Writers Socializing

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Social Networking for Writing

The other day I mentioned social bookmarking as a social service writers can use to promote themselves and market their writings. The bookmarking services to use with websites and blogs (especially) are both parts of and forms of social networking. The term applies to making connections with people on the Internet. I think cyber-networking or digital- or electronic- or something other than "social" would be a less confusing terminology, but we're stuck with "social". Yes, it's the same as networking socially, in real life, but perhaps with more intensity and intimate overtones.

Just as in the physical world, social networking requires joining, attending, and participating to benefit. I'm referring to those special websites with interactive capabilities: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Orkut, Friendster, to name some of the original and general ones. The concept is simple, really: sign up, add as much information as you wish to a profile, find "friends" with similar interests. Sharing your other social networking connections (sites and friends) is becoming more common, as are niche networks, like Flickr for photography, MyBlogLog, and LibraryThing for booklovers.

If you expand the definition of social networking to include participation in chats, forums and mailing lists, the potential for writers to exploit this newer tool increases. By always using a link or the name of your website/book/business in the signatures used on these types of sites, a writer can custom-build a social network, a fan base, traffic potential. Seeking out and contacting others, making cogent comments, offering assistance -- all are ways to "work" the social network. It isn't enough to just join and not be active. In fact, I think it may be detrimental to your appearance/reputation.

Ah, there's the rub: the work. It takes time, energy and concentration to utilize a social network. That's why writers must carefully select which ones to join and limit participation to a few at a time. Give one several months to show positive results. If it doesn't, then drop "unjoin" that one and move on to another. I find that a focus on one chat, one forum, and one general group are about all I can handle. While writers need to spend about half their time promoting or marketing, more than that becomes counterproductive in that there's no time to produce new writing. These Google search results will lead you to social networking sites for writers.

Conquer Writer's BLock

When I reveal that over the last year I've lost almost 50 pounds, 25% of my body weight, the almost uniform response is: how? Sometimes it is a desperate wail, HOW?! Ah, the sound of a desperate dieter. Others express a touch of awe or curious interest (usually from the already skinny). The simple secret for me was to have an incentive intense enough to force me into losing weight. But that's too personal. What the questioners want to know are the mechanics, and those are the same as for overcoming a Writer's Block: choice and persistence.

These are not secrets. Diets don't fail, people do. They fail to choose a path to success; instead, they choose sidetracks, derailments, and dead ends; and they choose to quit before arriving at the destination. Right now those may not sound like choices to you. That may be because you're still looking for someone, something external to blame for failure.

The favorite refrain in the soap opera I watch is: "I had no choice!" It's right up there with, "We're soul-partners. We were fated to be together." Excuses, all, allowing the plots to continue when the characters would be axed if they accepted responsibility for their actions.

Life and writing aren't fantasy plots, however. No secrets open the doors to success. No pleasant, smiling doorman waits to serve. Writers must self-motivate, get up and walk the path toward the door marked "Published", grab the handle, twist, pull, and heave that door open.

Without a doubt, there will be obstacles. That's when persistence shines. Both persistence walking the path and persistence in making choices that lead toward the goal. Vacation in the Poconos or stay home to work on the book? Keep up with the latest fashions or attend an excellent writers' conference? Surf the best break or wrestle with a story on surfing?

Sometimes conquering Writer's Block is a simple as making a choice and sticking with it.

I know I skipped the promised piece on Social Networking. Maybe tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Social Services for Writing

Every time I've written about Web 2.0, I've been describing the social aspects of using the Internet. Two components are networking and bookmarking. Unless you participate in them, the two aspects can become confused.

Last week a list member asked the value of having social bookmarking on website for promoting his writing, complaining that it was a chore to embed all the various links for deli.cio.us, Reddit, Stumble Upon, etc. His goal was to increase traffic to the site. I pointed out that you can use a service like AddThis for a compact link to a site where users can choose from among what looks like all the services on earth. (Try the button at the end of this post to see what I mean.)

Someone else wrote in, saying he was jumping on the social networking bandwagon, then offered a link to a different social bookmark generator at Social Bookmarket Script, which can produce a multi-functional insert via effort akin to mating elephants. My attempt to include an example in this post totally screwed Blogger's little display. Sorry.

You can play social bookmarking two ways, and it could also be viewed as a networking tool. If you only make the ability for readers to bookmark your post, page, website with one of the services, that's a beginning level. So is simply having a subscription yourself and marking others' items. The area of bookmarking your own work is a murky one. The possibility and appearance of abuse ought to be enough to make you restrain yourself. Sounds like a great marketing ploy at first, but think about it from other people's viewpoints, including those who offer the services.

Both marking and promoting it on your pages can be a network event of sorts, if you have the time to track down those who bookmarked yours and reciprocate on theirs. It is a kludgy, awkward way to build or participate in a social network. Tomorrow we'll look at writers using true social networking to their advantage.

New Literary Locales for Writing

The last time I wrote about Literary Locales was in November 2007. It has been mostly off line since that time. It was riddled with dead links, now cleaned out or replaced, and quite a few new ones were added (there are now about 1,160 sites). Site manager, Scott Rice, also wrote to say:

Thank you for plugging "Literary Locales." ...The more that people are aware of pictorial sites devoted to literary figures, the more likely that some may get out their cameras and create their own. I have long been amazed, for example, that no one has tried to do anything for the great American regional writer, William Faulkner. You would think that someone in or around Oxford, Mississippi, would be so inspired. In any event, if you or any of your contacts have suggested improvements, please let me know. I regard Web sites as collaborative affairs.

All right, Faulkner fans and Oxford Mississippians, the gauntlet is thrown down! Literary Locales is a fun, easy resource.

Writing and Remembering

Memories, memoirs, Memorial Day. Sometimes Life seems to conspire to bring something to our attention. Here it is, Memorial Day again. I can scarcely grasp that it has been two years since my mother slipped away ... and how long since all my other relatives left. I remember Mama always dragging me to the cemeteries to put flowers on our closest relatives' graves. The annual parade ended at the graveyard, too. In her later years, my mother wouldn't watch parades because they made her cry too easily.

Now I know why.

To distract myself from such weepy thoughts, I started to set up my new combo speakerphone/answering machine. Made in China. The User's Guide read pretty well, until I reached the section about storing numbers. Instead of referring to them as "entries", the booklet called stored numbers "memories". "To erase existing memories, ..." it instructed. If only. Sometimes the best we can do is to use our energy to force the focus on the happy ones:

• a tricycle decorated with crepe paper
• the sweet fragrance of iris flowers
• Mama's yummy fried chicken
• holding hands while walking
• Mama reading to me, tucked under her arm
  

I'd write a memoir about the era of my childhood, but Annie Dillard's An American Childhood already covers both the time and the territory so well.

The Writing Show Contest

Less than a month remains for those planning to enter The Writing Show's third annual First Chapter of a Novel contest. The final deadline, June 20. Read all about it. According to Paula B., here's what they're looking for:

We want to find the world's best first chapter of an unpublished novel. Above all, you must tell a compelling story. That means that you have to grab us so quickly, so completely, that we can't stop reading, even if the house is burning down.

Your writing will be judged on the following five criteria:

1. Story. Is it a compelling read with a great hook? Are we engaged?
2. Style. Is the writing smooth and tight, without awkward constructions, extraneous verbiage, and redundancies?
3. Dialog. Is the dialog natural and does it move the story along?
4. Character. Are the characters interesting? Do we care about them?
5. Mechanics. Are grammar, spelling, and punctuation correct?

Those are also great tips for writing short stories well.

Nothing IS Sacred

The essence of blogging --



Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Writing, Editing, Spacing

An entire generation or two have grown up without touching a typewriter, learning to "keyboard" instead of type. Those who learned on typewriters were taught to hit the space bar twice between sentences. This was because Courier--the typeface used in most typewriters--is mono-spaced (all the letters are the same width). A single space with a mono-spaced font is too hard to read. Most typefaces in MS Word and other most popular word processing programs use proportional spacing. Every letter, including the space, has a different width. Proportional fonts need only one space between sentences to look right. How does this one look? It is "Georgia", 12 point.

And this is Courier. Looks weird, huh?

Do agents, editors, and publishers care? Usually not, because the spacing between sentences is a matter for the printers to handle. More recently, printers typesetting with proportional fonts have generally *not* made the inter-sentence space any greater than the inter-word space. Some people think this makes text more difficult to read. Others don't care. No matter how many times I hit the space bar now (in Blogger), the sentences are displayed with only one space in between. (Yes, I learned typing in high school, back in the dark ages of the 1950s.)

When I proofread or edit someone else's work, I ask or estimate which style they want used, then set the MS Word checker accordingly and let it change the "mistakes". I've never seen an ms with a consistent spacing practiced. I can't type without hitting the space bar twice, so I'm grateful for the automatic adjustments the software makes.

To space twice is nice, and once is fine, too. It's really a non-issue these days, one of the many trivialities beginners worry about along with plagiarism, copyrights, and how to pronounce "SASE".

Easy Way to Sell Books

[Imagine a lovely stack of books here.
Will Blogger ever fix the image upload???]

Amazon has improved its process for selling used books (and all sorts of other items). I have tons of books and a few CDs and DVDs I'd like to sell. Listing them on eBay is such a chore, providing a photo and all, checking out the competition to set a price, deciding on all the features available. By chance I stumbled into the Amazon Marketplace. The linked page consolidates all the various ways you can sell merchandise through Amazon.

I opted for the simplest method and now I'm a bona fide Amazon Merchant (as well as an Associate and probably a few other identities). What blew my skirt up was the ease of listing the first book and DVD. Amazon provides the image and product data automatically. All you must do is write a little description and decide on a price. The latter can be a little tricky, especially if you can list the item as a "collectible" and charge more than the price for a new one.

You can see my first book listed by clicking on the "Collectible" tab on the linked page. Yeah, baby, mine's the only one! Of course, very few people will probably be interested in such an arcane textbook, but it only takes one, right? Similar to selling a manuscript.

Apparently Amazon also consolidates all a seller's listings into a "storefront". I just discovered mine. Hmm. Looks like I have pretty eclectic tastes. Best of all is that it costs me nothing to list these items on Amazon.

Writing Fiction About Family

For writers, one great side-effect of studying family history or genealogy is the mystery element: those unidentified photos in the old albums, family members for whom you have only the bare facts, and the ones you know an interesting little story about--and nothing else.

Consider my great-great-Grandpa Fred Fox. I'm lucky in that I have a picture of him, I've seen his fascinating tombstone, and I remember a story my grandmother told. Grandpa Fox is a goldmine! When I view his faded photo, all in shades of brown, his visage and stance all shout to me "Indian fighter"! Part of our family's land includes an ancient Indian burial mound. Although fighting Indians wasn't much of a feature in southwestern Ohio, Grandpa Fox could have gone off to the west and had an adventure, then returned home.

His tombstone features a life-size carving of a small-breed dog. At least, that's the way it looks to me. The legend is that when old Fred fell off his horse, the little dog ran all the way back to the farmhouse and alerted the family. Alas, Fred drowned in a rain-filled hoof print (another story), but everyone was so impressed with the dog's loyalty that they honored him on Fox's grave marker.

Finally, there's the story about the origin of another family member. My grandmother said that one day an Indian woman deposited her papoose with one of our aunts, promising to pick up the child later. Perhaps she was an itinerant come to help harvest the potato or tobacco crop. The mother never returned, so aunt Leola raised the black-haired beauty as one of her own. When I look carefully at the woman's face, I see Grandpa Fox's mouth and eyes set in dark skin and hair. All these relatives lived contemporaneously along Pennyroyal Hill Road, on land once inhabited by Miami Indians.

The creative part of my mind could easily string all these incidents together in a story. With the photos and personal knowledge of the setting, "all" I'd need to do is come up with a poignant plot. Yes, my family tree is ripe with such tidbits, "story plums" about to drop into my lap. How about yours? Interview the oldest members of your family before the interesting memories disappear and storylines are lost forever.

Proofreading vs. Editing

Several posts on typos and proofreading appear in the pages of A Writer's Edge. In none of them have I delineated exactly what I think is included in a good proofreading. If you think of it in terms of "typos", i.e., typographical errors, then proofreading involves finding mistakes in the printing in front of you. Generally, I think, this includes spelling, punctuation, capitalization. Gross errors such as numbering mistakes and pointing to an incorrect reference would seem to fit.

I was not surprised to find that other editors have different definitions and inclusions. For example, the Bay Area Editors' Forum does not even show "proofreading" as a service; however, the Services Guide lists:

Light Copyediting (baseline editing)

* Correcting faulty spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
* Correcting incorrect usage (such as can for may).
* Checking specific cross-references (for example, "As Table 14-6 shows...").
* Ensuring consistency in spelling, hyphenation, numerals, fonts, and capitalization.
* Checking for proper sequencing (such as alphabetical order) in lists and other displayed material.
* Recording the first references to figures, tables, and other display elements.

Whereas the San Diego Professional Editors' Network lists it as a separate service more oriented toward publishers' needs:

Proofreading

Proofreaders comparing typeset copy to a copyedited manuscript to find typographical errors, discrepancies in text, and other problems in page makeup, layout, color separation, or type. They read for typographical errors or for sense without reading against copy, and they point out or correct errors or inconsistencies that escaped previous detection.

No wonder clients are confused and often ask for something different from what the writing needs! It is difficult to know what term to use.

For me, it's a "what you see is what you get" sort of deal and requires following a style guide for consistency. I have a current client who also wants me to watch for repetitions (words, phrases, constructions) as well as the other elements, but doesn't consider this editing. I shrug, do the work as the client wishes (indeed the copy does not need any other editing) and charge a little more for the extra service. It doesn't matter what the work is called, what is important is that it is accomplished before the ad, article, story, book goes to "press".

Editing for Length

A nonfiction book writer at a brunch yesterday complained the university publisher insists on reducing the book's size. Physical size? No. Word count? No, page count. "Well, that means cutting out words," I said, "and it's best done in large swaths."

The soon-to-be author looked at me bleakly. "I'm editing it myself, and we agreed to eliminate one whole background section on .... Now it's down to finding words to take out."

"How much reduction are you required to make?" I asked, worried for this writer. Almost one third of the material has to go. "You're never going to make it by taking out a word here and there. Whole paragraphs, maybe chapters must go." (This presumes a well-organized manuscript.)

"Let's keep in touch," the author said with enthusiasm. "I may need your help this summer. The book must be finished this season." An experienced writer recognized the fact that we fall in love with our words, so deeply that we cannot gain enough perspective to see which ones can go and which must stay. It's akin to snow blindness--a flurry of words, each one exquisitely unique and valuable.

Why Is Writer's Block?

"Creative block — or artist’s block — comes in many different forms, but they all have one thing in common: they stop you from creating what you’re capable of creating and what you long to be creating."

For a general overview of dealing with Writer's Block (temporary disruption in creativity) read Dan Goodwin's article: Creativity Coaching: Creative Block | Why You Don’t Create More. He offers a method for overcoming the negative thoughts he dubs "creative resistance".

Writing Amusing Shorts

Some email messages amaze and amuse:

hi,
i am XXX, a freelance writer, mainly concentrating on web content writing. i would like to know if u could provide me with content writing projects.

My response: No, not if this is any example of your writing skills.

I, NAME, author of the book XXX am looking for an agent who will work on percentage. I am planning on publishing two more books in the near future. If you are interested please feel free to call me at (###) ###-####.

My response: Agents don't work on percentages? I am an agent?

I recently started writing work for Business Credit Cards as a content writer. I would like to write a guest post related to Freelance/Web Worker/Work-at-home on your site if you're interested in accepting such a post. If you are interested, please let me know and I can send you an article for you to look over.

The Deal:

I will write a good, useful post/article on Freelance/Web Worker/Work-at-home specifically for your website/blog, free of cost. But I will need a by-line to build up my writing career. In addition, there will be a link to the Business Credit Cards site in the by-line. So, it will help all parties concerned.

Please note: Since I am a professional writer, I can write any topic that appeals to the audience of your blog/website.

My response: Hmm. Let's see: trade a byline and link to a third party's business website for an article that I could write blind-folded and hand-cuffed, and the piece is written by someone who doesn't know that "since" does not mean "because". Yeah, sure.

Quality is Key in Writing

Quality is the key factor in prolonging the preference for traditionally published over self published efforts. I'm referring to the quality of writing, editing, production, distribution and policy. This came to mind as I read the first book I knew was self-published, and by BookSurge no less. I was especially interested in the quality of the physical object and the appearance of the printed pages. The book proved a pleasant surprise. Nice layout, decent paper, great cover. From the quirky font used for page numbers and the plethora of illustrations, I suspect it was printed from .PDF files, probably prepared by the author.

All too often, self-published books look like they were printed on paper recycled from public toilets. Other problems include spacing issues between lines, letters, words and text on the pages (margins). Blah covers predominated the ones I've seen. Writing difficulties suggest a lack of professional editing. In fact, a lack of professionalism in most aspects marks self-publishing efforts, and this is what traditional publishing usually brings to the effort. Or maybe I should say, the professional touches used to be apparent. This winter I received a book for review from a Random House imprint. I had to check to see if they used "green" paper, but no such notice appeared. The paper was grey!Self-publishing authors cannot be expected to be experts in the intricacies of sales to bookstores and distribution of products, as well as commandeering advertising and marketing campaigns. A focus on producing high quality writing is enough for a one career. Publishing books is a complex industry that interfaces with and spawns other types of employment, e.g., printing being the most apparent. The traditional book industry's business model may be flawed, but the dinosaur lumbers on. Selling books to the public is yet another specialized type of work.

It is the lack of quality in all aspects, beginning with missing gatekeepers, that continues the bias against representing, reviewing, listing, and carrying self-published material. Many DIYers wind up becoming small publishers after learning all the elements involved with a first book (and often making many mistakes). When the inequity in quality reaches a balance (no matter how achieved), the disparity and disdain will automatically disappear. But no one person can do it all and well.

Blogging for Human Rights

Writing With Semicolons

More often than not, when I edit manuscripts, I notice that people no longer use semicolons. Those who do seem to be confused about their use. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, a semicolon most often joins two independent clauses. For example:

The dog chased cars; he never caught one.

The two clauses are independent, meaning each could stand alone and make sense. The semicolon creates a pause, much as a comma does. Because the two clauses are joined in one sentence; however, the semicolon's function is more like that of a full stop, a.k.a. in the U.S. as a period. This use holds true even if a transitional adverb is used to introduce the second clause:

The dog chased cars; indeed, he caught one, but didn't know what to do with it.

Another semicolon use that I seldom see is to take the place of a serial comma when punctuation appears within items in the series:

The dog, in an effort to appear mighty, chased cars; ran after cats, sometimes several at the same time; and caught no cars, a few cats, birds, and insects. This use is often found in long, complex sentences. Breaking down the example: the dog chased, ran, and caught. This is a series of actions. Within those three active verb elements are modifying phrases containing commas; hence, the need for a serial semicolon.

All right (notice it's not 'alright') all you other nitpicking editors, find the mistakes in this post and tell the world in a comment.

Getting from mss to Books

It's no secret that I lurk around a mailing list primarily for publishers -- the PUBLISH-L newsletter from Google Groups. I learn so much about all areas of book production, distribution and selling as well as book design, layout, covers and technology. One member, small publisher Marion Gropen, invited us to participate in her blog post entitled, "Things Newbies Say". I might have saved this reference for a Saturday Silly, except I know it's only funny to insiders.

I'm suggesting everyone who harbors a desire to have a book published, from secret sin to burning issue, read Marion's post and follow along with the comments. Though you may blush to find your own faux pas exposed, you'll come away with a better understanding of how book publishing operates. And why your assumptions don't work, why your demands are impossible, or maybe just what you're doing wrong in trying to sell a manuscript.

Don't be mad, be educated. The rest of you can laugh along with me.

Writing Website Maintenance

After almost four years of preaching about writers needing websites, it's time to move on to the next logical step to success: maintaining websites. It is debatable if a static site is worse than none at all. Visitors who return a few times and find nothing new, seldom come back. More importantly, fresh new content keeps search engines spidering your site and sending people who search on your keywords to your little corner in the vast web.

A professional also keeps up with developments. If you're going to use new media, be thinking about podcasts and video. Do as I say, not as I do, too. Interactive sites are also "stickier" (keep visitors longer and returning more often). You can achieve the interactivity by participating in at least one social networking service (LinkedIn and Facebook are examples) and integrating it with your website through appearances and links. Much better, however is to develop similar features for your own site.

A third aspect of website maintenance is to analyze your site's statistics. Every host gathers information about website visitors and "logs" them into files that can usually be downloaded and analyzed. Some provide a simple service as part of the hosting package. For the free Cadillac of analysis, sign up for Google Analytics. If you include a blog with your site, many of the blogging services also offer data analysis. Some are initially free, with more data considered for a fee. I use several of these because each tweaks the information a bit differently. Do not depend on Alexa figures, however. Those reports are so bogus, based entirely on data Alexa retrieves only from users of the Alexa tool bar.

Yes, websites are complex to construct and complicated to keep going. If you'd rather spend your time mostly writing and submitting, hire a professional for website maintenance. Accept that it's an ongoing expense, just like your hosting fees and domain registration fees. This is part of what I mean when I urge you to invest in your writing career. No free lunches, remember?

Amped on Vamps - Book Views

The Society of S
The Year of Disappearances
by Susan Hubbard

I asked for it, for them, rather. Can't ... resist ... vampires. When a Simon & Schuster publicist offered me the first two books in a series about "ethical vampires", I snapped. I've been starved since Anne Rice quit writing about LeStat & company. True, The Legend came out as a movie, but I didn't see it. So, my vampire cravings have been starved, absolutely drained of delight. (read more … )

Photoshop Disasters

It may take a quirky sense of humor and/or knowledge of "photoshopping" to appreciate all the entries at PhotoshopDisasters.

Find Writing Sources

Beginning freelancers are often stumped about how to find people to interview for an article. I just learned about a (new?) free resource operated by Peter Shankman "If I Can Help a Reporter Out". You don't have to be a reporter to use it. Several times a day, Shankman emails batches of queries to people who have signed up as sources. Often these are publicists and public relations reps, seeking placements for clients (experts for you to interview).

On the other hand, if you are an expert at something/anything or have a cause to promote and are willing to be interviewed, you can sign up as a Source.

And I don't see why you couldn't play both sides of the street at the same time. Say you want to promote one published book or product while writing a different topic, or you need fresh interviews for a sequel. Sign up for both of Shankman's services, and make the man doubly happy.

Finding Your Writing Online

Use search engines to scour the Internet for plagiarism of your works, mentions of your name, blog and website and every variation of those elements. I know I've written about this practice before. However, if you do it regularly, every so often a surprise will pop up. This is because new material, like databases, come online and eventually register in search engines' indexes. The engines themselves are always changing, sometimes improving; and they begin to catch older references that had escaped notice in the past. Only a fraction of the Internet is "visible" at any given time.

Search engines also make specialized searches available. These find material that you may have not seen. The results can be slightly jarring. At least, one was for me. Crank up the Wayback Machine, Sherman: someone ran a Yahoo search for this site's domain name, linked to any educational or governmental sites. I found the resulting page in a Google Alert. The Yahoo search string looks something like this: "linkdomain:writers-edge.info AND (site:.edu OR site:.gov)". Feeds That Matter for Writing was familiar, but one from Eastern Illinois University took me by surprise.

Apparently a graduate student in an English program had researched women writing on the web. She gave mini-reviews of several women's blogs, including A Writer's Edge. I'm not certain whether to be amused or aghast at the assertion that I have "a bit dorky sense of humor". It is good, however, to discover other people's reactions to your writing, even if two years late. Shakirova's description of the blog as "a compilation of mostly reviews of the new books the author read and offering the list of websites on poetry and writing" displays where the blog has evolved from. I hope the visual description is still accurate:

The imagery and colors are appropriately arranged and make the site easy to navigate. The site, although more educational than entertaining, is targeted toward certain audience interested in books and writing.

Writing Contest That's Legit

For the third year, The Writing Show is holding a contest for first chapters of novels. See all the information about this year's version, prizes and rules as well as the results for 2006 and 2007. I was a judge during the launch year, and I know the website owner. This one is not a scam, and it has a low entry fee.

First Prize

* $1000
* An interview on The Writing Show
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site

Second Prize

* $400
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Third Prize

* $300
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Fourth Prize

* $200
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Fifth Prize

* $100
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Plus, for 10 lucky winners, chosen at random

* 750 words of feedback

The early deadline is May 20, final deadline, June 20. Please read all the rules carefully, and if you have any questions still unanswered, only then do I recommend emailing them to "Paula at writingshow.com". Most often people ask, "If they post my chapter on their website, does that count as published?" and "Do they take the rights?" Ask Paula, but here's my take: of course you must grant the right for the entry to be published on the website. Technically that one chapter is published, but only if it is a contest winner (a plus in the eyes of an agent or traditional publisher). In the final count, whether or not it counts as "previously published" is determined by the purchaser of your manuscript.