One of the most vital components of getting your work published is market knowledge. No matter what type of writing you do, you must know your markets.  By learning what type of articles or stories your publication of choice is looking for you can adjust your work to fit their needs and requirements.

I've heard editors say over and over again that they receive so many great pieces but a great majority of them do not fill basic requirements such as keeping within a certain word count, etc.

Here are some popular ways to research the different writing markets.

• Writer's Market.  This whopper of a book will give you all the information you need to break into your market of choice.  It includes contact information for the editors of each publication along with submission guidelines, pay amounts, and key ways for new writers to get published.  There are several different markets this book is available for, some of which include magazines, novels and short stories, children's writers and illustrators and more.  Most libraries have these books on hand for quick and easy referencing as well.

• Writer's Write brought to you by Tate Publishing.  For a quick way to compare how much publications pay go to their writer's guideline page.

While these books are extremely helpful be sure to be double check each publication's guidelines on their website or email them for a copy.

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Congratulations to Annie of Blooming Marvelous for winning our giveaway for The Elements of Style!   Please email your shipping information to Sylvia{at}BlissfullyDomestic{dot}com.

Stay tuned for our next giveaway coming soon!

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So this week one lucky reader will win their very own copy of The Elements of Style!

Just leave a comment telling us what your writing goals are. Is it a novel?  Want to start a freelance career?  Whatever it is, we'd love for you to share it with us!

The winner will be announced on Monday, November 9!

Want extra entries?  Blog about or tweet this giveaway and leave a link below!!

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I left not having made a purchase due to the fact that I was completely overwhelmed by choices.  So I went home and did some homework.  I noticed that I kept running across a book called The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.  Yes, the same E.B. White who authored Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little (among others).

Later that week when I visited the library, I searched the shelves determined to locate Elements of Style.  Sure enough, there was not one but two copies.  So I settled into one of the comfy sofa chairs and began to read bits and pieces.  I was amazed at how many things I was able to correct myself on just by skimming through it.  So I went back to Barnes & Noble and got a copy of my very own.  It was very reasonably priced and was small enough to tote around in my bag along with my trusty Thesaurus.

This book contains eleven elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, a few matters of form, words and expressions commonly misused and twenty-one different approaches to style.

Your writing will be given an immediate upgrade just by reading the mere 100 pages of this book.

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November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I am typically a freelance and children's writer.  Not a novelist.   I have thought about writing a novel many times only to end up talking myself out of it.  I envision that lovely book cover with the words "A novel written by" with my name printed in a lovely script font underneath. Then I either discourage myself by thinking about how much time I would need or I write a few pages and give up after seeing all the sentences that need editing already.  You're just not good enough, that taunting little voice whispers.  So I quit and begin writing something I am good at.

Now, if I am challenged to do something–well, that is another story.  I immediately feel the rush of adrenaline permeating through my body and my mind begins to stir with all the things I could accomplish by completing the challenge.

Write a 50, 000 word novel in 30 days?  No problem. Most novels are twice that length and if  I am writing on a such a tight deadline, I won't have time to spend articulating over every word, sentence or paragraph.  I will just write. And ultimately that is exactly what I want to be doing.

So it's on…beginning in 5 days. Want to join me? Find me under ThePrude so we could be writing buddies!

NaNoWriMo also sponsors an incredible Young Writer's Program.  Schools from all over the nation participate, starting as young as Kindergarten.  School participants receive badges, buttons, stickers, and more!  Each child who completes their challenge, their word count is determined by their teacher, receives a FREE paperback copy of their very own book! Each child who participates receives a certificate and other incentives from their teacher.

So, who's with me?? If you are up for this challenge, leave a comment telling me about what you hope to accomplish!

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Sometimes I read a post, and it thrills me, gives me shivers, or sends heat to my core. It feels like good writing. Sometimes 1o sentences can feel like a novel, saying so much with so little. Other times, the concrete details can make me taste a thing. Sometimes an old story is told in such a new way, without cliche, that I lose myself in character, plot, and detailed scene.

Today we want to hear from you and know what you think constitutes good creative writing.

It stands to reason that the more we read and evaluate what makes the good writing good and the bad writing bad, the more we'll learn from what we're reading and writing.

Leave a comment here and link to your own or someone else's creatively written post and tell us what makes it good to you. It can be about anything and be only good to you because you used an interesting word. Go ahead! We would love to see this community, for the purpose of encouragement, enter a conversation here about what makes the good writing good.

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I wrote my first story in the 2nd grade and the minute it was taped to the blackboard as best story in the class my future was clear. I wanted to be a writer. I continued writing stories and on my ninth birthday I received my very first diary.  So my writing evolved into secret diary entries full of dreams and fourth-grade gossip.

In 6th grade I began writing poems.  My very first one was published in the National Library of Poetry and I was invited to a gala in Washington, D.C. to celebrate.   I wrote about my dream of wearing a sparkling gown and accepting my award facing a crowd that would burst into applause.  When that dream was crushed by the price the trip would cost I was devastated.  So I wrote about it.

In high school I continued keeping a diary and I penned poems periodically but was too busy with 'teenager stuff'  to write anything more than that.  I rarely thought about writing during those years, yet I carried that red leather diary with me everywhere I went and kept it hidden safely under my pillow at night.

As I got older my diary entries were my only form of writing.  Life became too busy with engagements, wedding plans and being the perfect housewife.

When I became pregnant with my first child I started thinking about writing again. Perhaps I should start learning the craft of children's writing, I thought.   You see, it never really left me.  It stayed hidden for awhile but it was always there, the golden thread in the tapestry of my life. And so it began.  The writer's block I mean.

I could feel the thoughts, see the characters and hear their words in my head but I couldn't get them out.  I would run to the computer with an incredible thought and by the time I sat down and typed a few words it was gone.  It was incredibly frustrating.  I began reading different books on writing.  Some said you had to write through writer's block and others said writer's block didn't really exist.

I, however, begged to differ.  It existed because I had it.  Then I found it.  The cure to writer's block.  A book full of writing prompts.  I had never utilized writing prompts before because I thought somehow that meant you couldn't come up with your own ideas. However, when I finally gave them a try I realized the exact opposite–they entice your own ideas from your brain onto your paper.

That's where this book comes in.  It is bursting at the seams with incredibly thought provoking writing prompts.   If you are

Today's prompt comes from the book The Pocket Muse by Monica Wood.

"Write about a noise–or a silence–that won't go away."

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We have a toy closet mounding knee-high in a blur of plastic, building pieces, and play weaponry, but I hear my three sons say, “What is there to do? We’re bored. We don’t have anything to play with.”

As I point to the pile of toys, I realize that they don’t know what they have here because nothing, at all, is organized, so I put them to work: blocks in one container, books in a basket, robots in one zip-lock, plastic animals in another, and all of Mr. Potato Head’s many lips and ears go inside his own belly. It is a beautiful moment.

There is something so innately pleasing about laying it all out there and taking an inventory that my boys played for hours, newly excited about the Legos they step over daily. I think the same could apply for us in our writing.

The habit of daily writing can act like a sort of inventory, laying ideas down so we can see them for what they are, play with them in new ways, switch them up and weave them together.  Our lives are full of reoccurring themes that we may never notice because they’re jumbled in the floor of our hearts.

Is it too elementary to let our writing tip today be for you to simply write and to write often, just as we could also suggest that you organize your closets often?

It sounds like so much work, but a little disciplined diligence to straighten as you go along, a little diligence to wake from a dream and immediately note its color scheme, and you’ll be so much closer to knowing what to say when the time really comes, when you need to know what toys you have or when that book proposal is due.

Keep an inventory, and there, you’ll find your muse.

——–

Next Monday, we want to see you back here with a link to your favorite creatively written blog post. Let’s learn from one another.

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Do you love to write? Do you dream of being published in national glossies?  Perhaps your goal is to write a New York Times Best-Seller or a beloved children's book.   Maybe you just want to start a great blog or journal more consistently. 

Whatever your writing dreams may be, we are going to help you take the first steps in making those dreams a reality.

Every week we will be posting various writing tips, prompts and how-to's to help get your pen flowing (or keys clicking).  We will be covering everything from secrets to writing great blog posts to submitting book manuscripts.  There's going to be a whole lot of creativity happening here and we want you to be a part of it.  So get yourself a fresh, clean notebook and a pretty pen and join us!

Here's a list of some of my all-time favorite books on writing for those of you who want to get started right away.  I will be referring to these books often, as they have been extremely helpful with improving my own writing.   I highly encourage you to check them out next time you are at the library.

Elements of Style by Strunk & White

Writer Mama by Christina Katz

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

Writing Tools:  50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark

Practice, practice, practice writing. Writing is a craft that requires both talent and acquired skills. You learn by doing, by making mistakes and then seeing where you went wrong.
-Jeffrey A. Carver

Image Credit:  Anne Hathaway in "Becoming Jane"

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Writing Prompt #4:

Write from the point of view of a freshly scrubbed floor.

If you decide to play along, leave a link in the comments. We'd love to read your writing.

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