A reader doesn’t know what’s in the heart of the author, but can only tell by what’s put on paper or delivered to the screen. That’s why it’s essential to make sure written communication is transparent and says what it is supposed to. A slight omission here and there may produce the wrong meaning, although the writer has good intentions. Looking back, I know I have done this sometimes, but since I’m more aware of it, I am aiming to make sure my work always says what it’s supposed to.
Ideas are written down, somewhere, somehow. The first idea I wrote down was pretty imaginative and ideasy, but I wouldn’t say the idea was ‘mature’. It had to grow somehow or be used in the appropriate way, be that I could make it in something good with the appropriate traditional publisher or if a script the right producer, or go the self-publishing route and all that entails for the author, or hit the delete button, if all else fails. But sometimes ideas just sit there and flounder and do nothing. This is good because they are left to grow as the writer grows as a writer and an author.
Continue reading “The maturing of ideas”
Spontaneity in some areas of writing may be misleading, to the editor and the reader. That’s because spontaneity is a one-off, yet the rest of the time, one’s been doing the run of the mill.
Continue reading “Spontaneity”
Sometimes the only purpose one writes about something is simply to write. One enjoys writing and one wants to write it. One doesn’t worry about the financial compensation (if any for that matter). One doesn’t worry about anything more than writing something that one can be proud of when it’s published. The only satisfaction is in the process of writing and the fact it got published so others can read it. It’s all quite lovely, really; and devoid of particular agendas.
What if a writer promised a certain product to a publisher, presumably knowing what he was doing, but they ended up with something else? What’s going on?
Continue reading “The hollow man”
Reading back at one of my old articles again…A little bleat about it if you don’t mind. A reader of my best of the year section, back in 1998, mentioned I shouldn’t have included a certain 1997 R-rated action film, because it was R-rated. Go figure on that one; I must have been fourteen (and I’m sure the person thought that of my mentality, not that I’m demeaning any fourteen-year-old’s, far from it.).
Continue reading “Sometimes, the little things don’t count”
Sometimes, articles sign off with the big takeaway point — but if a reader will engage that point depends on how well it’s done.
Continue reading “Sign offs”
The headline, the opening paragraph and the photos all come together to set the tone for the article. In other words, these elements can frame the idea of the article.
Continue reading “Framed well”
Some people may enjoy their byline above the title, but I was a little awkward at seeing my name on the top of the page, followed by a page of my film reviews.
Continue reading “Embarrassing byline”
Rejections-ville is a multi-colored place. One day, it’s a form letter, telling you, you lost today son. One another day they had said, they’d like to see more. Another day the one you send may win.
Continue reading “Rejections-ville”
One of the editor’s jobs is to make sure a magazine or publication goes smoothly. I note this because not every paragraph and word of mine got published in their entirety in one newspaper.
Continue reading “Smooth”
I was mulling over if I should submit an article to an editor, an editor and a publisher I had been giving second thoughts to. I was thinking this as I saw how the editor had done a splendid job on one of my articles I wrote for them several years ago.
Continue reading “Happy chappy?”
A two paragraph devotion I’ve been revising sounds like I’m in the throes of sending it. I was. But I got thinking about if I believed in what I was writing. That it was too generalized and I wouldn’t be speaking to everyone who read it. But what if I changed it? What if some certain, particular, peculiar adjustments were made? Yes, I think that may work. In that light, it has potential.
A few articles that I wrote for a particular publication a while ago weren’t given a by-line. In case one doesn’t know, the by-line is the line on the published article that says who wrote the article.
Continue reading “When a by-line isn’t given”
There are different ways readers can respond, or react for that matter, to articles. Anger is one reaction; the article is so stirring that one is thrown into a negative emotional reaction.
Continue reading “All kinds of articles”
One of my articles was given the editorial treatment, which I liked and disliked, politely speaking.
Continue reading “I like and don’t like”
We need writers who are not afraid to ask the hard questions as this brings balance to the status quo of everything is all right, jack. Hard questions will make one think and contemplate what may be or is actually happening but is rarely or never breached, rather than the idea that everything is going along honky dory.
I had this vivid dream which inspired me to write a devotion and as I was writing the devotion I thought that it sounded just the ticket. It was one that flowed from the heart. But publisher’s requirements meant that it was rejected at stage one of the process. Since it was from the heart, I should never darken the publisher’s halls again and say “stuff it”. But in the end, I will try and tailor a devotion towards that specific publisher. It worked before, it can work again. But perhaps not so much from the heart, or at least the heart-part is simmering underneath, rather than all over the devotion, to suit the publisher’s requirements of course. One gets over it quickly, though.
When one knows writing a novel is preferable to writing a screenplay, or vice versa, then one may have the desire to pursue one of those literary forms, or both, if so inclined.
Continue reading “Consider the cost”
A while ago I wrote about how one submits their articles, etc. One way is to submit everything you’ve got. One non-writer said to me “go crazy”. The other way is to submit your best.
