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Mary Rosenblum
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Hello all!
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Mary Rosenblum
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Welcome to our Friday After
Hours Forum.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I wanted to talk about slant
tonight because it's the key to breaking into nonfiction
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Mary Rosenblum
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and the nonfiction market is
VERY easy to break in to.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Where you have the issue of
'good story' -- which is a subjective judgement once you get to a
professional level of craft...
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Mary Rosenblum
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in nonfiction, a huge number
of editors need well written articles to fill 12 issues a year
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Mary Rosenblum
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and it's all about topic. They
expect you to write quality prose.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But if you don't offer them
something they can use, they aren't about to publish you.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So understanding how to give
an editor what he/she needs is critical.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That is 'slant'.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Where most novice nonfiction
writers run into problems is that they address too large a topic.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Magazine articles are very
narrow in scope and targeted to a very small audience...the readers of the magazine
and nobody else.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Generally, you will rarely be
successful if you write an informational article first and then try to
market it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You simply won't match the
needs of various magazines perfectly unless you are lucky.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now this has nothing to do
with personal narrative or 'creative nonfiction'.
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Mary Rosenblum
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These are real stories and
they are told like fiction stories -- only they are true.
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Mary Rosenblum
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There, you're dealing with the
same issues as in fiction -- dramatic arc, narrative voice, powerful
description and so on.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's why most magazines want
a query only for nonfiction articles but they want the entire manuscript of
a personal narrative piece.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you think about a topic
such as shade gardening, the seems like it might be a good topic to write
about
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Mary Rosenblum
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if you happen to be an
experienced gardener, right?
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Mary Rosenblum
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But it's actually too broad
for most editors.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Think about all the garden
magazines out there.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You have magazines for
gardeners in various regions of the country, desert gardeners, high
altitude gardeners, container gardeners, rock garden enthusiasts...
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Mary Rosenblum
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the list goes on.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you offer a magazine editor
a general piece like 'shade gardening' you'll probably receive a rejectoin.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Remember? The editor wants
articles that appeal ONLY to his/her readers and appeal specifically to
those readers.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So you zero on on those
specific readers:
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Mary Rosenblum
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Shade gardening in containers.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Shade gardening for the
Northeast gardener (or any other region).
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Mary Rosenblum
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Shade gardening with native
species.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You get the drift.
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Mary Rosenblum
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These are all various 'slices'
of that shade gardening pie.
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Mary Rosenblum
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These narrower topics are much
more likely to sell to editors.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Generally, once you think
you've narrowed your topic down, narrow it some more!
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Mary Rosenblum
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It takes practice to start
thinking in 'narrow' terms when you have that good idea or meet that great
interview prospect.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But slant is how you make a
living writing nonfiction. :-0
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Mary Rosenblum
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One pool of information allows
you to write three, four, five or more articles with different slants.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And they can all sell
simultaneously.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The only way to understand
slant is to do your homework.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That means you decide on which
magazine you want to write for
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Mary Rosenblum
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and you read it. You read as
many issues of it as you can get your hands on.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And analyze what you read.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Who do you think these
articles are written for?
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Mary Rosenblum
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What do they seem to focus on?
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Mary Rosenblum
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What is the writing syle like?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Make sure that your article
will match all three of these categories when you query that editor.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The more your editor can
immediately visualize this article in an upcoming issue, the more likely
you are to get a 'send it' request.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Let's look at say, dog
agility, a popular dog sport.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You've gone to the pet store
and the like and you've selected a couple of magazines that you'd like to
start writing for.
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Mary Rosenblum
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One is written for the serious
dog sport person. It's all about training tips, care of the canine athlete,
food comparison, health issues...that sort of thing.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The other is for owners of
small breed dogs...toy poodles, mini pinchers, chihuahuas.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's all about doing fun
things with your dog, going on vacation with your dog, tips on care,
travel, and the like.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You have an information pool
on dog agility and you've lined up interviews with an agility judge and a
well established trainer.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Let's compare our magazines.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Who are they written for?
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Mary Rosenblum
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One: Serious competitors,
breed not important.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Two: pet owners of small dogs.
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Mary Rosenblum
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What do they focus on?
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Mary Rosenblum
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One: how to win with your dog,
no matter what sport you're in.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Two: Enjoying your small dog.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Very different so far, yes?
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Mary Rosenblum
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What is the style?
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Mary Rosenblum
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One: Serious advice from
professionals, written informatively.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Two: A breezy narrative style
with strong reader connection, a sense of 'peer advice'' with a lot of
personal tips from readers.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So your approach to both
articles is going to be very different.
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Mary Rosenblum
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For magazine one, you might
pitch a piece on 'warming up the canine athlete' with quotes from your
trainer source
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Mary Rosenblum
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about how to prepare a dog to
compete in agility. Maybe you can get a quote or two from a chiropractor
who treats dog agility injuries.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Those expert sources will
count a lot with this magazine. Remember, it has a lot of advice from experts
pieces in it!
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Mary Rosenblum
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Your tone is authoritative,
serious.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The readers of this magazine
need this in order to compete successfully.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Bet you sell it!
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Mary Rosenblum
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Then you write the 'agility
fun with the small dog' piece.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's breezy with quotes from
happy exhibitors who compete in agility trials with their tiny dogs
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Mary Rosenblum
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talking about how much fun
their dogs have.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Maybe you offer photos.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Your tone is breezy, with lots
of personal anecdotes from those people you interviewed at agility trials.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The readers, who are always
looking for fun new things to do with their dogs will love it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And you include a sidebar of
contact information for the major agility organizations.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Bet you sell it!
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sailor
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More than once, I had an idea
for an article for a particular magazine. Just as I start getting it
together, the next issue has an article just like it. If there is no other
market for my article, is it worth submitting it a year later to my
original target magazine?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Oh, that's tough, Sailor and
it's a reality in the freelance world.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I would not resubmit, sailor.
Editors wait way longer than a year to rerun a particular topic.
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Mary Rosenblum
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What I would do is to come up
with a different slant for that same information and query on that about
six months to a year later.
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Mary Rosenblum
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In the real world of making a
living writing nonfiction, you just don't write a piece before you sell it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You sell it first and then you
write it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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What you get good at is
figuring out how many ways you can slant a single pool of information.
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Mary Rosenblum
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One of my LR students managed
to sell 6 articles from one interview when she was taking the course.
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Mary Rosenblum
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She's the record holder so
far. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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Although several other of my
students are up to three or so sales from one idea pool.
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Mary Rosenblum
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An excellent exercise for you
on one of these cold, nasty winter days
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Mary Rosenblum
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when the holiday shopping rush
is over (or maybe as a way to avoid the holiday shopping rush!)
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Mary Rosenblum
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is to go to your library and
choose two or three magazines on more or less the same topic. (You can do
this at a bookstore, too, but most of them discourage you from reading the
magazine before you buy it, so then you have to spend money)
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Mary Rosenblum
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For example, you might find
three different 'outdoor' magazines featuring hiking, camping, etch.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You might choose three
hunting/fishing mags.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You might choose three
gardening mags.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now sit down and analyze them.
Answer those three questions.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You'll get a clearer picture
of their differences if you analyze several issues of each, but even with a
single issue you'll begin to get a sense
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Mary Rosenblum
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of how different they really
are, even if they SEEM to be similar.
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onepozy
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So when you query, you have done
your homework, are ready to write but have written what you are selling to
the editor
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Mary Rosenblum
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Don't write it before you
query, one.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Do your research or have it
all set up so that if you have to get an article turned in in a week, you
can get the information you need.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Query the editor, making sure
that your proposed article suits the magazine to a T.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you get a 'send it' reply,
THEN write the article.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Don't forget. Magazine
articles are quite short and you'll have a little working time.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I was at a conference with a
freelancer friend of mine...he makes his living this way...
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Mary Rosenblum
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and he realized on Sunday
afternoon that he had an article that had to be in on Monday morning.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It was a 1500 word science
piece. He had all the information. He got it in on time.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You do NOT mess with deadlines
in this business!
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sailor
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I've had 6 article published so
far, but I still have trouble sometimes estimating length without writing
most of it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You'll get better with
practice, sailor. I don't know what your experience is, but usually editors
will tell me what length they want, no matter what I propose.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Sometimes it's the same, often
it's shorter.
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Mary Rosenblum
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So I write the article, figure
out where to trim, trim, count, trim more, until it fits.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Believe me NF is all about
writing to length! You'll get VERY good at figuring out how to keep the strenght
of what you want to do and making it 1/3 shorter!
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writermom
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aren't the guidelines going to
dictate the length of the article too and wouldn't you write your query to
meet those guidelines
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Mary Rosenblum
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Usually they'll give a range
-- about 1500 words, 1000 - 3000.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But let me explain how a
magazine is put together.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The editors plan the magazines
for the whole year, usually. They decide on the main themes and they assign
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Mary Rosenblum
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the lead articles to regular
contributors. (which you will become if you write well for them).
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now they have room for some fillers.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That's what your article will
be.
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Mary Rosenblum
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That means it has to fit
whatever space they have in layout.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And if they want to put your
article on shade gardening in their May issue with a native plants theme
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Mary Rosenblum
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but they only have room for a
1000 word piece that's ALL you get. They will not cut an ad to let you run
1500 words.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Now.
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Mary Rosenblum
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When you have written a few
good articles for them, the editor likes your style...
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Mary Rosenblum
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YOU will get that 'can you
write an article for the June issue' request.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And you'll probably get more
words.
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info
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When you trim and find that what
is left is important to keep in with needing to trim more, is that where
you need to find a shorter way to say the same thing?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yep.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You get VERY good at figuring
out what is critical and finding ways to use ONLY the words needed.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Believe me, writing NF will
teach you to write VERY tight prose.
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katnj
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Do you mention things like
sidebars and photos in your query?
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Mary Rosenblum
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Yes, I would.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You offer them, and the editor
says yes or now.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Although the sidebar is less a
selling point than the photos.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Remember...most mags use a lot
of photos and they'd rather not have to send a photographer out to
illustrate your article for them.
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Mary Rosenblum
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I just include the sidebar
when I send in the final article. If the editor wants it, she'll pay me for
it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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if she doesn't want it she
won't use it.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Might as well try it.
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sailor
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The articles I've have had
published are light in tone. I can take one of them and slant it to a more
serious market. That market wants published clips with queries. I don't
have a "serious" published clip. Would it be best to send them
the lighter version that has been published, explaining how their version
would be different, or would it be best to write something else just to
send in with the query? The guidelines say do not send in the article you
are proposing as a clip.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Send them the published
version, sailor. Mostly they want to be sure you write publishable prose.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Even a different tone will
demonstrate ability.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's better if the clip is
similar to what you mean to write, but it's not crucial.
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didahl
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What's sidebar?
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Mary Rosenblum
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"Ah, that's a small,
separate piece, usually contact information or some other information that
you don't want to include in the body of the article.
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Mary Rosenblum
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For example, if you're writing
a travel piece on weekend retreats in San Cristobal your sidebar
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Mary Rosenblum
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might contain contact
information for the hotels and restaurants you mention.
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geezer
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What about clips for a newbie?
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Mary Rosenblum
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That is SO hard, geeze.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You need to send in a writing
sample if you have no clips.
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Mary Rosenblum
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One of my students tried
sending in the entire article even though a query was requested, telling
the editor that this was her writing sample since she had no clips.
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Mary Rosenblum
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About half the time the editor
rejected her out of hand. The other half the editor read the article.
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onepozy
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Would a published letter to the
editor be considered a clip?
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Mary Rosenblum
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If it's a big metropolitan
paper, one.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Not if it's a tiny local.
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Mary Rosenblum
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If you want clips, they're not
hard to get. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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You simply start at the bottom
of the heap, writing for magazines that pay very little money.
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Mary Rosenblum
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The pros won't write for them
and they are very hungry for stuff.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Use those clips to sub to
larger circulation mags.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Use those clips to sub to even
larger circulation mags.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And so forth.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And of course, if you have the
perfect fit for a magazine, and the editor wants it, your lack of clips
won't matter.
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charie'
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When you send clips, do you
cite, for example, the Magazine, issue date, page #, etc?
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Mary Rosenblum
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You do need to send a copy of
the actual article so that the editor can see it and read it if he chooses
to.
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Mary Rosenblum
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There are too many NF mags in
the universe!
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Mary Rosenblum
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If it's online, send a link to
the archived copy or a copy of the published webpage from your files.
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Mary Rosenblum
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You DID make a copy of the
webpage with your article on it, didn't you?
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Mary Rosenblum
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NF is not about names...
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's all about providing good
work.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Once you prove yourself to an
editor you'll get work if you write what that editor needs.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's worth it to do your
homework, figure out what an editor wants and then try to send him/her
queries that really will work for the mag.
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Mary Rosenblum
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What often happens is after
your second or third query which gets turned down (the editor has that
topic covered or doesn't want it), you'll get an assignment.
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Mary Rosenblum
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But that only happens if your
queries are for the type of article the magazine runs.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Another good exercise. Pick a
topic and see how many diferent slants you can wring out of it. :-)
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Mary Rosenblum
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Well, the hour has whizzed
past!
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sailor
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Re word length: After getting a
positive response to my query, I submitted a feature length article (1300
words). The editor said he wanted to publish it, but as a short. He offered
for 350 words. I gulped, thinking I had honed my article well. I was amazed
when I took another pass at it and cut it in half on the first try. Amazing
what you can do when you have to!
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Mary Rosenblum
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Excellent example, sailor and
that is SO true!
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Mary Rosenblum
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I'ts great practice for you
and you know what? When you have a check dangling in front of you, it's
easier than you think.
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Mary Rosenblum
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And sailor, that editor now
knows that you're flexible and professional. You'll get serious attention
when you query from now on.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Well, I'll post the transcript
of this in the usual place:
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Mary Rosenblum
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Writing Craft: Forum
Transcripts.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Have a good weekend all.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Do join us on Sunday for our
casual chat.
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Mary Rosenblum
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It's a lot of fun and usually
a bunch of people show up.
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Mary Rosenblum
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Stay warm!
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