Issue 93
December 2017
IN THIS ISSUE
Happy New Year!
Join the 500 Club
New Anthology Titled LOST! Now available!
Weird Animals for Your Stories
Book Review on Three Weeks With My Brother
Trivia Quiz
Writing Contests, Literary Agents, and Writing Jobs
Points to Ponder
Connect with our CEO
A Word Fitly Spoken
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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Bidding Farewell to 2017
by Michelle Malsbury, Admin. Asst.
As we embark on yet another New Year let us accept and release 2017's issues that did not serve us well and move into a clean and clear 2018. There is nothing that stimulates creative juices like a blank slate. Did you know that whatever we spend the most time thinking about, negative or positive, will more than likely manifest itself in reality?
Quit looking back. That chapter is done. Write a NEW story. Plot a path that takes you forward and helps you achieve your goals, both large and small. Be sure to make your thoughts and actions jibe. As the adage goes, “Dream it, believe it, achieve it!” We know you can!
Creative Writing Institute wishes you a year filled with hope, love, peace, prosperity, creativity and health! Happy New Year!
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Join the 500 Club!
Try it for One Month
Writers… unite!
by L. Edward Carroll
Columnist and CWI Tutor
 I have discovered a sure-fire way to write daily and produce quality work is to plunk my butt down to write 1,000 words about anything that comes to mind – every single day. If nothing specific floats to the surface, I write silly stuff. After trying this for a month, my daily 1000 words calls for more, and the fear of not knowing what to write is gone.
With this method, I'll never stare at a blank page again and face writer’s block. Try it! Just cover the page with words. If nothing comes to mind, write Mary had a little lamb and I just don't know what to write … or Yankee Doodle Dandy … and I still don’t know what to write. I guarantee – something better will bubble to the top.
Make a chart to keep track of the date, start and stop times, and the number of words. Don’t allow yourself to answer the phone, make a cup of coffee, or act on any of a thousand other excuses. When I first started this program, I'd think, I need to feed the dogs, or I'll do an extra thousand words tomorrow, followed quickly by I can do that as soon as I finish my thousand words. The world will survive without me a few minutes.
Application
Your mind is full of junk and stress, and it won’t go away without recognition, so recognize it. Write about what ails you. Write about people who bug you, or write about the future. It will be good therapy, and it will psychologically prepare you to get in the writing mode.
Will you try it for a month? A thousand words equals two pages, double-spaced. I hear you saying you don’t have time. Really? Then how about committing to writing just 500 words a day? Only 500 words! You can do it! And to help you do it, we’re going to have the 500 Club during the month of January. What a fantastic way to start the new year!
At the end of a month, you won’t want to leave writing for an hour, let alone a day. Set a regular time to write and adhere to it as much as possible. You will soon find yourself looking forward to your writing time. If you write at 7 p.m. nightly, for example, the muse will pop ideas into your mind around 5 or 6.
Release yourself from the demand of writing stories or a novel. Just concentrate on writing anything – 500 words a day for a month. Take the pledge by dropping an email to our CEO, Deborah Owen at DeborahOwen@CWinst.com. Just sign your name, indicating you are joining the 500 Club for the month of January, 2018. We're rooting for you!!!
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LOST!
Our 2017 anthology is now ON SALE at Amazon.com
A must read! THIRTY short stories written by contest winners, judges, Creative Writing Institute's staff, invited guests and best-selling authors - all using the same theme sentence ---
I am completely and utterly lost.
Weird Animals for your Stories
by Janet Lopez, Columnist
Albinos: Reindeer and Orangutans
Reindeer in Southern Idaho? Yup. Rudolph and cousins alike trekked here two hundred years ago. At birth, an infant reindeer weighs about twelve pounds. The little tykes are standing within an hour. Females don antlers before the bucks and all shed their horns annually.
Swedish residents have glimpsed reindeer in white attire, but some lacked the typical albinism characteristic – red eyes. Of ten thousand reindeer born, one will be white. And yes, some reindeer really do have a red nose! Most live to be 15-18 years old.
For more fascinating information about reindeer, see:
1. guff.com/this-magically-rare-white-reindeer-was-spotted-on-the-side-of-the-road/white-wonder
2. https://www.livescience.com/56310-reindeer-facts.html.
Orangutans
Four to six years after a baby orangutan is born, mama gives birth to another sibling. An orangutan's arms can stretch six and a half feet, from outstretched hand to hand; a foot and a half more than its tallest relative that stands five feet tall, tipping the scales at two hundred and twenty pounds.
Orangutans are light auburn-haired, except for their albino cousin. Without natural coloring and left to fare in the wild, the albino will suffer sunburn. Albinos do not hear or see well., and mostly inhabit Malaysia and Indonesia. Find more amazing information at:
- https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/general-animals/ten-facts-about-orang-utans/
- http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a28280/rare-albino-orangutan/
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Book Review on Three Weeks with my Brother
Written by Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks
Reviewed by Karen Johnson, Columnist
Three Weeks with my Brother is a 356-page memoir, autobiographically written by an internationally read author. Nicholas Sparks enlightens the world of literacy with every turning page. The unfolding story behind Three Weeks depicts the novelists’ heart as he shares life’s experiences, faith, and hope.
Nicholas was a 37-year old workaholic millionaire writer in dire need of a break. His California “office” was the living room of his home and life was hectic there. He considered his wife, Cathy, a “saint” for mothering their five rambunctious children while being married to an author. It was the year 2002 and Sparks was writing 2,000 words, four days a week.
The author used a three-week extended trip to historical\cultural sights as a catalyst for his autobiography. His family relationships shaped his writing when Micah, his older brother, joined him for an unforgettable adventure.
Reading this book will bond you to Nicholas Sparks. The story travels through the common despair of two brothers who feel the tragic loss of their parents and sister. The inseparable siblings travel from one end of the map to the other. Laughter echoes and tears fly as the two reminisce over their childhoods. They discuss their future, and their dreams.
Three Weeks with my Brother is an interesting read for lovers of literacy. The book was published by Grand Central in 2004 and is a New York Times best seller. Read Nicholas Sparks' autobiography to learn what made him the great writer he is today.
We highly recommend this book and rate it 10 stars!
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Trivia Quiz
by Julie Canfield
 Since we just celebrated Christmas, take this quiz and see how well you know the songs we sing once a year. Below, you will find a partial lyric from a song. Your job is to fill in the blanks with the right words, or if you aren’t sure what the words should be, become a songwriter and pick any word that works. Have fun!
- God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you _______
- Sing choirs of angels, sing in __________
- When _______ came down, at Christmastime
- And folks dressed up like _______
- Santa baby, slip a ______under the tree for me
- Where the ______light gleams
- How are thy leaves so __________
- Ten ______ a _______
- ______ in every store
- Hail the new ye _______ and _______
- And ______ will be glowing when love ones are near
- Still through the ______skies they come
- Oh ___________ God with us
- Joyful all ye _________ rise
- Long lay the world in sin and _______ pining
- Here we are as in ______ days
- Gonna find out who’s ______ and nice
- What a bright time, it’s the right time, to _____ the night away
- One King held the frankincense, one king held the ______
- Keep ________ with you
Answers
- Dismay
- Exaltation
- Love
- Eskimos
- Sable
- Love
- Verdant
- Lords a leaping
- Toys
- Lads, lasses
- Hearts
- Cloven
- Emmanuel
- Nations
- Error
- Olden
- Naughty
- Rock
- Myrrh
- Christmas
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Writing Contests, Literary Agents, and Writing Jobs
by Michelle Kaye Malsbury, Admin. Asst.
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Writing Contests
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FanStory’s contest ends January 3, 2018. This one is for free verse poetry, meaning no formal structure of style. To lean more, see http://www.fanstory.com/contestdetails.jsp?id=104506. Grand prize: $100.
The Fiction Desk Ghost Story Competition is an international contest with an £8 (pound) entry fee, which is about $10.81 USD. The deadline is January 31, 2018. Ghost, according to this website, can mean quite a variety of things from phantoms to shape shifters to whatever your mind can conjure up, so let your creativity flow. To learn more or to enter the contest, visit http://www.thefictiondesk.com/submissions/ghost-story-competition.php.
Ouen Press Short Story Competition also has a deadline of January 31, 2018. Entries must be between 3,000 and 10,000 words. There is no entry fee and entrants can come from any place around the globe! To enter or learn more, please visit http://www.ouenpress.com/19.html.
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Literary Agents
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Looking for agents can quickly become a full time job. There are shortcuts that can save you a lot of time and energy. One such site is http://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/p/agents.html, which has a complete list of agents seeking new talent. You can read a lot of good things about other people’s experiences from some of their blogs. For instance, they say there are twenty-six (26) agents seeking paranormal romance stories. If that fits your style of writing, click the link and see where to submit.
From each link within, you will find the various contact information for agents seeking that genre. It is an incredibly user-friendly site. They state the agency and contact person along with email and there are also notes that can help you understand how long they take to respond. This can be very helpful when submitting to numerous agencies.
The Writing Cooperative has three agents who are seeking new talent, and you can learn all about that by logging on to https://writingcooperative.com/3-new-literary-agents-actively-looking-for-clients-7af326fb7893. From their home page, you can sign up for their newsletter and regular alerts.
BookFox has quite a lengthy listing of agents seeking new writers. For instance, Emma Patterson from Brandt & Hochman Literary Agency, is looking for interesting memoirs. She has a specific way to handle submissions, so follow directions. To learn more or to submit your work for consideration, please visit http://brandthochman.com/agents.
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Writing Jobs
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If you truly want to write for a living, you really must be dogged in your pursuit of finding clients or platforms to showcase your talent. Internet searches can yield many resources. You can also hang your hat with a temp agency to see what they might be able to locate. www.contena.co is one such writing site. They state that people who write for them can earn between $16 and $45 per hour working from home.
www.hires.today is another site that says they pay $30 to $45 per hour for writers, and "will even train novices." You can do data entry or an array of other things for them.
These are from Indeed and you can simply go to www.indeed.com and search for yourself. Look for writing jobs in the subject area (and the state where you live) to find the best results, but here are a few writing jobs that I found.
Promise Place - Fayetteville, GA 30214
$38,000 a year
The Fundraising Coordinator will serve as the Assistant to the Executive Director. This position is responsible for seeking and leading fundraising initiatives.
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BGSU Main Campus - Bowling Green, OH
Writing sample (one book); Experience advising creative writing theses at graduate level. The department also houses the university’s General Studies Writing.
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The Knowledge Roundtable - Deming, NM +1 location
$20 - $60 an hour
We are seeking local tutors in Deming, NM, and surrounding areas who can help our students with writing. College students, teachers, and those passionate about...
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Points to Ponder
by Julie Canfield, Columnist
 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. (NKJV Ecclesiastes 3:10-13)
Have you ever watched terriers that have found hidden prey? They dig quickly, relentlessly, with a ‘will not give up or give in’ attitude. That’s because they were bred to hunt small rodents and vermin that furrow into holes. The tail of a terrier is strong and stiff, genetically created for the owner to retrieve his beloved from the hole it entered.
A terrier’s attitude is one a writer should have. Writers need more than the discipline to write daily; they need a ferocious desire to create their story into the absolute best it can be. They need to see mistakes, inconsistencies, and loopholes in plots they can correct as necessary. This is the writer's vermin.
This scripture tells us God has given everyone a gift to labor at and most importantly, rejoice in having. Writing is a gift that can be frustrating, intense, and very difficult at times. To be good, a writer must be willing to commit, like a terrier after prey, to the single-minded task of ferociously working hard to get it right. But when a story, poem or article, has been written, polished, is finally perfected, then like the terrier that has caught his vermin, a writer can be satisfied with a job well done.
In this season of thankfulness, giving, and celebrating a new beginning, give thanks to God for the gift of writing, and strive to become the terrier you need to be to make the most of your craft. Don't worry. Should you get stuck in a furrow, (lack of ideas, lost words, writing blocks), God will be there to pull you out.
Happy New Year!
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Connect with our CEO, Deborah Owen
Have a suggestion for the newsletter?
A question?
Comment?
Write to our CEO at DeborahOwen@CWinst.com. She'd like to hear from you! Connect with Deborah on social media at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeborahOwen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deborah.owen.31
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/deborahowen1/
Blog: https://DeborahOwen.wordpress.com/
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A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Proverbs 25:10
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Disclaimer:
Deborah Owen and Creative Writing Institute, Inc., its board and staff make no warranties or guarantees of any kind. Writing success is a product of personal study and persistence. We endeavor to be accurate in every way, but the publishing industry and research material fluctuates almost daily. Deborah Owen, Creative Writing Institute, Inc., its board and staff may not be held liable for damages of any kind.
Travel the writing road at your own risk. Investigate and research thoroughly to protect yourself against fraud. Direct questions to DeborahOwen@CWinst.com.
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