Hi, I'm Julie Duffy, founder & director of StoryADay. Every year since 2010 I've challenged writers like you to prove to themselves that they can write more (and better) than they think, during the StoryADay May challenge. During the rest of the year, StoryADay supports you with the StoryAWeek newsletter (writing lessons & prompts), a popular podcast, blog posts, mini-challenges, courses, and a members' community. StoryADay May has become a fixture on the writing calendar, and the lively community is one of Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers. Join me for info, workshops, challenges & courses, and of course, the StoryAWeek newsletter.
A small experiment (and a useful resource for you to bookmark)
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You know that moment when you’re reading submission guidelines for your latest story and run into the phrase ‘standard manuscript format’? It’s one of the tiny obstacles that can derail your efforts to submit more stories. So I made a video training that shows you exactly what ‘standard manuscript format’ means, what editors expect to see, and how to set it up in Word or Google docs. I also included ‘power user’ tips on how to fix some of those annoying formatting habits that creep in (either through user error or the wizardry of the word processors). I know you probably know how to do this, but it’s the kind of thing that—if you’re not doing it every day—can escape from your memory, and make you stall on submitting stories. Then, next time your finger is hovering over the ‘submit’ key, you’ll be sure you have a last-minute place to check out the real meaning of ‘standard manuscript format’ and you’ll be sure you know how to match your manuscript to editors’ expectations. And now the ‘why’...Full transparency: this kind of training usually stays inside the Superstars Library, but I’m experimenting with growing the StoryADay YouTube channel this year. So I’m putting useful content on YouTube for you (hey, hit ‘subscribe’ while you’re there, why not?). One of the numbers YouTube cares about is ‘watch hours’. So, if you find this instructional video useful, the best way you can show your appreciation is to…watch it. Before you hit ‘play’, why not grab a comforting beverage and play along, cleaning up a manuscript, or just taking a break to think about what story you might submit next. Of course, I don’t want you to spend all day ‘procrasti-learning’ and watching videos rather than writing. You know me better than that! But I do want to make more useful resources like this available. By watching and sharing, you help this one find its audience, which in turn encourages YouTube to show it to more people…and me to make more lessons like this one available. So: watch, bookmark, use, share. Then go and write something new to submit! Keep writing, Julie... |
Julie Duffy
Hi, I'm Julie Duffy, founder & director of StoryADay. Every year since 2010 I've challenged writers like you to prove to themselves that they can write more (and better) than they think, during the StoryADay May challenge. During the rest of the year, StoryADay supports you with the StoryAWeek newsletter (writing lessons & prompts), a popular podcast, blog posts, mini-challenges, courses, and a members' community. StoryADay May has become a fixture on the writing calendar, and the lively community is one of Writer's Digest's 101 Best Websites for Writers. Join me for info, workshops, challenges & courses, and of course, the StoryAWeek newsletter.
The other day I sent a survey asking what you love about writing a story. I wish I could share all the answers with you because the fierce passion that poured out of my monitor was genuinely thrilling. You people are alive with joy for the process of creating something that simply didn’t exist before you sat down to write. You are more in touch than anyone else I’ve met, with the deep satisfaction and pride that comes when you can point at a story and say, "That? Yeah, I did that." Many of...
If you've been here for a while, you might remember that September has become One-Story month around here. For the past two years I've led a bunch of writers through a kinder-gentler creative event than the mad-dash of StoryADay May. Instead of writing a story a day, we focus on one story, all month. And I'm doing it all again, this year. Interested? Click here to join the waitlist. September is the perfect time to recommit to your writing, with its 'back to school' energy. And the One-Story...
Read this at the blog and listen to the accompanying podcast here I’m already starting to think about next year’s StoryADay May and, here in this age of AI, I was struck with the awful thought: why bother? AI means you can generate 31 short story writing prompts in 90 seconds (5 minutes if you’re willing to wait for more polished prompts with a theme and multiple repetition. How do I know this? I asked it.) It takes me roughly 3 months of (admittedly part-time) work to research guest authors,...