Ignite Your Imagination

Which is more interesting- your writing or your life?  Think carefully before you answer.

Do you write about interesting things in an uninteresting way?

Do you do the same things day after day, month after month, year after year?  Is television more exciting than your life?  How can you hope to write interesting fiction if all of this describes your life?

Writing is no substitute for an interesting life.  Research is no substitute for experience.  This applies to your imaginary life as well as your real life.  What I'm saying is if you can't live large, then dream large.  It will show in your writing.  No one wants to read stories about people who settle written by writers who settle.

Here's a three step recipe to put some passion in your writing so your readers don't fall asleep on you:


1.  Read Charles Gramlich's "Write With Fire."

2.  Quit attending writer's groups and pay attention to life around you.  And maybe quit getting your weather reports from weather.com and pay attention to the sky.  Ignore group input and think for yourself for a change.  You'll be amazed how much more interesting your writing gets.  Vary your life routine a little.  Don't keep doing the same things day after day after day.

3.  Read Charles Gramlich's "Write With Fire" again.  Seriously.  Your writing will immediately improve.

The Writer as God

A writer told me the truth once.

She said, "When I write, I am the God of my world and I am closest to the Divine that I can be. I form the men and women of my world from the left-over dust of my thoughts and I breathe the life of my inspiration into them."

Long hair, rich and brown. A glass of wine bled from fragrant grapes bursting with life. A slight tilt to her chin and eyes brash with a challenge to the whole world as though I wasn't even there. Drunk with the power of creation.

Beyond the porch light of her world, the demons watched, drawn by her passionate fire.

For the difference between the Divine and the Darkness is the gift of creation.

Writers create, plagiarists hide in the shadows waiting to steal what they cannot bring forth on their own.

The Good Fight

Inivite Your Publisher to Sit Down
With You-

But Not on You

*****

"Union grievance officers have recovered more than $1.4 million for NWU members and have represented members in non-monetary grievances as well."

Source: The Nationa Writers Union website.

*****

J.K. Rowlings probably doesn't need a union.  Stephen King can buy and sell the state of Maine, and Stephanie Meyers is probably looking at buying the Virgin Islands.  They can afford to to stand up for themselves.  How about you?

Let's say you sold an article a few years back to the New York Times.  You sold them First North American print rights.  You beam.  You glow.  Your friends and neighbors ask to be photographed with you and you begin to get holiday cards not addressed to "Occupant."  Things are going well.

Then, someone tells you that they saw your article on the web, or accessed it on an electronic database.  You start to think.  Maybe it's a mistake.  Maybe they misunderstood the deal.  You contact them.  They say they're exercising their rights under the contract.  You point out that the contract is for print, not electronic publications.   They hang up on you.

A quick check of your bank account reveals that you can afford to buy a new blender, but unfortunately can't afford to sue the New York Times. 

You've been proud of your independence.  You take on the world with your laptop.  Your brain and you against the world.  You're published.  By a big publisher.  But now that big publisher is pushing you around.

If you were both a freelance writer and also a member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981, you could contact your Union.  If you weren't, well, you'd have a long, uphill and expensive legal fight that just might be more than you could afford.

Here's the story, taken from the National Writers Union Website of "Tasini et al vs. The New York Times Company, Newsday Inc., Time Inc., Lexis/Nexis, and University Microfilms Inc. et al":

*****

"Tasini v. New York Times


Tasini et al v. The New York Times et al is the landmark lawsuit brought by members of the National Writers Union against The New York Times Company, Newsday Inc., Time Inc., Lexis/Nexis, and University Microfilms Inc., charging copyright violation regarding the electronic reuse of work produced and sold on a freelance basis.

Background

For decades when freelance writers sold stories to American publications, it was understood by all concerned that they were selling only First North American Serial Rights which allowed the newspaper or magazine to publish the story in print one time. For freelance authors, retention of all other copyrights is crucial to their economic survival because a significant additional source of income comes from their ability to sell secondary rights such as syndication, translations, anthologies, and so forth, to other publications.

With the advent of electronic media including databases like Nexis, publishers such as Time/Warner and the Times/Mirror Company, the parent companies of Time and Newsday, have been selling freelance-authored material to electronic databases such as Nexis/Lexis without any additional payment or purchase of electronic rights from the original authors. They claim, without justification, that by purchasing First North American Serial Rights they automatically gain electronic republication rights. Tasini et al v. The New York Times et al established that they are violating the copyrights of writers."

*****

Now that's what I call a happy ending.  Oh yes, there was a financial settlement involved.  Guess how much?

Make It Your New Year's Resolution to Join the National Writers Union

Join the National Writers Union

I'm a proud member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981 and today I'm asking you to join, too.  We represent both fiction and nonfiction writers.  But, you may say, I became a writer/poet/screenplay writer/ magazine freelancer to be a creatively independent professional. Why should I join a union?

Put aside your stereotypes for a minute and I'll tell you why.  This isn't about politics- it's about protecting your work and your income as a writer no matter which end of the political spectrum you embrace.

It's a fact.  In this day and age, writers need representation.  I know from first-hand experience.  When I needed help, the National Writers Union was there for me.  But do you need to join this union?  I think you should because of the benefits.  This quote from the NWU Home Page makes the case:

"Now, more than ever, with the consolidation of power into the hands of ever-larger corporate entities and with the advent of technologies that facilitate the exploitation of a writer’s work, writers need an organization with the clout and know-how to protect our interests."

Corporations are taking over the publishing industry like never before.  The National Writers Union has stood up to the likes of the New York Times.  They raised the warning flag about Google moving in on our copyrights.  Believe me, they can stand with you for fair treatment from your publisher, no matter how big or small that publisher or media giant is. 

And writers suffer financially as much and sometimes more than the rest of the workforce during these difficult times. Many of us don't have health insurance, dental and/or vision insurance. We can't always afford lawyers.  We don't know where to go for contract advice. When our work is being threatened by plagiarists, copyright infringment or publishers that don't respect our electronic rights, most writers stand alone. When we're not paid on time or at all by publishers, what can we do? What do we do?

Most writers can't afford to stand up to an Indie Press publisher when they're not paid on time or at all, much less stand up to a large publishing house. In fact, most freelance writers can't even get a press pass.

Regular readers of this blog know that I was plagiarized a while back, and after it sunk in that someone had stolen from me,do you know who I turned to for both advice and moral support? It was to you, my fellow bloggers, and the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981. So I thought I should bring the two of you together. Why might my fellow bloggers/ writers be interested in the NWU?  Because the internet is still full of scam publishers and plagiarists and because the NWU is still the only labor union that represents writers.


My father was a Union President at the Post Office. He also owned his own business, repairing appliances at night. He believed in the right to being an independent, and he also believed in collective representation. The two are not mutually contradictory.  As writers, most of us work independently at our writing business, but, like my father, I believe we still have the right to benefit from professional collective representation.

Stay with me for the next two posts and I'll tell you why being a Union member doesn't take the romance out of writing for me, it puts the excitement back in it!

A Shocking New Tale of Copyright Violation and how Bloggers Rushed to Illadore's Aid

Centuries Ago,

Plagiarists & Copyright Violaters
Began Working Overtime at

Making Money from Our Creative Work 
&
They're Still Hard at It

Is this the season for plagiary and copyright violation or what?  My copyright attorney, Patrick Sturdy, of CMDA told me that with the advent of the Internet, it's as bad as it was in the 1920's and 1930's.  What is it about the Internet that brings plagiarists out of the woodwork?

What follows is a direct quote from Illadore's House o Crack - Copyright Infringement and Me.  It's a wonderful example of how writers who are Bloggers can fight back!  All Hail Bloggers!!

Good for you, Illadore!

And everyone go to Crooks Source to support the cause of Bloggers Against Copyright Violation and hopefully plagiarism will get its own page, too.  Wait, it already did.  It's called Plagiarism Watchfires!

*****

"My 2005 Ice Dragon entry, called 'A Tale of Two Tarts' was apparently printed without my knowledge or permission in a magazine and I am apparently the victim of copyright infringement.

The story:


I was contacted early last week by a friend of mine who lives in the Northeast about my "As American as Apple Pie - Isn't!" article that was published in Cooks Source magazine, mostly to inquire how I had gotten published. This was news to me, as I hadn't ever heard of this magazine before.



However, some basic Google-fu lead me to find them online and on Facebook. In fact, after looking at the Cooks Source Facebook page, I found the article with my name on it on on "Page 10" of the Cooks Source Pumpkin fest issue. (No worries, I have screencaps.) The magazine is published on paper (the website says they have between 17,000 and 28,000 readers) as well as being published on Facebook as well.



So. I first phone the magazine then send a quick note to the "Contact Us" information page, asking them what happened and how they got my article. (I thought it could have been some sort of mix-up or that someone posted it to some sort of free article database.) Apparently, it was just copied straight off the Godecookery webpage. As you can see from the page, it is copyrighted and it is also on a Domain name that I own.



After the first couple of emails, the editor of Cooks Source asked me what I wanted -- I responded that I wanted an apology on Facebook, a printed apology in the magazine and $130 donation (which turns out to be about $0.10 per word of the original article) to be given to the Columbia School of Journalism.



What I got instead was this (I am just quoting a piece of it here:)



"Yes Monica, I have been doing this for 3 decades, having been an editor at The Voice, Housitonic Home and Connecticut Woman Magazine. I do know about copyright laws. It was "my bad" indeed, and, as the magazine is put together in long sessions, tired eyes and minds somethings forget to do these things.


But honestly Monica, the web is considered "public domain" and you should be happy we just didn't "lift" your whole article and put someone else's name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me! I never charge young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces, and have many who write for me... ALWAYS for free!"


I got nothing.


Scratch that. I sure as heck do. Let's go over the major points:



At this point, I am mad as hell. It is now the principle of the thing -- and I also can not quite believe that my copyright was violated -- and then I was informed that I should *pay them* for editing it for me!



The web is NOT public domain! Don't believe me? Try the University of Maryland University College -- or just Google it.



I should be thankful because I wasn't flat out plagiarized? Don't college students get, oh, I dunno, tossed out for being caught for plagiarism? How is this a valid argument?




I have some ideas of where to go from here but I am more than willing to listen to other suggestions."

*****

I want to see justice for Illadore, so I recommended the IC3 filing approach followed by notification of the Attorney General in her state re: Consumer Fraud Protection.

The way Illadore was treated is absolutely despicable.  Sounds like "Cook's Source" has been taking lessons from David Boyer.

Why do you think seeing so much disregard for creative rights?  Isn't it time to rally behind the National Writers Union?