Paying it Forward
Roxie's Blog: a site for writers, artists and illustrators, songwriters, and others seeking submission venues plus thoughts and snippets of interest
wanted: teaching materials for two publishers
Piano Press
accepts electronic queries
seeks original songs and piano pieces for teachers and students
publishing songbooks and CDs which are “fun and interesting materials for music teachers and students”
Teacher Created Resources
accepts standards-based teaching materials, correlated to national and/or state standards, and written by credentialed professionals and successfully used in the classroom
seeks all subjects, including thematic units
publishing products “created by teachers for teachers and parents”
If you know of a venue open to subs contact me: roxiewillbe(at)live(dot)com.
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New Casting Call! HGTV looking for theatre workers!
Not your usual competition, but those of you in visual arts take note:
“Many theatre industry employees (set designers, master carpenters, electricians, etc.) could be great for the show!
We are in search of the “go to” person when it comes to quick fixes; a problem solver, someone who knows a little bit about everything when it comes to handiwork around the house! Essentially, we are looking for highly skilled men and women from all different backgrounds and careers that have the personality and DIY knowledge to compete in a handyman competition.”
popular site seeks submitters
Bucket List Publications
seeking contributors: authors and photographers
accepting Travel Adventures, Extreme Adventures, Top Tourist Destinations, Bucket List Adventures
If you know of a venue open to subs contact me: roxiewillbe(at)live(dot)com.
For more opportunities check ‘Quick Finds’ or ‘Must Find’
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Top Twos-day – something borrowed something brainy
Something for your brain, The 50 most quoted lines in poetry, compliments of Inky Fool, aka Mark Forsyth, writer, journalist, proofreader, and ghostwriter. Forsyth penned The Etymologicon: a circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language, and his blog states that the book is “…all about the strange connections between words in the English language. It explains the link between film buffs and buffaloes, monks and monkeys, science and going to the lavatory.”
Something for your emotions, hope…a newly agented Brittany Geragotelis’s did it, and you can too. Geragotelis used wattpad to attract enough of an interest in her book to turn the head of “…literary agent and a foreign rights agent and is sorting through an avalanche of proposals and related offers for Life’s a Witch and other projects…” according to Publisher’s Weekly. Success comes as her seventh novel, Life’s a Witch sees the light of day.
magazine about new south seeks submitters and interns
Garden and Gun: lifestyle magazine
accepts nonfiction pieces about sporting culture, food, music, art, literature, people, and ideas of the new south
seeks front-of-book pieces, features, and columns – send query first
also
Garden and Gun
accepts intern applications
specify department: editorial, advertising/marketing, or design
If you know of a venue open to subs contact me: roxiewillbe(at)live(dot)com.
For more opportunities check ‘Quick Finds’ or ‘Must Find’
Or sign up to receive email alerts as posts are freshly pressed
Sunday Funny: Math?
Brought to us today by Robert Krulwich from Krulwich wonders: an NPR science blog.
“You can torture numbers into very unmathematical contortions — contortions that will make you smile” aka Screaming Equations.
The examples include an informal greeting to the heroic sign on a popular comic-book character. No brains exploded performing this math, just a quick click for relief. View Screaming Equations.
publisher seeks authors, poets, artists, photographers, animators, and mini-clip producers
XOXO Publishing
accepts literary fiction and nonfiction e-books
seeks “high quality original short stories, novellas, and novels that have never been published before, including non-fiction, how-to, self-help, cookbooks, educational essays, business, etc.”
If you know of a venue open to subs contact me: roxiewillbe(at)live(dot)com.
For more opportunities check ‘Quick Finds’ or ‘Must Find’
Or sign up to receive email alerts as posts are freshly pressed
Spotlight: Wendy Cartmell
Wendy Cartmell began writing by penning children’s stories to use in her classroom as a primary school teacher in England. After moving to Spain almost five years ago, she discovered her love of crime writing. Her current credits include two completed novels in her Sergeant Major Crane series, writer and editor of various technical magazines, and presenter at media launches and sales conferences. Welcome Wendy, to the spotlight!
Q) Tell us about your character Sergeant Major Crane. How were you inspired to create him, and where is this series headed?
A) Sgt Major Crane is tenacious. He is constrained by the Army system,
hierarchy and protocol, but treats this as a challenge and as a result has become adept at playing the system. He manages to manipulate people into doing what he wants them to do, under the guise of it being their idea. He comes across in his working life as an unemotional character. But this is not the case. When on the job he has to detach himself emotionally and get on with it. As a result he pushes emotional feelings and domestic problems to the back of his mind. The trouble is that sometimes he can’t keep a lid on the box and explodes. Normally Tina his wife takes the brunt of this.
I was inspired to create him by my husband. We were trying to decide how my detective could be different and at the same time write about what you know. As my husband served in the British Army for 22 years, I draw on his invaluable experience to make the novels ‘true to life’. I feel it is very important to draw attention to the wonderful work our armed forces do and hope the systems and history of the British Army are interesting to my readers. I set the books in Aldershot as that is where we lived for many years before leaving the UK.
Where is the series heading? This is a difficult question. For now Crane is still in the Army dealing with the different cases that come his way. But I am conscious that he will have to retire after 22 years or take a commission to Officer rank. We’ve not decided yet, but whatever happens it should be interesting!
Q) When did you begin writing? How would you describe your typical day, and what does your writing space look like?
A) I began writing early in my working life, as I progressed from Secretary to working in PR and Marketing, finally editing a large corporate employee newspaper. I went to university as a mature student reading English and Education and this spurred me into writing for myself rather than work, as there were several Creative Writing strands on the course. During this time I wrote stories for my children and also for the children I taught at school. I had a few disasters trying to write a novel, including romance and historical, until I found the genre I am best at – crime. Another adage is write what you like to read. I read crime and thriller and find other works slow by comparison. So it is natural for me to write crime/thriller books which are fast paced and have a puzzle to solve.
Unfortunately I became ill 5 years ago. After a bout of double pneumonia and a stint in hospital my immune system was very low and I managed to pick up a virus which affected the site where I had pleurisy which has resulted in neuropathic pain in my thorax (chest area). This means I am in constant pain in my upper body which also results in extreme fatigue and ‘brain fog’. I had to take ill health retirement from my job as a teacher and now with help from the Pain Clinic in Malaga I try and manage the pain through drugs whilst still retaining some mental function! So my typical day is restrained by my health, but I try and get up early to write for a while and then do my ‘chores’. An afternoon rest is vital for my wellbeing and so I try to write again after that in the early evening. Some days I am not able to write at all, in fact am unable to get out of bed due to the extreme pain and fatigue, so on good days I write as much as I can.
It has been a real boost to my self esteem to have completed two novels. It has proved to me that I can still do something after all – I’m not ready for the scrap heap just yet, even though my body seems to think I am some days!
My writing space is anywhere I can find! I am good at blocking out what is going on around me. It’s more important that I am in a pain free position rather than where it is. My favourite places are either on the sofa with lots of cushions or on lying on the bed.
Q) On you blog, you share a bit of the process you waded through to publish. What factored in that decision and how might you offer advice to others considering the same path?
A) It is very difficult these days to get any sort of publishing contract. Time and again I was told that the crime market is saturated and agents would have difficulty in selling my work, even though the agents liked it! So I decided to be encouraged by that, rather than discouraged, which gave me the confidence to self publish my novels as eBooks.
But the process of self publishing is very difficult and time consuming. First of all there is the challenge of producing the very best product you can, which means editing, editing, and editing again and making sure your book is formatted correctly. Once the book is published the marketing begins. I spend so much time social networking and publicizing my book, it chips away my writing time. But if you don’t do it no one will ever find your book! The other advice I could give is to produce a series if possible, or if not publish as many books as you can, without compromising on quality, of course. The more books you have out there the more you can build a fan base.
Also self publishing is definitely not a quick process. I am having to learn patience and month by month more people are buying my books, so I must be doing something right!
There are many people who offer editing, proof reading and cover design services, well worth it if you can afford them. However, we have done it all ourselves and so far I haven’t spent any money. So lack of money shouldn’t be an excuse not to publish!
There is no better feeling than seeing your book for sale and then seeing the sales trickle in. You know that people are reading your stories, which is the whole point of writing them. Readers breathe life into books.
Find Wendy’s books in ebook format:
The first novel in the Sgt Major Crane series is Steps to Heaven: Amazon UK Amazon US
40 Days 40 Nights book number 2 has just been published: Amazon UK Amazon US
venue seeks political writings
Balladeer’s Blog
seeks political pieces of 600 words or less
“United States politics preferred but others will be taken into consideration. Pieces are not limited to the present day but may cover any period of U.S. history.”
paying market
no deadline mentioned
If you know of a venue open to subs contact me: roxiewillbe(at)live(dot)com.
For more opportunities check ‘Quick Finds’ or ‘Must Find’
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Coincidence, I don’t think so. Both of these came across my desk along with a myriad of other great pieces of info I could have shared. These two are definitely the best of the week.
Releasing today: The Silence of Our Friends written by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos illustrated by Nate Powell. This nonfiction graphic novel is from the point of view of a young student in segregated Texas, 1967. Published by First Second, a division of Macmillan – visit their website to find excerpts, author interview, and discussion guide. Hear the trio’s interview with Unshelved by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes.
Great find for celiac sufferers and those who want a better diet: Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s latest cookbook, Deliciously G-Free, published by Random House. Sample recipes at The View’s site, and on Rachel Ray’s show today.
