We wanted to take a bit of time out and wish you all the best this holiday season!
– The Editorial Staff at Freelance-Zone.com
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Last call for Travel Stories — Other Opportunities to Publish Creative Nonfiction
by Mike O’Mary
Dream of Things has issued a last call for submissions of stories for a travel anthology to be published later this year. Stories can be humorous or serious. The deadline is October 15, 2011.For details about the type of story we want, see the Dream of Things workshop page. For more details about the travel anthology, click HERE. You can also read excerpts from Saying Goodbye, our first anthology, by clicking HERE.
I started Dream of Things two years ago to publish anthologies of creative nonfiction that are “short and deep” — somewhere between the Chicken Soup series and Best American Essays. In addition to the travel anthology, Dream of Things is accepting submissions for anthologies on the following topics: Holiday Stories, Coffee Shop Stories, Stories of Forgiveness, Stories About Great Teachers, Advice and Making Waves/Role Models. For more information, click HERE.
Be sure to check out publishing opportunities with Publishing Syndicate, too. The owners of Publishing Syndicate are real pros. Dahlynn and Ken McKowen have lengthy resumes when it comes to writing, ghostwriting, editing services and publishing. In fact, Dahlynn was coauthor of several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and series creators Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen called her “one of their most trusted coauthors.” So Dahlynn knows anthologies. Dahlynn and Ken have launched a new series of personal nonfiction called “Not Your Mother’s Book,” and they are accepting submission on 25 topics! To learn more about the “Not Your Mother’s Book” series and other Publishing Syndicate projects, click HERE.
What Writing Blogs Do You Read?
by Catherine L. Tully
Here’s the chance to promote a writing blog that you love, one that you write–or one that you have just recently discovered. I’m putting a call out here for people to check in and list some of the writing blogs that they keep up with. What are your faves?
Blogs about freelance writing, fiction, non-fiction and any others that deal with writing are welcome. From time-to-time I like to go out there and try and find something new on the web. Some writer’s blog that I haven’t seen yet. And I’m hoping you can help direct me to some of them…
So with that in mind, let’s start a big list here in the comments section, shall we? Who are you reading these days? What sites do you find offer the most helpful advice about writing as a career? There are so many out there–I know I haven’t come across them all! Here are a few that I check in with on a regular basis: Continue reading What Writing Blogs Do You Read?
Finding Meaning and Fulfillment — as a Writer, and as a Human Being
by Mike O’Mary
This week, I want to share a commencement address. This is one of those things that should be passed around on the Internet until EVERYBODY has read it. Or at least until every writer has read it. It’s intended as advice for young people who are just graduating from school, but it’s full of wisdom for people of all ages. And it contains especially good advice for writers. Here’s a sample:
“It’s not the privilege of anyone, writer or not, to peak out or burn out or drop out before he or she has given back to this world. So I’ll say right now that you will not fulfill your life until you find out what it is you have to give to the people around you, and have given it, and they’ve accepted it in some way. It may take years to find out what you have to give, and more years to turn it into something acceptable, but if you’re making the lives of the people around you better and happier, you’re going in the right direction. If you’re making their lives worse and more miserable, stop and turn around.”
That’s a quote from a graduation speech that my friend, John Rember, delivered last year — and it’s just a sampling of the wisdom you’ll find in his commencement address. It’s one of the best pieces of writing I’ve read in recent years.
To read the whole speech, click HERE. After you read it, pass it on to a young person. Or to an old person. Or to anybody who is striving to live a meaningful life. They’ll thank you for it.
Mike O’Mary is founder of Dream of Things, a book publisher and online book store, and of the Note Project, a campaign to make the world a million times better by inspiring 1 million people to write notes of appreciation. (Photo courtesy of Knox College)
Great Websites for Readers
by Mike O’Mary
One of the great things about being a writer in this day and age is all of the great resources we have online and elsewhere – many of them free.
There’s the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers, a list that includes Freelance-Zone.com. And then almost every writing website you visit also has a blogroll or list of recommended sites.
Plus there are still traditional resources around, like local writing groups and the public library. (In fact, I was at the public library earlier today. I had to go in to pay a fine for late movie DVDs. I looked around while I was there though. They still have lots of books.)
If you’re a writer, you’re probably familiar with many of the online resources that are available to you. But what about your readers? What resources are available to them on the Internet?
My favorite these days is Goodreads.com. From what I’ve seen, the commercial aspects of the site are very low-key, and the content is mostly driven by the users, who are all book lovers. And despite having 5.5 million members (membership is free, by the way), it still has an intimate feel to it, probably because so many readers are sharing their opinions on books, and because it’s a place where authors and readers can interact.
Other great websites for readers include LibraryThing.com, BookJetty.com and BookGlutton.com, and for Kindle fans, there’s KindleNationDaily.com, KindleBoards.com and BookLending.com.
I also feel compelled to mention BookCoverArchive.com, which is a website of great book covers that will be appreciated by all types of book lovers, including readers, writers and graphic designers. (Shown with this blog post are three covers from the “shadow box”series of covers for Vladimir Nabokov’s books.)
What about you? What websites would you recommend for readers?
Mike O’Mary is founder of Dream of Things, a book publisher and online book store, and of the Note Project, a campaign to make the world a million times better by inspiring 1 million people to share notes of appreciation.
Driven to Distraction
By Amanda Smyth Connor
I work from home, as I suspect you do. My choice of fashion is pajama bottoms until 10am (or later) as I suspect yours is. I like the WFH lifestyle, as I suspect you do, otherwise, why would we have opted for a freelance lifestyle over a 9-5 desk job? Aside from the amazing salary and luxury vacations of course…
The downside of working from home is the series of distractions I deal with every day. While I’m not a parent and I do live in a quiet neighborhood (with the exception of my neighbor, Lucy, who NEEDS TO LEARN TO PARK ON HER OWN SIDE OF THE STREET,) I still find myself battling an onslaught of daily distractions that keep me from banging out all of the writing projects I’ve got piled up.
Call me a little A.D.D., but when the phone rings, I have to answer. I can’t just let it go to voicemail. When an email comes in, I have to read it and answer promptly, because it’s the “professional thing to do.” I also have to check Facebook and Twitter compulsively because I do social media (at least this is what I tell myself. Why yes, I *would* like to play Farmville for a few minutes! Squee!)
Two hours later and suddenly it’s noon. I’m still in pajama bottoms, I haven’t written one professional word and I’m pretty sure that smell is me. No worries, I’ll just start typing reallyreally fast to make up for lost time! HaHA! Problem solved! And then I proofread my work and realize that either I’ve become illiterate or this method of time saving is crap.
My only plan of action is to create an extremely boring environment for myself. Think: No Facebook, no Twitter, no open windows other than my client’s site and my documents. No cell phone in the room with me. No TV, maybe the radio but only if it’s quiet. Without this sanitized environment, I’m a hyperactive kid in a candy store and I have to battle with myself every day to “sit down! Pay attention! Do your work!” I sound like my mother when I was 8.
How do you battle the daily distractions? What distracts you the most? Any tips out there for fellow “adult-children” like myself?