Forum / fmylife.com - writing prompts

• 
  Jürgen Fauth

  Feb 19, 11:47am

  http://www.fmylife.com/ is pretty entertaining in its own right, but if you were looking for story ideas, you could do worse than picking one at random.

• 
  Avital Gad-Cykman

  Apr 08, 02:30pm

  Got this information today, still checcking it out:
  WordHustler: One Click to Destiny
  Does submitting your work keep you too preoccupied to be doing what you really want to be doing - WRITING?

  Do you waste hours trying to figure out where to send your queries and submissions?
  
  If you have answered yes to any of the above, we have the solution for you. It's www.WordHustler.com!

  Wordhustler saves time

  The story is newsworthy and true: two LA writers frustrated with the traditional method of submitting work to literary markets and screenplay competitions have invented a way to do it better and more cost-effectively:

  * FREE database features over 4,000 agents, publishers, contests, and publications.
  * WordHustler will send physical and digital submissions to save writers time so they can do what they're supposed to be doing: WRITING!
  * Convert your work into PDFs
  * Dashboard monitors all submissions and writing
  * Composer tool will help you write queries and cover letters
  * Informative blog featuring interviews with editors, agents, and more
  * Coming in mid-2009, WordHustler is launching a Digital Submission System, so you can send both print AND email submissions

• 
  Stephen Stark

  May 27, 09:04am

  Have you tried it? Placed anything using it? Sounds like a great idea.

• 
  Andrew O. Dugas

  Jul 09, 01:24pm

  Not that cheap! .10 per page for PDF generation and printing alone. I get it cheaper at Kinkos. Also, for cheap copying, you can't beat Lulu.com. It's a self-publishing site, but I've used to generate review copies of my novel for my first readers. About $6 for a 250 page MS.

• 
  Larry Strattner

  Aug 10, 07:38pm

  I realize all the problems with submitting work. I get particularly rankled at the "no simultaneous submissions" people who then take six months to reject you in a way making you wonder if they even read the manuscript. But enough of that stuff.

  I think the problem these days is not submissions. I just keep everything on an Excel spreadsheet. Unless you're hyper-prolific that should do it.

  A lot of editors will not take electronic submissions. Reason? They know what will happen. The same thing will happen with electronically generated PDF - although more power to these guys I say.

  I think the problem is reading, not submitting. In the end you must br read to be accepted and published. Some corporate HR operations screen resumes for key words, phrases and other hot-points before they take a closer look at a complete workup on a candidate.

  Maybe someone can develop that software for editors and they can load in their editorial preferences, key words and other sifting criteria so they get through their inbox faster, more effectively and in possession of a stack of material meeting their editorial goals and requirements.

  All the technology has been focused on the generation and outbound shipment of compost. No one's helping the farmers to spread it around effectively and smooth it out without stinking up the yard.

• 
  Stephen Stark

  Aug 17, 05:36am

  Larry, I love this post. (Except compost shouldn't stink.)

  I work at a science, engineering and tech company and I can tell you why that kind of dedicated text sifting engine would likely never exist—it would be too expensive and have such a small potential market that no one would bother. That said, I'd guess that there are already engines out there that could do what you suggest and could be tweaked to an editor's preference. I'd bet there's some undergraduate at MIT (or elsewhere) who could pretty quickly put together an app that would take the New Yorker DVDs and sift through all of the fiction, and then turn around and generate 'stories' that use nothing but New Yorker-approved language. Style would be the more difficult thing.

  Then again, it's probably the case that it's already been done.

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