Fall Fun

Hi, this is daughter-in-law Steph again, showing you what grandma Susanne has been up to the past couple weeks here in Minnesota! We have all been very sick this past week (including grandma), but luckily last weekend before the sickness came, we had time to go to the pumpkin patch. Here is grandma and her chickadee peeps on the hayride!

Picking out our pumpkin. . .

and now decorating.

Speaking of "chickadee peeps", guess what costumes I found online this year? In honor of grandma being here for Halloween for the first time, the girls are going as Peeps!

We love you, grandma!

Love,

your chickadee Peeps -- Emily and Bri

Friday--The Writer's Porch

The Art of the Article -- Part 5

In this final post on "The Art of the Article" we are going to chat about what you do once you’ve sent in your query to a magazine publisher—you start to write your next article or devotion.

Do not wait to hear from the editor. It could take anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months before you have a response. In fact, once I heard from an editor three years after sending a query. They wanted to publish it after all that time—amazing!

Somewhere between 60 to 90 days it is permissible to send an email just to see if they have received your query. Do not expect them to remember it off the top of their heads, but you can jog their memory with a brief description.

If you have not heard anything from the publication after six months and you would like to query another magazine with the same article then you must send a formal withdrawal to the magazine withdrawing your article from consideration. Keep a copy of this withdrawal for your own personal records.

Perhaps you will receive an offer to be published in the magazine. Yippee! Most publications will send you a contract describing the “rights” they are offering. The rights are usually something like this:

All Rights—Your relinquish all rights to your manuscript. The publication can publish the article as many times as they would like and in any magazine.

First Rights—They have the rights to print the article the first time and then the rights return back to you after a certain amount of time. You can then republish the manuscript in another magazine or chapter of a book, etc.

Reprint Rights/2nd Rights—The publication is acquiring the rights of your manuscript to publish a piece that has previously been published.

Well, are you thoroughly confused? Welcome to the world of writing! Please let me know when you have submitted your query. I would like to pray for your success in the Art of Article Writing.

Pens & Pencils Hugs,

The Help--Caramel Cake

This post is to my foodie friends. A few weeks ago, I blogged about one of my all-time favorite books--The Help. Throughout the book it referenced a caramel cake that Minnie made, a southern prize-winning cake. (Except that Minnie put the "Terrible Awful" in it.) Now does that make you want to read the book or what?

Anyway, I was intrigued by the cake. I had never heard of caramel cake prior to reading The Help. So I did what any foodie does--I Googled the recipe. I made it for our last book club. It was delicious. A bit labor intensive, but if you like caramel you'll like this cake. The frosting is more like homemade carmel candy than a regular buttercream frosting. Here's the recipe. Happy Baking!

http://southernfood.about.com/od/cakerecipes/r/r81130k.htm

Friday--The Writer's Porch

The Art of the Article—Part 4

In the Writer's Porch last Friday, I blogged about how to query an editor for the possible publication of an article. Below is a copy of a query letter that I sent out several years ago to two different magazines in two different years. I sold it both times. The first time I sold First Rights and then I sold Reprint or 2nd Rights.

Susanne Scheppmann
My Address
My Email
My Phone #

Magazine Name
Attn: Name of Editor
Address
City, State

Dear Ms. ?????,

Ministry may embezzle laughter from life. Lost laughter affects not only those in ministry, but also their families. Those of us in ministry need to evaluate and regain the joy promised to us. For your consideration, please find enclosed “Has Ministry Embezzled the Laugh from Your Life?” an article concerning one of the hazards of ministry.

Currently, I serve as Women’s Ministries Director at The Crossing, A Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. My education includes a BA in Interpersonal Communication and a BA in Christian Studies.

I am published in The Young Believers Case Files by Tyndale Publishers, 2003; God’s Way for Mothers by WhiteStone Publishing, 2003; Encounters With God by Family Christian Bookstores, 2004. My most current bylines include articles published in: Pray!, Proverbs 31 Woman, Today’s Christian Woman, and Breakthrough Intercessor.

Thank you for the ministry of (magazine name) and the opportunity to submit an article for possible publication. I have enclosed an SASE for your convenience. (Email is now the more likely source of correspondence.)

Sincerely,

Susanne Scheppmann

Your assignment--write your query letter for your article. :)

Friday--The Writer's Porch

The Art of the Article—Part 3

Did you write your 500-word article as assigned last week? I hope you did, because today we are going to learn how to query a magazine editor.

Now, I am sure many of you are asking, “Query? What is a query?” A query is a letter written to an editor to express your desire to write an article and to pique her interest in your idea. The query letter must be perfectly written with a great hook, so that the editor decides she needs to see your manuscript. If the editor requests your manuscript, it does not mean that she is going to publish it. It only means that you’ve hooked her attention enough that she wants to see more of your topic and writing skills.

All right, so you have a great idea on an article that you would like to submit to a magazine or an e-zine. Where do you go from here? Great question! There are two approaches for article writing and submission.

1. Query the magazine editor with your idea and wait for a response before writing it.
2. Write the article and then query the editor.

Let’s explore the pros and cons of each of these tactics. Make sure to study the magazine’s writer guidelines so that you know how they prefer to be queried.

Query 1. The reason to query the magazine first is that you don’t waste your time on an article that nobody wants. If you query and there is possible interest, then the editor might be able to give you advice and clarity on what he or she would like to see in the article.

Query 2, or option number two. Writing the article first benefits you in knowing that you can actually write the article. Plus, as you write, you may discover a completely different angle to take. Thus, when you query an editor your piece may hold more appeal than when you began with only an idea.

For myself, I prefer the latter option. I am not sure why, but I think if I have a concept of an article, I like to see it on my screen. I believe I write better queries. But with that said, I have wasted a lot of time on articles that never saw the light of day.

In addition, this approach may hinder an editor that may want to assign me a topic as a writer. The editor may not think I have the ability to write on assignment. Also, if I promoted myself more as a freelance article writer, I would probably have switched to the query first and then writing the article. But for now, I write and then submit. Do whatever makes the most sense to you and your writing style.

I currently need to write about ten articles on a variety of topics coming from my various books to help promote the books. Even as I write this I think, “Why don’t I just send out the queries to see if I get a nibble?” But for some quirky reason, I want to write the article first. So, I put pressure on myself to write. Is this good or bad? I really don’t know, it’s just my personal preference.

Two Very Important Rules:

Make sure before you query a magazine editor that your article is a good fit for their magazine. Don’t send an article about raising godly children to a publication that publishes articles on fashion!

Only query one editor at a time for each magazine article. It is considered taboo to query more than one at a time because these magazines are competing for the same audience. Once you have received a rejection on the article, it is all right for you to send a query to another magazine.

Let the editor know what rights you are offering for the article: All Rights, First Rights, Reprint Rights. (We’ll take a look at that in two weeks.)

Keep the Heart-Print Faith—Fun, Fearless and Fulfilled,

Quit Reading?

Should we quit reading?

This post is a guest post by Margaret Traudt. (She's my daughter-in-love's mom and one of my best friends.) She wrote this on her personal blog and she allowed me to "steal" it for mine. (She also reads most of my work as a personal editor. Her editing information is below.)

"Last post I mentioned the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. She talks about how to bring out your creative side, and one of her "requirements" is to write everyday. (She says to write 3 pages, but I'm pleased if I finish 1 page each day.) One thing this writing accomplishes is to "unblock" your creativity. In other words, you're supposed to write about all the things, people, circumstances that are keeping you from being creative, so that once you've written about them, you've moved them out of your way and voila! you're free to be creative.

But, then she goes a little far and says that one thing that blocks creativity is too much reading! So, she recommends a season of reading deprivation so your mind can think about the things you want to create instead of focusing on what other people have created. Actually, I have to admit that she makes a good point. I find that I can really become wrapped up in a good book, or in a series of good books. Like lately! She doesn't say this deprivation has to be long term but until you've spent some time "creating" and you're no longer blocked.

I was giving some serious thought yesterday to trying this, but then because of a new tutoring student starting today I had to read Lord of the Flies last night. (It's amazing I'd never read it before because it seems to be required reading for many high school students. I think that trend may have started in the late 60's after I was out of high school.) But, I was able to finish it in less than 24 hrs. So, now, I'm back to considering the deprivation thing. I'm not going to give up my day-to-day readings that I'm already committed to, but I may have a season (a short season) with no "pleasure" reading. (Not that my day-to-day reading isn't pleasurable--maybe frivolous would be a better adjective--for the reading I'm giving up, that is.)

Hmmm--what will I do with that extra time? Is there something creative I should be working on? We'll see! I do have a sewing project started, or some knitting, or maybe I could do some creative cooking, or work in the yard, or. . . . .If you have an opinion about the reading deprivation, let me hear it. Have a great day!"

(Copyright Margaret Traudt, 2009. )

Editing & Proof Reading

Margaret Traudt

Email: jt15708@peoplepc.com

(402) 782 8973

What are your thoughts?

Susanne

Groovy Grandmas

I wish I could have had a groovy grandma. Unfortunately, both of my grandmothers were quite crotchety. One I couldn't even call "Grandma". She only allowed me to call her by her first name--Jean. She pretended to be my aunt to everyone, I guess because she didn't want to be a grandma. (Obviously she was biologically, but not emotionally.)

So years and years ago, way before I became a grandma, I decided to be a groovy grandma when I had the privilege to be one.


When my boys were little I prayed for their future wives and families. One of my requests was, "Lord, let me love their families. Let them have fun families."


Sure enough, the Lord granted that request--BIG TIME! I adore both of my daughters-in-loves' mothers. Margaret lives in Nebraska. Barb lives in Virginia. They are long distance best friends. What a blessing to me, my children and grandchildren.



Together we are three groovy grandmas who want our grandchildren to live out lives of faith. We desire for the Christian legacies of families to continue on for generation after generation.

Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged. Proverbs 17:6a (NLT)

Share your Heart-Print Faith,

Susanne