Attractive Nuisance

Attractive Nuisance definition

attractive nuisance(Noun) In the legal area of torts, a hazardous object or condition that is likely to attract children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed by the object or condition, and to whom the landowner can therefore be held liable for injuries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attractive_nuisance_doctrine

The southern border of USA can be construed as an attractive nuisance. Today’s news includes a photo of a man and his 23 month old child who have drowned trying to illegally cross the USA/Mexico border.

The news of free handouts, ability to make more money, and what they perceive as a better life financially in the USA caused this father to try to swim a dangerous river to enter the USA illegally.

The USA is an Attractive Nuisance to the citizens of South America and causes many of them hardships and even death as they try to enter illegally. Therefore, a fence, a tall, impenetrable fence, legally needs to be put at the border to prevent these South American citizens from harming themselves or their children as they attempt to cross illegally.

(This photo sparked this article that I wrote just now, but because of the timeliness, I knew I would never get it published before the initial story got cold, so I’m publishing it here on my blog as a writer.)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ken-cuccinelli-migrant-father-child-drowned-090228296.html

Working on the New Article

I’m sitting here at the computer finishing my breakfast and decide to begin working on my new article. I am well aware that rejection is a possibility, but hey, I won’t even get that, if I don’t try. Do you want to sit here with me for a few minutes while I do what I do when I write?

I open the notes I took last time. I bold the important (to me) writer’s guideline sections to be sure I notice them when the article is done and also to have them in the back of my mind as I write. Wanna see what I think is important at this moment?

Submission deadline: September 3, 2019

Theme-based feature articles – 800-1000 words
Theme-based mini-features – 400-800 words  (what they buy and wondering where mine will fit?)

Times New Roman 12 font
Single Space
Double Space Between Paragraphs
No Indentation (This is very important. This is how they probably print, and not to write in their style may be automatic rejection. They don’t have time to make my article fit their requirements. That’s my job. )

If your submitted work is chosen for publication, you will receive a pay range written in the contract before editing begins. (Interesting, but it doesn’t matter so much to me what they pay, as much as it matters that they use my article. Yes, I need the money)

Include your mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number and word count at the top of your manuscript. (This is important information.)

That’s all the parts that I’ve bolded. However, once the article is done, I will go back and read all their guidelines for writers to be sure I didn’t overlook anything.

While I was in the process of bolding the most important (to me) information, an idea for a short book popped into my head. Then another idea for the same kind of book popped into my head. I took the time to go to that folder on this computer and add a document containing those ideas. You can never have too many ideas as a writer. I try to catch them all, but I never do. Still . . . those two got caught. 🙂

Now I’m back to working on the current article. The word “percolate” is one that I want to use in my article. Does anyone even know what it means anymore? I’m going to check the definition and also check for synonyms. I’ll do that using a search engine – I use either google or bing.

Oh, look! The second definition under the number 1 is exactly how I plan to use the word. I don’t like any of the shown synonyms. Percolate it is!

I’m going to begin my article. How did they say they want it set up? I’ll set up the manuscript using the right font, and spacing. I’ll double check before I submit it to be sure it didn’t somehow switch as I wrote. What else do they want? My address, email, word count and something else at the top of the manuscript. Telephone number. They want that too. Let me start my article by putting that in since that’s what they want at the top.

Done. Now what’s the title? I have no idea. I’ll put in the theme of that magazine . . . each of their magazines has a theme, and hope a title occurs to me as I write. . . One did and I now have a “working title” that still  may change.

I begin my article and write until I get tired. I’ll stop for now and check my number of words. I do this by copy/pasting my words into this website: https://wordcounttools.com/ I have 245 words written on a 7th/8th grade reading level. That’s frequently the reading level my writing shows to be on, and that will work fine for this magazine.

How many words am I aiming for? 400 to 800 or 800 to 1000. I have more to say. But I’m tired, and this is a good place to stop. I’ve touched on what I plan to write about, and I’ll elaborate when I come back. I want the article completed well before the deadline so I can give it time to get “cold”. That is, for me to go a couple weeks after I’ve finished it and then come back with fresh eyes and reread it and see if I still like it as it is, or do I want to make changes? Writing takes time. Editing takes time. I’m done for today.

(By the way, I checked the number of words in this post and it’s 766 words on a 7th/8th grade reading level. So this is how many words – those in the post – that I hope to write in my article. I don’t think I can finish what I’m explaining in 400 words, so the article will probably fall into the 800 to 1000 word category.)

Writer’s Guidelines and Themes

I’ve been so busy with editing my books that I haven’t really sat down and written a new article in awhile. I mentioned to my son that a few months ago a former editor had asked me to send another article, after she had accepted and printed two. ‘Why haven’t you?” he asked.

That was a good question. I just had been busy with the books. But it would be nice to do something different for a change. So, even though I’ve been published in their magazine twice before, I went to their Writer’s Guidelines to check the length requirement of any submitted article, and also to check on the upcoming themes for future publications.

Don’t know how to do that? A Writer’s Market book will tell you, OR you can try googling “Writer’s Guidelines for name of magazine” and see what pops up. To find out themes of upcoming issues, you can also google Themes for upcoming issues of name of magazine.

While you’re on the writer’s guideline page, read the whole page. Don’t just skip around looking for desired word length of submitted articles. Notice the font size. Pay attention to the editor’s name. Just read the whole page! because everything on that page is very important to a writer who wants to be published in that magazine. Do everything exactly right. And do NOT call the editor or anyone at the magazine about your submitted article. Most will send back an email noting that your submission has been received. Magazine editors are not going to hold your hand and reassure you. If they are interested in the article, they will contact you. Be professional and wait. Move on to your next project.

The theme for each issue, if they have one, is also something you need to pay strict attention to. For the next issue the magazine I am submitting my article to, the theme was a little confusing. Am I going to ask them what they meant? No. I am going to write the article I think will be relevant and submit it. If they don’t use it, I’ll look for another magazine in that genre and submit it to them. But first I’ll wait to see if this magazine wants it.

I noticed the deadline for the submissions for their upcoming magazine. I put that deadline and the place to submit the article on the notes page that I have started regarding that article. Writing takes time. I’ve chosen my topic and I mostly know how I will write it, but I’m going to let a week or two go by while my mind works out the details. Your writer’s mind will do that. Even if you are not aware of it, once you are planning an article, your mind will work on it subconsciously. Take your time. Do your best. Make that sale!

Will I sell this article? I hope so. I don’t know. I do know I have high interest in the subject matter. I know they have liked my writing in the past, but it’s been years since I submitted anything to them and the editor I had a relationship with has moved on. Like you, I can only hope they’ll like it and buy it. I’ll let you know.

The deadline is in September 2019. Publication will be a few months later and this magazine pays on publication, which means I won’t get paid until the article is in print in their magazine.  I’ve had other magazines that paid on acceptance, which means I got paid when they decided to use the submission. I’ve learned that magazines I’ve written for send complimentary copies so I can see my article in print. I no longer request one. That was a novice mistake, but I learned from it. I learn from every editor and every encounter I have while pursing this writing life.

Do your homework. That’s half the work. Read over what they want and send them that. Do not send anything you think is better than what they’ve asked for. They know what they want and will tell you on their writer’s guidelines page.

When I first started out, I had to mail my submissions. I typed them up on my typewriter and made myself a carbon copy. I would mail the submission and enclose a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) so they could return it, if they didn’t want it. I usually had the name of the next magazine I planned to send it to on the back of the carbon copy so I could send it right off again, and not gnash my teeth and cry “Why, oh, Why??? didn’t they want it?” They didn’t. That was all I needed to know. Usually I’d reread the submission because when it’s been some time since you looked at a piece of writing, you can sometimes see changes you want to make before sending it out again. Or you might not. But send it out again and get back to the business of writing something else. The good thing is that most magazines accept online submissions now.

It’s much like sending your children off to school. You’ve prepared them (and your article/submisson) as best you can and it’s in the hands of someone else how it’s received.

Making Dreams Come True

I have big dreams. I’ve always written and much of what I’ve written has been noticed, but there are the nuts and bolts of writing that I do not understand.

In 2008 a memoir/truth telling teacher at UNCW (I was taking her class) told me I needed to find an agent. I tried. I probably didn’t devote as much time to it as I should because I still was working, or trying to find a full-time job. I was finishing up a Masters Degree in Education because that was my life’s vocation. I had no idea how to support myself while being a full-time writer. I do write every day and plan and try to figure out how to be successful financially as a writer. I remember talking to my mother about being  a writer when I was very young and was getting noticed by teachers when I’d write. My mother had no idea how to do that. So I continued to write but went to school to become a schoolteacher. It was while I was teaching that I met a man who helped steer me into getting things published.

I actually started submitting manuscripts, or poems mostly, after he found a book of poems I’d written. We were dating, and I let him read my poems. He said they were very, very good and I should publish them. I told him I didn’t know how. He bought a Writer’s Market for me. I read through the book, but I still just thought about it. Then in the early 1980’s I saw a Creative Writing Class taught at NCSU at night. It met once a week, so I signed up for that. It was during that time that I sold my first poem, Laments of an old Cat. Shortly afterwards, I sold another poem To My Friend, George.  I learned in my class that you can resell things to different magazines. Laments of an Old Cat was bought and published by Cats Magazine and also by The Morris Report.

I frequently wrote letters to Dennis Rogers, who was a colunmnist at The News and Observer. He often used them in his Friday Leftover and Letters column. My NCSU teacher said to quit giving my writing to Dennis Rogers for free. I was busy having babies and tending to my young children and wanted to write and enjoyed seeing my writing in print. I enjoyed people contacting me and saying things about what I’d written after they’d read something I wrote that Dennis used in his column. But now I am interested in truly making writing a career. My kids are grown, and I’ve retired from teaching. I want to do this.

I am strugggling to figure out how to do all the things I am dreaming of doing. I would like to find an agent. I am working on my books and still plan to upload my next book on Amazon.com in their self-publishing venue. But what about the book after that? It is a very good book and I wonder will it be noticed among all of Amazon’s book listings?

I think I need a website. I would like to have one and see if I could also sell some of my books and get to know my readers through that. Although I write what interests me, I try to write so that others will be interested in what I’m writing as well.

I think I’ll make a month to month plan. For July, I plan to resubscribe to a magazine I’ve found helpful. My two favorite magazines for writers are Poets and Writers Magacine and also Writer’s Digest Magazine. I also want to finish uploading my Schoolteacher stories book and have it published by September. When in September I don’t know. I’ll aim for the first, but be happy if I do it by the 30th.

This is a happy endeavor.  Every day I work on something I’m writing or I have a new idea or I jot down a poem that I thought of. Many times thoughts come when I’m doing mundane tasks like washing the dishes, and I’ll stop to write them down. Otherwise they may be lost forever.

I’ll share anything I find or figure out in this blog. If anyone has any suggestions, please post in the comments. I do truly want to know what my readers think and how they handle their writing lives. Thanks. 🙂

Book Ideas And Work

I am uploading chapters of the School Teacher book, but have let my microsoft office subscription expire. I need to renew it and continue.

Meanwhile I’m looking at other books that are in various writing stages and working on them.

Do you know where to get ideas? Chances are your head is bursting with them, but then again, I had that topic covered in one of my writing classes, so maybe my ideas are gathered because of suggestions I heard.

One good place to find ideas is in news stories. You can think about what happened and then think “what if?”   . . .    What if something else had happened? Or what if it happened differently?

You can sit in a mall and watch people go by and make up stories about them in your head. You might even take a notebook and make notes. Notice clothing, hair styles, etc. too as you write. Details are important. Why are those two people together at this mall at this time? Mentally ask yourself questions and then make up possibilities. Can you tell by how close they walk or if they are holding hands or if one of them has arms crossed on chest in an angry manner while the other has a red, angry looking face, but can you see emotions? If so, can you write them up in your writing?

Sometimes when I hear something really witty, I will jot it down or put it in my memory for use at a later time.

Notice your surroundings. That’s where you can get good ideas. Notice things that happen around you every day.

I have a new neighbor moving in. I hear the couple has children. They haven’t moved in yet, but they have built a tall wooden fence around their backyard. I hear it’s because they have children. I see there is a gap under that fence large enough for a small child to crawl under, and I wonder how young their children are and how adventurous? I also have seen their yard flood. It flooded so bad one day that I took pictures of it. Will the flooding be worse because of the fence? I can make up a short story without ever seeing their children (although I saw one child down there one day), but suppose the couple moves in and the youngest child crawls under that fence while Mom thinks he’s fine out back alone (fence) and suppose that child explores the neighborhood? What adventures could he have?

I drive my own kids nuts! with my “what are they doing?” when we pass something unusual. They usually tell me it’s not my problem, or roll their eyes at each other.

Well, it IS my problem if it’s generating a story. My creative juices are at work.

A lot of stories are in my head. Right now it sounds like it’s raining outside and the wind is blowing. It was fine thirty minutes ago. I think I’ll look out the sindow and see what the weather is doing and imagine a story that could take place in this weather.

That’s where ideas come from. “What if?” and observation and interest in your fellow man.