New Year, New Beginning

Happy New Year. May 2012 bring you positive results in your writing endeavors.

The new year rings in a new beginning, a time for renewed hope, fresh inspiration, and the setting of goals. I like to review what I’ve done the previous year and determine what worked and what didn’t. Did I spend too much time on a manuscript that is going nowhere or procrastinating when I should have been writing? I also like to look at what worked. Why was one manuscript accepted and others rejected over and over by various publishers? Another question: How can I become more organized so I can spend a maximum amount of time writing? The answers to these questions differ for every writer, but January is a perfect opportunity for writers to question how they work and scrutinize how their routines and writing styles can be improved.

One suggestion for beginning writers is to examine how they view themselves. A positive attitude helps to keep writers focused on the ultimate goal of garnering a publishing contract. Do you view yourself as wanting to write a book or wanting to be an author? In a conference I recently attended, the speaker clarified the difference. Anyone can write a book and get it published, but to be an author, the writer must learn the craft, dedicate time to writing, and believe that a contract is in your future. Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes.

Here’s to a creative year filled with professional dedication. Let’s be positive, stay focused, and devote time to writing.

Next week, I'll discuss some of the latest trends in publishing.

Call for submissions for adult writers
The latest Ploughshares newsletter contains this reminder: “We are on the hunt for Patricia Hampl’s Fall 2012 all-nonfiction issue. Submit online or via regular mail. The regular reading period ends on January 15th, so please polish and send in those essays soon.” NB: If you submit online and you don’t subscribe to the journal, you must pay a fee. No fee for postal submissions. Ploughshares pays “upon publication: $25/printed page, $50 minimum per title, $250 maximum per author, with two copies of the issue and a one-year subscription.”

Call for submissions for student writers
CUCKOO QUARTERLY welcomes submissions of original writing by writers
under the age of 19. We encourage everything from poetry to
prose, short stories to movie reviews, opinion to imagination.
It can be work that fits the categories laid out in previous
editions or entirely different; don’t feel constrained by
form or genre. Cuckoo will be published quarterly
Deadline: December 21, 2011

Check out more contests on my blog: http://nancykellyallen.blogspot.com/