Welcome New MMS Associate Members

We would like to extend a hearty welcome to your newest associate members, who earned rejection letters from Cricket, Spider, and Highlights for Children for short stories that didn't fit the publishers' present needs. Welcome! You're in good company.

In honor of our inductees, My Manuscript Stinks Society would like to invite members and readers to share their favorite rejection letter lines.

Or, if you're not in the mood for revisiting your painful past, take a moment and recommit to submitting your work to publishers. After all, 2010 is fast approaching and to remain in good MMS standing, you need to earn 1 credible rejection a year. Do your part: Submit & get rejected.

Of course, MMS also delights in celebrating successes (our motto, after all, is acceptance through rejection). We'd like to congratulate member Heather Dixon on her book deal with Greenwillow; her exquisitely crafted first novel will be published winter 2011. We'll keep you posted.

Happy writing!

P.S. We've just joined twitter.

100 DAYS! The end is in sight.

Days #95 - #100

Five goals:

1. Write for fifteen minutes: evaluate where your current writing project is and set specific goals for completing it.

2. Write for fifteen minutes: accomplish a goal that you set as part of #1.

3. Write for fifteen minutes: focus on description, imagery, sensory details.

4. Write for fifteen minutes: accomplish a goal that you set as part of #1.

5. Write for fifteen minutes: celebrate yourself--list what you're good at (e.g., character development, imagery, sentence structure, setting details). Then celebrate--go out to dinner, take a walk, buy something--the completion of 100 days.

Oh, and post however you did HERE. We'd love to hear the progress you made.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #19

Monday, October 26 - Sunday, November 1 * Days 91-95

On at least one day this week, set your current project aside and write something entirely new and unplanned. In other words, this week, practice creativity.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #18

Monday, October 19 - Sunday, October 25 * Days 86-90

This is the third to last week! You can do it!

If any of you are like me, there was most likely a prompt during these past 18 weeks that you thought looked interesting, but didn't do for one reason or another. This week's prompt is to do that prompt you didn't do.

For those of you who have done all the prompts, call me and I will buy you an ice cream cone.

Thanks to whirligigdaisy for this idea!

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #17

Monday, October 12 - Sunday, October 18 * Days 81-85

We're down to the last four weeks! Time to shake things up a bit. This week's prompt:

If you primarily write using a computer, write by hand at least one day this week.

If you write primarily by hand, write on the computer one day this week.

If you use both methods equally, or are morally opposed to writing/typing (whichever is not your norm), try writing in a new location. This can be a new location in your home, a new location in your yard, a new location in your town, etc.

Post any interesting discoveries you make about your writing, an excerpt from your writing, or whatever you want.

Complete this prompt and you earn the title Ambicompositional.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #16

Monday, October 5 - Sunday, October 11 * Days 76-80

Think of a scene you are working on that you would like to be more visual. Go to Google images and look up a dozen or so pictures for reference. Rewrite the scene after studying the pictures.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #15

Monday, September 28 - Sunday, October 4 * Days 71-75

This week's prompt is autumn.

Do with it what you will.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #14

Monday, September 21 - Sunday, September 27 * Days 66-70

Take a look at the magazine submission guidelines (markets) posted on the right of our website. Read through the submission guidelines for the ones of interest.

Brainstorm ideas for a short story, nonfiction piece (article, craft, activity, biography), poem, or rebus story. If you end up liking your idea, develop it, workshop and revise it, and submit it to a publisher.

Complete this prompt and you earn the title of Marketeer.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #13

Monday, September 14 - Sunday, September 20 * Days 61-65

I believe we have hit the 100-day writing slump. Therefore, this week's prompt is not so much a writing prompt as an assignment:

Post a comment to this blog telling what motivates or energizes you to write when you are in a slump. What gets you going again? What inspires you? What makes you actually sit down and pick up the pen?

Complete this prompt and you earn the title of Bluesbuster.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #12

Monday, September 7 - Sunday, September 13 * Days 56-60

Whew! It's amazing how time flies, isn't it? Speaking of time, it's time for this week's prompt. This week's prompt is meant to explore the relationship between setting and character. I know you are all just quivering in anticipation, so here it is:


Choose a setting with which you are familiar, preferably someplace you lived or grew up, and create a character from that setting. Explore the setting to draw your character out of it: what sorts of people exist in that setting? What might some of their challenges be? How would someone from that setting speak, talk, or think?


Then, post your character sketch or a brief scene.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #11

Monday, August 31 - Sunday, September 6 * Days 51-55

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to select a portion of a work-in-progress and have someone else critique it. This someone else should ideally be a writer-type person, but can also be an unwitting friend, neighbor, family member, etc. To gain the most benefit from this exercise, ask the reader specific questions, such as:

What is the main character's motivation?

What is the central theme of the work?

Where do you see this scene/novel/character going?

What slowed you down?

What worked for you?

How would you improve it?

Don't forget to keep writing every day, just 15 minutes! You have 15 minutes, right? If not, try writing in 5-minute increments.

Week #10: 1/2 Way Mark

This week, set a simple writing goal that you can achieve during the week. Also, set one writing goal that will carry you into the future.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #9

Monday, August 17 - Sunday, August 23 * Days 41 - 45 (We're almost to the half way mark!)

This week's challenge is to write while listening to music. Choose a favorite album or playlist or even a single song, and write, letting the emotions in the scene be influenced by the music.

If you're up to it, post a snippet for us to read.

Happy writing!

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #8

Monday, August 10 - Sunday, August 16, 2009 * Days #36-#40

This week, cut a scene (or a section of a scene, if you're so brilliant that you don't have an entire scene) that doesn't advance the plot or really belong in your story.

Thanks to Heather for the brilliant 100 Days illustration.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #7

Monday, August 3-Sunday, August 9, 2009 * Days #31-#35

This week focus on making progress on your project: write for at least 15 minutes a day, on 5 separate days during the week.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #6

Monday, July 27-Sunday, August 1, 2009 * Days #26-#30

Choose one of your characters, preferably one you need to develop. Take 15 minutes in a quiet setting to sit down with your character and interview her/him. You may do this however you best can: writing everything down cold, thinking through the interview and jotting down notes, speaking aloud in the voice of your character (you may get strange looks from other people if you do this in a public place), etc. Be sure to ask her/him important questions (such as goals, desires, and fears) which will deepen your novel and further plot development; but don't forget to ask silly questions too!

Then, post either part of the interview, or what your most startling discovery was. Don't forget to post your points!

Successfully complete this prompt and you earn the rank of Journalist. (Add this to your previous titles of: 1. Copycat, 2. Wordsmith, 3. Adaptor of Film, 4. Mad Fish, 5. Shrinking Adverb.)

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #5

Monday, July 20-Sunday, July26, 2009 * Days #21-#25

Revise one paragraph of your novel or story so that each sentence does the following:

1. relies on strong, specific nouns and verbs

2. varies in structure

(Read the first page of Louise Erdrich's novel for a good example of this.)

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Shrinking Adverb. (Add this to your previous titles of: 1. Copycat, 2. Wordsmith, 3. Adaptor of Film, 4. Mad Fish.)

Remember to post your points at the end of each week.

And keep writing! Even one day is better than none!

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #4

Monday, July 13 – Sunday, July 19, 2009 * Days #16 - #20

Pick a scene from a book that has a particularly high amount of emotion or passion. It can be your current project, but I suggest not using your end climax. Then rewrite the most intense part, but switch the mood. example: Romantic=Horrific, Sad=Happy, Anger=Joy, vice versa, etc. You may change words around, or tweak what is said, as long as it is done so in the same style of said book. And then, somewhere, include a fish as a prop.

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Mad Fish. (Add this to your previous titles of: 1. Copycat, 2. Wordsmith, 3. Adaptor of Film.)

Remember to post your points at the end of each week.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: PRIZES!

Starting with week #3 (see subsequent posting for this week's prompt), we're going to have drawings every once in a while.

Here's how it works. Each week, all of us write and all of us earn points (even MMS Society officers can participate):

1 pt. for each day that you write for a minimum of 15 minutes (you can earn a maximum of 5 pts. since our goal is to write 5 days a week))

1 pt. for completing the week's writing prompt

1 pt. for exceeding our expectations in some way (writing for an extra15 minutes one day; writing for 6 days instead of 5; writing for 20 hours; etc.)

Then, post your total points (out of the 7 pts. possible) by the following Monday at noon, and MMS Society will turn each point into a ticket. That's right, we will hand-write your online name on a ticket, which we'll deposit in a container. Every once in a while, we'll draw a lucky writer's name and award a prize. And we'll certainly award prizes at the end of week #20, so you'll want to earn as many tickets as possible before then. (Tickets will accumulate from week to week. The only time one will be removed is if that person wins a prize.)

To kick things off, we are going to draw a ticket on Tuesday, 14 July. The prize will be an Amazon.com gift certificate, so that the hard-working writer can purchase a film or novel (in honor of this week's prompt) for a bit of R&R. The gift certificate will be emailed to you; you can provide us with your email address if you win.

So, what are you doing reading this blog? Get writing! (We have a rather large roll of tickets to use up.)

But first, it might be a good idea to read the instructions for week #3.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing: Week #3

Monday, July 6 – Sunday July 12, 2009 * Days #11 - #15

This week's prompt: Take a short sequence from one of your favorite movies, and re-write it as a novel. Pay special attention to the camera shots and where it cuts, as though the movie would be made shot-by-shot from what you had written. So if the sequence begins as a wide-shot of a suburb street, be sure to describe what the camera takes in--the trees and houses in rows, etc.

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Adaptor of Film.

This week's goal: Complete the prompt (1 point possible) and continue to write for at least 15-minutes a day on 5 separate days of the week (5 points possible). (If you exceed our goal in some way, you can earn 1 additional point.) Remember to post your total at the end of the week, along with any of your writing, thoughts, ideas.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing Challenge: Week #2

Monday, June 29 – Sunday July 5, 2009  Days #6 - #10

Fifteen minutes a day helps your writing progress in amazing ways. :-)

Find a dictionary or encyclopedia--it MUST be paper, not online. Open it at random and, without looking at the words on the page, put a finger down on the page. Then, pick any word within a one-inch radius of your finger. Use that word as your writing prompt to create a scene for your current writing project. (If you can't find a print encyclopedia or dictionary (sad), then open up any book, magazine, or newspaper and follow the same instructions.)

For example, I got the word "expectations." Now I will create a scene that uses expectations in some way.

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Wordsmith.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing Challenge: Week #1

Monday, June 22 – Sunday June 28, 2009 § Days #1 - #5

Welcome to the first week of the 100 Days . . . Challenge, where we can write it, one minute at a time!

How to get started:

1. Download and print the tracker for weeks #1 – 5 (the link is on the right hand side of the blog)
   
2. Post the tracker on your fridge or wherever you will see it daily (consider giving yourself rewards for meeting weekly goals)
   
3. Start writing. All you need to do to meet this week's challenge is write on 5 separate days of the week for a minimum of 15 minutes each day and complete the weekly exercise (you can complete this during one of your 15-minute writing sessions, if you like)
   
4. Feel free to post a small section of your writing, tell us what you achieved during the week, or simply let us know that you met the weekly goal (this will help keep us inspired and moving forward)
   

This week's exercise: Select a novel or story that you love. Read a favorite paragraph several times. Then write for a minimum of fifteen minutes in that same style. This means you can copy tone, sentence structure, style, pacing, topic, or whatever you like most about the passage.

Successfully complete this week's challenge and you earn the rank of Copycat.

100 Days to More Brilliant Writing—JOIN US!

Invitation to Participate in 100 Days to More Brilliant Writing

Want to get going on your writing again? Join us for 100 weekdays of writing-related exercises. If you complete all 100 days, you'll earn a prize.

We're officially starting on Monday, June 22, 2009, but we're kicking it off a week early, for those of you who religiously check this blog, on Monday, June 15, 2009.

Express your interest in joining the challenge by replying to this posting.

What We Hope to Achieve

After attending the BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers workshop, we decided we wanted to improve our craft through one hundred weekdays of:

1. Seeing ourselves as writers:

• develop/improve our general mindset and persona as a writer
  
• go to conventions and workshops, meet with other writers, network
  
• writing regularly
  

2. Constant vigilance in completing a project:

• dedicate time each day to writing
  
• workshop
  
• submit polished work; advance in the writing industry
  

3. Regular reading and study of contemporary writing

• read non-fiction on writing
  
• read fiction and non-fiction with a critical eye and for pleasure
  

4. Daily writing to hone technical skills and develop artistry

• perfect the technical aspects of writing such as narrative structure, character development, setting
  
• develop virtuosity in our use of imagery, repetitions, voice, style, etc.
  
• workshop and help others to hone their craft
  
• successfully convey our artistic vision
  
• have passion and soul
  

And, we wanted to invite you (and everyone you would like to invite) to join us in the journey toward more brilliant writing.

Here's How It Works

The 100 days will be broken up into 20 weeks. We're only counting weekdays, so the weekends can be used to catch up if necessary. Each week the My Manuscript Stinks Society* will post an exercise emphasizing one or more of the above points. The goal is to complete the weekly exercise, as well as a specific number of minutes of writing each day. You will set your own goal for how many minutes you will write each day; in order to qualify for a prize, your goal must be 15 or more minutes a day.

Throughout the 100 days, feel free to post your completed weekly exercise or updates of your progress. This will encourage each of us to keep going.

Keep track of your progress during the 100 days. If you successfully reach your daily minute goal as well as the weekly exercise, you will receive a prize of such greatness that you will be ecstatic for years to come (or something).

Remember, the 100 days will officially start on Monday, June 22, 2009.

Join us!

Pre-Week Writing Exercise for Monday, June 15 – Sunday, June 21: Character Week

This week, collect, study, and describe objects your character would own or use; jot down phrases your character would speak; visit and describe places that might be important to your character; try on clothes that your character would wear; eat or make foods that your character would enjoy/hate; find a photograph (online or elsewhere) of what your character looks like; research what your character's name means; research your character's job, school system, courses, lessons, extracurricular activities, etc.; research habits and qualities of animals they own; research your character's culture and locale; interview your character; observe real children/teens that are the age of your character; or invent your own character-related prompt. This week's goal is to get to know any of your characters better.

Pick something from the list to work on each day, or work on one item over several days. Remember to write descriptions, scenes, or notes on your findings. You should spend a minimum of 15 minutes writing each day. (In other words, you can't count surfing the internet looking for a picture of your character as writing.) Clarification: As long as you complete one character-related prompt during the week AND write for 15 minutes each day, you will meet this week's goal.

_____

*Attention My Manuscript Stinks Society board: Be thinking of great prompts to post.

Are you ready for a challenge?

Yessssssssssssssss!

Challenge: complete the list and post the results:

1. What is one of your favorite books and why?

2. What is your best advice on writing?

3. What do you value the very most in a story?

4. What writing have you been working on lately (you don't have to give too much away)?

5. Who is one of your favorite authors?

6. Anything else?