Great Storytelling Network Newsletter – 1 June 2016

There is no doubt that to survive in the publishing industry, you need to have tenacity and mental strength. Last week, something happened to remind me of this. I was at the mall when I happened to walk past a lady who once wrote a nasty email to me. We did make eye-contact, but both looked away quickly. I assumed that since she’d hurt me so badly, I would remember her name quickly. But it took me 3 days and I’ve even forgotten what she said exactly. I was about to go looking for her email when I chanced upon an article in the papers. It lists the many habits that mentally tough people have, but the phrase that jumped out at me was this: They don’t wait for an apology to forgive. Travis Bradberry writes:

‘Mentally tough people know that life goes a lot smoother once you let go of grudges and forgive even those who never said they were sorry. Grudges let negative events from your past ruin today’s happiness. Hate and anger are emotional parasites that destroy your joy in life.

The negative emotions that come with holding on to a grudge create a stress response in your body, and holding on to stress can have devastating consequences (both physically and mentally). When you forgive someone, it doesn’t condone their actions; it simply frees you from being their eternal victim. ‘

Here is the link to the online version of the article.

I decided not to bother looking for her email and look forward. By sharing this link, I hope that you will be able to find some peace of mind if you’re in a similar situation.

Moving forward, in this edition, I have shared a story that chronicles what I’ve learnt about email etiquette. I would love to know if you have any interesting stories to add to mine.

Rohi’s story is about the writer who doesn’t pitch. He also shares details of a contest in ‘Tell Everyone About…’. If you do enter to contest, do tell the organisers that you heard about it from Rohi.

And Eric shares Part 2 of the introduction to his book.

And we have new announcements under ‘Tell Everyone About…’

Happy storytelling.
Aneeta Sundararaj

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… So often, when something “bad” happens, it may appear to be meaningless suffering. But what if your most difficult experiences are actually rich with hidden purpose-purpose that you yourself planned before you were born? Could it be that you chose your life’s circumstances, relationships, and events?

Within these pages are stories of ten individuals who-like you-planned before birth to experience great challenges. Working with four gifted mediums and channels, author Robert Schwartz discovers what they chose – and why. He presents actual pre-birth planning sessions in which souls discuss their hopes for their upcoming lifetimes. In so doing he opens a window to the other side where we, as eternal beings, design both our trials and our potential triumphs.

This is not the only question to which the author has provided a substantial answer. You see, in the Preface of the book, the author explains how he came to ‘… make a contribution to the world that would be “uniquely…”’ his. Mr. Schwartz’s journey into the adventure of writing this book begins in May 2003 when he had an experience which had a profound effect on him. Thereafter, he engaged in intense study, inner explanations, consultations with experts and indeed, personal experience in what became the subject matter of Courageous Souls. The Preface ends with the desire of the author that we, as his readers, recognise the tremendous courage we show all the time when we reaffirm our decision to embrace and learn from our challenges. He adds that with that recognition, we will find our souls.. …

To read more, please click here.

Is there a correct way to send email? There are so many articles on the net that explain email etiquette and what’s the right or wrong way to say something. The usual rules are remembering the recipients, adding a subject matter, not putting everything in caps and using the correct salutations. I don’t want to focus on these issues here. What I’d like to do is share with you some of the odd things I’ve come across since the advent of email.

Full Address
When we were in school, one of the lessons we had to learn was how to write a letter. What I remember is that the standard convention was that when you write a formal letter, you’ll place all the information, like name, address and date, to the left of the paper. When you’re writing an informal letter, all this information is placed to the right.

In the literary world, this was the convention to follow when writing a covering letter for a submission. Then came email and email submissions, but I maintained this convention. I’ve also received emails from people with their full address listed on the right side of the webpage.

Two years ago, I started to rethink the use of this convention when making submissions via email. I had attended a writers’ festival in the UK and one agent said something interesting: when submitting the first three chapters as an email, you’re advised not to have all this address stuff listed at the top. Instead, go straight to ‘Dear Mr. X’. Why this change? Simply because many in the publishing world now read submissions on their phones/tablets. In this ‘instant’ world, if they don’t read the first or second paragraphs immediately, it’s just too much effort to scroll down. So, if you were to stick to the ‘old fashioned’ way of doing things and placing your address right at the top of a covering email/letter, the agent or publisher may just ignore it.

When to Send?….

To read more, please click here.

There are two kinds of writers: those who write for themselves and those who write for others.

If you write only for yourself—journaling, three morning pages, notes to yourself—life is simple and flows like a sweet song.

However, if you wish to write for others, you have to submit or publish your work to editors. And usually, before submission, you have to “pitch” your idea to the editor of your chosen publication or website.

Are you stuck because you don’t know what to write or for whom. The answer to both these questions can be solved in only one way: find a suitable publication and pitch an idea to the editor. Unfortunately, you are not sure how to find online paying markets. You are in luck! I have done the research for you.

Here’s a list of websites that will pay you to write for them:

1. The International Freelancer

Mridu Khullar Relph is the founder of The International Freelancer. She has written for The New York Times, TIME, CNN, ABC, The Christian Science Monitor, Ms., Marie Claire, and many more in a career spanning over 13 years. She pays $100 for guest posts on publication via Paypal.…

To read more, please click here.

…That was not to be. The Chief ignored him. He kept a straight face and maintained that cops have received several crime reports about that uncompleted building. Ozo brought in an attorney to help. The cops rebuffed him. He promised to defend the boys in court if need be. Ozo’s wife pleaded with the Chief to release her sons that they are not robbers. They went there to cool off. But the cop was not moved.

“You can lie on the ground Madam. I’ll not release your boys. We shall soon put them in cell.”

She froze. Then her lips trembled just as the pain on her face suddenly made her look older. The thought of her boys in the dreaded police cell through the night chilled her blood.

“That place is not safe,” she confided in a broken voice to a friend comforting her. “Anything can happen to these boys overnight.”

Few minutes later, the Chief walked to the attorney. “The vigilante boss has to make a statement. One of the boys has to go there with the IPO-Investigating Police Officer.”

Jethro looked unruffled. But he was defiant and resisted the cops. Every attempt to make him go was not successful. He lambasted the Police Chief and threatened to press charges against him for unlawful arrest and detention. ‘I know my rights’ he said repeatedly. Jordan was sober. He was later ferreted out from behind the counter handcuffed, lips swollen, jaws in pains. He did not speak. No one spoke to him either. The sight of his manacled wrists cut his father’s heart. His mother broke down in tears.

“God why me,” she cried.

“Why should it be another person,” Ozo snapped at her, his nerve on edge. Get hold of your self. This is the time to think not lament.” The pain of the family was visible.

Off they went to get the statement. Getting there, Ozo instantly disliked the place. He grimaced as he looked at the rough terrain, bad dirt road, decrepit buildings and filthy environment that dotted the landscape. “What were my sons looking for here,” he wondered….

To read more please click here.

Do check out this link to YouTube – Where the Durian Tree Grows by Leela Chakrabarty about my new book, ‘Where the Durian Tree Grows’.

Thank you and regards- really do appreciate this!
Leela

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Prize: £50 to the winning entry, via PayPal & publication in the Verbolatry newsletter
Eligibility: Anyone over the age of 18, except contest judges and family
Topic: Writing/publishing
Genres: Humorous fiction, humorous nonfiction
Language: English
Types: Cartoon, Essay
Specifications:
Essay – 100 words min., 500 words max., in message body
Cartoon – JPG, PNG or GIF file, resolution 75dpi min., dimensions 900x1400px max., as attachment
Original, previously unpublished work only
One entry per author, regardless of type
Mention the category and title of your entry in the subject line
Include an accurate word count
Tell us where you heard about this contest (You heard it from Rohi Shetty, a columnist at ‘How to Tell a Great Story)
Send entry to: v3rbolatry(at)gmail(dot)com
“Early Bird” submission period*: 1 April 2016 to 31 July 2016 Last date: 31 August 2016
Results announced: October 2016 newsletters

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How are people going to know about your resources if you don’t tell them? Here’s your chance – Send info about your stuff and we’ll post it here for free. Please keep the number of words to no more than 125. Send an email to editor@howtotellagreatstory.com with ‘Tell Everyone About …’ in the subject line.

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