What Not to Do: Write Inane Copy

Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — I’ve been on a bit of a Discovery Channel kick lately, which is how I found myself watching The Lost Tomb of Jesus the other week. It went back and forth between ehhh and God-awful (no pun intended, of course), and the terrible voice over script did little to improve it.

Case in point:

Discoverers: How sure are you, random blind woman who lives here, that the tomb is under this cement slab?

Random blind woman (in Hebrew): I’m one million percent certain.

Narrator: “One million percent certainty — that was all we needed.”

Discoverers: Jackhammers, ho!

Now granted, I don’t write a lot of voice over scripts, but seriously! I swear, direct quote. Can’t the Discovery Channel do better?

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

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“Copy-left” Proponent Lawrence Lessig in the New York Times

Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — As writers, we need to be intimately aware of and familiar with happenings in the copyright world. Be sure to read today’s New York Times op-ed piece by Stanford law professor and copyright conversation starter Lawrence Lessig.

From “Make Way for Copyright Chaos” in today’s NYT…

For most of the history of copyright law, it was Congress that was at the center of copyright policy making. As the Supreme Court explained in its 1984 Sony Betamax decision, the Constitution makes plain that “it is Congress that has been assigned the task of defining the scope of the limited monopoly,” or copyright. It has thus been “Congress that has fashioned the new rules that new technology made necessary.” The court explained that “sound policy, as well as history, supports our consistent deference to Congress when major technological innovations alter the market for copyrighted materials.” In the view of the court in Sony, if you don’t like how new technologies affect copyright, take your problem to Congress.

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

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Have You Heard KK Speak at a Workshop or Seminar?

Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com

Or maybe you’re a regular Inkthinker reader?

If so, I want to hear from you!

I’m working on a new book proposal, and I need some testimonials from people who’ve heard me speak at WIW or any of the other groups for which I’ve made presentations for the “I rock, and here’s proof from people who know, so you should sign me immediately” section of the proposal.

If you have something nice to say about any of my presentations or this blog, please e-mail me.

And if you have some constructive comments, I want to hear them.

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www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

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If You Write Narrative Nonfiction, Read This

Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com —

NARRATIVE MAGAZINE is pleased to announce that as of this notice they have lowered their reading fee for all submissions of all lengths to $5. They are also issuing a call for nonfiction manuscripts for a forthcoming nonfiction issue of Narrative.

They are interested in receiving articles, memoirs, profiles, essays, commentary, satire, humor, and other nonfiction works of interest to literary readers. They are also actively seeking book length works for serialization.

For Submission Guidelines, log on at WWW.NARRATIVEMAGAZINE.COM.

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

5 comments

One. Crazy. Week.

Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com

Oh my goodness, this was the week that never ended! It was great and I got a ton of work done, but I am SO in need of a weekend.

I signed four new clients, including a very high-profile writing project, a writing client from Australia, and an editing client from New Zealand.
I sent out several dozen job inquiries based on leads I got from Anne, Deb, and Suzanne.
I posted my summaries for the March 10 WIW seminar on Marketing Yourself and Your Writing (click here, here, here, and here).
I made 10 posts on Inkthinker, including this one (I’ve been slacking)
I made 10 posts on LivelyWomen.com (also slacking)
I gave Kristen King Freelancing another facelift to match my business cards.
I edited 6 scholarly journal articles.
I put in about 6 hours with the proofreading company I contract with.
I walked about 10 miles on purpose (go, Kristen and Pickles!).
I finished my taxes.
I posted 13 articles to EzineArticles.com for the Lieurance-King New Year’s Article Challenge.
I let Ivan have it.

Sheesh! This weekend, sadly, will not be the weekend I so desperately need. I’ve got I don’t even want to think about how many pages I have to get through in the nursing textbook study guide sitting next to me on the extra chair, mocking me, along with a towering stack of items to be filed, and half a dozen invoices to send out. Wouldn’t it be nice if people just mailed me money for the heck of it? Oh, I would love that.

How did this week go for you?

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

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