Getting Started: A Step-by-Step Guide to Launching Your Writing Career

Begin at the Beginning...

What Is a Writer? - Moira Allen

What You Need to Start Your Writing Career - Moira Allen

A Beginner's Guide to Writing Terminology - Dawn Copeman

Planning Your Writing Career - Dawn Copeman

Should You Specialize or Generalize? - Moira Allen

Take Your Specialty for a Spin - Moira Allen

Setting Effective Writing Goals - Moira Allen

Goals Are Worthless If... - Brian Jud

Getting the Most from Online Writing Classes - Moira Allen

How to Read 'How To Write' Books, by Sean McLachlan

Learning the Craft - Dawn Copeman

Should You Write for Free? - Moira Allen

What Kind of Writer Do You Want to Be? - Terje Johansen

Finding Ideas

Five Unusual Places to Look for Article Ideas - Chryselle D'Silva Dias

Where Oh Where Are All the Good Article Ideas? - Patricia Fry

Finding Markets

Bread and Butter Markets - Moira Allen

Exploring New Markets - Moira Allen

Finding Sample Magazines - Without Breaking the Bank - Moira Allen

How to Study a Magazine You've Never Seen - Mridu Khullar

Researching Markets: Looking Beyond the Obvious - Karen Luna Ray

A Smorgasbord of Markets - Penny Ehrenkranz

Targeting the Wrong Markets: The New Writer's Most Common Mistake - Moira Allen

Queries and Submissions

Queries vs. Articles: Which is Best? - Moira Allen

How to Write a Successful Query - Moira Allen

E-mail Queries and Submissions: How to Keep Editors Happy - Moira Allen

E-mail Submissions: Why We Love Them (or Hate Them) - Peggy Tibbetts

What to Do if You Don't Have Clips - Moira Allen

A Quick Guide to Manuscript Format - Moira Allen

Cover Letters: When, How and Why to Use Them - Moira Allen

Cover Me - I'm Going In! - John Floyd

Pros and Cons of Simultaneous Submissions - Moira Allen

Who's Who on the Magazine Masthead - Moira Allen

Writing Your Bio - Terje Johansen

Conducting Research and Interviews

A Beginner's Guide to Interviewing - Dawn Copeman

Conducting Interviews (including E-mail Interviews and Surveys) - Moira Allen

Creating an Expert File - Kathryn Lay

Expert-Finding Strategies Every Writer Needs to Know - Mridu Khullar

Don't Reach for Any Old Quote - John Rains

It's Interesting -- But Is It Accurate? (The Perils of Online Information) - Moira Allen

Searching the Web - Moira Allen

Why Libraries Still Matter - Ellen Metter

For additional information on researching specific topic areas, see our Romance and Mystery sections.

Crafting Your Article

Avoiding Comma Confusion - Moira Allen

Becoming Your Own Editor - Moira Allen

Death by Revision - Kristin Camiolo

Facing the First Draft - Moira Allen

Five Fatal Flaws that Can Lead to Rejection - Moira Allen

Five Tips to Writing Great Subheads - Kristina Springer

Grammar Gaffes and How to Avoid Them - Marg Gilks

What a Good Editor Can Do for You - Patricia Fry

How to Craft a Great Article, Part I: Structure, Focus, Unity and Flow - Dawn Copeman

How to Craft a Great Article, Part II: Hooks, Leads, and Endings - Dawn Copeman

How to Outgrow "Write What You Know" - Jenna Glatzer

How to "Show Don't Tell" - Dawn Copeman

How to Sit Down and Write an Article - Dawn Copeman

How to Write Like an Expert - Moira Allen

The Outline Demystified - Moira Allen

Proofread Your Article Professionally! - Janis Butler Holm

Tapping Your Innate Creativity - Barbara Florio Graham

What Every Writer Needs to Know About Article Titles - Julie K. Cohen

When "First Person" Is the Last Person You Need - Moira Allen

Why You Can't Rely on Your Spellchecker - Jan K. the Proofer

Networking

The Benefits of Critique Groups - Michele Acker

The Buddy System - Carol Sjostrom Miller

How Online Critiquing Can Help Your Writing - Moira Allen

How to Give and Receive Critiques - Dawn Copeman

Ten Great Reasons (Plus One) to Attend a Writers' Conference - by Susan Denney

Using Informational Interviews to Advance Your Career - Terri Mrosko

Should You Quit Your Day Job?

Balancing Act: Ten Reasons to Keep Your Day Job - Denene Brox

Making the Leap from a "Real Job" to Freelancing - Kathy Sena

To Plunge or Not to Plunge? - Moira Allen

Fifty Tips on Taking the Plunge - Moira Allen

Ready to Quit Your Day Job? - Hasmita Chander

Moving On...

For more information on advanced freelancing topics, including how to target specific markets, please visit our Freelancing section.

For tips on coping with "The Writing Life" -- including handling rejection, improving time management, finding unique ways to deal with the stress of being a writer, and how to avoid writing-related health issues, see our Writing Life section.

For information on handling the business of writing, including income and expenses, contracts, rights, and related issues, please see our Business of Writing section.

For tips on winning writing contests, visit the Contests section.

Related Links:

Other General Writing Sites

Classes

Critique Groups

Business & Financial Resources

Guidelines and Guideline Databases

Magazine and Newspaper Listings

Writing Publications

Writer's Market	Photographer's Market	Christian Writers' Market Guide
Freelancing for Newspapers	Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer	Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches and Proposals

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