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Writers write.  Its what we do.  Unfortunately, we don’t always judge our own writing accurately even when its good. 

Does that surprise you?  We are used to being told that we need help identifying the weaknesses in our writing.  Sometimes we need just as much help identifying the strengths.

For about two months, I’ve been playing around with a rewrite.  I’ll work on it a bit and then set it aside because it hasn’t jelled. Every now and again, I figure out a problem and get some writing done, but after two months I have 10 pages.  Ten.  Can you say discouraged? 

Fortunately, I had a critique group meeting last weekend.  This was the perfect chance to trot out my problem manuscript.  These writing friends would be able to point out a few more problems for me to fix, but they would also commiserate.  Or so I thought.  

They refused.

That’s right.  Refused.  

They actually had the nerve to tell me that the voice was good.  And they love the premise.  They are even cool with the fact that my fantasy world is much like ours, but skewed just a bit.  And my all new antagonist?  They adore her, but in a bad way of course.  Not that it was all good news; they pointed out plenty of places that need repair and I expected that.  What I didn’t expect was the good news.  Apparently, I’d done something right even though I was too frustrated to see it.

Every writer needs a critique group. 

A critique group doesn’t just tell you what you’ve done wrong.  They also point out what you’ve done right.  They bring the perspective that you lack when you are too close to your work.  And they keep you going through the hard work.  I mean the actual writing part; my initial ideas have a tendency to be brilliant.  Its getting it down on paper that proves frustrating. 

I’d like to give you a nudge.  If you don’t have a critique group, now is a good time to find one.  I connected with the writers in my critique group at a variety of writers conferences and workshops.  I’ve also been in groups that were strictly online.  These worked well when I was a grad student and later when I was the mother of a toddler.  

Finding a compatible group can take some work, but it is well worth the effort. Not only will you have a group of writers to help you fix your mistakes, they’ll point out what you did right.  And that’s something you need in your writing life – fellow writers who will pat you on the back, hand you a good cup of coffee, and nudge you back toward your desk.  

Speaking of which, I had better get going.  I have a story to write. 

–SueBE

Find out more about Sue's writing on her blog, One Writer's Journey. 

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I'm really excited to introduce you to Adam Cohen and his wife, Jendi Reiter, from the website, Winning Writers. Like WOW!, it has been voted by Writer's Digest as being one of the 101 most useful sites for writers. After reading the interview below with Adam and discovering all this site has to offer--from contests to free newsletters, from tips and contest insider information to an inexpensive subscription to a searchable database of over 1250 contests--you will be checking out Winning Writers today. This is one interview and website you won't want to miss! 

WOW: Welcome Adam, to The Muffin! We are happy to have you here today. Let's start by telling us a bit about your site, Winning Writers, and why you created it.

Adam: My wife, Jendi Reiter, and I started Winning Writers in 2001. Jendi has extensive knowledge about literary contests, which ones are good and how to win them. We wanted to make this information available to the public online at a reasonable price. We also wanted to warn people about certain contests to avoid. We call them "vanity contests." They tend to be unselective and most interested in selling products, like expensive anthologies.

WOW: That sounds like a terrific service for writers. So, when a writer goes to your site now, there are a lot of opportunities available to him or her. Let's start with the contests. What are a couple upcoming contests that you have going on?

Adam: All four contests hosted at Winning Writers are open now. We directly sponsor the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee) and the Sports Fiction & Essay Contest. We assist Tom Howard Books with their Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest and their Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest.

WOW: After reading the guidelines for all of them, they sound like great opportunities for writers--especially the humor poetry category--no entry fee and $1000 top prize. In order to enter contests, what does a writer need to do?

Adam: All four contests accept entries online at WinningWriters.com. The Tom Howard contests also accept entries by mail. Before entering, we encourage contestants to read previous winning entries published on our website. We have also made years of judges' comments available, so contestants can understand what makes an entry stand out.

WOW: That is a great idea to allow writers to read previous winners AND judges' comments! What is Literary Contest Insider? [new name]

Adam: Literary Contest Insider is our online database with 1,250-plus detailed profiles of poetry and prose contests. It represents years of distilled knowledge and research to help you find the best contests for your work--fast! Search and sort contests by prize, fee, type, and many other criteria. We suggest specific contests for beginning, intermediate, and well-established writers, and estimate the potential impact each contest might have on your career. A contest we highly recommend will probably have much more impact than a contest we're neutral about.

We love it when good writers not previously "plugged into the contest circuit" begin to get recognition because we guided them to the contests that are effective for them. Access to Literary Contest Insider is $9.95/quarter, with a 10-day free trial period at the start. You can start a trial at http://www.winningwriters.com/lci

WOW: This database sounds fantastic for writers interested in contests and at a very reasonable price! Besides contests, you also offer a free newsletter. What type of information is in the free newsletter and how do writers sign up?

Jendi and Adam

Adam: Our free e-mail newsletter is built around the best free literary contests--profiles of contests in our database that have no entry fees. Every month you get a heads-up on free poetry and prose contests whose deadlines are approaching. There are over 150 of these. Subscribing to our newsletter gets you instant free online access to The Best Free Literary Contests. We have over 40,000 newsletter subscribers. You can subscribe at http://www.winningwriters.com/free

WOW: There's also a section of Winning Writers, titled "What's New?" What will writers find on this page?

Adam: This is where we announce useful resources for writers and news about new and changed contests. Entering new contests can be a good strategy--they are less likely to be swamped with entries than well-established ones.

WOW: That's a great tip! What about under the "useful resources" section?

Adam: Here we organize our directory of resources into categories like "Markets and Contests," "Resources and Contests for Students," "Literary Societies," and "Exotic Forms." We also provide a large library of poetry critiques--a place to learn about a wide range of techniques, plus suggestions on where to submit various styles of poems.

WOW: It sounds like you could spend hours on your site, finding useful tips, ideas, and contests for a writing career! Anything else you'd like to add about Winning Writers?

Adam: We have a rapidly growing Twitter feed with links to contest news and award-winning poems and stories. Follow us @winningwriters.

WOW: Thank you, Adam, for sharing all of this information with our readers today. You have a wonderful site, and I hope that many of WOW!'s fans and followers will become yours, too. 

WOW! readers, don't forget to check out Winning Writers by clicking here.  

Interview conducted by Margo L. Dill, author of Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength at Vicksburg.

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Today on The Muffin we welcome Janie Sullivan, one of the founders of the Center for Writing Excellence (C4WE), which was started in November 2009, as one of four divisions of the Institute for Instructional Excellence (I4IE). The C4WE offers writing contests and a free monthly e-newsletter written by contributors who can advertise their own websites along with their articles, and free classified ads are available to all subscribers. They have webinars and some online writing classes that are currently being revised and will become available later in the year 2013.

Janie says, "My business partner, Sheri Schmeckpeper, and I had always wanted to run our own school; so when we realized that our jobs, which were funded by a government grant at the local community college, were going to end, we decided it was time to start our school. The other divisions of I4IE are The Center for Teaching Excellence (C4TE), The Center for Excellent Living (C4EL), and the Center for Learning Excellence (C4LE). The C4WE has grown from a simple blog to a very functional website offering services like editing, writing, and ghost writing."

WOW: Welcome, Janie, to WOW! We are excited to have you with us today and talking about all the Center for Writing Excellence has to offer, so let's get started. Let's start with your Fiction in Five contests. You just had one at the beginning of December, and the next one is scheduled for February. How do these work?

Janie: The Fiction in Five contest is a prompt driven flash fiction contest. Writers can enter anytime up to the deadline, which is always the Friday before the first Monday of the month. The contest runs the first Monday-Friday (five days) of every other month. I send three prompts and a list of six random words to the writers at 9:45 a.m. on the first morning of the five-day contest. The contest officially starts at 10:00 a.m. The writers choose one prompt and use it along with all six random words in the story. Sometimes I use a picture as one of the prompts. The writers then have five days (until Friday at 10:00 p.m.) to write and submit their 700-1,000-word story based on the prompt. There is a $5 entry fee, which I use to pay for the cash and other prizes for the winners.

Right now, first place is $25, second place is $15, and third place is a mouse pad and note pad. All winning stories are published on the website and in the annual anthology. Honorable mention winners are mentioned on the website and published in the anthology. All winners get an e-copy of the anthology when it comes out. All winners also get a nice certificate. The idea is to grow the contest to the point, where I can offer bigger cash prizes. The judges all volunteer, but I do share the profits with them at the end of each contest year.

WOW: This is a great idea--writers will have a finished story in a week! It's kind of a like a shortened version of NaNoWriMo for short story writers. I love it! How does this contest help writers?

Janie: The thing I hear the most from the writers is the challenge of the contest. They like the prompts and the random words, plus the discipline of having to meet a word limit and a time limit. As with any writing contest, this is a great opportunity to hone skills, learn to work under deadline pressure, and explore new ideas through prompts.

WOW: It sounds great! But this is not the only contest you offer. The historical fiction contest is currently going on with a January 1 deadline. Tell us about this contest and how writers can enter.

Janie: This one is a bit different in that writers can enter any time after the genre of the contest is announced (usually two months before the deadline). They can submit their story with the entry fee ($10) or enter the contest to hold their place and submit the story before the deadline. The contest deadline is always the first day of every other month (opposite the Fiction in Five months). There is a different genre for each contest. The first one was Spiritual Fiction, and then we had Young Adult Fiction, then Crime Fiction, and now Historical Fiction for January.

WOW: Great, so basically, you are offering some type of contest each month, and it sounds like you appeal to a wide range of writers! What are the prizes like for the genre contests?

Janie: The genre contest is a bigger contest in terms of words (1500-2000) and prizes. First place wins $50, second place is $25, and third place is $15. There is also a limit to how many entries we will take in this contest. We feel that with only fifty slots available, the writers will have a better chance of winning. And as this contest grows, the prizes will also grow. Winners are also published in the anthology and on the website.

WOW: I know a lot of writers love the prize of money and publication! How can you beat that? For many writers, it is one of their first publications. For others, it's a chance for their shorter works to appear in print. I think all these opportunities you are giving writers is WONDERFUL!  So, you have an anthology published each year? What types of material are in it?

Janie: The anthology comes out every summer. All the winning stories from the previous contest year, plus author bios and photos, are published in the anthology. The anthology coming out next summer will be the third annual publication and the biggest one yet. Winners get a free e-copy of the anthology, plus a substantial discount if they want to purchase the hard copy. It is available on Lulu Press as well as at Amazon.

WOW: Great opportunities for writers--tell us about the cover art contest.

Janie: Several of the writers have mentioned either knowing artists or being artists themselves, so I thought it would be fun to have artists submit their original, writing-themed artwork for the cover design. The way this one will work is anyone interested can enter anytime between now and June 1, 2013. At that time, I will publish all the entries on the website and set them up for voting. People can come in and vote (once a day) for the cover art they like the most. The designs will be posted for one month and on July 1, I will announce the winner. There is a $5 entry fee and the winner will get 80 percent of the entry fees as the prize. The winning entry will be published on the cover of the Third Annual Center for Writing Excellence Fiction Anthology, along with a bio and photo of the artist.

WOW: How cool and what a great idea! Anything else you'd like to share about the Center for Writing Excellence?

Janie: Just that this is the most fun I have ever had. I have always been a writer as well as a teacher. I am able to combine my love for both in the Center. It has grown and evolved a lot in the past three years. I have met writers all over the world through the newsletter, contests, and blog. I have been able to share the lives of some of my writers through editing their books (one was just recently published) and reading their stories. While I don’t judge the stories in the contest, I do read them all. And I do owe WOW! a bit of credit for getting me started. I was one of the first teachers when you started offering writing classes. I had so much fun doing that it inspired me to start my own website. In fact, one of my students in that first class at WOW! is now a regular contributor to my newsletter!

WOW: Well, Janie, you are welcome. You are offering some wonderful opportunities for writers, and we can't wait to see how much the Center for Writing Excellence grows!

Now writers, what are you waiting for? Get your historical fiction short stories written and mark your calendar for the Fiction in Five February contest! Or sign up for the FREE newsletter, where you can also advertise your writing business or book for free! 

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by alibree www.flickr.com

Writing is a tough business--no matter what level you're at. I'm busy editing articles for the next issue of WOW!, and I just edited one about authors who decided to self-publish, even after having contracts with traditional publishers. One even had an agent, but the agent couldn't find anyone interested in the project. In this ever-changing publication world, a writer has to be strong and change with the times. But even more so, she has to have support.

I recently received an agent rejection for a YA manuscript I've been working on for a few years (on and off). I had revised it yet again before I sent it in to her. She had asked for a full read after I pitched to her at a conference. She seemed really excited about the story. I knew it was improving each time I revised it, and so I had my hopes up. As you know as a writer, this is not always a good thing. Long story short, she wrote back and said that she could follow the plot, but that the narrative seemed choppy, and she couldn't get into my world enough. Maybe I didn't have enough sensory details.

So, I was crushed. I waited a few days to mull over what she said, and then I sent the e-mail to my writing critique group. I told them I hadn't decided what I was going to do yet--whether or not I would look back over my story for these points the agent mentioned or send it on to the next agent/publisher. I was sad to admit my defeat, but what I got back from them was so much more than I could have hoped for.

"What a pleasant and professional rejection," my one writing buddy said. "You don't have too much more work to do. She could follow the plot," another one said. "Which is good considering how you keep moving everything around." (That comment made me laugh! My writing group knows me well!) Finally, one more writing group member said, "Why don't you do that one exercise where you highlight the different sensory description in various colors and see where you stand?"

Each one of them was EXACTLY right. As many of us know, the fact that the agent took the time to write any feedback at all was super nice, and it was good advice,too. As soon as my critique group said those things, I was out of my stewing and pity party, and I was back with an action plan.

When I told my husband about it, he said, "What agent?"
UGH! This is why we need other writers in our life.

If you are not lucky enough to have a writing group to celebrate your successes and pick you back up after your disappointments, please join us on Facebook and/or Twitter. We have a very active community, and we might even be able to hook you up with others who live near you or who write similar things as you do.

We are also starting a celebration/success story section on our Facebook page to encourage each other and stay inspired. Here are the details on this wonderful opportunity:

We want to hear your success stories! Have you signed with an agent or publisher? Has your self-published e-book become an Amazon Bestseller? Has your blog won an award? Did you sell an article to a magazine or newspaper? Whatever it is, we would like to hear about your success to share with fans on our Facebook

4 Comments on Why Writers Need Support and Celebration, last added: 7/5/2012

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BECKY said, on 7/2/2012 5:00:00 AM

Great article, Margo! I've been crushed by rejections, too. (and haven't we been told that a rejection is a good thing?!It means we're writing AND submitting.)I am so grateful that I somehow found Saturday Writers, SLWG, and MWG. AND I couldn't ask for a better critique group than the fabulous one I'm in. My writer friends ARE my LIFE. I often wonder, what did I do with my time before I started writing?? Thanks for your guidance and friendship, too!

Margo Dill said, on 7/2/2012 7:22:00 AM

Becky,
Thank you so much for your kind words. And I agree that Saturday Writers, SLWG, and MWG are so awesome. We are so lucky to live in an area where we have active writing groups! And what did we do with our time before writing? Well, we probably cleaned and cooked dinner for our families. LOL :)

Have a good writing week,
Margo

Angela said, on 7/2/2012 2:10:00 PM

LOL about your hubby!! That cracked me up. He sounds exactly like mine. Even though they love us to pieces, non-writers just don't get it.

I know rejection stinks, but it sounds like the agent offered some great advice, and evaluated your manuscript for free. That's how I look at it. I'm sure you'll take her suggestions to heart and land it. Like your group said, you don't have much more work to do. :)

Margo Dill said, on 7/2/2012 7:09:00 PM

Ang:
You are one of my biggest writing support systems! I think a lot of us can say that about you. :)

You hit the nail on the head. . .
Non-writers just don't get it. :)

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