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Reviews by Diane Harrington |
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Guides to grammar and writing techniques As I set about reviewing these books, I kept oblong, page-marking stickies by my side. Unlike any of the other books I read, Words Fail Me is now wallpapered in green Post-Its. O'Conner is the wit behind Woe Is I, a glorious little grammar guide she wrote when she was an editor at the New York Times Book Review. O'Conner's newest book covers the nuances of writing, whether for fiction or nonfiction, in 221 tidy pages. Her style is conversational and clear, and the book is threaded with comfortable warnings and examples instead of textbook-like lectures. A few brief style lessons are sandwiched in the midst of the meat: solid advice on how to make your writing better. Even the basics she includes (such as suggestions on solidifying and sorting story ideas) seem to offer something fresh. From different ways to start stories to methods for curing writer's block (in a chapter called From Here to Uncertainty), Words Fail Me is filled with good advice and good humor. She wraps it up with The Final Analysis, a summary checklist of questions to keep your writing on track: Do I still like the beginning? Can I be simpler? Can I be clearer? Do my numbers add up? Have I got rhythm? Am I playing in tune? Can I trim?....and much more. by Bill Walsh Finally, a man after my own grammatically inclined heart! Bill Walsh, the Washington Post's Business Desk's copy chief, has penned a style, grammar and punctuation guide with attitude and intelligence. Despite my outrage that advertisements, TV shows, books, newspapers and magazines obliterate style and good grammar at every turn (an advertisement in my local paper, from a Christmas tree farm, heralded the arrival of "fur" trees), I, too, have fallen by the wayside -- at least when it comes to the nuances. I needed this wonderful kick in the butt from Walsh. He explains why we should use e-mail instead of email, why "$2 to $3 million" is not the same as "$2 million to $3 million," even if it is shorter, and even the difference between jury-rigged and jerry-built. This is a wonderful read, and a style guide that will let Chicago and AP gather a little more dust on your shelf. For inspiration only
It's a writing rule you've heard since high school: To be a good writer, you first must be a good reader. The American Society of Magazine Editors makes it a bit easier. Rather than subscribe to the best magazines and let them gather dust (because who has time to read all that great writing anyway?), grab a copy of The Best American Magazine Writing 2000, edited by Clay Felker. The selected articles aren't only from The New Yorker, but also Esquire, Vanity Fair, even Texas Monthly and Human Rights Quarterly. They're samples of the type of writing I yearned to produce when I was in college, but that I somehow have gotten away from as I churn out repetitious service articles that pay the bills. With luck, these nearly 400 pages of inspiration will get me back on the right track. The business of writing by the National Writers' Union (NWU) I love a book with an attitude, and Freelance Writers' Guide certainly has plenty to spare. (Not that you should expect a union to soft-pedal its views...) Unlike most other books on writing, this hot-off-the-press book -- a hefty update of the 1995 version -- tells all about the BUSINESS of writing. Offering insight into pay ranges for a handful of magazines, as well as different types of writing (corporate, not-for-profit, technical, book advances, etc.), this new edition also includes details on self-incorporation, grant writing, ergonomics and more. Look for plenty of usable information on electronic writing (both e-books and e-zines), as well as some guidance on negotiating a slew of contracts. FWG has an entire chapter on diversity issues, discussing challenges faced by writers of color, writers with disabilities, and gay writers. FWG has plenty of solid advice on negotiating the particulars of a book contract -- more in-depth than other general writing books seem to provide -- along with a nice section on self-promoting your book. I do like NWU's firm stance on pay and contracts; I think we all need a good kick in the pants now and then: (Under no circumstances should you accept the editor's first offer without negotiating. Always ask for more money. You will be surprised how often you will succeed). They also say it is fundamentally unfair for periodicals to demand anything other than one-time publication rights without the writer's receiving additional compensation. However, the advice to walk away from an assignment if you can't get the ideal contract isn't realistic for many freelance writers. I would love to have seen the book address writers in the middle ground; how are we supposed to make a living if we continually turn down Big Assignments from Big Publishers with Big Legal Departments? FWG tsk-tsks the fact that more and more magazines are going to all-rights contracts, but doesn't mention that some of that came in the wake of Tasini (president of NWU) vs. The New York Times, a ground-breaking lawsuit that unfortunately had Jekyll-and-Hyde results. Freelancers now have fewer and fewer places to FIND an ideal contract. FWG's advice for negotiating a contract (which includes having a script in front of you, knowing what you'll settle for, etc.) doesn't go far enough. All the editors I talk to now blame everything on the legal department; if I want a change -- any change -- in some contracts, I'm told that they won't be able to use my story. How do we negotiate around that? Despite the few shortcomings, Freelance Writers' Guide has plenty inside its 250 pages to make it well worth the purchase.
Writer's Digest Books $23.99 and $39.99 In years past, I think one of the best reasons to buy Writer's Market was to figure out where to go when you wanted to reslant/resell your articles. The last time I even bothered to read the chapters before the magazine listings (probably 10 years ago), I found the information all very old-hat and newbie-oriented. There's still plenty of that -- how
to look at a magazine to figure out if your story will fit; basic contract
terminology; seven elements query letters must have; etc. But now
there's more for the established writer, too. Even though I just taught
FLX's online query-writing course, I still enjoyed reading WM's Query
Writing Clinic chapters (for both magazines and books). Not everyone writes
queries the way I do, and I always find it instructive to hear what others
think about a specific query's composition.
by Michael Sedge I'm no Anna Quindlen, but that doesn't mean I don't have dreams of writing my own syndicated column. Thanks to Successful Syndication, I now know what to do with my dreams. I know that my chances are slim of getting in with a big syndicate; they get thousands of submissions each year and take on as few as three or as many as just 24 of those. But I also am now armed with tips on appealing to those syndicates, so I've got a better shot than many of those other thousands of hopefuls. Sedge also provides a wealth of advice on self-syndication, which is not the financial death trap it seems. Writer James Dulley, who writes the Sensible Home column, decided several years ago to syndicate his own column. The column is now in more than 400 newspapers and 30 magazines and nets him nearly $1 million a year, with related books and pamphlets hauling in another $1 million. Successful Syndication includes chapters on tips from the pros in both writing and cartooning, submissions for self-syndication (everything from creating a column to query letters to working with clients and more), business basics, promotion and more. A brief chapter on international sales is inspiration all by itself for making money. Sedge features an appendix listing syndicates (with addresses, some phone/email information, and areas of specialization), another with a Universal Press Syndicate boilerplate contract, another with an incredibly in-depth contract analysis, and more. In the fast-paced world of media changes, it's no wonder that some information is a bit outdated -- like the inclusion of the now-defunct Los Angeles Times Syndicate -- even though the publish-date of the book is 2000. But any good writer will do his homework and double-check addresses before sending out submissions anyway. |
The business of writing
I should have known better. Adamec stressed in her book-proposal course that writers need to find a niche. And while freelance-writing books are a dime a dozen, she's clearly found a way to put enough of a twist on her advice to make this book fresh. One of the best tips goes against the grain of traditional writing advice: Instead of starting with small publications and working your way up to the top, Adamec advises writers to start your query at the top of the magazine food chain and work your way down. She points out that most editors are more interested in writers with good ideas than stellar credentials. She also admits to constantly breaking the rule on sending SASEs with submissions: (My attitude is, why should I pay to receive a rejection letter?) Part 1: The Writer's Life is not aimed at the established writer. It's full of excellent advice and guidelines for becoming a freelance writer, including how and when you should quit a full-time job to embark on this creative career, along with traits and qualities a good writer must possess. Part 2: Who Needs Writers? Finding Clients for Your Work delves into the different types of writing: corporate, trade magazine, consumer magazine, newsletters, ghostwriting and more. It's a good, quick overview if you're thinking of expanding into other writing areas. An entire chapter is dedicated to the ins and outs of writings for magazines and newspapers; another talks about problem situations and common mistakes. Part 3: You've Got Assignments: Researching the Jobs You're Hired to Write delves into researching basics (including knowing when to quit), effective interviewing and using the internet. Part 4: Taking Care of Business - From a Writer's Perspective covers the nitty gritty of freelancing: whether to use a business name, organizing yourself, creating a cash-flow projection, setting milestones, getting paid, and more. One of the best features of this section is her worksheet with a formula for deciding whether to take a job, ideal for the writer who's moving up to the next level of writing or considering branching out into new areas of writing. I think the best part of the book is Adamec's forte -- the section on writing books. Much of what I learned in her course (without the one-on-one feedback, obviously) is within these priceless pages. Her method for writing a book proposal has been extremely helpful to me. Perhaps most refreshing, Writing Freelance is filled with the type of realism missing from most freelancing tomes. For instance, Adamec says that many people shun small newspapers because they don't pay the big bucks. But she urges writers to consider ALL the factors -- if you can do the newspaper story 10 times faster than an article for a major magazine, you may end up making MORE money. The only real downside to this book is that some of the information -- mostly concerning equipment you'll need to be a writer -- is a bit too basic and/or outdated, especially for a book published in 2000. For example, she explains what a computer mouse is, and she says a CD-ROM drive isn't a mandatory requirement yet. On the whole, though, these few things are not enough of a reason to pass this book by. by Monica McCabe Cardoza Yep, writing a column is somewhere on my to-do list (remember how much I liked the book on syndication?), so Freelance Success-subscriber Cardoza's book made my list of must-reads this year. She was an editor with the New York Times Syndicate, so I put a lot of stock in her words. Cardoza takes us through the basics of figuring out what type of column we want to write, getting to know the markets (from the standpoint of the kinds of columns they use), and researching before you write (so you're customizing your column's subject and format to the publication you're targeting). Then she moves into the nuts and bolts of writing an engaging column, and wraps up the book with advice on selling the column. Although she used to work for a syndicate, she gives plenty of attention to other ways of selling your work: Perhaps you only want to write a column for one newspaper or magazine and not syndicate. Or maybe you want to self-syndicate. She even discusses opportunities on the internet. Cardoza teases us with the allure of compiling a sheaf
of columns into a
OK, so this really was written in 1993, but the paperback
edition is new for 2000, so I squeezed it into this review series. I'm
glad I did. This book is about far more than just writing essays; it's
about writing any kind of article that comes primarily from your own experiences
-- kind of like These pieces are great, because they net a decent amount
of money for not a Plenty of books on writing give trite advice on where to get ideas, but Holmes' tips ring a bit differently, allowing the reader to think in new ways. Anything so simple as a mother's constant reminder, Shut the door! which turned into Shut Those Doors Behind You (on regret, missed opportunities, etc. for McCall's. Or the familiar shout, Mother, I'm home! Tracing it from kindergarten through college, into your children's marriages. Holmes offers five fundamentals of good, creative articles, with a sound explanation of each. In a nutshell, though, she says that what really makes her personal stories sell is the fact that readers can identify with what she's saying, and she always offers some hope and help for their problems. Holmes even offers Six Ways to Make Your Articles Better and Twelve Secrets of Style, among many other useful chapters. The most valuable lesson I got out of Writing Articles
from the Heart was a fresh way of looking at the subjects I'm already
writing about (and those I COULD be writing about) -- with an eye toward
making more money with a little less effort. |
Lapsing into a Comma:
The
Best American Magazine Writing 2000 
Freelance
Writers' Guide 
2001
Writer's Market: CD-ROM Version 
Writing
Freelance
You
Can Write a Column
Writing
Articles from the Heart: How to Write & Sell Your Life Experiences