Scribble Articles9

THE NO DEADLINE DOLDRUMS, by Melanie Bowden

Many articles cover how helpful deadlines are to getting a writer's you-know-what in gear. But, what do you do when you don't have a deadline? It's tough to stay motivated when you're cracking your own whip. Plus, there are so many distractions to take you away from your writing tasks.

Currently I have no project with an editor imposed deadline. After I published my first articles, I foolishly thought that the assignments would start rolling in once I could say that I¹m a published author. Unfortunately, for two months I have not received a go-ahead for a new article. This time has forced me to become a self-disciplined, self-motivated writing machine. Here's some habits that have helped:

1) Make lists of your writing goals and post them near your workspace.
Visual reminders do wonders.

2) Designate blocks of time where you will focus solely on your writing -
even if it's only 15 minute blocks. Don't answer the phone, surf the Web
(unless it's for writing research, of course), or get up to start a load of
laundry. Put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door and get to work. It's
also helpful to sit down with your family at the beginning of the week and
plot out your writing blocks on the family calendar.

3) Keep a log or journal of what you accomplish with your writing each day.
Entries can be as small as, 'Wrote 3 sentences.' Writers don't receive performance reviews so we need to make our own. When you look back over your writing log you¹ll be amazed how far youve come.

4) Call or e-mail other writers for support. If you don't know any, check out writing Web sites like www.writers.com where you can join writing groups
for feedback and support. For face-to-face and phone interaction search out
writer's clubs in your community. I met another writer mom through my local writer's club and knowing she¹s plugging away during the kids' school hours, just like me, keeps me on task.

5) Give yourself breaks when writing is getting you down. I take walks, go
to the movies, treat myself to Starbucks, or just don't write for a day or two. Another option is to read something completely different from your writing genre. Since I write nonfiction articles, I spend a lot of time studying magazines. For a change, I love to immerse myself in a great novel and not worry about how the author ever sold the book.

6) A famous quote says, 'Goals are dreams with deadlines.' You don't need
someone else to set deadlines for you. It can be tough going, but when you
put that query letter, novel, or screenplay in the mail the sense of accomplishment is all yours to enjoy. Once it¹s in the mail, let it go and leave the results up to God, Buddha, or the Great Spirit of Hopeful Writers.
You've got new deadlines to meet.

The most important thing I¹ve learned is, no matter what - don¹t give up! Keep at it and you will receive deadlines from editors. Then you can retire
your whip, at least temporarily.

Melanie Bowden lives and writes - with or without a deadline - in Davis,
California. She is also a postpartum doula and mother of two. Contact:
melaniebowden@earthlink.net

The Essentials of a Good Writer, By Sangeetha Rajesh

To be a top-flight writer or journalist, it is imperative to have a few essential and desirable qualities. While the list of qualities may seem far too many, nevertheless, it helps us assess and re-examine ourselves.

Personal Qualities:

Excellent news sense: A good journalist is one who understands and knows what leads will make a good top page story. Of course, this comes with time and experience, but it is important that the reporter has a keen sense to find news.

Deadline: In a journalist’s day-to-day life, time management is quite essential. You may have to chase not one but many stories simultaneously and this means that you are often working against time. You have to churn out clean, precise, and high-quality copies at the least possible time.

Curious, passionate, flexible: To be passionate about one’s job doesn’t mean being cathartic. You need to be acquiescent, enthusiastic, and curious about any piece you write.

Facts alone: A writer should know the distinction between presenting facts and mixing it with opinions. This doesn’t mean that there is no space for personal experiences. However, when you write a story it has to be substantiated with all sides of the issue so that it is without bias.

Persistent, sensitive, imaginative, clever: Candidates who are not patient, empathetic, or imaginative won’t last long. It is equally important that you are witty and ingenious when the situation requires you to be. There may be some who may be unwilling to divulge important details; then it boils down to your ability to get them to talk.

Keen listener: Being tolerant and amiable helps if you want to be a first-rate writer. At times, you may have to give in to understand the other person’s point of view.

Stamina and inner strength: By now you must have realised that the list of desirables is endless. However, you will go places if you develop a good stamina and inner courage to deal with the situations. You may have to take difficult decisions in defending your story.

Legal knowledge, topical issues: Whatever you decide to write – a news story, journal, or a book – it helps if you are within the boundaries of legal rights and responsibilities. Also, any piece that is current and newsworthy raises its chances of success.

Contacts: The only sure-fire way to find stories is to maintain a contacts diary that is updated, well laid-out, and easy to use. Before writing a piece, you can talk to the right people and add credibility to your story.

Atmosphere, human angle: Once you have finished your research on the topic you want to write about, look for the human angle in the story. Do not be mechanical in handling it – find out about the real people concerned, does your piece address those needs, what are the benefits for the readers, etc.

On the professional front:

It always pays to be a thoroughbred professional. In a short span of time, it helps you to know the names of important local people - mayor, police, political party heads, aristocrats, academics, etc – to churn out stories. That means your contacts book is brimming with names and is up-to-date.

While you are working on a particular story, it helps to check for fresh angle. This may lead you to yet another idea. For instance, suppose you’re writing about parenting: How to train your three-year-old to speak and learn. While interviewing parents for your story, you may hit upon such information as – when do kids cry, do they crave for attention all the time, how to know your child is ready to learn and share, etc.

Congratulations! You have just got another idea for your next story – The ages and stages of sharing. When you are looking for the most balanced angle to form your story, you may get involved into writing running features – stories that are somehow related and yet present new dimensions. Look for cues.

Whether you’re a freelancer or are working in a company, you are expected to look for leads on your own without being asked to. By this way, you are on your toes always.

Researching your story thoroughly is another important skill. Unless and until you present your story properly, nobody will invest faith in you.

Conducting interviews are an important aspect of good writing. Speaking to ‘people in the know’ add colour to an otherwise dull piece. Interviewing is an art and can be learnt. The most vital issues in interviewing are:

1) Researching about the person (if he is an achiever or a big personality)

2) Knowing what to ask – prepare some questions

3) Asking questions to the right people (in case of features that involve common people)

4) Persuading the person to talk

5) Picking the moments to ask probing questions, if any

6) Being receptive, courteous, and flexible

Last but not least, whatever you write do it with faith. Let your story speak for you. Present a clean and unbiased copy.

While these qualities alone may not guarantee you a hundred percent success rate, they certainly go a long way to help you chase your dream provided you have the most fundamental skill – that of producing flawless copies.

…ends…

A short blurb about me:
Sangeetha Rajesh is a freelance writer and is currently a journalist for an expatriate magazine titled London LINC. She has written several features for the largest daily in the world, ‘’The Times of India’’ and is freelancing for another big national daily in India. She also writes for the Writer's Support Network – a premier E-magazine along with a few of the frontline authors in the writing world. She can be reached at rajeshsangeetha@yahoo.com.

Capturing And Enslaving Ideas, By L. Jans

1. Work in a stimulating environment.
I work in a small bedroom converted to office. With kitchen adjacent, I move back and forth. I often write with soup or chile simmering, ready to pop onto table the moment Arnold is ready to eat.

I have a large desk, and an adjacent typewriter table.

Under my desk is my little hedgehog. She hears all my mumbling. The short seven-inch pipe in her tub-home provides hiding space. Believe me, she knows alot. I tell her what I'm working on, ask her how to spell a word, and so on.

Before I start to write, I light a scented candle, or some incense sticks. Low volume music plays in the background.

On my desk is a painte rock paperweight, a top that spins, an old tin that looks like a miniature breadpan.

A bulletin board on the wall holds fortune cooky sayings, quotations cut from newspapers, contact numbers, lists. On the wall are various whim-whams, including a "pirate" paper holder, a Schlitz light-up advertising clock, two ferns, a photo of an inlet in Italy or Greece, little jar of burrs, a yarn dog made by a friend, two clay musical flutes imported from Chile, handmade wooden letter holders, colored pens, wildlife photos, a set of jacks. All these are to inspire and set me in a state of mind to write.

2. Keep a notebook and pen handy at all times.
I keep a notebook and pen beside my bed on the floor. The reason for this is I often have ideas at bedtime or before rising in the morning, and...occasionally, during the night.

One night, I wrote all night in the dark. I did not want to wake my husband by clattering around turning on lights and so on. Writing furiously, I leaned over the edge of the bed. I risk writing over top of my own writing, but at least I was getting it on paper, right?

My husband has a hearing problem. I thought I had pulled off an entire night of writing without him knowing.

To my astonishment, at breakfast, Arnold said, "What were you writing?"

"I didn't think you knew I was writing," I sputtered.

Arnold softly replied, "Deaf people can hear things no one else hears. I could hear your pen scratching. It sounded like we had mice."

I still continue the practice with his unflattering comment ringing in my ears.

Get used to writing in the dark, fellow writers, for it comes in handy.

For instance, I recently attended an information-slide presentation night about the burrowing owl. It was very dark during slide presentation, but I wrote in my little notebook. The point is, I got the vital information for my article. Sometimes I wrote over top of my writing, making for some interesting deciphering.

3. Find out what stimulates your creativity.

Visiting a creative friend often helps me. I once did an article about a lady who makes life-size dolls. Before attending the interview, I was near to banging my head on my desk, wailing there was nothing to write about and threatening to heave my typewriter out the door.

After leaving her home, I had sparks flying off my brain.Literally hundreds of ideas were coming to mind. I can't explain how it works. I just know it does.

Craft shows, art shows, junk sales all have the same effect on me. There is likely a different trigger for each person. If long walks are your creative catalyst, take note of that and use the technique when you are low on ideas.

4. Be on the lookout for new markets.
If you are waiting in an office, check out the reading material. While sitting in a doctor's office, I scoffed contacts for a free newsletter, a religious publication, and a senior's magazine with a call for heritage stories, recipes, poems, autograph verses, travel notes, jokes and photos.

5. Call people for interviews.
If you are doing an article about the figure skating club, call the president for a statement. Ask if they welcome new members. Report that information in your article.

6. Have a questioning mind.
While having a cup of tea in a local restaurant, I spoke to the waitress, whom I knew also worked at another restaurant. From that conversation sprang the idea for an article about people who have two jobs. She also expressed an interest in heritage stories. I gave her my card.

7. Don't be discouraged if an article you have slanted for a local paper is rejected. The article is not dead. For example, I recently wrote my road rage experience slanted for a local paper. The editor rejected saying it wasn't an article; it was an editorial. I reslanted the article to include an idea for raising money for charity by re-enacting road rage. The article is away at a provincial travel association publication.

8. Make a list of things that happened to you.
Divorce, accident, purse stolen, serious illness, something funny, near-death experience, raising a hyperactive child, death of a parent, experience with angels are all on my list. Expand on these. How did the event affect you?

9. Write down tiny bits of information which in themselves are not useful, but can be worked into a poem, article, or fictional piece. By bits, I mean:
a. some cute little phrase or saying. I heard one announcer say that he was having "trouth mubbles" that day.
b. a dream fragment. I once dreamt about a snake trying to bite me. I wrote it down, and worked it into a fictional piece about someone being deceived.
c. a new ideas for use of an object. For example, using an old boot as a planter.
d. something catchy. I was listening to a health show on television. They were talking about a problem with nerve endings. I wrote a poem called Nerve Endings. It had nothing to do with health, mind you. It's a poem about what gets on my nerves.
e. an interesting name. One day someone was on Trading Post looking for a cat named "Sprocket". I thought the name was comical so I wrote it down. I later wrote a comical poem called Sprocket, about a cat sitting on the window sill of a house watching what went on.

Do don't ignore fragments and bits. Get them down. I guarantee you will use every one of them.

10. Keep an ideas file.
This can be very rough. The point is, you have the ideas captured, ready for use whenever you choose.

There you are. Ten points to capture and enslave. Make them work for you.

L. Jans is a freelance photojournalist with articles published in Canadian Writer's Journal, Fellowscript, Cross and Quill, Rainy Day Corner, Write From Home, Longridge, Writer's-Exchange, Senior Living and more.