Simple Writing Projects from the Public Domain

Most early publications, now in the public domain, are a rich source of items you can reword and submit to editors and publishers as readers’ letters and other short written forms.  Out of copyright items can, of course, be subjected much the same as they were originally published, although personally I would either reword them or acknowledge the original source. 

There are the sort of things you can create from ideas taken from the public domain:

#  Readers’ Letters.  Word for word, this has to be one of the most profitable writing forms, and even letters as short as a dozen words are in high demand by thousands of worldwide markets.

#  Anecdotes. In theory, anecdotes are short narratives of a particular incident or occurrence of an interesting nature.  In practice, we often find an element of humour included.

 #  Poetry and Verse.  A popular category with many publications, where types include rhyming couplet, limerick, four-liners, prose, humorous verse, and all manner of customised creations.  Study potential markets before submitting anything since preferences vary significantly.

#  Press Errors.  Look no further for press errors and misprints than the local free papers we all seem to accumulate in great abundance.  What we require in the filler sense is merely a misprint that is funny or hopefully ludicrous.  A misprint without humour is of little use to writer, reader or editor.

#  Short-Shorts.  These are just very short pieces of interesting information, such as something you read about your area which is not readily known and might interest local editors.

#  Did You Know?  Strange and Little-Known Facts.  These are simply write-ups about odd things readers are probably not aware of. 

#  Quotes.  Quotes are statements usually attributed to famous people.