Laura Wright: Meet the Author

My first query and acceptance actually came as a surprise. At the time, I had several novels written and casually started a general discussion with an editor. I will state first that this may strike unease in the hearts of many because it wasn’t a “normal,” venture and this wasn’t just any editor. It was an “ebook editor.”

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Sara Zarr: Publishing My First Book

I finished my first novel in 1996; I was twenty-six years old and decided that I’d have a novel published by the time I turned thirty. So I followed all the usual steps everyone tells you to follow: querying agents, going to conferences, networking with other writers. I even got a good agent pretty quickly and figured the rest of the pieces would fall into place like clockwork....

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Do You Want to Be a Millionaire or an Artist?

I think I've mentioned this website before, but its worth repeating. Gaping Void has a great list of 30 things to help you become more creative. These aren't the same old "stop and smell the flowers" items either. For example, Number 14. Dying young is overrated. Number 16. The world is changing. Even if you aren't looking to make big creative changes in your life, this is a handy how to list on living life to the fullest. www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000876.html

(Writing Sparks Newsletter: 1/25/2008)

Anne Arsenault: Meet the Author

I had never dreamed of being an author, although I had always loved English class in high school. After I became a CNC, Certified Nutritional Consultant, I saw the need for people to become educated in order to get healthy. I started writing a “Healthy Living Tips” column for the work newsletter and I found that people were reading my articles and liking them....

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Wendy Nelson Tokunaga: Publishing My First Book

MIDORI BY MOONLIGHT is my debut book, but is actually the fifth novel I have tried to get published. When I took a job as a technical writer in Silicon Valley in the early 1990s, I found that many of my co-workers wrote fiction on the side....

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Creating a Personal Mission Statement

If you're anything like me you have 5,000 things you want to do, not enough time to get to everything on your to do list, and a pile of books that you "hope" you'll be able to read one day. Since the beginning of the year is usually a time for looking forward, this might be the time to consider writing your own personal mission statement. When you've defined just what is MOST important to you, you'll be able to focus on the important tasks and let the other ones go by the wayside. The Rochester, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has a cool .pdf worksheet that lets you plug in some personal details so you can create a personal mission statement that inspires the best within you.

www.rochestermnchamber.com/pdf/lgr_missionStatement.pdf


(Writing Sparks Newsletter, 1/18/2008)

Money Comes to Me Easily and Effortlessly

If that's not true for you, the problem might just be that you don't believe it's true. Many self-help programs tout the importance of using positive affirmations to help you get what you want out of life. If used correctly, affirmations can make dramatic and positive changes in your life. So this year, instead of making a number of resolutions that you'll break by January 2nd, how about trying to give yourself a positive pep talk instead. If you're looking for a good place for affirmations, psychic Lorrie Kazan sends out a free, weekly "Prosperity Meditation."

To check out past issues, visit www.lorriekazan.com/backissuespm.html

This article was posted in the December 14 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

Looking For Holiday Cash?

The people at iVillage.com have a pretty good collection of finance articles in their "Home & Garden" section. For those of you (us), looking for a little extra cash during the holiday season, they offer an article of tips that might just work for you.

iVillage.com

This article was posted in the December 4 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

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James Todd Cochrane
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Charlotte Barnes
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Louise Shaffer
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Scott Baker
Genre: Science Fiction
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Dave Jeffers
Genre: Christianity & Politics
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Thomas E. Warner
Genre: General Fiction
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Shobhan Bantwal
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Marie Phillips
Genre: General Fiction
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Craig Childs
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Rose A. Lewis
Genre: Picture Books
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Diana Holquist
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James Todd Cochrane
Genre: Young Adult
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Charlotte Barnes
Genre: Poetry
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Family Acts
Louise Shaffer
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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Anthony Lappe, Dan Goldman
Genre: Graphic Novel
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Peter Kobel
Genre: Arts / Photography
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Yannick Murphy
Genre: Historical Fiction
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John Lithgow
Genre: Arts / Poetry
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Marc Brown
Genre: Children's Picture Book
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Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs
Ansel Adams
Genre: Arts / Photography
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What to Do in Case of a Zombie Attack. . .

Since this is the Halloween issue of the Writing Sparks, I couldn't go without letting you all know what to do in case of a Zombie attack. This fun three-minute video will keep you prepared should you meet a creature of the night.

www.commoncraft.com/zombies

This article was posted in the October 26 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

Judging a Book. . .

The AIGA (a professional association for design) has released a list of its top book covers for 2007. Because your book cover is so very important in your marketing efforts, I encourage everyone to take a peek at these top-notch designs.

www.designarchives.aiga.org

This article was posted in the October 12 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

The World's Worst Opening Lines

Take a break from your own excellent writing, to view the world's most terrible opening lines. Every year, the San Jose State University English Department runs the "Bulwer-Lytton" Fiction Contest. This whimsical literary competition challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.

To view this year's fabulous (or not) winners, visit www.sjsu.edu/depts/english/2007.htm

This article was posted in the September 21 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

The Literature Map

Are you looking for a new author? You have your favorites but want something just a little bit different to read. As much as that sounds like the slogan for OnceWritten.com, it also is a truism for a site known as The Literature Map. This map only points to the better known authors, so it's not great for discovery the unheard of ones. However, it does offer a fun way to find new authors that have a similar style to your faves. Simply type a name of an author, and the site will create a map of similar authors. The closer in the map an author is, the closer his style will match that of the name you entered.

www.literature-map.com

This article was posted in the August 10 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

Vacuum Your Lungs

If you're feeling out-of-breath, nervous or stuck, and you just can't seem to move yourself along, you may want to take a second to "vacuum your lungs." This is a technique that helps cure breathlessness and is often used by opera singers before performing. Good too for those that just need to get a nice cleansing breath of fresh air before tackling a particularly troubling task, the technique basically "reboots" your lungs. Taking a few deep, cleansing breaths out of newly vacuumed lungs may be just the ticket to get your brain back in high gear.

www.ftrain.com/lungvacuuming.html


This article was posted in the August 3 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

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Richard Lange
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Debbie Macomber
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Stephen Arterburn
Genre: Religion
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By George
Wesley Stace
Genre: General Fiction
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Joe Moscheo
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Marliss Melton
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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Brainstorm Your Way Out of Writers Block

If you're feeling stuck, or can't quite get the plot or story right, you may want to brainstorm your way out of your block. A paper posted at the University of North Carolina website gives students brainstorming ideas for writing term papers, but the principles apply to fiction writers as well.

From looking at similes to clustering/mapping/webbing to free writing, there are a number of great brainstorming topics outlined in this paper. www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/brainstorming.html

This article was posted in the July 20 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

Covering Covers

In this week's "Promote Your Book" tip, we talk about the importance of a good looking cover design.

Good design can be a tricky thing. People can react very differently to the same images. Bad design, however, is usually pretty easy to pick out. A forum at http://covers.fwis.com/ posts a variety of covers that are considered "good-looking" or at least visually noticeable covers, and then lets users make comments as to whether they agree or not.

This article was posted in the July 6 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.

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Elizabeth Lucas Taylor
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Wayne L. Misner
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Tim Newman
Genre: Historical Fantasy
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Jeff Gerth, Don Van Natta, Jr.
Genre: Biography/Memoir
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Megan Crane
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Kurt Wenzel
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Marcia Muller
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Michael Losier
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Leslie Sansone
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Marcus Luttrell
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A Font of Knowledge

When composing your written masterpieces, do you have a favorite font?

Okay, I totally stole this week's creativity booster from WritersDigest.com, but when I saw this link, I couldn't resist passing it along to OnceWritten.com subscribers.

In their last newsletter, Writers Digest references an article at slate.com, which interviewed prominent writers to see what their favorite font was? If you want to see the complete results, visit: http://www.slate.com/id/2166947/

This article was posted in the June 1 issue of OnceWritten.com's Writing Sparks newsletter.