Anna's hints, tips and tricks about the world of writing and publishing. Online courses It doesn't matter where in the world you are, as long as you have the Internet, you can access some brilliant online courses on writing—from the business of it, to plotting, to editing, to pitching. I present a workshop and teach an online course called "SHORT STORY, BIG IMPACT: Taking the Short Story road to Success." If you're interested in having me present or teach at your writers group or conference (online or in person), please send me an email. I'll be teaching Short Story, Big Impact online at the following RWA chapters in 2010: Colorado Romance Writers May 31-June 25 $25 per workshop, Non-CRW members RWA Online Chapter October 1-31 $15 Non-Chapter members SHORT STORY, BIG IMPACT: Taking the Short Story Road to Success Short stories pack a big punch! They can provide a path into the publishing world, a way to build writing credits or advance your career as part of an anthology. So what's the difference between flash fiction, short stories, novelettes and novellas, and why write one? How can writing a short story help with crafting full-length books? Anna Hackett provides writers with the skills they need to write a short story: from structure to pacing, characters to conflict. The course includes interviews with bestselling authors, insights from Deep Editing expert, Margie Lawson on how to revise short stories, and fun exercises to practice your new skills. By the conclusion of SHORT STORY, BIG IMPACT you'll have all the tools you need to write a compelling story to take you down the short story road to success. Topics include: Short, shorter, shortest: types of short stories Theme: resonating with readers Painting your characters quickly Structure for short stories of all different lengths Guidelines for specific genres: from Fantasy to Suspense to Romance Finding conflict and emotion fast Making every word count Margie Lawson's lecture: Deep Editing for Short Stories How short stories can help craft a full length novel Interviews with bestselling authors Writers U and WritersOnlineClasses offer loads of excellent courses. I have to mention my good friend and talented workshop presenter, Margie Lawson. I highly recommend all Margie's courses. She'll teach you to deep edit your stories and empower your character's emotions. Blogs: There are loads of authors (even agents) out there blogging. Many of them invite published authors, agents and editors to guest blog and you can learn a lot about the writing world. Writers groups If you're an aspiring author and you haven't joined a writers group...do it! You will meet authors at all stages—aspiring, almost-published and published. You will learn about the craft of writing and have access to excellent resources and writing contests. Not to mention writers conferences—the chance to mingle with authors, agents and editors. Here are a few of my groups: Romance Writers of America (RWA) including my old Denver chapter—Heart of Denver. The RWA is, in my opinion, the greatest writing organization on the planet. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW). It is great to meet writers outside your genre. You can learn great new things. Romance Writers of Australia. Another great group for romance writers in Australia. The eHarlequin community. I can't say enough about this online community. You meet such supportive people and have access to some excellent opportunities. It was through an online pitch contest on this website that I sold my first short story and snagged my editor. Books 5 books on writing that I recommend: How to Write a Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger. This was where I started. It is written by an editor and if you are a beginner, this book gives you a great overview of writing a romance and the process of submitting. Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. This is an older book but it covers all the writing craft basics very well. The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman. All the basics in a slim little book written by a literary agent. The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. This one is for plotting and characters. Read and absorb. Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds by Michael Hague. Helps you develop a pitch and get to the heart of your story. If someone asks you what you're working on, you want to be able to tell them in a few words. Tips and Articles Writing Short Stories What exactly is a short story and why write one? And how can writing a short story help with crafting full length books? The answers are in this article (PDF) I wrote for the November 2009 release of Hearts Talk, the monthly newsletter of Romance Writers of Australia. Pitching in your Pajamas—Pitch Contests As an unpublished writer, what can you do to get your story in front of the right agents and editors sooner? Are there ways to shave some time off your wait? There's one way that's gaining popularity: the Pitch Contest. It was because of a pitch contest at eHarlequin.com that I sold my first story and found an editor. Check out the article (PDF) I wrote for the Heart of Denver Romance Writers monthly newsletter on pitch contests. Nocturne tips Are you an aspiring Nocturne Bites author? Check out the tips (in PDF format) for writing Nocturne Bites short stories that I posted with another Bites author, Barbara J. Hancock, on eHarlequin.com. eBooks and Kindles I've been a reader all my life. I have bookcases full of my keeper books and boxes of the ones I can't fit on the shelves. I love the smell of books, the feel of them and the joy of loosing myself in a great story. When I lived in the city, the day my favorite author released a new book, I was at the bookstore getting my copy. When I went on holidays, my husband groaned about the weight of my suitcase and all the books jammed inside. Then we moved to a remote location in northern Australia...with no bookstore. I panicked. No more getting books the day they come out. I'd have to order off the Internet and wait weeks for them to get to me (the barge comes to town once a week). It was this dilemma that forced me to look at electronic books and eReaders, something I vowed I would never do. Replace a book with a gadget, I think not! But something strange happened, the day I got my Kindle, I fell in love. Since the day I went electronic, I haven't bought a single paper book. And I don't miss them. I can carry hundreds of books on one slim device, I can order them the day they come out, I can search books and make notations and I can send my own manuscripts to the Kindle for proofreading. My Kindle is lighter than a book, I can change the text size on it to suit me and once I'm lost in a great story, you know what, I don't even notice if it's a book or an eReader I'm holding. For Christmas I got a new Kindle2. It's even thinner, holds more books and I love it even more than my old one. Kindles are now available internationally but they aren't the only eReaders out there. The Sony eReader is very popular and more and more eReaders are hitting the market. And of course you can read eBooks on your computer in various formats. For on-the-computer reading, .pdf format and Adobe Digital Editions are my personal favorites. I don't think any reader can truly decide if electronic is for them until they've read an entire book on an eReader. For me, going electronic was the best thing this reader ever did. The Call I was at work when I got the Call. I saw the 212 area code and knew someone in New York was calling me. It was Ann Leslie Tuttle at Silhouette Nocturne and she wanted to buy my short story, Savage Dragon, for Nocturne Bites. I should go back a step or two. If it wasn't for the Nocturne Bites Pitch Challenge on eHarlequin, I wouldn't have written a Bite, let alone sold one and be working with an editor in New York. For the Challenge, writers had to send in two paragraphs about their paranormal short story. I realized what a great opportunity this was and got to work writing the Bite and paragraphs (boy, did I agonize over those paragraphs and drove my wonderful husband crazy reading and re-reading them to him). Ann Leslie selected five paragraphs and five eager writers got to pitch online to her. She requested the story and not long after that, I got the call. So don't let any opportunity pass you by—whether it's a contest, a critique from a published author or a chance to pitch to an agent or editor. They are all good practice and you never know when it might help you get a foot into the door of the publishing world.