December Speaker David Williams
Persistence, Perseverence, and Passion
by Goldie Silverman

These were the watchwords that David Williams, our December speaker, left with us, the secrets to his success as a writer, and a very successful writer he is, with several books and many magazine articles and book reviews in his curriculum vitae, and a new book contract in the works.

David did not grow up thinking he would become a writer; he grew up a reader. Except for keeping a journal, he didn't like writing. He chose to attend Colorado College because English wasn't a required subject. After graduating with a degree in geology, he moved to Moab, Utah. As a “trip mom” at an educational institute there, one of his tasks was to coordinate workshops. He heard the writing lecturers say, “write what you know,” and realized that he knew the natural history of Southern Utah, the animals, plants, and of course the geology. It was a subject that not many people were writing about. He had an article, “What Is A Desert?” accepted at Zephyrs, an alternative newspaper in Southern Utah, and never looked back. David's first book, a field guide to Southern Utah, was turned down, politely, by a publisher from Falcon Press whom he met when he was a park ranger in Utah.

A few years later, in Boston, a friend suggested that he make his proposal broader, and resubmit it to Falcon. This time a different person saw it, liked it, and accepted it. That kind of persistence continues to mark David's professional life.

Persistence, to David, means never giving up on a topic or an editor. He likes to make personal contact with editors and agents, and does not hesitate to telephone one and invite him or her to coffee. David does not go for the crush of the crowd around the editor or agent at a writing conference; he prefers a quieter approach. Any time he has an idea, David says, he will phone the editor that he thinks should be interested in that topic. If it's turned down, he's not discouraged, but goes on to find a different editor. If the editor doesn't respond, David persists in calling back, resending queries, sending a second email (with an apology as if the editor hadn't received the first one).

Timing is especially important in making opportunities happen, David said, and this is where perseverance comes in. He constantly has feelers out for new periodicals and new topics for articles. Once a month, David visits a magazine store to see what new publications are on the rack that might be interested in his writing. He describes himself as aggressive about sending proposals to magazines all over the country, and using the same material over and over again, “re-tooling” it to be appropriate to the readership of the magazine he is approaching. As an example, he told us about writing about building stone, materials that can be seen in every downtown of every city. His article on building stone, with a few adjustments for the local scene, has appeared in publications all over the country—Sunset Magazine, the Seattle Times, and several infight magazines. How's this for perseverance: he approached Smithsonian magazine eleven times before a proposal was accepted. David said, “I made my opportunities through naively thinking I could do it.”

(Here's a suggestion for all of us to follow: David has had much success in writing for alumni magazines. For example, when he learned that a professor from Yale University would be speaking in Seattle, he contacted their alumni journal and ended up with the assignment to cover his appearance.)

Finally, there is passion. “Geology is my passion in life,” David said. It was his major in college and it will be the subject of his new book, with ten chapters on building stones all over the country, from brownstones in New York City to Bunker Hill to the Getty museum in California to petrified wood. Whatever your passion is, he concluded, that is what you should be writing about.

November Speaker Judy Bodmer
How to Develop Your Name
by Janette Lemmé

Judy Bodmer tells us she is not “famous,” but she has definitely made a name for herself in the Northwest and beyond. At our November 7th meeting, she shared “How to Develop Your Name.”

Using Bette Hagman's books on wheat allergies as an example, Judy's first word of advice to writers is to follow your passion. She cited a number of people who have pursued a keen interest or developed an expertise in a subject and become acclaimed writers in their fields.

Writing about your work, hobby, travel, studies, or even your weakness and failure makes good substance for a writing career. Judy displayed Debt-Proof Your Marriage by Mary Hunt as a prime example. Not only did Mary use her victory over indebtedness as subject material, but she employed good marketing techniques to expose her name and work to as many people as possible by offering a free subscription to her money management newsletter. Rod Nichols also uses the vehicle of a topical newsletter to publicize himself and his books on financial management. Some authors now include CDs in their books.

Write articles! “This is one of the best ways to get your name out there and to build your credentials when submitting to other periodicals and book publishers,” said our speaker.

Register a website. “It's easy,” Judy insisted. All you need to do is purchase a template and pay around $8.00 a year. (I checked this out at www.web.com. It does look easy.) www.Sunservers.com and www.AIT.com were recommended for domain registration and web hosts.

A blog is useful to many. Judy posts “whatever is going on in my heart” as material for her blog. You can look into her heart at www.Writetoinspire.blogspot.com. At www.bloger.com you can sign up for a blog. Simply sign in your name and a password. www.windscraps.blogspot.com can help would-be bloggers. www.dreamwalker. blogspot.com and www.blogexplosion.com are also good options. www.trafficdriver.com directs people to the blog of their interest. If you develop a website or blog, you can build in a site meter to tell how many hits you're getting.

Do you have a cause? Do you love pets, fight cancer, or have a handicap about which you can write? Do it, states Judy. Submit your work in as many ways to as many outlets as possible.

Develop an email list. Keep track of people to whom you wish to send notice of your work.

Design bookmarks or postcards to display your authorship. Put out word of your published work (even prior publishing) to alumni and other associations to which you belong.

Accept every opportunity to speak, Judy advised. We are sure glad she accepted the opportunity to speak at SFL. It was a most informative and enjoyable presentation.

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Judy Bodmer has written numerous articles and several books. When Love Dies: How to save a hopeless marriage, What's in the Bible for Mothers, and The Write Start: Practical Advice for Successful Writing.

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October Speaker Doug Tolmie
The Power of Storytelling
Doug Tolmie spent the majority of his career with KOMO Channel 4 as a talk show producer. With over 500 shows to his credit, he began his talk by saying he'd “never made his interviewees cry. That,” he said, “was a cheap trick.” But his heartwarming stories, a tribute to his storytelling and video editing skills, often left his audience in tears. Doug's career with KOMO ran from 1978 to 2003 where he worked primarily on special projects, from Children's Hospital fundraisers, the 4th of Jul-Ivars Specials, to the highest rated local program of its time, “Town Meeting” with Ken Schram. Doug then quit television broadcasting and began his own company, Storytellers Communications, Inc. Strategic storytelling, Doug explained, “helps people build relationships of trust.” In an organization you need to build trust, and he listed two steps. The first was to connect with people through stories. The second was to validate your stories through your actions. “It's tough,” he said, “to execute both of these.”

Doug's form of storytelling is through video editing, “Video is completely different. The [writer's] pages are divided in half. The writer writes audio portions and video portions, and the "track" is what actually has to be written.” The rest are comments already on tape. He uses no set-ups, only “real stuff from the heart.” First he logs all his shots — long shots, short shots, words spoken, and the background. Then he organizes the video clips, picks the music, and adds narrative for a script. Then comes the magic of editing. Words, sound, and picture come together in one cohesive whole. Doug then showed a video clip made “only to negate some negative stories previous aired on patient/doctor relationships.” This turned out to be a touching story of a young boy with cancer, and the considerations that his doctor put into his care. The clip showed a caring doctor and medical staff, affected by their patient, and trying to do what was best for a child with a fatal disease. This, Doug said, “was against the standard doctor stereotype of the time.”

As part of Storyteller Communications, Doug often organizes nonprofit charity events. They are “only moderately successful” most of the time, but through the use of storytelling, they can raise phenomenal amounts of money. By connecting the Museum of Flight's new WWII fighter aircraft opening with the WWII Fighter Aces pilots' convention that happened to be in Seattle at the same time, Doug created an event with a storyline. He invited the 70 WWII fighter pilots, including six Medal of Honor recipients, to the Museum of Flight's “Wings of Heroes” event where their stories were told and their patriotism honored. The event broke records for fundraising, and many of the pilots whose wartime contributions had never been acknowledged, were “stunned” with the 12 standing ovations they received.

Finally, Doug's company creates corporate images. “Facts and figures have no emotions. If you want to connect, you have to tell stories.” Listening to the employees and owners, Doug creates a meaningful corporate history. He rewrites their Mission Statements, usually taking a very long, complicated paragraph written by committee and shortening it down. “The simpler the message, the easier it is for people to follow,” Doug explained. He provided a few Mission Statements along with the companies they represented.

To make people happy — Disney

To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people have —Walmart

Earning the trust of our customers one at a time — Nordstroms

To solve unsolved problems innovatively — 3M

To restore people to full life and health — Medtronic

Building better lives for women and their families — YWCA

Doug ended simply, “You've been given a gift. Share this gift any time you possibly can. Because it does make a profound difference to the people around you.”

Oh, and the highest rated Town Meeting ever? The guest was Shirley Temple.

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September Speakers
Adam Hyla and Steve Clark
Our September speakers were two dedicated, community-minded editors from local independent presses. Steve Clark of the Ballard News Tribune and Adam Hyla of Real Change, an alternate newspaper created to assist the homeless, spoke on their jobs, their publications, working with the community and of the future for writers. Steve Clark began with an admission, “I’m moving to Colorado and will only be the editor of the Ballard News Tribune for one more week.” He spoke about the responsibilities of representing a community, then switched to a larger issue — Editors are becoming obsolete.

“In some respects the internet has turned the reader into an editor. People can pick and choose what they want to read... and writers area now more necessary than editors.” The writer, according to Steve, relates directly to the reader and cannot be replaced whether the vehicle is a printed piece or the virtual screen pages on the internet. Elaborating he said, “The internet replaces a lot of the mechanical presses but a reporter is still necessary to provide content.” His own specialty is in fishing and boats, “any kind of boat,” and his goal is to become a subject-matter expert selling content to internet markets.

Asked why he was moving to Colorado if he was interested in boats and fishing, he replied, “It was a compromise. My wife and I want to buy a home.” Steve agreed to live somewhere that had either mountains or water. Apparently they’re going with the mountains.

Real Change, edited by Adam Hyla, exists only to help the homeless by providing them with a dignified product, something homeless vendors would be proud to sell. Adam explained that selling a newspaper on the street is a protected first amendment right, and no licenses are needed to sell them. Currently there are between 30-40 other “street papers” throughout the U.S. It’s hard to connect with street people, but the paper seems to work.

With an editorial committee made up of six previously homeless people, the paper went over a redesign about a year ago. They shortened the articles, increased the graphics and photos, and decided to include more general interest news such as local politics and environmental issues. “People really like the newspaper, and that makes it easier for the street people to sell.”

Adam said circulation has been growing about 10% per year and couldn’t grow at a faster pace than that. Circulation is related to an increase in vendors and territories. “If a vendor sells 600 papers, they become a member of the 600-Club and can pick the spot they want to sell.” The other vendors have to respect the area, and this occasionally leads to “turf wars.” At that point, disciplinary action is taken, but generally the vendors are allowed to sell however they want.

“It teaches them responsibility, salesmanship, and how to develop and keep a customer base... It boils down to, ‘Be courteous, and don’t drink and work.’ ” Adam also noted that circulation goes down in the first week of the month when the vendors receive various government assistance checks.

As far as his editorial duties went, he was “barraged with volunteers — Jesuit volunteers... Mormon volunteers..” And some of the vendors contributed content — mostly poetry.

The program ended with questions and answers with both Adam and Steve saying they welcome unsolicited submissions, “fully formed queries” that were different from the cycle of stories written by the staff, particularly for the Ballard News Tribune. They were also interested in getting local cartoons, Steve mentioning that he used a syndicate.

As a final bit of advice, Steve suggested, “Hard news stories are hard to come by. As a writer that’s a good specialty.”

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June Speaker
Michelle Goodman: Freelancer's Freelancer
Michelle Goodman, speaking on the topic of procrastination and discipline of freelance writing, began with a short background on her freelance career. She started “not the way I'd advise anyone else to do it,” by quitting her job and hitting the pavement, going from door to door, and phone calling for work. And ten years later she has Microsoft, online publications Bust and Salon.com, and pet magazines such as "The Bark" as clients. She's currently working on The Anti 9-5 Guide, a book on alternate career paths for young women, to be published by Seal Press.

On the business end of freelance writing Michelle suggested Seattlewritergrrl.org for pricing and contract information. She prefers to work for established compa-nies; they're used to dealing with freelance writers and their accounting and payments systems are established. She also likes working for smaller rather than larger companies.

“Set rigid business hours for your clients and yourself,” Michelle said. It's a real job even if you're at home. “Set up everything in your office before you get deeply into your project and make sure your computer is in tip-top shape.”

Just back from the Whidbey Island Writer's retreat, Michelle focused on her writing habits that, away from home distractions, became more apparent. She prefers writing first thing in the morning and is usually done by 5. She found out how many words she can put out in a day and how many hours in a row she can sit and write. She also pointed out the things she did to procrastinate and distract herself from writing, which started with hovering over email and ended with having to clean the house before sitting down to write.

Her tips are: