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WRITERS' Journal

Table of Contents
May/June 2008
Volume 29, Number 3

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

    Voice or speech recognition software can be a writer’s best helper. Bill Vossler on page 41 offers some fundamental information about this writing buddy.

    Did you know that Tiger Woods can influence a writer? On page 42, Michelle Young Hubacher tells us five ways Tiger’s golfing strategies have helped her writing.

    A large market for freelancers is the church leadership market. In his article on page 47, Danny Von Kanel offers some hints about how we can enter the market. An added bonus is that most church leadership markets accept reprints. So polish some of your earlier articles and send them out again.

    In May of 1983, Esther M. Leiper-Estabrooks was introduced to the readers of The Inkling (the forerunner of the WRITERS’ Journal) as one with the “ability to talk about poetry knowledgeably yet in language easily understood by neophyte poets.” We now celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Esther’s tenure with WRITERS’ Journal. Some people stay true to form. I visited with Esther last winter when she and her husband travelled through Minnesota. She can converse with a person about poetry—and remember she has won hundreds of prizes and awards for her poems—in a manner that doesn’t leave the novice stranded in a cloud of dust. She inspires and aids many poets with her columns, editing service, and personal correspondence. WRITERS’ Journal extends hearty congratulations to Esther on this milestone.

    In this issue you will find the last Travel Writing contest winning entries. The publisher decided, after a very small number of entries were received, that writers must not be interested in competing in the travel-writing genre. Even though people travel more easily now than ever before, and destinations of interest are abundant, people must not care to share their travel adventures. I will miss this contest because I have always enjoyed reading about the various places where people visit or live.

    The Science Fiction/Fantasy contest will take the place of the Travel Writing contest. (We have to keep the judges busy.) With a November 30 deadline, you have less than five months to get your entry to us. I am excited and am looking forward to reading some of the entries to this new contest. If you know fellow writers who excel in sci-fi or fantasy writing, urge them to enter the contest. It will make them put their best work forward, submit under the pressure of a deadline, and it might give them recognition.

    Write to Win! contestants should note in our guidelines that starter phrases can be dialogue. They don’t have to be direct discourse, but they can be.

    Enjoy the “Bonnie and Deacon” winning Write to Win! story. How about those winning photos? Clue to winning: Get in close.

Leon Ogroske, editor

Columns

  4       .....Readers' P.O.V.

  5       .....Massaging the Muse, Lynne Pisano
           Animal Instincts

  6       .....Marketing Helps, Janet Elaine Smith
           The Robin Hood Approach to Marketing

  7       .....Vocabulary Review, Carolyn Howard-Johnson
           The Dreaded Adverb

  8       .....Effective Screenwriting, by Christina Hamlett
           Fifty Ways to Annoy Actors
           Sending a new script out into the world can be compared to the nail-biting angst felt by parents on their child's first day of school. Will it fit in? Will it be teased for being different? Will it—horrors!—be totally ignored? There's just as much to worry about, however, if your pride and joy is eagerly accepted, spirited off to fraternize with the popular crowd and—when next seen again—will be only remotely recognizable as the product of your original labors....

 12      .....Computer Business, by Angela Render
           Graphics: Friend of Foe?—Part 4 Making it Both Useful and Pretty
           People have different ideas about what looks good. Most people agree, though, that monochromatic is boring. On the other hand, too much color or too many flashing graphics can be overpowering....

 15      .....Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness
          Camera and Gear Checklists
           Have you ever packed up your camera gear and headed out on a photo shoot only to find that you left that something behind or something you brought doesn't work correctly? I have—too many times. I solved the problem by creating a camera gear and a preshoot and postshoot maintenance checklist....

 42      .....For Beginners Only, by Michelle Young Hubacher
           What Tiger Taught Me About Writing
           I met Tiger Woods on trash day. He was hiding in the recycling bin under the Pottery Barn Catalog. After I pulled him out, I sat on the curb with him and quickly became immersed in his approach to the short game. I don't know a driver from a wedge; and much to my husband's disappointment, unless there's a little wooden windmill involved, I'm not the least bit interested inputting....

 57      .....Words...Tools of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich
           What Influenced You to Become a Writer?
           It's interesting to investigate the reasons people became writers. Some knew from a very young age. Others seem to have stumbled into it almost accidentally. Some felt an overwhelming desire to put words to paper, while others fall into that category of "wanting to have written," but not really consumed with a desire to actually write....

 59       .....WRITERS' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano
            May/June 2008 Market Report Plus, Todd Hester of Gladiator Magazine
            It is every writer's intention to form complete ideas in an understandable and entertaining forum for readers to enjoy. This is especially true with sportswriters. Oftentimes, it means carefully observing, critiquing, and cataloging the subtle nuances of an activity to bring the true essence of a sport to paper....

                   Markets: Gladiator Magazine, Southern Bride Magazine, Plush, C16 Autostyle Magazine, Billboard, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, Cocktail Weekly, Time Out New York Eating & Drinking Guide, The Week, OK!, Haunted Attraction Magazine.

Feature Articles

 19       .....My Biggest Mistake as a Beginning Writer, by Dennis E. Hensley
            The Need to Rewrite
            I knew at age eighteen as a high school senior that I wanted to be a professional writer. The problem was, I didn't know anyone who was a professional writer. I didn't know any editors or literary agents or publishers, either. So, I made a terrible mistake and tried to make it on my own. As I tell my college writing students today, "Freelance doesn't mean you work alone, and it doesn't mean you work for free...."

 21       .....Getting Organized, by Dee Goerge
            How to Declutter the Paper Trail
            My home office is a Feng Shui nightmare. My back is to the door. None of the furniture matches. The small space accommodates too many purposes...

 23       .....What's in a Name?, by Jim Tipton
            Unforgettable Characters Have Unforgettable Names
           Margaret Mitchell, the creator of the beautiful but spoiled heroine of Gone with the Wind—Scarlett O'Hara—in the original draft called her Pansy O'Hara. What different images we conjure up for a character named Pansy than for one named Scarlett!...

 41       .....Writing with My Pal, the Dragon, by Bill Vossler
            Write More with Voice Recognition Software
             Nowadays, I often turn my writing over to my pal, the Dragon. I close my eyes and kick back in my chair, lace my fingers behind my head, and summon him up. within seconds, fire and smoke belch from my mouth, igniting the paper with words. Suddenly I am immersed in an ecstasy of creation.

44       .....Writing with Light, by Kathryn Wilkens
           Improve Your Photography Skills
           Writers know that a story or an essay has a beginning, a middle, and an end. In a way, so does a picture. When gazing at a photo, your eye first goes to the focal point. That's like the lead of an essay. Next, your eye roams around inside the frame, taking in details and subtleties. That's like the middle of an essay where ideas are developed. Finally, a good photo leaves you with a message. In an essay, that's what we call "takeaway value." While "reading" a photo takes only a few seconds, it can be as profound as reading an essay....

 47       .....Thus Saith the Lord, by Danny R. Von Kanel
           Targeted Writing to the Church Leadership Market
           The Christian writer's market thrives as a gold mine for freelancers. Deep within that rich reservoir is a smaller but profitable vein of church leadership (pastor/leader) magazines. Thirty-nine publications await the freelancer's notice; twenty-eight are paying markets, twenty-seven accept reprints.

Travel Writing Contest

 25        .....Nessebar: Sanctum by the Sea, by Ty Treadwell
            First Prize Winner of November 2007 Travel Writing Contest

 28        .....Stopping to Smell the Sunflowers: Cycling Spain's Emporda, by Amy L. Stripe
            Second Prize Winner of November 2007 Travel Writing Contest

 30        .....Out Wickenburg Way, by Ned Tarrington
            Third Prize Winner of November 2007 Travel Writing Contest

Fiction

 32        .....Playdate, by Danette Haworth
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2006 Romance Contest

 35        .....The Creature at Marble March, by Philip Loyd
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2007 Horror/Ghost Contest

December 20, 2007 Write to Win! Winner

 38        ....."Bonnie and Deacon"—"The plane had landed but...," by Ronald Wright

Poetry

 50       .....Every Day With Poetry, by Esther M. Leiper-Estabrooks
            Poetry by Design
            A few mornings back, I spotted a spider so tiny it would fit on the head of a pin. Being nearsighted has advantages, so I took off my glasses and watched it from an inch away—traveling at a great speed for its size, on a straight line across my desk. What epic journey did it intend? Did it have any concept of arrival?...

 55       .....Esther Comments On..., by Esther M. Leiper-Estabrooks
            "The Implanted Epitaph" and "Joie De Vivre"
            It is unusual to find a poem with an original concept. Some critics might argue that there truly is no "new idea under the sun." Yet, Paul Sohar's strange first-person narrative offers a premise within five quatrains that is unusual and disquieting . The poem's narrator, in highly arresting opening lines, informs readers:...