Non-Fiction

5 Places to Find New Article-Writing Ideas

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Today’s post is written by Krissy Brady, a semi-finalist in the Write It Sideways regular contributor search. Thanks, Krissy! One fear many writers have when they begin building a freelance writing career is the fear of running out of ideas. While I used to find thinking of salable ideas to be an intimidating process, I now

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How People-Watching Makes You a Better Writer

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The recent search for two paid contributors to Write It Sideways has yielded wonderful results. I received more applications than I could have imagined, and had the enormous challenge of narrowing down the list to just a handful of very talented writers. I look forward to sharing the most promising articles with you during November. 

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How to Write Your Bio for a Byline or Query

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A few weeks ago, I had a short story accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of Grist: The Journal for Writers. I just received the contract, and am now agonizing over my short author bio. Although I’ve written several versions in the past, none of them seem wholly appropriate for this particular journal. A

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Write It Sideways Regular Contributor Search

Is the video missing? Try watching it on Youtube. Note: The search is now closed to new applicants. Those who applied will hear back by November 3rd. Thanks! I hope you were able to watch the video above, but for those of you who couldn’t view it, here’s the gist: I’m holding a search for regular

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Which Comes First: Conflict or Characterization?

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Today’s post is written by Joe Bunting. Thanks, Joe! I think most people have characterization backwards. I realize that is quite a statement from a unpublished writer. However, it’s mostly unpublished authors like me dithering away their time reading (and sometimes writing) blog posts about the ten secrets of effective characterization on the internet. I

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How to Make Yourself and Your Writing Stand Out

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We know that the vast majority of people old enough to hold a pencil dream of writing a novel one day. With self-publishing becoming increasingly popular and bringing even more writers into the game, how can we make ourselves stand out amongst the crowds? Because authors these days are also marketers, we’re not only marketing our

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