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WRITERS' Journal

Table of Contents
July/August 2010
Volume 31, Number 4

      .....Editor's Note

     Perhaps you have dreamt of your book’s being published in an audio format. You may be surprised to learn that it already is available as an audio book at your local library—as surprised as Janet Elaine Smith was. Read of her experience on page 4.

     It is opening fishing weekend here in Minnesota—land of 10,000 lakes—as I write this. On page 5, Lynne Pisano encourages us to get our hooks ready. She isn’t writing about fishing hooks; she is writing about story and article hooks, and how they are essential to “fishing for readers.” She presents us with an exercise that everyone should work with to make our stories and nonfiction works stand above others.

     On page 14. Greg Donio helps us understand connotation. As writers, words with their literal and implied meanings are important to us. We can’t write a meaningful sentence without having a clear understanding of words and what they may mean to others. So be careful, but bold, when you communicate with words.

     Enter into the wonderful world of writing, on page 23, through the eyes of Jim Tipton. Writing isn’t always easy, and sometimes it can be very humorous. Some writers need a special environment in which to write. Jim’s wife’s needs may be different from you own—I hope—yet, she seems to have found her comfort zone.

     On page 48 you can read Ann Hyman’s analogy of writing and sales, and how rejection does have a positive slant.

     Three excellent stories rose to the top of the Fiction Contest entries. The lengthier Fiction Contest manuscripts allow writers the opportunity to flesh out characters, thus providing us with more memorable stories. Yet, in less than 1500 words, Thomas Wenig impressed us with his “A Golden Opportunity” tale as the Write to Win! winner. My hope is that you are entertained as much as we were while judging.

Leon Ogroske, editor

Columns

4       .....Marketing Helps, Janet Elaine Smith
         The Bottom Rung

5       .....Massaging the Muse, Lynne Pisano
         Fishing for Readers

6       .....Effective Screenwriting, by Christina Hamlett
         Sidekicks, Confidantes, and Confederates
          At a recent screenwriting workshop I did in the Yukon, I asked the participants to come up with a list of personality traits that distinguish heroes from villains. The objective of this exercise was to make the participants realize that there's a fine line between the two—that, save for an early twist of fate, heroes could be pushed to the brink of badness through desperation just as easily as villains could embrace a life of goodness had someone only treated them with kindness at an opportune moment....

9       .....Computer Business, by Angela Render
         Cyber Security Lessons form China
          Dateline: January 12, 2010. Google announces that it, along with thirty-four other companies, was on the receiving end of a Chinese government-backed hack attack. Dateline: February 18, 2010. Herndon-based NetWitness reports that more than 75,000 computers in 2,500 companies have been infiltrated with Kneber bot, an Eastern European private ring's cyber attack that compromised log-in credentials, credit card information, e-mails, and proprietary corporate data....

12       .....Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness
          Selecting a New Digital Camera
          Have you been digital camera shopping lately? With all the different models available, how do you select just one and know it will be right for you?....

58       .....For Beginners Only, by Shaunna Privratsky
          Profit from Your Personal Prose
           What if you harnessed the rawness and power of your personal prose and turned it into profit? With just a bit of tweaking, that diary entry from your south-of-the-border vacation could turn into a published piece and a hefty check....

60       .....Words...Tools of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich
           One Too Long? One Too Short?
           Did you ever, set aflame by a sudden brilliant idea, plunge into writing a short story, eager to get this idea incorporated into a full plot and hopeful that the creative muse would continue to guide you through to a smashing conclusion? But after a while, viewing the reams of paper you'd already produced—or the unbelievable length of the copy wandering down your computer screen—you realized that you weren't even half through the events necessary to your plot and you faced the fact that your idea was way, way too intricate and complicated to be squeezed into the parameters of a short story?...

62       .....WRITERS' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano
           July/August 2010 Market Report
           

                   Markets: Antiques Roadshow Insider, Bon Appetit, Prevention Magazine, Men's Health, Field & Stream, Fresh Home, Country, Fiberarts, Mountain Living.

Feature Articles

14       .....Words, by Greg Donio
           Their Grand (and Tricky) Clouds of Connotation
           In the film The Cat's Meow, a woman asks another, "Pardon me. Is that man your lover?"...

16       .....Kenning, by Glenn Dahlem
           The Overlooked Figure of Speech
           Every writer and poet knows all about simile, metaphor, irony, personification, and many other great tricks that add punch to an article, story, or poem. These so-called figures of speech are some of the most important components of every wordsmith's elements of style....

20       .....Promote Your Book Through Alternative Venues, by Patricia Fry
           Be a Creative Marketer
           Are you running out of ideas for promoting your book? Does it seem as though there are fewer and fewer good promotional opportunities? Don't despair. Sure, you've probably promoted in all of the usual places. You've visited the natural venues. Maybe now it's time to pursue something less obvious....

23       .....A Good Writer is Always Disciplined, by James Tipton
           And Sometimes a Bit Daring
           Twelve months ago my wife, Janine, the Queen of Volunteers, after the death of a beloved aunt, decided immediately to devolunteer and to commit herself, at last, to becoming a writer. This, she insisted, was something that she had wanted to do not just from the day she was born but from the very moment she was born, when she first opened her eyes and saw a huge nurse off to the side writing with a wooden pencil on a piece of white paper: Girl....

43       .....Writers' Notebook
           Give Your Butt a Break, by Ev Bishop
           Treasure Those Good Rejection Letters, by Libby Grandy

46       .....Rejection, by Ann Hyman
           A Salesperson's Perspective
           During a cocktail party at Mystery Bookstore in Los Angeles, I realized that writing may be the only profession the members of which truly embrace their insecurities....

48       .....Travel Writing: The Hidden Markets, by Susan V. Miles
           Think Outside the Square When Unearthing Markets for Travel Articles
           Travel writing isn't limited to weekend newspapers or specialist travel magazines. Many publications that would not appear on the cover to be travel-related run regular travel columns, features, and filler pieces. I've sold destination-themed essays to women's magazines, even a travel advice feature to a sports journal. Particularly when you are breaking into the genre, it pays to think laterally and hunt out nontraditional travel publications for your submissions and proposals....

Poetry

50       .....Every Day With Poetry, by Esther M. Leiper-Estabrooks
           Experimental Poetry: Expert? Extreme? Elemental? Mental?
           If there is one quality that poetry frequently exhibits, it is fun with wordplay, and I like playing with the varied possibilities that experimental offers. Are experimental poets expert—or mental? Are they elemental or near to fundamental, which means being close to basics? Fantastic elastic stretches, and I, too, stretch a point—but the question remains: Are experimentalists innovators, weirdoes, or clever proponents of out-of-box thinking?...

54       .....Esther Comments On..., by Esther M. Leiper-Estabrooks
          The Winners, December 2009 Poetry Contest
          It intrigues me to spot trends, and entries in our latest poetry contest offer interesting examples. For a happy start, I noticed few spelling errors and little about hard economic times. Some positive pieces featured gardens and growth, including personal development, and several of these made my final listing. However, the strongest poems—and most memorable—portrayed individuals coping with life-impacting situations. Although human dilemmas may be fictional, that does not make them less real, and considering the plight of others may lead us toward understanding and empathy.