So You Want to Write for a Newspaper by Mark LaFlamme
So, you want to be a freelance writer for a newspaper. You’re nosey as heck and you can write under pressure, but you don’t have a masters degree from Columbia.
Writer Is A Flake
Once again I turn to you for advice, but this time it’s about a writer I hired to help me with a big project. This is the third year I have done this big project for a client and the third time this guy has helped me. No written contract, but I thought he knew the drill. But no.
Earn Bucks Writing Part-Time for Radio by Big Jim Williams
I write 15 public service announcements (PSAs) monthly from my home computer, publicity for plays, concerts and other coming events, information collected from local colleges, universities, theatre groups, display ads, and from countless press releases mailed to the station that were written for newspapers, not radio.
We’re On Vacation! Yea!
Richard’s dad and step-mommy are in town so we’re on vacation this week. Our Boxing Day party was yesterday and we’re going skiing and snow-tubing on Thursday. Whoo hoo!
Happy New Year, everybody!
This week’s Maxism:
Mason (age 6 months) has started speaking! Last week, he said, “Na Na Na Na Na.”
Max came in the room and, when he heard Mason, looked quite surprised. He sat down next to him and responded, “What? What? What? What? What?”
Hugs,
Angie
P.S. Write your autobiography in 2007!
Afraid you can’t remember your childhood? Yes you can, using my memory triggers! Sign up for my popular and FUN class, How to Remember, Write and Publish Your Life Story! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/wwu/courses/memories.html
Letters To The Editor For December 27th
This Week:
- Website Posted My Article Without Permission Or Payment
- Scams Targeting Authors
How Society Supports Low-Paying Writing Jobs By Katharine Swan
I stared at the screen in disbelief. I was being offered five bucks per news article? My fingers flew as I typed out a response.
Touching Other People’s Babies…
On numerous occasions, I’ve told the girl next door to NOT bring her son over when he’s sick…at least not while Mason is so small. She did just that last week, assuring me he was no longer contagious. Yeah, right…
Possible Scam Targeting Authors
Hi Angela,
I received a similar scam email targeted at my fine arts business.
It took about three rounds of emails to discover that the person writing me ordering 5 paintings for her parents’ anniversary was trying to pull a scam. It also had the “my shipper will pick up” line. They said they were in England but they definitely had details about my art and my website that sounded credible…for the first few emails.
What they are doing is a more personalized version of the “Nigerian Banker Email Scam”. They expected to give me a check that included their purchase from me plus an amount that they needed to pay their shipper. They then suggested I deposit their check and pay out their shipper with the excess cash they would pay me. Obviously, had I been naive enough to do this, their check would have bounced and they would have succeeded in scamming “the shipping costs” from me.
It’s the penny ante game from the streets of NYC taken to cyberspace. And while I agree one should never give out home information to a stranger, this scam is about money. I was tempted to arrange the drop- off and pick-up and have a police officer waiting at my door! Alas, when I suggested that they pay via credit card instead, the “client” who wanted to buy five small paintings from me disappeared and never contacted me again by email.
Best wishes for a happy new year!
Katy
Cyberstalking: One Of The Dangers Of Posting Online By George English
Most States have laws against cyberstalking, but reports of online harassment are increasing, according to WHOA (Working to Halt Online Abuse), an organization with a mandate to educate the Internet community about online harassment, empower victims of harassment, and formulate voluntary policies that systems administrators can adopt in order to create harassment-free environments.
Website Posted My Article Without Permission Or Payment
I googled myself the other day and discovered that a website posted my article on their website without my knowledge or consent. I contacted the (print) magazine I had written the article for and they have no knowledge of the website and are not affiliated with them.
Should I send the website an email or a certified snail mail asking them for payment? And in what amount?