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Are you female?

http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/index.html

I really enjoy some of the articles on this site.

I like some of the ones you cited also,

posted by brisbane_artist on January 18, 2008 at 4:12 AM | link to this | reply

Re:

I really like that quote. I am often asked why I don't write stories about my US Coast Guard career or about being a 911 operator. I find being a father of three girls, watching them grow into fine women and watching their lives unfold more pleasurable. I write fantasy and sci-fi to escape from the real world. I am sure that there will be a time for me to write non-fiction, Lord knows I have enough story material to work with. Its just not time yet for the real world real life stuff.

Thanks for your comments

Douglas

posted by white-cossack on January 18, 2008 at 2:05 AM | link to this | reply

Re: White

Please let me know if I get too wordy. I'm going to try to post at least once a day. There are alot of things happening right now in my little part of the world. I want to give anyone checking in as much solid information as I can.

Thanks for reading,

Douglas

posted by white-cossack on January 18, 2008 at 1:57 AM | link to this | reply

Re: Thanks

I found the NRI course very basic. Because of that you may have a tendancy to miss some of the techniques they teach. Was it worthwhile? I gave my complete course to a friend when I finished with it. He emailed me a few moths ago, he sold his first story to True Detective. He never intended to become a writer but now he is hooked. I did learn a few things and I think my writing improved because of it.

I found the Writer's Digest Short Story Course a real challenge. It was concrete, solid and fun. I can now write SHORT stories and can look at 250, 500 and 1000 -2500 word limits and smile. The course is excellant and you should be submitting lessons for publication before its done.

Now the Writer's Digest Novel Course was tough for me. I am not someone who sits down and plots out chapters, scenes and character interaction. For me, I get a story idea, jot down a few things on 3x5 cards, I have a begining, middle and end in mind and I start writing. It works for me. I bang out my rough draft, just get the story down. I do not worry about sentence structure, syntax, language, non of that matters. What matters is to get the story down, everything else gets tuned up in the rewrites and cutting/editing process. In the writers course they teach a very specific 1 2 3 approach. If you are just starting out or perhaps realizing you need to tune up your work, I would recommend their course without a second thought.

There are other writing courses out there, look them over carefully to be sure that the course is going to provide what you think you need. In the end the writing is all about you, what works for you and what doesn't.

Good luck and keep writing

Douglas

posted by white-cossack on January 18, 2008 at 1:55 AM | link to this | reply

Thanks

I use both of those sits and love them! but I have never taken one of those online courses before. Are they really that good?

posted by Katherine_Ann on January 17, 2008 at 5:31 PM | link to this | reply

White

A very informative post. Thanks for sharing

posted by SEEDLINGS on January 17, 2008 at 4:33 PM | link to this | reply

"Life is not what we actually lived, it's what we remember and tell a stories about" Gabriel Garcia Marques in introduction to his autobiography

posted by AlienFemale on January 17, 2008 at 3:33 PM | link to this | reply