WRITERS' Journal

Table of Contents
July/August 2006
Volume 27, Number 4

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

It is summer, and many writers are out and about. Don’t forget the camera and notepad. Our photography columnist, Ron Kness, coaches us on how we can get some exceptional snapshots for the family photo album and for the article that must include a picture. Maryan Pelland in "Ten Essential Tips for Profitable Travel Writing," page 13, offers advice on how to write and sell travel articles.

Are you a parent? Regional parenting magazines may be just what you seek to share the parenting advice that worked for you. For those who aren’t parents, your perspective and unfettered opinions might be just what the editors of parenting magazines are looking for. Barbara and Jim Twardowski give us some insider information about this market that is very helpful. The hungry market for parenting articles will have you writing with a flashlight under the sheets.

On page 47, Patricia Fry gives us twelve ways to make money as a freelance writer. You have to think outside the box and investigate obscure markets. She includes some market contacts that will jump-start your search for lucrative opportunities. If any readers have suggestions on such markets, the rest of us are interested. Write us an article about your experience. We find our writing audience is always eager to learn of new markets to peddle their wares.

In the "For Beginners Only" column on page 58, Dee Hartman shows us how we can determine whether we are writing over the heads of our intended audience. Whether we are creating an article or a novel, we must be certain our writing can be understood and appreciated by the reader. She explains the Fog Index tool—something with which this editor wasn’t familiar.

Betty Ulrich coaches us on how to write an interview, and how to watch for the tough candidate and how to handle them. It is a most challenging genre of journalism. If you do it correctly, the subject and the editor will be most pleased.

Build it and they will come. Offer a 5,000-word fiction contest and they will write.

Allowing writers more elbowroom to express their thoughts generated some very well developed Fiction Contest stories. With more room to add more characters, write better descriptions, and interject finer details, the authors presented stories with depth not seen before in our writing contests. The perplexity of the stories did not make for easier judging—as you may well imagine; instead, it demanded that the judges scrutinize the entries with an even more critical mind. I hope you enjoy each of the winning stories published in this issue.

Esther Leiper comments on the prize-winning poems of the December Poetry contest. A cowboy, the lowly rutabaga, and death itself gave the authors plenty to expound on.

Columns

  4       .....Readers' P.O.V.

  5       .....Massaging the Muse, Lynne Pisano
           Be a Writer—Personal Writing Challenges, Conferences, and Contests

  6       .....Marketing Helps, Janet Elaine Smith
           E-books—EZ Money—for Free? 

  7       .....Effective Screenwriting, by Christina Hamlett
           Splat! Hitting the Wall with Writer's Block
            writer's block n. a temporary inability to proceed with the composition of a novel, play, etc. The bad news is that this malady isn't confined just to beginners. Even people who have been writing for eons can suddenly be struck with a mental paralysis that causes their heads to go as blank as an empty computer screen....

 10      .....Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness
           The Scenes of Summer
           Summer is the time of year to take pictures of the family reunion, your child's first home run of the season, or your vacation. With great weather, family activities, and a little vacation time, summer is one of the best times to get great pictures. Using the tips below will help to ensure that those photos are great ones....

 58       .....For Beginners Only, by Dee Hartman
            Is the Reading Comfort Zone of Your Writing on Target?
            Make Reading Effortless for Your Intended Audience
            Most materials in newspapers and magazines, written for adult reading today, range in the readability grade level of a junior high student (eighth grade through ninth grade levels). This is considered a comfort zone—where most adults are able to read without difficulty and can derive information or pleasure with ease. It is important for writers to know whether they are addressing the audience's comfort zone before sending submissions to editors. Many haven't considered this part of their writing skill....."

 59       .....Words...Tools of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich
            Some Won't Talk and Some Won't Stop!
            Have you tried interviewing people as a category of your writing? It's an interesting, if challenging, form of using your writing talents....

 61       .....WRITERS' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano
            July/August 2006 Market Report Plus, Anne-marie Belanger Ida of Countryside               Magazine
            Many times one idea passes through various media. For instance, first comes the book, then the play, then the film. Or maybe it was the poem turned into a song, turned into a Broadway play that gave birth to a script that was turned into a film. Or even a painting, such as Michelangelo's Last Supper. In this case, an event was recorded in painting. The painting was explained in a book, and the book became a film.....

                   Markets: Countryside Magazine, Phil Steele's College Football, The backwoodsman Magazine, Birds & Blooms, Taste of Home, Palm Beach Illustrated, Hunting the West, Elle Decor, Modernista Magazine, Viking Update.

Feature Articles

 13       .....Ten Essential Tips for Profitable Travel Writing, by Maryan Pelland
            Make Some Money—Have a Great Time
            If you can't dazzle them with detail, baffle them with BS. That's a perfect way to  not land a travel writing assignment. So why do novice writers, having seen a blurb touting, "Become a travel writer, see the world!" jump ship on everything they ever knew about writing?....

 16       .....The Sensual Scribbler, by Rob Laymon
            It's Not All in the Head
            It appears I must do this again. After I spent so many hours yesterday facing the page and waiting for inspiration, I am diving into this stew once more. I am expecting that cold slap, that sudden removal from all things pleasant, when the blank page reaches up and envelops me. Once inside, like a professional swimmer, I adjust to the temperature, Still, that first startling slap....

  19       .....Taking Baby Steps with Regional Parenting Publications, by Barbara & Jim          Twardowski
           Top Ten Tips
           Stepchildren in the publishing world, only a handful of regional parenting magazines can be found in writer's Market or the Writer's Handbook. Yet mmore than a hundred such publications are produced each month from Seattle to Miami....

 20       .....Conventions, by Robin M. Buehler
            Grounds for Learning
            With the number of conventions held annually in a variety of genres—including science fiction, fantasy, anime, and gaming—attendance is not solely for the fans hoping to meet their favorite authors or to dress up in their favorite Star Trek costumes.....

 22       .....How to Get an Agent with Your Very First Query, by Christopher Kokoski
            A Professional Pitch
            Unless your last name is Hilton or Leno, writing query letters is a must for getting and staying published. How would you like to get an agent with your very first query? Without any glamorous writing experience, with zero clips, I wrote a one-page query letter that landed me an agent in four months. You can do it, too.....

 43       .....Help Books Live—Recycle Them, James Patterson
            Save Books from the Landfill
            I was raised with a love for books. My small Alabama community had no public library. Books were precious commodities for me. They stimulated my thinking and journaling as a young writer. I longed to one day live in a city with a library. Folks in my community who wanted new books mostly got them through book clubs or mail order companies. After they had read their books, they shared them with others....

 44       .....Writing Groups, by Thea Miller Ryan 
            A Quick Fix
            After twelve years together as a writing group, we wondered if we were in a rut. We were getting published, we were working on novels, and we all had set goals for ourselves, but were we pushing ourselves enough?...

 46       .....Choosing Character Names, by Victoria Purdie
            Choose Wisely or Annoy Your Readers
            Choosing character names for your work of fiction is really important and one of the first things you should think about when plotting out your creation. It brings depth to your characters if you can visualize how they look and what their names are....

 47       .....A Dozen Unique Ways to Make More Money Writing,  by Patricia L. Fry
            Great Ideas for the Successful Freelance Writer
            Not every writer dreams of making his fortune from a best-selling book or earning a living through his craft. But there are plenty of us who do. How else can we justify spending so much time pursuing our art?...

Fiction

 27       .....The Man of Emotions, by Zain Deane
            First Prize Winner of 2006 Fiction Contest

 28       .....The Spider Web, by Meghann McVey
            Second Prize Winner of 2006 Fiction Contest

 30       .....Leaving Jerry-boy, by Arlene Mary Owen
            Third Prize Winner of 2006 Fiction Contest

February 20, 2006 Write to Win! Winner

 38       ....."Sisterhood"—Don't go near...," by Amanda V. Hayes

Poetry

 48       .....Every Day With Poetry, by Esther M. Leiper
            "Frost Heaves: The Art of Plying Parody"
            What would you do if you saw an eccentric old man approach a museum painting and start adding fresh pigment to the canvas? You'd shriek and yell for a guard. but attempting to change his own "finished" piece is what Picasso did—so the story goes. It was his oeuvre, and he demanded perfection of himself—or as close to perfect as he could get. Poets change their words as poems evolve, and he reasoned that if his painting suddenly seemed not quite right why—Alors! Vite! Fix!—no matter where....

 54       .....Esther Comments On..., by Esther M. Leiper
            Winners of the December 2005 Poetry Contest
            Some one-word titles work well; occasionally long ones do. The title of our First-Prize-winning monologue—composed of seven unrhymed triplets—is definitely on the long side. Perhaps the words Working Ranch aren't needed, especially since the information is provided in the last stanza. That is my only, and mild, criticism of this free verse piece....