Talks and Time

On this date, August 26th, I'm trying to catch up on my fumbling Blogging education and invite comments and all the help I can get.

I've just sent my "Lost In Cyberspace" Sassy Senior column to my Web Master son to be added to my site and it will give you something of a clue as to why I find it so frustrating to learn a new language of "posts" and "pings" and "cookies" and all the rest of those words that mean something entirely different to me than to those whose adventures in cyberspace are far more cogent than mine.

The reception for my talk last Wednesday evening at the monthly meeting of Professional Writers of Prescott in that city was most gracious and several of the members purchased books, as well as sending information about long-distance grand parenting which was one of my pleas for assistance. I'm collecting anecdotes for a possible nonfiction book on the subject and have received some excellent ones. All names will be changed in the text but those who have contributed will be thanked on the Acknowledgement page.

Among the PWP members attending was Karen Despain, Editor of Yavapai County Magazine. She took my photo and plans to run a blurb about me and my writing history in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

This afternoon I will make a persentation at the Well Red Coyote Bookstore on the subject, "While I Wait To Publish The Great American Novel." In this talk I will include a lot of information about the smaller markets that are available to all for essays, travel, profiles, how-to-do articles. I still give time to fiction but nonfiction sells so much faster, I spend more time on short articles. Three short pieces have sold in the past three months. "Want to see" came from two editors this past week--in response to my e-mailed queries. Three articles have been accepted but are pending publication and pay. I certainly do not make a living from freelancing but the little bit that comes in is nice "gravy" and adds credits to my list.

Time to polish my thoughts and collect my handouts for today's bookstore appearance. More and more often when I get a better "hang" of this blogging business.

Writing for the Web

Those of you who know me appreciate that I've done just about every kind of writing there is:

• fiction (Something's Leaking Upstairs)
• non-fiction (Just Pencil Me In)
• children's books (Earth Day...and 18 others)
• essays
• travel pieces
• ad infinitum

I even started this crazy blog, because it's a way I can keep you apprised of my projects without calling upon my devoted genius son Alan to adjust my website (www.willmagore.com).

Now a local writer friend has persuaded me to disclose my arthritic ponderings via an Internet article--not my first published online, but my first published exclusively online and not in print. You can find out all about my arthritis here. Publishing opportunities are unlimited.

And by the way, if you have a story or arthritis article, post it to my fellow Arizona author at the website above, or email it to me.

Keep writing...and click the “comments” link below if there's a way I can help!

Giving Talks (as a writer)

Finally, I'm getting back to my Blog after almost two weeks. I've been engaged in advertising for and setting up my 5th workshop, this one on the 1st and 3rd Thursday evenings for people who are enmployed during the daytime. I was delighted with the five women who came last evening--all enthusiastic and good writers. Five to eight people is a good number. I don't let workshops get larger than that and although five may seem like a lot, they are lumped entirely on Thursdays. The rest of the week--and usually the weekend are my writing time--for me. Though I do have a few editing jobs on tap. Also I'm selecting handout materials and formatting my talk to be presented in Prescott on Wednesday evening, Aug. 25 for Professional Writers of Prescott. My talk is: "While I Wait To Publish The Great American Novel." It stresses the value of keeping up with magazine and newspaper markets that use short pieces: essays, travel, how-to, profiles, etc. These sell much more easily than novels, bring in a little money (anywhere from five cents to a dollar a word!) and do not require my time or energy on promotion which is what all authors must consider will be a MAJOR part of any book publication. No matter how big the publisher, promotion these days is largely up to the author. I've done a lot of it--spoken in more than 30 cities in California, Nevada and Arizona in the past three years. If it weren't that I have writer friends scattered all over these states, I could not possibly afford the travel, housing and food expenses these appearances have entailed. That's it for this Friday afternoon. I plan to be back regularly on this site when we get all the "wrinkles" ironed out of my brain that is supposed to control the fingers that access my Blogging communication. In addition to my talk next Wednesday I will speak at the Well Red Coyote Bookstore on Saturday, Aug. 26. Similar subject and handouts but presumably a much smaller audience and with both groups I invite questions from the audiences. I have had some cyberspace problems in that my Blog access was temporarily wiped out when my son "de-fragged" my computer last weekend.