I wanted this message/thread to list those online publications whose site you frequent. With each entry please include the following:
1. Name of publication

2. Link to publication

3. Type of work most featured (poetry, fiction, essays, mix)

4. What do you feel is the publications strength, possibly including, but certainly not limited to, the following:

a. strength of writing – include examples
b. strength of visual layout – specifics (color, column width, etc)
c. strength of readership – who reads these? what are their comments as readers?
d. mission statement
e. freshness of authors – is these just the same old faces?

Some ideas to get the ball rolling. I know this might take a bit of effort for each publication, but it really will help shape what we should be striving toward and patting ourselves on the back for. It will also help define our “niche” a bit more concretely.

NOTE: I did a quick search and there are more to look at here. Check out some and add your thoughts!

The writ is refocusing its collective energy to become a more complete go-to for new writers. To do this we need every one’s help!

If you have been on the writ for a while you’ll have noticed the “challenges” section on your homepage. Throughout the years challenges have been varied, from “help name the writ” to “write a piece about change.” The responses always vary from poignant to hilarious. All in all it’s a way to be more involved in the shaping and community of the Writ as a whole!

Currently we have some CRUCIAL challenges for young and old, new and seasoned.

First is the Resource Library Project. I want to call special attention to this because I have found that to be part of the greater online writing community you need to be involved in the discussions, news, and writing of more than just the Writ.  This is the chance to let the writers on the Writ who is putting out great online journals, which print journals you enjoy, your sources for writing news and even great articles that you feel everyone should read.  We want to hear your voice!

Secondly, to get a better feel for what may have been missed by those were gone and/or to get some more acclaim for some of the “golden oldies” you can submit Writ pieces to the “That which needs to be read” challenge.  It’s always good to show your successes and this is a great way to show the best of the Writ.

Your input is so important to making this a better community and resource for new AND established writers, so get on out there and challenge yourself!

Hey there to all you fiction writers!  Feeling unappreciated?  Me too!  That’s why I’ll again be spending significant time in the workshop focusing just on fiction.  There’s not a lot of it on there, and even less with comments.  As a fiction writer myself, I know how frustratring it is to spend days, weeks, even months working on a short story, then posting it and…nothing happens.  So, let me say now that I’ll be doing my best to make sure every short story gets at least one meaningful constructive critique.  Hopefully this will encourage all you fiction writers to get back in there, writing and posting your short stories, then re-writing and re-posting them until the cows come home. 

(And if you feel like helping me out with this admittedly thankless task, by all means, please comment away on the stories by your peers!  They love it!  And maybe then they’ll read your stuff, too!)

Beardedly yours,

Joe G

joe@thewrit.org

Attention WRIToricians! We have a new fearless leader! JulieK has generously (and valiantly) stepped up to help us navigate this transitional period by overseeing the next issue of WRIToracle.

Do you remember JulieK?

Quick Writstory lesson: Way way back in the day, when we were receiving submissions via email and editing by candlight with stacks of paper and glasses of Two Buck Chuck, we had this grand idea that if we could round up some money, maybe we could pay a programmer to build us a writing workshop, so people could upload their own writing and comment on each others’ work.

We all scratched our heads and said aloud, “But who will give us money?”

Then JulieK entered the picture and said, “Oh, I can get that for you!” You see, JulieK was in charge of the Student Press Organization at the University of New Hampshire, and she had connections. Several minor battles later, we got funding, and JulieK was designated as our Goddess.

And so, with that in mind, I bring you (drum roll please!) JulieK (with her version of the story)….

hi writ peoples,

i’m julie a/k/a juliek. my involvement with thewrit started when i was doing double duty as the student press organization (spo) director and the business director for aegis (literary magazine) at unh when a group of scraggly writers–chap books in hand–came to me and said, “we have an idea”. i helped the fabulous four to get some funding for the birth of the website and then…i forgot about it! a few years ago i became more involved in the workshop, mostly editing. you may have seen my comments around. now i’m back and in full force as your new editor-in chief!

thewrit has had a few facelifts over the years and its long overdue for a major surgical procedure, so i’m super excited that sarah is again in the picture and blogging a bajillion words a minute, while reciting spoken word out of one side of her mouth and drinking tea from the other, all while she does a tap dance, and fixes the bloopers on thewrit website. yes, she’s just that amazing.

so, as the new editor-in-chief, i’m going to need your help. i’m going to be overseeing the publication portion of thewrit (thewritoracle) and i need writers and editors to work on the next issue. we don’t have any firm publication deadlines right now, but we are definitely looking for ideas for articles, artists/writers to interview, people to write/edit articles, community stories/events, dialectic essays (for the dialectical corner), and any other ideas for articles you want to see in the next issue. so please email me if you have idea or if you want to write or edit. it’s ok if you want to write something, but don’t have an idea or vice versa!

i’m super excited to get this community more connected and expand everything.

any suggestions are more than welcome. we’re blogging about everything here, so leave us comments!

hope to hear from you!

-juliek
juliek@thewrit.org

p.s. the no caps is a style thing–get used to it!