|
Vol
12 Number 11 - March 18, 2008
In this Issue:
Want to contribute to this newsletter? We are a paying market. Read our guidelines for contributors here: http://www.writingfordollars.com/wfdguidelines.cfm Welcome Check out our new article database. We finished adding our whole inventory of past articles from WFD, now over 400 articles are available to search and read. Find just the right information you need to make a few more bucks in the new year. Don't forget our database of writer’s guidelines is readily available to everyone for FREE! All links have been checked within the last year (the date that they were last checked is listed) so you can be sure to have the most up-to-date information. Here are the top-selling writing books at AWOCBooks.com - FREE SHIPPING on selected books! ($2.95 value)
Dan
Case, editor Writing For Children: Write Your Fears by Kathryn Lay I remember it very clearly, as a child traveling through the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado with my family. Most of the tourist attractions were at the top of a mountain, at the end of a long and twisting drive around the outer edges of the mountain, and at the end of narrow roads overlooking sheer drops. I was terrified. The majority of my memories of those trips were not the fun times my brother and I had at the Santa Village or Cliff Dwellings. They were of sitting in the floorboard of the backseat, scrunched down as I listened to my Mom yelling at my Dad (with the inner ear and dizziness problems), “You’re too close to the edge!” Those trips left me with a tremendous fear of high places that still rules me as I refuse to drive over bridges or walk up winding stairs to see the top of a lighthouse. What are you afraid of? Were you afraid of it as a kid? What led to that fear? Does it still give you chills, cold sweats, or a racing heart? Are you embarrassed to let others know about your fear? Why would readers enjoy reading about something that makes them afraid? Sometimes, it’s fun to be scared. Sometimes we want to know others have the same fears as we do. And then, we want to know how they overcame it, survived it, or learned to live with that fear. I’ve found that writing about some of my own fears have gained me many bylines from editors who know that their juvenile readers experience the same types of fears. My fear of heights became, “Don’t Look Down,” about a girl in gym class trying to overcome her fear of the uneven bars. It was published by two different religious Sunday School take-home papers. My fear of dark places led me to write, “Cave-A-Phobia,” published in SPIDER. I remember being afraid of losing a good friend, which became “Lost and Found Friendship.” A fear of tornadoes led to “A Voice in The Storm,” published in Boys’ Life, as well as numerous other tornado stories that have won contests and been published in various magazines. And my youthful fear of losing a family member to death was used in “Grandpa’ s Swan Song.” Children feel strongly about their fears. If a story or book can make them laugh about it, understand it, or feel that they are not alone in that fear, then the author has given their readers a great gift. Picture books for the very young often deal with fears of monsters in the closet or under the bed, getting lost, losing a pet to death, or being forgotten when the new baby arrives. If you were afraid of something as a child, there are children who are feeling that same fear. What are your fears? Have you written about them? Have you explored the situations that put you there or the emotions, however unreasonable they might be, that come with that fear? Go ahead, share your fears with your readers. Don’t be afraid. You may touch on an editor’s own childhood fears, and help a young reader see that they are not alone. © 2008 by Kathryn Lay Kathryn Lay is the author of Crown Me! a middle grade novel and Josh's Halloween Pumpkin, a picture book due out in 2008. She has had over 1400 articles, short stories, and essays published for children and adults, as well as her book for writers, The Organized Writer is a Selling Writer, AWOC.COM Publishing. Check out her website at www.kathrynlay.com and email her at rlay15@aol.com. 12 Paying Markets Updated or added in our database since March 11, 2008 High - Over $500
Medium - $125 - $500
Low - Less than $125
Using Up Leftovers by Christine Venzon I'm tidying up the office after my last project, writing articles on ethnic Christmas traditions for a food encyclopedia. The books are returned to the library, the source list tucked in its file. But what do I do with these pages of research with the directions for cleaning octopus and the etymology of polenta? Whether it's food or writing, leftovers beg to be used up. After all, you paid for them, if not in money, then in time and effort. To let them sit moldering is a waste of all three. As a professional writer, you can't afford that kind of loss. Just like stretching last night's chicken into a chicken-rice casserole, stretching literary bits and pieces into another story takes a little creative thinking and some added ingredients. These recipes percolate through my head as I contemplate the scraps in my literary larder. The World Wide Web One thing I learned is that traditional cuisines are based on locally grown foods, meaning they're highly seasonal. That suggests a cross-cultural roundup of seasonal events. What does the potato harvest mean to people in Moscow, Russia and Moscow, Idaho? How does the mystique of the boar-history, hunting, and haute cuisine-in northern Italy compare to efforts to elevate nutria from swamp rat to specialty food in Southwest Louisiana? Hemispheric differences lend themselves to compare-and-contrast pieces. For instance, an Australian Christmas comes at the start of their summer. A traditional celebration might include a backyard barbecue or cold cuts at the beach. How about a story featuring an Australian Christmas menu for an American Independence Day? Then again, Australians celebrate Australia Day on January 26. The weather resembles a United States Fourth of July, but the holiday foods are, well, worlds apart. Why? Time and Tide I found a fascinating treatise on the origins of modern fruitcake, from a ceremonial offering to a medieval, pepper-laced loaf. An article tracing the evolution of a similarly popular (or notorious) food or custom could be pitched to coincide with a suitable event. (Robert Burn's birthday is January 25. Remember that for your query on the history of haggis.) Then there's the technology tack. I read that the ancient Romans carried out some pretty sophisticated fish farming. Today aquaculture is big business in Italy. What happened in the industry in the 2,000 years in between? What revolutions in preservation took us from pemmican to vacuum-sealed jars to modified atmosphere packaging? Can you find a kid-friendly experiment along the way-say, making fruit leathers? Developments in the health and nutrition field offer a harvest of possibilities. Think the health claims made for chocolate are something new? The Aztecs hailed it as a divine elixir 800 years ago. Sugar was once considered a medicine. How did we lose that bit of ancient wisdom? The Society Page Food leads down never-ending sociological avenues. Take a recipe for apple cheese written centuries ago, when moms were home all day and could keep an eye on apples simmering on the stove for three hours. Today's mom may be out of the house more than she's in it. Can she still whip up this Lithuanian treat by starting with applesauce to cut down on the cooking time? Or consider the advertising angle. Did "leading hospitals" actually offer patients the "wholesome buoyancy" of Coke, as implied in a 1969 ad? How have Betty Crocker and Aunt Jemima weathered societal climate change to remain baking icons? Edible Oddities Stuffed fried eggs. Maggot-aged cheese. These local delicacies didn't make it into the encyclopedia. But think of the fun you could have with a story that explores different culture's "secret" foods. Give a call to a food scientist, and you have the fixings of a piece on the phenomenon of acquired tastes. If you're adventurous, back it up with taste tests. You just might awaken a craving for Vegemite. And of course, there's the most obvious angle: how do different cultures use up leftovers? © 2008 by Christine Venzon Christine Venzon is a freelance writer who specializes in all things food but takes work where she can find it. Her writing has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Sasee, Brio & Beyond, and numerous home economics books read by a captive audience of high school students.
|