See older newsletters for many educational topics.
Aime wrote a new short story. Her web content writing is turning into regular work.
Shannon hit 40k words on his story. He found a new coffee shop to write at.
Ciuin turned in more school papers, but only got B’s.
Oct 31
Troy
Aime
Ciuin
Nov 7
Randy
Ciuin
Open slot
Nov 14
Nick
Dylan?
Rachel
Nov 21
open slots
Nov 28
Thanksgiving – no meeting
Dec 5
open slots
Keep Writing,
Bill
See older newsletters for many educational topics.
Attendance is up. In the past three meetings we’ve had 11, 7, and 10 people.
Dylan posted two short stories and got a community award for them. He broke writers block on Raging Alone.
Aime completed writing a web site. She wrote a candidate summary for a voters’ guide.
Ryan made his first submission and survived the critique, and bought a printer.
Ciuin turned in two major school papers ON TIME.
Oct 24
Shannon
Ciuin
Ryan
Oct 31
Troy
Aime
Ciuin
Nov 7
Randy
open slots
Nov 14
Nick
Dylan?
open slots
Nov 21
open slots
Keep Writing,
Bill
Thanks to Shannon for this item:
So, we have some new writers, and Rachel was asking about submitting short stories, I thought I’d throw out some general information. Not comprehensive, but somewhere to start.
First, there are a huge number of people out there trying to scam authors. There used to be a site called “Predators and Editors,” but they seem to be on hiatus. I did find this on the SFWA website. https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/
Also QueryTracker.net has publisher information and active forums. https://querytracker.net
As far as places to get your work published, I don’t know as much about that. However:
Googling “Short fiction markets” might find some answers. You might want to add the keyword pay or paying to that. Some only offer two copies of the magazine as payment.
There is a book called “Writer’s Market.” Before the internet, they were the best source to find places to submit. They come out with a new edition each year, and the common consensus is the book is worth reading in Barnes and Noble or the library, but not worth the price tag. (Though I see it now sells for $20. I think it used to be much higher.)
As far as how to submit, I like Robert J Sawyer’s Manuscript Checklist https://sfwriter.com/mschklst.htm and sample manuscript https://sfwriter.com/ms.pdf They are a little antiquated now; for instance, “Disposable Copy” isn’t really necessary anymore as most submissions are electronic and Times and Calibri are more expected than Courier typeface now, but it gets across what professionals expect. Some editors/agents do ask for very specific things to weed out those who aren’t serious, so it never hurts to check their website for guidelines. Usually they expect Word Docx format, as the industry kind of runs on Word, but some will take or even prefer PDFs.
Aime got a website writing job. She posted a review of a movie.
Oct 17
Aime
Troy
Ryan
Oct 24
open slots
Oct 31
open slots
Nov 7
open slots
Nov 14
Nick
open slots
Keep Writing,
Bill
See older newsletters for many educational topics.
Ciuin got an A on another school paper.
Rachel plotted a new story.
Troy made his first submission and survived the critique.
Shannon submitted his piece for the workshop at the November Iowa ICON science fiction convention.
Oct 10
Shannon
Aime
Rachel
Oct 17
open slots
Oct 24
open slots
Oct 31
open slots
Nov 7
open slots
Keep Writing,
Bill