You may have noticed that I missed writing a column for December, (Sorry about that) but things got pretty crazy in the retail world of Lego. It turns out a lot of people play with Lego, and boy did they spend a lot of money on them at the store where I work. So onto the New Year! It’s time for the obligatory New Years Resolutions post. 

I try not to make too many resolutions because I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep them, but I’ve read that making manageable, measurable goals is the best way to go. With that said there are a few that I’m making this year in regards to my writing life and I want to share them with you. 

1. Write more than I did last year.
 This is only measurable by finishing more pieces than I did last year. This should be a reachable goal if I can stay off Facebook and Twitter. 

2. Be published in three literary journals. 
 This one is not in my control exactly, and three may be shooting for the moon, but if I spend more time writing and revising, then hopefully I can make some ground in this goal. 

3. Complete 2012 Writing Project. 
This I’ll be able to reveal more about later, but it’s essentially an ambitious project that I’ve convinced two of my friends from DePaul to take on with me. I think it’ll be great for the experience and the final product.  

As you look forward to 2012 I think it’s good to look back at what you’ve accomplished in the previous year. As many of you return to school you have the accomplishment of another quarter or semester or year behind you. Congratulations on continuing your education and sticking with your goals academically. I hope this New Year brings you knowledge and skills that will help you become the writers you want to become. 

For those of you who aren’t in school, but are juggling jobs, family, and writing with the many other things life throws at you congratulations on continuing to follow your writing goals. 

What does 2012 have in store? Some say there’s an apocalypse coming, but we’ve been there before, so it’s probably just best to worry about getting the words down and crafting those stories that you spend so much time working on. I want to hear from you! What are some of your writer resolutions? Do you want to get that project finished, or started that you’ve been thinking about for years? Are there projects that you’ve had to abandon because you feel they just aren’t going to work? Let me know and I’ll post some of your responses in February. 

I wish you all the best of luck as you work toward accomplishing your goals. If you have good news to share about where you’ve been published, or a literary journal that you want to see in the spotlight let me know in the comments section.

This month’s journal in the spotlight is Palooka. From its website Palooka is described, “Palooka is a journal of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, plays, graphic short stories, graphic essays, comic strips, artwork, photography, and multimedia. We offer print and electronic versions of the journal and offer samples of the published materials online. We're determined to find those writers and artists who are hungry and relevant, flying under the radar, producing great works that are going unnoticed by other journals.” 

I’ve submitted to Palooka once before and I was rejected, but it was a rejection that came quicker than most at just under a month, and I knew that the story was given full consideration. The editor, Jonathan Starke, seems like he genuinely reads every piece with a great attention to detail to see if it will be a good fit for the journal. In full disclosure I did not read the journal before I submitted and this was a mistake. It was for this reason that I chose them as the spotlight journal. I wanted to see what they publish so I can know if my other writing would fit. It really is best to listen to the editor when they say read the journal first before you submit. 

Palooka has only published two issues so far, but they are currently seeking submissions in preparation for future issues. They publish a wide range of materials that should attract any artist out there from the written to the visual. 

The stories and art contained in the second issue of Palooka were largely about the topics of childhood and fire. Some memorable pieces included an Alphabet poem in the nonfiction section titled Firebug by Jim Miller that explored fire and spanned several pages, a comic about the moon titled Vacation on the Moon by Jonny Gray, and a story that is in color showing red markings from a students essay titled Tests by Marcia Aldrich. I encourage you to check out this journal and read the samples that are provided on the website. 

November  is a month of waiting; waiting for Thanksgiving, waiting for the holiday season, waiting to hear back from journals like Fifth Wednesday and Sonora Review on pieces that were sent out three months ago, and waiting to hear back from contests that include a short play writing contest out of Southern California called Show Off!. That’s not to say that the month is completely boring, but there does seem to be something about November that makes it feel like we’re waiting an interminably longer amount of time to get through it than other months. I blame it on the cold and gray weather which creates a sense of fatigue. A trek to and from a job, or as the case may be, multiple jobs, can deplete the energy that I have stored for writing time. I trek to the American Dental Association in the morning and then to the Lego store in the evenings which makes for some long days that leave me little time to write. When I work both jobs I usually have an hour or two in between to get notes written in my little 5 inch by 3 inch Five Star notebook that I carry with me everywhere aptly named their Fat Lil’ Notebook.  
 
I’m struggling to finish projects, including a short thirty minute play, and a short story, and because of the shift in weather and my new work responsibilities I’ve found it hard to find a time where I can sit at my computer and write uninterrupted like I used to. As I get used to how my two work schedules and the winter weather affects me this year I’ll create a new schedule that will allow me to be as productive as I once was. It’s just a matter of finding the right rhythm and getting used to waiting to hear back on projects.  
 
When I was in school I had classmates with whom I could share my struggles with, who would say that they too, were being as unproductive as I was, but now I don’t want to admit my laziness to myself or to others; especially with so many friends participating in nanowrimo. I’m not participating in nanowrimo because I spent much of my energy in late October and early November trying to land a second job in order to support myself.  I believe nanowrimo can be a great motivator to get a project completed especially since it is set up as a large support group, and many get together locally to support one another in person. 

Now that I’m out of school it’s become apparent to me that I need a support system, and that I need to take an active role in getting them material to read on a regular basis especially since I know that I become less productive in the colder months. I have a great group of friends and readers who keep me on track. A writing group I’m apart of meets once a month to discuss pieces that we’re working on, and to share news about where we’re submitting work. 

Are you participating in Nanowrimo? Do you think it’s an effective way to get words on paper? Do you know anyone who has sold a novel that’s a product of this writing month? I’ll post some of my favorite responses in December’s column. 

In my last column, Schedules, I asked you about your writing schedules.  A writer named Steve, had this to say about his schedule and writing habits:

 “My process is to write nearly everything longhand until I'm ready to type, and I'm still doing that nearly every night. (I write at night, by the way--the morning is repellent.) Anyway, since school ended in June, I'm typing up first drafts less and less, and stacking up the handwritten stuff. I'm hoping that time will present itself to type, but I understand that I may need to schedule the time.”  

Thanks, Steve, for sharing a little of your process with us. 

Does November feel like a long waiting period until the holidays? If you’re in school do you feel that your classes give you a sense of support and a good motivation to keep writing in these cooler months? Are you waiting to hear back on any pieces you’ve submitted? Where have you been submitting to? I’m always on the lookout for new literary journals for the spotlight and I’d love to read the journals you enjoy

This month’s literary journal is Concisely.  I found this journal online at Poets and Writers when I was searching for non fiction journals that might be possible homes for a piece that I’ve written about working at Target. This piece is currently under review for a competition, so I might have been wasting my time, but I found this little gem of a journal that’s much different from the journals I normally read. You can follow them on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ConciselyZine.  

From their website the editors described Concisely, “We’re the literary little guys. Four times a year we publish a small print magazine of stories under 500 words, which you can get your hands on for just $4.” They go on to describe what they are looking for, “Our pages contain romance, humor, horror, fantasy, memoir, and more (but no ads). Our stories are hilarious, bittersweet, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking.” 

Concisely publishes stories that are under 500 words in length. I believe this is what they call “flash fiction” or “short shorts” and it interested me because I don’t normally work in this genre. As I looked through the publication I was amazed at how well the authors were able to craft moments that included beginning, middle, and end. The eclectic topics featured were impressive: a deceased father’s pants anchored his wife to her home, a dog who experiences biological symptoms of pregnancy after being neutered who believes a pair of shoes to be her puppies, the invasion of a man’s apartment as he sits on the toilet. 

Concisely is not currently seeking submissions, but this shouldn’t stop you from checking them out. You can get a feel for what they do publish and be exposed to a different writing form. I found myself wondering how I would craft a story with so few words. I know I’m going to keep this concise journal and refer to it when I feel my own writing is too bloated. It’s a nice example of writing to the bone and making every word necessary to the story. This journal feels like one that should be left at a coffee shop for others to enjoy. The construction paper cover is stapled onto the pages. No frills here, but something that feels like it’s put together for each individual reader. Mine is numbered 5/100. Maybe we can help the publishers decrease their stockpile before the next issue come out?  

Thank you for reading my third column. I hope if you’re waiting on some important news you hear something good soon. As we approach the holidays I encourage you to take some time away from the computer or fictional worlds you’re creating, and spend time with the loved ones in your life.  

If you have any comments or questions feel free to send them to me using the form below. Be sure to check out the regularly updated content here at Niche, and let the other columnists and bloggers know how much you enjoy their work! Keep writing! Don’t let the winter weather get you down! 

If you were able to push aside all the regularly scheduled tasks in your day; job, laundry, friends; and just write, would you? Isn’t that the dream shared by writers from all walks of life; to be able to live off of their writing, and in turn, have that as their daily job? I think this goal unites every writer, formally educated or not. Each writer takes a different path to try and achieve this goal; some write daily and some write as their schedules allow. Sometimes schedules are decided for us, and sometimes we get to choose. 

I found myself lacking a daily loyalty to my writing as I approached the end of my Master’s program at DePaul. It was then that I realized that there were no longer going to be weekly deadlines that would force me to write. I needed to do it for myself. I never kept a daily writing schedule while in school, and things were usually rushed together a couple of days before the first draft was due for workshop. This didn’t always produce work that I was proud of, but rather ideas that I got plenty of feedback on; usually about how much work was still needed. 

At this point in my life, being 25, single, and underemployed; my schedule is free enough that I believe to be productive as a writer a daily writing schedule needed to be implemented and maintained. Now I write every day in the afternoons and early evenings. This is the schedule that works best for me right now, but it’s every writer’s specific schedule that dictates when and how much they write. There’s no right or wrong answer as long as you’re writing. 

Now that the Fall TV season has begun my writing time has become a little more concentrated. I’m an avid TV watcher, and was never able to buy into the adage (gained from a source that I can no longer remember) that writers shouldn’t watch. It seems ridiculous to me to cut this art form from my life when there is good writing, and amazing writers (Jane Espenson, Joss Whedon, Tina Fey), to be found there. Yes, the techniques for creating a visual episode are different from those needed to create one that exists in print, but there are techniques to be gained from listening to dialogue or from just watching for what they leave out; like skipping to a scene of conflict instead of showing what leads up to it.  

Espenson is a female writer sought out in an industry that is mostly male for her ability to give specific voice to so many others characters, as she has done for Buffy, Gilmore Girls, Battlestar Gallactica, and most recently Torchwood: Miracle Day. Fey is a comedic force working on 30 Rock, providing laughs that satirize the television industry, and NBC and Comcast in particular, where breakout characters are memorable and unique (Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy). Whedon deftly writes female characters and about issues, such as feminism and homosexuality, in a sensitive and entertaining way that leaves viewers wanting more. 

It’s often concrete descriptions of setting and specific details, like the color of a central characters hair, or the mascot of the high school where the action is occurring, that get left out in those early drafts I write. The next time you watch a TV show (during a commercial break) try to write a description of the setting where the characters were found last, and see how well you can recreate that area on the page. I always seem to forget the most basic things: the color of a shirt, or that they were in the living room and not the kitchen, or that it was day and not night.  

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is also important in being able to produce quality writing; whenever the time of day you are able to write. Building six or seven hours of sleep into your schedule is just as important as making sure you’ve reached your specific writing goal. It’s especially important to maintain a healthy lifestyle as we enter fall, and the weather, for many of us, turns rainy and colder. Eating properly will keep you focused when you’re writing. I like to keep a glass of water and a snack at my desk, usually something sweet and chocolate, that I can grab without leaving my computer so I don’t interrupt my writing.  

I’d love to hear from you. Do you write daily? How do you balance your life schedule with your writing schedule? Does your sleep schedule leave you writing during the early morning or late night hours?  I’ll post some of the best responses in the next column. 

If you’re a writer who doesn’t hold a writing degree, I’d love to hear from you. You would provide valuable insight into the process as a writer who’s working from a different place than those of us who are specifically educated in writing. 

October’s Journal Spotlight is Ninth Letter. Ninth Letter is published out of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign twice a year; once in the spring and once in the fall. From their About Us page the editors describe Ninth Letter, “Ninth Letter is a collaborative arts and literary project produced by the Graduate Creative Writing Program and School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Edited and designed by faculty and students as part of the core curricula of both programs, the journals mission is to present original literary writing of exceptional quality, illuminated by cutting-edge graphic design.”  Ninth Letter is accepting submissions of fiction, poetry, essays, and interviews from September 1 to April 30 (postmark dates). 

I purchased a Sample Copy of the journal at a discounted rate of $5.95, and the first thing I noticed about the issue I received was that it had a paper ring around the cover that kept it closed. I had to physically remove this piece of paper before I could open the journal, and that was just the first unique part of the physicality to this journal.  The journal itself is printed on a thick cardstock paper and feels slightly heavier than other journals I’ve read. The added weight is also caused by the extra materials contained within the journal. There are written pieces to be found in this journal, of course, but there were also many visual elements that I wasn’t expecting. 

I opened the journal to find several inserts that made it impossible to not recognize this journal as a tangible item, and that’s partly the point. There were posters folded inside and postcards that slipped out as I flipped through the pages. Scanning the stories, essays, and poems, I noticed that there is a large amount of color used in this journal. Words are highlighted yellow. Stories and poems are printed on pages of differing colors: pink, yellow, green, blue, red. The visual aspect of this journal is just as important as the written. 

The amount of artistic time put into this journal is outstanding. The editors take time to compile materials to insert into the journal, print on pages of different colors, print text and images in color, and they pay for accepted work. According to the website, “Ninth Letter pays $25 per printed page, upon publication, for accepted material, as well as two complimentary copies of the issue in which the work appears.” 

Ninth Letter would be an exciting place for any author or visual artist to have their work presented. I encourage you to check it out, purchase an issue, and consider submitting. 
        
Thank you for reading column two. If you’d like, please leave me a comment or ask questions in the comment form below. I look forward to working on column three which will appear on the Niche website in November. Please be sure to check out the other columns on the site and check out the blog written by the Niche editors. Keep writing!

Welcome!   Thank you for checking out my column here at Niche. Let me introduce myself, I’m Christopher, a 25 year old writer living in Chicago. I graduated from DePaul University in June of 2011 with a Master’s Degree of Writing and Publishing. Now I’m trying to navigate life while also trying to become a published writer. My hope is that this column can be a place for both student and non student writers alike to visit for an entertaining look at what happens after you’ve taken the next step in your education for your craft; whether that education was gained academically or personally. I’ll try to find a balance between the academic world and the real world in this column in order to keep the discussion as broad as possible. I chose to pursue higher education to gain more knowledge in writing and with my degree in hand; I keep asking myself now what? 

This is my first column for Niche and as I thought about what to write I started thinking about the firsts that I’ve experienced in my life as a writer. The first time I knew I wanted to be a writer professionally was about 10 years ago when I was 16. I liked the idea of creating characters that people could connect with in the same way that I connected with the characters of Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Joss Whedon. Because I went to a small high school my creative writing, and personal discipline, was limited and I accomplished very little writing in that time. The program at my undergraduate university was mainly focused on poetry and non fiction, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. The people I met, and discipline I gained at that university spurred me onto learning more deeply about the craft of writing. It wasn’t until I entered DePaul’s writing program at 23 that I really started to work deeply with the short story; the format that I now focus my time and energy on trying to get published.  

As I write this, classes are starting for another year and new and continuing students are returning to writing programs across the country. Since I’m not returning to school, I’ve been thinking about the first class I took in my writing program. It was a night class, and I, a Kansas transplant, was excited to be in Chicago, taking classes focused exclusively in my true passion. There were about 16 in that first class, some were older than me, some looked to be around my age, and we all looked enthusiastic. The 10 week long class was divided into three parts: short plays, poetry, and short fiction. I was nervous when I saw how much workshopping we would be doing! The first project I completed for that class was a short play that read more like an episode of Married with Children than a real play, but it turned out fine, and I learned some about play writing, a form of writing I still work with today. I believe that first night shaped my expectations for the program and created expectations for myself, both set very high. That first class went by too quickly, but sitting here as a graduate, I can say they all did.  

Those are just some of the writing firsts that I wanted to touch upon in this first column as they related to the academic world. There are other firsts that can only happen outside of academia that I will write about in future columns. If you are a student entering the exciting first classes of a writing program, or returning for another year, I congratulate you on taking on this challenging journey. You will learn more than you knew before and be a better writer by the end. 

To those writers who are choosing to forgo the academic world, I also congratulate you on continuing the writing journey. There is no right way to become a published writer, academia is just one path. There are plenty of writers who are published who never went for a Master’s Degree or MFA. I hope you will find this column just as interesting and entertaining. 

In each column I’ll feature a literary journal that may be new or not as well known as those that are more established, and that could be considerations for submissions of your work. I was first introduced to literary journals at DePaul, and have found them to be full of talented writers. When I read journals I like to look for authors writing in the same style or vein that I write in, because I find it a reassurance that my work could one day appear there as well. It’s also beneficial to look at the writing that is completely different from yours, as it will teach you new things and give you a new way of thinking about your stories. While your school or public library may have copies of these journals, It’s important to purchase copies of your own to support the writers and publishers of these collections; what I like to think of as good writer karma. 

 The first journal in the spotlight, Fifth Wednesday Journal, happens to be the first one where I ever submitted, and while I haven’t heard back yet, the journal will always hold a special place for me. The editor’s seek, “contributions of short fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, book reviews, and black and white photography.”   

The journal is a sturdy paperback publication out of Illinois that features high quality written and visual art, crisp printing of photographs, and looks really nice on a bookshelf. They publish twice yearly, and this allows them to find and print the highest quality pieces. As I browse through this journal, I’m struck by the coexistence of the written arts and the visual arts. I think the advent of the online journal is pushing print publications to expand and incorporate different mediums in their journals. Fifth Wednesday has done this from the start, and this journal is an exceptional place to be published for any author or photographer. 

Thank you so much for reading my first column and I hope you’ll return next month for another as I write about trying to become a published author and spotlight another literary journal. Tell your friends about Niche and consider submitting work for publication! Good luck with your writing!