Monday, January 16, 2012

ROW80 Check in and thoughts on Writer's Groups

I'm really doing this!  Wow, what a week I have had.  My blog was nominated for a Versatile Blogger Award and one blog post was picked up and given a shout out by another Tweep.  I have felt motivated and successful this week!  Yes, as Julie said on the ROW80 blog, things are trying to get in my way.  I'm doing my best to stay on track though.  One distraction I can do little about is my puppy.  She has decided she loves to run in the mud, come inside for an hour (so I have to towel her down) and then go back outside and do it again.  She must want me to join her because as she does this over and over all day long, she jumps on me and runs in circles around the table when she comes in!  I wish she would understand that all of this, while wildly fun and entertaining, is disrupting my writing flow.  Alas, she is only 7 months old and a dog, so I think I'm out of luck.  Other than that, I have done well.  With no kids this weekend, it was a big writing time for me.  Much of what I wrote was character development with some progress on my WIP.  I'm just shy of my 2,000 words for the two days I was sans kids, but well set up for Wednesday when I'm at it again.

I went to my writer's group (I'm fairly new to this particular group) and witnessed some critique challenges and writing insecurity.  This is not a pretty thing when you are in a group and can make for some tense moments among the group members.  For this reason, I found this Kristen Lamb's article both timely and thought provoking.  (I loved her book, We Are Not Alone.  If you have not checked out either her blog or her book, I strongly recommend both.)  While I do not believe I will leave the writing group (I need the accountability right now), I do think there is some balance that needs to be had as you consider the value of your particular group as well as your personal reason for attending a group.  Proceed with caution and a clear intent.

One article I would like to find is one about submitting your work to various places and how to decide which is the right place for each piece.  One of my goals is to select.revise and submit entries.  Well, today I looked at various sites that have contests and publication opportunities and I am feeling lost.  I have a few short stories, poems and flash fiction pieces that I would like to submit but have no clue which should go where.  What if I send it to one and it's rejected, but if I had only sent it to another one it would have been accepted?  How do you decide?  Where are the best places for beginning writers to submit their work?

Best of luck to all my fellow ROW80ers and #staygroovy

16 comments:

  1. It sounds like your ROW80 experience is going well, Christine. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

    I totally understand your comments on the group. ;-)

    I've known Kristen for over a year, and she is awesome. She won't steer you wrong.

    Congrats on the Versatile Blogger Award. Have a great rest of the week.

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  2. Thanks Kerry! It was great to meet you at group last night. Now that I know someone there has a thing for poetry, I can bring a few poems when I know you will be there. That is my first love when it comes to writing as well. I followed your blog as well and when I went to follow you on Twitter, I found out I already was. Imagine that. Hope to see you at group again soon. I enjoyed your feedback. #staygroovy

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  3. 1. I totally want a pupppy!
    2. It's sooo confusing. I think you just submit and if you get rejected, submit to the next one on the list. I'm about to start submitting things, so I'm just going to track it in an Excel spreadsheet.

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  4. Wishing you great adventures in Puppuland! :o)
    As for submitting to publications, contests, etc...it can take a lot of work but if you can get into the flow of finding places that fit what you are writing or want to write, it can also be so rewarding. Good luck with both the puppy and the submissions :o)

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  5. Hi Christine

    Found your blog through the Versatile Blogger links (so it works!) and just wanted to see if you are aware of the site Duotrope? http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx

    It is a fantastic resource for finding & choosing markets, and includes a brilliant submissions tracker. A particularly awesome feature is the response stats -- each market shows the ratio of acceptances to rejections, and there's a list of the 'most approachable' ie the ones with the highest acceptance rates.

    These are great ones to target when you're starting out, as you're more likely to get an acceptance, which builds confidence. Duotrope also does a great job of summarising what each market is looking for.

    Good luck, and keep writing!

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  6. @ fakesteph, the puppy thing is an adventure to be sure. This morning I woke up to let her out and found my hair brush on the landing at the top of the stairs. Later, when my kids got up and were getting ready, we couldn't find the comb. It was on the floor by the front door. Geez! After dealing with her, this publishing thing has got to be simpler. I just need to sit down and work it out.

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  7. @ Authors Promoting Authors thank you for the well wishes. I am slowly figuring this out. I'm going to do final revisions this weekend and I think I will be ready to submit! I can't wait.

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  8. Flash fiction is tough, I wish I knew where to submit it to. Best of luck staying on track. You can do it!

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  9. @Michelle I'm so glad the Versatile Blogger Award is working! I hope it is working for you as well. You are actually the second person who told me about Duotrope. I checked it out and I think that once I learn all of the abbreviations, it will be very useful. Thank you so much for the recommendation. I hope you have a great week. I'm heading over to your blog now to return the favor of following and chatting there.

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  10. Thanks Heather. I'm checking out a few places and I think this piece is going to be sent to Everyday Fiction. A girl has to start somewhere...
    Best of luck to you as well.

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  11. New follower here! I'm excited to read your posts... awesome writer friends are the best :D

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    1. Thanks! If there is ever an idea you would like to see me explore on the blog, please let me know!! Blogging like this is relatively new for me. I have ideas, but would love to hear from others what they want too.

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  12. Congrats on the blog award! And good luck with your writing group. I agree that there needs to be a balance, and hopefully the group can find it soon. New follower!

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    1. Jenna,
      Thanks for the congrats and the follow! I think my group is just experiencing growing pains right now! All will be fine. Do you have a writing group you work with? If so, what are the "rules" for your group?

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  13. Beautiful blog, Christine. Thank you for joining my blog. Have a great weekend.

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  14. As some have probably told you, one of the hardest chores in writing is finding the right market for your work. The thing that takes the longest amount of time is READING previously accepted and published material withing each potential market publication to verify whether your work will fit. That's the chore that sucks up time as a cactus does water.

    Don't despair. Once you really get into it, doing the marketing research can be a marvelous energizer and not the downer it once was.

    Good luck in your endeavors and keep plugging along. I'm working on my fourth year and I learn new tricks every day, thank God!

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