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DirtyMartini
Over 90 days ago
United States
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
"Clutch, one of the leading online magazines for women of color, is seeking writers to contribute short news
and opinion articles to our daily blog. Do you devour pop culture, the news, politics, health and beauty issues,
and have an opinion on almost everything? Are you a great writer who can produce interesting and thought-providing articles? Are you looking to get clips and build your freelance resume? Then we are looking for you! Writers will be paid $10-$15 per (250-400 word) published piece."

Sounds good to me...

Call For Submissions Clutch Magazine
http://clutchmagonline.com/2011/05/call-for-submissions/
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Second Story Press is accepting unsolicited manuscripts..."We are a Canadian feminist press publishing books of special interest to women. Our list is a mix of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. We look for manuscripts dealing with the many diverse and varied aspects of the lives of girls and women."...here is the link...


Second Story Press | Submissions
http://secondstorypress.ca/submissions
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Light Reading Competition..."The The main competition winner will receive £500, 2nd place £250 and 3rd place £125. Highly commended entries will be included in the anthology but will not receive a cash prize. The first price for the flash fiction competition will be £50."...go read the rest...and good luck...

Just a Contest Light Reading Competition
http://www.justacontest.com/writing-contest-0000001680.htm
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Hey Gav...I found one more issue...my latest friend add got added to the beginning of my friend's list rather than the end like it should...

Sorry to have to bother you on your anniversary...other than that, I think everything is looking pretty good...for now...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by nicola


I seriously can't see it ever happening.


Not sure everyone would agree with you on that, and I think ultimately their economy of scale can allow Amazon to offer things other publishing houses can't...

I believe as it stands now, authors typically get 10-15% of cover price on print books, they might get 50% if they self-published, but of course, no promotional help...

Let's say Amazon started to offer authors 30% of cover with some promotion, maybe not as much as some of the niche publishers can offer in certain genres, but still significant...all of a sudden it looks very attractive...

I think this arrangement is still in it's infancy, so it's still anyone's guess...but, what's that expression?

"Never say 'never'"...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by gav
I've just added a View as PDF link on the story page, let me know what you think.

Authors can disable this feature on their settings page if they do not want their stories to be viewed as a PDF document.



I just brought this up in the Moderator Lounge...Space Bar...whatever...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by AutumnWriter


This is especially true with internet publishing which reaches people in a number of countries and cultures.



Interesting thought, though I'm not sure a writer should necessarily avoid certain subjects or phrases simply because not everyone would be familiar...

For instance, I wrote a small series of erotic stories I had originally posted under the name 67Goat which were set back in the sixties...with references to sixties cars, music, etc...
I had someone translating some of my stories into Spanish for a site which largely reaches people in South America and the like, and I avoided those stories because I felt those readers would not understand the references...but, I would never avoid the subjects altogether in my stories...

Same with "cliches and hackneyed phrases" especially in dialogue...if it is normal for a character to use them in conversation, it would be wrong for an author to avoid them...as a US type person, I have had to look up certain English phrases when reading some authors, but I certainly would never expect a writer from that area to avoid them if they felt them appropriate...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by steffanie


I missed out on my Yearling badge by two days... how cruel is that?



It is a cruel world out there Steff...and here on Stories Space...

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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by AutumnWriter

On the technical side, one area to look at is the proper punctuation of dialogue. Sometimes I read a story and it appears to me that the authir was so unsure of the grammar rules in this area that he/she avoided using dialogue in the story, and that is a big loss.


That's an interesting one...I had some problems with proper punctuation in dialogue when I started, but it didn't prevent me from using dialogue anyway...

So, Miss Yas is surprised at seeing work that wouldn't rate a high school level, eh? Come on now, are you really surprised? Lol...

I take it this thread is going to go way beyond "Seven" Deadly Sins...it's more of a continuous blog of writing gripes, and I could contribute...heck, I could post some of my own stories here...um, never mind...

Don't think it was mentioned before, but one of the most common errors I find among beginning writers is not starting a new paragraph often enough...

I have a general rule..."If in doubt, start a new paragraph"...I think it's safe to say you're better off starting a new paragraph too often than not often enough...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by gav
Actually there are no new badges (for now). I wanted to get this release out there in the wild as soon as I can, so things like badge generation had to wait.


Just want to say there Gav that I think you're living rather dangerously...people around here take their badges rather seriously...

If you are really going to put off badge generation just to take care of petty stuff like getting the site running...well...let's just say I have visions of anarchy, mass uprisings, coup d'etat, bloodshed and shootings in the streets, assorted lootings and lawlessness, and generally other activity that might resemble a scene out of an older Schwarzenegger movie...

You might want to hire a bodyguard and wear a bullet-proof vest hanging out in the forum...just saying...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Lol...good luck with that one Sharon...

Btw, one of our long time members here on Stories Space found a kitten and has been trying to find a home for it...

If you know who this kitten belongs to, please contact Miss Maggie Rascal and let her know...thanks...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Someone pointed out that the date on the info has past...but, it comes around twice a year since 1985 or something...so, the new should be October 31...

It says so on Lucidity Journal's home page...
http://lucidityjournal.00books.com/

The other info should remain the same...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by Lola
I was also wondering about the badges, as I just realized that I am now a yearling here and I don't see the badge for it.


They just changed it...it takes ten years to get now...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Are you a U.K. writer under the age of 35? Damn, starting to feel old here..."An award of £5,000 for a full-length published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by an author under the age of 35. Sponsored by The Sunday Times, the award is administered by the Society of Authors."...go for it...

Sunday Times Young Writer | Society of Authors - Protecting the rights and furthering the interests.
http://www.societyofauthors.org/sunday-times-young-writer
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Lucidity Poetry Journal has a poetry contest with a $100 prize and publication...

"Twice-yearly neutral free contest offers top prize of $100 for poems about the human experience. Authors must be 18+. Editor Ted Badger says: "Seeking poetry that deals with people, relationships, life issues and events, written in clear and concise English. Form of the poem is open but it must have something to say without resorting to vulgarity. Clarity is crucial. We publish poetry that everyday people can relate to, understand and enjoy." Submit 1-5 poems, maximum 38 lines each (including stanza breaks)."

Lucidity Poetry Journal
http://www.fortbendpoets.org/files/LucidityPoetryJournalClarityContest%20_%20March2011.pdf
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
The Who...btw, I know Roger is relatively short...and it really was probably not a good idea to put John and Pete on the platforms here...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Btw...I just picked an example from one of the journals listed in the "Contest And Submission Call" section of our beloved forum...

Here in the Iowa Review it states...

"Simultaneous submissions are accepted, provided you contact us immediately if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere."

That is very typical of what is usually stated these days...
http://www.iowareview.org/
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Simultaneous Submissions...
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/thebusinessofwriting/g/simultaneous.htm

Read a publisher's policy on such when submitting...it is generally mentioned in the "submission guidelines"...generally, most will accept simultaneous submissions these days if you tell them...

There is also something some authors do...submit the same story to multiple publishers, and if they get accepted by more than one, they'll pick one and tell the other they are withdrawing their story...

Generally this serves to annoy the publisher you sent the withdraw notice to...and is not a recommended practice...you may want to submit to that publisher again someday...

Hope this helps...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Getting some rather funky story history info on some stories...this is from my poem "Neon Sign"...

Story History
Story submitted on Jul 18, 2011 21:31
Story verified by Lisa on Jul 18, 2011 21:31 with a display date of Dec 13, 2010 17:10


Apparently the story was submitted months after it first displayed...

This seems to be common, btw...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by gav
Quote by Sherzahd
Quote by DirtyMartini
Oooops...yet another "not good" thingy...

When you click on the friends icon on the upper right, the list of friends is not in alphabetical order as it should be...

Not good Gav, not good at all...


Hmm... mine has never been in alphabetical order.


I attempted to keep the same (custom) order from the previous incarnation. If you want the order to go back to alpha, choose the reset to default order link from your friends settings page.



Btw...I chose the "reset to default" option...and not only did my friends list under the icon on the upper right revert to alphabetical order, but it appears my friends list on my profile page is now in alphabetical order rather than date of add...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
I don't think the "pokes" are making a sound...I've noticed I've been poked a few times, but haven't heard anything...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Btw...if somebody sends you a friend request...as many times you hit the "Accept" button, it will show in your activity that you added that person as a friend...

I just tested that one...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
I had thought my friends list was in order, but apparently it's not...I see that the latest friend I added, MissAdventure, is at the beginning of the list...as if she was the first added...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
So, you broke the site eh Chrissey?

We still have this info for Lee, aka RantingSenior's latest poem...

Story History
Story submitted on Oct 13, 2011 16:56
Story verified by DirtyMartini on Oct 13, 2011 17:34 with a display date of Oct 10, 2011 15:16

Because the display date is three days before the actual submission date, the poem never showed up on the front page...but, it's showing up under friend's activity that it posted...very strange...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
MissAdventure's avatar picture shows up in her profile...but, not in this thread...

http://www.storiesspace.com/forum/yaf_postsm5869_Hello.aspx#5869

Also, it shows up on the activity list on her profile page that she added me as a friend more than once...I should take that as a compliment, I guess...under "Friends" the friend adds are appearing in opposite order than they did before the upgrade...
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DirtyMartini
Rest in Peace
Quote by gav


Unfortunately its extremely difficult to allow sorting on those fields. I only calculate those values for the current page, it would be too slow to compute this across all the authors.

I was kind of hoping no one would notice that


Ooooh...I use that fairly often...it's a really easy way to find myself, I can just click on "# Stories" and I show up...

I don't care if it computes across multiple pages, but it would be nice to see at least who is on top as far as no. of views, ratings, story count...you know, like its been on the sister site...

We can't go back to that?
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