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Women writers: Alaska is calling.

November 1, 2019 by Donna Freedman 7 Comments

Applications are now being accepted for the 2020 Storyknife Writers Retreat in Homer, Alaska. If you’re a woman-identified writer who needs to get away from it all to write, I urge you to apply.

Storyknife is the dream project of New York Times bestselling author Dana Stabenow. It’s based on the life-changing experience that Stabenow had at a writing retreat called the Cottages at Hedgebrook. As a result of the chance to do nothing but write, Dana went on to establish – in midlife! – a successful writing career that thus far has spanned three dozen books. (See my article about Stabenow, “Taking a (careful) leap of faith,” to learn more about her general awesomeness.)

Now she’s paying it forward with Storyknife. Women can opt for two- or four-week residencies. Each writer gets her own cabin, and food is provided by an on-site chef. While you’re at Storyknife, your job is to write. Nothing else.

You must be 21 or older and, as noted, woman-identified. A writing sample (published or unpublished) of no more than 10 pages, completed within the past two years, is required. You’ll also need to (briefly!) answer three questions:

  • How have you sought to educate yourself as a writer? (Formal education not a prerequisite, but evidence of curiosity and learning in your applicable genre is.)
  • What is your experience with publishing your work? (Publishing is not a prerequisite but is considered a goal for writers who attend Storyknife.)
  • What project will you pursue while in residency? (Please note that you will be free to work on whatever writing you wish during residency. We simply are interested in what you think you’ll be pursuing.)

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: writing

Writing contest: A super-short story.

April 2, 2019 by Donna Freedman Leave a Comment

They say that brevity is the soul of wit. It’s also the soul of a well-written short story, and the Gotham Writers Workshop is posing a really serious writing contest challenge to writers out there.

Specifically: Can you tell a story in 10 words or fewer?

Not kidding. Gotham is inviting writers to tell a complete story in that tiny space – and incidentally, the 10 words includes the story title if you choose to use one.

Like I said: Really serious challenge. It’s based on a perhaps apocryphal story about Ernest Hemingway winning a bet as to whether he could tell a story in 10 words or fewer. Here’s the tale he turned in:

 

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: freelancing, writing

When life hands you blog fodder.

January 3, 2019 by Donna Freedman 3 Comments

th(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article was originally published on April 6, 2015, but its sentiments remain fresh.)

Having a bad day? Reach for a pen, or a keyboard.

According to Edna Ferber, “life can’t ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer’s lover until death – fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant.”

Ferber died decades before the invention of the weblog. Yet I think she would have understood its underpinnings.

Sure, the Internet is crammed with cat videos and twee posts about OMG-so-cuuuute toddler birthday party themes. Yet it’s also a place for primal screams.

Writers deal with illnesses – their own or others’ – and grieve when the Lifetime movie ending doesn’t materialize. Parents of teens (or millennials who’ve moved back home) worry not just about money but about their children’s futures.

Young men and women struggle with money, careers and love, or with the lack of all three. Artists toil in obscurity and wonder whether any of this is worth it. Jilted lovers wail and/or plot revenge fantasies that they’ll never really commit.

The common thread? Sometimes, life really stinks – and sometimes writing helps us deal with it.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: blogging, writing

The Skilsaw of Skilful Editing™

December 24, 2018 by Donna Freedman Leave a Comment

Editing is an art form. One of the best editors I ever had really knew how to set limits. When he asked for 25 inches on a given topic, that’s what we were expected to deliver.

Those limits made us focus intensely, winnowing out extraneous details. Instead of meandering, indistinct articles, we turned in pieces that told readers what they needed to know.

This being the features section, we were allowed to do it with a bit of panache. “Voice” was a thing* in our department. Unfortunately, we were sometimes a little too in love with the sounds of our voices.

Invariably, the editor called us out when we turned in 30 inches, or 35. Boy, we hated that.

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: best practices, freelancing, self-editing, writing

Give your audience what it needs.

September 30, 2018 by Donna Freedman Leave a Comment

This year’s Financial Blogger Conference was the biggest yet: 2,000 attendees, including vendors. (Speaking of which: The FinCon18 box of swag giveaway is up on my personal website until Oct. 15. Some really fun stuff in there.)

Someone on the FinCon Facebook page asked other members to name their favorite takeaway(s) from the conference. Here’s the one that got my attention:

 

“Stop trying to be clever and serve your audience’s needs.”

 

That is one solid-gold reminder.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: best practices, blogging, Financial Blogger Conference, freelancing, writing

You’ve been given a gift.

August 23, 2018 by Donna Freedman Leave a Comment

th

(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article was originally published on May 3, 2016, but its sentiments remain fresh.)

Ever question why you need to write? Not want, need. According to Gary Garrison, it’s because you have “The Gift.”

That’s the name of a short essay that Garrison sent out to fellow members of the Dramatists Guild of America. A friend sent it to me because she found it inspiring and, well, true.

Although Garrison was referring to playwriting, his words apply to bloggers, short-story writers, novelists and others of that ilk. All of them “have the ability to create whole, intricate, dimensional worlds and to people them with infinitely interesting, complex beings.”

Wait…Bloggers create worlds?

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: best practices, inspiration, writing, writing ups and downs

A free peek at “The Complete Writer.”

April 16, 2018 by Donna Freedman 1 Comment

If you’re a freelance writer, a homeschooling parent or even just a word nerd, listen up: Week by week, Dr. Victoria Hay has been making chapters of her upcoming book available for free.

“The Complete Writer: The Ultimate Guide to Writing, Publishing and Living the Writer’s Life” is based on Hay’s considerable knowledge of the written word. For decades she has been making a living as a writer and editor, and also taught writing at Arizona State University.

Every Friday she posts a new work-in-progress chapter on her writing blog, Plain & Simple Press (“Independent fiction and nonfiction”). Currently she’s up to Chapter 9.

Here’s some of what you’ll be getting:

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: best practices, books, freelancing, self-editing, writing

A writing retreat for women.

December 1, 2017 by Donna Freedman 2 Comments

thBack in the early 1980s a writer I know earned a residency at the Hedgebrook writing retreat for women writers. The experience crystallized writing as a concept. Specifically, it defined it as a vocation.

That happened when the writer tried to help clear the table after dinner and the residency director told her to knock it off – she’d already done her work for the day. It was the first time anybody had said writing “was a real job,” she said later.

The writer was Dana Stabenow, and she went on to hit the New York Times best-seller list. Since then she’s published nearly three dozen books and shows no signs of slowing down. And now Stabenow is creating her own writing retreat for women.

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: self-care, Storyknife, writing

Meet pro bloggers and podcasters (and a rapper!) at Dallas writing event.

September 24, 2017 by Donna Freedman Leave a Comment

This year’s Financial Blogger Conference has something special planned for members of the public. Despite its name, the conference isn’t strictly for those who write about personal finance (more on that in a minute).

If you’re interested in freelancing writing and/or interested in getting a handle on your money – and if you’re in or near Dallas on Friday, Oct. 27 – then you need to check this out.

“Your Money, Live!” is an eight-hour event with workshops, speeches by (including keynote speaker David Bach), and something called Ignite FinCon, which is TEDx style speaking followed by a networking party where you can meet personal finance writers, bloggers and podcasters.

And did I mention the appearance by rapper Dee-1?

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: blogging, conferences, freelancing, writing, writing tips

Slang: It’s not the bee’s knees.

September 10, 2017 by Donna Freedman Leave a Comment

In a recent Washington Post article about John McPhee’s new book*, writer Michael Dirda recounts a talk that McPhee gave to his granddaughter’s senior-high English class.

McPhee read a list of things mentioned in one of his articles and asked the teens to raise their hands whenever they recognized something.

The entire class knew “Woody Allen.” Only five students knew who Norman Rockwell and Truman Capote were. None of them knew recognized Sophia Loren, Bob Woodward or Samuel Johnson.

The idea was not to embarrass the youths, but rather “to emphasize the brief shelf life of cultural references,” Dirda writes.

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: best practices, blogging, writing, writing tips

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