InkSpotter News

Information and Support for Creative Writers

 Published by InkSpotter Writing & Editing

Volume 2.02                March 2004

In This Issue

Editorial

Bookmarks

Feature Article

Contests

Paying Markets

Bragging Rights

Letters to the Editor

Editorial

Voices in Your Head

One thing I've learned after all these years as a writer is to never argue with the voices inside my head. They're sometimes rude and often loud, but they know how to tell a story. Sometimes they lead me into dark corners of life and introduce me to the worst people. I go willingly and with my senses wide open.

The tiny voice in the background -- the one that says "don't go there" or "you can't write that" -- is the one that invariably leads me astray. (It's always the quiet ones.) That little voice would keep me confined to safe, familiar, well-worn paths without ever allowing so much as a glance to the right or the left.

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Advertise your writing-related product or service in the next issue of InkSpotter News. Contact the editor for details.

Worldwide Freelance Writer

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Free Report

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Bookmarks

Each issue, Betty Dobson uses this space to share her writing successes from the past month. With any luck, she'll never run out of material.

Feature Article

Speed Your Writing Up 

by L.J. Bothell

What do you want to accomplish as a writer? Many folks want to make extra money doing something they love, whether it be writing a great novel, getting into industry anthologies, or becoming an expert in a specific field. At some point you might feel ready to step over the threshold from dabbling to going full force in the context of your available time. However, you can have trouble increasing your output, especially when you just can't find another hour in your day. What do you do?

Here are a few ways you can speed up your writing. Keep in mind that faster writing (and therefore more output) doesn't mean you have to sacrifice quality or enjoyment. It means you can streamline what you already do and spend more time at the heart of writing - pulling out workable drafts and polishing them for sale.

Plan what you want to accomplish and set guidelines. Is your goal to finish a novel in one year of part time writing (two hours or less a day?) Get a feel for your writing speed on good flow days, and roughly calculate what you think it will take to pull out a first working draft. The hourly total might seem like a lot, but once you break it down over weeks and months, you might find that the elusive first novel draft is only five and a half months away, with another half year left for writing second draft, revisions, pre- and post-research, and some workshopping. Are you a freelance article writer? Perhaps your goal is to increase your income by 15% this year. After you figure your current earnings standard, you might discover that each workweek you need to market ten queries, draft four articles, and polish/send off two articles, while reserving a little time for follow-up, research and new-market generation. Break down your basic writing goals, calculate what you need to accomplish, and take aim.

Set a schedule and stick to it. You might be a daily writer with two available morning hours every weekday, a Saturday-only writer, or a full-time freelancer running a busy household. You'll get more done, and feel a sense of accomplishment and completion, if you schedule how to use your time. How you use writing time is a big key to how much you can consistently accomplish. One mantra many writers hear is "use your writing time for writing." However, when does writing time get to be used for researching, finding/querying markets, final editing, etc? That's for you to decide. If you write two hours a day five days a week, you might choose one day for your essential research and query output, three and a half for actual drafting, and one half for final edits. Or you might find you need to follow up on queries and submissions at least a half hour every day, spend a solid hour for writing, and use the final half hour for a quick revision. Make a schedule, post it, and adjust as necessary until you have a workable writing agenda that lets you focus on what you do best - writing.

Prioritize your writing components. Whether a self-driven article writer or novice novelist, it's important for you to rank what you need to accomplish. Perhaps you need to get solid research done for the novel, but it's easy to put it off and work on first drafts. Don't. Get a handle on what you need to know, then set up appointments and research opportunities (batch whenever possible, like going to the University library and doing a couple of reference interviews on the same day). Then you can write more accurate first drafts. If you consistently work on a series of articles and corporate writing projects, you may more deadline-driven. If so, ask yourself what needs to go out first for deadline? What do you need to follow-up on to get a piece written? Who do you need to talk to and when? What resources must you get before you can do something else?

Keep reusables and references close and easily accessible. Do you have standard text pieces you use on every submission? Set up a template you can open with like your title area and finishing bio already filled in. Are you an expert on one or two non-fiction areas? Keep essential definitions and footnote material easily accessible so you won't have to retype definitions or basic statistics every single time. Keep your novel outline pinned to a bulletin board right next to your computer. Have an encyclopaedia and reference manuals loaded on your computer. Copy public domain with footnote information onto your system so you can copy/paste when needed.

Use writing time writing. Yes, the old mantra. It's critical to not waste time self-editing. After you have essential research and a general outline done, generate your first draft and let her rip. Use the first words and phrases that come to mind, even if they are clichés or simple words. Then go back to revise, polish, and prep for submission. Do your drafts quickly in the closest mode to your own voice, without concern to what you think a client's style or constrictions should be. After you get the essentials down, tighten, streamline, and adjust facts and order. As you become more adept, your first drafts will naturally tighten up and you'll improve at creating what feels more like second draft work.

Jockey several writing tasks and assignments. You will avoid feeling burned out on one subject or facing the inevitable 'writer's block'. If you are not on immediate deadline (and if you schedule well you should never be) then swap out one draft for something else. Do you have an hour for writing and can't think of anything after 25 minutes? Switch to another article. Do you plan to send out five queries and draft two articles, and are stumped on one article's text? Draft query letters for a half hour, take a short walk, and return to the article with a clearer mind. As a writer you have the luxury and joy of being able to handle as many writing opportunities as you want, so don't be shy about working on several items at once. Simply keep your primary writing agenda in mind and work with your schedule goals.

Don't wait until the last minute. If you are a novelist on deadline, plan your novel schedule as soon as you get the contract, and follow through. If you freelance articles, get your pertinent research, scanning, typing, and transcribing done early so you can ruminate and play with writing flow well before deadline. If you are a short story writer with regular workshops, get your critique essentials done early so you can have the most polished and well thought-out piece ready to share.

Your speed of writing has as much to do with setting priorities as it does with the actual writing. It's great when you can add a little extra time to your writing schedule, but more often you probably need to grab little chunks of time to get that piece written. How you use your time is more important than how much of it you have, because a stronger sense of completion and accomplishment makes more efficient draft writers. More efficient writers in turn become more prolific and income-generating writers.

# # #

Contests 

This month we will focus on grants and fellowships for writers. The opportunities vary from partially-funded residencies to straight-forward cash funding.

Deadlines: June 30 and December 31 (annually)

Contact: 

Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Inc.

Grants in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction

P.O. Box 630125

Bronx NY  10463

Deadline: April 15, 2004

Contact:

Paul Douglass, Coordinator Steinbeck Fellows Program
English Department
San Jose State University
San Jose CA  95192-0090

Deadline: May 15 and December 15 (annually)

Contact: 

Peter Kirby, Program Officer, Grants to Individuals Program

Department of Tourism and Culture

Culture Division

4th Floor, World Trade and Convention Centre

Suite 402, 1800 Argyle Street

PO Box 456

Halifax NS  B3J 2R5

Phone:(902) 424-3422, Fax:424-0710

Paying Markets

Diva! The Magazine for Women - A new Detroit-based women's monthly. Wants non-fiction that "capture the variety and diversity of women's lives and interests." Also publishes essays.

Reading period: Open

Rights: One-time rights

Pays: (U.S. funds) $50 for essays; $25 for reviews

Herizons - A quarterly Canadian feminist magazine covering "health, activism, the environment and legal cases involving women."

Reading period: Open

Rights: Non-exclusive FNASR and CD-ROM rights

Pays: (Cdn. funds) $130 per 1,000 words

P.O. Box 128

Winnipeg MB R3C 2GI

Woman's World - A weekly magazine spotlighting the stories of average women. Readership includes young and old, married and single, homemakers and business women.

Reading period: Open

Features Editors: Kathy Fitzpatrick and Johnene Granger 

Rights:

Pays: (U.S. funds) approximately 50¢ per word for feature stories

270 Sylvan Avenue

Englewood Cliffs NJ  07632

FNASR - First North American Serial Rights.

Before submitting your work to any publication, be sure to read their writers' guidelines.

Want links to paying Canadian markets?

Bragging Rights

This is the space where subscribers get to do a little bragging about their own writing successes. Don't be shy. We want to hear from you.

Kelly Steed’s essay "Fiber Optic Hamster" has been accepted for the anthology Haunted Encounters: Personal Stories of Departed Pets from Atriad Press. It will be released in April/May 2004.

Kelly's first solo novel Camelot’s Revenge, an alternative history about JFK’s assassination, will be released by JoNa Books in October 2004.

Award-Winning Author Tells All

 - Learn Her Coveted Secrets -

 Write Short Stories

AND

 Get Them Published

CLICK THE COVER AT RIGHT 

Letters to the Editor

This is your chance to provide feedback on the newsletter. Tell us what you did and didn't like. Make suggestions for future issues. 

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