Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.
QUESTION: What is your favorite writing publication (magazine, quarterly, etc.) and why?
Lisa J. Jackson: Can I list NHWN? I really learn a lot from this blog from my fellow bloggers and those who comment. I love resources that offer variety and this blog does that. But in regard to an actual publication, it varies. Writer’s Digest can offer great tips, Poets & Writers really gets into craft, Writer’s Market is great for, well, finding markets and their online version seems to keep up-to-date with new markets, and those that are closing. A fave online weekly newsletter is Writing for Dollars by Dan Case because Dan always has a helpful writing-related article and lists low, medium, and high paying markets. I’m always finding something new.
Jamie Wallace: I’m with Lisa – Poets & Writers and Writer’s Digest are two solid and entertaining writing publications. I recently renewed my subscription to Poets & Writers when the instructor of the class I took at Grub Street Writers basically told all of her students to go out and get a subscription immediately. Although she is a fan of the magazine’s excellent articles and interviews, she also called attention to the value of all the “short form” content in the magazine – little blurbs and announcements, for instance – that help writers stay abreast of what’s happening in the industry. I also love scanning the ads and classifieds. The other resource I will be checking out soon (and about which I have heard fellow children’s authors rave) is SCBWI - The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. They offer members two online publications that provide insider information on what’s happening in the world of children’s literature. I definitely want in on that!
Julie Hennrikus: I don’t read magazines as much as I used to, and I stopped subscribing to most of them. My apartment was starting to look like an episode of Hoarders. That said, Writer’s Digest is a great tool. And if you are working in a genre, there are magazines that are great to read to get to know names of writers in the genre and reviewers. If you are a mystery writer, Mystery Scene and Crimespree are great magazines. And reading Ellery Queen and/or Alfred Hitchcock makes sense, since they publish a lot of fiction. And then there are the blogs. . .
Ditto to Writer’s Digest and Poets & Writers. Also – The Children’s Writer (although that is more a newsletter) and sometimes Publisher’s Weekly.
I love reading all of the publications mentioned above: in the UK there’s also Writing Magazine, Writers’ Forum and Mslexia, which are all very worthwhile (and organise writing competitions of their own to practise your craft and submission of work). But I’ve had to stop my subscriptions – reluctantly – partly because of the storage problem, but also because I found it hard to keep up with all of the reading and information. So now I prefer to read one every now and again, when I have the time, or when it focuses on a particular topic I am interested in.
Favorite writing pub? My house looks like a pub sometimes when the college students are home. I’ve never actually tried to write in a pub (we call them ice houses in Texas), although I will say that a pint of Lobo Texas Lager does make the story flow better. Oh . . . wait a minute . . . not that kind of pub. . . never mind.
Funny guy! I’ve got fam in Texas – there’s alot of excitement in dem ice houses!
I use several publications to get me inspired. I read The Writer on line and get a hard copy mailed to me. I also subscribe to Poets & Writers and love them all… but sometimes I love to read just the snippits of a new book’s review. In Oprah magazine I always read Karen Holt’s reviews! I love the way that she can almost bring me to tears in the way she describes a book. It is like an author’s standing ovation to have her describe one! I even wrote to her once and told her that my letter was very rhetorical and I was not expecting a reply but…. that SHE WOULD BE reviewing my book someday! It is kind of one of the first things on my bucket list! I also love Oprah’s last page… kind of where i got the idea for my blog. What I know for sure….
And my very no brainer-iest (not exactly a publication~but …) I love listening to the last few sentences fo Sex In The City when Carrie Bradshaw is wrapping up her column for the week. Ahhh I can’t believe I told you guys that!
In Britain the phrase ‘writing pub’ would mean a public house, i.e. a bar, in which you might – which, excuse me, is perhaps a more interesting theme. On which note, I nominate The Eagle in Cambridge, UK. Well, I don’t often write there, but do at least meet writers there and talk a good game about writing.
I used to like the Eagle when I lived in Cambridge. Now I live in Norwich my nearest pub in the Alexandra Tavern, which has nice real ale and is lovely and friendly. I recommend it. And, now you come to mention it, I should be spending my time in there writing…
Oh…you meant publications…
It was really fun to see each answered that question. It just goes to show you that we all do things differently and that’s why there are so many interesting writers. We see and do things in such different ways, don’t we?
How’s life people? My best friend introduced me about Icycle and I’m really enjoying it right now. Thanks to http://www.itrain.com
Yazdıklarım evrenseldi fakat ülkem sınırlarını aşıpta daha Dünyayla tanışamadım.
İngilizce yazmayı bilmediğim için Türkçe yazıp yayınlamaya mahkum edildim buradada sınırları genişletemedim.
Burada kısa bir araştırma yaptığımda dedim güzel bir yer yazdıklarınızıda çeviri vasıtasıyla okuyabiliyorum.
Ben İsveçte oturmaktayım ve Türkçe yazıyorum.
Sizlere merhaba diyorum ve bu vesileyle yazdıklarınızı takibe başlıyorum,zman zamanda görüşlerimi buraya yazarım.
http://meridyenblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/antuara/
Yıllar önce filmlere konu olacak bir hikaye yazmıstım
…..
http://meridyenblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/bir-gecede-kaybolan-koy/