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These are some of the more common questions we get about Writing To Publish
1. Why is becoming a member done in stages? It seems complicated?
2. What are the wordcount guidelines for submissions to the group?
3. You have asked all new members to submit personal information, why?
4. What got you started taking this information? It must turn off some interested people.
5. What specifically are the "rare situations" in which you would put my contact information to use?
6. Will the price for joining this group be spam, junk mail, and telephone solicitations?
7. But I'm not supposed to give anyone my personal information. People keep telling me not to!
8. How do I make a log of a session?
9. How do I cut and paste a submission into a new email so I can critique it?
10. How do I set up an Address Book Group?
The reason we do this member induction thing "in stages" is very simple. Week after week, we get visitors in the Den who express various degrees of enthusiasm about our group. They want the info, the piece to critique, to be "put on the mailing list," and so on -- "right away!!!"
But then, when the following Monday actually rolls around, we never see them again.
Only a certain percentage of people have: a) the lasting commitment, b) the actual time, and c) the organizational ability, to really participate on an ongoing basis.
Their second and third visits are a real demonstration of these. :-)
To answer your question, the usual word limit on submissions is 3000. They have run from as little as 250 words, to (in one case of misunderstanding) more than 12,000. But the members know they don;t "have to" plow through more than 3000.
In fact, folks who send along too many words, won't get enough detailed critiques to be worth the bother. And because of time restraints, many members do not have the time to commit to more than 3000 words to critique.
We have asked everyone to submit their contact information, to be kept on file in strict privacy. That is, their:
Full Name
Phone Number
Full Street Address
An alternate, non-AOL email address (if available)
* While the group leader will have a copy of this information, the other members do not have access. If you want to share personal information you are free to do so, but you may also work anonymously once this data is on record.
4. What got you started taking this information? It must turn off some interested people.
The main reason to get personal info is as a discouragement to plagiarism. It's a very real problem for writers, one already experienced by several of our members, though not in this forum.
However, should anyone be tempted, we'd see it eventually -- and know where to sic our lawyers.
Look at it from our point of view. Why would we send our hard-wrought tales to someone who insists on remaining hidden?
The second reason is to discourage "role playing" by disturbed individuals. This is cyberspace, after all. With tens of millions of members, AOL is larger than Los Angeles or New York City, and just as full of weirdoes. We've encountered a few in the Writers Den, but they never stayed around for long.
On a positive note, we want everyone to be "up front" about themselves, their writing, and their goals for it. In this context, can you really separate the writer from the writing?
A street address is helpful. Should you ever win a prize in one of our themed contests, I will, after all, need to know where to send it. :-)
The alternate email helps us keep in touch if you ever have a problem with your AOL account. Not that such a thing would ever really happen . . . ;-)
5. What specifically are the "rare situations" in which you would put my contact information to use?
This brings us to another reason, the one that's most often invoked. Even so, since 1995, it's only come up three or four times.
It's really quite simple. Nothing can get started until the featured member appears. If they don't show up on time, the rest of us are pretty much sitting around, twiddling our cyber-thumbs, and hoping they will.
The solution? I get on the phone to see what is going on. In one case, last minute computer problems had erupted. In another, that member had suddenly taken ill; fortunately it wasn't serious. In a third, they managed to log on right when I was calling.
6. Will the price for joining this group be spam, junk mail, and telephone solicitations?
Our own Writing to Publish web site is full of spam-busting ideas. I regularly forward junk email to tosemail1 and tosspam for AOL's hot shots to blast out of cyberspace.
Our policy is that the personal info will be private, and that's what it is and shall remain -- private! If you want additional verification, just ask the other members in the Den next Monday.
Besides, how much $$$ do you suppose we could make with a mailing list of under a hundred people? Spammers deal in millions of email addresses . .
7. But I'm not supposed to give anyone my personal information. People keep telling me not to!
This is a private Writing to Publish membership policy. AOL's wise and prudent "don't tell" policy still applies for your usual online interactions.
Let's compare. Have you ever signed a financial contract, or applied for a job, or obtained a video rental card? You gave that bunch of total strangers far more personal information than we're asking for.
* Let's wrap this up on a happy note. :-)
This privacy thing has not stopped a number of close friendships from developing. Members have gone on to collaborate on stories and scripts.
One of our older ladies had cancer, and another member moved to California to live nearby, and cared for her until her death. They were known to everyone as The Twins because they're both named Cherie, and one of their children's stories is now in print.
Some of us have discovered other shared interests. Two members who happen to be dentists attended a professional conference together.
We've also held one official Writing to Publish (eWorld Fiction Writers, back then) get-together, in June 1999 in Las Vegas. Photos are posted on our web site.
It's a very easy process. Click on "File" at the top of your AOL screen, and slide down to "Log Manager" and click on it. A box will pop up. Click on the "Open Log." A box will appear, showing where the document will save. You can save it where you like, naming the file anything you want. When done, open the "Log Manager" box the same way and press "Close Log."
It is very simple, and feel free to ask for help if you have any difficulties.
Cutting and pasting is one of the most basic functions of ALL computers, and of ANY word processing, office, email, or other text-based software.
The reason you can't alter an email (you have received) is that it is secured as a "hard version" of the document. Just think, you wouldn't want someone to change an email you sent and then pass it off as yours. So, what you have to do is copy the entire email into the text of a new one. To do this on most computers, either you use the edit screen to copy and paste, or there will be function keys that will do this on a Mac.
On a PC, highlight the text, and then click the "reply all" button on the critique. When the new e-mail opens, the selected text will appear printed in the new e-mail.
It's that easy.
Go to your "Mail" section of AOL, and slide down the pop-up menu to "Address Book." .
Click on your "Address Book," and your main Address Book screen will come up. In the center, there will be an option "Add Group," click on that. A new screen will appear, and at the top, there's a box to enter a group name. Name the group, then proceed to step 3. In the box for "additional contacts" right click, and click on "Paste," pasting the previously copied list of active members into the box.
Last step, click on "Save," and you will save your new group to the Address Book.
If you still have problems, just ask a host for help.
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