Re: {The WM Freelance Connection} Digest for The_WM_Freelance_Connection@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic
Kerrie McLoughlin
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TheWMFreelanceConnection.com ... 7 perspectives on freelance writing
--- On Tue, 2/16/10, The_WM_Freelance_...@googlegroups.com <The_WM_Freelance_...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
> From: The_WM_Freelance_...@googlegroups.com <The_WM_Freelance_...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: {The WM Freelance Connection} Digest for The_WM_Freela...@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic
> To: "Digest Recipients" <The_WM_Freelance_...@googlegroups.com>
> Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 11:34 AM
>
> Today's Topic
> Summary
> Group: http://groups.google.com/group/The_WM_Freelance_Connection/topics
>
> February's
> Contest Winner's [2 Updates]
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Topic: February's Contest Winner's
>
>
>
> Alyssa Ast
> <alyss...@yahoo.com> Feb 16 04:08AM -0800
> ^
>
>
>
>
> On behalf of the entire WM Freelance Connection, I
> would like to thank
>
> every one that participated in this month's contest.
> Please help the
>
> WMF congratulate the top three winners of this months
> contest:
>
>
>
> 1st Place- Kelli Robinson
>
> 2nd Place- Janel Van Beek
>
> 3rd Place- David Suresh Marumudi
>
>
>
> Below are their winning entries. Check the WMF site on the
> 23rd for a
>
> special guest post from Kelli Robinson!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 1st Place:
>
> By Kelli Robinson
>
> What is your favorite genre in which to write and why?).
>
>
>
> Is “parenting humor” a writing genre? God, I hope so!
> Otherwise what I
>
> do on a daily basis is vent about life and offer meager
> solutions to
>
> everyday situations. And people either don’t pay
> attention or laugh
>
> hysterically. If I’m not a humor writer, I’m a
> politician, which makes
>
> me about as likable as food poisoning.
>
>
>
> Parenting humor is not classic literature. That’s because
> there’s
>
> nothing classic or classy about toddler tantrums, sleep
> deprivation,
>
> and kids’ obsessions with body noises. But writers tell
> stories to
>
> which others can relate. Parents across the street and
> across the
>
> country all relate to the frustrations of potty training,
> the frenzied
>
> afternoons made up of soccer and dance practices, and the
> bittersweet
>
> moments between preschool and high school graduations.
> Parenting humor
>
> writing simultaneously makes parents giggle and nod their
> heads in
>
> agreement. It is the written affirmation of “Been there,
> done that.”
>
>
>
> Last September I wrote a column detailing my embarrassment
> at flunking
>
> back to school shopping. Honestly, whoever heard of
> erasable crayons?
>
> And was it really so awful that I purchased cardboard
> folders instead
>
> of the required plastic ones? Will my son fail first grade
> because of
>
> my errors? When did the school offer a parent’s seminar
> addressing
>
> back to school shopping, because I totally missed it? I
> asked these
>
> questions because I knew I wasn’t the parent doing so. I
> received
>
> numerous supportive emails, which is a writer’s
> applause.
>
>
>
> But I don’t write parenting humor stories for recognition
> or applause.
>
> How ironic would that be, considering that parenting is so
> often a
>
> thankless job (until your kids grow up, have kids of their
> own, and
>
> realize how tough it really is). Writers must find a niche
> they’re
>
> passionate about. I’ve got a husband, two kids, and four
> pets that
>
> look to me each day for love, inspiration, food, and a
> clean bathroom.
>
> There’s nothing I’m more passionate about at this
> moment in my life
>
> than family.
>
>
>
> I love them all so much it hurts. Yet sometimes they send
> me fleeing
>
> to my bedroom. Why? Because if I don’t lock the door,
> scream into a
>
> pillow, take deep breaths, and count to ten, somebody in
> the house
>
> might not make it through the day. I’m amazed at my
> son’s talents. I’m
>
> also amazed he can’t retrieve his wet towel from the
> bathroom floor.
>
> My daughter’s dramatic flair will win her an Oscar
> someday. But right
>
> now, it’s not winning my affection.
>
>
>
> When it comes to emotional roller coasters, parenthood is
> the biggest
>
> and fastest one there is. Roller coasters make you laugh
> and cry, make
>
> your heart beat faster and your stomach lurch. And the wild
> ride seems
>
> to last for mere seconds. That’s parenthood. I love that
> writing gives
>
> me an outlet for sharing anecdotes and poking fun at this
> amusement
>
> park adventure. I’m happy that a mom or dad having a bad
> day and
>
> feeling very alone could read my observations and realize
> this roller
>
> coaster ride is filled to capacity every day and night.
>
>
>
> And I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to read my
> stories. To
>
> see their expressions will make all of my late nights at
> the computer
>
> worth it. I don’t scrapbook and barely keep up with
> downloading
>
> photos. The essays and columns will give them a glimpse at
> what mommy
>
> was thinking all of those years.
>
>
>
> Yikes, I hope they still like me.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 2nd Place:
>
> By Janel Van Beek
>
> The Last Bus of the Night
>
>
>
> My favorite genre in which to write is fiction, because it
> allows my
>
> crazy and often out of control imagination to have the
> spotlight.
>
> When my imagination takes over, I am able to forget about
> the problems
>
> in my real world and feel a sense of renewal through my
> work. It’s
>
> some of the best therapy I know, right up there with fine,
> dark
>
> chocolate.
>
>
>
> Speaking of chocolate, writing fiction is like cooking from
> scratch.
>
> It’s completely creative and often a Herculean effort to
> conjure up an
>
> entirely new story with its characters and settings and
> drama. And
>
> when an author hits their fiction recipe right, the story
> comes to
>
> life and feels incredibly real for the reader. So real
> that they tear
>
> through your novel, and even after the fantastic finish,
> they and all
>
> of their friends and relatives are hungry for more from
> you.
>
>
>
> My world isn’t quite like that yet, but my goal is for it
> to be that
>
> way very soon. In the mean time, I have my share of life
> challenges.
>
> Recently, I’ve been a magnet for far more than my share.
> Writing
>
> fiction opens the door of my escape hatch from the negative
> and
>
> dysfunctional things that tend to follow me around these
> days. No
>
> matter how challenging my day, each night, I can find away
> to wake my
>
> imagination and escape to my personal writing retreat.
> After a hard
>
> day of life challenges that can’t seem to leave my brain
> alone, the
>
> idea of sitting with a laptop doesn’t sound like an
> exercise in
>
> renewal. Of course it isn’t. In order to achieve
> renewal, I must
>
> look past my tools to my destination. Once I’m there, I
> can relax and
>
> let fiction take the wheel.
>
>
>
> It is true that if you work at something you really love,
> it usually
>
> doesn’t feel like work. Yet there are nights when I
> don’t feel like
>
> going through the effort to climb through the escape hatch
> to my
>
> fictitious world. I am so tired that I don’t want to
> write a check
>
> for the Visa bill, let alone work on my secret world of
> make believe.
>
> Yet when I tell my lazy brain no, we’re going to do this
> even if you
>
> don’t want to, and work for even a short amount of time
> on my fiction
>
> project, I feel so much better! Not only did I accomplish
> my goal to
>
> get some writing done that day, my shoulders are a little
> lighter and
>
> the problems that dogged me earlier in the day no longer
> demand my
>
> attention. I can easily wait until tomorrow or another day
> to begin
>
> worrying again. I had better things to do like character
> development
>
> and reworking that scene my writer’s group critiqued.
>
>
>
> So fiction is my passion and getting paid for it is my
> goal. Let’s
>
> take this conversation to the next level: what if the
> genre in which
>
> I most love to write doesn’t bring out my best? What if
> I’m a better
>
> nonfiction writer than fiction writer? I could be
> spinning my wheels
>
> unnecessarily for years! Success rarely occurs the way we
> plan it but
>
> no one wants to make mistakes. Could my success story have
> a twist in
>
> that I had to write outside my perceived best genre in
> order to shine
>
> a light on my true passion?
>
>
>
> Glade Byron Addams once said, “Chase down your passion
> like it’s the
>
> last bus of the night.” I like how that sounds. My plan
> is to work
>
> hard at a few different genres in hopes that someday that
> work will
>
> enable me to follow my fiction passion with wild
> abandon…
>
>
>
>
>
> 3rd Place:
>
> By David Suresh Marumudi
>
> What is your favorite genre in which to write and why?
>
>
>
> As a writer, I consider this as a theme of perineal
> interest. Yet it
>
> is tough to select and take a stand. It is like being
> faithful and
>
> unfaithful at the same time to the profession as a writer.
> If I were
>
> to say creative writing is my favorite genre, would I not
> be giving a
>
> step-motherly treatment to the other genre? Like for
> instance, what
>
> about my association with content writing, technical
> writing or
>
> medical writing? What about them? How can I distance myself
> away from
>
> others taking side with one particular writing genre—I am
> equally
>
> indulged with them as well.
>
>
>
> Affably accommodating, writing is a practice that conjures
> up instant
>
> and insatiable thirst to create clean and poised
> expression
>
> irrespective of any writing genre. Many a professional or
> an amateur
>
> writer may write impressively with animated eloquence only
> under an
>
> arduous quest for perfection. A writer with a calibrated
> precision
>
> digs into details and derives antecedents to gratify an
> audience to
>
> the core. Therefore, unless the writers are asked to extend
> their
>
> tentacles of writing exclusively into a particular genre;
> they should
>
> refrain from making any of them a favourite. Their target
> is to write,
>
> write and write. With the exception of those writers having
> the
>
> caliber to put a leg in many a shoe at the same time, for
> the rest
>
> like me, I feel it would be the wisest thing to dodge an
> answer to
>
> this question.
>
>
>
> A hard-day’s work would go down the drain, if I were to
> agree that
>
> fiction is my favorite genre. Agreed that writing fiction
> is writing
>
> creatively; but while technical writing, being my
> profession, how can
>
> one expect me to take a stand equal in magnitude with
> creative writing
>
> or for that matter, medical writing which I admit would
> remain at the
>
> top among my favorites on any given day. That is, once
> again I repeat
>
> my personal opinion there! Fiction carries a little more
> flexibility
>
> than any other writing genre.
>
>
>
> While writing for many other genres has impositions and
> or
>
> restrictions as far as the freedom of expression is
> concerned, fiction
>
> for a writer is like being left in an ‘open prison’!
> Yes, of course
>
> you heard it right. It is an open prison in the sense that,
> a writer
>
> of fiction, will have ample of thoughts, expressions or
> ideas flying
>
> around him like butterflies—some would ‘die of touch’
> some would ‘fly
>
> on touch’ and even worse some ‘inflict poison on
> touch’; but many
>
> would come and rest on their own! So for a wise writer the
> task is
>
> made simple—just chooses the best.
>
> Finally I would say writing is my favorite genre.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Alyssa Ast
> <alyss...@yahoo.com> Feb 16 08:53AM -0800
> ^
>
>
>
>
> Note: We'd like to point out that we're aware
> of the typos in this
>
> post. Due to the structure of Google groups software, we
> are unable to
>
> edit the post once it's submitted. We apologize for any
> inconvenience
>
> or stress this may cause our fellow writers.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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