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An unusual solution to overcoming writers block [video]

Breakthrough

When you’re trying to write stories or poems for Perspectives Magazine, do you experience writers block?  Delving into the mind of an inanimate object is challenging and may produce anxiety associated with writers block.  The solution?  Watch this video and listen to an unusual–but helpful–twist on this phenomenon and how to overcome it.  I mentioned it to the members of my writers group {!} and then applied it to an exercise; they were amazed at the results.

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• A Kit to Thwart Writer’s Block (prathambooks.org)
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The buzz word for Perspectives Magazine is “change”

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been thinking about the concept of change lately.  Today, July 1, is my birthday–that means a change in my age.

The second change deals with writer’s guidelines.  I’ve been looking for part-time work for awhile now.  And in my experience, the number one “no-no” that companies use to weed out potential employees is found during an interview.  They’ll ask, “Do you have any questions for us?”  If I did not research the company’s history, mission statement, or take an interest in them, my resume ends up in the garbage.

Well, it’s the same with my magazine.  Nothing saddens me more than getting a submission from someone who clearly has not read the guidelines. The time is coming when I will probably end up trashing a good manuscript.  The best way to get my attention is to follow the guidelines.  I even created a bulleted checklist on the guideline website to increase your chances of being published.

The final change deals with the magazine.  I’ve been publishing Perspectives since 2006 and have been waiting for advertisers to come on board and support me.  Nothing has happened yet.  That means the expenses: gifts, mailing and printing costs, cost of buying photos, and writers’ payments come out of my disability cheque.  I suppose I should have researched the pros and cons of producing a magazine first but all that doesn’t matter.

The point is that things are getting financially tight.  I was going to scrap the whole idea but decided against it.  This is my joy.  This is my baby.  This is my passion.  I get so excited–feel so intimate and privileged–when writers share their minds through submissions.  The readers get a chance to escape their stressed-out world for awhile.  The thought of discontinuing the magazine and later seeing, or hearing, the same concept published worldwide just because someone else could afford it–well, I just couldn’t bear it.  My dream-heavy heart would descend like a waterfall, sending thousands of glass splinters across the rocks…

Anyway, I am not quitting.  Perspectives and Christian Perspectives are going forward with or without advertisers.  However, without advertisers, there will be:

• No gifts.
• No photos unless the writer is able to supply them.
• A small financial reward.  I still insist on paying my contributors.
• The contributor’s copy will be delivered via pdf attachment.  The writer will have to bring it to a printer and have it stapled.

Advertising in Perspectives will be the cheapest anywhere.  And if you advertise in Christian Perspectives, the same ad will appear in Perspectives for the same price.  If you’re a contributor and place an ad, there will be special offers.   Other incentives are planned.

January 2010 is a long way off.  Now that the magazine is uploaded online maybe someone will take a chance and promote their product/service.  I’ll experience a breakthrough and Perspectives will be a first-class literary magazine.

The bottom line is that the future of Perspectives involves change.  I’m not even sure if this post will cause a positive or negative change in the reader’s perspective.  I hope not.  Anyway, thanks for listening.

__________

Feel free to leave any comments.

Interesting search results of “inanimate objects”

I was thinking about the changes that will take place in the following weeks relating to the magazine.  Thinking about the new publication and the revised Perspectives guidelines just to name a few.  My pensive state led me to do a Google search for “inanimate objects.”  I wasn’t sure what I’d find but I’m thankful I exercised my intuition!  Apparently, there’s a word that describes the concept of the magazine:

Noun 1. animatism – the attribution of consciousness and personality to natural phenomena such as thunderstorms and earthquakes and to objects such as plants and stones

Not only that but anyone who writes for Perspectives Magazine:

• is into abiology: the study of inanimate objects
• is animatistic: [animatism=the assignment to inanimate objects, forces, and plants of personalities and wills, but not souls. — animatistic, adj.]

I also discovered some references to inanimate objects in classic literature:

• Hem believes that in the visible world there are void places– vacua, and something more–holes, as it were, through which animate and inanimate objects may fall into the invisible world and be seen and heard no more.
  Present At A Hanging And Other Ghost Stories by Bierce, Ambrose
• It is strange how inanimate objects will twine themselves into our affections, especially in the hour of affliction.
  Typee by Melville, Herman
• It was a typical summer evening in June, the atmosphere being in such delicate equilibrium and so transmissive that inanimate objects seemed endowed with two or three senses, if not five.
  Tess of the d’Urbervilles – A Pure Woman by Hardy, Thomas

Had these authors been alive today, I could have run across their submissions in my inbox!

__________

Search that same phrase on another engine.  Did you find anything post-worthy?

NEEDED: Stock photo researchers for creative assignments

via http://www.photoxpress.com

I need RF stock photos–preferrably 300dpi and without people.  After June 15th, I search for images that fit the stories/poems (see samples).  Example: I have a story about two raindrops conversing while falling through the sky.  So, I’m looking for an aerial view of raindrops; not raindrops on a window or glass.  I need all the photos by June 24th.  Visit the website and see the object pov’s coming in July 09.  I would send you a list of the objects and story summaries.

Payment: Attribution only

Anyone interested?

Photos to inspire possible contributors

When I saw the photos on the link below, I thought of how neat it would be to read about the world through the eyes of a wall–a 3D, trompe l’oeil wall!  Look at these three photos painted by John Pugh:

Perhaps I’ll see a submission based on these images!

Link

Cigarette toothpaste

What a great cigarette/tobacco-themed perspective!

* If you know where this picture came from, please post the source so I can give the proper photo attribution.

Video describes the world through the eyes of an egg

I thought I’d share this amusing YouTube video of an egg describing its world…