Tue Feb 04 11:12:28 2003

Event end time:

Tue Feb 04 16:02:39 2003

mel boring

Good afternoon! Welcome to this Tuesday afternoon's "Open Forum" session. I'm your moderator, Mel Boring, and the Web Editor for this site. We're back for an informal time of answering any questions you might like to ask, on any subject. So feel free to ask what's on your mind--and I'll tell you what's on mine! First, please read these announcements, then we'll get started.

mel boring

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS: Send questions you'd like answered or discussed by using your "Ask a Question" icon/button. (It looks like a thought bubble icon, RIGHT NEXT TO THE RED QUESTION MARK.) The moderator (me, Mel Boring) will post the questions one at a time in the chat room and do my best to answer them.

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WARNING: If you don't post anything at all, SOME of you will be bounced off the system in 15 minutes. TO PREVENT THIS, type something (either a question to the moderator or even a private message) every 15 minutes to stay active and remain online.

mel boring

Here at the start, may I please talk about something that has been a problem? It is that we chatters have been putting our messages to other individuals in the slot at the bottom of the screen....

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And what that does is to INTERSPERSE your private messages WITH the discussion going on....

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There IS a way for you to private message, and in GlobalChat, that is to...

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Click on the black triangle, go down to "Users," and a menu popout will show "Send Private Message," and you click on that....

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Then there will be a small box asking for the person's name you want to message....

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Use their username, such as "fred" that I mentioned earlier....

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Then a larger box will appear for your message to them. Type it in the slot at the bottom, and click SEND--and that's it. They will answer you the same way. Any questions now, send them to me, PLEASE....

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By the by, you send questions in GlobalChat by clicking on the thought bubble between the yellow "map" and red question mark....

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In JAVA you use the button with ASK and a ? on it.

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Here is a question sent to me by a Canadian, and I don' t know the answer...

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so I'll depend on YOU for the answer....

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Another question is where the forums are at 4:00 is the number toll free? Most unlimited phone packages here only begin at 6:00pm for free phone use.

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Do any of you, Canadians or not, have a service that charges you for the phone charges? This is what the person is asking, I think,...

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since they're saying that UNLIMITED phone time is available for free, but ONLY after 6PM where the person is in Canada. Can YOU enlighten ME please?

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Here is a very TIMELY note from Mary Beth Voelker, and a help link she'll give you....

mbvoelker

As we discussed earlier I'm ready to put a clickable link to the chatware instructions into the text box. I'll do it when you post this so people know what its about. :-)

mel boring

Go ahead, MB!

tigger

Not a question, just a comment, Mel. I've been having a MAJOR problem with the message boards, due to something wrong with MY computer. That Frank, the tech guy, is a jewel. We are so fortunate to have him. He has spent HOURS trying to find a solution for my problem, and I just wanted everyone to know what a great resource he is. :o)

mel boring

You are SO RIGHT, tigger! Just this very morning, Frank came to help with a problem so readily. He is a VVR, a Very Valuable Resource!

mbvoelker

For users of other versions -- JAVA, JAVA Lite, and HTML you can also double-click on the user's name to send a private message. Or you can use the "/tell username" command. JAVA has a PM glitch though. Frank and Global Chat are aware of it. :-)

mel boring

GOOD suggestion, MB, THANKS!

mel boring

I want to clear up ONE question about Canadian/U.S. postage that I think I mumbled about last Tuesday....

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One person asked: "Can you use U.S. stamps to get a manuscript returned from Canada?"...

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The answer is NO, don't use U.S. stamps on a return envelope that will be sent FROM Canada....

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The reason that was misunderstood is that ONCE, a Canadian editor was KIND ENOUGH to put Canadian stamps in place of the U.S. stamps I'd mistakenly sent.

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Here is a good question from zoie:...

zoie

I received an acceptance letter for an article. They will be publishing my article, photo and puzzle in August. In the letter the editor says my article was a good idea, fun and exciting. Is this worth sending as a clip or should I wait till it is published and then use it?

mel boring

CONGRATULATIONS, zoie!!!

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If you mean would it be a good idea to send a "clip" of what that editor said about your article,...

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I wouldn't, zoie. I would wait until you have the actual published clip....

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What you CAN do right NOW, however, is to say in your query/cover letters that you WILL have an article published in August, 2003--AND name the magazine, I would, friend....

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While we' re on this GOOD subject, here are some other suggestions I've picked up on the web about what to send in a query/cover letter before you have published credits....

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an editor I recently met said she doesn't read cover letters at all

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...

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until she's already looked at the manuscript. She doesn't care what the...

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person has published before, as long as the manuscript is good. Of course,...

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most editors probably do look at the cover letters first, and I've heard...

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several editors say they always look at them to get in the right frame of...

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mind for the manuscript they're about to see, but she said she didn't & her...

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boss didn't.

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This was written by a writer on the discussion boards of a children's writing site....

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I must say that MOST editors prolly look at the cover letter FIRST, but not all....

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And EVEN those who look at it first, are really wanting to see just a bang-up story or article--it's the SOUP that is most important, not the MENU that tells about the soup!

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Secondly, from another web source, there is this:...

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An editor at a workshop I attended once said she pays little attention to...

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publishing credits. She's much more interested in conferences you have...

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attended, workshops you've done, groups you belong to because they show...

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you're interested in this profession. So someone without publishing credits...

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should play up those things instead.

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Again, not EVERY editor "pays little attention to publishing credits," BUT at least this one does, and...

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I think that OTHER editors would also like know about the CONFERENCES you've been to.

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Now for a "commercial." One of the problems Frank and I were talking about this morning is that...

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the webmail I use to send announcements IS NOT working right now, and may not be working by Friday....

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SO I couldn't send out the announcement about this Open Forum--and I MAY NOT be able to send out the Friday Update next Friday--but I will sure TRY, you can bet, friends!

mel boring

AH, thank you, paige, here's a word about Canadian phone charges or not in British Columbia, anyway.:

paige

No extra charges here in B.C All Internet time is included in the server package at any time of day.

mel boring

Is that true in, say Nova Scotia, or other Eastern Canadian provinces, does anyone know?

amme

Do you think writers benefit by having their own websites

mel boring

Yes, I think we writers CAN benefit by having our own websites, amme....

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BUT what I've seen of many writer's websites makes me think they may have put up a website too soon....

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For example, I've seen one whereon the writer is just telling about her family....

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I am as dedicated to FAMILY as anyone, but I have to wonder how many people would want to know about MY family unless I had some kind of published output to make them wonder....

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For instance, you prolly heard recently that J.K. Rowling was reached somehow by the mother of a child in Maine dying of a rare disease....

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The child's ONE wish was to hear the NEXT Harry Potter book before she died....

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And HEARTWARMINGLY, Rowling PHONED the child and read her the NEXT, yet unpublished Harry Potter book, finishing the reading just before the child died....

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I'm repeating this because it's a very ENCOURAGING story, but also because....

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How many people would have wanted to know that about Rowling before she was published, before she received publicity. SO I would suggest waiting before you publish a web site, not until you're as famous as Rowling--LOL!--but...

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until you have given people in general some reason to be interested in YOU!

amme

Also, what type of content should be there?

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When you do set up a website, amme, it shoud contain a picture, I believe, because people who have heard something about you will be curious to know what you look like....

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Secondly, you should post information about your writing, published or not. You could list articles or stories you've had published, or are about to be published such as zoie will have published next August....

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And it's always nice to install links to such places as sites whereon you've been published, or sites you believe would help the people who come to your website.

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amme: Will you let us know when you do set up a website? I'd LOVE to come visit you there!

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Speaking of Harry Potter, which I did a moment ago,...

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Here are a couple of sites that are very complimentary to the Harry Potter books, and they happen to be Canadian sites--YEA for Canadians!...

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20030203/D7OVDI580.html

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That is one URL where you'll find people commenting on the Potter books.

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Another is: http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/1100/harry

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One more, a third is: http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/1299/goahead

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These three sites seem to be saying,...

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"HURRAY FOR HARRY!"

zoie

If you mention your writing credits in the cover/query letter, do you also send the clip?

spudsie

What does URL stand for?

mel boring

I'll get to the writing credits question, after I let many of know that I DON'T know what URL stands for,...

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but it is the "ADDRESS" that is in the slot at the top of your browser....

mel boring

And you can type in a URL there, or cut and paste it in, and then click your browswer to move to it, spudsie--THANKS for asking!

mel boring

If you mention your writing credits in the cover/query letter, yes, also send a clip, even if it duplicates the credit you mentioned...

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My only caution is not to send TOO MANY clips, but ONE that is your VERY BEST! GOOD question again, zoie!

kay kay

Mel, when trying to get in touch with someone for an...

kay kay

interview, someone who lives across country, what is the...

kay kay

best way to get in touch with them? Letter, phone, e-mail?

mel boring

kay kay, IF they have an e-mail addy,...

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by all means use that FIRST. Then if they like to communicate by e-mail, they can do that....

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Some people would not be as comfortable with e-mail, so I would suggest...

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asking them in the e-mail if they would prefer to talk by phone, or communicate by letter. THAT would convenience THEM and make them most relaxed....

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THEN, you would follow up with an e-mail, or a phone call or letter, whichever they prefer. Here's an example...

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I once wrote a chapter for a book I'm working on about the man who devised the heart catheter....

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In research, I discovered that there have been astronauts (GOD KEEP THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THE TRAGEDY SATURDAY MORNING!!!)...

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who went into space WITH a heart catheter IN PLACE, for testing....

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SO I found the name of one of the scientists on the web, AND an e-mail addy for him. I e-mailed him, plus one other. The first one replied, with copious information; the other never replied....

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But e-mail was a comfortable medium, evidently, for the man who did reply.

canoe

Good Afternoon Mr. Boring...I'm and ICL student currently on Lesson 10. How is it that when traumatic events happen that suddenly within say a month or two....out pops a book about the subject. Like 9-11 ? How does a book like that get into print so fast?

mel boring

EXCELLENT question, canoe--and I LOVE your username! It is because...

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when there is such a TIME factor involved, publishers literally work day and night to get the book out about a tragedy like 9-11. And I expect that within six months at the longest,...

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there will be books about last Saturday's spaceflight tragedy....

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When there IS NO TIME compulsion, publishers will take at least six months to get a book out, a year is more typical, two years is NOT unusual, canoe.

amme

Thank you, Mel! I think it will be a little while yet LOL

mel boring

Yes, amme, but we STILL want to know, PLEASE! Even if I'm totally retired by then. (-:} ANd you've got a GOOD ATTITUDE!

spudsie

Are newspaper or church newsletter articles acceptable clips

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I'm GLAD you asked, spudsie, because I heard a comment about that very thing...

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the other day on a discussion board. And the answer an EDITOR gave was yes, use one, and make sure that it is as neat and readable as you can get....

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In other words, just a quickly "dittographed" church newsletter article shouldn't be sent. But a professional looking church article clip would be GOOD--just ONE, though, she said.

red2

What is your opinion about titles? Mine tend to get a little long. Do editors prefer short, punch titles?

mel boring

THANKS, red2--I KNOW YOU! The old rule of thumb was...

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that a title should be no more than EIGHT words....

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That was about 25 to 30 years ago I heard that, and I have since seen some that were longer, but not much longer....

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Think of it this way, red2: A title is your "first shot" at a reader. And because many children have reading disabilities, "shortest is bestest."...

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So a title like HOLES, by Louis Sachar, is about perfect because,...

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any kid can read it quickly, and BECAUSE it is rather cryptic, being just one word, their curiosity would be aroused to read, I think....

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And when they find out quickly that it's about kids in "detention camp" who have to dig a hole a day, about five feet by five feet by five feet, then the title has done its work...

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That work is two-fold: To lure a reader into the book AND tell something about what the book will be about....

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I am right now reading HOOT, a book by a writer-for-adults, Carl Hiassen, which was a runner-up for the recent Newbery Award....

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And that title does the same thing that HOLES does.

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For those of you joining us late, this is an "Open Forum" session where you are free to ask any writing and publishing questions you have, and your moderator (Mel Boring) will do his best to answer them!

mel boring

Kind of late to post that notice! But the questions are coming through SLUGGISHLY, so maybe this'll give them a chance....

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MEANWHILE, Mary Beth tells us what URL stands for: UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR--THANKS, MB!...

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That makes sense too, since it IS a locator.

paige

Mel, After an editor has expressed interest in a piece and holds it for consideration, why do it take so long (many, many months) for them to make a decision?

mel boring

It takes so long--and sometimes MUCH LONGER because so many more people get involved at that point, paige....

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The editor who showed you interest, then takes it to a meeting of all the editors and staff...

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and at that meeting, h/she has to defend the choice and tell why it should be published....

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So all those other people get involved; and the more people involved, the loooooonger it takes, as you can understand....

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But I urge patience, paige, because ONCE you have an editor who champions your story or article, your chances have increased from maybe...

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100 to 1 in the "slushpile" to about 1 in 10 at the editorial meeting. LET US KNOW when it gets published, please, paige!

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My stars--the end of the hour comes MORE SWIFTLY every time!...

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THANKS for coming today! I will save the questions not answered yet, and carry them over to next Thursday....

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WHOOPS, I mean next TUESDAY's Open Forum....

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Meanwhile, this Thursday Evening, Larry Pringle will be our guest, in case I can't e-mail out the notice before then. I hope you can come and talk with Larry....

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Here's a parting writing thought:...

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The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. - Mark Twain

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BYE, see you Thursday Evening!