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Catherine's Kitchen

Catherine Manning

Caribbean Culture

DUE TO THE DIFFERENT CULTURES throughout the islands of the Caribbean, each island has their own method of cooking the same food. Naturally each one thinks theirs is the best, but in fact some are better than others. The islands have a very mixed ethnic population and so have many different cuisines. Years before the islands were settled by British, French, Spanish etc. there were the Arawaks.

It wasn't so long ago that baked goods were produced in a brick oven and meals were cooked on an iron coal or wood burning stove. Our house was a very large plantation house and had an enormous fireplace with a chimney in the kitchen which was used for cooking and had been turned into a cupboard. The back wall has since been removed and it serves as an arch between the kitchen and another room.

I remember a wood burning stove and then my father decided to add a kerosene stove as well. Being inventive and not wanting the hassle of filling up the little glass container that it had, he built a twenty gallon container out of copper or some metal and installed it in a cupboard on the wall. Very inventive, but it sprung a leak one day and the kitchen caught on fire (he wasn't even there to help put it out) but we managed with buckets of water. That was the end of that and luckily electric stoves appeared, to the relief of everyone.

To start with of course, the Arawaks used a 'barbacoa' - a wooden grate standing on four forked sticks and placed over a slow fire. Using this method they spit roasted fish and meat. An early barbeque. Later on the coalpot evolved which the slaves used to use for cooking their food, and then they disappeared. However, because they are made of cast iron they make a very sturdy barbeque and are beginning to trickle back. They don't rust out like most barbeques and are often used at cocktail parties for on the spot cooking, things like fish cakes or even flying fish fingers. I have with my coalpot, a cast iron bowl that is put on the grill which can be filled with oil for deep frying, but a saucepan or frying pan may be used successfully.

I submitted a recipe for fish cakes in an earlier article, but I think this is the better one.

SALT FISH CAKES

  • 1/2lb. salted cod
  • 1/2lb. flour
  • 2 onions chopped
  • 2 tomatoes chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic (more or less to taste)
  • 1/2 hot pepper or to taste (Scotch Bonnet is possible)
  • 2 stalks of shallots or spring onions
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • Oil for frying.

Either:

  1. Soak salt fish over night. Drain, rinse under cold water and flake the fish, removing any bones

    OR

  2. Rinse excess salt from fish, place in saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste to check level of salt as you don't want to remove all the salt, but neither do you want it too salty. You might have to change the water if still too salty and re-boil again. Flake fish and remove bones.

I use the second method purely because it's quicker.

Chop tomatoes, onions, garlic, shallots and pepper. Add to salt fish and mix well. Add baking powder to flour and add flour to codfish. Add enough water to make a medium batter, it shouldn't be very loose or run off the spoon. Drop by the teaspoonful in into hot oil and fry till golden brown.

Drain and serve hot with sauce of your choice.

A popular dish which is eaten in Jamaica from morning till night is:

ESCOVEITCHED FISH (any fish can be used)

  • 2lbs. fish
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • Oil for frying.

Escoveitched Sauce:

  • 1 cup white vinegar
  • 1 cup water
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1 cup julienne Strips of carrots and Christophene
  • 2-3 medium onions cut into rings
  • hot pepper to taste
  • 6 pimento grains

Clean the fish and season with salt, garlic and black pepper. Lightly dust with flour and fry fish is hot oil till the flesh is opaque. Set aside.

Boil 1 part of water with 1 part of vinegar, with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Add the vegetables and hot pepper to taste. AS soon a the liquid boils, pour over the fried fish.

This is done the day before it is eaten and not refrigerated.

I get repeated requests for this cake which I found in a Betty Crocker® cookbook. It is excellent.

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

  • 3/4 cup margarine
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 cups sour cream

Heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour tube or bundt pan.

Beat margarine and sugar till creamy, add eggs and vanilla and beat till light, scraping down bowl ocassionally. Beat in flour mixture alternately with sour cream on low speed till well blended. Alternate batter with filling in layers and bake till scewer in centre comes out clean, about 50 minutes to an hour. Turn onto cake plate and dribble with frosting while still warm.

Filling:

Mix 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans) and2 tsp. ground cinnamon.

Light Brown Glaze:

Heat 1/4 cup butter or marge in saucepan over medium heat to a delicate brown. Stir in 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. Blend in 2-3 TBS. milk a little at a time and beat till smooth and of desired consistence. Should be able to drizzle over cake, but be careful not to make it too loose or more will be on the plate than the cake!

Bon Appetit,
Cath


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Excerpt From Word Castles

by Tom Spencer

Coming soon to an e-bookstore near us.

The Tree of Dreams

It was the tree of dreams.
Once a seed thrown forth.
From everyday survival,
Desire, building, daring.

Growing stately strong.
A bark of grace and beauty.
Abundant leaves of green,
on simple branches strong.

Then came the storm.
The driving, raging winds,
a twisting devil cloud,
felled the tree of dreams

Some say, it was the roots,
couldn't hold the ground.
Others say the god,
came to put it down

We have seen the grandeur,
of the tree of dreams.
We will plant another,
deeper in the ground.

Copyright © 2000 by Tom Spencer


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Guest Editorial

Louann Miller

Those of you with what is technically known as Lives may not have been following the free-ranging conversation on e-books, copyright, and the future of authors getting paid that has been going on for a couple of weeks in the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written.

It started out with an anonymous poster uploading the entire text of a recent Dune novel to the newsgroup in a series of huge, badly edited OCR transcripts as his (?) way of opining that copyright is dead, e-books will destroy the concept of authors and publishers being paid for their labors, everyone should pirate books at will, etc. Not a lot of detailed knowledge of r.a.sf.w. is required to deduce that this started a fight. Professionally published participants in the ensuing exchange of views included Ann (A.C.) Crispin, Joel Rosenberg, S.M. Stirling, John Ringo, and Eric Flint plus a number of unpublished but respected newsgroup regulars.

Various opinions floated, at various times, included:

  • E-books are a natural medium for piracy, which is a bad and unstoppable thing. It will lead to the end of quality, edited fiction because all the authors will have to go back to their day jobs, and the reading world will be one vast fanfic-like slushpile forever.

  • E-books are a natural medium for piracy, which is a bad thing, and will require draconian legal/cryptographic measures to prevent scenario A. Book pirates should have bad things happen to them in prison showers.

  • E-books are a natural medium for piracy, which is a good thing and will lead to a vastly wider range of fiction. Writers will write for the love of their craft, editing and/or recommendations will likewise be handled on a volunteer basis, and everything will be wonderful.

  • E-books are not a natural medium for piracy, because most people will prefer to pay a reasonable fee (set by market forces and competition) to get a good-quality e-book rather than a crappy pirate edition. E-books will co-exist as a book acquisition system alongside paperbacks, hardbacks, libraries, and used bookstores, none of which have thrown each other out of business.

  • Whether e-books are a natural medium for piracy or not, any outcome including a drastic decrease in authorial incomes is to be preferred to the kind of Big Brother access to people's ISP accounts and hard drives that stamping out piracy would require. (Refs to Steve Jackson case, confiscation of property of accused drug dealers, etc.)

  • In 50 years, paying authors will be irrelevant because novels will be written by computer simulations which will not WANT to be paid. (A distinctly minority opinion)

  • Copyright is profoundly immoral and should be repealed as a legal concept; information wants to be free.

  • Copyright is responsible for the vast increase in quantity and quality of books in our culture versus previous ones without copyright; pirating books is just plain theft. My novel no more wants to be free than your credit card numbers 'want' to be free.

  • E-books, even pirated ones, will act as advertising for print editions of the same books and for the author's work generally. Cheap e-books are much less likely to be pirated than expensive ones, because most people feel ripped off by an exorbitant fee structure. People want their authors to make a living because they want to read the next book too.

The last of which was stated by (among others) Eric Flint, a Baen author whose work I have not read. Whatever his literary merits, he has a sense of the grand gesture and the moral stature to put his money where his mouth is. At his request, in the last couple of days, his first novel "Mother of Demons" currently out in paperback was posted to the Baen Webscriptions list as a free download. (This had previously been done with two David Weber novels.)

The idea has grown since then. The idea now is that Baen authors will have the option of making backlisted books (def. as one year since paperback release or two years since hardcover, when most of the royalty money has already come in anyway) available for free download. Flint, and Baen, are betting that this will have the effect of hooking new readers on authors or series that they might not otherwise have tried -- the netted equivalent of borrowing a book from a friend.

It'll be very interesting to see what happens next. I have the oddest feeling I just saw a small slice of history.

Louann Miller

Eric Flint's account of the debate (and its result, now called the Baen Free Library) is now up on the Baen web site here.


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Fiction Corner

Alison Hawke

Thanks to all who sent in drabbles about when. This month's winner is Judy Skapik, with this cautionary tale!

The Mad Dash
by Judy Skapik

Ella meticulously stared at the dimly lit face of her digital watch as its evil sluggish hands intentionally moved at a snail's pace. Beads of sweat formed upon her wrinkled forehead, snaking down into her almost psychotic eyes, stinging them callously. When the raucous alarm finally sounded she maliciously streaked past the others, her sneaker-clad feet pounding like the wind. She laughed hysterically in their wake and reflected, "When will these neophytes ever learn? They were doomed to fail before they began for it was never any contest. I alone am the undisputed queen of the two for one sales."

The theme for December is unpredictable (due November 10th), suggested by Judy Bagshaw, the theme for January is mystery (due December 10th), suggested by D. M. Grant and Heather Lowe, and the theme for February is in the dark, suggested by Peter Keane. If you have any ideas for drabble themes, please email me.

Before sending your entry:

  1. Read the drabble submission guidelines
  2. Make sure your drabble is EXACTLY one hundred words long
  3. Use your spell checker
  4. State which month the drabble is for

Only one entry per person per month.

Email your drabbles and themes to me at alison@4-writers.com.


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Healthy Horizons

Laurie Lupold

In Touch

I was really unsure whether I would be contributing this month to the zine as I have had an extremely difficult month. But then I have thought to myself, about many other difficult months that I was able to create a column and as it turned out, those were some of my very best. I seemed to have set a standard of sharing myself at my very best and worst of times. Luckily, it has not bored my readership. Haha!

My difficulties this month have been the challenges of my bipolar. My doctor seems to think that when I am doing better I choose not to keep appointments but my doctor is incorrect on this matter. It is when I am at my worst that I choose not to keep my appointment. I get this fear in the pit of my stomach that says if I go in he will surely discipline me for something I have or have not done. Now, this is probably far from the truth but it is how my mind sees it.

I was foreseeing all of this because I knew I had rebuttled on my treatment. I had not taken my medications properly. I had just gotten to the point where I simply did not care. Here is where my dysthymia takes over. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a severe form of depression. Unfortunately, I battle this much more regularly than I do mania.

My moods have raged like a storm within since the day they took my son away. I held on by my fingertips and I made decisions that I knew were of no benefit to me. That put me in a very poor position. I lost all medications and my treatment was denied until I show that I can make a commitment to doing what is best for me.

The first few days after I found out this news, I took it upon myself to pity and rage over such an injustice when I knew deep inside of me, that they were right. I couldn’t just expect them to take me back under their wing when I came crawling back for help. It was my responsibility to help myself. This is what I had not done most of my life when it came to my mental disabilities, I had not taken responsibility. I was not commited.

I have always had a difficult time accepting that I have these disabilities and will always need treatment and I despise the fact that I will always have to take medication. But then it came to mind that if I had a weak heart I would not deny myself the proper medication to keep it going and thus, I should not deny myself the proper medication to keep my mind as healthy as it is able to be. I just find myself frustrated quite often because they can’t seem to find the right medications and/or the right combinations of medications to keep me stable so I go around feeling like I am out of control so often and to me, that is the worst feeling in the world. That and fear.

My purpose for presenting this to my reading community, is that I know there are many people like me out there. Quite surprisingly, many of those diagnosed with mood disorders, are writers. I wanted an opportunity to applaud you, especailly if you are doing what is right by taking care of you. For those of you, who are like me and find yourself from time to time swaying away from what is in your best interest, please commit yourself to taking care of you. It is so important that you keep yourself healthy, for you and for those around you.

I have been struggling every day for this past month because I didn’t listen to my body, I didn’t do what was right. Each day I have to convince myself that this day is worth getting through. One day at a time, I reach inside myself for strength to keep my mind focused so that I don’t faulter and crumble to the powers of depression. I pray that none of you allow yourself to be put in this position. Listen to your body. It knows what is best for you. If you can’t hear it clearly then listen to your doctor. Until next time, keep reaching for those Healthy Horizons!

Laurie


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Poetics Presents
Featuring a second offering of eight poets from WVU Poetry Class 104
"Freeing the Poet Within you"

Dyan Hunter
"Without a Parachute"

Geraldine Cook Davis
"Night Terrors"

Gloria Pimentel
"My Treasured Friend"

Maryann Hazen-Stearns
"I Am Number Five"

Maxine Staley
"Childhood Memory"

Meena Radhakrishnan
"THE OLD HOUSE"

Susan Elliott
"Cotton Thermal Lover"

Susan Rosenkrantz
"Eight Place Settings"


Be one of the first to read the new F2K e-zine! F2K-zine is produced by and for F2K students and staff and is full of poetry, stories, helpful information and a lot of fun. The first issue will be available soon through a link on the F2K main page.


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Inclinations

Priscilla Fagan

Editors and Editing

When asked what had stumped him, causing him to rewrite the ending to Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times, Ernest Hemingway replied, "Getting the words right."

How many times have I sat and stared at a scene, knowing something was wrong but not able to put my finger on it. I know what I want to say and I know what the scene looks like in my mind's eye, but I just can't get the words right. This has caused me, at times, to put the damn thing away and not look at it for months, even years. But ultimately, I hazard a peek --lo and behold, the right words inevitably jump out at me. Doris Lessing certainly had it right when she said, "In the writing process, the more a thing cooks, the better."

Rewriting. Oh, I know, some of us hate it. I happen to love it; to see that story which came from a simple idea flourish. Sometimes the beginning changes, many times the middle or the end. Occasionally a character may lead us down another path and runs away with a scene that suddenly blooms. And we say wow, where did this come from?. We are simply geniuses . . . but what about when an editor comes into the picture and tells us to take this blockbuster scene from heaven out?

Regarding editors, writer, Peter Mayle says, "Listen and learn." Isaac Asimov counters with, "Don't let editors edit the life out of your sentences!" Still, Mark Skousen advises, "The editors are always right. Don't argue with them." Editor, Paul C. Smith told Herb Caen when he began his first column in 1938, "For God's sake, kid, be entertaining. And remember, I have a short attention span."

Woe is me! Am I getting a headache? Advice from editors, advice from writers. So, what do we do when push comes to shove? Gay Talese offers, "Listen, then make up your own mind." Hmm, helpful but will this opinion get my book published? Is the Editor right? Am I copping out on my own advice when I say -- these are just my opinions and nothing more? Isn't an editor, after all, just giving us his or her opinion? HELP! Even Stephen King, almost tossed the towel in when an Editor told him to go back to the drawing board. (He didn't - take a lesson from this.)

William Sloane makes a lot of sense, "The editor is a specialist about reading. His specialty is what is sufficiently general and common between a possible readership and what the author has to say. The tool he works with is himself. If the author cannot reach him, he can't reach the editor's readership either." I wish I could let this sink into my brain, but I can be so stubborn sometimes.

Well, I'm still confused, even with a mind of my own. I wonder if editors can be shown the light? Shh, but I do know of at least one who can be. As for my novels, I guess I should get back to my revisions and find out -- one of these days.

I'll leave you with this little gem of an inclination from Dave Barry. "Always remember that if editors were so damned smart, they would know how to dress."

Until next month I remain, after editing this piece for the umteenth time.

Priscilla,
the eternal optimist


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Market Watch

Nancy B. Leake

Marketing Professionally

An important part of marketing your work is presenting a professional image. Before your story or article is read, things occur that may decide the fate of your manuscript. Positive first impressions are necessary. If not, your stories may end up at the bottom of the pile the editor needs to read and may remain unpublished. I will give you a few pointers to move your story near the top of the editor’s pile.

envelope - A plain white # 10 or (for a thick manuscript) a large manilla envelope with business postage (the flag, in the US), no flowers or picture stamps. Type or print in neat block letters all addresses, or if using any labels, plain white is appropriate.

SASE - Enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope with the appropriate postage, using the same professional style as above.

Query letter - Use plain white good quality 20-pound letter size paper. The only exception is if you use business letterhead. A12-point type, Times New Roman or similar with 1" margins is the standard. Letters should be confined to one page, if possible. Jerri Ledford has a good example of a query letter in the Chat archives at WVU. Of course, enclose your address and phone/fax numbers, (which I am sure she omitted for privacy) and the address of the editor you are sending your article to. I enclose a final listing of my enclosures at the end of the letter -- Encl.: SASE and the name of the article enclosed. Another excellent reference is Writer’s Digest’s book "Formatting & Submitting your Manuscript" by Jack and Glenda Neff, Don Prues and the Editors of Writer’s Market.

Manuscripts – Paper, font, and margins are the same as in query letters. Paper clips or loose leaf is preferred to staples. Do not reuse coffee-stained, crinkled manuscripts this is the hallmark of an amateur. There are slight differences for the first page of a manuscript depending on the type of submission, but most follow this general outline: double spacing; page numbers in upper right corner except on the first page; word count in the upper right corner of the first page; name, address, contact numbers, and e-mail listed in the left upper corner of the first page; the title is centered one-third of the way down the page in capitals, skip one line, "by", skip one line, authors name in capitals, skip four lines then begin manuscript using paragraph indentations, where needed.

Spelling and Grammar check – Always check again before sending. I suggest leaving the manuscript one day and then rereading. You always notice mistakes after mailing otherwise.

Professional Language – Business grammar rules, including no contractions, are the acceptable form. A word here about e-mail, we tend to equate email use with speed and familiarity. When submitting something by email consider it a business activity and use the same standards as above.

A tip on saving time in our busy schedules- make a template of your query letter, save it and slant it toward your article and audience.

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."
–Ernest Hemingway.

I would like to hear about your experiences in submitting your writing, whether good or bad.

When you send your suggestions to me please enclose: The name and type of the market, What type of writing they publish and the word count, The guidelines for submission or how to get the guidelines, How to contact the company, and who to contact, What they pay, and If they accept submission from new writers, if noted.

Print Markets:

F&P Magazine (Fiction and Poetry) will launch December 1. They want up-to-date character driven stories in any genre, or any style poetry. But, prefer no talking animals, except in fantasy and no old technology in science fiction. Stories up to 5,000 words. Poems up to 60 lines, no boy meets girl and falls in love poems. Submission by e-mail, in the body or by disc is preferable, no attachments. No simultaneous submissions. Payment is $14.00 per 1,000 words for first rights only. Rates may be increased by offering free subscriptions, free books, or other benefits. Regent Publications, 14 Honor Avenue, Goldthorn Park, Wolverhampton WV4 5HH U.K. E-mail voyagemag@zyworld.com, subject "F&P, Sean Brown, Editor.

Somerset Studio is a bimonthly magazine devoted to paper arts, art stamping, and letter arts. For holiday arts query nine months in advance. Query for articles on artistic techniques. Short-short stories (500 - 600 words) or poetry that incorporate the above themes are needed for the "Storyteller" page. Payment for first North American serial rights (FNASR) is $.25/ word for articles, $50 and a one-year subscriptions for short fiction and poetry, and a one-year subscription for calligraphy. Response time is 3 months. Sample copies cost $5.95. Send to Somerset Studio, Sharilyn Miller, Managing Editor, 22992 Mill Creek, Suite B, Laguna Hills, CA 92653, or e-mail someditor@somersetstudio.com.

Bird Watcher’s Digest is a bimonthly magazine for all levels of birdwatchers. They want articles emphasizing the joy of bird watching in North America, including travel or attracting articles, species profiles, feeding and housing backyard birds, backyard how-to projects for birds, and improving birding skills, but no pet bird stories. (700 - 3,000 words). Payment for first rights is from $100 or second rights $50, and two copies. Do not indent, use italics, or pica type. Response time is 1 - 2 years. Sample copies are $3.99. They prefer regular mail. Send on a 3 ½" disc in ASCII text to Bird Watcher’s Digest, William H. Thompson, III, Editor, PO Box 110, Marietta, OH 45750.

Zoetrope: All Story is a "quarterly literary magazine specializing in high caliber short fiction," literary, mainstream/contemporary, and one act plays. (7,000 words maximum). Pays $1,200 for first serial rights and two-year film option. Accepts simultaneous submissions. Response time five months. Zoetrope: All Story, AZX Publications, 260 Fifth Ave. #1200, New York, NY 10001-6408. Adrienne Brodeur, editor-in-chief. Does not accept submissions from June to August.

Freelance Markets:

Oatmeal Studios Greeting Cards purchases humorous greeting card ideas for everyday and holidays. Send a SASE for guidelines and pay schedule. Pay is per piece. Dawn Abraham, Oatmeal Studios Greeting Card, Oatmeal Studios, Box 138-cu, Rochester, VA. Phone (800) 628-6325, fax (802) 767-9890.

Home Cooking is a monthly magazine looking for articles including recipes that have nationwide appeal. An introduction of 200 – 750 words followed by six to ten unpublished recipes. They purchase all rights. List ingredients in order used, temperatures, cooking times, container sizes, number of servings, etc., spelling out amounts. Response time two months. A sample copy may be requested by sending a 6 x 9-inch envelope with three first-class stamps. Mail manuscripts, requests or queries to Shelly Vaughan James, editor, Home Cooking, 306 East Parr Road, Berne, IN. 46711. Home_Cooking@whitebirches.com.

P.S. Greetings manufactures everyday greeting cards including an extensive Christmas program of boxed and rack cards, stationary and note cards. Verses, poems, or written samples should be submitted by e-mail. Payment is a one time flat fee based on individual submission for all greeting card or stationary rights. Response time is 30 days. Art Director, P.S. Greetings, 5060 North Kimberly Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630.

Fillers:

Angels On Earth is looking for short angel stories and quotes about angels. Sample copy and guidelines available by sending a 6 x 9-inch self-addressed envelope with $1.01 postage to Angels On Earth: Guideposts, Inc., 16 E. 34th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Chesapeake Bay Magazine is looking for boat and boating anecdotes, news and more. Mail to Chesapeake Bay Magazine, 1819 Bay Ridge Avenue, Annapolis, Maryland 24403.

Get It In Writing is looking for short quotes, advice, tips, comedy, and more related to writers and/or writing. Pays $.01/word, but no less than $1.00 for one time rights. Send to: Get It In Writing, PO Box 20336, Carson City, Nevada 89721-0336.

Web Markets:

CityTripping.com is a website covering nightlife, fashion, restaurants, trends, gossip, and more for New York, Los Angeles and beyond. They encourage new writers and publish word counts of 200 - 1,000 for $.25/word for first electronic rights, no reprints. Seventy-five percent freelance written. CityTripping.com, 24 Fifth Ave., Suite 1124, New York, NY 10011, Tom Dolby, Editor. E-mail editor@citytripping.com.

Frightwriter.com is a horror website dedicated to unpublished writers. They accept stories from 1,500 – 3,500 words for $10.00 for first publication rights. Starting October 2001, they will have a yearly anthology with payment in royalties. Notification of publication occurs on the 13th of every month. No simultaneous submissions or previously published work. E-mail in plain text in the body of an email to Frightwriter@yahoo.com. Website has more guidelines about content at Frightwriter.com

Science Fiction Bi-Weekly is a website looking for well-written entertaining science fiction, or nonfiction book reviews, science fiction author interviews, advice on writing and getting published, and articles relating the world of sci-fi to reality at 1,000 – 10,000 words (around 4,000 words preferred) for $.01 per word for one time rights. Sci-fi poetry of any length is accepted (preferably 40 - 50 lines) at $.50 per line, up to $40. They accept simultaneous, multiple submissions and reprints. Submit by mail in hardcopy or disc, or in the body of an e-mail with "Submission" as the subject line. E-mail bencolwell@scifibiweekly.com Ben Colwell, Science Fiction Bi-Weekly, 10580 N. McCarran Blvd #115, 239, Reno, NV 89503.

The Writing Parent is seeking instructive or motivational articles of interest to writing parents, tips and advice (500-700 words), and poetry connected to writing. Payment is $20 for original submissions, $10 for reprints, and $8 for poetry for one-time rights. You will also receive free advertising for books you are selling and a link in their e-mag. Submit by email TWParent@klockepresents.com or by mail to Angela Giles Klocke, editor, The Writing Parent, 127 Bishop Rd. NW, Cartersville, GA 30121-7324.

Don’t Bother:

Suite101.com has poor terms for writers. They pay approximately $7 - $15.00 per article and they may use it elsewhere without additional payment to you. After 90 days if you resell one of these stories, you must link the new site the story was sold at back to their suite101.com.

Writeforcash.com has poor terms for writers. They pay $10 - $20 for all rights to your story. They own your story for pennies.

Read the contract before submitting to a site. In instances like above you are selling away your reprint rights and future salability of your story forever.

Planetknowhow.com has a relationship to Back to Howto, which did not pay writers when under this name. So, be cautious. Courtesy of Ian at Byteoutofcrime@egroups.com.

Contentville.com has been mentioned frequently by writers about selling reprints of copyrighted materials.

Email your markets to me.

All opinions stated in this column are my own and not opinions of T-zero or Writer’s Village University.


T-Zero: The Writer's Ezine
http://TheWritersEzine.com
Copyright 1998 - 2007, Writopia Inc. All Rights Reserved
Submissions Guidelines The Writers' Ezine - T-Zero Xpandizine

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Writers' Village University Membership Information

Submissions Guidelines (Updated)

Until further notice, only plain text submissions in the body of the email will be considered.
NO ATTACHMENTS.

What We Pay For

Fiction: Stories should be of interest to writers in general, not just a narrow group.

Fiction should be submitted to fiction@thewritersezine.com. Payment starts at $15.00.

If considered for publication, you will be asked to return an email agreement including your name and address.

Craft Features: Queries about Craft features should be sent to nonfiction@thewritersezine.com.

Payment starts at $15.00, and, if considered, you will be sent an email agreement to fill out and return.

Poetry: Due to the large number of recent poetry submissions, a temporary hold on further poetry submissions is in place until early 2008.

Please do not email us to ask what we pay for in other categories. When we can add to our list, we will include it in these guidelines.

What We Publish

Original short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, particularly non-fiction related to the craft of writing and interviews.

For fiction we prefer something with a plot and resolution. If we like the main character, we are more likely to accept the story. If the main character has a problem to resolve or has to make a choice, that's conflict, and we love conflict! Too many writers confuse conflict with fight scenes. Don't be one of them. Give us a protagonist who acts, makes choices no matter how hard they are to solve his or her dilemma, not a wimp who drifts along and has to be rescued.

Non-fiction should be related to the craft of writing or be good resource material for writers. Accuracy and originality are vital. No reprints. If it has already been published somewhere else, our readers will spot it and let us know.

What We Won't Publish

Anything that inspires "hate," is defamatory or is pornographic.

Simultaneous submissions.

Material that has appeared elsewhere (reprints).

Seasonal material submitted during the same month (i.e., a Christmas story in December). Our lead time is short compared to print publications, but we do need time to edit, html and proof submission. A good guideline is to submit the manuscript by the first of the preceding month (i.e., submit a Christmas story before November 1st).

Length Recommendations

  • For Fiction, under 1500 words is preferred. We will consider excerpts from longer works.

  • Poetry should fit on one printed page if possible. A maximum of five poems may be submitted at one time (when the hold is lifted).

  • Non-fiction or Craft features have the most leeway in word count. In general these manuscripts should be 750 to 2,000 words. We like to take advantage of the hypertext capabilities we have available and link to charts, graphs, lists and so forth. Thumbnail versions may be included in the body of the article.

Rights

All rights other than first electronic, non-exclusive 'anthology' (for collections of T-Zero: The Writer's Ezine works only), and non-exclusive archival rights (we keep back issues online) are and remain the sole and exclusive property of the author.

Formats We Will Accept

Plain text in the body of an email.

T-Zero: The Writer's Ezine is an HTML publication. This gives us access to a variety of options but it is also a limiting factor.

  • Underlining is used exclusively for links in HTML. Please do not underline in your manuscript. It you are including a link to a webpage for reference, please mark the link the following way: (WEB LINK) http://thewritersezine.com (END WEB LINK).
  • The less than (<) and greater than (>) signs are used to enclose HTML encoding. If you need to use brackets, please use the square [ ] ones instead.
  • Paragraph indentation requires time consuming insertion of multiple HTML symbols. Please separate paragraphs by inserting a hard, blank line between them.
  • Fonts need to be simple. No multiple fonts. We prefer standard fonts such as Times New Roman, Courier or Arial set at 12 point. If your subject matter requires something else, ask us first.
  • The curly (smart) quotes, apostrophes, the em dash (two hyphens together) and ellipsis … (three periods) become strange and exotic characters when copied from your word processor into email. Check your preferences or options to see if you can use straight quotes. 
  • Text formatting such as bold, italic, centering, bullet list, etc., should be noted in the text by using all caps in parentheses. For example, if you wanted to italicize the word submission, you would type: (ITALICS) submission (END ITALICS).

Editing

We expect you to run spell-check and to check your grammar and punctuation before submitting. We will not reject a submission for a few typos or errors, but will if there are an excessive number of errors.

Note: Since our reading audience is international, we do not require a specific version of English. Use the spelling appropriate to your region.

We will automatically correct obvious typos such as “ton” for “not” and may correct simple agreement problems. For anything beyond that, time permitting, we will return the submission to you with a request for corrections.

Getting to Know You

Fiction and Craft features published in T-Zero: The Writer's Ezine include brief third person biographical notes on the writers. For all submissions, please compose your own bio and include it to save our editors and yourself time later if/when your piece is accepted for publication. We suggest sharing a little about your background, occupation, geographical location and what inspired your story.

How and Where to Submit

We do not accept submissions via US mail. Email submissions only, to the appropriate department, in the body of the email. No attachments accepted.

Fiction should be sent to fiction@thewritersezine.com.

Craft Non-fiction should be queried first. Send query to nonfiction@thewritersezine.com.

Poetry: Due to the large number of recent poetry submissions, a temporary hold on further poetry submissions is in place until early 2008.

Include the type of submission (fiction, non-fiction) in the subject line.

Be sure to include your name and email address in the body of the email.

If you do not receive an acknowledgement that your submission or query was received within a week, please send a follow-up query with “Did you Receive?” in the subject line. In the body of the email, please include your name and email address, the title of the work submitted, and if different, the email address sent from. Do not resend the submission unless we request it.

Good luck!


T-Zero: The Writer's Ezine
http://TheWritersEzine.com
Copyright 1998 - 2007, Writopia Inc. All Rights Reserved

 

© Copyright 1998 - 2007, Writopia Inc. All rights reserved