Writer's Support Room - Open Forum Transcripts

Event start time: Tue Mar 22 13:55:32 2005
Event end time: Tue Mar 22 15:15:12 2005


Legend:
Questions from the Audience are presented in red.
Answers by the Speaker are in black.
The Moderator's comments are in blue.

mel boring Join us this afternoon in the AUDITORIUM-Scheduled Events Room for an "Open Forum" with Web Editor Mel Boring. Mel has published some 25 magazine articles and stories, as well as eight books for the young readers market. He taught writing for 18 years, while being home husband and parent to two of his four children, and doing his own writing. He welcomes your questions on time management, getting started, writer's block, marketing, writing rights, writing earnings, or anything else you'd like to discuss. Bring your QUESTIONS to this open forum-in five minutes.
mel boring The Tuesday afternoon "Open Forum" will begin promptly at 4 Atlantic/CANADA, 3 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Central, 1 p.m. Mountain, and noon Pacific. While you wait for the "Open Forum" to start, feel free to use your ASK A QUESTION button RIGHT BETWEEN THE YELLOW "MAP" AND THE RED QUESTION MARK IN ICHAT to post some questions for the discussion group-two minutes from now.
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. Also note: If you want to make it possible to ask the longest question you can, first type "/ask" (without the quotation marks), then leave one space after the end of "ask", then type as many characters of your question as you can. If your question is not complete, send the second part next, then if necessary the third, etc.
mel boring 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 Before I forget them...
mel boring there are two things I need to tell you....
mel boring First, what I'll call the "Word of the Forum" for today is:..
mel boring haptic \HAP-tik\ adjective
mel boring Anyone know what it means?
mel boring Secondly, kay kay had a question sometime ago...
mel boring about her submission to a magazine, and the acceptance, that an editor...
mel boring of the magazine later said they had NEVER received....
mel boring Here was her original telling of the situation:...
mel boring kay kay: In March 2004 I received an acceptance letter from a magazine. The editor stated that my article would be published in March 2005, and to please e-mail the finished product, in a zipped folder. I did this, and received a confirmation that they had received it. They then asked me to send them an invoice in March 2005. I sent them the invoice last week. Today I received an e-mail from a different editor, saying they had no record of my article ever having even been read, let alone accepted. I have a copy of the acceptance letter, which I e-mailed to her along with the article. What can be done about this? Is the acceptance letter considered a contract? I am very unsure as to how to proceed with this. Can you give me any advice?
mel boring We replied:...
mel boring Either there's been an honest mistake, kay kay, in which ONE editor (who may have left the magazine) does/says ONE thing, and ANOTHER editor (who may not be communicating with the OTHER), says something DIFFERENT. That can happen if two editors don't like each other, for instance, or if one has left the magazine, and the other has just come in new to it. First, find out IF your article was published in the March 2005 issue, unless you already know whether or not it was. The acceptance letter is NOT considered a contract; but it IS, of course, a statement of what the editor intended to do with your article. So AFTER you know definitely whether or not your article was published by them, send them a copy of the acceptance letter you received. Also send them any other correspondence you received, e-mail and/or hardcopy. Send these by snailmail, and register them to make sure they arrive at the magazine. I also suggest sending this same "package" to MORE than one person, perhaps...
mel boring another editor or the editor-in-chief (if there is one), so that you have a "second check" on things. I wish you JUSTICE, kay kay!
mel boring It was THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE MAGAZINE which kay kay was dealing with....
mel boring I tell you this ONLY that you can beware of the possiblity of such a thing--at ANY magazine....
mel boring I hope you will receive this information and be discreet with it....
mel boring We wouldn't EVER want it to come back on kay kay....
mel boring So be advised, be wise, but also be discreet!
mel boring And THANK YOU, kay kay, for being willing to bravely tell us this info!
mel boring Now the GOOD NEWS!...
writermom Mel I just wanted to share some good news with you I got an email from ParentLife last week that they are going to publish an article I wrote entitled "Baby!...Again!" in their January 2006 issue
mel boring HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS, writermom!!!...
mel boring writermom is an editor with an online publication...
mel boring and some of you have been published by her....
mel boring MANY HAPPY RERUNS, writermom, from ALL of us!
mel boring I'm sorry to be a little slower than usual today,...
mel boring but I've been playing "ketchup," and I'm a little like getting the FIRST ketchup out of the bottle! (-:}...
mel boring GOOD NEWS from Chitra Baitmangalkar: I have started writing for the Azmi Foundation, my script for the first CD has been approved.
The next one is about Archimides
mel boring You probably know that Chitra has published on our Web site,...
mel boring and we send our CONGRATULATIONS to you overseas, Chitra!!!...
mel boring I'm going to be watching for that CD of yours!
mel boring GOOD poetry NEWS from Sonya: I received good news from HIGHLIGHTS this week. They accepted my (first) poem entitled "What's For Breakfast?".
mel boring Sonya is a long-time and steady participant in our Web site activities...
mel boring WAY TO WRITE RIGHT, Sonya!...
mel boring Just that TITLE sounds DELICIOUS!
mel boring Donna Marie West sent us this GOOD NEWS: I've just published an article called "Something in the Water" in the March - April issue of WHAT IF?
mel boring I THINK I remember Donna being published in WHAT IF? before,...
mel boring so it sounds like she almost has a regular job with them!...
mel boring CONGRATULATIONS, Donna!!! And may it happen to you again, and again!
mel boring Bish reports her GOOD NEWS: I've had an acceptance from Wee Ones for an article I wrote! Now comes the long wait. It won't be published until March/April of 2006.
mel boring Bish has VERY recently been published on our ICL WEb site...
mel boring GOOD WORK, Bish--congratulations!!! WEE ONES is a prestigious publishment!...
mel boring Your joy must be as BIG as your home state of Texas!
mel boring History Writer shared this GOOD NEWS: I just received an "Honorable Mention" for a poem I wrote for the Women In The Arts Annual Writing Contest in Decatur, Illinois.
I ever sent in to a contest
mel boring You can probably guess what History Writer's favorite subject is to write about!...
mel boring And I'd bet History Writer does it VERY WELL! CONGRATULATIONS!\
mel boring Sue Sundwall tells us this GOOD NEWS: I have an interesting sale to share with your forum. I'd told you a few weeks ago that I'd sold a play. Well, early last week the same editor came back to me in an e-mail asking about yet another play I'd subbed
ago, but that she had rejected. She had really liked it, but there were a few elements that didn't work. Later, when putting together her program book, she found herself desperate for good
sent me the e-mail asking if she could purchase it. There were some revisions she'd made herself (which I approved) and voila! I sold my third children's Christmas play. A
I hope this is an inspiration to some of the folks to just keep trying. You never know when an editor is going to take a liking to your work, so hang in there
mel boring Sue Sundwall has been published on our Web site MANY times....
mel boring and I am SO pleased that she has published one of the most DIFFICULT things to publish,...
mel boring a play! If we children's writers feel rejected, children's POETS must feel it even worse. WAY TO GO, SUE! I see Bandy Bandana waving his yellow and red and blue and green and purple neckerchiefs for you!!!
mel boring Sarah has this GOOD NEWS: I got a nice surprise in the mail yesterday. Reiman Publishers picked up a recipe for chocolate dip I’d submitted to them at least a year
of Country. The dip is shown on page 49 and the recipe is on the next page. I was a bit disappointed that they changed my suggestion of ½ pint whipping cream to 2 cups of whipped topping, but I suppose that’s healthier. Anyway, that’s the second article of mine they've picked up
mel boring Sarah is perhaps BEST known to us as spotslover2...
mel boring and the sight of that CHOCOLATE in the recipe makes me suddenly grab for some, friend!...
mel boring CONGRATULATIONS, Sarah, and BEST WISHES for more and more publishing!!!
mel boring Chippy sent me TWO pieces of his obviously good humor and I want to share them:...
mel boring Chippy noted mirthfully: Do elephants take their trunks on safari?
mel boring HA! I LOVE it!
mel boring Thanks, Chippy!
mel boring ANOTHER good laugh from Chippy: If wowser is said "with tongue in cheek" it must be pretty painful!
mel boring Remember "wowser" was once our Word of the Forum....
mel boring Remember what it means? If you do, you'll understand Chippy's remark. THANKS, Chippy, for some GOOD laughs today!!!
linbaka Where is Spring?
mel boring GOOD question, linbaka!...
mel boring I am wondering here in Iowa, too!...
mel boring SOME people have spotted robins, but I haven't yet....
mel boring Maybe we could write some verse:...
mel boring I'll begin...
mel boring SPRING is hesitatING.
delima-e the word haptic means -having to do with the sense of touch
mel boring Absolutely right, delima-e!...
mel boring I LOVE that word because it's SHORT and very pronounceable!...
mel boring It's pronounced HAP-tick.
mel boring You get an A+, delima-e, for being the FIRST to come up with the definition!
mel boring Here's more about "haptic":...
jackie7777 Haptic - the sense of touch.
mel boring Good, jackie7777! Though haptic is really an ADJECTIVE....
mel boring I'm not sure there IS a noun form. I'll find out!
spotslover2 I looked haptic up in our unabridged Webster and it was not there. Did someone just make it up?
mel boring You're right, spotslover2, it IS NOT in most dictionaries,...
mel boring but it's a good--and rare--word. I don't think I've EVER heard anyone use it, have you?
jackie7777 Hi Mel, I am new , do we have a topic for this forum?
mel boring Thanks for asking, jackie! No, we don't have topics at this forum....
mel boring I feel it's better here to just answer questions at random....
mel boring There are TIMES when we seem to get onto a "theme" for a while...
mel boring But here at the ICL Forum, ANYTHING GOES!...
mel boring Well, ALMOST anything!
writermom Mel I am in the process of writing a fantasy novel and have decided to do it in three parts the first part is finished at about 29000 words and the other two parts are partially written with outlines for both and beginning chapters for the third part my question is can I pitch the first part to an agent or publisher or should I wait until all three parts are finished
mel boring My suggestion would be, for a FIRST-time book-published (if you are)...
mel boring to make the FIRST 29000 words a BOOK ON ITS OWN....
mel boring If the three parts totaled about 90,000 words, that would be DIFFICULT...
mel boring to sell to a children's publisher, that long a piece....
mel boring I know, I know, the HARRY POTTERS are LONGER THAN LONG....
mel boring But when you're just beginning in books (if you are, writermom),...
mel boring your BEST chance is to KISS--Keep It Short and Sweet!...
mel boring It is just very hard to sell tomes for children. Start smaller, then when you become WELL published, with children WAITING FOR your next novel, you can write as LONG as you want to!
mel boring SH wants to know: I was under the impression that I needed to find an agent for childrens books. I have found a few
seem to want money up front. Can you please recommend an agent or would you suggest that I write to editors, too
mel boring SH, agents are a "Catch 22" situation:...
mel boring You can't sell a first book, so you look for an agent, very UNDERSTANDABLY....
mel boring But MOST agents won't take you on UNTIL you've sold a book (or two!)....
mel boring So my STRONGEST advice is what you've already come up with:...
mel boring YES, submit to editors FIRST!...
mel boring Then when you're reasonably successful, agents may coming looking for YOU, friend!...
mel boring Agents are NOT just for "selling a book."...
mel boring They are for more or less MANAGING YOUR WRITING CAREER....
mel boring in that they KNOW the publishers, send your manuscript here or there,...
mel boring and in doing so, are "advising" you, not only saving you time....
mel boring Agents would likely tell you they are not in business for "the quick sale,"...
mel boring which is what MOST of us writers just want when we begin, and are unpublished....
mel boring SO, if you WANT an agent, START SUBMITTING your own work YOURSELF....
mel boring You'll "learn the ropes" in doing that. THEN, agents will notice you, that you are MAKING your own career...
mel boring THEN they will want to do for you what is their PURPOSE: Manage your career....
mel boring If you DON'T have a writing career of SOME kind, agents will not be interested in you....
mel boring You will interest AGENTS ONLY insomuch as you first INTEREST EDITORS....
mel boring To do that, you must WRITE, WRITE, WRITE...
mel boring REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE, REWRITE, ...
mel boring and polish your writing until an editor cannot refuse it....
mel boring I've heard an agent say, "Beginning writers want US to do their work for them....
mel boring That is, they want us to take a manuscript that is NOT polished, and sell it....
mel boring The truth is that the WRITER is in charge of polish....
mel boring and the WRITER sells themSELF, to editors, and then to an agent."...
mel boring Getting an agent at the BEGINNING of your career (Mel here again)...
mel boring looks like the easy way out. But you MUST FIND A WAY THROUGH....
mel boring THROUGH to publishers and publication.
lizziegirl Does my teacher need to know what pic I am use for my story?
mel boring Yes, they should, lizziegirl....
mel boring although it might be obvious to them....
mel boring It still helps to make sure by mentioning which picture.
caq If you have a piece that has won a contest (ByLIne for instance because they don't publish it or purchase rights) and you submit it to a publisher later, should you say it won a contest in your coverletter or would that be like saying, "This is good because it won," I have been told publishers don't like to be told what is good, they want to decide themselves.
mel boring YES, you SHOULD tell them it won a contest, caq....
mel boring That's not the same as telling them point-blank: "THIS IS GOOD."...
mel boring Just tell them it won, and let them judge your "goodness" for themselves.
diane45 How do I help a discouraged writer from not feeling so discouraged? It doesn't seem as though my suggestions and comments for this person's stories help, and I try to point out the good as well as the bad.
mel boring diane45, I am VERY PLEASED that you're helping another writer!...
mel boring You ARE doing the right thing by telling them both the good and the bad....
mel boring But what that discourage writer does with it is STILL up to them, I'm afraid....
mel boring The old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."...
mel boring That writer ultimately will have to take on for themselves, diane45. BUt KEEP on telling them what you're telling them!
mel boring MB is asking: I have authored one inspirational book containing poetry, prose and short stories. Now I have a children's story about an Atlantic Puffin in the Shetland Islands. The aim of writing this story is to inspire and encourage children suffering Verbal Dyspraxia. (Verbal dyspraxia affects the delivery of a child's speech. The child can be quite intelligent, know what they want to say, fully understand the words they want to say, but be incapable of making the correct or total
story is almost finished. In polishing the text I want to direct it to the most appropriate age. As a beginner in writing for children, I would welcome your advice re the above and possible suitable links that would help me
mel boring This is a long question, but I thought it important to make it complete....
mel boring MB to MB: (-:}...
mel boring Your book, I believe, should be for the age group at which dyspraxia is MOST crucial....
mel boring I'm guessing that would be about 5 or 6 when the child first went to school,...
mel boring and had to make use of verbal skills....
mel boring Their dyspraxia would SHOW UP then....
mel boring So if you wrote it for, say, ages 5 to 7, that might be NEED meeting PROVISION....
mel boring I'm sorry I don't know any links to send you to, MB, but I will keep my eyes open for some!...
mel boring One reason I don't know any is that I'd NEVER heard of dyspraxia until YOU mentioned it....
mel boring And I couldn't find it in ANY dictionary....
mel boring NOW I understand it...
mel boring and THANKS to you, MB---there in Australia!!!
cup Have frostbitten fingers lost their haptic sense?
mel boring YES, GOOD USE of "haptic," cup!!!
mel boring My wife Carol does Healing Touch, so this is one of her FAVORITE words!
mel boring MB needs to know: I have just finished the first draft of an adventure story tied into the Chanukah story. The main characters are 10 and 13 years of age. When I did a word count, it came up as an odd 4000 words or so. I'm not sure whether to cut it to fit more of a picture book size, or lengthen it for a middle grade book. Or are there books this length (like MAGIC TREE HOUSE)?
mel boring First, MB, to CUT it to picture book size would mean a total of NO MORE than 1000 words--YIKES!...
mel boring AND, I don't think story matter that suits 10 to 13-year-olds would SUIT a picture book....
mel boring Perhaps you could take clues from the MAGIC TREE HOUSE books,...
mel boring and fashion yours accordingly, to work like THOSE do...
mel boring I think I wouldn't LENGTHEN it for now, but try to make it the BEST book for 10-13s that you can at the length it is.
mel boring GA wants to know: In your 3/15 newsletter, you mention that writers should not submit
clips atttached but instead should use (2) rubber
access. I understand the difficulty with staples but
be easier for editors than simply removing ONE

mel boring VERY GOOD and LOGICAL question, GA!...
mel boring First of all, I DON'T recommend paper clips because...
mel boring I've heard editors say they don't LIKE them--most of the editors I've heard....
mel boring Secondly, the REASONS they don't like them are that they're HARD to deal with....
mel boring An editor will take a rubber band and slip it down on their wrist--quite easily....
mel boring But what do you do with a paper clip, where do you put it?...
mel boring This may sound trivial, but editors deal in MICROSECONDS in pursuite
mel boring pursuit, that should be...
mel boring of their OVERWHELMING schedule....
mel boring So ANYthing that will save them time and motion will FAVOR YOU, the writer....
mel boring PLUS, paper clips can slip OFF EASILY,...
mel boring and DO DAMAGE when going through postal machines--damage to the MANUSCRIPT. THAT is ALL why I recommend the soft, complete-circle, non-damaging rubber band.
mel boring Hope Marston would like to know: Where can we find help in writing dialogue that fits our characters. One of my critique buddies pointed out that all of my characters sound like me. How do I individualize their conversation?
mel boring The GREATEST help in writing dialogue, Hope,I believe, is...
mel boring listening to people talk....
mel boring Especially CHILDREN, when we write for children....
mel boring That will force us to be LISTENERS,...
mel boring and in the listening process, I think the greatest thing that happens to us writers...
mel boring is NOT that we hear what their dialogue sounds like,...
mel boring but that we OBSERVE them in general, period....
mel boring If you happen upon two kids in the grocery store whining and begging for this and that,...
mel boring and throwing tantrums on the floor,...
mel boring THAT is an observation, a TOTAL one....
mel boring You'll hear their words of dialogue, of course,...
mel boring BUT you will ALSO KNOW the CONTEXT in which that dialogue takes place,...
mel boring and that context is the store, the age of the children, the parent with them, the store manager....
mel boring SO that then, dialogue doesn't become ISOLATED as if it wasn't happenign in real life....
mel boring LACKING observations like that, I believe, we writers "insert" our OWN dialogue,...
mel boring what WE THINK they'd be saying, in IMAGINARY scenes in our minds....
mel boring So, go to the store once NOT to buy anything, but JUST to GAWK....\
mel boring Or go to some other place, JUST to be a spectator....
mel boring At first, don't even take a notebook and pencil,Hope....
mel boring Just BE there, watch, listen, absorb....
mel boring YOU and your WRITING will be the RICHER forit!
mel boring GMG asked: My question is a follow-on "pen names": I would like to use a pen name (someday, that is!) and am wondering how to go about it... I was told to use your real name in the query letter, but put your pen name on the manuscript. Is this correct? Should you also mention in the query that you publish under this pen name? (or would that be considered presumptuous?) FYI, I do also believe there is a "DBA" (doing business as) IRS form that can be completed, if the big bucks start rolling in. Have you heard of this?
mel boring First, GMG, YES, put your pen name ONLY on the manscript,...
mel boring only under the title on the "by..." line. Put your REAL name everywhere else...
mel boring Editors will UNDERSTAND then, what your pen name is by WHERE it is used--and not used....
mel boring YES, I've heard of "DBA" with the IRS....
mel boring That is when you have a kind of "company name" instead of your own name....
mel boring If I am Mel Boring, the man doing business,...
mel boring and I call my business Boring Ideas, I can say my DBA is "Boring IDeas."...
mel boring HAPPY April 15, by the way!!!...
mel boring I've finished our taxes and got a refund back already!
mel boring AS wants to know: I want to send a query letter to a magazine and my idea for the artice can
departments or it can be a feature article. In the
is much smaller than in the second. Is it ok if I
the query letter or is it better to target

mel boring Yes, mention that you are interested in both, if you want, AS...
mel boring Keep THIS in mind: The editor's prerogative....
mel boring The editor is BOSS on a magazine or in a book publisher's office....
mel boring SO don't "second guess" them; but it's OK to let themn know that. Don't target one option, be OPEN to BOTH....
mel boring and your flexibility in that can get you SALES, friend!
mel boring Hey, I'm 12 minutes OVERtime!!!
mel boring I really must go...
mel boring I'm saving ALL questions that are submitted but not answered yet, to use...
mel boring in the Q&As of the Monday Announcements....
mel boring THANKS for being here!!!
mel boring I'll see you NEXT Tuesday!

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