The perfect chapati

We're gathered around the dinner table—three generations of women standing over steaming bowls of chicken curry and fluffy rice, vegetables and dals, and tiny pots filled to the brim with piquant chutneys, crispy pickles and savory sauces. But we don’t see this. Our eyes are focussed on a large conspicuous space in the centre of the table, where a plate resides forlorn and cold.

“So you’ll serve them hot off the pan,” says my mother contemplatively to the empty plate.

“Yes,” I nod.

“You’re sure you can make them fast enough for everyone,” says one sister.

“Of course.”

“You’ll need help,” warns...

Read the full article in the July 2015 issues of Edible Austin

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Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

900 words
Nonfiction
US publication

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Words from the Wise

"Your essay created a real sense of place with interesting details."

Kristen Hartke

Managing Editor

Edible DC

"I like your story."

Kerri Stenson

Editor

Edible Silicon Valley

"I do like this piece."

Mary Blair

Editor

Edible Green Mountains

"(It's a) charming story"

Riley T. Davenport

Editor

Edible San Diego

"I did enjoy reading it and I like your writing."

Barb Tholin

Editor

Edible Grande Traverse

"...your fun article, I enjoyed reading it."

Cheryl Koehler

Editor

Edible East Bay

"...we can certainly use the piece in an issue."

Joe Morales

Editor

Gaycation

"You certainly know how to make your pitches grab an editor's attention!"

Richard Nye

Editor

Richmond Magazine

"I liked your piece"

Emily S. Kennedy

Editor

Edible Vineyard

"This is just the sort of story we are looking for."

Rachel Hodson

Publisher

Edible Wasatch

"Your submission is very interesting, and you have a wonderful writing style"

Krista Harris

Editor

Edible Santa Barbara

"It's a nice article"

Scott McMillion

Editor

Montana Quarterly

Demonstrating leadership in interviews

The word “interview” conjures up visions of unfamiliar people sitting across the table from you, waiting for the answer in uncomfortably expectant silence to a question that you haven’t prepared for properly, or worse, can’t even understand. The butterflies in the stomach, the dry throat, the beads of perspiration trickling down the forehead – the symptoms are all too common. 

Interviews come in many forms and are a means to achieve many things--from gaining new employment opportunities to testing the waters for new business ventures to assessing potential associates for corporate...

Read the full article in the July and August 2015 issues of Insight

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Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

1400 words
Nonfiction/Corporate
UK publication

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Words from the Wise

"Looks an interesting piece indeed"

Adrian Clifton

Editor

Insight

Think you can be a software tester?

Do you breathe? I bet you do.

Can you eat? I'm sure you can.

Are you using things like clothes, chairs and computers fairly regularly? I know you are.

Then you are a user. And if you're a user, you are a tester.

We're all users. We're all consumers. Across the world, we are customers of each other. The man who makes the bar of soap you use every day may, in turn, be using the very software you made to calculate the size and composition of the soap cake. Every second of our lives we're using something that makes our work faster, more efficient, cleaner, pleasanter; our leisure more comfortable, more interesting,...

Read the full article in the June 2015 post of Simple Talk

1900 words
Nonfiction/Software testing
UK publication

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Words from the Wise

"This is excellent... (It) made me smile... (I) agree with what you say"

Andrew Clarke

Editor

Simple Talk

Debora's Pen

Enjoy the full cartoon in the June 2015 issue of Thema

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Request to see the original cartoon via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

6 panels, 1 cartoon
Humour/Writing
US publication

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Words from the Wise

"I've started trying to put some logos/photos in the feature piece, and your little girl seemed perfect... I think Debora is very cute. Clean and to the point. You ought to start a newsletter about Debora - brief with a lesson of sort. I think writers would love it. Excited about reading them!"

C. Hope Clark

Editor

Funds For Writers

"I enjoyed your cartoon series"

Brian Scott

Editor

Freelance Writing

"These are cute, I like them."

Lee H. Wilson

Art Editor

Feathertale Review

"Charming! I obviously like the cartoon, tailored-made to fit the theme, even including the date of the emails to coincide with the publication of the journal."

Virginia Howard

Editor

Thema

"This is cool"

Linda Formichelli

Editor

The Renegade Writer

"That was a good comic you sent me. I liked the line drawings, and I thought it was clever."

Bill Kenower

Editor-in-Chief

Author Magazine

"These are definitely cute"

Moira Allen

Publisher

Writing World

"These are very well constructed and interesting"

Leon Ogroske

Editor

Writers' Journal

"These are adorable!"

Nicole Cliffe

Editor

The Toast

15 Ways to cut your word count

"Maximum length: 3000. Firm limit. No exceptions. And we don't mean 3001. Word count will be the first thing checked, so please pay particular attention to it."

Magazines threaten to reject submissions outright if writers have not adhered to the specified word limit. However, for writers, stringent constraints in wordage are a constant worry. Without being allowed any latitude in the inches, how will you be able to express yourself freely and exactly as you want? Will you be able to do justice to your story? Won't all the chopping and changing morph the very essence of the prose?
 
Word count...

Read the full article in the June 2015 issue of Writing

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Request to read the original article (and get a fun Debora cartoon) via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

1955 words
Nonfiction
UK publication

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Words from the Wise

"This is an interesting article and I do like it. Works for me! I also didn't know that trick about using Word to insert the word count automatically!"

Moira Allen

Publisher

Writing World

Top 12 sure-fire ways to make yourself an unpopular freelance writer!

Virginia Howard, editor of Thema, has done it. Linda Formichelli of TheRenegadeWriter.com recently did it. Angela Hoy, editor of Writers Weekly does it all the time. What is it?

“It” is riff about how a writer messed up big time.

Most editors are calm, sensible, well-balanced people. They need to be, if they’re going to have to deal with the complexities of publishing – from reading submissions to getting that highly coveted periodical out, time and time again. Every once in a while, though, editors get a query that forces them to tear out their hair and abandon the air of restraint to vent their...

Read the full article in the June 2015 post of Walrus Publishing

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Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

2030 words
Nonfiction
US publication

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Words from the Wise

"This was very good. Thank you for your submission."

Lisa Miller

Editor

Walrus Publishing

"I enjoyed your article... I enjoyed reading your articles at your website which focused specifically on the freelance writer."

Brian Scott

Editor

Freelance Writing

"I wouldn't mind sending a copy to a writer who just queried me with perhaps the most insulting query I've received to date ("I am the most wonderful, experienced, fabulous writer in the world and you don't pay enough, BUT, I'm so desperate, I'm willing to grace your pages with a column..." I'm summarizing, but that was the gist)"

Moira Allen

Publisher

Writing World

"Your article certainly has an interesting topic. Also the headline made me curious."

Elleke Bal

Editor

Ode magazine

The golden opportunity of advertising yourself--for free!--that you're missing

Did you know each time you pitch, you have a golden opportunity to advertise yourself for free? It's your bio—your "verbal selfie"—a few sentences about yourself that accompany your article and give editors and readers a glimpse of the person behind the product.

Bios are powerful marketing tools, but many writers fail to take advantage of them by either not providing them or providing weak unimpressive ones. Here's how to avoid common pitfalls and leverage your bio for maximum mileage:

1. Shy? Clueless? Reluctant? Get over it.

So you suffer from what I call Ego Phobia, acute fear of knowing...

Read the full article in the June 2015 post of Freelance Writing

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Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

615 words
Nonfiction/Writing
US publication

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Words from the Wise

"I loved the article"

Brian Scott

Editor

Freelance Writing