HOW TO HUNT FOR MARKETS--OVER THE HOLIDAYSWritten by Dr. Erika Dreifus
Chances are, you'll be busy over next several weeks. Between preparing for, celebrating, and unwinding from holidays it may be difficult to maintain your regular writing routine. And if researching potential homes for your work is part of that routine—as it is for many of us who regularly submit stories, essays, poems, articles, and reviews for publication—you may be worried about falling behind.But it's time to put those worries to rest. In truth, there are many ways to keep up with your market-hunting over holidays. Here are just four possibilities: 1) When you visit friends and family, peruse magazines they may have on their coffee tables or stacked in their recycling bins. They may subscribe to some that you don't receive. Who knows how many new markets you may discover? (Just be sure to ask for permission before you start rummaging!) 2) Be bold with your gift list. If someone close to you should ask what you might like for holidays, go ahead and say it. Go ahead and tell that person: "I'd like you to bring me/send me all magazines you've received for past six months—and haven't yet thrown out." That person won't need to shop, and you will be able to spend rest of winter researching markets.
| | Writers Turn to the Internet for Support, Friendship and AdviceWritten by Patricia Gatto
Riding on fumes of potential, you take pen to paper or keyboard to monitor. Endless hours of creativity intermingle with apprehension, but your need to write engulfs your spirit. You swim high on waves of excitement and trudge forward through waves of doubt. Finally, your manuscript is complete.Looking back, process becomes a blur, it's difficult to recall point at which your first draft transformed into your final draft, but it happened. For a moment, you allow yourself to be still and bask in glory of your completed manuscript. But only for a moment. Now a new process must begin. As if going from concept to page isn't enough, aspiring writer must now bravely pass his or her cherished manuscript along for opinion. Opinion is actually too light of a word; writer must submit to, and endure critique. For those faint at heart, critique can be a frightening experience, rearing its ugly head of self-doubt to highest position. But ultimately, it's what makes you stronger, better at your craft, and prepares you to for next phase on your quest to publication. Family and friends only hinder critique process. Although supportive, their opinions are bias and counter productive unless they are professionals. So where do you turn if you are not fortunate enough to have a local writing group or personal mentor in your life? The modern writer turns to cyber world. As you make your way through search engines and dodge pop-ups ads in pursuit of an answer, message boards and writer's forums abound. Your ultimate goal, to find that band of brothers and sisters, bound together in their somewhat solitary pursuit of a writing career. A nameless group of competitors hooked together by modems, monitors, keyboards, nicknames, and electricity, generously willing to share advice. A group you can trust.
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