Description

Read Psalms 113-115

Psalms 115:7 "They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat."

Some writers love description. They love to find just the right words to exactly describe the scene.

There are readers who also love description and enjoy losing themselves in the scene the writer is describing. But most are more interested in getting to the action of the story or article.

We want to strike the right balance. We want to use enough description to firmly anchor our readers in our writing world, but not so much that they skip over some of our best work.

Column

Read Psalms 109-112

Psalms 109:1 "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;"

Column writers have a consistent point of view. Their subjects are seen through the columnists’ filter of opinion.

Often a columnist will name the column to give readers an idea of what types of subject matter will be covered in the weeks or months ahead. The column becomes a platform for the writer.

It’s similar to a blog, except a column appears in print medium and the publication has a word count guideline. We might even find a market for a one-time column or as a contribution to an ongoing column.

Devotionals

Read Psalms 105-108

Psalms 107:13 "Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses."

When we hear about what God has done for someone, it encourages us in the midst of whatever we are going through. That is what devotionals do.

There are several markets, some that pay and some that don’t pay. They want to see scripture applied to daily life.

Each market will have its own specifications, but uplifting stories are what they are looking for. Length, submission protocols, and pay scale will vary.

Psalm

Read Psalms 101-104

Psalms 103:1 "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."

A psalm is part song, part poetry, part praise. Psalms are emotional, sometimes a positive emotion, sometimes an outpouring of anger or grief.

Even the more negative ones found in Psalms end positively. They seem to be part stream of consciousness and part journal.

When we want to write something that doesn’t quite fit into any other category, we might be writing a psalm. We can write some bits of wisdom or memorable phrases and build our psalm around them.

Newspaper

Read Psalms 97-100

Psalms 98:2 "The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen."

Newspapers are associated with a quick turnaround of articles. Since they report news, they have to get the word out while a story is still relatively unknown.

If we are nearby when a newsworthy event happens, we might be in a good position to write an article about it for our local paper. Querying and pitching the story must happen quickly so we will want to have the article ready if we get the go-ahead.

Newspapers also use feature stories, movie, book, and restaurant reviews, columns, humor, and more. We can research our local paper to find where some of the gaps might be and pitch our ideas.

Inspiration

Read Psalms 93-96

Psalms 96:6 "Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary."

Writers know better than to wait for inspiration before writing. But nothing beats the feeling of inspired writing flowing from our fingers.

We might be inspired by the beauty of nature or God’s presence we feel during worship. We might find inspiration in people watching.

We might be inspired by the devastation of nature gone wild, like storms and floods. Sometimes we can be inspired by the difficulties we face, turning our troubles into essays and articles.

Music

Read Psalms 89-92

Psalms 92:3 "Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound."

Several companies are good markets for music. Those who write songs will find plenty of places to submit them.

Songwriters are often also performers. If we write and perform our songs we could have people wanting to play what they’ve heard, so self-publishing and making CDs are also options as markets.

Some are good at lyrics and others better with the notes. If we struggle with one or the other, we can find people to partner with and bring out the best in both.

Gardening

Read Psalms 85-88

Psalms 85:12 "Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase."

Gardening has a wide variety of markets available. There are magazines that deal only with gardening and yard care.

Most other markets have a need for gardening related articles. Whatever expertise we have, from herb gardens to what grows well where, we will be able to pitch to everything from women’s magazines to children’s magazines, newspapers to what kind of grass sports fields use.

In the off-season, we might pitch indoor herb and flower gardens. Even our fiction can have characters who love to garden or who earn their living gardening and landscaping.

Military and Law Enforcement

Read Psalms 81-84

Psalms 82:3 "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy."

Those who dedicate their lives to defending us stir more than respect and gratitude. They can stir our writer’s imaginations as well.

There are a few markets that are dedicated to military or law enforcement. Other markets will require a deft spin on a military or law enforcement theme to fit the readership, but still it can be done—for instance an essay, or perhaps a children’s market might take an informational article.

But fiction is a rich garden for military or law enforcement characters. Stories, novels, screenplays, television scripts—nearly any story we might want to tell will have a market.

Bugs

Read Psalms 77-80

Psalms 78:46 "He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust."

If we have interest or expertise in bugs, spiders, etc., we may find the markets are generally about how to get rid of them. If we have knowledge about them because we have had to battle them, we can turn our experience into an article.

However, some children’s markets might be open to sharing information without trying to get rid of bugs as pests. We can encourage children already fascinated with them to learn more.

We can also incorporate our information in our fiction. We can either write about how the characters are overwhelmed with trying to get rid of them, or write about a character who collects them.

Seasonal Pieces

Read Psalms 73-76

Psalms 74:17 "Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter."

When we have a hard time coming up with ideas to pitch, we might want to try seasonal material. Some holidays, like Christmas might already have lots of other writers pitching ideas, but there are other seasons, holidays, and celebrations with less competition that we could pitch.

Seasonal material needs to be submitted well in advance. The writer’s guidelines will state what kind of a lead the publication needs.

Even fiction markets, both novel and short story, have seasonal potential. Short stories still have submission deadlines for seasonal material, but novels can take as long as needed to finish.

Memoir

Read Psalms 69-72

Psalms 69:11 "I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them."

Keeping a journal is especially helpful when we are going through a difficult time. Writers know we can turn every dark night of the soul into a writing project.

Memoirs are one place to market our journey. We will want to wait to pronounce the book as finished and ready to submit until we have some distance from our trauma.

Memoirs are not simply autobiographies, because they have a theme: overcoming what we went through. They should be as good a read as a novel and give the reader hope that they too will get through whatever they are going through.

Transportation

Read Psalms 65-68

Psalms 68:17 "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place."

Getting our characters from one place to another can be awkward to describe. But no matter how much or how little detail we use, we will want to find out what kind of transportation was available, especially for historical novels.

And not only what was available, but what most people used. Even if cars had been invented, not everyone ran out and bought them.

So we will want to know what was popular at the time, too. Even a story written in contemporary times needs accuracy about what kinds of cars, buses, planes, etc., and what features and restrictions there are.

Greeting Cards

Read Psalms 61-64

Psalms 63:4 "Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name."

When we want to send a card to someone, we know what we are looking for. We don’t always find it, however.

Some greeting card companies are open to freelancers. We will want to find out what they are looking for and submit accordingly.

Hopefully we will be able to find a market that sells the kinds of greeting cards we were looking for. If not right away, perhaps we can be the ones to ease the company into our ideas slowly.

Delayed Gratification

Read Psalms 57-60

Psalms 57:3 "He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth."

When we have delayed gratification in our lives, it’s very frustrating. We do everything we can to make things happen faster.

But delayed gratification is a must in fiction. Our characters have to struggle hard for their reward or the story fizzles too soon.

Our readers stay interested when they are frustrated by the story’s delayed gratification. They’ll do anything they can to make things happen faster—like keep reading until the end.

Opinion

Read Psalms 53-56

Psalms 53:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good."

Everybody has an opinion but not everybody has their opinion published. When we feel strongly about an issue, we can write to the editor of the local newspaper.

If we write a longer piece, we might be able to get it published in the op-ed section of the newspaper. We will need an expertise in order to be taken seriously, but publication and payment are still possible.

Our blogs are the easiest way to get our opinions published. Or we might even write a book about an issue, but we’ll need plenty of data and research to back up our opinions.

Animals

Read Psalms 49-52

Psalms 50:10 "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills."

Animal markets include articles about pets, farm animals, zoo animals, animals in the wild, and even pest animals. Depending on our interests, we can find a place for nearly any article we might want to write.

We might write an essay about a favorite pet. Even books are written about animals, if we are ambitious or have a great deal to say.

Many fiction stories involve animals. An animal might be the star of the story or simply a big part of the human characters’ lives.

Writing is a Calling

Read Psalms 45-48

Psalms 45:1 "My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer."

When we get rejection after rejection we might be ready to give up. Maybe we aren’t meant to be writers.

We don’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different response—the very definition of insanity. We can take a hint.

What we can’t seem to do is stop writing. Ideas, phrases, images, and the rest keep popping up in our imaginations because writing is our calling, whether or not we ever profit from it.

Wildlife

Read Psalms 41-44

Psalms 42:1 "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."

We have to know something about wildlife in order to use it. We can research using magazines, books, and even television documentaries.

If we use magazines, we will want to be sure not to pitch an idea similar to what they have already published to them. However, the material we learn can be turned into articles for children’s magazines and other markets.

We can also use what we learn in our fiction. We might use wildlife metaphors or have our characters interacting directly with wildlife in all sorts of plot complications.

Disabilities

Read Psalms 37-40

Psalms 38:13 "But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth."

When we write about challenged characters, we might write about the protagonist or other characters. Whether we write about the protagonist or other characters being the challenged one, we can decide if the challenge is physical or mental.

We might write about a character who has already accepted and integrated the challenge into her daily life or about a character for whom the challenge is recent and still raw and how they cope. Whether the character is the protagonist or another character, the challenge will affect the other characters in the story.

If we have experience in challenges or interest in making others' lives easier, there are several markets specifically for disabled, handicapped, chronically ill, or other challenges. We could also write an essay about our own experience or interview someone who has turned his challenge into a mission.

Enemies

Read Psalms 33-36

Psalms 35:15 "But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:"

Enemies are not necessarily the same as villains. We can use enemies to further our plots and still have a villain for the big showdown.

Our protagonist’s enemies might not be deliberately standing in our hero’s way to happiness. But in order to be considered an enemy, they do need to have an opposing agenda from our protagonist.

An enemy could be a childhood rival that hasn’t yet been made into a friend and continues to thwart the hero almost by habit. An enemy could even be an organization or group whose goals create hardships for our protagonist.

Voice

Read Psalms 29-32

Psalms 29:4 "The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty."

Our writer’s voice is very important to us. We tend to spend way too much time obsessing over it.

We want to write like our favorite author, but not too much like them. We want to be unique, but not so unique that our work is unmarketable.

Voice comes more naturally than we fear. As we rewrite and polish for certain publications or readership, the voice will come through. When we concentrate on the voice instead of the piece, we risk a stilted and boring read for all we are trying to reach.

Brochures

Read Psalms 25-28

Psalms 27:5 "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."

The first brochure we want to do will be one for our writing business. Not only will it be good advertising, but it gives potential clients more information than a business card will.

A good brochure tells a client something about the company, perhaps some history. Our own brochure could be a short biography or the story of why we got into the writing business.

A client is especially interested in what the company can do for her. That’s where our best salesmanship comes in as we convince clients we, or the company we are doing the brochure for, are the only solution for them.

Rest

Read Psalms 21-24

Psalms 23:3 "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

Rest is important for us, for our readers, and for our characters. For ourselves, we can’t keep pushing without allowing for a break, whether it’s a break each day or whether we set aside a day or days to rest.

For our readers, there are many markets for how to rest articles, whether it’s along the lines of how to get a good night’s sleep or how to take a break from a stressful life. For fiction, we build in some breathing room so our readers don’t wear themselves out reading our story.

For our characters, we write times when they take care of their needs like meals and times when they sort out what has gone before and plan their next move. There is also usually a downtime moment in the novel before the big showdown so both characters and readers can catch their breaths.

Readers

Read Psalms 17-20

Psalms 18:25 "With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;"

When we’re writing, we want to keep our readers in mind. If we are writing a journal that no one else will see, we can let loose and write whatever we please.

Even a journal might have other readers, unless we destroy them before we die. But most writing we do is expected to have other readers.

Sometimes it helps to picture just one of those we hope will be reading our words. Other times, it helps to keep the variety of people we are writing for in mind.

Essays

Read Psalms 13-16

Psalms 14:2 "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God."

Essays are a short piece of writing on a particular subject, according to the dictionary. They tend to be more formal than a column.

We write essays when we have strong opinions or maybe some experience about a certain issue. There are plenty of markets for any kind of essay we might want to write.

Whether we want to sell to magazines or newspapers, we will want to get familiar with the publication to see what kinds of subjects are covered and what tone will be expected from us. Once we get enough published, we might even gather them together for a book.

Self Help

Read Psalms 9-12

Psalms 9:1 "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works."

Self help information has lots of markets. We all want to improve our selves and our lives.

Magazines, newspapers, newsletters are hungry for self help articles. Once we’re familiar with our target, we can think up all kinds of ideas for the readers.

If we already have ideas or expertise we might prefer to write a book. They take longer, of course, but if it’s a subject that comes from our hearts or experience, we may have a head start on the research.

Prayers

Read Psalms 5-8

Psalms 5:3 "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."

As we read through the Psalms, we can’t help but get in a prayerful mood. Is there any market for writing prayers or is prayer just for journaling?

Prayer books used in churches and synagogues are unlikely to be seeking material since the same ones have been used for so many years. However, there is a small market for prayers.

The markets are mostly for books of prayer or about prayer, for instance for children or for a certain subject. Also, there are a few markets for prayers in the form of poetry.

Blog Writing

Read Psalms 1-4

Psalms 2:7 "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee."

Getting published is easy if we blog. Unless we’re writing things that are illegal or immoral, our blog will be published on the internet with a click.

We can choose to write about a subject we are passionate about like a political issue. We might write more of a how-to blog, for instance about writing.

We might write about our lives as things come up, like a diary. Or we could write about our lives combining a how-to approach with a journal, for instance coping with life as a disabled vet.

Endings

Read Job 40-42

Job 42:12 "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses."

Endings need to be memorable. It’s the last impression the reader has.

If it’s an article, one way to end is with a circle back to the beginning. We might start an anecdote in the beginning and bring it to a close at the end.

If it’s fiction, we can still reflect back on the beginning in many ways. Happy ending or unhappy ending, we want to show the protagonist’s life beyond the story.