She Writes

--Some writers refer to them as their journals, others call them notebooks or writer’s diary. And just as they all have different names, each writer uses them for many different purposes.

So out of a strong sense of curiosity and a need to learn what sort of things I should consider putting into my writer’s diary, I decided to ‘google’ and see what came up. [This is always a fun way to spend an hour/afternoon/day.......]

I began with Teralyn Rose Pilgrim’s blog ‘A Writer’s Journey’ where she shared her thoughts on the benefits of keeping a writer’s diary.

Basically she wanted to keep track of exactly how much time she spends actually writing. What a great idea!

But Teralyn went even further. By keeping a diary for a month she discerned the following:

1. How long she wrote
2. What she wrote
3. What she’s struggling with (this one cinched it for…

In last week’s post I explained what a book proposal is and what it should include. This week I asked my friend Diane O’Connell, a former editor at Random House who now has a consulting business to help aspiring authors get published, for the biggest and most common mistakes she sees in book proposals.

Here’s what she had to say.

"The biggest mistakes I see are most often are in the handling of the competition and comparative titles. Avoid these five mistakes that could derail an otherwise promising book proposal:

1. Claiming there is no competition for your book. What? No other book out of the millions published has dealt with the same subject matter? If that’s really true, then all that tells a publisher is there is no market for your book. No market = no book contract.

2. Trashing the…

As guest editor this week for SheWrites, it is my pleasure to introduce Tara L. Masih, writer and editor.  Tara graciously consented to an interview in which she shares her thoughts and insights related to Flash Fiction.  I highly recommend The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction - I use it in the classes I teach online, and I also encourage you to go to Tara's website at taramasih.com for links to her stories and books. 

Tara L. Masih is editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (a ForeWord Book of the Year), The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays (a Skipping Stones Honor Book), and author of Where the Dog Star Never Glows (a National Best Books Award finalist). Her flash has…

“Flash” Fiction and Nonfiction: The Brilliant Capturing of a Moment

This week as guest editor for SheWrites, I want to explore a subject that is close to my heart: “flash” literature.  My blog, 20 Minutes a Day at lenleatherwood.wordpress.com, contains my own contributions to “flash” in the areas of fiction, memoir, essay and poetry, along with interesting articles I’ve found on the subject.  But you may be wondering what is “flash” and why you would ever want to write it?

“Flash” goes by other names: short-shorts, postcard, quick, sudden, micro, mini, mini-story, etc. and refers to pieces that range from only a few words to no more than 1500.…