The A Cappela Newsletter for Writers                              February 2000

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NEWS & VIEWS YOU CAN USE

Your monthly newsletter from Patrika, your Author’s Advocate
Visit her, send an email, at www.acappela.com

 

IN THIS ISSUE:

*Pat’s Picks: E-books, new classes, write your story

*News You Can Use: Oprah’s mag; I-net news; copyright on line; awards

*Trivia Name that poem

*Book gossip: Russian site hacked; Cosmo covered; Crooks caught; King’s Case

*Contests: Send your dream; essay contest

*Writing Q&A: How important are the critics’ opinions?

*Wordplay: New words for the 21st C office

*You can do it! Nietzsche knew!

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PAT’S PICKS

The 21st Century is here: get your electronic copy of WRITE PUBLISH & MARKET YOUR BOOK at www.acappela.com

Classes: As usual, new classes begin the first week of the month. Check them out.

Get Published: Writing your memoirs or your family’s history? Get step-by-step guidance from writing to publishing with How to Write Your Own Life Story

E-Markets:

According to Henry Yuen, chairman and CEO of Gemstar, "within 20 years, 90 percent of reading materials will be distributed on electronic media." (If you’re already there, you can get an electronic version of Write Publish & Market Your Book at www.acappela.com)

Richard Wright richard.wright5@virgin.net will launch the column, The Virtual Market," in the debut issue of At The World's End.

Feedback

"Thanks, Patrika, for this newsletter and your classes. Nobody else sparks my creativity the way you do!" Beetle@gte.net

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NEWS YOU CAN USE:

THE OPRAH MAGAZINE

~Hearst Magazines and Harpo Entertainment Group have announced that the new Oprah Winfrey magazine, set to launch on April 17, will be titled O, The Oprah Magazine. "What I like about O is that it is simple and direct, and it is what a lot of my friends call me," said Oprah Winfrey. O will have a distribution of 850,000 and will publish two double issues, the May/June issue (on sale April 17) and the July/August issue (on sale June 20), before going monthly beginning with the September 2000 issue. The magazine will explore advice, spirituality, beauty and fashion, health and fitness, and other topics.

AWARDS

Chilean writer Jorge Edwards won the Cervantes literary award for 1999. The Cervantes prize, named after the author of "Don Quixote," is considered one of the top literary awards in the Spanish-speaking world. Edwards won for his influential short stories, novels, essays and biography of poet Pablo Neruda.

 

Internet news:

E-BOOK STORE

~barnesandnoble.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have announced that they will create a barnesandnoble.com eBook store using Microsoft Reader software. The eBook initiative

will provide bn.com's customers with access to thousands of eBook titles through Microsoft Reader, a new software application designed to deliver an on-screen computer reading experience.


E-BOOK BOARD

iUniverse has debuted a message board for e-book readers and writers: http://mb.iuniverse.com/msgthread.asp?tid=1044&page=1.


FREE ACCESS

Juno now offers free Internet To sign up for free access through Alta Vista, get on the net & dial (212)814-2486. For your free software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/taga


COPYRIGHT MILESTONE

U.S. Copy right Office initiates first phase of conversion to electronic copyright registration: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/cordsmlev.html

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TRIVIA

Name the title of a poem by Wallace Stevens that begins "I placed a jar in Tennessee."

(See answer at end of this newsletter.) .

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Random Wisdom Hire a teenager while they still know it all. (Anon)

 

BOOK GOSSIP

~Cosmo Covered

Cosmopolitan / covers will be covered up in February by Kroger grocery stores for being too racy.

~Crooks Caught

A Kentucky couple pleaded guilty in November to one count of mail fraud. Charles and Dorothy Deering admitted to cheating writers out of nearly $1.5 million by claiming to be literary agents. The Deerings' companies only published five out of 200 authors.

~~Russian News Site Hacked

The Website of Russia's Itar-Tass news agency  was hacked mid-December. The hackers, who called themselves "princes of darkness" and "angels of freedom," asked that Russia halt its military campaign in Chechnya.

~Wreckless Driving

Bryan Smith, the motorist who struck author Stephen King http://www.stephenking.com with his van, has plead guilty to a lesser charge of driving to endanger. The aggravated assault was dropped. King, who was forced to have five operations from the accident, called the plea

bargain "irresponsible public business."

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MARKETS (I’m just passing on the information. I haven’t checked out these markets and they don’t come with my endorsement)

~Nonfiction

My Little Magazine has launched two new departments. United We Stand will feature stories written by the young or not so young. It's My Turn! will offer essays discussing the problems of our times.

 

I Love Cats Magazine --Feature stories about cats and their owners, interesting or odd happenings with cats, tips for cat owners, health issues, nonfiction pieces, behavior problems, etc. Now accepting e-mail yankee@izzy.net queries and completed stories.Or, send completed manuscripts by mail, to: I Love Cats, 450 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1701, New York, N.Y. 10123. (212) 244-2351. Fax (212) 244-2367.

 

The American Prospect http://www.prospect.org biweekly journal covering liberal policy, politics, society, books, and culture. Pays on publication, and rate varies based on experience. More information: The American Prospect, 5 Broad Street, Floor 3, Boston, Mass. 02109. Contacts:Robert Kuttner, Editor, Scott Stossel, Executive Editor, Joshua Micah Marshall, Politics Editor, Rhea Wilson, Culture Editor, Dave Denison, Book Reviews Editor

 

Literary Traveler http://www.literarytraveler.com Subject matter can be anything artistic or creative. Looks for articles about artists, writers and places - each, in some way, about someone who creates. Some are subjective first person travel pieces. Some take a meditative slant on a visit somewhere, and reflect on a theme. Others are objective articles about places or writers or artists. "Please read some of our articles to see if your article is right for us." $25/article. $5 for short pieces, such as reviews or literary events coverage.

 

 

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CONTESTS

* The Coffeehouse for Writers Monthly Essay Contest:

* Send in your dream - the one you've had stirring in your heart since, well since as far back as you can remember. Write about the thing you most want to do or be or create. Send your 200-word entry to: contest@whole-heart.com no later than February 20, 2000. Three winners will receive the e-book version of Journaling from the Heart.

 

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WEBSITES OF INTEREST

If you're a travel writer, or write fiction set in other countries, you'll love   This Universal Currency Converter will convert currency into 90 other types.

Ebooknet , a site dedicated to e-books and e-publishing, recently redesigned its Website.

Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases is now online at

 

Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr., THE bible of appropriate grammar, It is now online at http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

http://www.worldshare.net offers free Internet access with no annoying ads and donates to the Non-Profit Organization of your choice, every month!

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WRITER’S Q & A

Q. How important is the opinion of critics?

A. Critics are by no means the end of the law. Don’t think all is over with you because your articles are rejected. It may be that the editor has his drawer full, or that (s)he does not know enough to appreciate you, or you have not gained a reputation, or (s)he is not in a mood to be pleased. A critic's judgment is like that of any intelligent person’s: if (s)he has experience, (s)he is probably capable of judging whether a book will sell - that’s all - and critics are often wrong about that!

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WORDPLAY:

New Words for the Office of the 21st Century:

 

Blamestorming: sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

 

Cube Farm: an office filled with cubicle

 

Ego Surfing: scanning the net, databases, print media, etc., looking for references to one’s self

 

Elvis Year: the peak year of something’s or someone’s popularity. "Barney the Dinosaur’s Elvis Year was 1993."

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YOU CAN DO IT

"Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood." --Friedrich Nietzsche

 

 

 

Patrika

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Stevens title: Anecdote Of The Jar