Monthly Archives: September 2014
Pitching stories
Posted on September 29, 2014 1 Comment
When I was a freelance journalist, pitching story ideas was my business’s lifeblood. As an academic now, I also find that sometimes pitching an idea ahead of all the research and writing to gauge an editor’s interest can be a valuable option to save time and be more efficient. First, have an idea. Coming up […]
Five journals said no. Now what?
Posted on September 26, 2014 Leave a Comment
Rejection is hard, especially after you worked on that piece for months and months. You spent all that time polishing and revising, seemingly to no avail. You dutifully submitted that piece to one journal at a time, waited for each to respond, received “thanks, but no thanks” emails, and repeated this process five (or more) […]
Midweek Writing Prompt: The Power of Repetition Redux (9/24/14)
Posted on September 24, 2014 Leave a Comment
In my classrooms and workshops, I strive to create safe, welcoming writing communities where individuals feel free to explore ideas, stories, and concepts without judgment. After all, we need those spaces to get started. The judgment – of editors, professors, critical friends – will come later. But in the beginning, we need that soft, friendly […]
Honor your process
Posted on September 22, 2014 Leave a Comment
Writers often look at other writers to compare themselves. She writes so much more than me! Writing seems to come so naturally to him! How does she do it? And then we look at ourselves and are our own worst critics. We should be faster, smarter, more clever, more productive. What a crock! If you […]
Midweek Writing Prompt: Frozen Moment (9/17/14)
Posted on September 17, 2014 Leave a Comment
In my classrooms and workshops, I strive to create safe, welcoming writing communities where individuals feel free to explore ideas, stories, and concepts without judgment. After all, we need those spaces to get started. The judgment – of editors, professors, critical friends – will come later. But in the beginning, we need that soft, friendly […]
How to find a publishing home for your writing
Posted on September 15, 2014 Leave a Comment
Now that you have imagined, written, revised, polished, and crafted a piece to the point of being ready to send it out into the world, some writers pause here and hesitate, unsure about how to find a place for their work. Depending on what it is that you’ve written, you have plenty of options and […]
The Six-Minute Rejection
Posted on September 12, 2014 Leave a Comment
One of my all-time favorite rejection stories to tell isn’t mine. A friend of mine who is a well-published writer (in multiple genres), holder of a Ph.D. in Creative Writing, and professor, shared the most amazing rejection story on her blog a couple of years ago. I’m paraphrasing here, but basically, she sent a story […]
Midweek Writing Prompt: Letter to an Inanimate Object (9/10/14)
Posted on September 10, 2014 2 Comments
In my classrooms and workshops, I strive to create safe, welcoming writing communities where individuals feel free to explore ideas, stories, and concepts without judgment. After all, we need those spaces to get started. The judgment – of editors, professors, critical friends – will come later. But in the beginning, we need that soft, friendly […]
Amanda Morris, Ph.D. 