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Written by Mary Anne Donovan
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2004-12-14 |
| December 14, 2004
A WriterOnLine Publication
This is a Xmas wish and a thank you from your publisher. May all your wishes for the coming year come true, whereby I wish you outstanding good health, prosperous writing and successful publishing. A hearty thank you to all of you from me personally for keeping faith in us, subscribing to our ezine, and contributing to it, in one way or another. A special thank you to all our co-workers, whether editor or secretary, who are making all these new things that we try to achieve, come true. Corney Vanhelden
Publisher Writer OnLine
My dear readers,
Here we are in the midst of the holidays, with sugar plum fairies, glowing menorahs, peppermint candies, latkas topped with sour crème, frosted cut-out Christmas cookies, sparkling lights and ornaments abounding. And depending on where we live there are snowflakes falling gently (or maybe not so gently), palm trees rustling in light (or maybe not so light) breezes, or a setting sun casting purple shadows on desert sands. But whatever your faith or locale, it is a season of magic as the winter solstice brings the days of increasing darkness to a close and we begin our slow yet steady trek to lengthening days capped by the summer solstice.
To celebrate the season, we brought you some special holiday fare. But first, a big thank you to those of you who completed our first Writer Online survey. For those who didn't, or couldn't, we are running the survey one more time, and we enthusiastically ask that you take a minute or two of your time to help us figure out what you'd most like to see in Writer Online. And we'll even give you a free gift for participating! Check out the details below.
We've got a very creative approach to the standard New Year's resolution in this issue's Dis-solution Contest. Try your hand at it and win a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble! Then there's our puzzle: The Jubilee Jumble! See if you can unscramble our word lists to come up with the titles of 12 holiday stories, movies, and books.
New this issue is our Editorial Page! I wrote this first piece to address my personal passion, literacy, and specifically, the question "What is literacy in the digital age?"
And now for our articles, Technical Communications Editor Judith Shenouda gives us valuable advice for dealing with social situations during the holidays no matter what your writing specialty in "What Goes Around Comes Around." Need fodder for your fiction? Feel like your muse goes on holiday too? Follow Terrie Leigh Relf's formula for developing quirky characters in "Home for the Holidays: Write About It." 'Tis indeed the season, and Grace Tierney suggests a way to map out a plan for entering seasonal contests throughout the year in "Seasonal Contests: Timing is Everything." Christina Hamlett introduces us to a revolutionary new method of filmmaking called "performance capture" (as employed in The Polar Express) in her article "Coming to a Station Near You: The Next Train to Reality." How poignantly writer Wayne Sheer has captured the ennui and angst in the career and marriage of an aging man in his short story, "The Love Song of Langley Moran." And last, Stephanie Olsen passes on her secrets to query success in "The Successful Query: Speed and Slant."
We can't leave before asking you to stop by and read Pam Beer's News items! Enjoy her keen insight and witty reflections as she brings news especially geared for us writers!!
Please enjoy the issue. And what's more, please enjoy your holiday! I wish you peace, joy, contentment, and a stack of books bought just for you!!
So, until next issue -- keep that ink flowing and those keys a'clacking!
My heartfelt wishes for a happy holiday,
Mary Anne
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| Enter Our New Year's Dis-solution Contest!! As the new year approaches, many of us begin contemplating our New Year's Resolutions - all those things we WANT to do and accomplish in the upcoming months. But what about those things that have ended? More Winner of the last contest, click here to find out. 
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A Jubilee Jumble!!
For our holiday issue, we have a special puzzle: the jumble of all jumbles!! More
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Literacy in the Digital Age
Join us with this new feature, and think about your own burning issues. We welcome your contributions! And for our inaugural
editorial… "Consider this definition: Literacy -- An individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, compute,
and solve problems, at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family of the individual, and in society." More
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What Goes Around Comes Around
By  Judith Shenouda During the holiday season, we find ourselves in a variety of social gatherings with those we know very well, those we know somewhat, and those we are meeting for the first time... More
Home for the Holidays: Write About It!
By Terrie Leigh Relf Looking for some inspiration? You don’t need to look any further than the person sitting next to you at the dinner table. Ok,
maybe across the table. Okay, maybe across the street. All right!... More
Seasonal Contests: Timing is Everything
By Grace Tierney As any writer of humor knows, the timing is key. You have to pace the punch-line just right to garner the loudest laughs. What writers sometimes forget is that timing is pretty important in relation to winning contests as well... More
Coming to a Station Near You:
The Next Train to Reality
By Christina Hamlett In 1985, artist and author Chris Van Allsburg penned a charming, coming of age Christmas story that would win the prestigious Caldecott Medal the following year. Replete with illustrations that resembled fine art oil paintings, The Polar Express touched a chord with both children and adults in addressing the gap that exists between innocence and cynicism... More
The Love Song of Langley Moran
By Wayne Scheer As they prepared for bed, Langley Moran told his wife, "I'd be happy if I was just pissing away my life. Instead, it's passing in dribbles and squirts, like an old man with a prostate problem."... More
The Successful Query: Speed and Slant
By Stephanie Olsen I'm not a fast person – I like ambling. I pause whenever possible (except in the middle of a busy street of course – relaxed,
yes; stupid, no). But show me a new writer's market or a craigslist post branded immediate, bring an editor's "urgent" request
to my attention, and you'll suddenly wonder about all the dust. (And that's not just a housekeeping comment.)... More
Get The Well Fed Writer , and more, for FREE That's right! More |
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By Pamela
Beers
A Truly Happy Thanksgiving for One of Our Editors
Christina Hamlett has just signed with her publisher, Michael Wiese, to do a screenwriting book focusing on teenagers who are currently studying filmmaking and need sharp, creative ideas for shorts... More Books and Phones Do Mix: A Clever Idea Nokia Corporation of Finland and Ebook Corporation have entered into a five-year distribution agreement distributing a growing range of popular e-books via a new generation of Nokia smart phones…. More What Happened to Writing? The U. S. Department of Education continues to find that writing skills are lacking in students.... More Test Your Wings: Non-fiction books for Young Readers As an educator, I have found that students, specifically elementary students (K-5), are getting turned on by non-fiction books... More ISBN Numbers: IT System Switch In the late 1960s, the 10-digit ISBN system was designed and used for printed books. Because of electronic publishing and other changes in the publishing industry, the current 10-digit system is running out of capacity..... More A Journalistic Legend Retires One of my favorite columnists for the New York Times, William Safire, is retiring. I have been reading his political column for 25 of the 30 years he has been writing it... More The Pen: Writing Tool or Jail Cell Leave it to Martha Stewart to combine writing with a jail stint and come up with a projected multi-million dollar book deal, penning her memoirs about prison life... More
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CAN YOU WRITE A SIMPLE LETTER?
If yes, you could be in big demand, earning big money,
writing just a few hours a day from anywhere in the world
you choose to be. Learn the secrets of this lucrative
writing business: Read more
Always Find The Right Word
Writers and poets are embracing the Visual Thesaurus because it brings the English language alive by displaying words, their meanings, their sounds, and their connections to each other. It speaks to people who think visually. It's a great way to see our words; what they mean, how they're used and where they come from. It's becoming a trusted tool for finding just the right word yoou need. Try it FREE and see for yourself. Read more
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courses on some aspect of writing. If you are interested, submit a resume, proposed course outline, and list of publications to: education@writer-on-line.com
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