Here’s the link to the current flash contest on Writer Advice: https://writeradvice.com/latest-contest-information/
Take a look. Think about the value of a detailed, personal evaluation plus the possibility of winning a prize and being published.
Seriously, what have you got to lose?
Please read the directions carefully and edit your work before submitting.
By Guest Columnist Kelly Adams
If you’re looking to get into the blogging scene, you’re going to need a hook. Blogs are a rather common these days, with most sites having some sort of blog function, and plenty of individuals starting their own sites to function as anything from public journals to miniature digital magazines.
In order to get yours to take off amidst this sea of blog content, you need a few things: that unique spark in your personal voice, an approachable style and appealing domain…. But you’ll also need to find an overarching topic that fits a given trend or serves a specific purpose. If you’re starting yet another fashion, travel, or food blog, you’d better have some incredible content (or some generous investors) if you’re hoping to get noticed. If you can catch a rising trend, though, you might be able to get in early and establish yourself as a go-to voice in a buzz-worthy area.
This list is going to cover some of the most exciting and potentially profitable up-and-coming blog topics that you could throw your weight behind in order to find success with your online writing.
VR & AR
These two technologies certainly fit the “up-and-coming” label, and are sure to become popular topics for blogging in the near future. VR may not have made quite as big of an impact as many had hoped when it first became widely available, but since then it’s been developing quite a lot of inroads when it comes to exciting games, titles, and applications. Games like VRChat and others have been proving the tech’s capabilities, and slowly but surely VR is beginning to resemble what we all hoped it might become. Naturally, this means more people are becoming interested as well.
AR, meanwhile, has yet to become a widespread, readily available technology – which actually makes it an even hotter topic. Being able to speculate about possible ideas and applications for AR technology makes it a rich well of a blogging subject. And for that matter, tracking the actual developments, following showcases at major tech conferences, and providing concrete information that an increasingly intrigued public is thirsty for can give your blog genuine utility
Online Sports Betting
Online sports betting is not at all like VR and AR in that it isn’t anything new. Rather, it’s an international industry that seems to get more popular every year, and within which billions and billions of dollars change hands. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t changing, however, and some of the changes indicate that there’s plenty of room for enjoyable and informative blogs in this area.
For one thing, the industry is more and more geared toward an online audience, and it’s not uncommon for sites with betting activity to present editorial content of their own – even when a sport is not active. Currently, in the middle of the summer, hubs for NBA bettingcontent are still carrying articles updating readers on player activity and team transactions. This indicates that the very activity of betting can be paired essentially with sports journalism. Now, combine this with the fact that online sports gambling is only just emerging (at least legally) in the U.S., and there could be significant opportunity. Right now sports fans in the U.S. are excited about betting, but in many cases unfamiliar with it. Thus, a blog that presents basic information, some of the articles like the ones referenced regarding the NBA, and analysis of betting odds, could have a large audience from day one.
Space Travel
This topic might seem odd to be promoting as an “up-and-coming” topic, seeing as how space travel has been happening for so long it almost seems old fashioned. But it’s the changes and developments in space travel that can make it an especially exciting blogging topic. While it’s true that professional astronauts and scientists have been visiting and studying space for years, we’re rapidly approaching various changes and advancements – not the least of which is that we’re nearing the point at which regular commercial space flights are possible.
Companies like SpaceX and others have been developing the technology required to make space travel widely available for years now, and thanks to recent breakthroughs, some are estimating that it could happen as soon as next year.Tracking developments like these, the technology that goes into them, and the people making it happen has all of the makings of a truly enticing blog. Throw in some coverage of the increasingly active chatter about putting a human on Mars, and there’s really a lot of material to cover!
If you would like to be a guest columnist, contact lgood67334@comcast.net
Hope you check out Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62. Though there’s no sample here, there’s a free one on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Never-Too-Late-Wannabe-Wife/dp/1633936082/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1541908134&sr=8-1.
Performed by Val Cole
Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62 by B. Lynn Goodwin
Can a 62-year-old woman who’s never been married find happiness with a 2-time widower seeking his third wife on Craigslist? And what does “Motor hums unless it hesitates. Gears probably need a road test” really mean?
Great ideas. How will you use them?
By Cathy Elcik
In a world where writing means the syncopated click of touch typing onto a screen filled with digital words, trailing black ink across the white pages of a notebook feels like a Brontosaurus wailing at a meteorite of progress, but I still prefer a ballpoint dinosaur to electronic progress. I prefer paper to computer screens. I prefer ink to pixels.
Just as the scriveners of Melville’s time might have taken one look at a ballpoint pen and said they’d prefer not to upgrade their quills, I’m suspicious of the cursor on my laptop that blinks with the impatience of a tapping foot. I prefer the quiet patience of blank paper spread out like a field of fresh snow inviting me to make my mark.
A laptop may be able to perfectly typeset my thoughts as I write them, but a first draft has no business being easy…
View original post 459 more words
Check the lower left corner. And take a look at the book on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Never-Too-Late-Wannabe-Wife/dp/1633935256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541908134&sr=8-1&keywords=Never+Too+Late%3A+From+Wannabe+to+Wife+at+62, by clicking on “Look Inside.”
Like what you see? Keep reading. At the same time you’ll be helping Koehler Books and author B. Lynn Goodwin. Many thanks!
Check out the other books as well. When you read a book you like, leave a review on Amazon. Soooo appreciated.
Excellent observations and examples.
Most writers know that readers for literary journals have to
review hundreds of submissions. In practical terms this means readers may only
give each submission a paragraph or two to make a good impression before
deciding to reject or consider the piece further. That doesn’t give a writer
much of a chance. So what should a writer try to do to engage an Orca reader?
Your opening can establish character, setting, point of
view, conflict, and other aspects. But more importantly it must establish the
voice of the story, and create some connection to the character’s situation,
also known as the stakes.
Let’s look at a couple of examples, one that doesn’t quite
work, and one that does:
Here’s a first paragraph, written by me to approximate many
of the stories we receive in our submission queue:
Jim Stone walked past the gates of O’Hare’s spacious Terminal B, checking his…
View original post 943 more words
Are you one who dreams of publishing your stories in a book some day?
We are all natural storytellers. Some of us decide to write our stories down. We want to pass them on to children or others have encouraged us because our unique stories have universal value or we are driven to write because writing helps us solve our own problems.
I think of some of my writing friends’ tales of a grandparent’s life in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, of struggling to survive a Japanese war camp as a child, of traveling to places like Brazil as a single woman, of trying to find a mother’s home, or like me, moving to another country and having a normal life except with the adjustment to a different culture and being illiterate in a new language. We all have stories to tell, but it takes persistence, dedication and focus to bring a book to life.
I’ve been in a writers group for more than 20 years. Many of the writers in the group join with the intent to complete a book. They all have great stories to tell. The writers are aided by the encouragement and support of the group of fellow writers. As they write portions of their book, they realize how difficult writing, editing, publishing and selling a book can be. All of those tasks are more complicated now. Major publishers have been squeezed by digital publishing so they rely heavily on well-known authors. Independent publishers look for new authors, may have editing staff, but not the resources to provide promotion. Agents are swamped with requests for help getting a book published. All the different jobs besides doing the writing can deflate the interest of a fledgling writer. But if they persist, they can publish a book.
I’ve been lucky to watch numerous friends produce a book. Sometimes the book is not the story they thought they were going to tell. Often they started with a memoir, which honed their writing skills. They struggled with naming names of people close to them and decided to turn parts of their lives into fiction. Sometimes they started over and over again with a different point of view each time. They sought the help of editors to polish their work and to help them stick to deadlines.
For me, I started out with family stories, asked relatives to send me their responses to the statement, “I remember…” which I collected and published through a printing company owned by one of my cousins. The more I wrote the more I realized that short essays about life and my artwork let me say what I wanted to say. Writing helped me to understand my place in this crazy world. Blogging became the avenue for my writing.
Some friends have managed to produce a finished work (some have published more than one book). I am proud of their endeavors because I know they have accomplished what many us dream about.
Elizabeth Fishel
Elizabeth is the founder of Wednesday & Friday Writers Groups, journalist, teacher, and author of 5 non-fiction books about women and their relationships with their families. Her latest book, co-written with Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Ph.D
http://www.elizabethfishel.com/index.html
Francie Low
A mother, author and blogger who in her own words: “My first fun blog, shoezle, started way back in 2011 when I barely knew anything about social media or how to take a picture on my shiny hot-pink cell phone. I guessed at how to blog and through the amazing feedback from readers and a bazillion writing groups and classes, I got better. I got better a blog photos too. Then I got the courage to write a book.”https://www.francielow.com
Irene Sardanis
A retired psychologist and writer was born into a Greek family in the Bronx in the 1940s in which fear and peril hovered. Out of the Bronx is her story of coming to terms with her mother and her past that terrified and paralyzed her for far too long — and of how she went on to create a new life free of those fears.
https://shewritespress.com/portfolio/irene-sardanis/
Jane Bonacci
A cookbook author, blogger, recipe developer, food and travel writer, and teacher has a passion for cooking and baking that she loves to share. Her latest cookbook written with Sara De Leeuw.
Carrie Classon
A columnist, author and performer, and one of my cousins. In her own words, “She champions the idea that it is never too late to reinvent oneself in unexpected and fulfilling ways.” Her latest book, Blue Yarn, describes her experience in Africa where she loses her marriage, her home and her career.
B. Lynn Goodwin
Former drama teacher, continuing to be a writer, editor with Story Circle Network and blogger. Her latest book, Never Too Late, describes her new life as a wife at 62 and the challenges of changing from lifelong single to married woman.Talent is a young adult novel about a young teenager trying to get out from under the shadow of her older brother.
Writer Advicehttps://www.writeradvice.com
Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62https://www.amazon.com/Never-Too-Late-Wannabe-Wife-ebook/dp/B077ZK468Y/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1541908134&sr=8-1
