WD Presents: Holiday Gifts, Call for Best Website Nominations, and more!

This week, we’re excited to announce a special holiday offer, a chance to have your craft questions answered by an expert, and more.

There's always so much happening in the Writer's Digest universe that even staff members have trouble keeping up. As a result, we decided to start collecting what's on the horizon to make it easier for everyone to know what's happening and when.

This week, we’re excited to announce a special holiday offer, a chance to have your craft questions answered by an expert, and more.

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Call for Nominations: 101 Best Websites for Writers

Nominate your favorite website for the 23rd Annual 101 Best Websites for Writers feature in Writer's Digest Magazine! Deadline for nominations is Friday, December 18, 2020.

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Give the Gift of Writer’s Digest

The gift-giving season is upon us! Until December 31, 2020, you can gift a year’s worth of Writer’s Digest to anyone on your holiday gift list for only $10!

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Submit Your Questions to FightWrite™

In this series of online articles, author and trained fighter Carla Hoch answers your questions about everything from how to handle writing female serial killers to perfecting that epic battle scene. Submit your questions for Carla to answer in next month’s post now!

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Short Short Story Competition Deadline

Deadline: December 14, 2020

We’re looking for short fiction stories! Think you can write a winning story in 1,500 words or less? Enter the 21st Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition for your chance to win $3,000 in cash, get published in Writer’s Digest magazine, and a paid trip to our ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference!

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Five Online Writing Courses Start This Week

Five new online writing courses start this week, including Form and Composition, Query Letter in 14 Days, and more. Click here to check out the Writer's Digest University calendar.

12 Weeks to a First Draft

Dive into the world of writing and learn all 12 steps needed to complete a first draft. In this writing workshop you will tackle the steps to writing a book, learn effective writing techniques along the way, and of course, begin writing your first draft.

Form and Composition

Proper grammar, punctuation, and mechanics make your writing correct. In order to truly write well, you must also master the art of form and composition. From sentence structure to polishing your prose, this workshop will enhance your writing, no matter what type of writing you do.

Getting Started in Writing

Have you always wanted to be a writer? Don't let doubt or fear get the best of you—take a chance and learn how to start writing a book, novel, short story, memoir, or essay.

When you take this online writing workshop, you'll discover your voice, learn the basics of grammar and examine the different types of writing. No matter what type of writing you're planning on crafting—nonfiction or fiction—you'll need guidance along the way.

Query Letter in 14 Days

You've devoted hours, days, months—even years— to writing and editing your novel or nonfiction book. With all that time invested, it's natural to want recognition for your hard work and dedication. Take your writing one step further and tackle the publishing process. When you enroll in this online course, you'll learn the details of the query letter format and how to write a query letter that catches the attention of agents and publishers.

Writing Historical Fiction

Whether history is a backdrop to your story or the focus of the story itself, this workshop will provide you with the tools to find the facts you need, organize the data in a functional manner, and merge that data seamlessly into your novel. You'll discover the appropriate level of historical data to include as a function of a particular writing goal, learn the definition of historical markers and how and where to unearth them, and uncover the tools to integrate history, research, and the fiction plot arc. Most of all, find out how to honor verisimilitude—the goal of any historical writing—and avoid the dreaded anachronism. You'll learn to write scenes utilizing historical markers that further the plot and put your reader firmly in the place, time, and setting.

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Check out the November/December issue of Writer's Digest!

Writer’s Digest officially turns 100! In this special double issue, WD celebrates 100 years of helping writers improve their craft and getting published with advice from some of the biggest industry professionals and authors publishing today. We’ll look back on how writing has changed over time, the founding of WD, and much more.

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Want to Write for Writer’s Digest?

Writer’s Digest, the No. 1 magazine for writers, celebrates the writing life and what it means to be a writer in today’s publishing environment. Through the voices of bestselling authors, buzz-worthy newcomers, and seasoned editors, we offer everything writers need to stay inspired, to improve their craft, to understand the unique challenges of publishing today, and to get their work noticed. Our pages are filled with advice and real-life experiences that go beyond the ordinary and delve deeply into what’s important to writers today. Whether they write fiction or nonfiction, poetry or essays, articles or scripts, our readers will walk away from every issue inspired and ready to write, satisfied in the knowledge that we get it, that we all share this passion for writing, and we’re all part of a grand literary tradition. And that’s worth celebrating.

Please see our editorial calendar for upcoming topics. Query only if you feel you are the best person to write on each topic and be sure to explain why.