Correction to My Last Post

Fred,

Sentence has been deleted. Sorry about that, but it just slipped out. Besides we did discuss the leaning of the editorial pages at the paper.

I am writing this post while sitting in a motel room in Morgantown that is being paid for by a credit card from the Federal Government while watching the State of the Union Address. For the next 4 months, I will be an employee once again of the Federal Government. You could say I'm a strict non-partisan individual right now.

Bill

OV Writer in Utah

Hello friends,

Jason Pyles here. Sorry to skip out of town so quickly last December. Life is weird like that sometimes, but it makes for good writing inspiration. Though I'm living in Salt Lake City now, I still feel like I'm part of the group. I enjoy visiting this blog and reading your posts.

During my trek west I came up with a good story idea for a novel, so I'm going to try some fiction writing to see how it turns out. And just for kicks I thought I'd study screenwriting. Nothing serious, though.

Anyway, I have nothing significant to contribute through this post. I just wanted you all to know I'm thinking about our little group from afar, and I'm rooting you on.

See you in the bookstores.

Jason

No Place For Politics

Bill

Please remove your information about conservative views being welcome. That topic never came up at the last meeting and there is no place here for political nonsense.

Fred

OV Writers Group Welcomes John McCabe

By Bill Orkoskey

OV Writers Group

WHEELING - On January 18, 2010, a small but enthusiastic group welcomed guest speaker John McCabe, Editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer/News-Register to our meeting.

John offered us tips on how to be a free-lance writer for the newspapers. The main topics they are interested in are local events that aren’t presently covered, but good travel pieces within 4 or 5 hours driving time from Wheeling are also good . Pictures accompanying the articles are always a good idea. With the current digital cameras available, everybody should have a decent camera with them at all times.

You can pitch feature articles first. John can be reached at 304-233-0100, ext. 200 or you can send him an e-mail at mccabe@theintelligencer.net.

Full length articles should be 500-700 words. The newspapers use a standard font of 12 pt Times. The story as set-up for the paper comes out to 28 words per 1 inch of copy. Feature articles with pictures may get you $40-$50. But more important will be having your own By-line in a prestigious publication so you can add this to your resume.

One more word of caution. If given a deadline on a story, don’t wait for the last minute to submit it like a certain former reporter that we all know used to do.

John was so impressed with our little group that he may be back for our next meeting on February 15 at Books-A-Million at the Highlands.

If anyone has a friend who may be interested in writing, please bring them along. Fred and Rich both brought new members to the meeting. We welcomed Andy and Roland to our small group. Andy passed out the first page of his novel he’s working on about his father who happed to have been the barber for General Zhukov, Poland’s #1 General in World War II. Talk about a front row seat for some of the great battles of the war. It’s sure to be a best seller. Remember, you heard if here first.

In other news about our meeting, Rich read an interesting spoof letter from an author rejecting his rejection letter.

One more comment on writing for the local newspapers. You can always start out getting your name known down there by writing Letters-to-the-Editor. I have had four letters published so far and John knew my name before we met. You won’t make any money on this, but you may get satisfaction which is more than the Rolling Stones could get.

Writer's Digest

Hello Everyone,

Writer's Digest is having an "Editor's Intensive" at their headquarters in Cincinnati March 13-14. I am planning on attending. Cost is $299 through 2/25. Anyone else want to go? Check it out on the website. Saturday each person's first 50 will be evaluated by a professional editor and on Sunday you get 30 minutes to meet one on one with an editor to discuss your manuscript.

www.writersdigest.com

Joanie

This ad was in a newsletter today that I subscribe to called HARO (help a reporter out). I haven't had a chance to check this outfit out, but I trust what HARO puts out. Mention HARO for a no-cost manuscript evaluation or phone consultation.

Greenleaf Book Group is a publisher and distributor to independent authors and small presses. They attract the most prominent experts and consultants because under the Greenleaf publishing model, authors retain all of their rights, keep 100% of their direct sales revenue, and are not bound to Greenleaf for any length of time, and Greenleaf delivers distribution muscle on par with the major New York publishing houses. Unlike many book "coaches" who make their money providing advice rather than selling books, Greenleaf develops authors with the ultimate goal of mutual book sales. As such, they are always looking for great content from qualified experts to add to their list. With four New York Times bestsellers and six Wall Street Journal bestsellers in the past few years, they've figured out how to make the most of a deliberately smaller published line. Contact Tanya Hall at tanya@greenleafbookgroup.com or 512-891-6100.

Bill

Questions for Guest?

Sorry you can't make it Joanie. Do you (or anybody else) have any questions for our guest? He is John McCabe, managing editor of the Wheeling Newspapers.

Fred

January Meeting

Looks like I won't be able to attend next week's meeting. Hate to miss it. I've sent out four query letters so far. I'm still researching agents and plan to find at least twenty more! I found this website, www.bksp.org for writers. There is an annual fee but looks interesting.

Joanie

Verifying content from other sources

Hi, Gang.

I just received an e-mail today about us having accidentally posted some info received from a 3rd party which we were not allowed to reproduce. It was the blog titled "More about WLA." We are allowed to post a link to the article:

http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/alerts/#Literary

I treat info I receive the same way and post whole articles without checking for reproduction permission, especially dealing with YouTube.

I have deleted the post, but I made a copy of it if anyone wants to have a copy.

Bill