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announcements

Blessed Easter Sunday!

We were able to raise a little over $200 from our first wave of call for donations (90% of which came from our Write Jobs blog followers) and we're sincerely thankful for the support. The donations were used to pay a small honorarium to our blog designer and volunteers who helped us set up our search and alert tools, and backtrack to as far as mid-2011 announcements that we missed when we temporarily stopped operations.

We urge you to support the work we do and the service we provide - just through the first 3 months as we try to sort out how else we can source funds to keep our blogs alive. Perhaps, you are already an established writer or you can find opportunities somewhere else, but we would like to exist and keep running our resource sites for young and emerging writers who check our blogs daily hoping to find an opportunity where they can hopefully be recognized.

A small donation will go a long way. We won't promise to send you the Hot Jobs reports right away as we're still trying to raise funds to hire a few more people for encoding and proofing - but we're targeting to release it in a few weeks. This new blog design is final - and we can focus on the Hot 500 project from today.

Thank you very much in advance.

Writers, like all creative professionals, always have room for improvement and development. Even acclaimed or widely published authors may find themselves hitting a creative wall at some point in their career. While writing obviously requires many attributes that go beyond concrete techniques, such as skillful use of intuition and a sense of the reader – many characteristics of a good writer are also well within the realm of craft. Following are some craft pointers and exercises that both beginning and established writers can use to grow their writing skills:

• Read Widely – Reading as much as possible with as much variety as possible is a prerequisite for writers of all stripes. Perhaps you are already “well-read” but in what sense? Perhaps you have read all the classics, but there is still much to be learned in the ways of sentence structure, diction and the human condition. Consider reading periodicals or genres that are outside your normal reading material. If you write primarily realistic fiction, pick up a book of abstract stories. Inspiration can be found in trade journals, science fiction, nonfiction journalism, and nearly all types of reading material.
• Utilize a Dictionary – If you find yourself using the same words and images in your work, it may be time to refresh your vocabulary. Most writers have a wide vocabulary, but they may be prone to using some words more than others out of habit. Find a quality dictionary and spend some time going through it. Look for words that are common, but that you rarely use in speech or in your work. In this way, you will add fresh language to your work, without it sounding stilted or overdone.
• Set Deadlines and Schedule Writing Time – Perhaps your writing struggles stem from an issue of motivation or structure. Since writing is a vocation of choice for many people rather than a traditional job, it can be difficult to complete projects in a timely manner. Practice setting deadlines for pieces of writing that you are working on; allotting a particular time every day to write or a particular word count to complete, can also act as motivation. Examine literary journals from art colleges or writer’s websites for writing competitions you can enter. The hard deadline of a competition can motivate you to work.
• Examine Sentence Cadence – Even if you are not a poet, you should take some time to examine the cadence of the sentences in your work. The stressed and unstressed syllables in your sentences may make your work read faster or slower, depending on their placement. They can also make sentences flow more easily or make them sound halting and displeasing to the ear. It also makes sense to pay attention to the length of your sentences. Short sentences are more urgent and punchy, while long ones can add a flowing effect.
• Use the Tools of Plotting – Consider how you normally plot your work, if you are a writer of short stories or novels. Changing up the plotting tools you use can add new insight to your writing. Many writers generally start their stories from the ending or from some traumatic beginning event. Others do not work with causal events at all, but instead start with a particular philosophical idea. Still others intersperse non-causally related incidents to form a rich texture. Whichever device you normally use to structure a story, consider a different approach, even if you only use it as an exercise.
• Get Academic Support – Pursuing an academic degree in writing or even enrolling in a single class can also serve to improve your writing. While a formal education is not necessary to become a writer, the advice and guidance of an experienced writer can help the new writer gain traction and realize key themes apparent in their work.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – The Center for Writing Studies (2012)

Jerz’s Literacy Blog (2011)

Our deadline alert tool is now in place. We tried it out last night with Twitter and now, our alerts are automatically cross-posted to our Facebook account and fan page. This will let you know where to submit next and when. We initially sent out alerts for opportunities with due dates falling between March 8th and 15th. Henceforth, we will send alerts one week in advance (e.g., tomorrow, we will alert you on opportunities due on March 16th).

As for the template, we are sorry we have to put back the black and green background as we are currently improving the white minimalist template that we will launch very soon. Bear with us in the meantime.

Liking our posts? Support the work we do and the service we provide. Click here to get our HOT 500 Reports. We will also launch our two other fundraising activities: HIRE A VIRTUAL WRITER'S ASSISTANT and A WRITER'S BLOG DESIGN FOR $50. These three fundraising ideas will help ensure that our blog will survive for the whole year. Writers Afrika is a not-for-profit service that is worthy of your support.

Thank you for visiting!

We know that it is not enough that we simply update the blog on a daily basis, so here's your chance to support the work we do and the service we provide -

And get something invaluable in return!

As a fundraising activity, we have included in our database some 10,000 paying magazines/ journals and trimmed them down to 500 for our HOT 500 reports. These paying markets were ranked based on writer's fee per word or equivalent, and the report will be released before March 31st. This is similar to our 2010 edition, but with more entries and details. A separate report, Globe 500 (for writers outside North America), will also be released.

A $5 donation will entitle you to one report, while we will send all the 3 reports to our supporters who donate at least $10.

This will entail weeks of hard work as we have to ensure that the important details are accurate and current. Support the work we do and the service we provide! By doing so, you'll have these invaluable reports to keep. Please spread the word.

Our donors who have contributed any amount before March 3, 2012 will receive these three Writes Jobs 500 Reports as our token of appreciation. These materials will point you to the 500 highest-paying magazines, newspapers, journals, and websites for freelance and literary writers.

New donors who donate $5 will be sent one report of their choice, while those who donate $10 will receive all three materials. These reports, in PDF format, will not be for sale and will be available exclusively to our supporters.

FOR FREELANCE WRITERS:

Fro

m our 8,100 freelance writing entries, we trimmed them down to 500. Write Jobs's HOT 500 is a definitive list of the top 500 paying magazines, newspapers, journals and websites for freelance writers - scientifically ranked based on writer's fee per word (or equivalent). It provides you links to submission guidelines and details on the magazine's theme/ topics of interest, contact information, geographical restrictions, and a lot more.

FOR LITERARY WRITERS

From our 1,300 paying market entries, we trimmed them down to 500. Write Jobs's TOP 500 is a definitive list of the 500 highest-paying journals and magazines for literary writers - scientifically ranked based on writer's fee per word (or equivalent). It provides you links to submission guidelines and details on the journal's theme/ genre, contact information, geographical restrictions, and a lot more.

FOR WRITERS OUTSIDE THE US/ CANADA

From our 4,900 paying journals and magazines that accept international submissions, we trimmed them down to 500. Write Jobs's GLOBE 500 is a definitive list of the 500 highest-paying journals and magazines that accept submissions from outside the US/ Canada - scientifically ranked based on writer's fee per word (or equivalent). It provides you links to submission guidelines and details on the journal/ magazine's theme, topics of interest, contact information, and a lot more.

These special 500 Reports will be released before March 31st, 2012. Support the site today.

We expect that you have a handful of writings to make as we've completed posting the announcements lurking in our search alerts from December 2011 to January 2012. Unfortunately, there were a few good ones that we missed out on; their deadlines have already passed. But there are other great opportunities that you can check out from today's updates.

So, it's zero backlog for Writers Afrika, officially! Now we can focus on new announcements which we will post as they come.

By the way, for those who are having a hard time reading white font -we're sorry. We will still be using the new template for a few more weeks/ months. But all your comments/ suggestions on the blog design are being noted.

And thank you to those who already donated for the blog. We can't thank you enough. There were only a few who heeded the call but we're not losing hope that we can continue this free service to African writers.

Which brings us to a few fundraising ideas - e.g., a custom blog design for a $50 donation or "have a virtual writing assistant for $10". We know writers do not earn much from their works, so we guess doing something (aside from regularly updating this blog) in return for a donation might work.

We're also thinking of freeing up the middle bar for event/ book advertisements for as low as $15 - $30 a month. Shoot us an e-mail at writersafrika@gmail.com if you're interested. The first one gets the top spot (above the fold) for our thousands of followers to see. We'll post the announcement soon.

That's it for today. Good luck with your writing!

Shameless reminder: it's almost payday and we still need your support. Please do not hesitate to donate any amount - it will be greatly appreciated. If our thousands of followers could donate even $1, then our blogs would be able to survive for years.

By the way, this is the final blog template, unless you have suggestions to make your visit more enjoyable. It took us weeks to finalize the colors, the header graphics, and the footer layout. We hope you appreciate our effort to provide you a more appealing design aside from the regular blog updates. Yes, no weekend off for us.

And speaking of blog updates, there are hundreds of announcements that we have not posted yet and we'll do so in the coming days. We also hope to start sending you deadline alerts via Facebook and Twitter within the week.

Start the week right - give a little love :) This is an initiative worth supporting.

Our goal is to find every possible legitimate opportunity for African writers ahead of other resource sites. If Writers Afrika has helped you, donations of any amount will be appreciated.

By donating to Witers Afrika, you are supporting both:

1. Our volunteers who are online 16 hours a day, 7 days a week to scout and screen writing opportunities for writers; and

2. Thousands of writers of color who have made this blog their daily source of writing opportunities.

Writers of color remain underrepresented in world literature today. Writers Afrika is a free service/ not-for-profit initiative that provides more venues for writers of color to be heard and recognized.

Our volunteers do not seek profits but the opportunity to continue this free service for writers of color. They thoroughly read through hundreds of announcements daily to handpick the more relevant/ legitimate opportunities; and are available on Yahoo Messenger to accommodate information/ research requests - REAL-TIME. The Upcoming Deadlines calendar is regularly updated, and deadline alerts are sent out to our Facebook and Twitter followers on a daily basis.

We're sure you do not want to miss a single opportunity to write, be heard and recognized, and potentially earn from your writings. We urge you to support this free service/ not-for-profit initiative today. A $2 donation will be immensely appreciated. Thank you very much.

We've already updated the Upcoming Deadlines calendar on the right sidebar. Take a look and see where you should submit next.

Again, you can find us live on Yahoo Messenger. Add "resourceforwriters" and talk to us if you need assistance with your research or write-ups (related to writing, literature or journalism). Our search tools are sophisticated. We may be of help - real time!

Finally, donations are still very welcome. This is the only blog of its kind that's updated 7 days a week. A $1 donation will help save this blog. Support us.

We are maintaining 5 writing resource blogs and from the time that we first announced our call for donations, 16 people have donated. Thank you very much! At least we know that there are 16 people who are glad that our blogs are back and would like to support them. We can't thank you enough:

David Kernick
Michael Phoya
Allaboutwriting
Jennifer Robson
Zahira Tiara Shafiq
Ms Truschel
Michelle T Johnson
Corinna Underwood
Linda Chambara
Al Gerard de la Cruz
Audrey Frasure
Ian Correa
Danielle Craft
Pamela Sloss
Lisa Romeo
Jenna Krumminga

Donations are still very welcome especially now that we're doing so much work to catch up on opportunities that we've missed. A $1 donation will be highly appreciated. Just click on the yellow DONATE button on the right sidebar. Thank you.

This is our final blog template. We just fixed the bug that wouldn't allow the display of label or search pages. Sorry about that.

And it's about time we got connected. If you have queries/ requests for assistance, information or research (related to literature, journalism or writing) - chat with us. We're live on Yahoo Messenger 16 hours a day. Simply add resourceforwriters. Our research tools are sophisticated; we might be able to help you out - real time.

Our resource blogs and service rely on your donations. And yes, we still need them to help us get started again. We've been busy screening thousands of writing opportunities, re-designing the template and updating our calendars - your support will be immensely appreciated!

As you may have noticed, we've redesigned the blog again to give it a little color. We've added a middle column so you can easily share the posts and see related opportunities.

We have started updating the blog and we have just screened some writing opportunities for posting tomorrow. We'll work on our Upcoming Deadlines calendar and update the sidebars as well.

Donate $1 and help save this blog. You don't need a Paypal account to donate. Just click on our yellow DONATE button and it will take you to the secure payments page. To those who have already donated, thank you very much!

2011 wasn't a good year for us. We're freelancers and we used to rent an office where we could collectively work and at the same time be of service to writers worldwide. But that (and other resources) had to go.

From the time that we announced that we had to stop updating this blog, we've received hundreds of responses from interested people/ organizations who would like to take over. We're very sorry for not replying. We haven't had the chance to sit down and talk about the proposals as we would like to be able to revive this blog ourselves.

Now, we're seeking your help to get us started again. We've redesigned the blog for easier navigation and a cleaner look, and we've already set up our tools so we can update the blog with more relevant and "real" writing opportunities. Our posts will be carefully handpicked from thousands of sources.

Support us by donating any amount. Your donations will go to utilities, manhours and other resources involved in the updating of this blog. They will be well spent, we promise. A one-time donation of $5 will be immensely appreciated, but we are also accepting pledges of monthly/ be-monthly/ quarterly support as we are thinking of taking out the unsightly advertisements in the future. Just email us at writersafrika@gmail.com.

This is the only blog of its kind that's regularly updated, and we're sure you and the writing community in general have benefited from this labor of love.

We'll start updating this blog shortly. Let us also know of any requests and suggestions that you may have. In the meantime, do not hesitate to click on our donate link below. Thank you very much for your generosity. We're excited to get started again.

(IMPORTANT: You can still donate even if you don't have a Paypal account. Click on the donate button. Somewhere at the bottom of our donations page you can see "don't have a PayPal account" link. Further instructions are there.)