One of the most important things you can do when accepting an assignment is make sure you understand what you're being asked to do.
I just got my nose rubbed in this when I discovered that a story I've been doing interviews for isn't the story I was actually assigned. They're close enough I can salvage most of my work, but it's annoying as heck. If I hadn't caught it before I submitted the story I would have looked like a right fool to an important editor.
So make sure you understand. Ask questions. If you have follow up questions email the editor. You'll be happier for it.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Beware the Ides of August
August is almost upon us. The month in which freelancers' income traditionally goes to hell.
The problem, basically, is that August is vacation month in New York. It's when everyone who can packs up and goes somewhere else. Unfortunately that includes the people who normally handle dreary details like cutting checks, not to mention the editors to whom you can appeal.
Their replacements are, perhaps, less motivated and certainly less experienced. So things slip. Like payments to authors.
Result: Every August freelancers' receivables balloon, income shrinks and writers suffer.
I've already had my first taste of this and August is nearly a week away. Ah well, to paraphrase SuperChicken: You knew the job was silly when you took it, Fred.
The problem, basically, is that August is vacation month in New York. It's when everyone who can packs up and goes somewhere else. Unfortunately that includes the people who normally handle dreary details like cutting checks, not to mention the editors to whom you can appeal.
Their replacements are, perhaps, less motivated and certainly less experienced. So things slip. Like payments to authors.
Result: Every August freelancers' receivables balloon, income shrinks and writers suffer.
I've already had my first taste of this and August is nearly a week away. Ah well, to paraphrase SuperChicken: You knew the job was silly when you took it, Fred.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
GRAPHICS SOFTWARE FOR WRITERS
"Always use the proper tool for the job. The proper tool to fix a television is a television repairman."
-- John W. Campbell Jr.
When it comes to graphics, the best thing most writers can do is hand the job off to someone else. But sometimes in these days of the web that's just not possible. You've got to have a picture or diagram to illustrate something, the publication doesn't have a staff artist who can produce what you need (or there is no staff because you're self-publishing) and you've got to turn out what you need.
My first piece of advice is to simplify your graphic as much as possible. My second is to use the available tools to simplify what you're doing. For example use digital photos rather than attempting to draw a picture of someone doing something.
When it comes to tools there is an enormous range of them and an equally enormous range of prices. Fortunately graphics software is an area where those two axes are orthogonal. In other words you can get extremely powerful tools for very little money.
Example: The GIMP, or just GIMP. GIMP is roughly the equivalent of high-end commercial graphics programs like Photoshop. The big difference from your perspective is that GIMP is free and Photoshop is over $500.
That's both good news and bad news. The good news is, it's free. The bad news is that GIMP is not significantly less complicated than Photoshop. In other words it will probably take you as long to learn GIMP as it would to learn Photoshop to the equivalent level.
That's important because one of the major differentators of graphics programs is the learning curve. In fact given the availability of open source graphics programs that curve is one of the major differentiators -- certainly more than price.
Photoshop is a classic example. It is truly a professional program and a professional can do damn near anything with it. But to become a professional with Photoshop takes a lot of experience, probably a course or two and using the thing at least several hours a week. Graphics programs get their power from their complexity and ones like Photoshop or GIMP are complex indeed.
I am in the process of learning GIMP and having played with Photoshop I'd rate the two roughly equivalent. Photoshop is a little more powerful (IMAO) as well as being the professional standard, but GIMP is somewhat easier to learn and use.
If you need to do a lot of fancy graphics stuff and you're willing to put the time into learning, you should probably check out GIMP or Photoshop.
The next consideration is the kind of graphics program you need. There are actually three broad classes of graphics software and two of them are easy for the novice to confuse. These are drawing programs, painting programs and specialized graphics programs.
To take the easy one first, specialized graphics software is designed to do a single job, such as drawing flow charts or making graphs. (If you need graphs, don't ignore the features built into spreadsheets.) They tend to be easy to learn if you're familar with what you're trying to represent. A program for producing diagrams of molecular structures, for example, won't do you much good unless you understand chemisty. If you have a specialized need, check on the web for specialized software.
The other two categories are commonly referred to as drawing programs and painting programs. The ones called drawing programs are good at creating graphics from scratch. "Painting programs" can also create graphics from scratch but they shine at modifying existing graphics, such as photo modification.
You can illustrate the difference for yourself by playing around with Microsoft Draw and Microsoft Paint, which come with Windows. (Or their equivalents which come with Macs -- or at least they used to.) These are simple programs but if you try to do the same thing in MS Draw and MS Paint you'll get a feel for the differences.
I don't have a recommendation in these classes because I haven't found anything I really like yet. Currently I'm playing with Ultimate Paint, but it doesn't seem to have layers -- a vital feature when you're creating a graphic combining text and pictures or you just don't want to screw up all your work by a mistake in the current operation. I don't like Paint or Draw because they seem too limited. So I'll keep looking and if I find something I like, I'll report back here.
In the meantime, remember the quote at t he top of the page and, if possible, fob the job of creating graphics off on an artist.
--RC
-- John W. Campbell Jr.
When it comes to graphics, the best thing most writers can do is hand the job off to someone else. But sometimes in these days of the web that's just not possible. You've got to have a picture or diagram to illustrate something, the publication doesn't have a staff artist who can produce what you need (or there is no staff because you're self-publishing) and you've got to turn out what you need.
My first piece of advice is to simplify your graphic as much as possible. My second is to use the available tools to simplify what you're doing. For example use digital photos rather than attempting to draw a picture of someone doing something.
When it comes to tools there is an enormous range of them and an equally enormous range of prices. Fortunately graphics software is an area where those two axes are orthogonal. In other words you can get extremely powerful tools for very little money.
Example: The GIMP, or just GIMP. GIMP is roughly the equivalent of high-end commercial graphics programs like Photoshop. The big difference from your perspective is that GIMP is free and Photoshop is over $500.
That's both good news and bad news. The good news is, it's free. The bad news is that GIMP is not significantly less complicated than Photoshop. In other words it will probably take you as long to learn GIMP as it would to learn Photoshop to the equivalent level.
That's important because one of the major differentators of graphics programs is the learning curve. In fact given the availability of open source graphics programs that curve is one of the major differentiators -- certainly more than price.
Photoshop is a classic example. It is truly a professional program and a professional can do damn near anything with it. But to become a professional with Photoshop takes a lot of experience, probably a course or two and using the thing at least several hours a week. Graphics programs get their power from their complexity and ones like Photoshop or GIMP are complex indeed.
I am in the process of learning GIMP and having played with Photoshop I'd rate the two roughly equivalent. Photoshop is a little more powerful (IMAO) as well as being the professional standard, but GIMP is somewhat easier to learn and use.
If you need to do a lot of fancy graphics stuff and you're willing to put the time into learning, you should probably check out GIMP or Photoshop.
The next consideration is the kind of graphics program you need. There are actually three broad classes of graphics software and two of them are easy for the novice to confuse. These are drawing programs, painting programs and specialized graphics programs.
To take the easy one first, specialized graphics software is designed to do a single job, such as drawing flow charts or making graphs. (If you need graphs, don't ignore the features built into spreadsheets.) They tend to be easy to learn if you're familar with what you're trying to represent. A program for producing diagrams of molecular structures, for example, won't do you much good unless you understand chemisty. If you have a specialized need, check on the web for specialized software.
The other two categories are commonly referred to as drawing programs and painting programs. The ones called drawing programs are good at creating graphics from scratch. "Painting programs" can also create graphics from scratch but they shine at modifying existing graphics, such as photo modification.
You can illustrate the difference for yourself by playing around with Microsoft Draw and Microsoft Paint, which come with Windows. (Or their equivalents which come with Macs -- or at least they used to.) These are simple programs but if you try to do the same thing in MS Draw and MS Paint you'll get a feel for the differences.
I don't have a recommendation in these classes because I haven't found anything I really like yet. Currently I'm playing with Ultimate Paint, but it doesn't seem to have layers -- a vital feature when you're creating a graphic combining text and pictures or you just don't want to screw up all your work by a mistake in the current operation. I don't like Paint or Draw because they seem too limited. So I'll keep looking and if I find something I like, I'll report back here.
In the meantime, remember the quote at t he top of the page and, if possible, fob the job of creating graphics off on an artist.
--RC
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