We had a humdinger of a snowstorm last Wednesday night! We were still trying to find the car in the drifts (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration) when we heard about the “Blizzard of 2005” that was heading our way. However, that little weekend blizzard wasn’t anywhere near the intensity of the Nor’Easter last week (for us, anyway).
This Week:
For most gardeners, winter is the time to pore over seed catalogs and plot (figuratively, at least) next year’s garden. It’s a time to both assess the past and plan for the future.
Writing gardeners can do the same. Since it’s too cold in many parts of the country to be outside playing in the dirt, now is the perfect time to dig up new writer’s guidelines and craft succulent queries. And assignments landed now will lead to articles published during the all important sowing, growing and harvesting seasons, when any gardener worth his or her salt would rather be outside, anyway.
Since writers don’t often get overpaid for their labor, most of us have to develop frugal shopping skills to survive. Did you ever think you might morph these talents into a regular gig with your local newspaper? I didn’t – until persistence combined with luck to provide me with this little weekly bonus.
We joined the local homeschooling 4H club last week and were pleasantly surprised to learn that not everybody in 4H is required to grow and auction off livestock! All humor aside, 4H is a great group and we made lots of new friends. The children loved it and can’t wait to get started on some projects to enter in the state fair this summer.
Beware of Companies that Guarantee to Get Your Book on Bookstore Shelves
by Angela Hoy
We’ve seen lots of marketing ploys and blatant sp*m from so-called PR and book marketing firms that say they guarantee to get your book on bookstore shelves. Authors should be very, very wary of these claims. In most cases, the author will pay much more to the “PR” or “marketing” firm than they’ll ever get back in book sales. And, they just might end up with a pile of returns from the bookstores…
This Week:
I am a former full-time journalist born and raised in Canada who went the freelance route a few years ago. That’s one of the reasons I signed up to receive the very worthwhile (no apple-polishing intended) WritersWeekly. I read it faithfully every week and thus, when I first read about Booklocker.com’s offer to digitally print my book at a reasonable price, including formatting, cover and help with distribution, I collected together a bunch of short stories I had written over the years (two of which had been published in Canada’s largest daily newspaper, The Toronto Star and one that had received an honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest Short Story contest).
Richard’s grandmother has returned to Texas after staying with us for a month. We were very sad to see her go. She loved visiting…but she’s in her 80’s and “always cold” and wasn’t too keen about our temps dipping below zero on most nights. On the two occasions when we did take her out in the snow (once out to lunch and to get her hair done and once to greet troops who were passing through the Bangor airport), she was terrified she’d slip on the ice and she shivered during the entire trip. But, she really wanted her hair done (you know how we women are!) and, being a WWII veteran herself, she was very excited about greeting troops who were returning from the Middle East.
Does an editor or publisher owe you money? Are they giving you numerous excuses and even claiming to have already mailed the check? Here’s what you should do…
