A postcard story is a story of up to 500 words. It can follow a conventional beginning, middle, end structure, or it could be more freeflowing and fluid. It’s a great form for writers to practice and hone their technique. The only rule is that it DOESN’T GO OVER THE WORD COUNT!

(And the word count doesn’t include the title).

This year, I’m judging The Word on the Street SaskatoonTeen Writing Competition: 

Here are the details:

Submit a post card story, up to 500 words, using the word “JOURNEY” as an inspiration.

Submit entries to: saskatoon@thewordonthestreet.ca by July 31, 2013. The top ten submissions will be notified by September 1, 2013. The winners will be announced at the festival on September 22, 2013.

Cash Prizes: 1^st Place – $150.00

2^nd Place – $50.00

3^rd Place – $50.00

Some weeks it just doesn’t work out. With a sick three year old, a feisty one year old, some emotional drama with a teenager, and a six week old baby hanging off me like a fluffy koala, I didn’t get anything done last week. Not a word. But last night I slipped away from the craziness of my household and spent two hours with my writing group, slushpile, sitting on a patio, eating supper and talking about writing. We chatted about how to get writing done and how to set goals, and I told them I set weekly goals rather than daily ones, and that there are only a few weeks of the year when I can’t meet the goals I set myself (like last week!) Trying to get something done every day – like 500 words or an hour writing – doesn’t work for me. But telling myself to write 2000 words in a week is much more possible. Sometimes ;-)

What are your writing goals this week? I’m about to sit down to figure out what I want to get done in the next few days, keeping my goals small and realistic. I don’t need to do a lot to feel like I’m getting somewhere…

Me getting back to the book!

Turns out that editing isn’t just correcting the spelling and using the delete key liberally. Learning to write better involves learning to properly edit, which involves digging through the detritus of the manuscript and discovering the story within. Right about now, I’m realizing that my smooth shiny manuscript might need me to do some serious rethinking. And the way my editor has suggested to do this is for me to do a little outlining. It seems late to be outlining an already finished and accepted-to-be-published novel, but it’s actually the perfect time for a writer like me to triple check spots in the structure that need work. This is when I push the manuscript from good enough to (hopefully!) as good as it can be. Excellent, even. Wish me luck!

When you edit, what steps do you take? Perhaps try my editor’s tip and outline the story – even if you think it’s finished. Use the outlining process to notice where the story could be improved.