Writing Unleashed with Laura M. Harkins

Once you’ve finished writing a chapter, short story or a section of dialogue, you need to make revisions.  Chances are your ass hurts from sitting for hours.  The computer has blurred your vision.  You’re tired.  You need to rest.  A couple days later you return to your piece.  The hair pulling begins as you read through your writing.  You are too close to your piece to revise it objectively.  What can you do?  If you have a trusted friend to edit it, you’ve struck gold. Don’t know someone who can edit? Another solution: join a writers group.  A writers group is a community of writers provides support, encouragement and an objective set of eyes for your writing.  Submit your work and you'll receive valuable feedback to improve your writing.    Remember, these folks are your readers.  They can lend insight to your writing: what worked; what’s missing.  Best part, it’s a symbiotic relationship.  Th...

I braved the cold and traveled into Philadelphia to the offices of MetroKids Magazine last Thursday. I’ve been interning for them for the past two and half months. Since most of my time is spent at home updating attractions listings, I wanted a chance to see how a magazine was put together for publication. Little did I know, everything is done on computers, and unless I was in charge of a specific section, I wasn’t going to learn much. When I emailed my interest to observe the production process, the editors told me to bring in the attraction listings and article I was working on because they were fully engaged in preparing the January issue. I was a bit nervous about bringing in my article on the 10 Family Movies of All Time , since I hadn’t made much progress with it. I couldn’t get a list of 10 movies for ages toddlers to teens to save my life. Another problem I ran into was determining what movies would not only entertain children, but their parents as well and offer disc...