Walrus Magazine Wants Articles on Canada
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The Walrus launched in September of 2003 with a straightforward mandate: to be a national general interest magazine about Canada and its place in the world. They invite writers to submit brief query letters about prospective story ideas (fiction and non-fiction). View website for full details.

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/queries/

WOW Wants Writing Articles
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WOW! welcomes queries and submissions from its readers. Each issue focuses on Women, Writing and the monthly Theme.
Columns, Word Counts and Pay Rates:
Twenty Questions: $50
How 2 (1,500 – 2,000 Words): $75
Inspiration (1,500 – 2,000 Words): $75
Feature Interviews (up to 3,000 Words): $75
Feature Articles (up to 3,000 Words): $150
View website for details.

http://wow-womenonwriting.com/contact.php

Pink Reader – Call for Submissions
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The Pink reader is a sophisticated, highly successful female business executive or entrepreneur. The magazine endeavors to be a vital tool to help the reader find greater financial independence and success in work and more joy in life. They welcome articles. Please send a detailed query rather than a completed manuscript. Include a relevant bio and two writing samples or clips. Payment varies. View website for contact details.

http://www.pinkmagazine.com/about/writer_guidelines.html

REJECTION

I have made my desire to become a published writer public. I have even gone so far as to volunteer to blog about the things that I learn along the way to getting published. I am after all, the epitome of a Newbie Writer. An adult well into my retirement years, I finally have time and opportunity to work on my writing. I am not so old though that I cannot learn something new, and it looks like I will be learning how to write something I have never written before.

I was so excited when I finally heard from the editor of Constant Content. I had begun to look for a response a day or two after I submitted my article even though I knew that Ed would be slower to look at my unrequested article, I still looked for a response every day. I was pleasantly surprised when just four days after I submitted my first article, I received an e-mail from CC.

My excitement quickly turned to disappointment though when I read the first few lines telling me my article had been rejected. How could that be? I wondered. I knew that this was my first attempt to write an article but hadn’t I done all the right things to make sure it would be accepted?

I made a mental list of the things I had done to ensure my success. I carefully read all the writers guidelines, (or so I thought) and I bought an e-book telling me ‘how to’ write for Constant Content. I even went the extra step by sending my finished piece to an author and asking her pretty please to critique my article.

I didn’t really expect the author, (who shall remain nameless here), to look at my article let alone take her precious time to take an editing pen to my entire article, line by line. I was so impressed that she spent so much time on editing and explaining what was wrong with my article that I didn’t even feel discouraged by her criticisms. Constructive though they were, they did sting just a little but I sucked it up and felt grateful for the help. I printed out her commentary and went through my piece line by line making the corrections she suggested. I went back and checked my sources to make sure I had not inadvertently lifted a phrase or anything that could be considered plagiarism and finally I looked up some of the grammatical changes the author suggested. I didn’t just want to copy the semicolons without knowing why I was going to use them.

Still, here it is, my article was rejected. In a span of several seconds I went through a myriad of emotions. My first thought was, “You should have known better, you can’t write! Closely followed by a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I thought about the many short stories and essays just lying in a drawer. I have never even tried to publish any of them, so what was I doing trying this? I guess because it didn’t look hard to me when I read the articles on Constant Content and other sites. I found several mistakes in many of them and I thought, “I can do this,” I can write an article, it doesn’t look so hard.

Well the mark of an expert is that they always make “it” whatever the “it” is, look easier to do than it really is. Such is the case here I am sure. I have decided that I would like to write some articles for the web and now I must suck it up and realize that “This article requires revision”, is not so much a rejection as a direction to try again. So try again I will and like the suggestions from the author I will go through my article again and try to make the editors happy. If I can do that, I think I will be well on my way to learning to write just about anything. It’s all a learning process after all isn’t it, and I can always stand to learn something new, so I will try and try again.

Call for Articles on Fairy Tales
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Enchanted Conversation is an online magazine, in Blogger format, that celebrates the art, history, analysis, charm, beauty, horror about fairy tales. Payment is 4 cents a word for articles (fiction or non-fiction), poems at a flat rate of $10. View website for submission guidelines. http://tinyurl.com/yc6hbhe

Reading Today Call for Submissions
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Readers are invited to submit articles on a broad variety of topics relating to reading and reading education. Since Reading Today is mailed to all members of the International Reading Association, the newspaper tries to address the needs and interests of an audience involved in education at all levels from pre-K through adult education in 100 countries throughout the world. Therefore, interests are fairly wide-ranging. General-interest articles appearing in Reading Today range from interviews with children’s book authors to descriptions of innovative reading programs to coverage of important reading-related conferences. Anything that might help or interest reading professionals is a potential story. View website for contact details.

http://tinyurl.com/y8f8o2k

Science Articles Wanted
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Greater Good magazine’s articles mix science reporting with storytelling, often highlighting groundbreaking academic research, but in a manner that’s engaging and accessible to a popular audience. Payment for feature articles is $.25/word. View website for details. http://tinyurl.com/y9ahw63

One of the biggest problems writers face is writer’s block. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have stared at a blank page on the screen and thought “Now what do I write?”. You know what it is like: you plan to write, you allocate a couple of hours to write, and sit down ready to write. Then it hits you: the big fat nothing. Nothing happens and you end up staring blankly at your blank page hoping something will just materialise or you end up playing games on your computer while you wait for inspiration. Neither technique actually helps you to get writing again!

 When you need inspiration, Newbies Writers offers a daily prompt to get your creative juices flowing again in the Need a Prompt section. Even if you write in a totally different genre, such as a novel, or factual articles, it can be very helpful to warm up with a quick writing exercise from the prompting section. Give yourself 10 minutes and write whatever comes into your head after reading the daily prompt. It might surprise you how easy it is to get back to your other writing afterwards.

Just about any creative writing exercise will help you to get over writer’s block and get writing again. One of my favourites is to look at a picture and describe a story from the picture. Look at the people in the picture and imagine a character for each person. Where does the man in the brown suit live? What relationship does he have with the woman in the yellow hat? What are the people thinking when the picture was taken?

Another good exercise is to cut up headlines into separate words from a newspaper and mix the words in an envelope. Take out five or six words, make a new headline and write a fake news article about your new headline. This is a great exercise to get you in the mood for writing again.

 Allison’s recent blog on outlining also offers some great ideas on how to avoid writer’s block. Outline your novel, article, short story, or poem, so that you have something to refer to when you get stuck. If you are staring at a blank screen and have a definite project in mind, start an outline and you will soon find it easy to write again.

 If you write fiction, try interviewing one of your characters about the other characters when you get writer’s block. You may not use the interview itself in your work, but you will definitely get some great ideas and inspiration to keep you writing.

Whatever you do, don’t just sit there or play games on the computer. Start writing anything and you will find you will be able to concentrate on whatever you need to write sooner. Free write or give yourself a short story break rather than give up on your writing altogether. You will find inspiration will strike again soon!

HayleyWriter

Visit my website: http://www.expandingcreations.com for free articles about writing.

Women’s magazine seeks submissions

Sasee welcomes editorial submissions from freelance writers. They are looking for new, unpublished, first-person, non-fiction material that is for or about women. Essays, humor, satire, personal experience, and features on topics relating to women are of primary editorial focus. Diversity of subjects that reflect all age groups and variety of writing styles are invited. Payment for articles varies. View website for contact details.

http://sasee.com/submissions/

History Articles Wanted

History-on-the-web is an online publishing site that publishes all things historical. Whatever the topic, whatever the period, they want to publish your work. Their requirements are simple:

*It must be referenced.
*It must be original.
*You must submit a profile.

Writers receive 50% Royalties and bonus.

View website for details.

http://www.history-on-the-web.com

Origin Magazine Calls For Submissions

UK based Origin Publishing Ltd are always looking for dependable, quality freelance writers to work on their magazines. View website for contact details.

http://www.originpublishing.com/vacancylist.asp

Articles on Computing Wanted

Worldstart.com are looking for tips for their e-mail newsletter, Computer Tips & Techniques. They are also seeking feature articles for the website covering any and all aspects of computing. Check out the guidelines on their website.

http://www.worldstart.com/writers-guidelines

Juggling a hectic home life with the beginnings of a writing career has proven more challenging than I had initially anticipated. My challenge currently is to find the time to write. My boys are 2 and 4 years old. Each with needs that only mommy can fulfill.

My two year old will walk over to where I am sitting with my laptop and close it on my fingers as I am trying to type.  This is a daily occurrence for me.

It is 11:30pm and I write this blog in my son’s dimly lit room impatiently waiting for him to give in to sleep. If I am lucky I will write for a half hour and become victor over this cute but stubborn blond haired boy who is desperately fighting sleep and he will it is only a matter of time.

I acquired a notebook which I carry around with me should my muse strike. I often find myself writing in the strangest of places… the bathroom while I am washing, the kitchen and even the laundry room. I savour the moments when I can as is Dawn’s favourite saying  “JUST WRITE SOMETHING.”

In parting, I would like to leave you with this question. How do you find balance between your writing and your responsibilities?

Until the next time happy writing adventures.

Allison

Okay, so now I have a computer and loads of free time to use it. So there is literally nothing to stop me from becoming what I have dreamed of my entire life and that is to be a writer! A well-paid, published writer is what I desire to be. Simple right? Wrong!

The more I do research on line the more I am aware of two things. Number one, becoming a paid writer is not as hard as one would think, that is what all the on line authors would have you believe anyway, and Number two, all it takes apparently, is a good idea.

Well hey, that’s just swell! All I need then is an idea for a new book, article or essay. Easy right? Maybe, but in the Idea department I think I must have been standing ‘behind” the door when the good Lord passed out the creativity genes. Try as I might I cannot imagine any topic that might be sufficiently interesting in and of itself to make a person want to know more. Happily there are articles about how to come up with new ideas.

Here is where the Internet and all of the writers therein, come into play. I am so amazed at the wealth of information available on the net to anyone willing to dig it out. The digging isn’t very hard to do either! It blows my little southern mind, to think of all the people out there in the world of writing, that are giving all of this invaluable information away for free!

There are so many sites dedicated to the writer and while many are really interesting my favorite is still NewbieWriters.com. I especially like the section on “learning the craft” it has so many great “how to’s” and I spend quite a bit of time just reading.

I am actually spending more of my time reading about writing these days than I am actually writing! This I will change soon though.

I have decided that I will only do housework on designated days of the week and the rest of my time will be spent in making my dreams come true, thanks to the many authors in cyber space who are willing to share their knowledge so freely. I am confident that I will be able to learn from the volumes written on the net so freely. So part of my new goals for 2010 will be to take advantage of all the free writing guides out there and learn as much as possible about the craft I so love. I hope that you are having an inspired New Year too and that you will make the time to write this year ….no matter what! What is it that Dawn says? Just write something!

As an academic writer first and foremost, I have encountered several pieces of advice for how best to make my writing accessible to the layperson. Some tips are obvious, such as not using jargon. However, the best piece of advice was presented to me by a Professor on my undergraduate course, a recommendation I use not only in my non-academic writing, but also in my scientific communications: Keep it simple!

Writers all too often wish to show off their intelligence by using complex language and  assuming a certain amount of knowledge from their readers. They think that by ‘impressing’ their reader in such a way, they will appear as superior intellects. However, all this does is alienate their audience.

The trick with non-fiction writing is not to make YOU appear intelligent, but to make the reader feel that THEY are intelligent. By explaining complicated matters in a simple, easy to read manner, the reader will grasp the concept and come away from the experience feeling better about themselves and you as a writer. I experience this all the time when reading certain popular science books on Quantum Physics. Pick up any book by Brian Greene, or Michio Kaku, and they will make you feel like you are an expert in the impossible. Richard Dawkins is also another excellent proponent of this method. They don’t shy away from using simpler language and concepts to portray their message.

A lot of writers when presented with this advice do not wish to ‘dumb-down’ their writing; they still cling to their desire to use complex language and terminology, as they fear that not doing so will make them look like incompetent writers. They feel that they have to use long, rarely encountered words in order to demonstrate how educated and eloquent they are as writers; all they accomplish, however, is to annoy the reader, bored with constantly reaching for the dictionary.

So, whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, keep it simple! Your reader will thank you.

When you start writing, you generally start writing for yourself, for your own pleasure in finding the right words to express your feelings. Some people start writing to give others pleasure, such as A.A.Milne who wrote the famous Winnie the Pooh books for his beloved son, Christopher, but it is often a small audience at first, so those little errors don’t really matter.

 However, when you want to publish your writing, you do need to care about presenting a clean copy with no errors for the publisher to read. You need to edit your own work before you give it to a publisher. Editing is a completely different skill to writing, so it is not always easy to edit your own work. In fact, it is often easier to edit someone else’s work, because you are less familiar with it. The author often knows what is intended by a particular sentence, but the reader becomes confused. The main trick to editing your own work is to look at it as if you are reading someone else’s work for the first time.

 Ask yourself questions, such as:

• Does that sentence make sense?
• Have I left out important information that would help the reader make sense of my writing?
• Does my writing flow from paragraph to paragraph in a smooth manner, or do I repeat myself?
• What questions do I have after reading this?
• Am I assuming the reader has the same knowledge I do?

If you write at a computer, it is a good idea to print out your article and proofread from the printed copy. It makes it easier to spot the simple errors, such as the typographical errors, and you can circle the error quickly and keep reading. Edit the entire piece and then go back to the computer to make all the changes, so that you don’t forget anything.

Read your writing aloud. This helps you to spot the instances of awkward wording or phrasing, because you will naturally stumble over the words when you read them aloud. If it doesn’t sound natural when you read, you need to do some editing.

I’ve often heard authors say that the first draft is nothing like the published version, and that’s probably a good thing! Editing and proofreading is a continual process that adds the technical side of writing to our work. We all need to polish our writing until it shines and reaches to the heart of the reader.

 Hayley

For free articles on freelance writing, check out http://www.expandingcreations.com