TeenLit.com Newsletter #6

August 1999

KEEP UP THE GREAT WRITING

Our published teen writing is getting better each month thanks to our great TeenLit writers. Keep up the great work and remember you can submit something new each month. Poetry is still our most popular category, but, remember you can submit short stories, essays, book reviews, and more.

ADDITIONS TO WRITERS WORKSHOP

Need help with your writing or at least revising? We've added a number of helpful pages in our Writers Workshop at https://teenlit.com/workshop/. New pages include: Publishing Criteria (TeenLit.com's publishing criteria), Editing Marks (graphic of standard proofreading marks), Poetry Writing Tips (top ten ways to better poems), (General Writing Tips) the top 4 ways to improve writing, Avoid Clichés (the biggest difference between okay and very good writing),

Rhyme (Is rhyme necessary?), Dialog & Using Quotation Marks (rules & examples for using quotation marks, especially within dialog), Confused Words (words that are often misspelled for proper usage), Spelling (Ode to the Spell Checker), Show, Don't Tell (how to really write for your reader), and Punctuation (how and when to use advanced punctuation marks). We'll be adding to these and other workshop pages soon.

TONS OF NEW LINKS ADDED:

Check out all the newly added links https://teenlit.com/coolinks.htm. Categories include Writing Connections, Homework Help, For Your Information, Just for Teens & Really Great Zines, Web Stuff, Teen Home Pages, College, and Just Plain Cool. There's now over 100 hot links here.

LAST CHANCE TO JOIN EWEB:

We're still looking for a few more participants on the members-only section of TeenLit.com, called eWeb. If you've been active in publishing and participating on TeenLit.com, eWeb is your chance to get even more involved. No longer will you have to remain anonymous. We'll even give you a TeenLit email alias and space for a web page on our site. Members of TeenLit.com eWeb:

--- get to regularly interact with other Teen Writers (active, published TeenLit writers, like yourself) about your writing and theirs (post & discuss drafts, share ideas, etc.)

--- are allowed and encouraged to post their own web page on TeenLit.com and use a [email protected] email forwarding account

--- will begin governing TeenLit.com from the inside, making decisions about design, policies, content, and more

--- will soon be forming an editorial board that will be responsible for accepting and rejecting submitted Teen Writing

--- and we're very open to your ideas of how to best use TeenLit.com and eWeb!

To find out more or sign up for eWeb today, go to https://teenlit.com/eweb

DISCUSSION BOARD NOTES:

The discussion board has been getting lots of action. If you haven't visited lately, go to https://teenlit.com/teendisc/ and post or respond. Remember, our policy is no personal information such as last names, email addresses, or personal web page addresses. This is for your own privacy protection and such information will be removed if posted.

STILL LOOKING FOR ART WORK

We'd like to change our home page graphic once a month or so, so we need your original art work. Be sure your art is in .gif or .jpg format for the web and keep it under 20 kb please. We'd love to see your graphic ideas for the splash page or other areas of TeenLit.com. You might even want to consider designing a new logo to be used on the site or other TeenLit.com merchandise (t-shirt, mouse pad, book marks, etc.). If you'd like to submit a graphic for our consideration, send it to [email protected].

CALL FOR YOUNG WRITERS (by way of TeenLit.com)

TeenLit.com remains a great connection for Teen Writers with publishers. Here's another example of a request for our teen writers >>>

Seeking Submissions for St. Martin’s "Our Boys Speak"

NEW YORK, New York. – August 18, 1999 – In association with St. Martin’s Press, author John Nikkah is seeking contributions for Our Boys Speak, a book chronicling the formative experiences of today’s teenage boys. Boys ages 12-18 are invited to contribute personal essays, short stories, poems, and journal entries on subjects ranging from academics, sports, dating, parents, friendships and peer pressure to racial/cultural issues, violence, religion, substance abuse, and depression.

Selected essays will be published in a book scheduled for release in the Spring 2000. All submissions must either be typed or neatly printed by hand. Those participants who wish to remain anonymous should specify this preference, but all entries must include the writer’s name, address, and date of birth.

Submissions can range anywhere from 1-7 pages in length. Entries will be selected based on their honesty and relevance of experience. Deadline for contributions is November 1, 1999. Those whose entries are selected for publication will be notified. Please mail all essays to John Nikkah, P.O. Box 1196, New York, NY 10021-0037 or email to [email protected]. For more information, go to http://members.tripod.com/JohnNikkah/grid1.html

OPT OUT OPTION

If you'd like to be removed from this mailing list or have your writing or bulletin board posting removed, please visit https://teenlit.com/optout.htm   or email the