writermag.com • The Writer | 1FEATURES
November 2019
Volu m e 132 Nu m be r 11DEPARTMENTS
8 From the Front Lines
Crash and burn
Why recklessness is
good for your creativity.
BY YI SHUN LAI10 Freelance Success
What the hell is free-
lance success, anyway?
You’re doing OK. Really.
BY PETE CROATTO38 Literary Spotlight
Hidden Compass
BY MELISSA HART40 Conference Insider
UW-Madison Writers’
Institute
BY MELISSA HARTIN EVERY ISSUE
2 From the Editor4 Take Note
42 Markets
47 Classified advertising
48 How I Write
12 Celebrating 20 years of
NaNoWriMo
In its two decades of existence,
National Novel Writing Month has
inspired millions of writers to fi-
nally put their stories on paper, re-
sulting in thousands of published
novels over the years. Here’s a
look back at NaNoWriMo’s history,
from humble coffeeshop begin-
nings to the literal billions of
words it inspires today.
BY GRANT FAULKNER20 How to be a good
critique partner
Employ these best practices
when you don an editorial cap.
BY ANICA MROSE RISSI22 He said, she said
Eight ways to make dialogue
matter.
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE24 Resurrecting your
darlings
Why trash your deleted pages
when you can publish them?
BY MELISSA HART28 The future for literary
magazines
Six essential issues facing lit
journals – and what’s being done
to address them.
BY TONI FITZGERALDContents
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