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  Jennifer Manuel is a gifted storyteller. In fact, not one, but two of her stories won the SIWC Storyteller Award this year ($1000 and publication!). While she’s a writer who has many tools in her toolbox, one of her strengths is using setting as a character. The time she has spent in “the farthest…

Ok, my three-day SIWC nirvana is soon coming to a close (just a half-day Sunday remaining), but already it’s been amazing because… I met Zsuzsi Gartner, a short story goddess whose work I admire and even teach to my students, and she blue-penciled a short story I wrote, giving excellent advice and instructions for that five-page piece of short…

speechless . . . !

Are you fighting with writing? For those who are daunted by penning something as long as a novel, here’s a link to an article that debunks two myths: 1. Writing a novel takes huge talent. 2. Writing a novel is difficult. http://www.novel-writing-help.com/writing-a-novel.html It also includes a link to another site that takes you, step by…

Our countdown to the best writing conference in North America–SIWC–continues….It’s only five short days away, so here is a quick, 5-point plan for some of the madness that comes in the next month during NANOWRIMO. When you’re planning a novel, here’s a quick way to think about it: 1. One-sentence NY Times Bestseller line. The…

The countdown is on…8 days until SIWC… so here are 8 things you can DO at SIWC…   1. Choose from more than 70 workshops given by authors, editors, agents, screenwriters, and social media experts. 2. Find an agent. More than a dozen to pitch to! 3. Get some editing suggestions. Sign up for a…

          Ok, so here’s the problem. I won something in this competition (their big one, the one I’ve never placed in before). And then I got an e-mail that said something like, Again, congratulations on your winning entry. Here’s how you access your free subscription, free this, free that, and so on. Again? I DIDN’T…