Opal Writers Magazine is for WRITERS. Are you writing a book? Or are you a creative writer striving to be published? Opal Writers Magazine features bestselling authors every month. Our articles are written by successfully published authors, on the craft of writing, marketing, and selling your book.
CURRENT ISSUE
Inside this Issue
November SNEAK PEEK
Opal Writers’ Magazine NOVEMBER Sneak Peek NOVEMBER 2022 Inside Our Featured Author of the Month: Jennifer Anne Gordon, horror author of Pretty/Ugly National Novel Writing Month: TIPS, by Mandy Eve-Barnett …
Coming Next Month
DECEMBER 2022 ISSUE
Author of the Month:
Naomi P. Lane
Letters from My Dead Sister
Author of the Month
Articles to Improve Your Writing
IMPROVE YOUR WRITING
Dispel Those Writing Myths – Part 1
BY SHEILA HUDSON When I began this crazy career of writing, I thought all I had to do was to write and my gleeful audience would immediately issue a check. Clearly, I did not know how the system works. And that’s not the only myth I believed. Take heart, I am here to bust your …
NaNoWriMo Challenged Me
BY SUSAN CALDER School trained me to begin new projects in September or January, after summer and holiday breaks. I’ve started all of my novels during these months. By the time National Novel Writing Month comes along in November I’m usually into a first, second, or third draft and don’t need NaNoWriMo to cheer me …
National Novel Writing Month Tips
BY MANDY EVE-BARNETT There is no question it is a crazy experience, whether it is your first attempt or one of many. We all tend to become rather manic as we write to our daily goal of 1667 words (or more if possible). Whether you are an experienced NaNoWriMo writer or a newbie, these tips …
How to Market and Sell Your Book
MARKETING YOUR BOOKS AND WRITING
How the Seasons Affect Our Writing
BY MANDY EVE-BARNETT Weather can have quite an effect on our writing as it influences us emotionally and physically. Each season has a benefit – but there are pros & cons, so …
Attending an In-Person Writing Convention in Today’s World
In September my friend Pam and I flew to Minneapolis to attend Bouchercon World Mystery Convention’s first on-site event in three years. I sat on a panel and handed out my author cards, but the main purpose of our trip was to present Calgary’s bid to host Bouchercon 2026. Tourism Calgary recruited Pam and me to co-chair the venture.
Author In-Person Events: Table Organization
BY MANDY EVE-BARNETT With the promise of in-person events, we are all excited about hosting our author tables. We will receive our allocated table size and, in many cases, a room plan …
Continue reading Author In-Person Events: Table Organization
For the Literary Aficionados
FICTION
ADERS DRIN
AND JOURNEY THROUGH THE YUKERSNOK MIRE 1 The actual moment of realization cannot be pinned down to an exact time. It happened over a vast period and came to fullness only when …
THE CATERPI-LION
There once was a Caterpillar who was thoroughly sick of always being stuck near the bottom of the food chain. All the other animals—birds, moles, lizards, frogs and spiders—would hunger for his …
TRAIN: Into The Valley of Madness Season Two
BY DONALD H ROBERTS 1934 The mist poured lazily into the Valley of Dreams but it was not the one that had brought the passengers to the valley. And the valley changed …
Continue reading TRAIN: Into The Valley of Madness Season Two
POETRY & PROSE
THE HAPPINESS CATCHER
In a land distant both in time and place,the most sacred object is a butterfly netwith big holes in it—symbolizing happiness. For, you see, we spend so long chasing happiness and then, having captured it, we try to embrace it with both our arms and hold it close to our hearts, yet it wriggles free …
Writing Midrash for the Book of Ruth
Midrashim take the form of giving speech or utterance to biblical characters whose behaviors, actions, or words raise unanswered questions. The Midrashic process lives on today as writers and speakers continue to elaborate on biblical sources in poems, narratives, songs, and sermons that illustrate the text’s vitality and universality.
Shall I Write Prose or Poetry Today?
Shall I Write Prose or Poetry Today? In my household, there are two writers, my husband Milton and myself. We both write essays, fiction, and poetry. How do we know when our ideas should manifest in poems rather than fiction or essays?Milton is a Wordsworthian. At the turn of the nineteenth century, William Wordsworth transformed …