Check Out freelancewriting.com

Whether you specialize in ebooks, magazine articles, or work for content provider sites, this website is a great resource. You can find information on writing contests (including both print and screenwriting contests), writer’s guidelines, print markets, and much more. There’s information here I’ve not seen on other sites. It also features regularly updated market information.

This site also has a load of free ebooks to help you in your writing career. Some of the topics include time management, comedy writing, organizing your home office, and much more, including a short book by H. P. Lovecraft on writing weird fiction. The ebooks are here

It might also pay you to sign up for their newsletter. And be sure to check out their informative articles on writing and the writing business. Go here for their main page

May Progress Report

This week I’ve been busy researching new material for my other two blogs. I am happy to report that all three blogs are steadily gaining readership, and I am grateful to all of you who have come to visit one or all of them. If you haven’t visited them yet, go here for Mary's Weird World and here for The World's Oldest Stuff.
I’m still at work on "30 Remarkable Women (You’ve Probably Never Heard Of)." I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the chapter about Lydia Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last ruler. Unfortunately, her story is not a happy one and it’s proven difficult to write.

I love writing fiction, but I’ve been so busy lately with nonfiction projects that I haven’t found time to write a novel, or even a short story. So I’ve decided to carve out a little time over the weekends to work on a Western I started decades ago. I think it’s going to be a nice diversion from my other projects.

I hope you’re all enjoying a beautiful Spring. And if I haven’t told you lately how much I appreciate you all, please know that I do. Until next week –

Thinking About Writing a Children’s Book?

Writing for children and young adults is quite different than writing for adults. Very young children often have limited vocabularies while those in grade school may still have difficulties with both vocabulary and complex sentence structure. And one of the most important things a children’s writer must do is to be sure he or she does not "write down" to the young readers.

How do you decide what age group to write for? What genres work best for children’s books? What’s the right ratio of illustrations to text?

The people who produce the "...for Dummies" line of books have you covered. They produced a short "cheat sheet" to help new writers produce a successful children’s or YA book. You won’t spend a lot of time reading about writing. Instead, you can use it to improve your book during editing, or as a guide to planning your work. You can find it here.

Blogs You Should Check Out (Besides Mine, of Course)

I ran across several great blogs by and for writers over the last week. These two in particular caught my attention.

The first one is called "The Passive Voice." It’s an absolutely gigantic blog packed with information and news about the publishing industry, writers, his own experience and observations, and advice to both newbies and experienced writers. I’ve bookmarked the site so I can go back and visit it. If I hadn’t, I’d still be there and this post would not have been written. Go here to start, and plan on staying around for awhile.

Maureen Fisher’s blog is titled "Sassy Romance." It’s full of fun stuff, including her six-sentence Sundays, which make delightful reading. She also provides lots of practical advice for indie writer/publishers, including a valuable little article on how to tweet effectively. I was first drawn to her website by an entry about writing sex scenes, complete with a great example of a tasteful, well-written scene. Maureen’s blog is entertaining, informative, and downright fun.

And here it is: