Portable Writing Newsletter

2011-08-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ghostwrite for a Living

I've had a lot of success ghostwriting articles for trade journals, etc. for prominent business professionals, who are often requested to contribute their expertise to a publication. While this type of writing has some relationship to my previous column on producing newspaper columns for businesses, ghostwriting usually involves producing longer articles or even book-length manuscripts for a client.

The greatest benefit to ghostwriting for clients is that it's not necessary for you to come up with article ideas; your client will do that for you, as well as provide research notes and information needed to complete the project. And you don't have to approach publishers--your client will do that if they don't already have a request from a publisher for an article or book.

Your first responsibility is to be ready to help your client. In my case, I always learn as much about the client's profession as possible before I start a project since I usually find that I need to ask specific questions if I feel their information is incomplete or has possible inaccuracies, or if I simply need clarification about some aspect of the article. It helps if I know what I'm talking about!

You almost always need to have your own professional-looking brochure that informs prospective clients about your experience in order to attract prospective clients. If you are just starting out, approach friends in business or fellow members of your church or civic organizations, or at your youngsters' schools and let them know what services you offer. I've found that by simply letting everyone know about my writing business, I invariably receive requests for bids on projects. By the way, in the beginning I joined several business organizations so that I had lots of contacts, and when I finished a project, I always asked if my client knew anyone else who might need my services. By casting a wide net, at least one of my acquaintances would know of someone who needed my services, and that would lead to another, etc.

And remember, if you ghostwrite for a client, you must never reveal that information to anyone else. How, you might ask, do I get referrals or use their information in a brochure? Simple. Ask your former clients if you may use their name (or business name) as a former client. Let them know that you won't reveal that your ghostwrote articles, etc. for them. If a prospective client contacts a former client for a reference, it's up to them to reveal what you did for them if they choose. On the other hand, they can simply say you've completed work for them that was satisfactory and leave it at that.

Under your list of past projects completed, you can list ghostwriting among other projects, which might include newsletter writing, public relations, brochures, or any number of other projects that you specialize in. Or simply list the types of projects you're capable of, and want to do.

Another way to ghostwrite is to offer your services to write memoirs, family stories, etc. There is a huge market for this type of writing as many people, famous and successful, or not, want to preserve their story for future generations. Often, they'll attempt to write their own story, then will find it too stressful, or too involved, or that friends, family, etc. who they've asked to read their finished project tell them that it is not near as interesting, humorous, or inspiring as they know the subject's life to have been. That's when they'll start searching for someone to help them write a more professional narrative, and that person may as well be you.

Ghostwriting is a relatively painless way to earn a living as a writer, if you want to specialize in it. Or you may want to add it to a growing list of projects so that you always have several avenues of income. Whether you live in a small community or a large city, there are numerous opportunities to find clients.

2010-11-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

Write Columns for Business Owners and Professionals

There is one fantastic writing project that can get you started earning money, and you can start today. That is writing ad columns, or business columns, for a local business owner. I know I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating in different words because it can be so profitable for those writers willing to work at it.

Ad columns are those short columns that you can sometimes find in your local newspaper written by someone in business just down the street from you. Or so they appear. Usually these columns will be typeset inside a border, and they’ll feature a business owner’s picture plus their business name, address and phone number. The beauty of these columns is that they dispense useful information so people enjoy reading them, and readers usually have no idea that they are paid ads.

Another column that you’ll often find is similar to the one above, only it is not set apart inside a border, and the business name and other contact information may be mentioned at the bottom of the article, but it won’t stand out. It is longer than an ad column (sometimes a half- or full page) and will probably also feature a photo of the business owner and a byline.

Both of these types of columns are rarely written by the business owner, even though their byline accompanies them. Instead, a professional writer usually writes them. You should approach business owners in your town about producing regular columns for them.

If you know business owners in your community who you think would benefit from a regular column in their local newspaper to acquaint consumers with their business, or who could profit from a column about their profession, approach them. Tell the business owner how a regular, professionally column written by an experienced writer like you, can benefit them. Be prepared to offer a short list of article ideas because often, they will never have thought of having their own column. They will, of course, need to come up with more ideas or else you will have to spend time researching ideas for them—which I hope you will include in your price.

Ideas and businesses include, but are certainly not limited to the following: pet care for a veterinarian or pet shop owner; buying a new home or investment properties, or preparing your home for sale for a real estate agent; landscaping tips and gardening ideas for the local growing region for a nursery owner; decorating ideas for an interior designer or decorator. Suggest that they approach the newspaper editor with ideas for a regular feature article or column, and then you take it from there, writing the articles using their information. You will earn money from writing those articles, and they will build a reputation as an expert in their field. They will not earn income from the newspaper (although that’s possible) but many will willingly pay you whatever fee you propose for producing the articles, especially if you’ve stressed the benefits to them.

Another approach would be to create your own short series of articles (100 words or less) on a topic related to a business or profession, then approach businesses about their buying the articles in batches of 13 (1 calendar quarter), then they buy ad space in a newspaper for their articles to appear. They can have an outlined column with their photo and business name, plus their address, phone, and any other information they want to fit inside the outlined box. These columns should be offered exclusively to businesses in the same area because no one is going to pay you and then see their column repeated in other nearby papers under a competitor’s names. This means you’ll have to make contacts in different areas, and possibly produce a marketing package to mail to distant business owners. The possibility exists to sell the column nationwide if you’re willing to market them, and you can sell the same columns over and over as you find new buyers.

I’ve done articles both ways, writing for business owners who approached the newspaper with a proposal to produce a weekly column about their specialty, and producing ad columns for interior designers and home furnishing stores. Businesses pay for ads all the time, and this is one of the most successful types of advertising they can do because people read their columns without realizing they’re reading paid ads, and they believe the business owners are experts in their field. I’ve seen these columns advertising auto care stores and garages, pet stores, veterinarians, wedding planners, jewelry stores, decorators, travel agents, and any number of other specialties.

Creating either of the above types of columns produces a win-win situation for both the business owner and you, the writer. Plus it is one of the easiest ways for you, as a writer, to gain immediate experience as a writer. You won’t get name recognition, but you will be making money and getting experience that will only make you a better, faster writer.

Why not get started today?

2010-09-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

TWO SUBSCRIBERS FIND PUBLISHING SUCCESS

Barbara Kaufmann and Barry Zavah have both had writing successes recently that are definitely worth mentioning here. Both of these writers have previously proven how talented they are with poems and essays published in “Looking Back: Boomers Remember History.”

Barbara Kaufmann

A new education packet, Words and Violence makes its' debut as a Voices Education Project featured selection on September 9

www.voiceseducation.org

Voices Education Project, a global humanitarian organization, pedagogical institute and center of arts and humanities on the topics of war and peace has partnered with award winning writer and human activist Reverend B. Kaufmann to spearhead Words and Violence. They have been joined in this effort by more than twenty others: educators, journalists, medical personnel, information technology specialists, parents and others who care about a more just and humane future for today's youth.

Click on "Words and Violence.” The Table of Contents appears at left and you can page through the work by clicking on the "title" of the next entry in the lower right hand corner.

Barry Zavah

Barry’s story has been accepted for the Centennial Celebration Submission Contest and is posted. Please enjoy reading it at: http://blog.rv.net/centennial-celebration/featured-centennial-contest-submissions/ and feel free to tell your friends and family about it!

So let’s hear from other subscribers and followers of this blog who have had recent writing successes!

2010-09-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

TACKLE FEAR OF STARTING A WRITING CAREER

This time I’m hoping to inspire those of you who want to become paid, working writers but lack the courage to start.

One of the main hurdles to overcome when first starting to write is lack of courage, or in other words, FEAR. It can come from 1. lack of faith in oneself, 2. lack of confidence, 3. fearing that you’re not good enough, 4. fear of trying something new, and 5. listening to naysayers who tell you that you can’t succeed because... If this is you, you need a pep talk, and you may have to give it to yourself if there’s no one else around to encourage you. I’ll show you how.

First of all, I’m here to tell you that I faced the same fears when I started. One day I suddenly decided to walk away from the career I had always thought I wanted, but which had burned me out. What to do now, I wondered? Well, I had always been interested in writing, but I lacked knowledge about what to do and how to do it. So I started at square one, the same place some of you are probably occupying right now, by reading books and articles on how to write for publication.

The only positive thing from my past was the confidence-building seminars by motivational speakers that I had attended. They assured me that anything was possible if I would just believe. Certainly, none of those classes were geared toward a career in writing! They did provide the gumption to start over and they gave me belief in myself.

I want to share the type of information that will help you believe in yourself so you can give yourself that pep talk, and become the success I know you can be.

1. First of all, let’s tackle lack of faith in your “self.”

No, this isn’t fear of not being a good writer; this is the fear that holds you back in lots of areas of your life—including fear of speaking in public, fear of walking into a room full of strangers, afraid to take a class because you fear failing. We all have had lots of negative input during our lives: people telling us we’re not good enough, we’re not smart enough, we’re not attractive enough, etc. In my case, there was nothing more ego-shattering than having a younger sister to constantly remind me of my dorkiness. And I had a mother who was never able to achieve her dreams, so she discouraged me from dreaming big so I wouldn’t be disappointed, as she had. Luckily, my extended family of supportive grandparents, aunts and uncles gave me plenty of love, hope and courage to make up for what was missing at home.

If you have always had naysayers around you, it is time to find some new companions. Look for positive, supportive people who lift your spirits, and spend your spare time with them. And no, don’t ban the naysayers from your life. I learned to ignore my sister and mother when they provided negative feedback. Mainly, I learned to persevere, no matter what. The friends I made were young and full of hopes and dreams, like me, and I went to work for a wonderful, loving boss who provided lots of unexpected opportunities that helped build my confidence. I developed my own cheering team, and I found myself spending more time with them than at home.

You can find a cheering team, too. If they’re not at home, develop positive friendships at school, at church, by volunteering, or by getting a job in a positive atmosphere.

2. Lack of confidence is a more elusive obstacle to success than lack of faith in yourself.

Sometimes, people who aren’t confident can be clueless to how they’re perceived by other people, which is really a reflection of how they feel inside. You’ve seen people who always look down, who always hang back in any gathering, who speak very timidly. Timid people are not going to be willing to put themselves or their writing out there. How can you overcome being a shy, timid person?

Here is the number one trick to building more confidence. When you get up in the morning and get dressed, face the mirror and tell yourself: I am a happy, confident person. I am a talented writer. People want to pay me for my writing. I am a successful writer. You can start with one or two of the above statements, or go through the entire list, or adapt the sayings to fit your needs. The important thing is to repeat affirmations over and over to yourself as you look in the mirror. Write them down and tape them to your mirror so you can’t miss them. By doing this over and over, day after day, you’ll eventually manifest what you say. You may not believe this now—I certainly didn’t at the beginning. But I did it, and it really works.

You’ll soon notice that your confidence is growing in all areas. I was told by experts that “you have to believe to achieve.” Positive affirmations like those above have helped many people I’ve known to succeed in their various pursuits, and they have definitely helped me overcome the obstacles in my life.

3. Fearing that you’re not good enough is a common obstacle to new writers.

But then, not one writer in the world has ever known if they were good enough until they’ve tried. Overcome fear of trying something new and having naysayers tell you that you can’t succeed. Get up every day and writing something, whether in your journal, a letter to a friend, or about a life experience that you want to put on paper. Just as practicing positive affirmations to a mirror makes it real, so does practicing writing. It’s the practice that makes it so. And take a class in writing—it doesn’t matter what type of writing. There are classes available that teach any skill you might feel you lack. You’ll learn that fear is just a four-letter word that doesn’t mean anything.

4. The same goes for fear of trying something new.

Fear is fear, and the only way to overcome it is to try, and keep trying until you get it right. No one does it right the first time, but if everyone let fear hold them back, we wouldn’t have champion athletes, or polished entertainers, or even a president.

5. The final thing is: ignore what the naysayers say to you.

People often try to discourage others if they, themselves, lack confidence. And sometimes they simply don’t want to lose the person they’ve always known, and fear you might change if you become successful. Their fear is not your fear, so don’t let them stop you or even slow you down.

If someone tells you that you can’t do something, you can do any one of several things. Put your fingers in your ears if you really want to discourage them. Okay, that sometimes worked with my younger sister, but it was easier to start humming a happy little tune and walk away. I could hum really loud.

You can also be forthright and simply tell the person that their words hurt you, and that you can’t continue to spend time with them if they can’t be more supportive. That takes guts if you’re timid and lack self-confidence, but believe me, just saying it will help you build confidence. Don’t second-guess your decision and feel bad because you might have hurt their feelings. It’s your survival vs. their barbs, and self-preservation makes it imperative that you act in your own self-interest.

There is one more thing that stops people from realizing their dreams. Many people say they’re waiting until their kids go to school, then it’s off to college, and then they can’t do it because they have to help take care of a sick parent or spouse. Then one day, they decide it is too late.

It is never too late to start a writing career. You might have to scale back your dreams of achieving great financial success because you lack the stamina to sit at a keyboard all day, or you might not feel up to doing the work necessary to build a successful business writing career, but you can still become a best-selling author, or a prize-winning writer, or a prolific writer of magazine articles, or reach any number of other goals. I personally know many writers in their seventies and eighties who wouldn’t think of retiring because they’re enjoying themselves too much. Your career as a writer at any age depends on your motivation, and that is something that you never lose once you’ve acquired it. Affirmations, affirmations, affirmations.

I can remember reading “The Power of Positive Thinking,” among several other motivational books, and listening to a talk by Mark Victor Hansen before he became famous for his “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. I believe that back then, his talks may have been self-motivational as well as motivational for his audience, and that may be why he was able to become such a successful writer. Reading books about positive thinking always inspire me when I’m down, even now.

Affirmations are the one most important thing you must do to motivate yourself to move forward. I am positive that all of you have within you the talent to become paid writers. I’ve known people who became successful writers even though they never got past grammar school. There are people who worked as janitors, cooks, assembly line workers, and a myriad of other backgrounds who have become successful authors. And I’ve seen writing examples from some of you—some of them even appeared in “Looking Back,” so I know the talent that lies hidden in you.

If anyone can do it, you can do it!

2010-08-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

NEW GRADUATES TURNING TO WRITING CAREERS

Recently it seems I keep hearing of more and more graduates who plan to make their living writing. I have to wonder if they know how to go about landing a job once they finish college, especially if they’ve never written anything besides school papers before. Mostly, I wonder if schools these days even prepare their students for a writing career. It’s obvious that TV journalists are either not being taught, or they’re too busy texting in class to listen. And we all know that texting involves using a shorthand language that allows messages to go out quicker—never mind spelling or grammar.

One of the major mistakes journalists make is venturing into territory where no one else has dared to go. Don’t they ever stop for a moment to ask themselves if a word they’re about to use is actually a word? Just last week, a local news reporter said she was “evidencing” something. I think she meant she was checking the evidence, or maybe she was searching for evidence? What it meant to a stickler for facts like me was that she was reporting on something for which she had no evidence, so maybe it wasn’t even true. Yesterday, a newscaster on a national network said “there’s no need to 'catastrophosize' your future!” (Not sure of the spelling since this word doesn’t appear in any dictionary that I know about.) Yikes!

In broadcast journalism, things happen fast, so I can understand occasional slip-ups in language usage. Newscasters often report on something that is coming over the wires, but for which facts are lacking. They should report that not all information has been verified. Verifying is a word, evidencing is not. All journalists should have some passing acquaintance with the English language, at least enough to know if a word is actually a word or not.

And then there’s pronunciation! It annoys me no end to hear someone pronounce “tour” as “tore.” The governor “tored” the State, the high school students are on a “tore” of China, etc. That’s not the only word that is often mispronounced, but it’s enough to set my teeth on edge. And never mind that I don’t always pronounce a word correctly every time. Not many people do. However, broadcast journalists should make every effort to learn the correct way to pronounce every word that might possibly cross their lips, or look it up in a dictionary. Pronunciation is an education in itself, and of course, requires teachers who know the correct way words should be spoken.

Then there are mistakes found in newspapers, books and magazines. Writers who submit articles should check their work on their computer’s spellchecker, and if they’re using unfamiliar words, look them up in a dictionary and thesaurus. How many times are articles full of misspelled words? In the old days, writers could always blame mistakes on typesetters, but today, words usually go directly to the page. In that case, it is up to the writer and back-up personnel such as editors and proofreaders to catch mistakes before they are published. Obviously, that doesn’t always happen.

I truly hope that future journalists get the education that is needed to help them report accurately and honestly. I can remember in the eighties when a study was done on how unprepared journalism graduates were to work in their chosen field. Publishers reported the bad news that recent graduates were not prepared to earn a living as journalists. It was hoped that the study would encourage a change in education, but I can’t find evidence that any improvement has taken place during the past thirty-plus years.

And then there’s the question of whether an education in journalism is even required to work in the field? You bet it’s required to work for the big boys today, but many of our top network journalists from the 1960s and forward were not even college graduates, much less journalism majors. They were well educated, though, even though some had only gone to high school in small town USA. I won’t mention names here because I can’t accurately remember which ones were not college graduates, and am not sure where to check. However, if you watched national news in the ‘60s, and even the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s, you would recognize their names. A couple were tops in their field.

News organizations want people who are energetic, honest, accurate, and can spin a good, interesting story. Small newspapers, in particular, are easy places to find jobs, especially if writers can show clips that have been published previously—no matter where. Church bulletins and club newsletters count as experience to many doing the hiring. Editors and publishers mainly want to be able to read something writers have written. Their criterion includes believing that a writer will have integrity, and sometimes the only way to prove that is to show up on time for an interview with samples in hand. They also want to know that the applicant is a go-getter who will do whatever is necessary and legal to get a story.

My high school journalism teacher’s motto way back when, was to “get the news, get it right, and get it right the first time!” That is all that really matters for journalists.

As for those who want to write books, there are definitely no educational requirements except to be well-educated. Authors of novels must be able to assemble words in a sentence, and string sentences together to create a good story. Non-fiction writers must also be accurate when reporting facts. Many best-sellers have been written by individuals who lack much more than a grammar school education. Either they’ve had someone on their team who could proofread and edit, or they’ve been exceptional writers. Either way, if they can do it, so can anyone who is willing to work to achieve their goal of being published.

I would encourage anyone just graduating from high school and seeking a career as a journalist to get some experience during the summer months, even if only writing copy for newsletters, volunteering in the marketing department of a non-profit, or covering sports for a local community paper. That will help them understand what they want to eventually do before they hit the doors of college. Then focus on learning everything possible about grammar and writing. Good writers can become successful, no matter what their educational background.

Last of all; always, ALWAYS be prepared for unexpected opportunities. They can crop up in surprising places. Write something about a subject you feel passionate about, make sure there are no typographical or grammatical errors, and print it out so you can hand it to any editor or publisher you meet. Yes, carry it with you or in your car at all times, preferably in a briefcase or folder to keep it neat. Tell the person you meet that you’re looking forward to becoming a working journalist. Ask for advice and suggestions. Sometimes you might learn about opportunities, and possibly, they’ll have a job opening where you would fit.

Writing isn’t rocket science, to use a cliché (which editors hate). It’s simply being willing to diligently work at presenting information in a way that can be understood by readers, that has been researched thoroughly, and that doesn’t slant the news. And that brings up a whole other kettle of fish, since some well-known “news” networks are now in the business of skewing news to fit the network owners’ political and economic views. Still, a moral, upright journalist doesn’t, and shouldn’t, seek a job with tabloids that sensationalize stories, or for those news organizations in the business of influencing people who don’t, or won’t, spend time learning the truth behind the story. During Hitler’s regime, that was rightly called “brainwashing,” which was very successful at motivating an entire population to become hate-filled murderers and/or enablers. It was wrong then, and it still is, no matter what the name or intent of the person or organization that does it.

A lot of people are willing to be cult followers, and a cult needn’t have religious intent to sway its followers. Always, its main purpose is to aggrandize its leaders and purpose. Journalists have a duty not to become followers of any type, but to only be interested in reporting the truth. A journalist’s job is to present the facts, without emotion, and let listeners or viewers use their own intelligence to decide what those facts mean. To do otherwise is to discredit the audience as being unintelligent and unable to understand facts.

Here’s hoping that the next generation of journalists will use their intelligence and integrity wisely as they learn how to write, and then demand jobs in organizations that are honest and fair. And here’s hoping that they will have strong, intelligent teachers to instruct them not only in how to gather news and write, but also the difference between real journalism, tabloid news, and indoctrination for deceitful purposes. Possibly, they’ll also learn how to pronounce words correctly, and how not to make up words that don’t exist.

2010-08-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

ON THE ROAD: Route 66

I love traveling along old Route 66 in the West. It brings back nostalgic memories of a road filled with excitement, thrilling views, and warm, fuzzy feelings about the way life was back in the 1950s and 1960s, before the Interstates were built.

Not that I have many memories of Route 66! I had never made a road trip West until 1964, when I first drove the road. By then, it consisted of part-Interstate 40 and part-Route 66. Still, I do remember the old television series, “Route 66,” with Buz and Tod finding adventure to spare in Buz’s shiny Corvette. It was almost like being along for the ride with them as I watched each week while they traveled from place to place, finding people to help while learning about themselves. I identified with them, never mind that I was female. And I was determined to repeat their adventures, although it was not to be in a Corvette. My journeys were in a Volkswagen Van, an Opel station wagon, a Volvo station wagon, a motorhome, and finally, an ordinary sedan. We did have a young guy in a Corvette caravan with us, along with another young man. They were both traveling West at the same time we were in the mid-seventies, and we met on CB radio. We then shared meals along the way and swapped stories until we finally separated somewhere around Flagstaff.

This week we made a journey to Williams, Arizona, looking for a memory-evoking experience in a 1950’s diner. We found it on a corner on old Route 66, in what must be a converted gas station. The food was just like the 50s, including the chocolate malt that we shared, since we have to be concerned with calories. In the fifties, I wanted to put on pounds. Things have certainly changed!

Most of our fellow diners were middle-aged, but then a family with two teenage girls walked in. They spoke in a foreign language, probably Italian, but they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience. The younger moved to the beat of the old-time music, which obviously still has universal appeal.

When we exited the diner, an older woman, a young nun, and three kids were just about to enter. Another lively fifties tune started up on the loudspeaker in the parking lot, so the older woman began dancing. Then the nun grabbed the hands of a little boy and began dancing, too. What a fun, all-American scene it made, if a bit unusual to see a nun in habit boogying in front of a 1950’s diner on Main Street USA. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera, and gave a quick slap to the head when I got in the car and remembered that we could have taken photos with the cell phone. The diner was an all-around enjoyable experience. I even picked up a book on the TV show, “Route 66,” which I promptly devoured as soon as we got home.

There are lots of interesting shops along old Route 66 in Williams, and also the Grand Canyon Railway is located a couple of blocks from the route. There are a couple of RV parks right in Williams, including near the Railway.

Our plan was to head up on Hwy. 64 towards the Grand Canyon to an aircraft museum, but the weather suddenly changed (it is monsoon season), and we decided to get off Route 66 and I-40. We even encountered a little snow (or maybe it was sleet?) on the ground along I-40 on the way to Flagstaff. I don’t remember Buz and Tod driving through snow/sleet, but then that was a long time ago. Wonder what they would have done about filming, since the top always seemed to be down on their Corvette?

A while back, we had gone through Kingman and took old Route 66 to the old mining town of Oatman, Arizona. What an adventure that was, with the wild burros roaming the main street! The road twisting through the mountains near Oatman is as narrow as any road I can recall. Luckily, we had left the motorhome parked somewhere in Kingman while we took the dinghy to Oatman.

There are so many interesting little towns along Route 66 in both New Mexico and Arizona, many of which promote their Route 66 heritage to tourists. A fun trip would be to travel as much of Route 66 as still exists through those states, but that will have to be done when time is not as precious as now. There are still older motels along the route that have been refurbished, and plenty of RV parks along the way where tourists can pull in and spend the night, or stay for a long, educational visit to the outlying areas. Summertime is the best time, since the elevation is quite high along most of the route, and the weather can turn nasty, particularly during fall, winter and spring. Still, for wintertime visitors, ski slopes are one of the main attractions.

The thought of an endless road beckoning to me still appeals as much as when I was young and untraveled, no matter that I have traveled so far since then. There are still so many treasures and experiences to be found.

2010-07-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Historic Parry Lodge in Kanab, Utah was home to film crews and movie stars of the many westerns filmed locally from 1930s to 1970s.

MORE THAN ONE REASON TO VISIT KANAB, UTAH

We just got back from a long and rushed trip to the Northwest. Tired though we were, we decided to stop off in Kanab, Utah since our only other trip through there had been even more rushed than this one.

Kanab is a small town in Southern Utah just above the Arizona border and Lake Powell, and has to be situated in one of the most spectacular spots in the world. This is the setting for many a western film from the 1930s to the 1970s, most of them filmed after color was introduced. And who could blame Hollywood for picking such an area for filming. First of all, it was remote and mostly unsettled, making the movie more realistic and easier to shoot, and next, the technicolor canyons gave film viewers amazing scenery as a backdrop for the westerns. How could they have better showcased the new technology of Technicolor?

The main reason we wanted to stop there was to visit Best Friends® Animal Sanctuary, www.bestfriends.org/, a wonderful place that rescues abused and abandoned animals. They take in all companion animals, including pigs, horses, rabbits, and of course dogs and cats, that would be turned down by any other rescue organization because they’re too old, too sick, or too abused or not socialized. Then they have a dedicated staff of professional veterinarians, trainers, etc. in addition to compassionate volunteers who try to salvage the desperate, hopeless and helpless animals who land on their doorstep.

Best Friends was on the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina attempting to save animals that had been left behind during the storm, attempting to feed, provide medical care, and reuniting those that they could with their mostly distraught owners through a website they set up and manned. They took in Michael Vick’s dogs that had been abused and tortured, and tried to socialize and train those that were salvageable so that they could find a loving, forever home with a family of their own. They continually get calls to come rescue dogs from horrible conditions, such as in large, wholesale breeding situations that must live in their own waste while crammed in tiny crates. And they have often rescued cats and dogs from terrible hoarding situations. Sometimes, they find dozens to hundreds of dogs and cats that have had little to no care or attention, even though the hoarder might have started out with good intentions.

Some of you may have seen the TV show, “Dogtown,” on National Geographic channel, which showcases the work of Best Friends with dogs. It only runs intermittently and isn’t on the air right now, but hopefully, it will be back later this summer or fall.

Anyway, we are unabashed animal lovers, and we wanted to visit this little bit of heaven on earth for animals, if only for a short time. The setting is in Angel Canyon five miles north of Kanab, a truly magnificent place. Besides the animal care and training facilities, the sanctuary also has cabins for guests that can be rented overnight as well as two RV sites.

We stayed overnight in town at the historic Parry Lodge. What a pleasant surprise to roll into town tired and dusty to find a little bit of the South in a Colonial style building surrounded by huge shade trees and low bungalow buildings that held the rooms. The Lodge had been established as a home to film crews and stars that came there in the thirties to make movies after the owners had started as a transportation service for a film crew on their first film assignment in the area. The owners built a place for them to stay, and then headed to Hollywood to encourage other production companies to come there.

We stayed in the Ray Milland cottage. A lot of the cottages are named for stars that bunked in them back in the day. I remember Milland’s name, but I’m not sure I ever saw him in a film. Still, it was a beautiful place to stay and had all the usual amenities, even though it is not as modern as new Inns. Many of the famous who stayed there autographed photos for the owners, which hang throughout the main building.

We discovered that the last weekend in August is “Legends of the West” weekend, when many of the older Western stars or their offspring come to town. This would definitely be an event that we would enjoy attending, although everything seems to be booked up far in advance, leaving us unable to plan a visit this time.

The other amazing thing about the Kanab area is the number of National Parks and Monuments located within a short drive, including Lake Mead. I doubt that many of us, as children, ever learned anything about this region, other than what we saw on the screen. I certainly couldn’t have told you where it was located, or the history behind the people who lived there, including the Native Americans who called this area home.

I intend to watch one of my favorite movies, The Electric Horseman, again and make notes about places mentioned in it so the next time we go up, we can try to follow the route taken by Robert Redford as he led the beautiful, exploited horse to freedom. I can remember that the route taken was so spectacular, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was a place I had to visit one day. Assuming it wasn’t a painted backdrop, I’m sure we’ll find its rare and unspoiled scenery somewhere near Kanab, Utah.

2010-07-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

TURN SUMMER FUN INTO CASH

Summer is the worst time for most of us who write for a living to do actual, serious, money-making work. Or is it? Of course, there is usually much more going on to consume our time than in the winter, like hosting visiting relatives and friends, attending outdoor functions, holding cookouts, traveling, working in the garden, and numerous other things that we just don’t do during colder months.

However, in most of our lives, much more happens during the summer that provides interesting activities to write about. We’re going places, seeing things, and having experiences that are worth committing to paper. That makes this the perfect time to write down our reflections on those experiences and our memories of good times so that we can remember them later when we need the information and details for an article or book. And what if we’re too busy to research markets for our article ideas at the moment? We surely have time to make a list of ideas as they pop up, and most of us usually have a camera in tow to take pictures of what we’re seeing and doing.

So make notes of what’s happening every day—even if it seems mundane. Who knows—even the least important thing we see or do could become part of an article, or a character’s experience in a novel. A day spent gardening can later reveal some gems that are article worthy, such as: planting a small backyard garden, a backyard cookout, including making homemade ice cream or simply playing a favorite board game around a table set outdoors, or a picnic in the woods, or a day spent at home doing repair work around the house or even really boring jobs (boring to me, at least) such as cooking and ironing. Any one or more of these activities can become either the basis for an article or an essay.

Say you’re cooking for company and everything seems to go wrong: you start preparations a little late and realize you have to run out to buy eggs for one of your recipes; you look for a special pan or dish and can’t locate it, then find it’s in the dishwasher with caked on gunk and the washer hasn’t been run in days. Around our house, any number of calamities can befall me when I start to cook. Still, sometimes everything works out and the meal becomes a special memory. This could become the basis for an article for a women’s magazine on “cooking nightmares and how to avoid them.” A day spent in the backyard could become an article in a parenting magazine on “turning everyday activities into special memories for your kids.”

And be sure to take notes on places you travel. Where did you go and what route did you use to get there? Were there any special problems or circumstances as you made your journey? What costs were involved? What were the exact names and spelling of the places you visited? What were the names and phone numbers of the people you met, or your hosts? What type of weather did you have? What did the scenery look like? Make a list of the places you stay enroute, whether an inn or RV park. What did you learn about the area that was unexpected? Road trips can become articles for a variety of magazines if you keep good notes and take photos to include with the manuscript.

The beauty of keeping a journal or separate notebooks for each of your activities is that in the winter when things have slowed down, you can pull them out and write. Most magazines, in particular, want articles on summer activities while frost still covers the ground. They must plan their magazines about six months in advance for release during the summer months, and will want your summer manuscript ideas or the completed articles submitted while many of their readers are still shoveling snow. If your article won’t appear in the next six months or so, you’ll need to contact your sources to make sure pertinent information is still accurate, or places you visited are still up and running.

If you’re not sure what types of notes to keep, simply read some good articles on various topics and make a list of the information included in each one. Did the writer include small details, such as the shape of clouds in the sky over a famous monument? Was there any mention of costs involved or names of places stayed? What about other small things that might interest readers that you might not ever think to mention, such as the names of shells found on the beach, or how they looked on the sand at sunset with the tide slowly washing over them?

Notes made on tiny details will serve you in many ways in the future. First of all, they’ll make you more aware of your surroundings. Second, you never know when such a detail can be used in a variety of ways, including your own memoir if you ever decide to put your life story on paper.

2010-05-09T15:59:00.000-07:00

TRAVEL - THEN WRITE TO EDUCATE THOSE WHO NEVER TRAVEL

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page."

-St. Augustine, quoted in the St. Louis Post - Dispatch

The above quote caught my eye because I often meet people who can’t wait to express their opinions on everything under the sun, but it's obvious that they have absolutely no knowledge about people beyond their family and neighborhood, or any understanding of anything outside their own limited social network and background. In other words, they don’t know diddly, and it shows. They don’t travel and are not at all curious about people or places outside their own realm. We all know someone like that!

But there are also those who are unable to expand their horizons with travel. How are these people to learn about the world if they can’t possibly see the country or the world? That’s where writers come in. We become their eyes, ears and noses. We have the capacity to bring the sights, sounds and smells of the world to their doorsteps. It’s our duty, and luckily, it’s fun.

Unfortunately, there are people who are not only uninterested in traveling; they also don’t care to read. There’s nothing we can do for those unless we can think of some gimmick that will attract their attention—otherwise, they will remain hopelessly ignorant of the world around them except for what they hear from their opinionated peers who are often as uninformed as they.

I often bemoan the fact that many Americans hold strong opinions about any number of subjects, but often lack the objectivity or knowledge to even form an educated opinion. My own lack of objectivity became apparent after I started traveling. I was totally ignorant about people, places, or lifestyles that differed from my own.

Certainly, I had my own strong opinions (on questions like why some can’t seem to rise above their circumstances), but I lacked factual knowledge about what existed beyond my own neighborhood. I knew my family and acquaintances’ ways of thinking and doing things, but knew nothing about abject poverty, discrimination, hatred, why people held extremist political beliefs, and what type of upbringing had led them there. I was ignorant, and only face-to-face contact with the real world could cure me. Even extensive reading couldn’t prepare me to understand what drove other people to think and do as they do, even though it was the next best thing to travel. I can't say I understand them all, even now. But I had to travel so I could explore the complexities that created the differences in views. Until I began to travel, my worldview was extremely limited, as it is for most individuals.

Once I hit the road, I faced reality for the first time. I had been starved for real experiences among people who had nothing in common with me or my background. Suddenly I was face-to-face with people who “hate Californians,” “despise blacks and Mexicans,” “can’t stand politicians,” “dislike farmers who use all the water,” and think, “people whose children get on drugs must be really bad parents,” among many other strong opinions that I couldn’t understand until I talked to them and could see things from their perspectives—which were mostly from restrictive, prejudiced backgrounds. These were typically people who didn’t watch television, especially the news since they were likely to hear something that didn’t agree with their beliefs; they didn’t read newspapers or books, go to movies, etc. Many wouldn’t travel beyond their own preset boundaries, even if offered the opportunity.

Sometimes their closed society existed because of religious beliefs, or simply because their own parents never went anywhere or read anything, or watched TV. If that was good enough for their parents, it was good enough for them, no matter that the world has shrunk since then and what impacts society elsewhere will soon be at their own doorsteps.

I was always curious about the world. It’s the way I was brought up and the way I was educated. There’s a great big world out there and we all need to know what’s going on since it all impacts every one of us in some way. Since I have now traveled throughout the United States and Canada, and met and talked with people from every type of background, geographic influence, and religious and political belief, I’ve received an entirely different type of education from what I learned in school. I’m better informed and have more tolerance for others’ opinions, even though I might still not agree with them.

Now, I firmly believe that anyone who doesn’t travel at all ignores an opportunity to understand society. I question how anyone can hold firm views on any topic without meeting and talking to people with opposing opinions. No one can understand poverty in the United States, or why some can’t seem to rise above their pitiful circumstances, or why some people can’t get a basic education, or how people from different backgrounds and cultures can think so differently, unless they have traveled the United States and talked to people from all over. And if they can’t travel, they have a responsibility to read about a variety of subjects so they can become more understanding and tolerant.

Travel is something that everyone who has the opportunity, should do. And not just cruise through a region with the windows rolled up and the radio turned on high. It should involve stepping out and talking with the Native Americans you see selling jewelry by the side of the road. It should include stopping and talking to the migrant worker that you see in the market or walking alongside the road. And it should be about trying to understand why that person thinks like he or she does, rather than passing judgment. Ignorance about other people breeds intolerance. It’s too easy to think, “Oh, they’re just a poor, dumb nobody.” No! They might be poor, but they’re probably every bit as intelligent as any of us reading this in ways we may not understand until we meet and talk to them. Their only problem may be that they never had the opportunity to learn the things we have been taught. Believe me, everyone has something to teach each and every one of us, no matter how privileged our own lives or how limited theirs.

Like the quote says, the world is a book, and those of us who can travel, but don’t, instead choosing to stay in our own little world and pass judgment rather than make an effort to understand others, have only read one page. One page does not make a book!

The next best thing to travel is reading. And we writers have the privilege of opening up minds when we travel, including our own, and to put what we’ve found and learned in words that paint pictures for those who can’t or don’t travel. Our words may not be read by those who need to read them most, but they will reach some who long to experience our journeys, and who will learn something valuable from them.

2010-05-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Must Read - Eats, Shoots and Leaves

A while ago, I mentioned that I was reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a great little book on punctuation. I finally finished it this week, and I must say there was a lot that I didn’t know about a lot of things. One problem is that the author is British, and therefore included lots of British slang. Many times, I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.

It did explain why so many people are now putting their punctuation marks (commas and periods) outside quotation marks. I had wondered if that rule had changed recently, or if writers are being churned out that don’t know punctuation rules. Hey, I had one high school English teacher who operated about four grade levels lower than the dumbest student in the classroom. Most of us could have skipped that class. Luckily, my previous teachers had been very competent, and their training has served me well enough to survive as a freelance writer for a lot of years. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not anywhere near perfect.

As for punctuation, the book reveals that putting commas and periods outside the quotation marks is the British way. We Americans put ours inside quotation marks. Aha!

Has the global economy changed the rules for Americans? No, although it might be trending that way—especially if writers produce articles for a magazine or newspaper with an International readership. As you know, the British also spell some words such as color with an ou, as in colour. That’s why it’s necessary to study a copy of the publication you’re writing for, and ask for a copy of their “writer’s guidelines.” For now, the rule still stands that commas and periods should be inside the quotation marks for American markets.

Sometimes, failure to understand little details like those mentioned above can stop a good writer from submitting work to magazines because they’re unsure of the rules. Don’t let it stop you from following your dreams. There are a lot of books in libraries that can provide you with the confidence to submit articles to magazines, and after perusing a copy of your targeted magazine and its guidelines, you can compete with the best of them.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves mentioned a few other instances where the rules differ between Americans and British grammar and punctuation, so you might want to pick up a copy at the library and find out what you may not know about punctuation.

2010-05-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

WORK-CAMP - MAKE MONEY WHILE TRAVELING IN YOUR RV

Updated and adapted from an article by Kay Kennedy that appeared in "RV’n" magazine, April, 1996.

Got an RV sitting in the driveway and a yen to see the country, but not enough money to make the trip? Or are you dreaming of fulltime RVing but afraid that you’ll get bored once you’ve seen everything you want to see?

Why not work your way around the country? Working and volunteering at campgrounds is an ideal way to earn or save a little money while you slow down and enjoy the journey. Sometimes it allows you to stay long-term in an expensive place that you really enjoy, for free. And it helps some leave the rat race early like we did!

Thousands of RVers take what is known as work-camping positions at campgrounds while they roam the continent. They simply choose what part of the country they want to visit, then contact RV parks in the area to find out if they have any openings. Once they’ve secured a job, the RVer heads there to spend anywhere from a few weeks to a few months earning money, using their free time for sightseeing, visiting friends and relatives, or simply enjoying the amenities of the campground. In return, the campground owners get a seasoned employee who holds skills acquired through a lifetime of living and working. It’s a win-win situation for both RVers and for the campground owners who hire them.

The beauty of work-camping is that you can labor as little or much as you wish, part-time or full-time, for a few weeks or a full season. You can even take consecutive jobs, working your way across the U.S. And you don’t need a separate work wardrobe because the standard dress code is casual (as in what you wear every day). Of course, the best thing about work-camping is that there are no daily commutes.

Our first work-camping position was in New England so we could be close to family and see some sights that we had missed on previous visits. Campground fees in the area near Boston and Cape Cod were outrageously high, so we looked for something that would fit our requirements, i.e., a job offering a salary plus free site, including utilities, somewhere in the Northeast. Resumes to four campgrounds in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire netted job offers in PA and MA. We chose Massachusetts since it would be nearest to our Cape Cod relatives. Remember, we had never worked in an RV park or even in the tourist industry.

Our jobs were as Ranger (Joe) and store clerk (me). As with most work-camper jobs we investigated, couples had the same days off but were required to work most holidays and weekends.

We worked a few other work-camping positions following the first. A couple of them were awful—both instances where the person hiring us had misled us about hours and duties. The most enjoyable position we found was when we were looking for a park while spending the summer in the Arkansas Ozarks and stumbled across an owner who was looking for a couple to work through October. It was perfect and we returned there three years in a row. There was no pay, but we only worked 10 hours per week, each, and could pretty much work the hours we chose in exchange for a free site. At the end of the season, we received a bonus payment that helped send us on our way to our favorite winter destination where Joe had a seasonal job preparing tax returns.

If you think you might like to pursue a work-camper job, these tips will help you.

First of all, put together a short letter highlighting any experience you have that might be useful in a campground/RV park. For instance, clerical, retail, computer, security, cleaning, crafting, activities director, maintenance, electric, plumbing, and grounds keeping are among skills most campgrounds need, so be sure to emphasize any experience in these areas, even if acquired while being a home handyman or housewife. Details such as a list of past employers, dates worked, personal references, etc., can be covered in a longer resume. When we did our job search, we used a cover letter that included a brief description of past experience and skills for both of us, and attached more detailed individual resumes.

Next, decide where you want to visit and how long you want to stay. Some campgrounds will require a two-month commitment; others may want you for the entire season, which can range from May to October in northern and Midwestern parks, and October through April for southern parks.

Also, decide on the type of campground you want to work in. If you prefer adult parks, family campgrounds probably won’t appeal to you since they’ll likely be overrun with kids—especially during summer and on weekends. On the other hand, if you’re under 50 or 55, it might be difficult to get an adult park position that includes a campsite because some municipal laws limit the number of sites that can be occupied by non-senior RVers in senior parks.

Most RV parks will want a current photo of you and may also ask for one of your rig. A good snapshot will do.

How do you find work-camping positions? The largest clearinghouse for jobs is through Workamper News, a publication that lists openings throughout the country, divided by state. RV magazines such as Escapees usually list job openings in their classified ad section. We found one listing for a marina campground on an island in Puget Sound. It was already filled, but an additional position was available in a park at the center of the island. We decided against it because there was no sheriff or deputy on the island, and being responsible for maintaining peace and quiet among partying teenagers each summer weekend (which this campground was known for) didn’t appeal to us. Also, the only way onto or off the island was by ferry, which didn’t operate past 9:00 PM. Miss the ferry back to the island at night, or have an emergency when the ferry wasn’t running, and you were pretty much on your own. This is why you must ask questions about any particular position before accepting an offer. However, this island job would probably appeal to a lot of RVers, and it was certainly a lovely place to spend the summer.

Some friends visited a lighthouse on the Oregon coast last fall and asked if there were any job openings. They are now tour guides at that same lighthouse in what has to be one of the most picturesque settings possible. It was a perfect fit for our friends.

After you’ve sent your letter and resume to those campgrounds that interest you and they’ve contacted you back, find out as many details as possible about the job they want you to do. Ask for a written job description since job titles aren’t always accurate. If you have a written description describing duties and hours, then you can refuse to be on call 24 hours a day after you’ve been told that you’ll only have to work eight-hour days.

When applying for a job, tell your potential employer about any physical limitations or job requirements you might have. Most campground owners are willing to make concessions for health problems—probably because many of the RVers they’re recruiting as work-campers have reached that certain age where they are likely to have some limitations. If you dislike chores like cleaning, or can’t stand yard work or maintenance, state that up front, too, so you don’t end up with a job you hate.

If working in a campground doesn’t appeal to you, other seasonal jobs are available for RVers, especially in popular snowbird and tourist areas. For instance, some RV supply stores and dealers hire seasonal employees. Also, National Parks, like Yellowstone, hire hundreds of employees each summer, as do many private resorts. The good news is that most tourist attractions are also seeking mature employees, so retired RVers will find excellent opportunities in places like Disneyworld in Florida, and Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. In fact, there are literally thousands of seasonal and part-time jobs open each year to RVers, and you can find enjoyable positions that will be a perfect match, no matter what your background or interests. Many also offer additional perks in addition to free camping and/or pay, such as free tours, free ski lift passes, meals, etc.

RVers have many reasons for working while they travel, not the least of which is making a little extra money for sightseeing or for those items they might ordinarily hesitate to buy. Others put aside money for traveling expenses the next time they hit the road. And many want to work simply because they’re not ready for full-time leisure, but want the flexibility work-camping and travel offers.

So if you’re hesitating to travel this summer because of high fuel costs, or you’re afraid you’ll get half-way across country and become tired of constantly moving around, rest assured there is a fun and interesting work-camping job available in some exciting place along your travel route that is sure to appeal to your adventurous spirit.

2010-03-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

GET STARTED WRITING TODAY!

One of the things I constantly tell new and wanna-be writers is that they can become successful, no matter what their background or education. And that’s true. I know many successful writers who have no related experience or education—and basically, I’m one of them.

While I did study journalism throughout high school, my college experience in journalism was anything but promising. I didn’t learn anything there because nothing was taught. Oh, we did write reports on various media-related topics, but in the college I attended, a professor did not have to bring any practical experience to the classroom. One class was spent listening to Marshall McLuhan repeat over and over on a tape, “the medium is the massage,” a popular phrase from that era which came to signify that the media had nothing important to deliver, it just left viewers in a stupor. Basically true, but I was horrified that an entire session that I was paying for offered no more than that! I then asked about teacher’s qualifications, including experience being published. Just as I expected, nada, none!

Newspapers and magazines want writers who are prepared to enter the field, who know how to write but also know something about publishing. They want someone who can work on short deadlines, if necessary, and can reliably deliver ready-to-publish manuscripts.

Luckily I had a wonderful journalism teacher (Ms. Middlebrook) throughout high school who taught all those things and much, much more. She oversaw a weekly newspaper and yearbook. We did the work; everything, including editing. She was demanding, yet encouraging. If your writing sucked, she wasn’t at all hesitant to tell you so. She would gently suggest that you find some other career field to explore.

Now I realize many of you may not have had even high school journalism, but don’t let that discourage you. Everything Ms. Middlebrook taught us can be learned from books readily available to anyone, and local community colleges generally offer classes in either journalism or in creative writing. Either would be useful to new writers, especially if you’re hoping to get information on publishing. Talk to the editors and publishers of local newspapers and ask their advice on furthering your education and getting published. You’ll be making connections that may lead to future assignments as well as learning which courses to take, if needed. Talk to people who write for a living and ask them to mentor you, or at least offer you some advice. Most writers I’ve met enjoy helping other writers get started. Join a local writers association—just make sure it’s not made up entirely of beginners, but has a few members who have experience.

As for books to read, go to your library and check their offerings. If yours is a small library, ask about interlibrary loans. Check the latest copy of “Books in Print” at your library to find titles that sound promising, and order them to be sent to you. Go to bookstores and browse the “Reference books” shelf to see what titles they have available, then order them from your library. I don’t suggest buying one until you know it offers valuable information that you will refer to again and again. Go to your local university or college bookstore and browse their bookshelves. You can buy books there even if you’re not enrolled as a student.

Read “Writers Digest” magazine at your library to find helpful articles on getting publishing, or on any writing topic you wish to pursue. I went to local libraries and read back issues, then copied articles that held relevant information to read later at home. Also, go to www.writersweekly.com for a great weekly newsletter on writing. It offers many helpful articles that may offer relevant answers to your questions or concerns.

Finally after all that reading, I felt prepared to enter the field of writing as a fulltime writer, although I have continued to read new books to keep up with changing technology because the field of publishing keeps changing. Now many traditional newspapers are offered only as digital copies, so learning as much about the “new” publishing experience as possible is helpful to all writers.

Get experience wherever and however you can. What you want is copies (tear sheets) of your work to show editors that you have been published. It doesn’t matter if your first articles appear in business, corporate, community, or church newsletters, or small community newspapers, just as long as you can get a copy to prove you have been published. If you work for a large corporation, or in a field that produces a regular newsletter, write some articles on your industry for it. And keep talking to editors and publishers of local newspapers because if you can provide an article that will interest their readers, many are willing to give a new, untried writer a chance.

My first articles were published in a newsletter where I worked. When I moved to a small community, I offered to write articles for the local paper about the topic I had written about in the newsletter—and I had copies of previously published articles to show. Since I had worked as an interior designer, at first I wrote about decorating homes. From there, it was on to the big city. I met a publisher of a regional business newspaper at a meeting, and I just happened to have some samples of articles that had appeared in that small town paper. He asked me to write an article about, and get a photo of a local business woman (my choice of who) and submit it to him. I did, and was offered the position of writing a regular feature about women in business. It eventually turned into people in business, when opened many new doors for me.

So my advice is to get educated, but it isn’t necessary to go back to school. Read! Then, be prepared when opportunities come knocking. If none are obvious, find some. You would be surprised how many small communities have newspapers run by a staff of one who does writing, editing and publishing. They’ve usually got more to do than is humanly possible and would welcome someone who can cover local events or chamber meetings, or school sports events, or hobbies like gardening, workshop projects, book reviews, and any number of other topics that would interest their readers. Ask!

My next advice is to be prepared. Opportunities exist around every corner if you’ll seek them out and if you’re ready to pounce. Writing is not rocket science. It boils down to being able to explain something clearly and simply so readers can understand it. It definitely helps if you can turn in copy that doesn’t need much editing or cleaning up, so brush up on grammar and spelling and keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy so your writing isn’t full of misspellings and repetitive words.

2010-03-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

MOUNTAIN VIEW, ARKANSAS - THE MUSIC MAKES IT GREAT

One of the best places we discovered while RVing was Mountain View, Arkansas. The opportunities to sightsee, explore a cavern, hike, camp, fish, see live musical performances, and a myriad of other activities abound here. We kept being told that we should go there because of its beauty and old-fashioned hometown feel. Then on our first RV trip there, we heard about the music. Musicians gather around the courthouse square in small groups daily and every evening to sing and play traditional songs with guitars, fiddles, mandolins and various other instruments, saluting the music that has been passed down through generations of their families. This is true American folk music formed from the fabric of hardscrabble lives scratched out in remote Appalachian mountain communities.

After driving the few miles into town a few times to enjoy the music, as well as the Saturday night show on a stage set up in front of the courthouse, we were hooked and I knew I had to write some articles about the town. I interviewed several people and they all told me I should look up a man named Jimmy Driftwood to learn the real history of the place, since he was such an integral part of it all. I called him, and he said “Come on out. We’d love to have you.” That was the start of a warm, close friendship that lasted till the day he died.

His name had sounded familiar to me, and I soon realized that he had played a vital role in the folk renaissance back in the early sixties. Here I had been one of folk music’s biggest fans, but duty and Hawaii called me away to where another type of music predominated. This music involved steel guitars and the hula, and was lovely, but lacked the primal pull of my roots. Still, it was Hawaii’s folk music. And I drifted away from folk music, just as most of America soon did.

Meanwhile, it seems that Jimmy (or Jimmie) Driftwood, the author of more than 6,000 songs based on life in the Ozarks and American history, became somewhat of a folk hero in the early sixties, appearing in Carnegie Hall and at the Newport Folk Festival, as well as being a regular on the Grand Ole Opry. Jimmy had been a history teacher when his wife first encouraged him to write a song to help spark his students’ interest in the history of our country. He penned “The Battle of New Orleans,” and let’s just say that the rest was history. This is probably his most remembered hit on both country and pop charts and won Song of the Year Grammy for both Jimmy Driftwood and Johnny Horton, who recorded it.

In 1959, a half-dozen of his songs were on American pop and country charts. Many of his songs were performed on stage by folk-artists like Joan Baez, Judy Collins, the Weavers, the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, Burl Ives, and Pete Seeger, and included “Unfortunate Man” as well as “Wilderness Road,” which won a Grammy nomination for best folk performance. Other well known songs included “Tennessee Stud,” for which Eddie Arnold won a Grammy nomination in both folk and pop categories, and “North to Alaska.” His music echoed America’s past and wars, and was influenced by stories from his grandfather, who had lived during the Civil War.

While Jimmy was becoming well known, his little home county drifted lazily in its remote valley location, 30 miles from the nearest major highway. After traveling the world with folk groups, Jimmy realized the treasures his own region of the country held, where musicians from almost every family sang and played their kind of music on their front porches in the evening. These were descendants of the people who had migrated from the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia back in the early to mid-19^th century, and before that from Ireland, Scotland and England. Jimmy felt this type of music needed to be preserved and that Mountain View would be a perfect showcase of this musical treasure.

Jimmy left the music business to return home, where he gathered a group of fellow musicians from the region to make a trip with him to Washington D.C. to try and generate funds to build a national repository for folk music. Jimmy was already known to influential politicians in D.C. through his conservation work for the beautiful Buffalo River and nearby Blanchard Caverns in the Ozarks, so he lined up local musicians on the steps of the Capitol to sing and play. Many of them had never flown on a plane; some had never even been outside their remote valley. Jimmy exceeded his hometown’s monetary expectations by a couple of million dollars and went home to help establish the Ozark Folk Center, where traditional Ozark heritage could be preserved. In addition to a theater where world-known entertainers perform on occasion, the Ozark Folk Center holds a living museum where traditional crafts are demonstrated, and offers a steady schedule of workshops during spring, summer and fall where students can learn to play musical instruments such as autoharp and dulcimer. There’s also a gift shop featuring locally made pottery and crafts.

Jimmy was also instrumental in starting the Ozark Folk Festival in 1963, which takes place the third weekend in April of each year. The festival typically attracts more than one-hundred thousand visitors, eager to enjoy the music and spring in the Ozarks. The festival still takes place each year, and a fall festival called the Annual Beanfest and Outhouse Races has been added. For this fun-filled festival, locals design and create their own human-powered outhouses to race down a street adjoining the courthouse, and bean-masters from across the country show up to cook huge pots of beans and cornbread to feed the many thousands of tourists that show up during the last weekend of October. Music takes center stage at this festival, too.

The town is still small, with a year-round population of around 2000 or so contented souls, but each spring and fall, every motel and RV Park for miles is stuffed to overflowing. Often RVers have to locate some local landowner who is willing to let them park their RVs in a vacant field for the few days of the festivals. We returned for several years for the fall festival, and even secured a yearly work camping position in one of the RV Parks, thus ensuring a parking place. We once shared our over-sized RV site with another RVer, as did many others, and some years we spent hours on the phone trying to locate sites for RVers who drove into town without reservations.

We even stayed there during a couple of summers, which can get hot and sticky, but nonetheless, beautiful. And every night we would make our way down to the courthouse square or to one of the local theaters to listen to music. I even purchased a mountain dulcimer from McSpadden, widely regarded as the leading maker of dulcimers. Unfortunately, my playing skills don’t anywhere near match the quality of the dulcimer nor the talent of most locals there!

And Jimmy passed away in 1998 at 91 years of age. Every year before then we visited him and his beautiful part Cherokee wife. He would always pull out his guitar and play and sing for us. He continued to perform in his own theater, the Jimmie Driftwood Barn for as long as his health allowed. The last time we saw him at home, he performed a little jig for us on his back porch.

Somehow Mountain View is not the same for us since he has passed, although we’ve returned a few times since. However, he left a legacy that will continue on. The music goes on in the square, as do the festivals. Each year, musicians converge from as far away as New York City (a woman doctor who plays the hammer dulcimer), and from the west coast.

We always go watch our favorite groups play their timeless music when we return there. But we always have to drive by Jimmy’s humble place in Timbo just to remind ourselves that this is where it all started—with the dream of one man who gave up a successful musical career to return to his home in the Ozark mountains to try and save the timeless music. I don’t think he ever stopped writing. And even today I heard "Battle of New Orleans," which reminded me that his music lingers on.

If you want to drive to Mountain View, it's at the crossroads of Highways 5, 9 and 14 in north central Arkansas.

2010-02-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

RECENT READS

Another month of winter gone by! Where does time go? Actually, we’ve had it better than most of the country, although this has been a rainy winter, and one morning we woke up to find a thin layer of snow on the ground. It was gone within an hour or so, but the cold nights continue. The days are spring-like, though, warm and for the most part sunny.

I’ve been reading a lot this winter, and am now into “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” by Lynne Truss. This book made the rounds quite a few years ago, but I didn’t have time to read it then. This book provides “the zero tolerance approach to punctuation,” and is a useful guide to why it’s important where we put our commas, apostrophes, and other punctuation marks. I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand punctuation. According to my husband, this should be a must read for all writers. I agree!

By the way, the title refers to the diet of a Panda, and should be “Eats Shoots and Leaves.”

I also recently finished a book by a Cuban who as a child was airlifted out of Cuba following the Revolution. Those of you who have read my book, “Looking Back” probably remember the story by Celeste Cañizares Dieppa, who was on one of the last airlifts from Havana to the United States in 1966 at the age of fourteen. This book, “Waiting for Snow in Havana” by Carlos Eire, is about growing up the son of a judge, then having to evacuate Cuba at age eleven in 1962 with his older brother. He left behind both his parents to start a new life of freedom in the States, first in foster homes, then in the home of an uncle in Illinois until his mother could join them more than three years later.

This is a very warm, touching, detailed story of paradise lost followed by the tale of a marginal life in Chicago, and of never seeing his father alive again. I recommend it to those who enjoy reading about different cultures with a slant on history that is little understood today in this country. In the late fifties Cuba was almost like an extension of the United States because of its tourism and American business interests there, but possessing a unique culture of its own when Castro took over on January 1, 1959. He soon declared individually owned homes, land, and everything valuable to be “owned by the people” in what was to become a communist country in the midst of the Cold War, sending chills down the collective spine of the United States. After all, this country was within 90 miles of the United States, striking distance for communist missiles!

"Waiting for Snow in Havana" is a rich and very personal insider's story about what it is like to lose paradise and move to a very different climate and culture in search for the one thing that was deemed more important than culture and climate: to regain freedom.

2010-02-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

PUBLISH A SUBSCRIPTION NEWSLETTER

Some of the most fulfilling projects that I’ve ever produced were subscription newsletters. They are a lot of work and take time to build a subscription list, and should only be undertaken if one has the motivation to keep marketing and promoting them.

My first newsletter was called Home Office Opportunities and was written for those who operated a business out of their home. I started it in the eighties during the last major recession (or was it the one before) when millions of people lost their jobs because of mergers and corporate downsizing. The economy seemed hopeless at the time when millions of talented people were out of work. In my case, we had been transferred to the Northwest and I couldn’t find the type of job that I really wanted—although I soon realized there was no such thing. I had been unhappy working for others for a long time, so this was the perfect opportunity for me to start my own business. The mid-eighties was the point when I decided on a new career as a fulltime writer. Of course, at first it was anything but full time, but I quickly got into the habit of either promoting or writing for eight hours every day. It was either that or look for a job--ugh!

I immediately joined a home based business association and was soon serving as a board member. Then I joined another and very shortly became president of it. So I had an insider’s view of home businesses from both my own endeavor plus from the people I met who had lost their jobs and managed to survive on their own talents and motivation. That gave me plenty of subjects for articles!

I don’t know how long I owned Home Office Opportunities, but it wasn’t long before another publisher came along and wanted to purchase it. Luckily, I had decided to transition over to a newsletter for those operating businesses or trying to earn income from a hobby while traveling in their RVs, so I immediately switched gears and started publishing Rolling Ventures.

This was the perfect newsletter for me to produce. I had an interest in RVing and of course, experience operating a business, so it was easy for me to watch the magazines to which we subscribed to find RV rallies and show up to interview people. We didn’t have a motorhome yet, but we rented a couple for trips and soon bought one. I immediately sent news releases to the RV magazines, and in turn got lots of publicity for the newsletter. I could never have made it without that free publicity, because advertising in those publications would have been cost prohibitive!

I never developed a huge subscription list, but it was large enough, and soon we were traveling and producing it on the road. Unfortunately, some health problems plus problems we ran into at RV parks with storms and power outages made me realize that I couldn’t keep it up. And this was before the Internet, which would have made the logistics a lot easier. But we ran into someone I had interviewed at the start of the newsletter, and he was interested in taking it over.

My experience shows that it can be done as long as you are willing to keep at it and seek out publicity. Paid advertising is great if you can afford it, but free publicity is greater, although the publisher must have a slant that is unique to get a steady supply of media attention.

There are so many topics that are suitable for newsletters, and they don’t have to be lengthy publications. Rolling Ventures kept growing in page numbers, but that was because advertisers kept contacting me and wanting to run ads in it. At first I was hesitant because it was subscription based, but finally realized that by adding more pages I could still keep the same word and page count for informational and newsworthy articles. I never had a subscriber complain about it, and received wonderful complimentary letters from all over the U.S. and even from some foreign countries. I’m not sure how those readers stumbled onto it.

Now the Internet is the source for many newsletters, but there are still people who want something they can hold in their hands and pick up to read in spare moments. I’ve seen newsletters that charge more than $100 per year for a subscription (usually for financial information) down to about $20. Remember that if you decide to produce a subscription pub, you will have mailing costs in addition to advertising or promotion costs, and the price for your time spent gathering information and writing, getting it printed, and sticking on address labels and stamps. The latter can be done by other family members, such as responsible kids.

Decide in advance how many pages you want to produce, then get quotes from two or three printers to compare costs. A subscription newsletter is not the path to riches, but it will open up many more opportunities. You may be able to find other publications that will pay you for your previously published newsletter articles, and the experience will certainly get your foot into the door for more newspaper and magazine articles.

Oh, and you might be lucky enough to find a grant that would cover your start-up costs. The publisher that bought Home Office Opportunities had secured a small business grant for $10,000. I have no idea how she got it, but I believe it was because she was located in a tiny rural town that had no hopes of future economic growth. Small business grants were a big part of the economy during the late eighties, but the only businesses I knew who received them were either located in rural communities in the middle of nowhere, or were woman or minority-owned (preferably both) in low-income areas of big cities. Although mine was woman-owned, we were considered middle class in a more-or-less affluent neighborhood, which was not where the government was seeking to stimulate the economy, although unemployment was rampant there, too.

I don’t know if those same sorts of grants are still available, or will become a part of future economic plans from the government, but if so, you might want to check into applying for one to cover start-up costs for your own writing business.