ETHNOGRAPHY (JUNE 18th, 2009)
8:35 A frantic rush to make coffee and hot water for tea to offset the dull Friday mood
9:00 Peggy seems unaffected by the late start.
9:02 Peggy’s “good morning” is met with the same weak, Friday response. The morning Sacred Writing starts with a reading of “Where The Wild Things Are.” The prompt for the writing is our place of escape.
9:20 Sacred Writing ends. The plan for escape seems to involve reading semi-smutty books on the couch in the bathroom on a Saturday morning driving in the car without men, unless the computer in your classroom is big enough to hide behind.
9:50 Hildegard reads Thursday’s ethnography, and I am in huge trouble having to follow that. The conversation relating to semi-smutty novels continues and I bring up the question as to whether we are actually on break yet.
10:00 The conversation switches to another set of books I have never seen or read. Peggy reminds everyone of the plan to go to Hillbilly Hot Dogs for lunch.
10:05 Break
10:15 We are playing the Where’s Kathy version of “Where’s Waldo.”
10:20 We discover the reason Kathy is late; she has her adorable granddaughter with her.
10:30 Kathy announces we are going to do our expert groups and home groups for the last few chapters of “Writing for Insight.”
10:35 Expert groups are formed.
10:55 Home groups are formed.
11:45 We come to a close with “Wring for Insight.” Peggy announces the intention of meeting at Hillbilly Hot Dogs by noon.
12:00 The arrival at Hillbilly is marked with the anticipation of good food for those of us who had been there before and utter terror and confusion for the rest. With assurances, everyone seems to settle in.
12:15 Peggy introduces writing assignment based on a poem written by Marylou Oweocta. Peggy asks us to finish the statement “I am a…” If you hadn’t known what a wide range of people we had in the group before this assignment, you certainly found out quickly. We ranged from sleepers to starers, introverts to daydreamers, beach girls to bitches and everything in between.
FOOD:
I was so hungry I forgot to mark the time. After the wonderment of, “do they really fry these things?”, and, “you should see the original restaurant on Route 2,” we all begin to eat.
1:12 Peggy introduces the writing assignment “What do you listen to?” We seem to have big ears. Some examples include: fathers, mothers, children, music, whining, spiritual songs, and as someone put it best, maybe we listen to too many things.
1:30 The last assignment is introduced. Peggy asks us what restores our balance. After a list of examples, such as home, nature, children, physical labor, tears and naps, the overall winner was Shwang, who said according to her culture, food restores balance. Anyone want to move to China?
July 10, 2009 at 5:01 pm |
Here you go, J.D. Good luck!
What are your Writer’s Guidelines?
A: Writers are encouraged to submit queries on article ideas. These should be no more than a page, and should include a summary of the idea, including the angle you will hang the story on, and a sense of what makes this piece different from all others on the same or a similar subject. Many queries are turned down because we have no idea what the writer is getting at. Be sure that your letter is absolutely clear. We’ve found that if you can’t sum up the point of the article in a sentence or two, the article doesn’t have a point.
Pieces that depend on writing style, such as humor, mood, and nostalgia or essays often can’t be queried and may be submitted in manuscript form. The same is true of short tips. All submissions to FIELD & STREAM are on an on-spec basis.
Before submitting anything, however, we encourage you to study, not simply read, the magazine. Many pieces are rejected because they do not fit the tone or style of the magazine, or fail to match the subject of the article with the overall subject matter of FIELD & STREAM. Above all, study the magazine before submitting anything.
FIELD & STREAM does not pay by the word. Payment ranges from $100 to as much as several thousand dollars, depending on the quality of the work, the experience of the author, and the difficulty of obtaining the story.
All queries and completed manuscripts submitted to FIELD & STREAM must be typed and double spaced. The magazine also accepts 3.5-inch disks or submissions by e-mail (fsletters@time4.com), but does not accept fax submissions. Address all material to The Editor, Sid Evans, FIELD & STREAM, 2 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, and include a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
FIELD & STREAM needs an accurate word count for every submission. Estimates based on the old system of 250 words per page have proven inaccurate. Please make your word counts accurate and include them at the top of the first page of every submission.