I’ve been having terrible episodes of vertigo. Some of them were so bad that I started avoiding driving. At first, I thought I had a brain tumor. I really, truly thought I did, until I remembered having the same thing a couple of years ago, but for a much shorter period of time. When I looked up my symptoms on WebMD.com last week, I found what I was certain the diagnosis would be. All my symptoms matched perfectly…
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Imagine this. You stumble upon a letter from a young man who could very well be your brother, your son, or even your neighbor. He is a marine and is stationed in the desert in Iraq. He has red hair…and a horrible sunburn. He desperately needs sunscreen and, while he can receive mail every week or so, he doesn’t have access to a store. What would you do? Then you find a note from a female soldier stationed in Afghanistan who has no family. While other soldiers in her area get letters and packages daily, she has never received anything. She doesn’t want food, clothes or toiletries. She just wants a pen pal or two. What would you do? Still another soldier wants to know if people from home can send him a couple of bags of candy or some inexpensive school supplies, like crayons and paper. He hands these items out to local Iraqi children to see them smile, but he’s starting to run out…
Hello Angela:
I hope all is well with you and yours. I read most of the newsletter every time it comes and especially enjoyed the article on the guys who have people “take tests” and finish up with a completely edited work. The article was quite timely as it came just before a request hit a Listserv, of which I am a member, from an alleged doctoral student wanting a dissertation proofed and edited, in segments, the price being negotiable. From the copy in the advertisement it was pretty easy to see what the guy was up to. A student approached me about it and I, having just read the article in WritersWeekly.com, was brimming with advice and cautions of one sort or another.
As it turns out, the student never could nail the guy down on price or volume, though his advertisement had stressed that time was of the essence. His having put that in the ad had the intended effect of getting the responder to feel the sense of urgency. When I pointed out to the student that it was the doctoral candidate who had a deadline breathing down on him, and not her, she relaxed just enough to begin negotiations which led her to believe that, like the writer of the article, she would be working free.
Thanks.
Neil
Your book title is very important. It encapsulates the essence of your book in just a few words. Like choosing a name for your child, selecting a title for your book is a critical decision. Just as your child is known by his name for a lifetime, your book will be known by its title for its entire publishing history. Even before you sell your book, its future title can help attract the interest of a literary agent or publisher when you include it in query letters. It will also appear on the first page of your book proposal. It’s never too soon to start creating a possible title for your book.
What are the legalities of publishing letters received from others?
Call it dumb luck or beginners luck, but when my first try at writing resulted in a fifty-dollar check for a twenty-five word true story I sent to a romance publication–about our talented dog Puff, it gave me reason to pause. Then when another $50 dollars arrived that same year for a small filler I wrote for a celebrity tab–about our adventurous bird Petey, I knew I wanted to be a writer, but not necessarily in the pet department.
This Week:
We are SO proud of our our son, Frank (age 12)! He received a $25 gift certificate to Amazon for Christmas and he’s been hanging onto it until now. He brought it to me today and asked me to order him a bag of Owl Pellets.
We were recently approached by a firm wanting us to post a “job ad” for them. The ad involved hiring writers to email pre-written articles. These “articles” were promotional and the emails would be unsolicited, meaning the writers were being hired to spam others.
This Week:
