I have a writing friend who gets downright angry when a contest extends the deadline. He considers it an insult, or that the editors are looking for specific people who didn’t make the deadline. In reality, contests are run by people and they make mistakes or misjudge or simply didn’t plan well enough ahead. Here’s how I see it when a contest announces a later deadline for submissions: 1. The obvious. They didn’t receive enough quality submissions. Keep in mind that their reputation is based upon what they publish as a result of contest entries. So, if they extend the deadline in order to obtain better material, is that so wrong? However, if I had entered on time and saw an extended deadline, admittedly, I would interpret that as my work not being acceptable enough. Professionally, however, I see this as the contest not being organized enough to get the word out properly. Just my two cents. 2. They received fewer entries than expected. Contests like to grow over time. When I ran the FundsforWriters Essay Contest for nine years, the submissions grew in number each year. . . such that I could not manage it any longer and write More
Your Income Depends on How Well You Cope with Rejection
/ 2017-06-09To make money as a freelance writer you can’t just play offense (networking, learning how to pitch, improving your craft, finding new markets, negotiating). You also have to play defense. And that means developing something researchers have identified as crucial to financial success: a higher threshold for failure. The eminent psychologist Dean Simonton, in his masterpiece On the Origins of Genius, investigated personality traits of highly successful creative types. What exactly made them successful? With all had talent, discipline, creativity and intelligence, why did some succeed and others fail? It turns out that the most successful had a high threshold for failure. They owned a coping strategy for rejection. The unsuccessful tended to give up sooner, approaching their work with more fear and trepidation and, hence, could not raise their creativity to the level it needed to be. What’s your coping strategy for rejections? I realized I had to change after a series of painful rejections threatened to derail my writing career. So I studied up on the latest research on resiliency and interviewed a host of “grit” experts. The centerpiece of my coping strategy, and the one I teach fellow writers, revolves around purpose. Why do you write? If it’s More
Are You Polarizing?
/ 2017-06-04This is one of my most important messages. One of the many reasons I left my day job was stress. Many of you have done the same or are in the process of finding ways to leave the lifestyle that makes your world less palatable. I worked for the federal government, and my job entailed balancing the wishes of my politician boss, the needs of the public, and the competition of my peers. Add family to the mix, and it made for some sleepless nights and tight-chested days. I left that life to write, and it was one of the best decisions of my existence. Then I read an article in the latest Psychology Today (love that magazine) about how polarization saddens us and, if we do not control it, can make our lives toxic. But humans like to congregate. They evolved from packs. And we interact accordingly. “So when the world looks safe, mammals happily fan out to find resources to meet their needs. When threats are perceived, mammals retreat to the safety of social alliances.” The problem these days is that we belong to multiple groups. We are writers. That’s one group. Many of us relate to one More
The Wrong Bio
/ 2017-05-30A gentleman at a conference came up to me and asked how he was supposed to include a bio in his query letter to literary agents when he had not published. He had a couple of stories in anthologies, and his day job had nothing to do with his writing. He kept catching himself making excuses in his bio. I told him never to talk negative in a query. I spouted off a few rules I’ve learned over the years to use in bios, and here are some of them: 1) Never say your age. You never know the age of the person on the other end and what their prejudices may be. Instead, be “Every Man” or “Every Woman” so that age doesn’t even come into play. 2) Never say your publishing history unless it’s accomplished. If you have not published, just don’t bring up the subject. You want your writing and query to make the statement. By giving the initial impression you do not know what you are doing, you again prejudice the reader on the other end. 3) Never give your life’s story. If your profession means nothing to the query, then leave it out. I once More
How the Shy Writer Copes
/ 2017-05-27When I speak at events, people tell me they can’t believe I’m an introverted person. That’s not to say I can’t become a Mama Tiger when it comes to my family, or a real BE-ATCH when someone’s wronged me or mine. But for the most part, I avoid throngs of people. Throngs meaning as few as four, sometimes. (NOTE: Scroll down for the previous podcast on this topic – or click here.) I also avoid events that require interaction as in role playing. Oh my gosh, if I see anything that requires me to step up and adlib, or pretend, or act a character, I might have nightmares before and after. I’m a grown up now, and grown ups can pick and choose their activities. I WILL NOT ROLE PLAY. That’s almost throwing up time. I’ve done it, and felt too damn miserable before, during and after. That also includes those situations where an audience of writers may be asked to write for ten minutes then share their work with the class. Say what? My first drafts suck like buttermilk through a straw–that means really sucks in Southernese. And then you want me to stand there and take criticism for it? Like, what More
Why Pay Contest Entry Fees?
/ 2017-05-12I received this email from a reader this week: “I see an entry that might work for me, but then the publication requests $10, $20, and sometimes more to enter the contest. Many times I just pass. Why should we pay to present our work? To date, I have paid a few, but generally I balk at anything over $10.” My immediate response is this: Would you fund a contest out of your pocket and would you work for free? Some contests do not charge a fee, but they are a tiny minority of the contests out there. Why? Because they have the financial means or the sponsorship to avoid having to ask for fees. However, most contests do not have that luxury. Contests are not cheap to run. I ran a contest for nine years and offered a no entry fee category and an entry fee category. To make a point, I gave the winner of the non-entry fee category a big $50 first prize, then I gave the winner of the entry fee category a big $500 first prize. When considering contests, and wondering why you have to pay an entry fee, consider the costs of the contest More
Entertainment Writing Jobs You May Not Have Considered – Part 2 of 2
/ 2017-04-21In this follow-up article, I put more of an emphasis on the feature film world. Thanks to the proliferation of “prosumer” technology like HD cameras and editing software, more films are being made now than ever before, offering increased accessibility for writers who are willing to attempt a more non-traditional approach to their careers. Write Film Treatments Feature film scripts usually begin with a treatment – essentially an extended synopsis between two and ten pages that outlines the entire narrative beat by beat in prose form. The treatment serves as the framework for the script and is a crucial part of the film development process. Since a treatment simply reads like a short story, less experienced writers who may not be totally familiar with the nuances of script formatting, dialogue, and the like can still manage to create something valuable for filmmakers. First, you should read books like “Story” by Robert McKee to make sure you’re clear on the basic elements of film narrative like structure and character arc. Next, generate a list of one-sentence ideas (called loglines) that you think might make for catchy movies. Select your top three or four and crank out a treatment for each. You More
Entertainment Writing Jobs You May Not Have Considered – Part 1 of 2
/ 2017-04-15As a former literary manager, I represented film and television writers for the better part of eight years. Many of the talented but less experienced writers who hadn’t yet made a living at the craft were solely interested in creating original screenplays that would be shopped to production companies, studios and packaging agents. They never wished to consider the myriad other ways they could make money in the industry with far less competition, even if such work might lead to their ultimate goals. Here are a few such ideas for those writers seeking to take the road less traveled: Become a Writer’s Assistant Feature film and television writers have assistants that do everything from menial work like rolling calls and faxing to more creative pursuits like researching, writing synopses, doing coverage, and even giving development notes. The hours might be long and the grunt work tiresome, but it’s one of the best ways to see how scripts get produced. It also allows you to make connections with other professionals like agents and producers. In the case of television, you see how a writer’s room runs while taking notes for the staff writers. Moreover, TV shows often promote from within, giving More
I Need a Grant
/ 2016-07-05By C. Hope Clark – I forget that new writers enter the profession daily, and I’m most reminded when a slew of them write me after seeing FundsforWriters.com for the first time. The first thing they see is GRANTS, and that throws their fledgling minds into overdrive, wondering how they can find some generous grant provider to offer money to a new writer. It’s like rumors that some government agency will pay off your mortgage or write off your debt. In writing, nobody offers you a free lunch. You pay for that lunch. You can hope for a coupon here and there, or a free sandwich if you buy a coke, but nobody is going to offer lunch for free. Let’s look at grants. Why do grants exist? Nobody cares about that, but grants have missions, too. Grants have specific purposes, and providing money to people who don’t have it isn’t the leading purpose. It’s more about what someone wants to do with that money that matters. 1) They are created to fill an identified need. 2) They are created to make a difference with humanity. 3) They must demonstrate to the world that the money they spend has done More