Evaluating Writing Habits

In what direction would you like to see your writing venture toward in 2016? Of course, every writer is yearning for the ultimate: a contract…or three.

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to reevaluate our writing habits and schedules. Here are some of mine:  

If I do not have a deadline for a piece of work, I will set one. By establishing a date to finish the first draft, I will feel more pressure to get the job done. I use the term “job” because writing is not easy and a manuscript can be so difficult to write I’m tempted to set it aside. I’ll muddle through; that’s what it takes to finish the first draft as my timeline approaches.  

Read articles/books on the writing process. Since I write picture books and MG, I will focus on those two areas.  

Read a variety of picture, chapter, and MG books to study how other writers develop stories. 

Remain positive, even with a landslide of rejection letters. I’ll measure my literary worth by my dedication to the writing, not by a contract. If I continue to write and study the process, my manuscripts will improve.  

Celebrate the small victories.  If an editor makes a comment on a rejection, I must have done something to warrant his/her time, effort, and energy.  

Make 2016 the year to realize your dream. 

Call for submissions for Young Writers

Ember is a semiannual journal of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction for all age groups. Submissions for and by readers aged 10 to 18 are strongly encouraged. Ember is looking for great writing that tells a compelling story, regardless of length. Even very short pieces, like flash fiction, should tell a story, though there will certainly be fewer dramatic elements developed than we’d see in a longer piece or novel. The presence of “story” is what distinguishes flash fiction from “vignette.”

Submission guidelines at http://emberjournal.org/submission-guidelines/

Call for submissions for Adult Writers

The Crawl Space Journal, a small place for big imaginations, is looking for great writing, especially short forms: poems, prose, and flash fiction, within the realms of magical realism, fabulism, and fantasy, for our Spring Issue. We do accept novel excerpts (up to1,500 words) if they stand alone. Our readers are mainly between the ages of 11 and 14.

Submission guidelines at http://thecrawlspace.me/category/young-reader-flashlight/ 

Habits of Famous Writers/Contest

Writers often fall into habits when writing. The habits take many forms, such time-based, writing in the morning, or page-based, a minimum of four pages per day. A writing habit is an incentive to keep working on a story or piece. I recently saw on Flavorwire and The Guardian some interesting writing habits of famous authors.

Flannery O’Connor [Wise Blood and numerous short stories] Spent two hours a day writing.
Albert Camus, [The Stranger] Wrote some of his books standing at a lectern due to back pain.
Victor Hugo [The Hunchback of Notre Dame] Handed over his clothes to a butler. That way, he had to remain in the room where he wrote.
Isaac Asimov [Prelude to Foundation] Sat at his desk, which faced a bare wall, void of districtions.
John Steinbeck [The Grapes of Wrath] and Ernest Hemmingway [A Farewell to Arms] Wrote a specific number of pages each day.
Truman Capote [In Cold Blood] Wrote reclined on a sofa, with pencil in one hand and sherry in the other.
Eudora Welty [The Optimist’s Daughter] Held her manuscripts pages together with straight pens.
Neil Gaiman [The Graveyard Book] Finished one story before beginning another.
C. S. Lewis [The Chronicles of Narnia] Maintained a daily writing schedule.

Writers do whatever it takes to keep them at the task of beginning and completing literary works. Do you keep a schedule, set deadlines, or work in a quiet room? What interesting habit do you have that motivates you to keep writing?

Contest for Adult Writers:
Iowa Short Fiction Award
For a collection of short stories (minimum 150 pages). “Any writer who has not previously published a volume of prose fiction is eligible to enter the competition. Previously entered manuscripts that have been revised may be resubmitted. Writers are still eligible if they have published a volume of poetry or any work in a language other than English or if they have self-published a work in a small print run. Writers are still eligible if they are living abroad or are non-US citizens writing in English. Current University of Iowa students are not eligible.” Award confers publication under the University of Iowa Press standard contract.
Deadline: Submissions: August 1-September 30, 2011 (postmarked)
Details at http://www.uiowapress.org/authors/iowa-short-fiction.htm