Writing a Middle Grade Novel/Calls for Submissions

Today, I’m continuing the series, Writing a Middle Grade Novel.

Help! I’m suffering from stuck-itis on chapter 8. I’m staring at my plot outline and it just doesn’t seem to work. We’ve all been there, the place in out manuscript in which we wonder where to take out character next. The ideas in the outline no longer seem viable. We also read those books with a sagging middle, the excitement of the beginning just wanes and the story dulls rather than delights. What is a writer to do?

I asked some writer friends for advice.

Write. Just write. Ideas will begin to mesh and some will sparkle and work.

Don’t stress over the quality of your writing. All first drafts are bad. In fact, they stink. That’s what revision is for, to turn bad writing into good. At this point my manuscript is the literary equivalent of the aroma of limburger cheese. (Caution: No deep breaths, please.) Be content with the fact that you’re doing something right, you’re writing.

Put the story aside for a period of time. Give your ideas time to percolate and steep. Ideas need time to form. Later, you'll go back to the story with a fresh perspective.

In the meantime, begin working on a new writing project. When you return to the original story, you may be happy to discover that stuck-itis has changed to idea-itis.

Call for Submissions for Young Writers:

The Adroit Prizes for Poetry and Prose are awarded annually to two students of secondary or undergraduate status whose written work "inspires the masses to believe beyond feeling the work." In other words, we strive to receive the absolute best work from emerging young writers in high school and college, and the best of the best will receive these two lovely awards.We accept submissions for these prizes in the regular submissions pools throughout the entire year. For more information regarding submission at this time, please see our submission page.

The 2015 Adroit Prizes for Poetry and Prose will open for submissions on December 1, 2014, and will close on March 13, 2015.

Submission guidelines at http://www.theadroitjournal.org/adroit-prizes

Call for Submissions for Adult Writers:

Hopscotch is a magazine created for girls from 6 to 13 years, with girls 8, 9, and 10 the specific target age.

HOPSCOTCH looks for articles, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that deal with timeless topics, such as pets, nature, hobbies, science, games, sports, careers, simple cooking, and anything else likely to interest a young girl. We leave dating, romance, human sexuality, cosmetics, fashion, and the like to other publications. Each issue revolves around a theme.

Submission guidelines at http://funforkidzmagazines.com/hs_guidelines