Bill of Rights for Writers, Editors

Darrell Laurant (right), longtime columnist for the Lynchburg News & Advance and the director of The Writers' Bridge, wrote the following as a blog entry at (www.thewritersbridge.com). The Bridge is an international community of freelance writers whose reason for existence is not just to market and sell the work of our members (although that's certainly a priority), but also to do its part to change the very culture of freelance writing.

"We think [the culture]needs changing," says Darrell. "In many ways, the relationship between editors and writers has always bordered on the adversarial. True, both groups have very specific concerns, rights and needs, but many of those are shared. A published article is really a collaboration, and needs to be seen that way throughout the process.

"That's the way TWB wants to operate. At the moment, we have over 100 members representing more than 30 American states and a dozen other countries. Any of them are welcome to post their opinions, personal stories and writing in this space.

"For openers, I'd like to offer these suggestions for making life easier for both editors and freelancers. Call it a Bill of Rights." Here is Darrell's bill:

FOR EDITORS

1. Editors have the right to article pitches that reflect at least some knowledge of their magazine or Website.It is unrealistic to expect writers -- who are, in most cases, equally busy people -- to plow through years of back issues. It is, however, reasonable to presume that they have some sense of the subject, scope and tone of a publication, as well as what has been printed in recent issues. They should also have thoroughly read whatever writers' guidelines might be available.

2. Editors have the right to enough information in queries for them to make a decision.How is this a story that will fit this particular market? Who is this writer, and what are his or her credentials?

3. Editors have the right to establish their own rules for queries.If a market requires that queries be snail mailed, then that's how you should do it. The only exception might be a story with an extremely short shelf life -- if, for instance, a writer wants to know if an editor would like him or her to cover a breaking event.

4. Editors have the right to ask for stories on speculation. If they've never worked with you before, they have no idea what you're going to send them. Even published clips don't always help, because they may have been heavily edited. Spec status should be made clear at the time the article is requested, however.

5. Editors have the right to receive the article for which they contracted.Any significant changes in subject or tone should be worked out during the writing process.

6. Editors have the right to receive material that is reasonably free of grammatical or spelling errors. If you can't spell, find someone who can to go over your manuscript.

7. Editors have the right to set deadlines, and to have those deadlines met. (But see No. 3 below). In the case of magazine editors, they also have the right to have their requests for story lengths met, since they are often trying to fill a specific hole in their layout.

8. Editors have the right to communication from their writers. If you're having trouble meeting a deadline or finding a source, by all means contact the editor with whom you're working and let them know in advance. On the other hand, they also have the right not to be pestered as to whether a particular idea has been accepted or is being considered. If possible, respect their stated window of response time.

9. Editors have the right to check your facts. They'll be the ones left holding the bag if you get something wrong.

FOR WRITERS

1. Freelancers have the right to shop their ideas around, just as they would to sell a car or a house. Markets that say "No simultaneous submissions" are simply being unrealistic -- in the time it takes a writer to hear from one editor, a story may have grown stale and unsellable. For their part, writers should be honest about this -- trying to sell the same story to two similar markets who each think they're getting an "exclusive" is highly unethical.

2. Freelancers have the right to a reasonably quick response to queries. Magazines and Websites are often understaffed these days, it's true. But if a query is obviously off the mark, it shouldn't take long to hit the return button on an e-mail and say: "Thanks. Not for us." Or to write the same comment on a snail mail query and drop it back into the SASE. If an editor is considering a pitch, it would also be nice to let the writer know, and how long that decision might take.

3. Freelancers have the right to reasonable deadlines. Editors should be organized enough to plan ahead and not have to ask that stories be done on rush order. That benefits neither party.

4. Just like editors, freelancers have the right to communication. The editor should be clear about what he or she wants in a story before the fact.

5. Freelancers have the right to be paid as advertised. It's a lot to ask to begin with to expect a writer to wait until publication, rather than upon acceptance, to receive a check. But if that's what's been agreed on, renumeration should be prompt. A house or car payment might depend upon it.

6. Freelancers have the right to be informed in advance if their work is going to be used in any other manner than what has been agreed upon.

7. Freelancers have the right to request a signed contract -- even a contingency contract for stories on spec.

Writers Workshop: Marketing Your Work

Thomas Becher (right), president and owner of Roanoke-based PR and ad agency tba (the becher agency), will talk about marketing your work at the monthly Arts Council of the Blue Ridge Writers Workshop Tuesday at 6:30 at Center in the Square.

He will as you questions like: Are you interesting? How can you get your work noticed? And then he will talk about ways you can get the most from your greatest strength—the ability to write and communicate – through PR and social media.

He will discuss developing your personal brand; building a strategic marketing plan; planning and executing public relations strategies and tactics; social media must-haves and ideas to market your self-published book.

This is a presentation that has been requested several times and I think you’ll find Thomas to be knowledgeable, well informed and a good speaker. If you’re looking to market your book or just your writing skills, this is where you belong. The cost is a meager $5 for non-members (free for members).

Call Rhonda Hale at the Arts Council at 540-224-1205 or e-mail her at rhale@theartscoundil.org.

Join Me Tuesday for The Big Read in Bonsack

I hope all you lovely people will join me tomorrow night (Tuesday) at the Blue Ridge Library on U.S. 460 just east of Roanoke in the Bonsack area for a discussion of the voices used in Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying. It starts at 6:30 and goes until we're all tired of each other.

This is one of a series of events this month in The Big Read, a community-wide event featuring this book at its center. The Big Read is a national organization that promotes community reading both for its own value and as a community-building event.

Gaines' book tells the story of a man whose mission is to--reluctantly and with considerable prodding--help a condemned felon feel a sense of worth before his execution in Louisiana. Cheerful little book, it is.

Anyhow, come by and help us figure out just exactly what Gaines is saying, how it plays out and how you might have done it better.

Screenwriting Competition Scheduled in Virginia

Our buddy Sara Elizabeth Timmins shares the following for all you aspiring screenwriters:

The 2010 Virginia Screenwriting Competition presented by the Virginia Film Office is open to Virginia residents and students attending Virginia schools, there is no entry fee to submit a screenplay.

Every screenplay in the competition will receive a written critique from the first panel of judges and screenplays selected as finalists in the competition are judged by industry professionals actively producing feature films.

The deadline to enter is Friday, May 21, 2010. All entries must be postmarked on or before that date.For a complete list of rules and the application form, click here.

For more information or questions, contact the Virginia Film Office at 800-854-6233 or email kstephens@virginia.org

A Life Renewed in a Thank-You Note

Elizabeth Jones with Dan Smith at the conference.^

Elizabeth Jones, who won the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference's scholarship for 2010, is, by all accounts, a remarkable woman who will be heard from in the future. The letter she has written to us as a "thank you" note to our conference, gives an indication that the word we got on her is right. Here's the letter:

Dear Dan [Smith, conference founder],

I feel such gratitude for the scholarship check I received from Hollins that was awarded by you and the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference in January. It was a wonderful conference, well thought-out, entertaining and informative.

I also feel as if I need to tell you why this check means so much to me.

Five years ago, my youngest brother, Steven Matthews, was murdered in Baltimore. He was an innocent bystander in a home invasion. The house that Steven lived in was a group home for young men who were striving to become clean and sober after years of addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Six months prior to his death, my brother challenged me to finish my education. His words went something lik this: "Liz, are you a drug addict? Are you a recovering alcoholic? Are you bi-polar? No? Well, I am. If I can finish college and even go on to get my MFA and teaching certificate, what is your excuse?

It was this memory that brought me to Hollins University. And, it is the many memories of Steven that have brought me into the non-fiction genre. Thanks to the support and encouragement of my peers and professors, I am well into a memoir that I believe may be marketable. I also hope it can help others who deal with the loss of a loved-one to violence. My experience is that the grieving process is as individual as where a person's freckles appear on [her] face; totally unique and personal. I don't believe in time limits or standards for grieving; however, all too often we are made to feel as if we need to "shape up" and "get on with life." Empathy and compassion can be too short lived and the person who is mourning is left alone before they have been able to fully process how their life has changed.

During the conversation we had that I refer to above, Steven and I also made promises to each other in the event of our deaths. Whoever was left behind had to take some of the other's ashes to the Grand Canyon (we were raised in Flagstaff, Arizona) and to Barbados, West Indies (where we lived a few times while my father was on sabbatical for research). Last year, I was able to take some of Steven's ashes to Arizona. This summer, I will finish fulfilling my promise to him by taking his remaining ashes to Barbados. I will be able to complete the final phase of my memoir after that experience.

I would not be able to complete this mission on my brother's behalf without your gift. You have truly helped me with my work and my promise.

On the day that Steven died, two other men died and one was seriously wounded. My understanding is that two others were at AA meetings, and one was doing lanudry in the basement with his headphones on. Steven had been cooking dinner for all of them when the gunmen kicked in the door. Four of them were found in the living room, sitting close enough to be holding hands. One had fainted and three were dead.

The positive news is that the medical examiner stated that all of the men living in that house were clean and sober. All were succeeding. It makes me think of the old quote, "A lone man together is just that, a man. Put him with others and he becomes part of an army." I don't know who wrote that, but the truth is that Steven had found his army after many years of personal disappointment. I feel as if I have a wonderful opportunity to honor his last request and the men he lived and died with by writing about them.

So, thank you. This may well be much more information than you need or want, but it helps me show my gratitude, of which I have so much right now.

Elizabeth Matthews Jones
Hollins Horizons '10

Writing Yourself Sane: Some Tips

Here's a useful link from Donna Dilley that tells us how to "write yourself sane" among other things.

It's a wide-ranging "how to ..." site with a number of tips for writers. Hope you get the information that puts you over the top on your next project.

Some Rules for Writing Fiction

Our good buddy Sharon Rappaport, whose husband John Anderson has a hot book these days ("Stand By Her"), send along some rules for writing fiction and they range from very interesting to good to funny to something you'll use next time you sit to write.

They're here.

Another Roanoke Morning in the Snow

Downtown Roanoke in the snow (double click on it for a large view).^

Trees on Mill Mountain.^

Greenway seating along Riverland Road.^

The old American Viscose plant from the Greenway in Southeast Roanoke.^

Greenway runner in the snow.^

Young couple enjoying Valentine's Day.^

Why anyone would ride a bike in the snow is beyond me. Mom's entreaty not to eat yellow snow (below) is not a mystery.^

A walk along the greenway in South and Southeast Roanoke this morning was a visual feast, so I continued the adventure by driving to the top of Mill Mountain for a snow photograph of Roanoke. Mighty pretty up there. Here's some of what I saw.

Learning how to write well: First, read

Cara Modisett, the editor of Blue Ridge Country magazine and a teacher at our recent writers conference has just posted a link to some pretty valuable writing tips. If you're interested in pursuing it, you can link here. It's pretty good guidance.

Movie script contest has $3,000 prize and exposure for your play

Sara Elizabeth Timmins, who spoke at the recent Roanoke Regional Writers Conference, sends word of the 24th WriteMovies International Writing Contest. It is a contest for movie scripts and the deadline for entry is Jan. 29. Entry fee is $29 and contest judges would like a final draft of your screenplay to be sent via the Internet.

First prize is $3,000 and winners receive in-depth analysis of their scripts, which will be sent directly to WriteMovies' experienced board of Hollywood producers and will enjoy industry exposure through our WriteMovies' network. There are other prizes, like the latest package of Final Draft software.

More about the contest here and you can enter here.

Writer in town for opening of 'Ashville'

Studio Roanoke will premier "Ashville" next week and writer Lucy Thurber will be in from NYCity to see how it goes. Lucy is a young writer with seven plays to her credit.

The play runs Feb. 9-14 at Studio One (8 p.m. each night, 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday) on Campbell Ave. in Roanoke. Tickets are $15 general admission and $12 for students and old guys like me. You can find out more here or by calling 540-343-3054. Remember that this theater only has about 40 seats, so get your tickets.

It is a "dark, sat little comedy about a blue collar, small town America, mothers, daughters, drug dealers and love. The kind of Valentine's Day card you'd expect from Studio Roanoke." That's what the promotional copy says.

Lucy has a long resume, mostly secondary stuff you've not heard of yet, and she has taught at Columbia University (graduate playwriting) and Sarah Lawrence College and she runs an after school theater project for teenagers in NYC.

A pause to consider tweeting

By Dan Smith

The New Yorker's George Packer, who writes with marvelous authority, wit and in this case, sense of loss, takes on response to his recent Twitter criticism here (and the original, even more revealing post here). It is a thoughtful piece by a writer and journalist with considerable insight who sees change that is not always good in the way we consume news ("read," as he so quaintly calls it).

Here's a key passage that will make those of us who tweet idly in grunts and belches, distorting real communication with pieces of our attention, pause for a moment. Then return to the screen.

"Just about everyone I know complains about the same thing when they’re being honest—including, maybe especially, people whose business is reading and writing. They mourn the loss of books and the loss of time for books. It’s no less true of me, which is why I’m trying to place a few limits on the flood of information that I allow into my head.

"The other day I had to re-shelve two dozen books that my son had wantonly pulled down, most of them volumes from college days. I thumbed idly through a few urgently underlined pages of Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript, a book that electrified me during my junior year, and began to experience something like the sensation middle-aged men have at the start of softball season, when they try sprinting to first base after a winter off. What a ridiculous effort it took!

"There’s no way for readers to be online, surfing, e-mailing, posting, tweeting, reading tweets, and soon enough doing the thing that will come after Twitter, without paying a high price in available time, attention span, reading comprehension, and experience of the immediately surrounding world. The Internet and the devices it’s spawned are systematically changing our intellectual activities with breathtaking speed, and more profoundly than over the past seven centuries combined. It shouldn’t be an act of heresy to ask about the trade-offs that come with this revolution. In fact, I’d think asking such questions would be an important part of the job of a media critic, or a lead Bits blogger."

Sadly, George's side of this argument, stated eloquently, is being drowned by the clicking of the keyboard as tweeters try to figure one more way to condense sentences into all but unintelligible blips of data.

Writers writing, musicans playing and a vampire vamping

UPDATE: This performance has been moved to the Dumas Center, 108 First St. NW in Roanoke. This is across the street from the Culinary Institute and near the Higher Education Center.

By Dan Smith

Simon Nolen (right), a teacher at Community High School in Roanoke and a film and media arts graduate of Temple University, has put together a ... uh ... something. I’m not quite sure what to call it, but it sounds literate, engaging, entertaining and, well, unusual. In a nutshell, it looks like this: local bands, a famous writer, a vampire--presented in a church.

It’s called "Jack Pendarvis & Nosferatu, Scored by Rootstone and Magic Twig’ and it sounds local, international, fascinating and certainly creative, which is the entire point of the Marginal Arts Festival, of which it is a part.

It is scheduled Friday, Feb. 12, 7:30-11:30 p.m. at the old church building on the corner of Church and 5th St, across from the Kirk Family YMCA. (An aside here: This is the church where a judge once sentenced me to attend AA or go to jail after being busted for drunk driving. I picked AA.) Here’s what Simon says (heh, heh) about his production:

“All right here is the deal: Marginal Arts Festival is all about mixed media, and man do I have a doozie. Imagine if you had access to a really gifted author, Jack Pendarvis.

"Now consider German Expressionism, in the form of Murnau's classic silent film ‘Nosferatu.’ Also imagine if you could expose an audience to the inner-workings of the concept of score.

"This is what I have planned, featuring the best group of musicians in Roanoke, The Magic Twig Community along with The Rootstone guys. I think this along with the venue will offer our city a chance to view literature, film, and music in a social atmosphere.

"I am expecting quite an event. One of the things that I am fascinated by at the moment, is how venue influences cinema. I enjoy new locations and different set ups. Where people sit and where they stand can change their perception of the work. I also enjoy exposing the inter-workings of film.

"That is why I like the notion of viewing musicians, scoring a piece, as we view the piece. I chose ‘Nosferatu,’ because I find it highly accessible compared to other German Expressionism. Murnau has a way that is elegant and familiar. I think this is a great way to introduce an audience to what the German Expressionists gave to cinema.

"Tagged to this event I also have novelist and Oxford American columnist Jack Pendarvis. It is difficult to get people to come out for a reading, so why not mix mediums? Exposing people to new forms and artists is what the Marginal Arts Festival is for.”

Simon went all the way through this narrative without saying that “Nosferatu” will scare the stuffing out of you.

A Thawing in the Grandin situation?

It appears some progress is being made in the Grandin Theatre disagreement that has resulted in some harsh feelings, threats of a boycott, at least one demonstration (with pickets) and a lot of ill will.

Today, Tony Stavola, who had been on the Grandin Theatre Foundation board for years, left and has returned, sent this note to me (Tony's a physician and not a writer, so I've cleaned it up a bit):

"The executive committee [of the Grandin Theatre], at the suggestion of some of us, is going to discuss having a forum of some type with some of those who have been supporters but also expressed concern--such as yourself. More on that to come soon, I hope. The idea would be to have the chance to have a discussion focusing on what the future should be for us. This community only loses if we do not strive to make sure the Grandin continues to be sucessful now and in the future."

It was the second positive step of the day: the first being that fired former General Manager Jason Garrett went to the theater and picked up his belongings. There had been some question about whether he would be allowed to do that.

There has been considerable intensive discussion going on--apparently on both sides of the issue, and I know that some are looking into alternatives to the Grandin and others are strongly supporting some kind of boycott. Among the sticking points for those with a bone to pick with the Grandin has been a lack of dialogue with the board as a whole and the failure to recognize that this group even exists. The perceived withholding of Jason Garnett's personal gear (virtually all of it loaned to the Grandin to help make it better in one way or another) has been a special sore spot for many, as well.

More to come, I'm sure.

Arts Council grants available for writers

The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge’s Grants for Artists Program (GAP) has been strictly for visual artists in the past, but that is no longer the case. Writers are now eligible for grants that usually range to about $1,000 and can be used for a variety of needs like conferences and workshops, travel and marketing.

GAP is designed to support activities for artists and writers to create, refine, perform or exhibit their work, while furthering their careers. Grant applicants must have attained a certain level of proficiency as represented in the quality of work samples submitted with the application.

Artistic disciplines include dance, folk arts, literature, media arts, multidiscipline, music, theatre and visual arts. The Arts Council’s Web site has answers to many questions (here). The primary focus in the literary arts is the creation, presentation and distribution of original materials that are literary in nature. Publications, readings and compilations of original poetry, fiction, non-fiction and play scripts are typical of the works represented in this category (for screenplay development, see Media Arts.)

The artistic focus of media arts is the creation of electronic, technologically-based work suited to mass media communication and presentation, which is utilized within an artistic medium. Any genre in film, video, audio, or computer-based art production and/or distribution is included in this category.

These funds can be used for furthering the writer’s career, but can’t be used for debt reduction, construction, equipment purchase, parties or receptions, fines, student scholarships and several other areas.

Rhonda Hale at the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge can answer your questions at 540-224-1205.

The future of getting paid to write, part deux

Anne Clelland, who runs a marketing company in Blacksburg that concentrates its efforts on the Internet, was part of a panel at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference that talked about the future of making money by writing.

Anne and Keith Ferrell had some interesting exchanges about what should be paid and how it would be paid in the future and Keith was quoted extensively in a piece here. Anne promised to reply after some thought.

Here and here, fully thoughtful as always and two for the price of one.

This is a good read for those who are pondering the always imponderable question, "What next?"

'The Ballad of Miss Kay': The story of a time and a team

Miss Kay and the 1961 Cranberry High square dance team with one of its trophies.

At an all-class Cranberry High reunion this past summer, former championship dancers--in their 60s and 70s--took to the floor for a do-se-do.

Blue Ridge Country magazine has a story in its current issue by Dan Smith, founder of the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference and editor of Valley Business FRONT magazine, about the woman who coached the square dance team at his remote, rural high school for more than 35 years. She won a number of state titles and two national championships at a school with about 350 students between 1948 and the early 1980s.

Smith was one of her students in 1964 and watched the square dance team then in amazement at its strength and grace--partly because almost all of its members were athletes in other sports, some Smith's football teammates.

It is a remarkable story of a time and a place where this could unfold and did, concentrating on a woman of strength, determination, talent and skill who was never paid to coach and never spoke a word of complaint that she didn't. Kay Wilkins--Miss Kay--taught and coached for the love of it.

You can read the story in full here.

PRSA to hear health department info officer

Public health crises deserve timely, consistent, and confident information in order to stop or slow the spread of disease. Robert Parker, Public Information Officer for the Virginia Department of Health, will be speaking to Blue Ridge PRSA about how his work helps provide this information for the people of Virginia.

He will specifically be focusing on the public relations implications of the H1N1 flu virus and other public health concerns. The luncheon will be held Thursday, February 11, 2010 at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center.

You man reserve a seat at the noon luncheon online at www.prsa-blueridge.org. The cost for BRC-PRSA members is $22; non-members may attend the luncheon for $30. The cost for students and interns is $17. Reservations are due by 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 7.

Janis Jaquith's speech is right here

Janis Jaquith's keynote speech was such a hit at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference last week that she has recorded it and put it on line so you can listen. It is here.

If you'd rather spend a little time with the written speech, you can find it here.

It is a marvelous speech from one of the region's finest writers. Janis, as always, is fall-down funny, but there is a depth and breadth to the speech that writers will especially appreciate. Take a few minutes and listen. It's worth your time.

A Valentine's Day date suggestion

Michael Martone and Moira Crone, fiction writers who create “from material that’s deeply personal and wonderingly odd,” according to one description, will appear at the Hollins Room of the Wyndham Robertson Library at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Michael Martone teaches in the Creative Writing program at the University of Alabama and is the author of many bold, funny and puzzling books. Moira Crone is a dominant presence in New Stories from the South, and a winner of the Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction from the Southern Fellowship of Writers for the body of her work.

The talk is sponsored by the Beanstalk Fund, a joint venture of Hollins’ Creative Writing Program and the Wyndham Robertson Library to bring writers and readers together.