WRITERS' Journal

Table of Contents
September/October 2005
Volume 26, Number 5

Columns

  2       .....Editor's Note

  4       .....Marketing Helps, Janet Elaine Smith
           Slogging through the World of Blogging

  5       .....Massaging the Muse, Lynne Pisano
           Light the Way to Writing Tight with a Lantern Poem   

  7       .....Effective Screenwriting, by Christina Hamlett
           Beware the Artful Dodgers
            Once upon a more innocent time, the measure of an organization's legitimacy was proportional to the perceived expense of its letterhead and business cards. I even recall to this day a friend of my mother declaring, "Well, obviously it's a real company! Why would they spend money on such nice stationery if it wasn't?"...

 10        .....Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness
           Shooting in National Parks
            By last count, approximately 300 million people make this nation's national parks their vacation destination, and the majority of those people bring a camera or two with them. And why wouldn't they? The beauty of the landscapes, wildlife, and other subjects provided my Mother Nature, coupled with families experiencing all of this, make these parks the most photographed destinations in America. After shooting photos in the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Zion, Cedar Breaks, and Bryce Canyon, I offer some tips and techniques to improve your photos of these national park destinations....

12       .....Computer Business, by Colin G. West
           Using Microsoft Word, Part Three: Even More Really Useful Stuff
           The techniques outlined in these articles were tested on my computer, which runs Windows 98SE. If your computer uses Windows XP, one or two of the procedures may be slightly different. Nothing you can't cope with.

51        .....Creativity Contests, by Dorothy J. Geiger
            September/October 2005
            There are numerous creative contests offered by national advertisers. We have expanded our information to include such opportunities to include writing, photography, slogans, captions, short reviews of movies, and personal experiences....

59        .....For Beginners Only, by Sandra Miller
            Targeting Enemy Words—How to Spot Wasted Words
            Writers are notorious for their love of words. Because of that, we often have a hard time learning to consider certain words as enemies. Here are some words that can suck the impact out of your writing....

60        .....Words...Tools of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich
           Lessons Learned from a Best Seller
            What writer hasn't dreamed of having an unexpected best seller that suddenly blasts off and takes the world by storm? Like what happened to J. K. Rowling and her phenomenal Harry Potter series. That's supposed to happen maybe once in a lifetime. Well, it seems to have happened again in the case of another British writer. Her name is Michelle Paver. Years ago, when she was a student at Oxford, she wrote a fantasy about a boy and a wolf living in the wild....

61        .....WRITERS' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano
            Did you ever wonder whether it's better to read the book or to see the movie? Unless forced, many people opt for the movie. They take the quick fix of the visual stimulation, where every color, motion, action, and reaction is performed. But isn't that really just settling for the easiest option?....

                   Markets: Home Remodeling Cape Cod & The Islands, ShowBoats International, Time Out New York, Smallville Magazine, New Jersey Savvy Living, South Jersey Magazine, Southwest Fly Fishing, Travel + Leisure GOLF, Writers Ask.

Feature Articles

19        .....Copyright Protection for Writers, by Maryan Pelland
            Easy Ways to Control Your Material
            An e-mail from a formerly reputable vendor flamed in uppercase declaration, "Act NOW! Copyright your writing, your Web site, your very name. Thwart unscrupulous others bent on stealing your work for nefarious purposes."....

22        .....What's Your Genre?, by Robin Theiss
            The Importance of Form and Intent
            In writers' circles, the popular equivalent to "What's your sign?" is "What's your genre?" Many writers, especially beginners, are often at a loss to answer this most fundamental question concerning their craft. Some respond vaguely, with "Fiction" or "Nonfiction," tossing the ball back into the inquirer's court to determine exactly what kind of fiction or nonfiction they mean. some simply look distressed and launch into a detailed description of a current literary project. Others resort to naming some of the authors they admire and hope to emulate in their own writing....

41        .....Ten Simple Exercises to Improve Your Craft, by Robert R. Hostetler
            Great Writing Begins with Hard Work
            I used to think that writers were magic. Mysterious. Special. A breed apart. Then I became one....

42        .....Writers' Notebook
            Favorites: rhymezone.com , m-w.com , www.onelook.com , www.symbols.com .
            Gripe of the Month, Colin G. West

43        .....The Art of the Rough Draft, by Sidney C. Blaylock, Jr. 
            Learn to Tell, and Then Show
            Draft, drafting: A working version of a piece of writing. The process of setting ideas down in writing so they may be revised and edited.—Harbrace College Handbook, Fifteenth Edition.....

45        .....Critique Groups, by Libby Grandy
            To Join or Not to Join
            I host an empowering, motivating critique group that meets once a week at Borders Bookstore in Montclair, California. Since its inception seven years ago, our members have written and published many articles and several books, crediting the invaluable critiques they received. Consequently, I strongly recommend joining such a group....

46        .....The Myth of Being "In the Mood" to Write, by 
            Turn from Mood to Method

Fiction

March 2005 Horror/Ghost Winners:

27        .....The Sound of the Sea, by Steve Muscato
            First Prize Winner of 2004 Horror/Ghost Contest

28        .....A Mother's Obligation, by Christopher Brooks
            Second Prize Winner of 2004 Horror/Ghost Contest

30        .....The Ninth Life, by Emily Jean Carroll
            Third Prize Winner of 2004 Horror/Ghost Contest

More Fiction

32        .....The Big Money, by Ivan M. Forbes
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2004 Short Story Contest

36        .....The Real Fantasy, by Sherry H. Salois
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2004 Romance Contest

April 20, 2004 Write to Win! Winner

38        ....."Trouble With the Boss"—The dew covered...," by Phil Decker

Poetry

53        .....Every Day With Poetry, by Esther M. Leiper
            "What about Free Verse? Part One of a Two-Part Column"
            Here's the simplistic view: "Rhymed verse—it rhymes, see? Like moon, June, croon; or light, bright, trite. And free verse—well, it doesn't rhyme." This is true to a limited point, but not useful to the thoughtful poet. In fact, the virtues of free verse—as opposed to those of traditional verse using rhyme and meter—is a debate that has been ongoing since Walt Whitman's time. Then in the 1980s, just when the modern poetry world smugly declared rhyme to be "history," the Expansive/New Formalism movement developed, the proponents of which say, "Not so Fast."...

57        .....Esther Comments On..., by Esther M. Leiper
            "The Fabric" and "Busy Fingers"
            "The Fabric," by John McCrevey, is a poem ostensibly about a piece of material, perhaps a blanket or a throw used on a sofa. McCrevey—or the speaker (who may or may not be McCrevey)—tells us that it was "all the same color" when new, but since he has "lived in it, on it, around it,/it is many hued."