Poll #1 has just ended and I am so pleased with the results! They're all across the board which just proves how differently motivated, creative, and unique people we all are. The poll asked if you have ever tried to get published and how. Seems that most of you have tried to get published at one time in your life which I think is AWESOME!!! Way to put your work and YOURSELF out there!
Now, let's talk about how you tried to get published. Most of you, including myself, have published your work on an online community. I personally discovered that this was even possible on October 9, 2008 when I joined WEbook.com and from then on I was addicted and all over the place. I posted years of poetry, the two novels I was working on, and later a few novellas I have been playing with. I currently help judge for the Writer's Guild Competitions and have entered WEbooks own Challenges here and there, earning myself a month where I was a Featured Member and an honorable mention in the Cheating Challenge with my piece of flash fiction called "Broken Pieces Fall Apart."
WEbook has been one of the greatest things that has ever happened in my writing career. (Others include taking creative writing classes in college, submitting work to "Exposures" a county wide art and literary magazine, and recently being published in WEbook's poetry anthology from 2009.) Trust me, I have tried other writing websites since joining WEbook (such as Authonomy, Mibba, Fiction Press, and Protagonize) but none have compared to how easy WEbook is, how much feedback and support I have gotten there, and how many online friends I have made.
Just to name a few...
djpr, our wonderful Donna at http://djpr2001.blogspot.com/
shahw at http://wordsinsync.blogspot.com/
Beruthiel at http://www.webook.com/member/Beruthiel who constantly assists me with my historical fiction
Bennyboi at http://www.webook.com/member/Bennyboi who is the moderator and creator of the Writer's Guild Competitions
Freewrite at http://www.webook.com/member/Freewrite278 who is writing "One Thousand Miles," one of my favorite ongoing novellas on WEbook
...and so many many more.
Matt, I would mention you here, but we didn't meet on WEbook. Neverthless, you can find Matt at http://blessidmerc.blogspot.com/
Anyway, WEbook is awesome. Go there (after you finish reading this post)! :)
The next route you guys have been taking is either literary magazines or other. Now, I'm not rightly sure I know another way to get published maybe newspapers? or broadsheets? (Although, I don't think people print broadsheets anymore. If they do, let me know because those things are fascinating!) Neverthelss, however you are doing it, wright on! (Hehehe!) Literary magazines are great! That's where I was first published and they're great for poetry and short stories.
Lastly, the some of you tried to get published via a major publishing company (such as Simon and Schuster, Random House, Scholastic Press, Little Brown, etc.) or self-publishing companies. For those of you who tried to get published via a major publishing company, I COMPEND YOU! You are so BRAVE! I think we should be sending our manuscripts up the WAZOO to these people. I know it's hard and a lot of work, but boy is it a dream! Now, self-publishing I personally have an issue with. I know a lot of people who have self-published. I know it can take a lot of money and patience in finding the right publishing company. (Make sure you guys find the right ones! There are so many corrupt and STUPID!!! self-publishing/print-on-demand publishing companies out there that it makes me just SICK!) But the one thing that bugs me the most is edits, Edits, EDits, EDIts, EDITs, EDITS!!! I want to be an editor more than anything right now and it kills me when I read something that is fraked up! The punctuation is wrong, something isn't capitalized, grammar is not considered, blah-bitty-blah-blah-BLAH! GIVE YOUR MANUSCRIPT TO ME FIRST AND I WILL SPARE YOU AT LEAST SOME OF THE HUMILIATION!!!
I am going to take this time now to apologize for all the exclaimation marks, side comments, and caps. I'm sorry I'm so passionate today.
And for those of you who have not tried, perhaps you are not writers, or perhaps you just don't know how, or perhaps you just haven't tired. I will forgive all but the last! If you are not a writer, it may not be your thing. If you don't know how, learn how, ask me, GOOGLE IT, YAHOO IT, BING IT, WHATEVER IT! If you haven't tried, SHAME ON YOU! GET OUT THERE YA LAZY LUMP!
Thus concludes this poll and its results. :)
Finally, and in conclusion, please direct yourself to the bottom of the page for poll #2.
This way, please.
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Keep going! You're not there yet. Scroll for goodness sakes!
I'm just happy to be mentioned. I haven't tried to publish anything because I'm not fully satisfied with any of my drafts.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you would include "Erotic/Explicit" in your poll. I wonder if anyone would answer honestly? I selected "Classic Literature" because one of my favorite works is The Divine Comedy, even though it's a poem.
You are just full of awesomeness! Thanks for the pop and for saying I'm wunnerful! Tee Hee! With my randomness mentality, unfortunately I have YET to finish anything to submit to be published, although I did have a poem published somewhere....that I can't remember....I've got a little thingy in a blue box from them somewhere tho....who knows!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes Matt, we'd admit to it! I write and read erotic fiction! It's actually fun and it's a great tool for developing character reactions since nothing will make you work for realism more than a sex scene, funny isn't it?
Great post as usually sweetie, thanks!
ttfn!
Donna
I wonder if experience is necessary to write such a thing? I suppose that's what "fantasizing" is all about, though.
ReplyDeleteYeah, who knows. I've never read anything that has been specifically labeled as adult/explicit/erotica but of course I've read books with sex scenes in them. Sometimes they're "good," depending on your definition of good.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, one of the best sex scenes I have ever read was in "Fire Study" by Maria V. Snyder. It was short, but instead of the author writing about one of the characters cataloguing all the chlothes she was ripping off her lover, she catalogued all the weapons she found on him. I just thought it was unique and it allowed your imagination to fill in the blanks.
Also, don't forget to vote in the poll at the bottom of the page :)
ReplyDeleteI have, and even mentioned it in my comment. Unless that was intended for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I suppose I'd need visual for an erotic piece to work. But then, I've never read erotic fiction or any fiction with such a scene.
That was intended for everyone.
ReplyDelete*Opens mouth,* *inserts foot.*
ReplyDeleteWebook rocks!! Rocks rocks rocks!!!! Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!! XD
ReplyDeleteThat it does. Soon, I am going to commit an entire post to it. I'll make sure to mention names!!!
ReplyDelete