May 2004

The Writer

The essential resource for writers

Join thousands of successful writers when you subscribe to The Writer magazine. Each month The Writer is full of features you can use to improve your writing, including before-and-after examples of improved writing, more literary markets than ever before, practical solutions for writing problems, selected literary magazine profiles, tips from famous authors and hands-on advice.

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Features
Top freelancers share their favorite writer-friendly pubs
By Moira Allen
Talk about insider trading: This month, an array of full-time freelance writers spill the goods on their best markets--publications where writers are respected and can build a long-term relationship. Plus, other writers suggest 20 great places for new writers to get published.
Three writers on plot
By Jillian Abbott
Now here's a conversation fiction-writers will want to listen in on: Dennis Lehane, Gayle Lynds and Stuart Woods on how to create a great plot.
How to write a killer query
By Sharon McDonnell
A freelancer shares top-notch secrets about queries she learned while writing PR pitches, as well as actual queries that won assignments from The New York Times, Robb Report and other pubs.
10 ways to keep editors coming back
By Robert Bittner
Repeat assignments sure make the freelancing life easier. Here are some savvy tips on how to build good relationships with editors and keep your phone ringing.
Write a winning story
By Adele Glimm
A contest judge offers an inside look at what short-story competitions are looking for.
Departments
Editor's notes
One for the scrapbook
By Elfrieda Abbe
Letters
Miscellany
Nancy Drew gets a makeover, Steve Martin keeps his entertainer cap on as a fiction writer, and a bankruptcy judge for a literary journal wants money back--from freelancers.
Dear Writer
What do you do when a verbal contract for a magazine assignment falls through?
Breakthrough
The pyramid approach pays dividends
By Dan Sherman
Our writer found a way to combine his fascination with the business world with his love of writing.
Off the cuff
Creative nonfiction
By Lee Gutkind
An expert on literary nonfiction shares his delight in the genre and invites you to immerse yourself in some aspect of real life--and then write about it.
Bottom line
Talk it up
By Kelly James-Enger
Speaking gigs can give your writing career a boost.
WriteStuff
A review of The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell.
Market focus
10 literary journals taking submissions this summer
By Erika Dreifus
If summer's a hot season for your short fiction, you can find a number of literary journals that remain open for submissions.
Market update
6 questions your book proposal must answer
By Sandra E. Lamb
So you have that nonfiction book proposal ready to mail off to an editor or agent? Make sure you're not missing any essentials.
How I write
Doing a little bit of writing every day has helped busy Jim Lehrer, the PBS news anchor, write 14 novels.
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