Writing Productivity — Using an Idea Log

Some writers know exactly what they want to say. They merely have to start typing and passion flows from them. This doesn’t necessarily mean they write well, but they don’t sit around wondering what to write about. Most writers, however, need a little prodding. Sometimes they have great ideas, and sometimes they stare at their computer screen waiting for something to come to them. If you fall into the second category, you can reduce your time spent staring at the screen by creating a log of your good article ideas when they come to you. You can also spend those slow times looking at a few tried and true idea resources and seeing what ideas you can grow for the future.

What is an idea log?

An idea log is a way of cataloging your ideas for articles, posts, fiction, poems, essays and stories. Your idea log can be as simple or as fancy as you wish. Some people create file folders for their ideas. They fill them with notes, clippings, pictures and whatever else will assist them. When they pull out the folder, they have all they need to start work. This can be a great system, but it is a lot of work, especially if you never pursue that idea later.

Many people take advantage of their computers. They write quick notes, or even put them in the form of a query to an editor, and keep them in individual documents or add them to a database. This is an excellent system and one that can also get you going quickly once you decide to write because part of the document is already written. You just have to expand on it.

The third way that I propose is simpler and not as thorough. I use it myself, however, because of its ease and portability. I keep a stack of 3×5 index cards in which I jot down my ideas. I put a title and description at the top then jot down the note below. I rarely fill up more than one side of one card. It isn’t as thorough as a file or as ready to roll as a computer note, but it keeps me from prattling on about what is just a single idea that I may or may not follow. Plus, when I have a stack of these cards, I can pull them out and thumb through them quickly, more quickly than going through a file folder or a computer database. I can also take these cards with me anywhere and jot down the ideas as they come. I am a big fan of computers, but for this task I really do prefer the simplicity of a 3×5 index card.

What do you like? What do you hate?

A great place to start looking for ideas is to look at your likes and dislikes. What makes you happy and what makes you sad or angry. These are the things in your life that will provoke your most passionate writing. This can range from politics, entertainment, to a lump in your carpet that you’d like to get rid of. It all depends on what interests you enough to upset or please you.

Who do you know?

The people in your life can be one of your greatest sources of ideas. They have jobs, hobbies, interests and problems that make them experts hundreds of things. Your architect friend can now be interviewed about what makes for a good or bad home design. Your divorced friend with three kids probably has much to say about child support issues. With a little fictionalization, the annoying woman at work might make for a great short story. Look at the people around you. Evaluate them as article sources, interview topics and as story ideas.

Who would you like to know?

People often portray writing as a solitary task, but one of the great benefits of being a writer is that you can use it to meet people. Think about the respected or famous people you would like to talk to: writers you respect, experts in fields you are interested in, actors and politicians. Some of them will be difficult to meet, but many are easier than you think. While the ten most famous writers in the world may be hard to contact, most writers do not spend the majority of their time fending off interview requests. The same is true of experts in most areas. Politicians and actors are probably the hardest to get an interview with, but even then you might be surprised. Just remember that the top few in those fields are nearly impossible to interview without some clout behind you, but there are plenty of others in the field who would be happy to answer your questions.

Where have you been?

Travel is a great way to generate ideas. Look at the places you’ve gone and the things you’ve done there. Think also of the trips you would like to take. From travel guides to the settings for stories, your journeys can be a great source of ideas. Whenever you travel, it is a good idea to keep a journal and write down your thoughts and impressions. You never know where you might find your next idea.

What have you been doing?

Take a look at your areas of expertise. What jobs have you held? What hobbies have you had? What have you studied? These are your areas of knowledge. You may not be an expert, but in writing it is generally enough to be an intelligent amateur as long as you are willing to do the research for your story. Just as your friends are great sources of information, you are your greatest source. Not only do you know something about these things, but also you can rely on yourself, more than anyone else, to do the work required to find out more. Every job, from working in a warehouse to being a phone solicitor to managing a small office, has requirements and areas of interest. Think about how these things can become articles or stories.

What have you been reading?

If you are a writer, then chances are you are an avid reader, and it pays to keep a few notes while you read. The daily paper, magazines, the Internet and the books you read are great sources for ideas. My favorite example of this process is the movie The Player, in which a studio executive challenges anyone to read him a newspaper article and he’ll come up with a movie based on it. Over and over he turns the most mundane articles into feature film ideas. Ideas are everywhere.

What happened to you?

Beyond the jobs and hobbies you’ve had, there is plenty more to your life. There are hundreds of high points and low points in every person’s life: people found and lost, love shared and unrequited, accidents, plots, plans, choices and mistakes. Most of your memories are worthy of a story or article, because chances are you haven’t managed to remember the ordinary and mundane parts of your life, just the highs and the lows and the elements that contribute to who you are. Your life is an endless source of material if you have the talent to make it interesting to others.

Ideas are all around you. If you go through the items above, you will have plenty of ideas to work with, but beyond that, you just need to keep your eyes open and your other senses ready to back them up. Ideas will come to you if you are paying attention. Just remember to have some system to keep track of them, even if it is just a notebook for you to jot things down in. Your ideas are fuel for your writing. Keep plenty of fuel handy.

Building a Financially Sustainable Writing Career: Body Work

Everybody Hurts

My career as a writer has not been good for my body. I weigh far more than I should because I spend most of my day sitting. I have a perpetually bad back and stiff neck from poor positioning. At the end of a long day in front of a computer my vision starts to get fuzzy and I have to increase the size of the text on my screen. For almost a year in the nineties, I could barely type due to a repetitive motion injury to my left elbow. During one particularly tense stretch at a company that shall remain nameless, I developed a tick in my right eye that nearly drove me crazy and an earache that didn’t go away until the day after I quit that job.

Writing is hard, not just mentally but physically. It isn’t professional athlete hard or standing on an assembly line hard, but there are plenty of hazards to be had. If you want to build a financially sustainable writing career, you need to take care of your body. Fixing your body is expensive and doing without it impossible, so taking care of it is your best choice. Here are some keys to building a sustainable writer’s body.

Think Locally, Act Ergonomically

Seek out chairs that are kind to both your butt and your back. Invest in a trackball or other ergonomically designed mouse. Get the largest, crispest monitor you can afford and make sure your text is clear enough to read for hours. Make sure everything is the proper height and distance. For more information read here.

Get Up Off Of That Thing

Try to get up, stretch, and walk around at least once every hour. No matter how comfortable a chair might be, it isn’t meant to hold you all day. When you maintain the same position for too long, tension starts to build in your body. Movement helps to relieve the tension.

You Can Dance If You Want To

You don’t need to be an athlete, but for the sake of a sustainable body, you need to get at least three sessions of moderate exercise in every week. There are hundreds of ways to exercise. If nothing else, go for a walk. Try to sustain some exercise for at least a half hour, three times a week.

There’s The Rub

Massages are a great way to reduce stress and keep your body healthy. I try to get an hour massage about twice a month.  It is one of the things I can look forward to that keeps me sane during the high-stress times.

Doctor Feelgood

Preventing health problems is always easier and cheaper than fixing health problems. Get that annual check up. Figure out if there are any danger signs that you need to deal with before they become major issues.

Crack That Back

On New Year’s Day, 1987, I drove my car off of Dead Man’s curve on River Road. I flipped the car and although I “walked” away, I suffered from severe back pain and decreased mobility. It took me two months to talk myself into seeing a chiropractor. By the end of the first visit I felt almost like myself again. When your back gets into trouble, a good chiropractor can help, especially if you go before it turns into a crisis.

Get a Peaceful, Easy Feeling

Stress release is the key to long term health. Stress builds up in many ways and for many reasons, from the way you sit to the pressure of a project to personal problems. Find a way to release that pressure when you need to. Learn to meditate. Find a relaxing hobby. Take a hot or cold shower. Get some sleep. Do what it takes to manage your stress before it becomes a problem.

All About 30 Poems in 30 Days

30 Poems in 30 Days is an Internet writing project. It is an attempt by myself, and anyone who wants to play along, to write thirty poems in a month. As part of the project, I will be posting an article about poetry every day. At the end of the article there will be a poetry writing prompt. The prompt is there to help. There is no requirement that you follow the prompt. I may not even follow it myself. The goal is simply to write poetry. This project is similar in some ways to National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO). In fact, this year I have adopted a clever acronym – PD30 (pee-dee-three-oh).

How does PD30 work?

Every day in September I (or a guest writer) will post a short article about a poetic concept, a poem, a poetry form, the poetry world or a poet / group of poets. I will follow that with a poetry writing prompt. The prompt may be related to the subject of the article, but it may not be. As a participant, I would like you to either post a poem or at least post a note saying that you wrote a poem and perhaps include a line or two from the poem. It is also nice to comment on the poems that other participants have written. Additionally, because some writers do not want to post their poems publicly (for a variety of reasons) but still want to participate, I have created a private workshop. To get an idea of how this works, you may want to look as last year’s project.

Do I have to write a poem every day?

No. The goal is 30 Poems in 30 Days. Some people write in batches, other people write every day. As the moderator, I prefer daily postings because it keeps the conversation moving, but I understand that different people have different styles of working.

Do I have to do them all in September?

No. Once the posts are up, they’ll be there for the foreseeable future. You can start and end at any time. Do not expect, however, to have very much feedback after September because most people will have moved on.

I really, really, want feedback. I need to know if I’m any good. Will I get lots of feedback?

First, stop worrying about how good you are and just try to enjoy the assignments. Second, like any group project, the way the project develops depends on the group. If there are people who love to comment, that will be very helpful. I can’t guarantee feedback though, and I can tell you that begging for feedback rarely helps. It tends to annoy people.

How can I access the private workshop?

You can use my contact form to send me a note asking to take part in the PD30 private forum. I will then send you further instructions.

Is the private workshop better than the public posting?

I really have no idea. It is a new experiment this year. It may turn out to be where all the action is or it may be as dead as the careers of VH1 reality show participants. A forum is really only as good as the people who participate in it. There are a few tools in the forum that are nicer than comment tools. There is also less risk of your poem getting caught in the spam filter. Participation is really what will make the difference though.

Can I join the private forum but still post my poems in the comments at poewar.com?

Of course! I would be thrilled to see people participating in both places.

Why I Stopped Going to the Movies

My friend Steve texted me six times yesterday with his countdown to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight. His level of excitement was about as high as I have ever seen from him. He was boiling over with anticipation. I wish I could say I shared the excitement. It sounds like a good movie. The reviews are great. I know the Batman mythology well and it sounds like they may have finally gotten it right. The problem is, to see it I have to go to a packed movie theater, and for the most part I just don’t enjoy doing that anymore.

Back in the eighties and into the nineties, a typical weekend for me included seeing at least one and as many as three movies. I wasn’t picky about what movies I saw. I went to almost any comedy, most action movies, plenty of dramas and a smattering of foreign films. I had plenty of company too. Most weekends I had no problem finding two or more friends to go to the movies with me. Life changes for everyone, and it certainly has for me. At this point, I go to the movies about once a month and usually at someone else’s urging. I almost always regret it. The experience has changed, and I have as well. Below are five reasons why I’ve stopped going to the movies:

I don’t want to spend the money

I’m not usually strapped for cash these days, but I’m cheaper than I used to be. When I made six dollars an hour, plunking down twelve dollars for a ticket, popcorn and a soda didn’t bother me. Now I make several times that, but the thought of spending forty dollars or more for my wife and I to go to the movies just seems like a waste of money, especially when my local video store (Sorry Blockbuster, I found a better deal) charges me $.99 to rent the DVD complete with features and I can spend the other 39 dollars on far better snacks with money to spare.

I’ve already seen it

Hollywood stopped making new movies years ago. They were already recycling pretty heavily in the eighties and nineties, but now it seems to have reached a fever pitch. Every major movie this year is a sequel or based on a comic book (or both). I’ve seen them all before. As for the rest of the cineplex, try to tell any two romantic comedies apart these days. The pattern is so hardwired that you can time the beats on your watch.

Commercials

I don’t go to movies to watch commercials. Thanks to Tivo, I rarely even watch commercials at home. I am perfectly happy to sit through previews of coming attractions, but I do not want to experience jingle spouting dancers shouting the word Fanta at me in Dolby Surround Sound. I also don’t want to be lectured about movie piracy. I don’t steal movies, and I don’t know of any reason that those annoying commercials would stop somebody who did. They are just punishing the innocent.

People don’t know how to watch a movie anymore

Even in the eighties, you had to deal with people talking in movies, but the trend is growing exponentially. Between the people chatting with each other, the people talking on their cell phones and the people texting each other, the theater isn’t just loud, it’s glowing. It’s easy to blame this sort of thing on these kids today but I see plenty of older offenders who should know better. I am also shocked by the number of people bringing small children to late showings of movies — especially R-rated movies. It is simply inappropriate.

Television got better

While the quality and originality of movies seems to have fallen steadily during my time as a moviegoer, the quality of television has risen dramatically over the same period. Shows like Lost, The Shield, Weeds, Dexter, Californication, Entourage and The Office have raised the bar for writing and production values to the point that they are every bit as entertaining as movies. Sure, there is a lot of junk out there, but the beauty of Tivo and other DVRs is that you can watch what you want, when you want. In the past, movies (with their multiple viewings per day) were more accessible than television shows, but now that gap has closed.

I’ll always be a fan of movies, but more and more I am waiting for the DVD to come out. There isn’t the sense of urgency that there once was. I know I can see it sooner or later, and I’m perfectly happy to wait most of the time. Also, it seems as if the truly unique movies only make it to the video store. The theater is too busy showing the latest bland blockbuster on eight different screens.

A Career in Technical Writing: The fax about outsourcing

The Bullet Points

• Outsourcing means contracting with another company to provide a service that would otherwise be performed by an employee. This is often done for projects because they require a temporary increase in resources.
• Offshoring means relocating a job (either by outsourcing or through your own company) to a foreign country because of costs of other considerations.
• When you get a new job, there is always paperwork involved whether you are a regular employee or a contractor.
• The fax machine remains the dominant source of communication for signed forms.
• Typical paperwork includes contracts, confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements, direct deposit forms, right-to-work and tax information.

Outsourced, not Offshored

The term outsourcing gets misinterpreted pretty often these days. Most people, when they think about outsourcing, think of some guy in a foreign country who answers the phone when you call customer support. While that person may or may not be outsourced labor, the better term for sending a job to another country is offshoring. Outsourcing simply means that a company contracts with another company to provide a service that would otherwise be performed by an employee.

Outsourcing is a very common practice that often takes place locally. Companies outsource using temporary employment agencies, consulting agencies or simply companies that specialize in a service. They might outsource such things as their advertising and marketing, public relations, custodial services or their technical support. Individuals also outsource. They outsource when they hire people to do such things as their taxes, their laundry, their housekeeping or their landscaping.

In my case, when I first went to work as a contract technical writer, I was providing an outsourced service. I was working for a company in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina. That was the company that signed my checks and provided my benefits. They were also the company I would go to if I had an employment related problem or grievance.

I was working at a company in Tucson, Arizona. That was the company that required my services and the company that gave me most of my marching orders. They told me what they needed and they had the right to review my job performance and even end my contract if they were dissatisfied. I was essentially working for two companies. This created a lot of paperwork and resulted in a lot of faxing.

A Flood of Faxes

It started before I even showed up for my first day of work. The first thing that WTW, the company that paid me, faxed me was my contract. I was a contractor after all. The contract gave the details of my pay (both the amount and frequency), my rights (a short list), and their rights (a long list). I think they also slipped in a couple of chapters from On the Road translated into pig-Latin. With the low readability of a fax it is hard to tell sometimes.

The paperwork amounted to over twenty pages of small type and they had to fax every one of those pages to me. I then had to sign on the long blank lines, initial the short blank lines and fax it back to them. Pages got lost in the transition so they would then fax the paperwork back to me again. I objected to the wording of one portion, so they had to rewrite it and refax it again. In addition to the contract, I had to sign and fax non-disclosure / confidentiality agreements, tax forms, right-to-work forms, direct deposit forms and copies of my identification. All of this took the better part of a day.

Fax machines are pretty ancient technology at this point. These days, email and PDF forms have made the paperwork process a bit easier. In the end though, signed forms still have to be faxed or at least scanned into a computer and emailed. It is a tedious but necessary process.

The Weekly Fax Regimen

I wish I could say that that was the end of my faxing, but it was just the beginning. The process continued once I got to work. As a contract employee I had to have my hours reviewed and signed by a manager (or at least a real employee) and then I had to fax that form to WTW every week. If I didn’t fax in the form, I didn’t get paid.

All of that paperwork and faxing delayed the start of my contract for three days. This distressed the company that requested me because they were in an incredible hurry to get me working. There was a lot of documentation to be done and they were way behind. It was vital that I get started right away. I needed to hit the ground running. At least, that’s what they said…

Further Reading

• Outsourcing vs. Offshoring: What’s the difference? by EC EDI: The terms are not identical.
• Document Hack (A Technical Writer’s Journal): Interview & Negotiation by John Hewitt: A discussion of another interview and hiring session.
• Internet Fax Service List by Kevin Savetz: If you don’t want to use a clunky fax machine, these online services will also send and receive faxes for you.

Discussion Questions

• Do you trust yourself to review a twenty page employment contract on your own?
• Can you think of any services that your have outsourced?
• Have you ever lost a job to outsourcing or offshoring?
• When is the last time you had to fax a document?

Next Time

I begin my life as a newbie technical writer and find that the world isn’t quite what I expected.

Six Suggestions for Sustainable Writing: Inspiration from Frank Herbert’s Dune

Article By Morgan O’Donnell

Writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in your surroundings, your environment. Frank Herbert’s Dune-a classic science fiction novel-offers some important ideas to apply to your own writing environment.

Build Community

Although the so-called, romantic idea of the solitary writer has been around for ages, the truth is that good writing, like many other things, needs the support of family and community to flourish. Whether it is the Fremen tribes, the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, or the Atreides clan, the support and knowledge of others play a large role in Dune. Even the evil Baron supports his own family, albeit in limited and twisted ways. By building your own writing community, you can find others to commiserate with, seek feedback on your projects, receive positive support, and discover new ideas. Join a writer’s group or an online discussion board and make new writing friends.

Overcome Your Fears

Writing is magical. By putting words on paper, you are shaping reality. Additionally, writing often causes you to reflect on yourself, your life, or even the world. Self-reflection and shaping reality can be scary at times. In Dune, Paul uses the Bene Gesserit Litany against Fear (a kind of meditation) taught to him by his mother to help him face his fears while being tested by the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. Figure out what helps you face your fears then use those tactics. Maybe journaling about that new writing project helps you recognize areas that worry you. Maybe talking with someone from your writing community will allow you to discover the fears holding you back. Try the power of positive thinking. Write or say to yourself that you will accomplish your task.

Recycle

All good writers recycle. Frank Herbert certainly recycled in Dune, pulling ideas from a variety of sources: Native American tribal practices, Arabic words, mythology, and religion. He even used what he had learned reporting on the growth of sand Dunes in Oregon. The Fremen were master recyclers, reclaiming the water of their bodies through their ingenious stillsuits. Read. Read a lot. Read the masters in your genres. Find new ways to use old ideas. Find new connections.

Listen to the Land and Yourself

In Dune, the Reverend Mother tells Paul that a good ruler must learn his world’s language, “the language of the rocks and growing things.” The Fremen also pay attention to the environment in Dune from the feel of the wind to the sounds of the desert animals. Furthermore, both the Fremen and the Bene Gesserit acknowledge that there is much to be learned by listening to yourself such as through meditation or examining dreams. Writing ideas are all around you. What is happening in the news? What are the hot topics in the field? Keep a dream journal. Use ideas from your journal to kick start your articles, poems, or stories.

Train, Practice, Learn

Dune is filled with examples of the importance of training, practicing, and learning. Paul trains and learns from early childhood how to be a duke, a leader, and a warrior. His mother has trained her entire life in the Bene Gesserit way. In order to increase your writing skills you need to exercise and practice them. Do some mental stretches. For example, if you are writing an article about solar panels, try writing it as a poem first. If you are writing a poem about the beauty of a blue jay, try using the blue jay as a character in a short story. Take a class or even earn a degree. There are a variety of options from a bachelor’s in English to a Ph.D. in technical communication. Try a local Artist’s Way class. Most important of all, write. Write something everyday.

Live Your Life and Replenish Yourself

There will be nothing to write about and no one to write it if you don’t actually live your life and take time to replenish. Even amidst all the politics, deaths, training, and battles, Paul still finds time to fall in love with Chani and start a family. Although the Fremen battle daily for survival in the desert they still find time to “share the Water,” as well as celebrate tribal births and honor those who have died. Take time to watch a movie, go swimming, or spend time with your loved ones. And, don’t forget to eat healthy and exercise.

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Morgan O’Donnell muses on nature, poetry, writing, and the search for a sustainable life at Red Raven Circling. A longtime Dune fan, she continues to recycle Frank Herbert’s novel in her pursuit of a sustainable graduate career.

A Newbie’s Advice

Article by Sebastian Keller

Walk some meters in his shoes

What’s the best that could happen to a writer? Probably that someone is going on vacation to write a whole lot of poems and asks you to walk some meters in his shoes. Meters? Well yes, sorry, I’m from Germany. It’s still meters here and I’ll get to the point why that is of some importance later. (And just for reasons of “delectare et prodesse”: No, we don’t have that book-burning dictator here any longer and yes, there’s electricity countrywide even outside the Oktoberfest…)

So, I’m from Germany and a newbie in writing. What could I probably have to tell you seasoned veterans? Come, walk with me just a few meters and find out. Because there is always something to learn, something to gain even from the most improbable sources. That’s not only the difference between good art and bad art, but also between a good artist and a bad one.

Good art inspires

Good art inspires. If you see, hear, smell, taste and feel it, you want to start creating and in your brain all those little lights you never noticed before, are starting to blink.

And a good artist is inspired. Not only by art, but by virtually everything. That’s because her or his perception evolved to a point where inspiration is omnipresent. It’s a small step to complete madness from there, but it’s a long way to that kind of evolved perception. Peter S. Beagle (yes, he’s still alive and writing!) worked with the painter and sculptor Lisa Snellings-Clark, or to be precise, with her artworks. He was forced to sit in front of some pieces of art for hours staring at it, until a story emerged. Thus he created “Strange Roads”. Out of the blue, so to say.

Start with a blank screen

If you want to try a method more pure, start with a blank screen or paper and your own thoughts. You did that already, you say? No, you didn’t. You tried to fill that blank space, smash it with words and cover up the abyss that lies beyond as quickly as possible. “He who stares into the abyss for too long…” Nietzsche said and he was right. But he didn’t tell you that one can choose the abyss to stare into.

Read a good book about magic or ask a practitioner of the occult and he will tell you, that the first step in the journey is to develop that magical perception. Everything is meaningful, everything is inspiring. I’m not talking about black candles or voodoo here, but if you trick your brain into seeing inspiration everywhere, it will be inspired.

Writer’s block begone? Hopefully so, but don’t count on it. There are always pitfalls.

The more uncommon, the better

And at this point art comes to the rescue. The more uncommon, the better. William S. Burroughs once said that the state of writing is at least 40 years behind painting. I don’t know if he was right, but I admire that he dared to compare writing and painting. It’s like comparing architecture and medicine. If you dare to compare such things you also dare to question the so called rules of your craft. It’s easier when you are still a newbie without experience. Experience is like a bunch of bodyguards, who keep many troubles in a save distance, but they tend to go easy on the friend-or-foe-thing after a while and try to keep you on the beaten path. Which isn’t the worst of things to happen, but only if you’re the guy with the map who knows, what’s the best path.

Recently Michel Thaler wrote a 233-page novel called “Le train de nulle part” – without using verbs. And there is Ernest Vincent Wright who gave us “Gadsby” a novel of 50100 words and not a single letter “e”.

Try to omit a vowel or a group of words in your writing, too, and you will know that one has to be truly inspired to make it through such pains. But it can be done.

Open Your Eyes

Even if you don’t write for artistic reasons you can open your eyes to see walls, seemingly empty but engraved with “Mene mene tekel u-pharsin – the days of your kingdom are counted and ended by God.” A bad thing to happen for bullheaded Nebuchadnezzar, but a free source of inspiration for you. Rules are a good thing, but only as a tool like all the other tools.

So, the best thing is you continue to be a newbie and walk a few meters in the shoes of others from time to time. Just for fun. Just for the inspiration.

Oh! There’s one thing that’s even better: Go on a vacation and write a lot of poems…

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Sebastian Keller
www.schriftstellerwerden.blogspot.com

“A small sheik escaped” and other editing exercises to energize your writing

Article by L.A. Ramsey

Of all the things in human existence to be ignited by-a skylark, Picasso’s man strumming a blue guitar, a flapper wobbling to the tune of the Charleston, a kid’s gap-toothed grin-mine was a small sheik.

It was somehow fitting that my inspiration would derive from a typographical error (it was supposed to be “a small shriek escaped”) I ran smack-dab into while editing a book.

We writers are crafty indeed. Male or female, we have to be connivers, collectors, coquettes, and charlatans. At least if we are successful we do.

The same goes for editing, for to be a good editor, one must be a good reader (meaning: a devout devourer of texts both arcane and profane). A writer, by the opposite token, need not be an excellent editor-something just now causes me to remember that F. Scott Fitzgerald couldn’t spell his way out of a paper sack of Cutty Sark, but that’s another story best left to the 3 a.m. of the soul.

Nonetheless, I have read enough schlock, 99 percent of it spilled from my own fingertips like soda on a keyboard, to know that being a good editor can only strengthen your writing. I can only imagine that despite his genius, Fitzgerald’s editors (not to mention Faulkner’s, Joyce’s, or Eliot’s; bless their tidy little hearts) would sometimes throw their hands up in sheer failure, such was the task of deciphering his hieroglyphs without a Rosetta Stone.

Here, however, I want to talk about the daylight yoga with words that we editors-contortionists all-perform, to the hum of our mantra of yearning for the perfidies of the English language.

My father would likely call out this piece for its being riddled with “75-cent words.” But that is no matter.

I would like to begin at the beginning, which I reckon starts right about at Juneau. And I don’t mean Alaska.

My wrestle with mama tongue, uh, I mean English, is perhaps best typified in the young dork carbuncular. That is, me in sixth grade. I had ascended to likely my greatest, if wholly bathetic, moment in life thus far: the county spelling bee. And there fell flat with a sloshing of precociously preteen armpits slickened with sweat.

“Juneau,” I stammered. “Can I have that in a sentence, please?” Oh, I know this one! j-u-n-e-a-u. I’ve got it! I paused. Something wasn’t right. All the adult faces that pointed at me were just askew somehow. Again. J-u-n-e-a-u. I know that’s it. I have to make a decision; man, everybody’s looking at me. I have to make them stop. Now!

Incorrect!

What? I stepped down in confusion, much like an impeached president Nixon flashing “V for victory” and every bit as popular.

I had forgotten to uppercase the word, and, thus, didn’t capitalize on the opportunity to continue my inert flirtation with fame.

To this day, I kick my own backside-as I said, contortionism-around the room for missing that one. Who knows what yawning infamies I might have cavorted with? The weakly wrist of Coke bottle-thick (much like me at the time), glasses -faced Jason, the boy I had dubbed “asparagus lips” in a moment of anger.

To crank my kite down to reality for a moment, lest I get zapped by some editorial lightning (mind you, I didn’t write “lightening”; one of my pet peeves as a copyeditor), perhaps you also have a tête-à- tête going with the English language. For that, I can only offer my praise and some unrequited jealousy, I suppose.

Surely, it can only make us better. (I think I heard somewhere that what doesn’t kill us tends to have that sweet effect. And don’t ever call me Surely.)

As it stands, the craft of writing, humor or otherwise, dovetails elegantly if not eloquently with the exercise of editing and the relish of reading.

I won’t here regale you with other tales of whines, tongue-twisters, faux pas, neologisms, or the just-as-sweet roses that I’ve seen in texts or e-mails that have come across my editorial desk.

I can only advise this: devour words! Become a consumer of product labels, newspapers, magazines literary or otherwise, music lyrics, a love note fat pencil-scribbled in childish hand that by Serendip’s sweep lands in your yard.

Like me, you just might stumble on some sort of treasure in a “small sheik” you find singing its shriek there!

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Bio: L.A. Ramsey is chiefly a copyeditor and fact-checker, but she still hears the winged chariot at her back, and, so, makes time to write while caring for her 7-month-old daughter, 30-something husband, and dog of indeterminate vintage. She has been published in 52^nd City magazine, in local newspapers, and on a satirical Web site. She’s a sometime-blogger at www.zofolitblogspot.com.

Why Newspapers are Dying (and what they can do about it)

I’ve been picking on newspapers for a while, for much longer than I have been a blogger. To me the decline became apparent in the eighties and nineties when the big corporations started snapping newspapers up and the focus of newspapers drifted away from news and moved toward profits. Newspapers, at their best, are a very personal enterprise. Corporations, especially ones that are big enough to buy a slew of newspapers, know nothing about passion. Still, for a long time they only had television to compete with. TV is just as bland and corporate as newspapers are. It took the Internet, and passionate individuals, to dig the grave for newspapers.

A Lack of Interest

I haven’t subscribed to a newspaper since the early nineties. I occasionally buy the local paper, but it is usually because I want the car or the grocery ads or because I have some time to kill in a restaurant. I certainly don’t buy the local paper looking for a great reading experience. Every newspaper runs the same canned stories off of the news wire. Their local coverage consists of mostly basic police/court coverage, business stories, road construction updates and reasonably good coverage of the sports scene. None of these are things I can’t do without. More importantly, I can find any of it on online if I bother to look. For the record, I also don’t watch the news, local or national, on television. Television “news” is all about blood, pundits and car chases. I don’t need it.

New News Sources

I am far from uninformed. I read the news just about every day, spending at least ten minutes and as much as an hour scanning headlines and reading anything that seems interesting. I do almost all of my reading online. Google News is my primary source, but I also subscribe to feeds from a number of specific publications and many blogs. I would subscribe to my local papers’ news feeds, if they had them. Unfortunately. the two daily papers don’t seem to have much interest in allowing people to read their articles without being subjected to their ad-filled web sites. I don’t really blame them, but I don’t miss them either.

A Very Long Decline

Print journalism is in the middle stages of what I expect will be a very long decline. Newspaper readership has been dropping for many years now, but over the past couple years that drop has been accelerating. There is no reason to expect this drop to end any time soon. Sadder yet, newspapers are having trouble online as well. People aren’t just leaving their print version behind, they are leaving their online versions behind too. I am sure this is because of the focus on wire feeds and canned news. You can get that kind of news anywhere. In fact, you have to make a deliberate effort if you want to avoid it.

An Outdated Model

The biggest problem is the lack of real journalism. For years now, newspapers have been getting by on wire feeds from AP, Reuters and a variety of smaller news services. Back before the Internet, this model worked because a person in Tucson wouldn’t have access to a newspaper in San Antonio, so it didn’t matter if they ran the exact same stories. Now, however, all that duplicate national and international coverage can be accessed by anyone anywhere. Why read your local paper’s limited international section when you can access the news from anywhere in the world through the web. With Google News and other news aggregators, it is just as easy to find out the news in England from England as it is from your local paper. As for that AP article, it is repeated so endlessly online that you are bound to catch it too, if you bother to look.

Raw VS. Canned and Bland

Print journalists endlessly deride bloggers, and some of their criticisms are valid. Many, though by no means all, bloggers have less news experience and greater political and personal bias than newspaper reporters do. They make up for those shortcomings, however, by being more timely, more passionate, and more detailed in their coverage. The world of journalistic blogging (there are many blogs that have nothing to do with the news) is uneven, but when it is good, it is far better than the canned, bland news stories that the newspapers reprint. Because there are so many sources to choose from, it is easy to decide for yourself what is good and what is worth reading.

Decline and Rebirth

Newspapers are going to continue to decline in readership and relevance as long as they continue to follow the old model of wire stories and short, uninteresting local articles. The only reason to pick up a newspaper (or visit a newspaper’s website) in Fresno is to find out what happened in Fresno. Only newspapers that invest heavily in local coverage and allow their writers to spend more than 300 words on an article will be relevant as the years pass. That probably won’t happen until the giant corporations that own most newspapers lose interest in these now unprofitable entities and move on to other media. It is difficult to image any conglomeration of newspapers embracing individual voices and local reporting. Once it becomes unprofitable enough, however, I predict that as newspapers begin to fold and be sold, passionate local people will return to print. Until then, I’ll continue to get my news online.

4-Hour Work Week: Lessons for Writers

I just finished rereading The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Timothy Ferris. It is the sort of book that mixes advice with inspirational stories. Ferris is an entrepreneur who, after nearly killing himself by working 100 hour weeks, devised a method of keeping the wheels of his business running by working the titular four hours. He also found ways to simplify and modify his lifestyle so that he could live quite comfortably and happily on a relatively small budget. I’m not to the point of working four-hour weeks, and I’m not sure if I ever will be, but his advice has helped me streamline my efforts and develop into a “prolific” writer. Here are five lessons that you can take from the book and apply to your writing life.

Stop the Interruptions

It is very difficult to accomplish anything of value when your work environment is chaotic. Multitasking is not conducive to quality work, especially for writers. Find ways to work uninterrupted: modify your work hours, get out of the office, stand up to people who plan useless meetings, send your phone to voice mail, don’t be a slave to your email. The important point is to put a value on your time, and don’t let others take away that value.

Not Every Job is Worth Taking

One of the problems you can face, especially as a freelance writer, is bad clients. It is amazing how the worst paying clients generally turn out to be the hardest clients to please, but even a pain in the ass client who pays well may not be worth it. The best paying client I ever had was one that treated me badly and didn’t respect or even understand the work I did. I put up with it for several months, but in the end I had to say goodbye to the good money and move on. I missed the money (a little) but I didn’t miss the job.

Eliminate, Delegate, Automate

Ferris is a big believer in virtual assistants. Virtual assistants are people who work remotely, often from foreign countries where the pay scale is lower, to perform tasks and solve problems for you. These tasks may be professional or personal. A virtual assistant can do anything from perform research and create charts and graphs to schedule interviews or enter data. If you are out of work, they can even conduct a job search for you. While the thought of a virtual assistant may or may not appeal to you, it is important to take a look at the tasks that take the most time and generate the least progress toward your goals. Determine whether or not they can be eliminated, delegated or automated.

See the World

Writers, especially creative writers, need an occasional change of scenery. This starts with a day spent writing from the nearest coffee shop with a hot spot and can grow until you are spending weeks or months working from a foreign country, living in a place you’d only hoped to visit. The beauty of the Internet and cellular revolutions is that you can work from just about anywhere in the world and as far as your clients know, you’ve never left your office. Those of us who live in some of the richest countries in the world (citizens of the United States, Great Britain and Australia make up the bulk of my readers) will find that the money you make in your home country goes much farther in many other countries. While a permanent move may be more than you want, a few weeks spent on foreign soil (and not as part of some rushed tour group) may be just what you need to recharge your batteries.

Try the Impossible

Everyone says its impossible for an unknown writer to get an article in Esquire, Vanity Fair or Playboy. They also say that Fortune 500 companies never farm out high-paying contracts to individuals. They may or may not be right, but how many of them are actually trying to land these assignments? If you are making a fairly good living from your low-level or mid-level magazines or clients, maybe it is time to reach for something higher. If you are having trouble generating any work at all, then you truly have nothing to lose by chasing the biggest and the best. The beauty of reaching for the near impossible is that it forces you to step up and try harder, to put together the kind of query, article, presentation, proposal, cover letter or resume that you never bothered with before because it didn’t seem worth it. Take the big risks, at least once in a while.

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