Hi everyone,

It sure has been a harrowing time.

As you may already know, my computer crashed suddenly and I lost all my emails. Since I am extremely diligent about backing up, and do this daily, I didn’t lose any of my document files, resale rights products, or software.

All except one component on my computer has been replaced, but it’s still not working. So a new CPU will soon be installed, and hopefully that will do the trick.

In the meantime, I’m using my laptop. It’s nice to have something to work from, but the screen is much smaller than I’m used to, so has taken some adjustment on my part.

I’m still without some of my software, and Front Page is one of those. As a result I’ve not been able to update the website, nor have I been able to create the newsletter in html.

Rather than continue to wait, I decided to send this newsletter out in plain text. It’s also an abridged version this time around, as you will see.

This month, we have another terrific article from Cynthia VanRooy – "Hero, Some Assembly Required" will help immensely with the creation of your male protagonist. I’ve written a short article, this one touches on monetising your writing business. That is, how to earn more income from your writing. (And we all want that, right?)

These articles will be added to the website as soon as technologically possible.

I’ve again been busy sending out queries, and have had a few bites, including some requests. Whether or not these will come to fruition is yet to be seen. But as I keep telling everyone, if you don’t query, you simply won’t sell.

It is said that for every ten queries you send out, you’ll make one sale at the most. Think about it - that’s a one in ten chance - not particularly high, but are the stats correct?

I’ve submitted a lot of queries over the past twelve months – both fiction and non-fiction – and out of them all, I’ve had just five rejections.

Hard work and persistence make all the difference.

Before you continue to this month’s issue, I have small a request. When emailing me for whatever reason, please include "Writer2Writer" somewhere in the subject line. Currently I’m receiving anything from 80 to 150 sp*am messages a day, and doing this will make it so much easier to identify your messages and differentiate it from the junk.

Thanks for your patience, now sit back and enjoy this condensed issue.

Til next time…..

Cheryl

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Purchasing through links and advertisements in this newsletter assist in keeping it fre*e.

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Please note: Language is set as "English - Australia" - words are not spelled incorrectly. (Not intentionally, anyway!)

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A Note from our Sponsor:

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Boost Your Writing Income

© Cheryl Wright – All Rights Reserved

Many writers email to ask if I think they should write fiction or non-fiction. My answer will always be both.

When I was starting out, I was only interested in fiction. What I later discovered is that I’m good at writing both, and enjoy both, so why not utilize each form of writing? From my own experience if you are able to work in more than one area, you’ll sell more of your work, more often.

This year I decided to do more report writing and copywriting etc., and have boosted my income considerably by doing so.

The bottom line is, we’re writers, and like other professionals, we can easily multi-skill. If you want more income from your writing, learn as much as you can about different areas of the craft.

I know loads of writers who are multi-skilling, but they don’t have their services listed on their websites. When I’ve asked them why, they’ve told me they simply didn’t think of listing their services. Why not? How can editors, publishers and/or employers find your services if they don’t know they exist?

If you’re not sure what services you can provide, brainstorm. Write a list of all the writing-related things you can do. For instance:

Report writing

Advertising copy

Letter writing

Brochure copy

Business card design

Letter head design

Ghost Writing

Complaint letters

Proof reading

Copy editing

Magazine Articles

Newsletters

There is so much scope for your writing services, and so much money to be made.

To see how you can easily tailor your services to suit your expertise and/or qualifications, go to http://www.cheryl-wright.com and click on ‘services’.

If you want to sell a particular service but don’t have the knowledge or expertise, educate yourself and monetise your writing business.

What are you waiting for? Get writing!

Visit Cheryl’s website www.cheryl-wright.com

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Order your downloadable copy of "How to Write Short Fiction That Sells" now and receive a free bonus copy of the ebook "2006 Short Fiction Market Guide", containing 105 listings for publications all wanting more short stories from all over the world! All of the markets listed will happily pay you for your short stories - anywhere from $5 to $5,000. Just for a simple short story!

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Get published QUICKER than you ever thought possible! This book will teach you the essential ingredients needed to write not good, but outstanding fiction.

http://www.writer2writer.com/outside_square.htm

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"Discover How To Write Salescopy That ROARS"

Neil Shearing just released a wonderful little (23 page) report containing his tricks for writing great sales copy. In less than a day, 2,500 people have visited the download page to grab their copy, and I know why...

You can grab a copy of Neil's copywriting report by clicking the link below. He won't ask for your email address and the report isn't written to sell anything.

It’s only for a limited time, so please don’t delay or you may miss out!

Click here...

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Hi Cheryl;

Keep them coming.  Always enjoy. 

My novel, CLOUDS ARE ALWAYS WHITE ON TOP, Subtitled Flying The Box The B-17 Flying Fortress Came In,  is scheduled to be published toward the end of the year in The United Kingdom and The USA, in hardcover, (Hopefull in time for Christmas) with paperback and Ebook to follow in about four months.

This is actually my first novel, although I have had two other books published in the time I have been trying to sell it.  Is this what they call instant success - I started working on it in about 1991. 

Nolan

Author, MAULED, a fun mystery. CLOUDS ARE ALWAYS WHITE ON TOP, WW2 Saga. IONE, Circa 1930 Memories of a small town.
www.pendoreillepress.com

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Hello Cheryl,

I have just had my children's novel accepted by Mountain Mist Productions, an Australian publisher based in Queensland.  The book will initially be released at the end of March as an ebook, then later in the year in hard copy.

Regards,

Warren Thurston

wat@iimetro.com.au

http://www.pentales.com

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Hi Cheryl,

Just want to tell everyone – especially fantasy fans – that my novel ‘The Wizard’s Sword’ is being released through Equilibrium Books at http://www.equilibriumbooks.com .

Congrats on your successes.

Regards,

Paul M. Vander Loos

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Hi Cheryl

Congrats on getting such a nice big project - as my own portfolio of freelance work slowly builds, I hope to get calls like that in the future. Congrats also on the book deal.

I'm thrilled to be able to tell you that my short fantasy story, Watcher, is being included in Outcast: An Anthology of Exiles and Strangers. The anthology includes some far more accomplished authors than myself such as Maxine McArthur and Richard Harland - what a buzz to be included in such company. Outcast is being formally launched at Conjure, the 45th National Science Fiction convention in Brisbane by Sean Willams over Easter. Distribution and ordering are being managed by Donna Hanson at www.austspeculativefiction.com.au and pre-launch orders can be lodged there. Yayyyy

Ross Hamilton

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Thank you for letting me share some good news.  I won the Ozarks Writers League "Hoot and Holler" prize for my short article.  Also, I have sold a humorous article to ByLine Magazine.  The March and April issues of the Club Romance newsletter will feature a humorous SF story, "The Assassin and the Prince" under my pen name of Cat Muldoon.   Midici Books' upcoming  release titled Potpourri will include my suspense short story, "Winter's First Kiss."  Storyteller Magazine Apr/May/Jun issue will include my mainstream short story, "Songs of Woo."

Thank you for hosting such a useful and informative site, and for the newsletter.

Warmly,

Ronda Del Boccio

www.relaxwithronda.com
Ronda Del Boccio is an internationally published, award-winning author

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March 2006 marks the release of Sidestreets, the latest short fiction anthology from The Writers' Association--and my first as their "in-house" publisher. URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/223611

The Writers' Association is an online collective of writers from across the globe. We come together through a shared love of writing and a shared desire to improve our craft. We also honour the memory of William Rieser, THE driving force behind our group until he finally met an object he couldn't move. URL: http://www.thewritersassociation.com

Betty Dobson

InkSpotter Publishing http://inkspotter.com/

Phone: 902-444-1691 Fax: 504-262-9797

Top Ten Finalist: Preditors & Editors Reader's Poll 2005

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The latest issue of my print newsletter Heritage Writer was completed this week. Heritage Writer covers the world of biographies, memoirs, family history, genealogy, and scrapbooking with a mix of feature articles, personal essays, poetry, and book reviews. URL:

While Heritage Writer is normally available only by paid subscription, I'd like to offer a free PDF copy to all your subscribers.

To request a copy, simply send an e-mail to hrsample@inkspotter.com

Betty Dobson

InkSpotter Publishing http://inkspotter.com/

Phone: 902-444-1691 Fax: 504-262-9797

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There's a double dose of news this week.

First, I received a letter from the Mayor of Halifax Regional Municipality informing me I'd been nominated for a local volunteer award. I will attend a nominees' reception in April and receive a plaque from the Mayor.

On the same day, PoetWorks Press announced the release of Passing, an anthology of poems portraying the variety and complexity of feelings that deal with loss of someone special. The collection includes my poem, "Grandfather Waltzes" (originally written to commemorate the 15th anniversary of my maternal grandfather's death.

Betty Dobson

InkSpotter Publishing http://inkspotter.com/

Phone: 902-444-1691 Fax: 504-262-9797

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HERO, Some Assembly Required

© Cynthia VanRooy – All Rights Reserved

The process of building a hero is a little different than creating other characters. You are looking for a different response to him from the reader. Romance readers are for the most part women so for purposes of this article, that is the reader I’m addressing. You want to create a heroine the reader will like and respect—after all, she’ll identify with this character (you hope!) and live the story through her. However, you want to create a hero the reader will fall in love with.

In a romance novel hero, his macho, alpha male characteristics are a given. Yes, there have been a few successful beta heroes, but even then their manliness and sex-appeal quotient are never in question.

So if writing your hero as a sexy, take charge kind of guy makes him merely ordinary, how do you create a hero so unique your reader is going to fall for him in a big way?--By showing the little boy within the man.

I don’t mean you should have him exhibiting childish, immature behavior, but rather show what hurts him, excites his enthusiasm, makes him proud. Show his soft spot. Is he a sucker for kids, does he love animals, worry about his mother? You can get away with a lot in terms of macho behavior (romance heroes tend to be larger than life in this aspect) as long as he demonstrates what Suzanne Brockmann refers to as the save-the-kitty factor.

But what is his softer side? The best way to find it is to ask the man himself. Personally, I find the character interview to be interesting, but of little real help when constructing my other characters, but for building (or discovering) the hero, it is invaluable.

If you’ve never tried this before, you’re in for a surprising treat. This is one of the best ways to breathe life into a hero that previously has been only a collection of attributes you’ve cobbled together.

Find a time when you won’t be interrupted, have your questions ready, and just begin. I sit at the keyboard so I can type the answers my hero dictates to me.

Start by asking if he is willing to help you out by answering some questions. If he says no, that’s interesting in itself. Ask why he objects and you’re off and running. This may seem completely woo-woo, but try it anyway. You’ve got nothing to lose except the blank space on the page.

Some good questions to ask:

Notice these questions have little to do with his actual history. You will have already determined the facts of his life. Now we’re trying to discover the soul of the man. As you start getting answers, the answers will lead to even more questions until you are having a whole conversation with this person. Some of the answers you get may surprise you. Congratulations! Your hero has come alive.

The answers will give you ideas for plot developments you hadn’t considered. At the very least you’ll have material for scenes that demonstrate some of the hero’s hidden emotions. And do put these emotions and memories into action scenes. Memories make for boring reading unless they relate somehow to the current action.

Perhaps the thing no one knows about your hero is that he is afraid of lightning because as a child he was in a car accident with his mother on a stormy night. She was killed when lightning struck nearby and she lost control of the car. Now that he is an adult storms are a living hell for him—racing heart, sweaty palms, the whole nine yards. Perhaps his fear of storms even dictates where he lives. Build a scene where he and the heroine are in a storm.

Maybe the hero’s favorite possession is the key to his first car that his father gave him just before his dad left for Desert Storm and was killed. Write a scene where the heroine learns about this.

The whole point of discovering the hidden aspects of your hero is to make it believable to the reader when the heroine falls in love with him. We’ve all read books that make us think the heroine is an idiot for falling in love with a hero who’s such a jerk. Don’t let yours be one of those! Give this tough, strong, there-in-a-crisis man a few mitigating human elements and your reader will sigh with regret when she finishes your book and wait impatiently for the next.

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Now that you've written the book, does the hardest part seem to be getting an editor to read it? Let award-winning romance author Cynthia VanRooy, published in both print and electronic formats, teach you in her information-packed ebooklet The Secrets to Query Letters That Work (http://www.writer2writer.com/query_secrets.htm) how seasoned professionals, even unagented ones, circumvent the slush pile and get their fiction in front of the decision makers. For more information click on http://www.cynthiavanrooy.com

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Romance outsells all other fiction by a factor of 5 to I, but it's also one of the most difficult genres to break into. Why? Because the competition is enormous.  The good news for you and me is that 90% of all romance manuscripts are reportedly terrible. This is because most new romance writers just don't understand the needs of publishers (magazine and book), agents and indeed, the reading public. This course takes a refreshing new look into the genre.

Go to http://www.writer2writer.com/ewtwromance.htm to begin your career as a romance writer!

Now also available as an ebook! http://www.writer2writer.com/ewtwromancebook.htm

Mystery is constantly growing in popularity, but many writers simply don't understand the genre. As a result, they can't get their books published. This course will give you total understanding of the genre, and prepare you for your journey as a published mystery writer. http://www.writer2writer.com/ewtwmystery.htm to kick-start your new career as a mystery writer!

Discover the tricks and techniques that all the best writers use. In this course, you will get one-on-one tutoring and feedback. You will learn what constitutes a professionally crafted manuscript, what makes editors contract stories, and how to follow suit. In this Master Class from Robyn Opie, author of 55 published books, you will learn the secrets you need to become a published author. If you are already published, the techniques and concepts taught will reinforce and enhance your knowledge. Full details http://www.writer2writer.com/showtell.htm.

Thrillers are in hot demand for translation, serial and resell rights. Authoring a series of thrillers can literally catapult your career and your earning potential to the stars! Not only do thrillers make authors and their publishers very rich, they also make the most money in terms of film and TV rights, generating vast revenues worldwide. To join this valuable workshop, http://www.writer2writer.com/ewtwthriller.htm

Love to eat? Is writing your passion? Combine the two with a career in food writing. Pamela White, author of FabJob’s Guide to Become a Food Writer, publisher of Food Writing, the online newsletter, and online food writing teacher for over five years has created an updated and more in-depth version of her popular food writing class: Eat, Drink and Make Money: All About Food Writing. Classes fill quickly, so don't delay. Click here for all information: http://tinyurl.com/fjbv8

*** All workshops are ongoing unless otherwise specified

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, "The BookCoach Says...," "Business Tip of the Month," at www.bookcoaching.com and over 200 free articles.
===============Mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com or Cullinsbks@aol.com
Phone: 619/466-0622 -- Questions and Orders: 866/200-9743

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Professional and fledgling writers alike will gain dynamic insights into the art and craft of writing from The Muse  On Writing. Written by writers for writers of all genres and at every stage in  their  career, The  Muse on Writing from Double Dragon Publishing will inspire, motivate, amuse and inform you. Available as an eBook or a printed book from Double Dragon Publishing Inc

To Order - Double Dragon Publishing http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/single.asp?ISBN=1-55404-317-4

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson's e-zine "Sharing with Writers" includes promotion and writing tips and lots of opportunities for subscribers to promote their own writing-related news.  Sign by sending an e-mail with "Subscribe" in the subject line to mailto:HoJoNews@aol.com

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FR*EE ebook with subscription. Newsletter includes Paying Markets, Freelance Jobs, Classes, Workshops, Contests, Articles and more! Subscribe at http://writerssuccess.com/ to receive the Writer’s Success weekly newsletter and get your fr*ee ebook.

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Funds for Writers - the grant specialist for writers.

Four amazing newsletters for writers with all sorts of income potential. http://www.fundsforwriters.com

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If you have any feedback about this newsletter; comments, criticisms, (praise!) sections you'd like to see added, tell me - mailto:cheryl@writer2writer.com?subject=Feedback

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Submissions:

If you wish to submit an article, you need to be aware that I do not pay for (most) reprints. I pay a fee for unpublished articles, but they must be related to the craft of writing. Check out our guidelines. In all cases your bio and links will be included.

Inclusion of a market, contest, anthology or similar is not necessarily an endorsement. It is strongly suggested that you do your own legwork in checking out any markets etc you decide to approach. If you feel wary or uncomfortable, there's probably a reason!

Guidelines for advertising, and ad rates can be found here

This ezine is commercial in nature, and by subscribing you consent to receiving the advertisements contained herein, and any additional 'solo' advertisements that may be forwarded to you.

You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed - it is never sent unsolicited.

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