WRITERS' Journal

Table of Contents
March/April 2006
Volume 27, Number 2

      .....Editor's Note, by Leon Ogroske 

I have attended many meetings throughout my career and oftentimes wished a creative somebody would have conveyed to the public the essence of the meeting without being boring. To create an interesting report for a general audience can be daunting, but Michael Tidemann lays the groundwork for such writing in his "Covering Meetings" article.

Taking that idea a step further, Aneeta Brown in "Shut Up and Write" guides us through the maze of interviewing. She outlines a proper protocol you can use to obtain a meeting with a prospective interviewee, how to conduct the meeting, and how to transcribe the interview into an article that is beneficial to everyone involved. She cautions us to check out facts and quotes for accuracy—something some large news reporting publications have yet to perfect.

Have you ever been interested in participating in television game or talk shows? Our "Creativity Contests" columnist, Dorothy Geiger, not only has an interest, but has taken part in a few. She shares with us what to expect and how to conduct oneself at the screening and taping of them.

The winning Write to Win! story was liked by all the judges and staff. Truly a good read. Congratulations is definitely in order for K. J. Thorpe.

And don’t miss the cartoon on page 42. Jonny Hawkins hit the nail on the head.

Requests for Esther Leiper’s "WIN! Poetry Contests" book continue to flow into the office. This informative book has been the brainchild of WRITERS’ Journal for quite a few years. Readers will agree the time it has taken to get it published is well worth it. Esther guides poets on a firm deliberate path toward successful writing. Her years of writing, critiquing, and judging poetry qualify her for this authorship. Inasmuch as some might see this as more of a textbook for the classroom than a leisurely read, an active poet will regard it as a treasure-trove of information. Esther gives away many secrets to winning poetry contests; she has upped the competition.

Columns

  4        .....Readers' P.O.V.

  5        .....Massaging the Muse, Lynne Pisano
            Lionish Lamb

  6        .....Marketing Helps, Janet Elaine Smith
            Digging Out of the Doldrums 

  7       .....Effective Screenwriting, by Christina Hamlett
           Timing Is Everything
            The good news is that the editor loved the plot. The bad news is that the story was set in Hawaii....

 10      .....Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness
           The Landlubber's Guide to Underwater Photography
           The title of this article may be a little misleading or vague. What we are really talking about is taking images of underwater animals living in aquariums. These aquariums can be of the ten-gallon variety you have at home or the one million-gallon type found in many larger cities.....

 11      .....Computer Business, by John Anchor
           Save Time and Frustration with Microsoft Word
           I recently replaced my Windows 98SE desktop, which came with Word 2000, for a newer laptop. This one has Windows XP and Word 2003 installed. I checked the information below on the XP machine only. As I recall—and that can be doubtful at times because I've napped since then and may be in need of retraining—these procedures work the same in both versions of Microsoft Word....

 48      .....Creativity Contests, by Dorothy J. Geiger
           March/April 2006
           Would any of your creative ideas be suitable for reality or talk shows? Numerous opportunities are available.....

 58       .....For Beginners Only, by Genie Dickerson
            Trust: The Unspoken Element in Selling Your Writing—Help Your Editor to Trust You
            Most of us have read a published piece and said, " I could have written that better." Maybe we submitted an article to the same publication, but the other guy won the byline and the check. We can't help but ask, "What did he have that I didn't?" The answer lies in a sixth sense that editors have about freelance writers...."

 59       .....Words...Tools of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich
            How to Rev Up Your Enthusiasm and Writing Skills
            Does anyone—besides your spouse or your mother—read your manuscripts? If not, you are possibly missing out on a valuable aid to our perception and growth as a writer. When done well, critiquing can help you see where your story or article or book chapter is not working. It will spot typos, misspelled words, and grammatical errors, that either you overlooked or you didn't know you were committing.....

 60       .....WRITERS' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano
            What would happen if one day you woke up and discovered that you were unable to Google or Yahoo!, that your cell phone was just for speaking to someone, and that the "Information Highway" had came to a sudden end? And everyone was affected.....

                   Markets: Milwaukee Home, Wisconsin Trails, the Herb Quarterly, Veggie Life, Bicycling Magazine, Starlog, The New York Dog, South Florida Sport Fishing Magazine, PINK Magazine, WaterCraft World

Feature Articles

 15       .....Beating Procrastination, Part Two of Three, by Dennis E. Hensley
            Benefiting from Bromides
            Probably the first rule we had drilled into us by our writing instructors was to avoid clichés—those overused, worn-out, tired expressions heard so frequently in daily conversations. However, the only way an expression can become overused is if it contains enough truth to warrant being repeated. 

 16       .....Online Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing, by Macey Wuesthoff
            And the Importance of Self-Marketing in Both
            With all the online publishers that have sprung up in the last few years—some legit and some not—the publishing world is filled with controversial theories on whether online publishing is "real publishing." Should writers publish their work in this medium? as I am an author recently published in print and electronic format by an online publisher, more than one writer has asked me about the advantages and disadvantages of traditional versus print publishers, and ultimately whether writers should submit their works to online publishers....

 21       .....Sign Your Way to Sales, by Carolyn Campbell
           Maximizing Success at a Book Signing
            Holding a book signing is a way to both publicize and sell your book. Michael Larsen, a partner in the Michael Larsen–Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agency, says, "Writing is a relatively a small part of making most books successful. The subsequent promotion plans are at least eight times more important. You may spend the rest of your life promoting your book. To be successful, you must be eager to communicate your ideas with readers. In reality, every book is a self-published book and the author must prove that it is fail-proof because of what he will bring to it...."

 41       .....Technical Writing ABCs, by Patrick M. Kennedy
            Scratching the Surface of the Craft
            Writers are now and then called upon to create technical documentation. This is a good source for additional income. The majority of writers can do it, for sure, but for those unsure, certain guidelines must be followed to create clear and practical documents....

42        .....Writers' Notebook
            Favorites: www.writingfix.com , www.pseudodictionary.com .
            How to Find the "Writer's Guidelines" on a Web Site, by Sarojni Mehta-Lissak
            Best Writing Advice, by Rix Quinn

 43       .....Shut Up and Write, by Aneeta Brown
            And Get the Interview You Want
            Most of us are irresistibly drawn to something, year after year after year. At least one object of activity pleases, motivates, or inspires us....

 46       .....Making Every Word Count, by Bernadette Geyer
            How Word Choices Affect Your Poems
            Poetry is distilled language; that is why it is not prose. Whereas authors of many other types of writing get paid by the word, poets usually benefit from the use of fewer words....

More Fiction

 27       .....Substitue Bride, by Michael A. Heady
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2004 Romance Contest

 28       .....Nobility, by Jeff Reiff
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2005 Fiction Contest

 30       .....Wish Box, by Dave Cross
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2005 Fiction Contest

 32       .....In the Garden, by Madonna Dries Christensen
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2005 Horror/Ghost Contest

 36       .....The Forgotten Man, by Connie Torrisi
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2005 Short Story Contest

October 20, 2005 Write to Win! Winner

 38       ....."Death Mates"—The alarm buzzed...," by K. J. Thorpe

Poetry

 51       .....Every Day With Poetry, by Esther M. Leiper
            "The Uncanny Valley"
            If and when, where and how ought machines take over human responses, take on human responsibilities? (Perhaps the question is out of date; in many fields machines have done so already.) Or, getting weirder, might scarecrows acquire life force?....

 55       .....Esther Comments On..., by Esther M. Leiper
            Winners of the August 30 2005, Poetry Contest
            Our First Prize Winner, The Clock Stopped , a lyric piece set in quatrains of iambic tetrameter by Joseph Baumhover, captures a brief moment in which a miracle happens. the Second and Third Prize Winners also capture immediate instants—swift to occur but resonating for a long time.....