Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. As writers, we hate to believe that old adage is true, but we can also gain inspiration from images—sometimes images that take us far from the ordinary confines of our everyday life—and use that inspiration in our writing. Check out spreads from our new book, A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words, and preorder on Amazon for a post-holiday treat for yourself, delivered right to your door.
“sick of your fat”
You have a Secret Admirer
You can lock the doors to keep her with you or you can…
Unlike before, Will was awake to see the festivities.
You don’t need to be ugly
i can help u out
open closed whatever filtering
different displaying Square
they shall the voice of falsehood and his sight.
are you single?
it is like fishing with dynamite
catchy
heck of a time
plodding courtroom—Wall Street Pulse
still got it huh
I know how to find a lot of girls
Or a bathroom
chipmunk and prince
flutter superfluous
Nov. 29 (Michelle, Robert, Lauren, Eric)
In What Would Your Character Do?, noted author and psychologist Eric Maisel, Ph.D. provides you with 30 interactive scenarios designed to help you better understand who your characters are. In addition to the detailed personality quizzes, Maisel includes easy-to-understand psychological summaries and prompts to help you further develop and explore your characters.
Whether you’re exploring how your characters react to the death of a loved one or the flirtatious advances of a poolside stranger, you’re sure to emerge with more compelling heroes, heroines, and villains than ever before.
Recently, WritersMarket.com relaunched with a new look and improved searching capabilities, including improved navigation and the ability to search from virtually any page on the site.
This is the first phase of a redesign process meant to dramatically improve the Web site that many pro writers have been using for years with success and praise.
As part of the relaunch, WritersMarket.com’s Market Update newsletter has also been given a more contemporary look and feel. Go to WritersMarket.com to sign up for the free biweekly newsletter.
And if you’re not subscribed to WritersMarket.com, there’s no better time than now, because it is still available at the same low prices of $3.99 per month and $29.99 per year.
According to The Gilded Tongue by Rod Evans, feriation means: the practice of observing a holiday; the act of taking time off work. Feriation is a great time for writers! If you don’t write full time, then time away from your day job can offer you the opportunity to do some writing. This holiday season, take some time for yourself in between shopping and making cookies to work on your writing. And maybe some of those holiday traditions will spark some writing ideas.
But here are a few prompts from some of our best books to help you get started.
You come across your mother’s high school yearbook and one of the inscriptions changes your perception of her. —The Writer’s Book of Matches by the staff of fresh boiled peanuts
A Happy Marriage. Describe a happy marriage over at least ten years. You will have to dispense with focused narrative, summarizing to a large extent, listing details—the reasons you think this marriage is a happy marriage. Is a happy marriage an enviable marriage? Can a couple be too happy? Inseparable and insufferable? —The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley
List three famous people with naturally curly hair (or curly tops in your life). Use all three names in a story. Start with: It’s been said that blonds have more fun, but … —The Write-Brain Workbook by Bonnie Neubauer
For more prompts, check out these books or visit www.writersdigest.com/writingprompts.asp.
I’ve received many pen and pencil sets over the years from well-meaning family and friends who think that—since I’m a writer (or editor)—that this would be a fitting gift. Well, honestly, I’m rather picky about my writing utensils and would rather choose them myself. Maybe you feel the same way. If you do, then I recommend you drop hints about the following sites that have wonderful gifts for writers (and others who appreciate fine stationery and literary luxury).
Knock Knock
For 20- and 30-somethings, Knock Knock has some of the most desirable greeting cards and gift items around, with just the right mix of quirkiness, bold design, and cheery-cynical sentiments. (Also check out their sister division, No. 2, which devotes itself to contemporary office products.) My pics: The Accomplish Pad, Gift Card Organizer (this is NOT like those other lame gift card organizers; this kit is worthwhile just for the holiday calendar inside!), Cool Stickies (every writer/editor needs them).
Levenger
Levenger bills themselves as the place to find “tools for serious readers.” That’s true, with one caveat: “tools for serious readers with serious cash.” Personally, I like shopping the clearance aisle at Levenger, but if you’d like to show you really care, buy and ship one of the rich, wooden bookcases. You can find more affordable items in their “reading tools” section; I love my Single-Sheet Cutters and Page Points. Also check out the Magnetic Insult Buttons.
Bas Bleu
Bas Bleu, a mail-order bookseller, calls itself the champion of “the odd little book,” but it’s much more than that. Their Web site and print catalog is full of treasures you never knew existed—and they’re all geared primarily toward women readers and writers. Don’t miss: Non-Book Gifts, such as the NPR Roadmap (helps you locate NPR stations across the country), Vintage French Perfume Labels, and Map Scarves.
The New York Library Shop
Whether you’re shopping for jewelry, fine art, or just office and home gifts, you can trust that you’ll find it here with a literary or artistic spirit attached. I love the Reader’s Gift Collection.
The Little Bookroom
If you’re a writer-traveler (or know someone who is), take note of The Little Bookroom. You’ll find beautiful city guides as well as journals, notebooks, and essay collections to inspire additional wanderlust in your writer-friend.
Moleskine
The quintessential journal, notebook, quotebook, doodlebook, musingbook, dreambook, everything-that-crosses-your-mind book. In hundreds of flavors.
Mike Klaassen, a 50-something married Scorpio living in Kansas, is an avid purveyor of how-to guides on writing, especially those published by Writer’s Digest Books. We love his insightful reviews over at his blog on MySpace.
Here’s a brief excerpt from his review of Novelist’s Boot Camp.
The pithy, no-nonsense, boot-camp approach certainly sets this book apart from its competition, the other A-Z, concept-to-publication, how-to-write-a-novel books. No doubt, the military analogies that preface each drill (chapter) will be viewed by some readers as hokey, but I found them humorous and refreshing.
Thanks, Mike, for your interest in our books!
Jane Friedman, WDB editorial director, has posted a new Q&A column over at Identity Theory. The question begins:
A publisher agreed to read my manuscript. It has been five months and I have heard nothing. In terms of proper etiquette in the publishing world, I was wondering how long I should wait to hear something before I assume I am being ignored?
“Writers of the Round Table”
Which queer the maroon
You still have time
requiem
Delight—Let’s face it, you always wanted it.
overwhelmingly important
indispensable
pilgrimage
lapel alcoholic
Caleb the people let him
Were reckoned were the evil beast
Stepmother childproof
This will be secret
Let’s face it, you always wanted it
Nov. 20-21: Jane, Michelle
**Bonus poem from Robert**
“Coded spy message”
To leghorn an progressive
In carbonium go eyepiece
her so mockup
tell me please
we know what you want.
GEMINI CANCER
at tentative
i can help u out
Career in United States
Is twisty the rendezvous
Separate yourself from other men
rhetorical question astronomy
inhalation corpses
quicken shyly
dainty babes who are single
Breaking the ordinary things
overridden uncle
sympathetic soda
wanna meet me tonight?
soft at incredibly low prices
was inconvenient go vectorial
But maneuver my pouch
simplymore eyes
fan mail hospitalize
forgeries evidence
In execute my competition
I portent no baronial
The Frustrated Writer gives a brief overview of slang references on the market, including the WDB subculture slang reference, Talk the Talk.
One of the things that I really like about this book, in additional to all the slang terms, is that potentially derogatory terms are noted by a bold exclamation point. This can help writers from making an unintentional error.