WritingSucks

Authonomy.com

Harper Collins has a good idea to beat the slush pile. Instead of submitting your manuscript to overworked assistants you can upload it on Authonomy.com, the community will read it and vote on it. And then if you rank as one of the top five writer's for that month you'll make it to the editor's desk. They are seeking to "flush out the brightest, freshest new writing talent around.

I think it is a great idea, but it still freaks me out. I'm not ready to put all, or even half of my story out there for free eyeballs. But if I don't find luck the traditional way you can bet that I will be uploading my beast onto their server in no time flat. Good luck to all the writer's who are brave enough to share their stories!

NaNoWriMo

It's here. It has already begun. It is Day 2 and I am behind. November is National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel by midnight, local time, on November 30th.

I participated for the first time last year and I think I made it to about 20,000 words by the end of the month. This year I am going to continue working on that same "novel" and try not to beat myself up when I don't finish it.

You can post excerpts of your work for other writers to read, get great advice and encouragement in the forums, and feel like you are part of a writing community (even though some of the other members of your community will have written 50,000 words by Day 4.)

So Day 2 is half way over and I have written 0 words. Go sign up and kick my ass with your word count.

LifeForChange.com

This is when having 10,000 MySpace friends comes in handy. The website LifeForChange.com allows you to upload your writing and have people vote on it. The person with the most votes when the pot reaches $100 wins.

Dyingwriters.com

Stumbled across this cheerful little website for writers, www.dyingwriters.com .

"Everyone is going to die - even you. And you don't know when. So you better start writing now. Writing and dying; dying and writing. We have two mantras - "I have not been published. I want to be." And "I have been published. I want to be published again." But whether published or not, we're all dying, and we don't know when. So we're in kind of a hurry. "

I checked it out to see if they pay anything for submissions. The answer is funny and No:

"We offer you nothing - nothing much, that is - just a venue. You must provide the rest. If you're an artist - accomplished, or aspiring - we welcome your efforts. Write and then die. But write as much as you can before you die. You will die, that is certain, and out of your hands. But writing... That is in your hands. So write - you're going to die no matter what."

World Talk Radio

"World Talk Radio, Inc. is the largest Internet Talk station with more than seventy regularly presented shows.
Enjoy a wide variety of high-quality audio and multimedia programming produced in the World Talk studios. All shows have fresh, new content added every week. Listen live or on your schedule via the archives."

World Talk Radio has an Author & Writers channel, including shows titled Writer's Roundtable and Global English Salon (improve your English). You can listen to the archives from each show or tune into the latest addition. It is very easy to listen, you need Windows Media Player, and there are lots of topics beyond writing--travel, music, food, etc.

In other news...Secretary's Day is April 26th, don't forget to send flowers.

MyWritingGroup.com

From an email I received:

Hi everyone! I wanted to invite everyone to the non-profit, free site
MyWritingGroup.com

At MyWritingGroup.com you can join one of several private writing
groups or you can create your own. Our site is about authors helping
authors. You can post your work in private to your group, and get
private feedback from other authors. Work posted may not be reposted
or published elsewhere.

We also have a very active community of dedicated writers just talking
about the writing life. Feel free to stop on by and make some new friends! Again, this is not
a commercial site, we are a totally non-profit, free site for authors.

http://www.mywritinggroup.com
Good luck with your writing!

In other news....Have you started a blog yet? Click here to make money blogging.

Blogged Books

NY TIMES TOP 20 MOST BLOGGED BOOKS of 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/blogged-books.html

WillWriteForChocolate.com

Debbie Ridpath Ohi has a new comic strip about the joys of writing at WillWriteForChocolate.com. Debbie promises a new strip every Wednesday and says:

"The strip will address issues familiar to most freelance writers, including the struggle of finding markets for your writing, the challenges of working at home, e-books and e-publishing, self-publishing options, networking with editors and other writers, rejection slips, procrastination, and other topics within the craft and business of freelance writing."

Freestoriescenter.com

Ran across this website today: Freestoriescenter.com
Basically, it looks like you can post about anything on the site. Poetry, short stories, etc. If you don't have a place to upload your work online, this would be a solution. I like it because the site has a giant list of Yo Mama jokes.

WritersBreak.com

I found a new writing website today: http://www.writersbreak.com/ That's new to me, I'm sure the site has been around awhile. It was named one of the best writing websites by Writer's Digest Magazine. Lots of great articles, like this one: Understanding Rejection Slips. I'm going to add the site to my list of "Sites I Wish Were Mine." So, if you don't have time to check it out today, it will be there waiting for you.

In other news...Remember that trunk full of silver that your pirate uncle left you? Now is the time to check out how much it is worth, silver prices are on the upswing.