Diving For Pearls
Online writers' resources by Ingrid Bruck
Ingrid Bruck is an editor at Between These Shores. She was a featured writer in BTSA Issue #2. Her column is devoted to online writer resources. She found her own writer support community online. Writing this column is one way of "paying it forward".
Diving for Pearls: Online Writers Resources
BTS Books strives to be a writers resource. Toward that end, we invite writers to share their information, link, and news of interest for the literary community.
Email your pearls of resources for writers to:
Ingrid Bruck, Network and Resource Editor
April 2021
Free Online Writing Opportunities in April 2021
A good way to practice your writing is to look for free online opportunities. To be a writer, you write. Sometimes what you write is good. Sometimes it’s bad. That’s okay. The more you write, the better you get. If you want to improve as a writer, you write.
April is Poetry Month in the United States. It’s a great month for writer opportunities and challenges. Many writer challenges repeat year after year. Some launch daily prompts. Others involve setting personal writing goals and provide the means to track and achieve them.
The following four challenges have been repeated for years. Online. Free. And anytime and anywhere. I have done them all and highly recommend them.
1- CAMP NaNoWriMo. Writer Camp convenes every April and July. You set a creative goal, work on any writing project and write with other writers. You select your own measurable goal: editing a project, time-writing-per-day, pages completed. For example, if you write one-hour-per-day for 30 days, your goal would be to produce 18,000 words during April 2021. Or you might want to complete 120 pages in April—since one page contains approximately 250-words, your challenge would be to write 4-pages-per-day. It’s free to register, here’s the link: How to Join Camp NaNo
2. NaPoWriMo - Write 30 poems in 30 days at NaPoWriMo: http://www.napowrimo.net This free writing challenge offers the writer (to use or not!) daily prompts for 30 days during April 2021. Each day provides another a link to a poetry reading to inspire your writing. Example: Early-Bird (March 31, 2021) includes a pre-recorded feature reading by the poet Mary Ruefle, giving a series of “28 Short Poetry Lectures” at Harvard’s Woodberry Poetry Room. Every day brings its own featured reading.
3. PADS CHALLENGE – Write a poem-a-day in April 2021 with Robert Brewer, Editor at Writer’s Digest Magazine. It’s a great way to learn and experiment with new forms. https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides
4. NaHaiWriMo - Write 30 haiku in 30 days, a project by Michael Dylan Welch. Welch selected RANDALL HERMAN to provide NaHaiWriMo daily writing prompts for the month of April 2021, National Poetry Month. You post the daily haiku you write in the Community area (NOT on the FaceBook Page.) https://www.facebook.com/NaHaiWriMo
During the pandemic, people have been homebound, some forced into quarantine by contact with Covid but everyone everywhere was restricted in some way by the disease. Because of this, people started to take their writing practice online and our writing world has changed.
I will end this column by sharing information about two free writing camps on Zoom that started during Covid. I’ve enjoyed them both. They provide a way to commit to an hour of writing time for accountability and by writing in community, you know you’re not alone.
WRITING CLUB - offered by Hannah Dylan Pasternak, a journalist who personally thrives on writing in community. During Covid, she started to offer:
One hour of quiet writing time alone/together each week
Wednesday evening, 8pm EST
You write on your own for one hour committed to writing in community. You work independently and quietly, the audio off so everyone can concentrate but your camera on for company in the writing room. Hannah offers a weekly prompt but what you select to work on is your choice. I read about Hannah’s project in the New York Times and contacted Hannah by email. She generously responded that she maintains an open door to the public. Anyone interested in participating is asked to email a personal request to Hannah Pasternak <>. Hannah emails you the Zoom Login information.
Write-In by GOTHAM WRITERS- This New York City school for writing workshops offers fee-based classes as well as free ones, but during Covid they started offering a free Write-In once a week, first-come, first-served, on Zoom. Classes fill up quickly. Gotham Writers faculty teach the The Gotham 75-minute Zoom Write-In.
Class: Write-In I (Zoom)
Date: Friday afternoon
Time: 2–3:15 pm EST
Location: Zoom VideoConference
You connect to the videoconference. Students are requested to keep their cameras on during all Zoom sessions. Link: https://www.writingclasses.com/classes/description/write-in gothamwriters.com.
These free online writing programs meet once a week and are on-going,
at least during Covid.
May your writing be inspired in April 2021.
And Don't Forget...
High Quality Journals (No Fee to Submit)
Between These Shores Annual- Open: January 1 - June 30, 2020
https://www.betweentheseshoresbooks.com/call-for-submissions-2018
Gold Dust Magazine - two editions per year, in June and December. They don't accept simultaneous submissions and recommend you submit two to three months prior to the publication dates. http://www.golddustmagazine.co.uk/Writers.htm
Poetry Breakfast- Subscribe for a daily poem in your inbox. Submission Guideline:
https://poetrybreakfast.com/submission-guidelines-2/
Rat’s Ass Review- Open: Aug. 1-Sept. 30, 2019 Those published receive an invitation from Editor Roderick Bates to join a fine workshopping site.
http://ratsassreview.net/?page_id=81
Verse-Virtual— supportive poetry’s community that accepts submissions the first ten days of the month. https://www.verse-virtual.com/submit.html
General Information About Where to Submit (Fee & Free to Submit)
Submishmash Weekly by Submittable- subscribe to receive the posts
Entropy Magazine: Where to Submit: June, July & August 2019
https://entropymag.org/category/where-to-submit/
Erika Dreifus- subscribe to Practicing Writing Blog
https://www.erikadreifus.com/blogs/practicing-writing/\
Trisch Hopkinson- subscribe to her writer’s blog - Trisch emails weekly blasts of information about writer opportunities https://trishhopkinson.com
NewPages - subscribe to receive information about writer opportunities and places to submit https://npofficespace.com/newpages-newsletter/