Posts

Showing posts from December, 2010

Submissions: 2010 Submissions and Responses

Submissions Here is the annual look back at my submission record for this year and some stats on my total submissions since I started to record them in 2004. 2010 SUBMISSIONS AND RESPONSES: 22 total submissions *The total is 10 more than 2009 . 6 rejections *All but one were from literary agents on novel queries. 9 non-responders *Six of these were from literary agencies, the other three from magazine editors. 7 acceptances *These are from various sources for a variety of projects. 2010 RESPONSES FROM 2009 SUBMISSIONS: 3 withdrawals - 380/388/390 days *This was for the MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT proposal, which Mike and I placed with Headline Books, Inc. 2010 RESPONSES FROM 2008 SUBMISSIONS: 1 acceptance - 321 days *This was for my poem Starship Stowaways at Beyond Centauri . So this goes against the past two years where I've said that having a sub out longer isn't necessarily a good thing. In this case it was! 1 other - 726 days *I created the "othe

WORKSHOP: Writing with Authority

Image
WORKSHOPS WRITING WITH AUTHORITY Online Course INSTRUCTORS: Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller DATE: April 1 – May 2, 2011 LIMITED CLASS SIZE. Enroll now. COURSE DESCRIPTION: The easiest way to engage your reader is by using concrete nouns and action verbs. In this one-month online course, Seton Hill University creative writing faculty Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller will show you how to analyze your writing and use easy techniques that will increase the authority of your voice. Participants will: * Discover how to spot passive voice * Scrutinize their writing for generic nouns and indefinite pronouns * Learn to avoid weak verbs and overuse of “be” in all its forms * Practice using strong synonyms to find the best action verb * Apply word cloud research to make their plot come alive FREE BONUS: Course participants will receive a free excerpt (.pdf) from the new writing guide, MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: LESSONS IN WRITING POPULAR FICTION ( Headline B

Website: Many Genres, One Craft

Websites Co-editor Mike Arnzen launched the official website for our new book Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction at http://manygenres.blogspot.com . Many Genres, One Craft is the equivalent of a graduate program in creative writing captured in the pages of a book...stuffed with great advice, but not stuffy at all. Gathering the voices of today's top genre writers and their published students from Seton Hill University's acclaimed MFA program -- the country's only graduate program specifically focused on writing popular fiction –- Many Genres, One Craft is an academic instructional guide that aims to be the most entertaining textbook a new author will ever read. It targets those who want to write commercial novels of quality, rather than to publish only in academia. And because it is a multi-authored collection, it is like a writing community, a group of like-minded thinkers and kindred spirits, assembled between its covers, focused on ma

Conference: 2011 Pennwriters Conference

Image
Conferences From Julie Long and Meredith Cohen , 2011 Pennwriters Conference Coordinators 20 Things You’ll Learn About Craft and Career in Just Three Days: 1. How to start, survive and thrive in a critique group 2. Creating a powerful sense of place in your novel 3. The art of social networking and shameless self-promotion 4. How to balance narrative with dialog 5. Why writing for younger audiences is different 6. How to give a great reading 7. Identifying your learning style to become a better writer 8. Understanding your character’s psychological issues 9. Setting and reaching writing goals 10. How to interview for the nonfiction book 11. How to know if you need a prologue 12. Life balance skills for writers * 13. How fixing your first page can improve your entire manuscript 14. Understanding the creative process and the writer’s inner turmoil 15. Taking your writing to the screen 16. How to perfect your pitch 17. What makes a good memoir 18. Using meditativ

PUBLICATION: Sounds in the Jungle by Heidi Ruby Miller in Eye Contact

PUBLICATIONS I received my copy of Eye Contact today for my short story "Sounds in the Jungle" and was pleasantly surprised to see one of Jason 's photos ("Wave Swinger") in there as well. Filled with death, loss, and mourning, this was a beautifully dark issue, appropriate as we come close to the winter solstice. Here is a peek at the table of contents, which includes work from some of my former students and other Seton Hill Writers : Eyes by Patrick Schober Bloom by Passion Hannah Aquila by Christine Telfer Living Grace by Maddie Gillespie Memorial by Stephanie Pikula Kalina by Molly Follmer Sounds in the Jungle by Heidi Ruby Miller Tá Mé I Ngrá Leat by Lyndsey Basham Lesson by Judith R. Robinson Wave Swinger by Jason Jack Miller The Man on Clipper Street by Patrick Schober The Shorts Have Eyes by Matthew Duvall Eye Spy by Aja Hannah Cinderella by Stephanie Wytovich Uh-Oh by Lyndsey Basham Origami Moons by Penny Dawn Dear Summer by Ca