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17 May 2012
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Announcements:

Hear ye! Hear ye! Read all about it!

Check out F2K-zine, our bi-monthly e-zine produced by and for the students and staff of F2K. F2K-zine is full of helpful advice, poetry, examples of completed lessons, contest winners and a lot of fun! You may be surprised to see the work of a classmate or two.

Read the current issue of F2K-zine online.

Want to join in the fun?

We welcome all students to take or retake the course any time they'd like. The registration form for the March session is available through a link on the F2K Main page.

The start date for the March session is March 21, 2001, F2K registration ends on March 17. All questions regarding F2K should be sent to suz@wvu.org.

Don't forget!

The results of the first round of judging for the January F2K Writing Contest will also be available on the F2K Main page. Remember to vote for your favorite story in our interactive poll starting March 16, 2001. The contest winner will be announced in the May issue of F2K-zine. To receive e-mail notification of future issues of F2K-zine, go here:

http://www.writopia.com/subscribe-F2K-zine.htm


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Catherine's Kitchen

Catherine Manning

Natalie's Wedding

HAVE BEEN WRACKING MY BRAINS (once again) on what to write. My column is so late that I might have missed the boat. Hasn't been a good last two weeks personally and my mind went blank, but then one of my cousins reminded me that it was her parents' 60th wedding anniversary and she is putting together a family 'album' and wanted input from me. Sixty years! 'OUCH!' I didn't last twenty-five!

Well these cousins of mine lived on the south coast in the 'hub' of things, and I, living isolated in the west (as it was at that time) was more than happy to go and spend weekends. They were in a residential area, which then was about four houses. Also my mother was born there and my grandmother still lived there in the family house. Today it is built up so drastically that I pass through in a hurry.

But we had a lot of fun; we could go walking at night and visit friends safely. At Christmas we would go caroling, and also the beach was within walking distance, like two minutes. There was quite a bit of land and my grandmother, who had a dairy farm when her children were growing up, was a very busy woman and very religious to boot, which I'm sure kept her going, after seven children and a difficult married life. However, my grandmother lived to the ripe old age of 93, looking after herself as much as she could. She only succumbed after falling and breaking her hip. What a woman, respected by all.

Granny had a mango tree which produced wonderful mangos, no strings. Get them ripe, we ate them or made jam. Or get them green for:

Mango Chutney

  • 25 half ripe mangos
  • 1lb. raisins
  • 1/4 lb. fresh ginger grated
  • 2oz. garlic or more to taste
  • 1oz. hot peppers
  • 2-1/2 lbs. brown sugar
  • 1lb. onions
  • 1oz. mustard seed
  • Vinegar to cover

Currants and dates and prunes may be added if you want, but I don't as I don't like them. If you do want to add them, do 1/2 lb. raisins, 1/2 lb. prunes. 1/2 lb. currants, 1/2 lb, dates or compenstate with your mixture. I tend to add more onions and raisins and garlic; it's all a matter of taste. Salt to taste (1/4 lb.) but don't put it all in at once; season to taste.

Chop mangos, cover with vinegar and soak overnight. Chop or mince all other ingredients and add to mangos, vinegar and brown sugar. If the mixture is too thick, add more vinegar, but don't overdo as the fruit will loosen up and give off liquid. Simmer 2-3 hours on a low heat, stirring frequently to avoid burning. When thickened to loose jam-like consistency, bottle and seal in sterilized jars.

I am a firm believer that cooking is up to the individual and their particular taste, so regardless of anything I say here, I would expect readers will experiment and concoct their own recipes to suit themselves.

That's what I do all the time.

Back to my cherry tomatoes that are still going: instead of pulling them up, I think I will cut back and see what happens; they just don't want to stop bearing. I have a freezer full of tomato sauce, whole tomatoes and tomato ketchup. You better believe that I will never buy another bottle of commercial tomato ketchup. I guess the rampant salt air, which has nearly wiped out my basil because of the high winds, has helped the tomatoes! Will I ever know? I doubt it, but many a morning I have had a tomato breakfast, as I have just been picking and eating off the vines, they are so sweet. If you are so lucky as to get your own homegrown tomatoes or even when they are cheap from the market, try this tomato ketchup. You can always add you own seasonings. Hope arthritis doesn't kick in; how could I not eat tomatoes?

Tomato Ketchup

Chop

  • 8lbs. unpeeled tomatoes
  • 6 large onions
  • 2 red sweet peppers and garlic
  • 4 cloves garlic crushed

I'm a garlic lover, so if I tell you to add four cloves of garlic, I will probably add 10, so suit yourself.

Cover with water and boil gently till till vegetables are soft. Liquify in blender and strain. Put mixture in saucepan and add to it, tied in a muslin bag:

  • 1 red pepper
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1Tbs. chopped celery
  • 1Tbs. mustard seed
  • 1tsp. peppercorns
  • 1 stick of cinnamon

Add this, tied in muslin bag, to the juice with one tablespoon of salt. Boil down by half, stirring frequently. Add 4 oz. brown sugar, 4 oz. white sugar and 2 cups vinegar. Simmer 20 minutes or so till the ketchup is at the desired consistency. Seal in hot sterilized jars.

Sorry this column is short, so is time. To Nancy, who wanted me to get working on the Pumpkin with G.....soup, I'm actually working on it; halfway there is better than not there at all!

Bon Appetit
Cath


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Drabble Corner The Writers' Ezine - T-Zero Xpandizine

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Drabble Corner

MichelleAnn Fischer

Before sending your drabble:

  1. Read the drabble submission guidelines.
  2. DO NOT send your drabble as an email attachment.
  3. Make sure your drabble is EXACTLY one hundred words long.
  4. Use your spell checker.
  5. State which month the drabble is for.
  6. Only one entry per person per month.

Thanks to all who sent in drabbles about examinations. This month's winner is Jenny Turner.

Gross Anatomy
by Jenny Turner

"What is it?" Dougie picked his nose and kicked the carcass, "It's dead." "Yeah, gross!" Lisa squealed, "I think it's a possum." He wiped the booger on his overalls, "It ain't no possum." "How come? Pa says they're dead out here all the time." "If it was a possum, he'd only be pretend dead, not gushy like that." "Oh," Lisa figured he'd know. After all, he was two years older. "We gotta get home, sun's goin down." Lisa fell in step behind her brother, the fat bloated body on her mind, "Do you think Ma would like it for soup?"

The theme for April is war, the theme for May is Exploration (suggested by Judy Bagshaw), and the theme for June is "it came to life" (from Stephanie Storey). If you have any ideas for drabble themes, please email us.

Email us your drabbles and themes at drabble@wvu.org.


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Fiction Corner

Alison Hawke

Starting a novel

I've started writing a novel, and I intend to finish it. There's almost a hundred thousand words between me and the finish line. I have scenes already written to insert at the appropriate moment, and I have a copy of Lawrence Block's Telling Lies for Fun and Profit from the library. I'm all set. I even have a comfy place to sit, some free time, and a good CD to listen to.

This isn't the first novel I've tried to write. I had a decent idea and outline for the first, but it got planned to death. It withered under the strain and I sadly buried it. Maybe it'll be worth digging out in a few years. What really killed it for me was trying to write a detailed scene by scene outline, as per The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. I ended up with lots of paper, hours spent on planning and nothing actually written. That was just too disheartening for me, so I abandoned it. This time I have words on paper and it feels a lot better. Maybe I can actually do this.

It's strange how daunting it feels to be starting a novel. When I was at high school (age 11-16) I had to turn out five hundred word essays every week, at sixth form (age 16-18) I was up to three or five thousand. Imagine writing five thousand words about books written by someone who is suicidally depressed, plays where people are dying left and right, or where lives get ruined on the off chance, or plays where nothing really happens. I did that for two years straight somehow. One hundred thousand words is only twenty of those essays. And twenty is a smallish number, isn't it?

The problem is that I have to produce a hundred thousand words on the same subject, and to make them interesting enough that someone would read all the way through. I'm reasonably happy with what I have so far, more so after weeding out the salad that turned into a stew mid scene.

I admit it, I'm boggled at the scale of the thing.

It's the sheer length of a novel that the beginning writer is apt to find intimidating. Matter of fact, you don't have to be a beginner to be intimidated in this fashion.
Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block

Well, at least I'm in good company.

I'll tell you a secret--nobody knows how to start a novel. There are no rules, because every novel is a case unto itself.
Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block

Nobody can tell me exactly how to write my novel? Now that sounds like good news to me. Nobody knows exactly how I think, what mounds of useless information I carry around in my head, what kinds of strange people I've met. It's all potentially useful story material that I just can't forget.

So it looks like I'll be figuring this one out for myself. I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing from time to time. I'd love to hear from people who have completed a novel. How did you do it? Do you have any advice you'd like to share? Email me, alison@4-writers.com.

I'm going to finish this one, I promise. See you next month.


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Fiction Vignette

Grady T. Kirbo

Grady T. Kirbo is a native southerner born in Albertville, Alabama in 1948. He is currently working in Alabama as a freelance journalist and writer and is pursuing a doctorate in communications at the University of Colorado. He lives with his family in Alabama and in Boulder, Colorado.

Black Dress Shoes on a Red Dirt Road

I spent a long time looking out at the overgrown field my brothers and I slaved in as youngsters. A different life; a different world.

Deep down South, the summer sun beats on down so hard that you think it's gonna come through on the other side. The cotton is spurting outta its bowls and lotsa backs are bent in them fields. Folks like tall cotton, healthy pretty cotton and not so far to bend at it.

My daddy didn't have nothing; what with ten children to feed, he was always bent and broke. Not much time for school when you was a sharecropper neither. We rotated going to school; go a day and then work a day, like that. Reckon I didn't go to school two days running til I was in sixth grade.

Our house was papered inside with paper taken from magazines like Look and Life that got throwed out downtown. I learned myself to read from them pages and got me a hankering to see the world come the time I could run off.

The road we lived on was red Georgia clay with lots of ruts from cars going down when it was mud. Didn't have no shoes most the time. Never in the summers and raggedy ones stuffed with paper, winters. Didn't get that cold nohow deep down there. We could do without lotsa things.

Even though we was poor as Job's turkey, and had to work most of the time as soon as we could see over the end of the bed, Daddy wanted for us. He didn't have no education hisself and couldn't read nor write but let him catch us fallin' outta our school work and we'd get strapped good. "You wanna grow up and live yo whole life behind a mule?" he would shout.

Lotsa uppity people called us poor white trash 'cause we was poor and lived like the black folks had to live. Wasn't spit bit of difference between us and the coloreds 'cept the color of our skin and getting to sit in the white folks' part of the bus station. But we was the cleanest poor folk, I reckon. Mama scrubbed us down every night before supper with a bristle brush that nearly would skin you and we dried off by the woodstove mama used to cook on. The water in the pot she washed used to wash us got a little soupy towards the end but we was clean.

Supper was always a solemn occasion, like going to church on Sundays. We was all clean and dressed as best we could and there was always something to eat even if it was just greens and a turnip or some fatback. All of us sat there and waited for daddy to say the blessing and then we wolfed down the food to try and hush up the noise in our stomachs. Wasn't much, but what was not on the table was in daddy and mama's hearts for us.

Night time come along and mama would sing songs to us as we lay down tired and full of sleep. Then the Sandman came, you know, the man who looked over you while you were asleep and left a little sand in the corners of your eyes come morning.

I came back to my roots after running off to join the army. I went to college on the GI Bill, even graduate school and became a professor. Standing there in that dirt road in my shiny black dress shoes, I heard the sounds of poor blowing in the breeze and banging on the old fence in front of that house done gone to ruin so long ago.


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Healthy Horizons

Laurie Lupold

Healthy Horizon's For a Lifetime

It's crossed my mind recently the question as to what makes a legend? First, how do we define it? Well my resources tell me that it's a story of the past, handed down from generation to generation. Often it is based on historical fact but often it is based on fiction, a myth or tale. Perhaps you've learned of legends yourself through your parents or grandparents. I've always dreamed of having the kind of childhood where grandpa sits across the table and tells all the exasperating legends of his time. I never had that opportunity but if I had, it would have surely been something I passed on to my children.

Seeking out legends I thought what better resource could I find than the famous legend of St. Patrick. St. Patrick watched as his home was consumed in flames then shortly thereafter was enslaved. He had to have a strong will to survive. Many times he was chained and his treatment was not well. He was just a child, a teen and at the time had little faith in God or Christianity. As time went on and he was able to release himself from the bondage of his captures, he found renewed faith.

He developed churches and spread Christianity throughout Ireland, giving every ounce of his strength and energy to God. He prayed daily and nightly, even imitated the great Jewish legislator on Sinai and spent 40 days fasting and praying. He spoke of virtues and the Trinity in his writing, "St. Patrick's Breast-Plate".

He was proud and had much to be proud of. He had baptized tens of thousands and within a century, this once pagan land became predominantly Christian. The old saint died in his beloved Ireland March 17th, about 460 A. D. The land that once enslaved him he had set free.

Perhaps you don't see my reason for my choosing of St. Patrick other than the holiday event. Well to be honest I was looking more for the characteristics of what make people legends, not so much the form of a legend in itself. What makes us admire them and at times celebrate them? Well with St. Patrick I would dare to say that some of the reasoning was his determination to survive and his unselfish nature to give his faith and trust to God. I, for one, admired his courage.

Another legend in my eyes celebrated a birthday on the 2nd of March. Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, touched so many people's lives. His writing made your heart light and amused you. It made you enjoy childhood again whether adult or not. His words were like a fresh breeze flowing across a warm spring day. Its scents captivated you.

Recently America lost another legend. Admittedly I didn't know much about the racing side of Dale Earnhardt until I began to research him and to be honest my interest lay more in his humanity then his racing skills. Though he was a fantastic racer he was also a tremendous human being.

He was very determined as a racer, intelligent as a businessman and had the skills to uphold his marketing of the Intimidator image but beyond that he was a loyal friend. People didn't know much about the guy who secretly helped others. He didn't want credit for those things, that wasn't why he did them. He was proud of his accomplishments but not so proud that he became fixed with greed for more.

He was a good family man. A trusting and devoted husband. He taught his children the best in values. He was always there for them but would never offer himself for a handout. He respected himself and as such taught them to do the same.

He was a man driven by desire. To desire to succeed. Desire to win. You could read his thoughts in his eyes. He never had to say a word. He played by his own rules which often left the media angry. His intention wasn't to be typically annoying to anyone. It's just the way Dale Earnhardt was.

Some heroes in our lives are people of risk. Earnhardt was one of those heroes. It was straight driving and straight talk from a man with a mischievous smile. When he was in the driver's seat he had no aspiration but to win. A winner, he'll always remain in our eyes. Though years may pass and others may take the track, no one will be able to forget that man in black, sporting the number 3.


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Inclinations

Priscilla Fagan

Perseverance

"The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were not limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse." So wrote Helen Keller, a study herself of perseverance.

So what makes us give up so easily? We receive one or even two or more rejection letters and wham! that’s it. I’m done. *Twenty-one publishers rejected Richard Hooker’s novel, M*A*S*H.

*Louis L’Amour, received 350 rejections before he made his first sale.

* British writer, John Creasy collected 774 rejections and 27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss’ first book. You say you received your first rejection today? Well, congratulations! You are in esteemed company. That is dedication. Cecil B. DeMille said it well.

"The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication." Cecil B DeMille said it well.

Oh I know we continually fight with our own Censor. It's tiresome and frustrating. Do we have the ability as some of our peers to be rejected 700 times and continue to aim for our goal? Yes!

*John Grisham's first novel was turned down by fifteen publishers and thirty agents.

*Jack London acquired 600 rejections before selling his first novel. Collect those rejections and pat yourself on the back and continue unswervingly.

*Chicken Soup for the Soul was turned down 133 times. Their encouraging book for writers . . . Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul has spawned this month's column as I slip my query letters into the mailbox slot. How will I feel when I collect my 600th rejection? I'm sure quite dejected, but I won't quit.

Laurence Sterne pointed out "'Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause - and of obstinacy in a bad one." Well, what is in a word? Am I being obstinate? You bet I am and for good cause. I am a writer and one day someone is going to say yes, you are a writer and yes, you will be published.

We all have heard of Newt Gingrich or at least Americans have, I quote, "Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." Think about it!

More encouragement to get out there and peddle your manuscripts? *Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college. *Rudyard Kipling was told he didn't know how to use the English language. *Louisa May Alcott's family told her to find work as a servant. *Alex Haley received a rejection letter once a week for four years.

Feeling encouraged now? Oh, I do hope so. Keep in mind, with perseverance comes patience and we all know patience is a virtue. I'll leave you with this thought from George Humphrey, Time 1953. "You can't set a hen in one morning and have chicken salad for lunch."

Good luck and don't give up.

Til next month I remain,
Priscilla, the eternal, yet obstinate, optimist

*Rejection slip information taken from Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul


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Poetics

Glennis Hobbs

E-Press Online Presents
Word Castles -- a Book of Poetry by Tom Spencer

In his earlier life, Tom worked as a millwright. Tom now applies that same precision to words, in particular his poetry and the result is his first published book, Word Castles.

From the opening poem, "Looking for a Book," Spencer gives us a tongue in cheek reason as to why he wrote the book:

For on that page,
in fourteen font,
these words my eyes had met.
Your favorite book,
has not been written yet.

In one of his poems, "Poetry Form," Spencer asks the question "What is Poetry?"

What forms this thing, this oddity, called poetry?
it makes the wind for under bird on wing
words that probe the soul, its every estuary
its source, confluence, emotions, ever flowing.

From beginning to end, Spencer answers the question through his poetry. The humour in the poems is very subtle and often understated, rather like the nuances of light in a painting. Tom is able to take a serious subject and poke fun at it as in this poem on writer's block called "Writers' Block, a Question?"

I wonder what is this thing?
A simple, writers' block.
Most devastating trauma,
To break it down we see;
A block made of concrete.
Cinders added lessen weight.
Wide with holes for passing air,
Grooves to grab the mortar.
With abundance of a writers' block,
You could build a building.

Word Castles contains 186 poems covering a wide range of topics and forms, both structured and unstructured. There are nature poems, children's poems, and observations on life from friends to love to old age. The book includes both free verse and rhyme. Physical attributes and shape of the poem are also an important part of the book. The poem "Roland the Artist," which is about a poet-artist friend, describes the way artist paints and how he captures the colours in the painting. The poem is shaped like a tree.

The artist
and the mango tree
The artist paints the rhythm
His brush a metronome of color
The perfect beat of sea and shore
Captured golden green the mango tree
its stately fruit a blush of sunset red
a multitude of suns set within the leaves
on a hillside before a sky of ocean blue
he keeps the rhythm true
fruit upon the ground
children running
in the yard
a dog
or two
mother
at the door
the rhythm
of the artist
captured in
the mango tree

Tom is a keen observer of the world he lives in and often uses the daily events of his life to find ideas for poems. He often uses nature as a theme as seen in the poem "Dry Gulch Bridge":

Wooden bridge
Butterflies
Swaying
smooth rock stream
Passage into
time
Memories

In the poem "Blind Man's Walk," Tom uses the urban environment as a theme.

I feel echoes of the sirens
Vibrate off the canyon walls
Touch the hardness of the walk,
Subtle curve of curb

Tom tries many different kinds of poetry, but prefers to write structured forms such as sonnets, sestina, and haiku. He prefers writing English sonnets to all other forms. The poem "Golden Castles" shows Tom's skill with the sonnet.

Red shadows dance among the distant trees.
The lake, silent, smooth, dark, like tempered glass.
A drifting hawk, calls Taps in reverie.
The evening breeze caresses meadow grass.

I think of you, the wonders of our past.
Our trials and tribulations starting life.
Remiss soothsayers said it wouldn't last.
I reflect the years you have been my wife.

And as the spirits dance in yonder wood,
Golden clouds, fade and hide within the sky.
I review our life and everything was good.
Emotion wells then tempers with a sigh.

Your silhouette kneels, to pick a daffodil.
I hear my song of love, from a whippoorwill.

My favourite poems were the haiku. While on the surface, haiku may seem like very simple poems, but in reality they are not. These haiku carefully written and honed to sharp perfection. I felt that they best show Tom's ability as a poet-craftsman. This is one sample haiku:

Basho a poet
pictures of new birth in words
Springtime his canvas

Spencer says poetry is "one part composition and ninety-nine parts reading." I have enjoyed reading the poems in Word Castles while reviewing it. This is a poetry book that I will go back and savour many times.


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Poetics Presents

Jim Hatfield

Born in 1941, Jim Hatfield is a former television writer-producer who now writes corporate videos and speeches. Father of two grown sons, he lives in a Chicago suburb with his wife, Jane, and their Jack Russell Terrier, Lucy. Jim wrote "Poets at Work" as a student in WVU's Introduction to Poetry. He's grateful to Co-facilitators Glennis Hobbs and Harry Hobbs, and his classmates, who helped him polish it.

Poets at Work

Like restless coonhounds beneath a tree,
Poets keep journals doggedly,
Scribbling copious cryptic notes,
Colors, smells, even jokes.
With wagging pen, restless nose,
They sit and scratch, then compose
Lines that scan and sometimes rhyme,
Bark, bay, yip and whine,
But mainly show new ways to see,
What others view so commonly.

Copyright © 2001 Jim Hatfield


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Poetics Presents

Darlene Virginia Quarles

Darlene Virginia Quarles was born in 1958 and is the daughter of a preacher. She has lived all her life in rural Gordon County, Georgia. She is divorced with two children and two grandchildren.

Writers' Village members look forward to reading more of Darlene's work.

Life's Clock

Life's clock is wound but once,
and no man hath the power
to know where the hands will stop
at late or early hour.

To lose one's wealth is sad indeed,
To lose one's health is more,
To lose one's soul is such a loss
that no man can restore.

Today only is our own,
so live, love and toil with a will.
Place no faith in tomorrow
for the clock may soon be still.

Copyright © 2001 Darlene Virginia Quarles


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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