My story set on Hollywood Boulevard, “Sophie’s Parisian Stationery and Parfumerie Magnifique” in the anthology THINGS WITH FEATHERS: STORIES OF HOPE received a top review in SFcrowsnest magazine! “Damn good” and “An original idea and well-handled.” You can read the review by clicking on the link below, and you can vote for it in the Critters Readers’ Poll under Other Short Stories through January 14, 2022. I’m also nominated in the Author and Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story categories, but this was the story I wrote in the Writers of the Future workshop in 24 hours! “The fact that a fully professional story was the result is impressive…”–Tangent Online
Here I am with my mentee Brittany Rainsdon at Hollywood!
Brittainy Rainsdon was an aspiring writer with no prior sales before she joined my Super Secrets of Writing Workshop that I conduct for free in the Writers of the Future Forum. After reading her writing sample, I could see she was a good writer, and I took her under my wing and worked with her for the next couple of years on virtually every story she wrote. When I found out she was only sending her stories to the Writers of the Future Contest–the largest talent search for new speculative fiction writers in the world–I gave her some straight talk and said she also needed to send stories to other markets. Brittany listened.
The first place she sent one to was Deep Magic magazine. It sold! Her first respectable sale! What’s more, it was also reprinted in Best of Deep Magic Anthology Two. Brittany topped that by becoming a published finalist in Writers of the Future Volume 37, and followed that the next quarter by becoming a winner in Writers of the Future Volume 38! Brittany had always been a good writer, she simply needed guidance to reach that next level. That’s what mentors do–they help their mentees level up by guiding them with knowledge and experience that they learned through years of study and training.
How does one find a good mentor? This podcast reveals how Brittany found hers. And then we share various methods to help others find a mentor that can help them level up. Mentoring is a time-honored system of sharing knowledge and training with those less experienced, yet it’s rarely discussed in writing books and workshops.
This podcast will change that. And I’ve just been commissioned to write a Super Secrets of Writing article on mentoring for DreamForge Anvil magazine. In the meantime, why not give our interview in Hollywood a listen?
Would you like to find out why I received 115,000+ listens on the interview with John Goodwin on December 28th for the Writers of the Future Podcast? Perhaps people enjoyed the advice on creating multiple income streams to keep your income boat afloat as you move toward full-time writing. It could have been the announcement of a publisher making an offer on my SUPER SECRETS writing book, which many have been waiting for. Or it might just have been the encouragement given to aspiring writers to join the Writers of the Future Forum. You decide. And you can! By clicking HERE.
One thing I did speak a good deal about were the Critters Readers’ Choice Awards, where polling goes on for three weeks at the end of every year to honor the best in forty-one publishing related categories. Would you like to find out how it all turned out in the end? Here’s the Writers of the Future press release regarding the many awards won, but may I be the first to say, “Congratulations, Writers of the Future Forum!” Click HERE to read their exciting press release!
