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I once subscribed to Writer's Digest. It didn't last long. Neither I nor the other family member who was interested got much out of it.

I think the phenomenon is common to any [insert name here] Digest magazine. Golf Digest is the one with which I'm most familiar. An individual who tries to learn the game, or improve on it, from the various "tips" offered there would likely be paralyzed in fairly short order. I finally realized the rag was mostly selling golf resorts which I'd never see - or be able to afford to set foot on if I got anywhere near one.

The bottom line seems to be the same just about anywhere. Do it. Find one or a few good teachers, companions, outlets. Keep doing it. Build a network, step by step. Keep doing it. Not everyone has the talent - and not everyone is honest about whether you have the talent or not. If you do (really), and are persistent, you'll more likely get somewhere than not. [Insert Name Here] Digest-type publications dangle shortcuts as a means to make their money. They know, and you should, that a shortcut is the longest distance between two points.

Strangely enough, I wasn't looking to publications like that to "learn" to write because I already know how to do that. Reading books and magazines about writing doesn't make a writer, writing does. What I needed help with was the professional and business aspects of writing, and their motto was "get published," or more specifically pay one of our advertisers to publish your book.

What I needed help with was the professional and business aspects of writing, and their motto was "get published," or more specifically pay one of our advertisers to publish your book.

Actually, that's what I was thinking, though I didn't write it very well (I guess that means, as a writer, I make a great scientist - and scientists are famous for their inability to write. :) ) Networking, to me, is at least as important in the "publishing" side as the "learning to write" side - for, after all, what's the point of writing unless it gets published, and seen? Unless you really believe that Emily Dickinson is somehow staring down from a swing under a cherry tree in the Hereafter, basking in her posthumous fame.

Yes I too am somewhat disappointed with my subscription. There just doesn't seem to be much to chew on for the up-and-coming writer. Too much advertising and not enough stories, for example, on how a particular writer broke into the game successfully.

missmaster>>> That's what I thought. They also could have included more about marketing and promoting writing. Or perhaps some tips that might giving you an edge that would result in a receiving a sale or an assignment.

...scientists are famous for their inability to write.

Don't get me started. That's something I deal with regularly in my "day job." But to their credit, many of the ones I've read do remarkably well considering their native language is not English. We publish articles from all over the world, so I've seen some interesting attempts at English syntax.

Yeah trying to market your stuff is probably the hardest part of all. You could write a top notch article that contains blood, sweat, tears, etc. but it is totally worthless if you can't market the bloody thing to anyone! So goodbye Writer's Digest.

and most are rehashed articles. The key is to write, re-write, submit, re-write submit. I am sure that there is a lot of right time, right place serendipity about it all. I find an English magazine very helpful - go to
Writing Magazine

I buy Writer's Digest and the like every once in a while. It makes me feel very "writerly," but I've not learned much about the craft of writing from it.
read me!

Brenna
Blog at Writing UP!
Brenna Fender's Blog

Thanks for your comments, Tottie and Brenna. I don't buy or subscribe to writing magazines anymore. I find a lot of articles online. Many websites have advice articles that are pretty much the same quality as Writer's Digest. And you are right, Tottie, they are rehashed versions of the same thing. I can't justify paying for a magazine when you can get the same thing on the Internet for free.

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Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. - Edgar Allan Poe