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Writing As Self-Medication

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This article was first published in 2010, but still holds true in varying degrees, today... Writing as Self-Medication Many novelists have said they write to discover who they are, and in my experience, it’s true.   In writing novel-length works, I’ve found feelings and memories   buried inside, coming through between the lines.   I’ve also found that there is someone expressing himself in the voice of the writing that I’d like to know better.   Of course, that will lead me to write more and more.   But it seems strange, at this stage of my life, to find myself immersed in a voyage of self-discovery. Especially since I thought I had myself figured out by now.   It isn’t that there are secrets or mysteries revealed – those were thoroughly exorcised decades ago –   it’s more a feeling of familiarity with all the stages of my perpetual reinvention that I’d forgotten. Or chosen to forget. Life has a habit of putting up a fresh coat of paint...
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Production Formatting for Writers

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Production Formatting for Writers How you can wear more than one hat at a time and not even be aware of it... Last night I watched a film with my wife that involved writers passing reams of manuscript paper between themselves for the purpose of getting "notes". I laughed as it seemed pretty anachronistic. I may be wrong, but at least my own little niche of the Publishing Industry exists almost completely paper-free. I'm also at a point where I don't do a lot of cold pitching of my work; which means that some of the old pitfalls I remember in having to convert page sizes, line spacing, margins, etc. to meet the requirements of various industry readers/editors needs is gone. Almost completely. My mental notion of a "manuscript" has gone from 500 pages of double-spaced typewritten text, to 60K words in a compatible doc. file. Except in the movies, where the old concept of lugging around all that paper seems to endure. Well, piles of stacked sheets...
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Pitches: Missing the Mark with a Shotgun is Easier Than You Think...

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AARP , the American Association of Retired People has been running a new ad on NY Metro TV lately. It features a couple in logo-emblazoned red jackets repeating a catch-phrase, "Real Possibilities in NY" in conversation and through a bull-horn, alluding to free events. I find it annoying. For me, it falls flat for a couple of important reasons. First, there is no benefit content at all, so it feels like the kind of ads run by corporations to increase their public awareness level just before a stock offering. Second, it isn't targeted very effectively. AARP's market are retired people. People who have been around the block a few times. If you've been pitched to your whole life -- say for fifty or more years -- you know when your being pitched and can easily disregard any message if it doesn't carry direct connection with your actual life. That's one reason why I believe "lifestyle" advertising is wasted on anyone over fifty. Our aspi...
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