Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: WaterBrook Press; Pap/Cdr edition (January 13, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307446433
ISBN-13: 978-0307446435
Posted in 
Notable Notes: New Blog, WIP, House
The first notable note is I’ve started a new blog!!! Check out Garden Vines when you have a minute. The blog is in its infant stages, but I would love to get your feedback on topics!
And I think I may have mentioned this already, but this is still a notable note – I finished up with my current editing WIP last week!!! Woo-hoo!!! I have to package the final layout once I have approval, but otherwise I’m finally done with this book!
So since I have a little bit more time on my hands right now, I read over the pages that I wrote during NaNoWriMo back in November. I seriously haven’t looked at them since last year. I have to confess that on re-reading I was impressed with the story line, and I feel ready to move on with writing! I felt inadequate when I was writing last year – like I was jumping in feet first. I’ve spent the last couple of months reading books and blogs and learning how to refine fiction. For the past few days, I’ve been mulling over ideas for the my writing WIP and ways to improve it since I now recognize my problems with back story and missing pieces.
Finally, our new house isn’t here yet. (You can read about my packing dilemma.) Thanks to a lot of rain our foundation has not been poured yet. However, our house is built and on its way to W.Va. Worse case scenario is that it will have to sit on the sales lot for awhile. Sigh. I’m praying that the weather stays clear enough that we’ll have the house on our property by the end of next week.
Don’t forget to stop by Garden Vines!
Writing Prompts – Good or Bad?
A few weeks ago, Rachelle held a first line contest followed by a first page contest. I didn’t have time to participate in the first page contest since I was trying to finish up my editing WIP (which, by the way, is FINISHED!!! Woo-hoo!!!). I found Rachelle’s idea of writing a first page from someone else’s first line intriguing.
The concept got me thinking about writing prompts. I used to give them to my students a lot when I was teaching, but I’ve never really used them other than when I was in school.
Then today I came across a great opening couple of sentences on another blog. I decided to copy them down to use later as a prompt when I get stuck on my current WIP. At this point I don’t see the description fitting into my WIP at all simply because the character, situation and setting are completely wrong. But maybe a little thinking about that character will help me develop my characters.
Have writing prompts ever helped you?
Writing Wednesday: Visit BookTherapy
I’ve only been reading Book Therapy for a couple of weeks, and I’ve learned a lot already. If you are interested in the craft of writing, particularly fiction, I think you’ll enjoy the posts. Right now the discussion is revolving around dialogue dilemmas, and I love the relevant examples and practical solutions for improvement.
Do you have a favorite “writing” blog? Leave a comment!
Interesting Grammar Question
I was working with a student tonight, and he asked a simple grammatical question that gave me reason to stop and think. In a sentence, he had the phrase “the land.” He asked if he changed it to “Russia” would he leave “the”? At first I thought it an odd question with an obvious answer. Then I realized that for some countries we do use “the” and for others we don’t.
For example, we say “the United States of America” or “the British Isles” or “the Philippines.” On the other hand, we don’t say “the Russia” or “the Britain” or “the Portugal” or “the Kenya”…you get my point.
Why is that? Is there a pattern with the ‘s’ ending (states, isles, philippines)? If so, how does something like “the Caribbean” fit in?