Whenever I teach a class at the university level, I put a quote on the board every day. This quote is the one I write on the board during the first day in class. Ray Bradbury has some of the best advice for writers, but this statement has to be one of his best.

Even though this statement is obvious, students almost never think of writing in these terms. Often I’ve had writers fail classes not because of their ability to craft a sentence but because of their inability to write more than a page of related text.

They get caught up in creating something perfect and run out of time to create something at all. So as long as continue to write on a regular basis, even if it’s not perfect, you are a success.

1. Figure out your Core Audience.  Are you giving nuts and bolts writing tips, or are you addressing writers in a specific genre?  When you decide on a name for your blog, make sure it is clear what kind of writer you want to reach.  For example, Charlotte Rains Dixon’s site at www.wordstrumpet.com focuses on inspiration and improvement for all kinds of writers.
2. Develop Street Credibility.  You don’t need to have a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Iowa before you can blog about writing. You need to demonstrate to your readers that you have something valuable to offer them. What unique perspective or experience do you have? You can draw on teaching experience, membership to  a writing group, a degree related to writing, or some record of publication to demonstrate your real-world experience. Gain the trust of your readers by sharing your experiences with them, and the lessons that you have learned along the way.
3. Check out the Competition, both in Print and Cyberspace.  WordPress alone has a myriad of blogs on writing, so make sure you can contribute something new, or that you can write about old news in a new way.  Make sure you are not replicating the title of another blogger, as there are more and more blogs on this subject.   Subscribe to such blogs as the Best Damn Creative Writing Blog so that you are abreast of developments in the blogging world, and don’t despair if someone has written on something you wanted to address.  Your readers will appreciate helpful links, and you can extend conversations about writing in your blog instead of merely parroting them.
4. Have Visuals, No Matter What.  Even though lovers of the written word might be your target audience, we live in a visual world, and your blog needs to reflect that reality.  There are free pictures on the Internet that are readily accessible, or if not free, available for a modest fee, so there is no excuse for not breaking up the text with a memorable image.  It is simply required no matter how entertaining or useful your prose happens to be.
5. Incorporate Opportunities for Your Readers.  Unless you are doing highly literary prose for a narrow audience (and there is nothing wrong with that), you need to give the reader a call to action or some kind of payoff for reading your take on the writing life.  This could be in the form of a contest, useful links to other sites, opportunities for your readers to be guest bloggers, or even some kind of open forum for discussion so that the reader can participate in your blog about writing, rather than just passively read what you are thinking.  This practice will create more of a two-way relationship with your readers, and increase the chance that they will come back to your blog on a regular basis.

Bio: Dr. Doni Wilson has a doctorate in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and teaches literature and writing at Houston Baptist University.  She is a regular blogger for Reflection and Choice.

The 22 Magazine is aesthetically pleasing and easy to read and enjoy, both online and in print. They publish an eclectic assortment of work all based around a theme. This issues theme is Collage.

The editors further define the theme in the following statement “Collage is a broad topic so we won’t put to many restrictions on it beyond the basic definition of being a collection of parts utilized to form a whole. The physical or theoretical explanation beyond that is at your discretion. We will be accepting “collage” in all forms: music, art, video, literature and more.”

They are open to submissions based off of this theme till January. So if you don’t have something that fits this theme now you still have a chance to write it.

They are also always looking for work on their blog. Work that is published on their blog does not have to align with any particular theme. They never republish previously printed writing although they do consider simultaneously submitted pieces.

The editors change all the time, and they are always looking for guest curators, so if you are interested in that, please contact them. There is more specific information about that process on the submissions page.

It is good to keep in mind that they are most interested in contemporary art and the artistic community in all of its various forms.

It takes them about up to three months to respond to submissions, and they accept  less then 1/5th of the work submitted to them.

In conclusion consider submitting to The 22 Magizine, because they are a beautiful, eclectically edited arts journal. Visit their website at: http://www.the22magazine.com

They publish around 20 short stories per issue, a few of the stories are selected from a short story competition (which has an entrance fee) but most are chosen from fee-free submissions to the magazine.

Their short stories cover all genres, but they tend to lean more towards the mainstream than the literary. They tend to pick stories that have a well structured, easy to follow narrative.

They do not have sample stories online which makes it more difficult to see what they are looking for without purchasing an issue. They also have a very low acceptance rate.

If your short story is chosen you will receive a free contributor copy. Depending on what grants they receive they may be able to pay their writers more.

[untitled] takes up to 4 months to respond to submissions. Although they often respond within a month.

When they accept work they almost always revise it, or offer suggestions for authorial revisions. This  is a fairly common practice when it comes to short stories.

Once they have published your work, the rights for subsequent publication revert to you.

Submitting is very easy. They use the popular submission manager Submittable. [untitled] does request that you remove your name from the submission.

You should include your name in your cover letter along with your contact details, 50 word bio, location, title of your piece, and the word count. They only consider short fiction under 8,000 words in length.

In conclusion Busy Bird is a selective Australian print journal that is focused on publishing the best emerging short story authors. In order to submit visit: http://www.busybird.com.au/?page_id=887

One of the ways I get a better handle on my characters is to create a cheat sheet. I make a one page list of very basic questions, print out a couple copies, and then fill out a questionnaire for each of my major characters.

Then, when I am writing I refer back to the sheet if I forget any of the details about them, or if I feel stuck for where to go next. All the information on the sheet does not make into the book, that is not the point, but it always informs my understanding of the character.

A very basic example of the questionnaire is included below if you want to start with a template.

Feel free to alter it as you wish, or to start from scratch.

Enjoy the exercise!

Character Sketch Questionnaire

• Full Name:
• Height:
• Weight:
• Age:
• Hair Color:
• Distinguishing Features:
• Tattoos/Scars:
• Hometown:
• Current City:
• Education:
• Relationship Status:
• Siblings:
• Favorite Food:
• Favorite Book:
• Favorite Word:
• Favorite Movie:
• Favorite Childhood Memory:
• Pet Peeves:
• Hobbies:
• Medical Issues: