For Authors: January 19, 2022 Issue [#11143]
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 This week: Organization Matters
  Edited by: NaNoNette Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. ~ Arthur Ashe

You will never be completely ready. Start from wherever you are. ~ C.J. Hayden


Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

Organization Matters


There are those writers who appear to belt out new creations effortlessly. They consistently enter contests, are active reviewers, maybe even run one or more contests for the members here on the site. On the side, they are also writing a novel, running a pony rescue, and bake cookies with all their grandkids every weekend.

More power to those who can pull this off. Me? Not so much. I have to claw my way through my days and try to figure out how to line up all the things that can absolutely not be overlooked, do some of the things that I have been putting off, and then fit a little creative writing into all of that.

Lucky for me, I don't run a pony rescue and nobody has asked me to bake cookies. That doesn't mean I am good at fitting creative writing into my days, weeks, or even months. The solution to my state of confusion is clear: I need a plan.

Writing.Com has everything a creative writer could possibly need and want to become an organized writer. There is still time this month to work on an entry into "Dear Me: Official WDC ContestOpen in new Window. and put yourself on notice about all the things you want to accomplish in 2022. This site offers so many opportunities to create plans for your weekly output, complete with weekly rewards that you should at least take a good look at all of them. Several are featured in the list of resources below.

Out of the quotes above, I have to say the one about starting where you are and using what you already have sounds like the most feasible. There is no need to constantly reinvent the wheel. Maybe your creative writing output this year isn't going to be to hammer out a bunch of new things. It can be, but you might also devote your creative writing time to editing, revising, polishing.

Whatever type of organization you want to put on your writing this year, there is only one rule: do it write!



What do you do to organize your writing projects?


Editor's Picks

 
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Dear Me: Official WDC Contest Open in new Window. (E)
What are *your* goals for the new year? Think it over, write a letter and win big prizes!
#597313 by Writing.Com Support Author IconMail Icon

 Blank Novel Outline Open in new Window. (E)
Interested in writing a novel? Have an outline yet? Need one?
#870156 by Beth Barnett Author IconMail Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2139674 by Not Available.

 Creating and Using Folders Open in new Window. (E)
Explains how to create and use folders for portfolio organization.
#169016 by The StoryMistress Author IconMail Icon

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Rach's Reading Club Open in new Window. (E)
Where all you have to do is read books to receive awesome prizes.
#2261482 by Choconut Author IconMail Icon

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Weekly Goals Open in new Window. (13+)
Motivate yourself to conquer your goals this week! Post on Monday; update us on Friday!
#1949474 by The StoryMistress Author IconMail Icon

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I Write: Enter the Second Decade Open in new Window. (E)
A special round of tens for the decennary of I Write
#2263836 by NaNoNette Author IconMail Icon

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Habit Heroes  Open in new Window. (13+)
A challenge to inspire positive daily habits and friendship. You can earn cool prizes too!
#2165720 by 🌻 thankful pwheeler nano Author IconMail Icon

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The Contest Challenge Open in new Window. (13+)
Join by entering a contest a month for 12 months--Win Badges! Catching up is allowed!
#2109126 by Schnujo's Doing NaNoWriMo? Author IconMail Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

Replies to my last For Authors newsletter "Can You See it?Open in new Window. with the question: Is "show don't tell" and old hat or something that needs to be followed without question?

s Author Icon wrote: When it comes to show, don't tell, it is especially important if you want to invoke a mood. As predominantly a horror writer, if we wrote, "The vampire rose out of the grave," that is just dull. "We need to have something along the lines of, "The lid of the coffin slowly creaked open, no visible force moving it. The odour of a hundred years of decay combined with rotting flesh wafted out in a cloud that quickly filled the tomb. A hand, pale and thin, the bones visible beneath the papery skin, rose from within the wooden box, then grasped its side. Muscles not used for too long strained as it pulled upwards..." You get the idea. It helps get the mood, helps get the reader into the world better. And, really, listening to the publishers I work with, it seems to be one of their major complaints about new writers.

Beholden Author Icon wrote: Thank goodness, Tom Robbins, and yourself for pointing out that "Show, don't tell," is not the be-all and end-all of good writing. Tom's second sentence is the only rule that matters: "There is, in fact, only one rule in writing fiction: Whatever works, works."

Paul Author Icon wrote: If you want the story to reflect reality and appear as “Real” to the audience it should be told like you were relating an experience to the reader you must write it as you would say it to someone. Our spoken interactions contain Show/Tell/Dialog so our written ones should also. I mix them up for effect, but I am still an amateur so it’s a Work-In-Progress.

dogpack saving 4premium Author Icon wrote: As long as I am able to have a movie in my head while writing or reading, the story keeps me engaged and wanting to know what happens next. WHEN THERE IS A PAUSE BECAUSE I have to reread something or of the grammar, or roughness of the flow of words, then I get disconnected.
For me, there is no such thing as a bad story. It is all about the presentation of the movie that the word art offers for my enjoyment or information. "MAX SERVED AND SAVED MANY: H O VetsOpen in new Window.

Alex Morgan Author Icon wrote: "Show, don't tell" is the best advice I have received. It helps me avoid passive voice and now I get annoyed when I read a story with "It was just before Thanksgiving..." "Sam was a happy boy..." "It was a cold and rainy morning in December..." (That last one is the opening line to a song, actually, but you get my drift.)


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