Monday, April 11, 2016

Miscellaneous Monday




Does it feel or look like spring in your neighborhood? I hope you've had at least a glimpse of sunshine and warmth so far. To celebrate spring, I thought I would share a few links - perhaps they'll spark a little creativity. :)

In the mood for a contest? Check out the Writer's Digest 85th Annual Competition. Grand Prize is $5000, among other goodies, and the twelve categories include inspirational, magazine articles, poetry, children/young adult, and more. Entry deadline is May 6. Check out the details here.

Many of you know that I took courses from The Institute of Children's Literature years ago. Despite my initial hesitation, (I'd found their brochure at the grocery store.) the classes were excellent. They covered the writing and submission process from A to Z, in a professional and friendly manner. ICL combines top notch instruction with quality materials. I'd highly recommend them to anyone considering writing for children.

The Institute of Children's Literature has a sister school, the Long Ridge Writer's Group, that features writing classes for adult fiction and non fiction. While I haven't had personal experience with Long Ridge, I've heard good things and suspect they maintain similar standards as ICL. I've seriously considered taking classes there as well.

Even if you aren't interested in taking classes, both schools offer help for writers on their Rx for Writers page. You don't have to be a student to subscribe to their newsletter, which offers articles with tips, advice, and success stories for all writers.

Has spring weather hijacked your creativity? Jennifer Brown Banks offers advice on how to get back on track with Has Your Muse Become a Recluse...?

Fiction writers - having trouble nailing the conclusion to your story? Author Jerry Jenkins shares his thoughts in Secrets to Writing a Captivating Ending.

Are you a fan of uncommon vocabulary? Jean Fischer of Something to Write Home About invites us to guess the meanings of 26 interesting words in Quiz: Can You Guess the Meaning of These Unusual Words?

What are you working on this week? Are you enjoying spring weather?

Happy writing,

Karen


Photo credit: Free Images

25 comments :

  1. We're looking forward to warmer weather this week. I'm having a small area of my yard dug up for a veggie garden. Can't wait for it to get done and hoping to get a lot of walks in this week.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karen, thank you for these nuggets. I will be checking them out. Have a great day. It's cool here for opening day Csrdinal's baseball.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Karen, thank you for these nuggets. I will be checking them out. Have a great day. It's cool here for opening day Csrdinal's baseball.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amazing you found the brochure in a supermarket - and the courses turned out to be good.
    Our temperatures are all over the map right now and cooler than usual. So much for global warming.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Natalie,
    How about that snow, huh? Interesting weather to start April! Hope it warms up there soon. :)

    Linda,
    You are welcome. Hope they are useful. Yes, you may need your winter jacket to watch the opening game in person! :)

    Alex,
    ICL advertised in a number of places, including magazines, but I saw them first on a rack of brochures at the supermarket. They offered top notch material and instruction. Global warming - yes, not lately, right? lol :)

    Happy writing,
    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for these links, Karen, and also for including one of mine! Spring is hiding from Wisconsin. It's been a chilly start here. I'm hoping for warm weather soon!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Karen! I saw the submission note from Writers Digest, but I couldn't find when their Writers Conference was. If you win the contest, you get to go to the conference free of charge. It'd be nice to know when it was being held...
    I will check out some of your friend's sites. I always learn a lot!
    It's going to be a little nicer here in Chicagoland this week. We had snow and hail and wind last week. Yuck! I hope to get out for some nice, long walks in the days ahead. It's great exercise, and it clears my addled brain too.
    Blessings,
    Ceil

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'd do really poorly with those unusual words.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am holed up in my house because of the dampness and the 'liquid sunshine.' Last week we had high winds, then rain, sleet and snow. The rain etc. was all in the same day. My muscles give me pain. I am ready for the green grass and the purple violets that tell me spring is offically with us. Your links were very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Weather here in Virginia up and down. Today's up, warm but windy. I'm grateful for warm so I can take my daughter to the doctor.

    This is a very helpful post. Lots of links that sound interesting/useful to me. I'm bookmarking this to come back to it. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's quite a list of contests! Thanks for posting them here.

    As to spring. . .California is being shorted on that season this year. We went from the 40s with lovely tulips and daffodils everywhere, to the 90s. Now we're back to what should be spring temperatures, but the flowers are so confused they can't decide whether to open, close or just get it over with and die.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lots of links today. :) My sister took a Long Ridge course and said it was worthwhile. As to the spring weather, well...it's a tad chilly today and is to remain so through most of the week. I'm waiting until after next weekend to get the begonias for my front porch hanging baskets. I want to be sure there's no more chance of frost.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh, yes, the Institute of Children's Lit--I'm a graduate, too. I found it a fantastic way to test the writing waters :-) And spring weather? Had snow Friday night, it's raining now. Where's the sunshine? Thanks for all the great links. Have a great week, Karen :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jean,
    You are most welcome. You always share such fun posts! :) Hope things warm up for you soon!

    Ceil,
    The WD conference - they usually have it in the summer, I think. They do have info on their site somewhere! lol Hope things get warmer soon in your neck of the woods.

    Diane,
    They can be tricky, can't they? :)

    Ann,
    It's been cold here up until yesterday and today. Raining here now, probably headed your way, but supposed to clear up for later this week. Will send the sunshine your way! :)

    Cecelia,
    I am sure we will see sunshine soon! That'll warm your heart and muscles, I'm thinking! Glad you liked the links. :)

    Lee,
    LOL - yes, I can imagine the flowers are a bit confused! We had some warm temps for a stretch and now things have frozen. As so it goes in spring sometimes, right? :)

    Lisa,
    I've nearly signed up with Long Ridge several times, but other expenses came up. Glad your sister liked it.Good to know! :)

    Kenda,
    That's right, I'd forgotten you were a fellow ICL grad! Their courses are great, aren't they? :)

    Happy writing,
    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for the links. It's definitely spring where I am. I saw it was snowing in other places. I hope that doesn't last long.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for the links! We definitely have spring here. I hope that everyone gets a bit of it soon.
    Happy Spring and Happy Writing!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Medeia,
    You are welcome. :) I hope too, that the snow doesn't hang around too long for those living in northern areas!

    Tyrean,
    Yes, I bet you have a bunch of rain there too, right? Make the sunshine that much nicer. :)

    Happy writing,
    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Karen - I didn't know about the RX page. I'll have to check it out. We're supposed to have some nice weather coming our way. God bless, Susan :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Spring is trying hard to spring in our neck of the woods. Nice weekend coming up! I hope the same for you. Some great links here. Thanks, Karen! =0)

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm curious if you've ever entered any of these writing contests. If so, have you had any good luck with it?

    Happy spring!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi Karen.
    Thank you for the links.
    Spring your side of the world means Autumn on my side of the world. The cooler weather is a welcome relief since our summers are hot and extremely humid.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Susan R.,
    I hope you find it helpful. I've found some interesting articles and tips there. Blessings to you too! :)

    Susan S.,
    Hoping you see some of those warm temps from here on out! Summer will be here before we know it. :)

    Rhonda,
    I have entered writing contests, but not any from WD (yet!). Haven't won any, but it's been great experience on the process, and I usually end up with something I can use elsewhere to sell. :)

    Michelle,
    You are welcome! Yes, that's right - you are heading into autumn. I know the feeling, love fall after a hot summer! :)

    Happy weekend,
    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  23. It is finally feeling like spring here in Germany (though I would love one more snow :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great links Karen. I am debating on taking a writing course again and your links have opened up the inquiring in me again! I've just been working on my writing for my inspirational blog on my new platform but recently took out a novel I am half way finished and abandoned 3 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Keith,
    I know what you mean! I wouldn't mind a little more snow here either, although I doubt it would be popular with my neighbors! :)

    Lynn,
    Let me know if you decide to take a course or two! I'm currently taking one of Christina Katz's classes on platforms, and will probably sign up soon on lynda.com to take a few on content marketing. It's great to keep learning, isn't it? :)

    Joylene,
    Well, I could say it was an educated guess, but that wouldn't be the case. But I am glad that it might lend a hand! :)

    Happy weekend,
    Karen

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Have a blessed day!