Writing Questions: The Good, The Bad, and The Awkward.

The first Wednesday of every month, the IWSG posts an optional question, encouraging members to read and comment on each other’s blogs. January 2: What are your favorite and least favorite questions people ask you about your writing?   The Good: I love answering questions about writing and publishing. How did you decide to write…

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2018 Publication Round-up

2018 is just about over, and while it may not have been my most fruitful year for producing new work, it was a fantastic year for publishing. My first novel was published. My short fiction and poetry appeared in nineteen publications Of all of these, my favorite is my novel, Power Surge. For short stories,…

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YA: Teens First, Adults who are Young (or young at heart), Second

A few days ago, I read The Many Ways YA Books & The Community Isolates Teens by VICKY WHO READS. It was a thought provoking blog post about Young Adult (YA) fiction that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how teens are isolated from the books that are supposed for them. Because adults are the…

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Five Friendly Places that Pay for Fiction

Finding a place to publish a short story can be intimidating. Submitting a story  I’ve poured my soul into out to a literary magazine is scary enough without worrying about what happens to it once it lands in someone’s slush. And there are so many places that publish fiction. I have to think about things…

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Feedback is a Two-Sided Coin

Every writer needs feedback, and I am not exception. I hunt for it more than my cat hunts for bugs. However, I was recently reminded that I really need to be careful with how I use and respond to it in the same way that Goose needs to realize its okay to hunt flies, but not…

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A True Cliché: It’s Darkest Before Dawn

As a writer, I often strive to avoid clichés. However, there are times when they are just necessary. The title of this blog post was one of them. I’ve gotten over 100 rejections since I started sending stories out to publishes, but last week, and the week before, the stream of rejections was more intense. It…

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Micro Fiction: The Lament of Mr. Whiskers

The Lament of Mr. Whiskers  by Sara Codair “I think I preferred your old hobby,” said Mr. Whiskers. With his sleek, black fur and yellow eyes, he looked like a mini-panther. His human rubbed his head and scratched under his chin until he purred. “You’re such a handsome boy,” said the human. “I appreciate the…

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Practicing Patience: Gardening and Writing

Practicing Patience: Gardening and Writing By Sara Codair As you may know from my previous posts, patience is something I struggle with. Sometimes, I’ve wondered if my lack of patience was going to prevent me from succeeding in the writing world. I wrote about this struggle, and how it can be both a gift and…

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Writers, Book Signings and Exorcisms

It had been a while since I’d gone to any kind of author talk or writing event, so when my friend, Artemis, asked me to go see Grady Hendrix speak at Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport, I agreed, even though I had never heard of Grady Hendrix or read any of his books. Artemis said we…

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Flash Fiction: Hope

Hope By Sara Codair “Don’t feel bad. I’m pretty hard to kill,” said GiYu. His purple appendages were already reattached and his torso was knitting itself back together. The human female nodded and sucked air in through her nose. The slurping sound worried GiYu that the mucus her crying had evoked was making it hard…

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