INKWELL
Keep your e-mails out of the spam box • why one writer writes • sending your best clips • contest winners update • nonwords • successful habits of debut authors • Your Assignment #187

WRITE BETTER
Crafting a First-person Essay
By Tom Bentley
Here's a start-to-finish guide to writing an essay that gets to the point while packing enough emotional and personal insight to connect with the reader. PLUS: Resources for essay writers.

Life After Death
By Sandra Dark
Want to make your fiction come alive? Then kill someone. Here's when you should bump off a character, why you should do it and how to do it right.

This Writer's Life
By Kevin Alexander
One month proves to be just the right amount of time to knock out a book proposal—with a rigid plan of attack.

Fiction Essentials
By James Scott Bell
How to build a better bad guy using the tools of humanity.

Niches: Poetry
By Miriam Sagan
Try these five poetic strategies to get your creativity out of a slump.

Writing Clinic
By Paul Bagdon
Develop your characters and the focal concept or plot with more than just narrative alone.

GET PUBLISHED
Oh, the Horror!
By Mark Mclaughlin
Here's what's happening in the horror market and how
to hone those horror skills, straight from some of the biggest names in the genre. PLUS: Simon Wood's overview of the horror short-story market—what's hot and who's buying.

The Six-Figure Writer
By Robert W. Bly
Create an enticing, business-focused Web site with these seven must-know strategies.

WORK SMARTER
Rise to the Top
By Heather Sellers
Winning writing contests can get you much-needed
recognition (not to mention a great self-esteem boost).
Try these tips to make your entry stand out. PLUS: A list
of reputable contests you can enter.

Questions & Quandaries
By Brian A. Klems
Selling first rights, "all right" vs. "alright" and more.

STAY INSPIRED
Writing in Style
By Tom Connor
Take a look inside the writing spaces of well-known professional writers while gathering tips on how to outfit your own space for maximum productivity and creative inspiration.

Idol Advice
By Dallas Nicole Woodburn
After writing to dozens of published authors, hoping to get advice on becoming a writer, an aspiring novelist received a surprising number of responses from some of the biggest names in publishing. Read what they had to tell her.

The Last Word
By Jack Clemens
J.R.R. Tolkien's myth-making tales are most alive in their original form: ink and paper.

PLUS …
Editor's Letter
Reader Mail

MARKETS
Crack dozens of markets by nailing each magazine's style.

BREAKING IN:
International markets may be more open to freelancers from abroad than you may think.


5 QUESTIONS for:
Charles Ardai, founding co-editor of the pulp fiction imprint Hard Case Crime.


AUGUST MARKETS
34 listings for book publishers, agents, contests, and consumer and trade magazines.