wanna contribute?

There are going to come times when I've run out of creative juices or just won't have time to get a story going for the week. It happens to all of us. So, I'm gonna need a little help. There are three ways you can help me.

The first is that you read, visit, follow the blog, and leave constructive comments. I'll take criticism, compliments, etc., but try to keep it constructive. Please don't bash, hate, or troll.

The second is that you click on the ads on the.... wait... ads? What ads? Well, Google shut the Adsense down. Oh well. I'm not going to ask for money, but if you would like to contribute monetarily, I won't say no. Send me a message and we can work something out. Your money would go to placing ads for Story a Week or possibly towards books, mostly writer's reference books.

The third is the coolest of them all. You can get a story featured as the story of the week. All you have to do is get in touch with me. The process is simple:
1. E-mail me at wajulian@liberty.edu and introduce yourself. Be friendly and if all goes well, I'll let you send me your story.
2. Send me the most up-to-date copy of your story and include a little bit about it.
3. I'll look over it, approve it, and if I like it, I'll probably make a few edits, then send my edits to you for your approval
4. If you approve, then it'll be put in the queue to be the story of the week!

A couple of tips to get it posted:
-- Try to keep it less than 3000 words. Any more than that and I can almost guarantee you I'll cut it down in the editing phase.
-- Be creative! We've all heard the same cliches over and over, so show me what you can do outside the box!
-- Twists. I like twists.
-- Get editing help. Have some friends look it over before you send it to me.
-- The biggest tip of them all: JUST DO IT

I won't pay you anything for sending in a guest piece, but you will get recognition if it gets posted. Also, the criticism and peer review you get will be invaluable.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please, I would love to hear from you!
-- WA Julian

story a week: an introduction

I, like thousands upon thousands of people, am a writer. I'm not an aspiring writer, like some might say, I'm a writer. I write. That doesn't mean I have it down perfectly or don't have anything to learn, in fact I have much to learn. That's why I'm here.

This is my latest writing project. I have decided to dedicate myself to keeping and maintaining a blog about writing. The real dedication, however, comes from dedicating myself to a writing a new short story every week. Sometimes I might post something old, sometimes a chapter from the numerous novels I'm writing, sometimes maybe I'll have a friend contribute, or maybe I'll even post an essay from a class. Either way, something new will be posted at least every week.

I was told by a fellow writer that talent has little bearing in contrast with dedication. While talent can make being great easier, it all goes to waste should the person lose sight of their goals. That's what this is. I want to put in as many dedicated hours as possible to writing and having a blog is a good start, right?

I'm also going to post any good writing links I happen to come across. For now, this will count as this week's story. I haven't decided on what day I'm going to post a story yet, but rest assured, it's coming.

I'm WA Julian and I'm a writer.