WRITERS' Journal Table of Contents

January/February 2004

Volume 25, Number 1

Columns

2

..... Editor's Note

4

..... Marketing Helps, by Janet Elaine Smith

Success: Where to Begin

5

..... Massaging the Muse, by Lynne Remick

Shoot for the Goal

6

..... Effective Screenwriting, by Jerry McGuire

Are you a Scriptwriter?
Let’s face it. Not everyone qualifies to be a scriptwriter: Okay, call it a screenwriter if you want to pretend to write screens rather than scripts—but, honestly, what does it take?

8

..... Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness

Digital Image Storage
One of the questions continually asked at my "Totally Digital" Photography Seminars is how to store digital images. This column explores some of the options available.

10

..... Computer Business, by Robert Anthony

SPAM Away
E-mail is quickly becoming a primary form of communication between writer and editor and others at home and at work. Everyone finds his/her own style and method for writing good e-mails, but often important nuances of communication are lost without direct personal contact. Below are several suggestions for good e-mail etiquette:

58

..... For Beginners Only, Emma J. Wisdom

Breaking into Print—Your Desired Occupation
One can pursue several thousand occupations listed in the Dictionary of Occupational Terms (D.O.T.). But the singular occupation that you should avid at all cost is that of writer, especially if you have a problem making a commitment. Why do I say that? It’s the one occupation where no one except another writer understands what it is that you do.

59

..... Words...Tools Of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich

One-liners
Most writers, at some time or another, record their thoughts about the subject they find fascinating, i.e., writing itself. I thought it might be interesting to collect some of those snippets as a sort of peek into writers’ minds. Here is a small collection of one-liners—thoughts by writers about writing, about books, and even about words themselves:

61

..... Writers' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano

What do you do when an editor rejects your query/manuscript? Do you throw the whole idea out the window? Do you lock yourself in a room and cry until morning? Or do you read that little depreciating slip and take a second look at your submission? The correct answer is: take a second look, or third or fourth or fifth!
Markets: Appleseeds, Nursing Spectrum, Entrepreneur Magazine, Lakestyle Magazine, The Herb Companion, Worcester Magazine, Cobblestone Magazine, Vestal Review, Bloomsbury Review, Warner Press, Another Chicago Magazine, PTO Today, Oatmeal Studios.

Feature Articles

12

..... I Swear It’s True, by Jim Couper

Profanity Produces Endangered Speeches
Warning: the read ahead is potholed with allusions to profanities and is thus rated TG-18.

13

..... Rewriting: The Prescription for Ailing Manuscripts, by Dennis Hensley

Doctor Ordered
I once spent five years researching and writing a doctoral dissertation on the writings of Jack London. After all that time, I got to the point where I couldn’t stand the sight of the word "London." I would open my morning newspaper and see: "The London gold market opened today at…." I’d rip it out of my paper. Aggghhh!

14

.....Sitcom Writing: Getting Your Foot in the Door, by Brad Manzo

Answers to Commonly Asked Questions
Earning a writing credit on a television sitcom is quite an accomplishment. As comedy writer Robin Kelly points out on www.writing.org.uk, "[Sitcoms are] the most difficult area for a new writer to break into." After spending countless hours perfecting your spec scripts, you then have the unenviable task of landing an agent and then (and only then) getting a job.

16

..... Steady Assignments in Soft News, by James Patterson

Writing Soft News Isn’t Hard
Washington has a reputation as the news capital of the world. Rightly so: 535 lawmakers seeking media coverage for their issues feed newspaper articles and videotape news bits to impress their constituents. Of course, the president and cabinet officials are also seeking news coverage for their issues. It seems that everywhere I turn there is a news event.

21

.....Article Leads, by Lawrence & Suella Walsh

How to Hook the Reader
Have you been told that your first paragraph must capture the reader’s attention? Were you warned that editors won’t read further if you don’t accomplish this goal? This advice is worth taking—but how can you make it work for you?

22

..... Earn While You Are Waiting, by Rekha Ambardar

Let Your Writing Talent Work for You
There are several ways you can earn money while plugging away at your novel, which will probably take some time to jell, develop, and get published. But in the meantime, why not support your fiction writing by writing nonfiction? Writing is writing. Use your dormant nonfiction-writing skills to gain access to jobs like copywriting, stringing for your local newspaper, freelance indexing, book reviewing, and even teaching an adult education class.

41

..... Creating Six Ideas from One Topic, by Mary E. Maurer

Expanding Your Ideas with "Cubing"
If you’ve been writing for a few years, you have probably developed your own way of approaching a subject, researching it and developing ideas. Your mind starts analyzing, sorting, questioning, and creating in predictable ways. Unfortunately, "predictable" may also equal boring.

42

Writers' Notebook

Twelve Rules of Writing—Jil McIntosh
Writer’s Blues—Birgit Biehl

43

..... Look at Your Church with a Writer's Eye, by Velma G. Warder

Don't Overlook This Writing Goldmine
Churches may offer writing opportunities that a new writer has not considered. To be a writer we must write—but early on, opportunities to write may be slow. Or, as often happens, "what to write" becomes a problem. Look at your own or a neighboring church with a writer's eye. You will find opportunities to "prime your writing pump."

44

..... To Edit or Not to Edit, by Debbie McGrath

Editor and Friend—Negotiating the Minefield
Every successful writer uses at least one four-letter word with precision—edit. Whatever the disease, the cure is edit. Wrong length—edit. Not enough action, lazy dialogue, stale images—edit. the key phrase is with precision, not with abandon. Too much water in the garden creates the same result as too little: dead flowers.

46

..... Some Tips on Breaking into Freelance Nonfiction Markets, by Alison Burke

Getting Yourself Published Is Not Impossible
If you crave the challenge of breaking into the competitive world of magazines, can boast a sharp, flexible writing style, and have a burning curiosity for a variety of subjects, freelance writing could be your niche.

47

..... Caveat Scripter, by Patrick J. Ziska

The Slippery Path to Publication
It often seems that it's the same old story for many new writers. More precisely, it's the same old story for writers new to the publishing scene.

Fiction

July 2003 Romance Contest Winners

27

.....Dusk, by Marci Stillerman

First Prize Winner of July 2003 Romance Contest Contest

28

.....A New Perspective, by JoAnn Bennet

 Second Prize Winner of July 2003 Romance Contest Contest

30

.....Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine, by Lorena M. Estep

Third Prize Winner of July 2003 Romance Contest Contest

More Fiction

32

..... The Violin, by Karen Cecil Smith

Honorable Mention Winner of 2002 Horror/Ghost Contest

36

..... Patterns, by Eileen McMinn

Honorable Mention Winner of 2003 Fiction Contest

June 20, 2003 Write-to-Win! Winner

38

..... "The voice...," by Lori Currie

Poetry

50

..... Every Day With Poetry, by Esther Leiper

"The Moon Molten Gold" and "Oh My Love Has Come"
"The Moon Molten Gold" is a seventeen-line, free-verse lyric that tells of a woman recalling a past memory, presumably saying farewell to a lover or to someone else close to her.
. . . another sea poem concerning love and alienation: "Oh My Love Has Come," by Richard McCann contains eighteen lines of free verse. . . .