WRITERS' Journal Table of Contents
November/December 2002
Volume 23, Number 6

Columns

  2        .....Editor's Note

  4        .....Massaging the Muse, Lynne Remick
            Hocus Focus

  5        .....Marketing Helps, Janet Elaine Smith
            Make it a Special Event

  6        .....Effective Screenwriting, by Jerry McGuire
            Where, When, Who, What's Happening?
            While a screenplay looks like a really weird format to people who are not involved in the complex business of writing, directing, producing, or performing in motion pictures, all of the questions about getting a story on screen must be answered for professional. Yet, a script is a basic "blue-print" or a highly organized set of suggestions presented to the director. He or she will be in complete control of every production.

  8        .....Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness
            The Basics of Scanning
            If you have photos or slides and you want to digitize them, scanning is the way to do this. We'll discuss the two basic types of scanners.

10        .....Computer Business, by Robert Anthony
            Cyber Draculas
            If you're committed to finding work on the Internet, watch out for e-world freeloaders. Beware, dear writers, of those who hide behind the electronic screen of the Internet to chisel you out of your professional writing services.

55        .....For Beginners Only, by William Eisner
            Advice to a Fledgling Writer: Perseverance Is Where It's At
            "He Who Waits for the Muse is Lost" is a good motto for a writer to hang over his desk. If you wait for inspiration, you may never finish anything.

56        .....Words...Tools of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich
            Do You Need an Agent to Sell Your Work?
            Do you have agent problems? Do you wonder how to get one? Or, having taken the plunge and queried several, have you been rejected? When that happens, it's a real blow. It seems even worse than being rejected by a publisher. You think, "How can I ever expect to be accepted by a publishing company if even an agent rejects me?"

58        .....WRITERS' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano
            There are numerous rights that pertain to your prepublished material. It is up to you to decide which ones to give to the publisher. This issue must be addressed before publication can take place. And some simple guidelines can help you decide which rights to offer.

Feature Articles

12        .....Writers Online, by Sue Marquette Poremba
            Finding the Right Writers' Group
            I'll never forget the excitement I felt the day I discovered online writing groups. It was the early'90s, well before the entire country went dot.com and only a handful of my co-workers used e-mail. Usenet was popular, and I stumbled onto misc.writing.

14        .....Critiques, by Isabel Viana
            Selecting the Best of What You Get
            Having your work critiqued is an effective way of improving any writing you do. However, especially if more than one person critiques the same article, story or essay, you may end up with not only different but also contradictory comments. Critic X will say, "Just because it's a romance, it doesn't have to be that hot," while critic Y implores, "More love scenes!" As a writer whose work is being critiqued, you must do two things in order to survive the process: First, welcome every suggestion for changes in your manuscript, as it is merely a suggestion. Next, study the comments you've received and decide what changes will improve your work and still keep your voice intact.

16        .....Say, What?, by J. D. Harper
            FYI
            Just about the first thing you discover when you join fellow geeks and surfers on the World Wide Web, is that it's a world of acronyms. You know—those weird words made up from the first letter(s) of each word in a string—like RADAR, which is a shorthand version of Radio Detecting and Ranging. Bet you didn't know that.

19        .....Don't Forget the Art, by Dennis Piszkiewicz
            Getting Photos to Illustrate Your Writing
            The nature of some written works demand that they be illustrated by artwork. A writer of a nonfiction article or book may often improve her chance of getting it accepted by an editor if she also provides photos or illustrations. The cost of stock photographs and permissions from commercial archives often runs to several hundreds of dollars per item, and the total cost for illustrating a piece may devour much or all of the writer's fee. This is especially true for someone trying to break in. The writer can improve her chances of having her work accepted and save a lot of money if she knows what editors want and how to exploit sources of free of inexpensive artwork.

21        .....Beware of Toxic Tuesday, by Mark Munger
            Or Things Learned after Writing a Novel
            In September of 1990 I was in the process of recovering from back surgery. My wife got the big idea that I should attempt to write the Great American Novel. When my wounds healed sufficiently to allow me to begin long walks, I started to daydream. Plot themes and imaginary characters began to spring to life during my  jaunts.

41        .....Words of Journalism, by Richard L. Meister, Jr.
            Know What the Editor's Talking About
            When I came across publishing and journalism terms in Descriptionary, I didn't think I'd find any words or terms I didn't know. I had spent several years studying writing and my first article was published in 1985. Still, I found several words and terms I had never heard before.

42        .....Avoiding Gun Gaffes, by Phil Bowie
            Arming Your Characters Accurately
            I was happily plowing through a recent paperback thriller, the author's second published effort, when I stumbled onto this:

Fiction

May 2002 Short Story Contest Winners

27        .....Childhood Memory, by Carol Stoffel
            First Prize Winner of  May 2002 Short Story Contest

28        .....Splintered Dreams, by Michael A. Heady
            Second Prize Winner of  May 2002 Short Story Contest

30        .....Victory in the Coliseum, by Linda Lane McCall
            Third Prize Winner of  May 2002 Short Story Contest

More Fiction

32        .....You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover, by Margaret Davidson
            H.M. Winner of 2000 Fiction Contest

36        .....The Bribe, by Sheryl Tempchin
            H.M. Winner of 2001 Romance Contest

June 20, 2002 Write to Win! Winner

38        ....."There's that noise again...," by Belinda S. Ayers

Poetry

45        .....Every Day With Poetry, by Esther Leiper-Jefferson
            "Formal or Free: Which Way to Be"
            Robert Shelford is one of the livelier poets around who argues for structured, patterned, metered poetry—the very kind he writes prolifically and well. His latest book, Rich Blend, which features many of his own prizewinning poems, is dedicated to the First Florida Poets organization for which he currently serves as president.

50        .....Esther Comments, Esther Leiper-Jefferson
            The Winners —April 2002 Poetry Contest
            America, as a whole, fondly says our nation is Christian, while many Christians declare we are dreadfully heathen—by which is meant any faith or philosophy non-Jesus-oriented, no matter how ancient, honorable, balanced, and intelligent its tenets may be.

Photo Contest

May 2002 Photo Contest Winners

64        ....First Prize, "Natalie," by John Chris Brault
            John Chris Brault captured his niece, Natalie, in her moment of excitement with his Pentex K1000 camera. John is a hobby photographer and an aspiring writer.

            ....Second Prize, "Untitled," by Carol McKeown

            ....Third Prize, "Untitled," by Zilia L. Laje

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