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Sunoasis X 2006 V3 Issue 10
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David Eide
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Oct 31, 2006 21:23 PST
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S U N O A S I S X 2 0 0 6
Volume 3 Issue 10
October 2006
"Some say that nothing is more vivid or memorable
than a picture. We disagree. No visual image is as
vivid as the image created by the mind in response
to words."
- Norman Cousins
_____________________T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
1) [Editor Notes- The Dedicated Writer]
2) [Resources]
3) [Job Lead - Markets: Art publications]
4) [C/Oasis - An essay, a story, book reviews]
5) [Community - Writer Conferences]
http://www.sunoasis.com/sunoasisblog.html
Switch to the online version right now!
http://www.sunoasis.com/honor.html
I'm not charging for subscriptions but if the spirit
moves you please use the Amazon Honor System. Thanks.
Enjoy this issue! Forward any comments to:
eide-@earthlink.net
__________________E D I T O R N O T E S
I read an interview in the local paper with a young writer
who said his inspiration for staying on the path of writing
was an account of Japanese soldiers still fighting in
islands of the Pacific twenty years after World War II was
over.
Yes, writers can be crazy, fighting in a jungle with an
enemy that doesn't exist. But as long as they feel they are
fighting a good fight, they will. An experienced writer
will tell you that the war is never over.
This is another way of saying, "the survival of the writer
and her talents through time takes many odd and
fantastic turns." It is true that without dedication your
talents will not survive for long.
I don't know if there is any one true way to keep this from
happening except to form habits early on and view your
writing as both life and profession. And if anyone or
anything, including the divided self, rises up to try and
destroy it use whatever talisman you have to stop it.
What the writer needs to discover is a subject or a
character or a form so compelling that he must do the
deed. In the beginning of a writer's life this is a wild
thing; the process of development tempers it but the lesson
is always clear: Write what compels you to write. When I was
compelled to write short stories I wrote them. When I was
compelled to write commentary I wrote it. I wanted to write
novels but never felt compelled and so never did.
End of tale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urizen
The dedicated writer writes through what Blake described as
the "Urizen," the beastly character of conventional wisdom
who blocks creative powers.
* * * * *
The soul of writing is cultivated by the dedicated writer
through a variety of secret, silent devotions. One of those
is gratitude, another is to make the writing as good as it
can be through constant revision regardless if anyone cares.
This is a practiced art; about everything in the
act of writing and publishing can be a burning acid.
Rejection, paltry return in the coin-of-the-realm, non-interest,
and severe editing by an outsider come to mind.
Dedication to the art of writing solves a dilemma D.H.
Lawrence described as, "trust the tale, not the tale-
teller." I've been curious about that phrase for many years.
It comes down to this: The dedicated writer is going
to tell the truth despite the fantasies and weird ideas he
may have about the destiny of those words.
And this applies for any piece of writing, even a commercial
piece knocked off in a hurry about the treatment of diseased
trees. A dedicated writer will write about such a subject
with his or her truth and therefore convey to the reader an
inexplicable value.
Everything else has to be there: Writing for an audience,
structure, putting the piece in the right market, developing
a relation to editors and so on. But to ensure success you
need to drop the seed of dedication at the center of anything
you write.
* * * * *
I am shocked at how good some writing can be from a distant
era. It can be pretty bad too but it is instructive to
see writers taking up their own fascinations one hundred
years ago.
http://tinyurl.com/yl4syp
Read the first battle accounts of Gettysburg in the New
York Times or stuff from the Atlantic Monthly in the 1880's.
Even in the solemn, silent archives a piece of writing can
live through all who lived at the time of its writing. That
only happens when the writer, long ago, passed through tests
that challenged his dedication: Dedication to research, to
make a story live in the minds of his readers, and thinking
about the subject as though it is a lit-up sign on Mars.
A wonderful piece of writing from another era, written by a
guy no one remembers, often puts our own period to shame
and therefore, the spirit of the writer is happy and fulfilled.
* * * * *
The essence of dedication is to see things through to the
end. And it is ironic that many motives in youth
turn into obstacles later on. Vanity, for instance, which
is a great motivator when young. Vanity will take a writer
up to a point of delivery where he either re-dedicates
himself or leaves the fold.
The dedicated writer says, "the end is not fame or fortune.
It is to complete the project in front of me to the best
of my ability."
Fame and fortune should only come to a writer who is
seasoned and knows these incentives are simply good lies.
* * * * *
I get so many questions from people in other professions
who want to be writers. It's not their talent they need to
cultivate, it is clarification of why they want to write.
To what end will you go to slake this thirst to write words
on paper or screen?
When I started Sunoasis in 1996 one of my first mottoes was,
"You can't compete with devotion." In large measure that is
true. Two huge, epoch-making events have occurred since that
time; the war on terrorism and the globalization of the Net.
We are with our quiet devotion; still here.
And whatever happens to Sunoasis we will always be here
because the Net is a huge archive where every devotion is
stored for some lucky person who stumbles on it down the
road.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki
Word is always connected to the sincerest part of the mind.
Image is the Loki; an unreliable shadow making weird signs
on the wall.
Remember, when the shadow rules and the light is
pushed back to the margins you might be in a
hugely declining culture.
The diminution of words and language is much more
dangerous to a civilization than terrorists. We can kill
the terrorists but we can do nothing about the vast
despoliation of language except offer a protest.
_________________________________R E S O U R C E N O T E S
If you are a beginning writer or thinking you want to get
involved in the writing life please use the articles here:
http://www.sunoasis.com/freelanceresource.html
There are many useful tips, links, and features that can
set you on your way.
There is also a rich array of links for every type of
writing resource here:
http://www.sunoasis.com/newmanna.html
Sunoasis.com was developed with the writer and editor in
mind. Enjoy your stay!
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Choose the Copywriter That Can Say It Best.
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Do Freelance Writers Need to Be Starving Artists or Give
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The answer is NO! But how many writers accept no or
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that won’t pay the car note or buy groceries? Next class
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Contact us to view the contents of an article, with no
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_________________B U S I N E S S O F W R I T I N G
http://tinyurl.com/ygv8cc
Increase your writing productivity with emphasis on
freelance writing.
http://www.freelanceuk.com/news/1864.shtml
Do you think freelancers in the U.K. have it any better? I
don't think so.
http://tinyurl.com/ykxy82
Canadian freelance writers now have more protection over
their writing that is repurposed by publishers.
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_4570185
As we noted in our theme for this month, the subject that
compels the writer, makes the writer. This is the story of
a vet whose blog from Iraq became a favorite.
_________________B U S I N E S S O F P U B L I S H I N G
http://tinyurl.com/yjzsug
How are independent bookstores coping with the Internet?
http://tinyurl.com/yarog2
A brief on the new Sony e-reader. Make your own decision
about it.
http://tinyurl.com/yccqhc
If you want to make an argument about why the newspaper
should not die or, at least, what it's value has been read
this editorial by Tim Rutten.
http://tinyurl.com/yjdk56
"What is staring everybody in the face is the evaporation of
journalism's financial foundation into Internet air..."
An opinion piece by Eric Alterman.
http://tinyurl.com/y9ty3l
What is the relation between scholars and Wikipedia? Despite
skepticism there is support for the online venture and its
efforts to fact-check. The problem is that something as
open-source like that is vulnerable to any kind of attack
for personal or business reasons. Not everyone on the Net
is a good guy. And again, why? I go to Wikipedia for short
definitions but I could just as well go to any number of
online sources. What's the point?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20061020/bs_nf/47160
Microsoft, like Google, is going to digitize all the books
in the world or attempt to. To quote the CEO of the
scanning company the "mission (is) to enable the moving of 560
years of backlog from books to bytes." Without, we should
add, contributing one original piece of writing to the mix.
______________W R I T I N G O R G A N I Z A T I O N S
http://www.sabew.org/
Society of American Business Editors and Writers
http://www.cwip.org/
Chicago Women in Publishing
http://www.sandiegowritersguild.org/
San Diego Writers/Editors Guild
http://portlandwriters.com/
Portland Writers
http://www.michwriters.org/
Michigan Writers
http://www.tampawriters.org/
Tampa Writers Alliance
http://www.villagequill.com/
The Village Quill
http://www.ncwriters.org/
North Carolina Writers Network
There are many more links to writing organizations here:
http://www.sunoasis.com/newmanna.html
____________________J O B L E A D S A N D M A R K E T
Contract Writing/High-Tech Market Research Assignments.
(NOTE: MULTIPLE, sequential assignments available)
BCC, Inc. (www.BCCResearch.com) is seeking seasoned market
researchers/WRITERS who are capable of preparing complete,
self-contained technical/economic market research reports
discussing niches in most PHYSICAL or LIFE SCIENCE sectors
of the economy including: biotechnology, chemicals,
healthcare, technical ceramics and advanced materials,
electronics, transportation, energy, flame retardancy,
food/beverage, Internet, telecommunications,
membranes/separations, plastics, packaging, waste, water,
and air treatment, and many other industries.
BCC pays a MINIMUM of $5,000 on author’s HAND-IN of
document PLUS royalties! Typical duration of each
assignment is 12 weeks (multiple assignments available).
For Full Ad
http://www.sunoasis.com/bcc.html
____________________________________________________________
Senior Research Writer Location: Cambridge, MA
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is seeking
an analytical, creative, experienced, and disciplined
Senior Research Writer to provide in-house writing and
editorial support. The Senior Research Writer will work
closely with staff in writing and editing materials for
publication and presentation, to include, but not limited
to research reports, case studies, conference reports,
and speeches.
For Full Ad
http://www.sunoasis.com/cep.html
____________________________________________________________
Writer
Valley Forge, PA
Vanguard, one of the world's leading investment management
companies, needs a creative, disciplined writer to develop
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investors.
For Full Ad:
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____________________________________________________________
GUIDELINE and CONTACT INFORMATION ABOUT:
ART Publications:
http://www.myamericanartist.com/contactus.html
My American Artist
Pays: up to $500 per article
http://www.aiamagazine.com/guidelines.htm
American Indian Art Magazine
Pays up to $300 per article
http://www.americanstyle.com/Media/Editorial_Guidelines.pdf
AmericanStyle Magazine
Pays $500 - $800 per article
http://www.artcalendar.com/pr01.htm
Art Calendar Magazine
Pays up to $200 for articles
http://www.artistsmagazine.com/tam_gl.html
The Artist's Magazine
$200 -$350 for articles
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2111
Metropolis Magazine
Pays $1,500 - $4,000 for articles
http://modernismmagazine.com/contact.html
Modernism Magazine
Pays $400 for assigned articles
For more guidelines go here:
http://www.sunoasis.com/sunoasismarkets.html
___________________________________________________________
C / O A S I S
http://www.sunoasis.com/schwartzessay.html
The Acumen for Survival and Advancement
by G. David Schwartz
A series of motifs in literature allows us to say, as a
general principle as well as an experiential possibility,
no one wants to be the younger brother. In folktales, the
narrative perspective is generally either told from the
point of view of the older brother, or else the younger
brother is telling the tale of the younger brothers' death.
_________________________________________C O M M U N I T Y
http://writing.shawguides.com/search?t=November&r=359
Guide to Writers Conferences and Workshops for November.
The international Cat Writers' Association (CWA) will hold
its 13th annual writers' conference in Foster City, CA near
San Francisco on November 17-19, 2006. The conference is
open to anyone interested in pet writing and will feature
two days of professional seminars with nationally known
speakers on topics including contracts and copyright, book
promotion, online writing, the human-animal bond and feral
cat issues, and a magazine editor panel.
For More Information:
http://www.sunoasis.com/tips.html
_______________________________________E T C/ E T C/ E T C
Editor/Publisher: David Eide
E-Mail: <mailto:eide-@earthlink.net>
Sunoasis X 2006 is fully protected by copyright.
Please ask permission if you are going to use any or
all of this publication.
Reprint rights belong to the authors.
Contact them if you wish to use their material.
Unauthorized use of any material is strictly
forbidden.
Our hope is that we can help and enhance the world
of writing, publishing, and editing.
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