Raj Editorial - from A Way of Life Issue November 2009   |   Text View

Dear Friend of the Heart and potential Writer Extraordinaire!

As I write this Suzanne and I are in Ubud working with the Karuna Bali Foundation on the next steps that we are embarking onto - truly exciting stuff.  Coincidentally, the International Ubud Writers Festival is also this week and happening right across the street from us.  Karuna is very much present with students and faculty in new t-shirts manning a booth and in the College with Open house displays.  Yesterday as I sat talking with writers who have been drawn to Bali from all over the world for this event I came to the realisation that there is a writer within each of us and yet as with so many qualities and potentials lying untapped within us, many of us have never embraced the opportunity to tell 'our story'.

Every single one of our thousands of readers has a story or stories to tell, stories with realisations, worldly experiences so rich, of sickness and health, of healing, of adventures and miracles - all largely untold. 

I also realised that since we have taken the Journal online and created this new website we have this opportunity never available to us before.  To open up our pages to your stories and lives of our family of readers and take us beyond the professional authors and writers to now explore the lives of ordinary people like you and I. 

It was Bill William's article that appears 'On Angel's Wings' in the September 2009 Journal - 'Evolution' that really opened up this concept to me.  What an amazing story - none of us would have any idea of the life this man leads in US State Prison or the depth of beauty that is revealed through his story that is like a beacon for all of us.  Bill was the perfect example I needed.

So, this is what we are going to do.  We will use the 'Browse by Themes' section in the Library to host articles that we receive from you - our readers to host a section that hosts exclusively our reader articles - we'll call this section 'Real Life Stories'.  In all the sections at the end of every article we have a 'Comments' box.  There is also a box, near the top on the left hand side to Rate an Article.  It will be from the number of comments and ratings that you will be able to gauge for yourself the interest you attract.   What an opportunity for your friends! 

What will happen is that as we receive your article as a simple Word.doc and approve it for publication we will pass it through to our graphics magician who will turn it into a thing of beauty; your picture will be there with your bio and contact details.  It will then be uploaded to the Library and/or maybe if really pertinent be included in the next Journal subject to scheduling.  Once 'beautified', you will have the ability to email your professionally finished article to friends, to other publications, or to download onto your computer files and to print out.

Just one thing - there is a cost to us for each time we send an article to the graphics lady and to the webmaster for adding the finished story to the website Library or Journal.  While we would love to offer this for free if many of you send in stories we'll be out of business quickly. So a nominal payment of $20 is required with your article once accepted.

Now, as publisher of a highly regarded spiritual publication after 14 years of selecting, articles I have discovered what works and what doesn't. To help you and to remove any ego based negative objections of "I can't do this, I don't know enough about writing or, I have nothing to share that anybody would want to know", and to encourage to be bold I have put together some 'Guidelines for Writers' to help you feel into the easiness and to maximise your effort.  So many of you have astounding stories to share that can bring hope, wisdom and clarity to others - why not give it a go?

Have a look at these guidelines for Writers and see if you feel inspired:

If you are going to send articles to any publications including our own here are a few tricks to getting your articles accepted by an editor and published.

Firstly, despite what you may think most editors have little time to fully immerse themselves in what you have written.  In the moment of their receiving your article and possibly delegating it to another to read, you have no idea what mood or head space the reader is in.  So it comes down to catching their attention quickly: 

You can do this by….  removing all effort on the part of the editor by providing your photo, your address, your contact details and most importantly, supplying a simple message on your motivation for writing, ie:  I like to receive a two line sentence telling me what it is important for the reader to know.  That gets my attention.

Even if I like your article, my next concern is how much work I have to prepare your article for the graphics department.  Time is money in publishing.

1.  Text - Your article must be in a Word doc - never use any brackets in text.  It's good to highlight important "high value" sentences or quotes so that they can be quickly pulled out for reader attraction boxes.  Under heading - always have a 'by-line' defining the article title that adds weight to the heading and helps the reader.  Editors don't have time to make one up.

2.  Pictures - Attach high quality .jpeg, head and shoulders colour photo of you - each time.  Do not use a snapshot of yourself with your friend on the beach last summer.  No one has time to crop them out and try to improve them.  Head and shoulders only, be looking at the reader, make sure there are no shadows, remove 'red eye', smile - check through a couple of other magazines to see how others writers have made themselves look.  If you have supporting graphics or pictures send in .jpeg.  Good pics accompanying an article will invariably get your article included because you have really helped support your article and saved the desktop designer hours of work.

3.  Your Bio - Always have your bio at the end of the article - two paragraphs only comprising who you are, what you do, if you want to promote your activities then detail when & where you are doing something next and  add your contact details, including web page if you have one.  If it just reads, "Mary is a housewife with two children and lives in Towoomba and loves fishing and hunting" that gives a picture of who you are.  I suggest not to give a phone number just refer people to your email and website if you have one - this protects your privacy.  If you want to provide a special offer for readers - don't forget to tell them - don't wait for them to find it on the website - they might not go that far.

4.  Length - It is good to offer a short and long version - especially if the article is going to be printed.  Print publications have different needs and spaces to fill.  I like to receive two options - 750 words or 1500 are good average sizes.

5.  Content - Allow yourself to develop your own writing style - how you lay the article out, structure and hard hitting points you want the reader to see and remember. The golden rule is no self aggrandisement and no advertising, your product, project or business unless the story specifically relates an experience around these things and then it must be handled in a sensitive way.

Remember that today readers, like yourselves do not like being taught or talked down to, they do like to read other people's real experiences.  In a short article where you are sharing an understanding try to include a 'case study' or perhaps your or a partner's experience.  When you are writing about someone else always ask them if it's OK first, even consider getting signed permission from them, especially if you are going to publish a book.  You can certainly use your own experience - it's always attractive to read that the writer is real and human too.  If you can be light hearted and amusing do so, it is a real gift - anything is better than dry and boring.  Everyone loves Steve Bhaerman adventures with his Swami Beyondananda and although we can't all be as witty as Steve, we can all be open, honest and real. 

Someone once complained that I told the truth too much and was too vulnerable - how exiting to be able to create disturbance through being honest!  Just be upfront, wear your heart on your sleeve and tell it like it is, without flowers and definitely no 'holier than thou'.

6.  Read & re-read - Before sending your article to anyone, always ask a couple of other people to read it for spelling, grammar and feedback.  Ask yourself the 'So what' question as you read the finished article of what you have written.  Does the article give the reader something practical to relate to? Can they try it out? Is it going to be really helpful?  Or is it just intellectual theory that no one is going to benefit from?  Writing is a great opportunity to see just how much you are willing to expose for people to see.  There is a lot of spiritual growth available for 'would-be' writers.

7.  Keep it personal - People relate to people.  Life is not about text book material.  If the article is about feeling - does it conjure up emotion? For example, if it was about sex then would the reader feel it?  If it is about cars would we want to race out and test drive one?  The same must apply to all communication - how can we motivate the reader to trust and experiment - to try it for themselves and thus truly appreciate the value of what you are sharing.

8.  Having a benchmark - Learn from the professionals - One of by benchmarks is a writer from Hawaii called Alan Cohen, you will find an article from Alan in most of our Journals - he is one of the most popular writers in Spiritual teaching area today.  He offers me and dozens of other publishers a selection of articles each month.  Three 'simple' and easy to read articles are emailed from him to all publications around the world with a spiritual or human interest focus.  Alan is an experienced professional.

I love his articles because they all have a neat moral or message hidden in the story, often they are based on, or relative to something that has happened to Alan personally, either recently or perhaps based on recollection.  All the articles are worthy of printing because they are interesting, easy to read, always provide benefit and assistance to the reader and for me the publisher/editor.  They come complete; I don't have to waste hours of time following up to publish them - that's the trick.

Once you get the hang of this and if the desire to share exists within you, it becomes really good fun.  You will soon find yourself waking in the night, slipping out of bed to the computer and in the quiet hours before dawn with a big cup of tea beside you 'thrashing' out a download of thoughts as the flow dictates.  Bringing up emotions and feelings from your subconscious will become addictive and before you know it, although much might go into the recycle bin you will amazed at how much really 'good work' appears that deserves being offered to the world.

9.  Becoming an author - You may become so prolific at writing short articles that down the track you start to compile them as individual as chapters for YOUR book.  You see, invariably your 'style' will have a theme and one article of expressed realisation will lead to the next - a work in progress. 

10.  A few words about 'Publishing Your Book' - Today anyone can be a published author.  A few years back to get a book published required a minimum of $7,000+ and a big storage area in the back of the garage which in truth never got emptied.  Now you can self-publish, electronically through what is called 'On-demand' publishing.  If you get to that stage we know a superb and inexpensive graphics person who can set your pages, and has all the knowledge to help you make it happen, from beginning to end. 

Within weeks of receiving your manuscript emailed of course, as a .pdf attachment the publisher will post you a sample copy complete with colour cover and back to hold in your hands - now that is exciting.  From then all you do is order the number of your books that you want - anywhere from one to a thousand.  This requires a much smaller investment and each book is printed one at a time - so there is much less upfront investment required to become an author.

So, back to your A Way of Life article - it all starts with the one desire to share your truth.  There are obstacles to overcome - the biggest hurdle is getting started and allocating some dedicated time each day to write.  When the urge to leap up in the wee small hours comes upon you, go for it.  It is when there is no one around, all is quiet with the world that our guides and Spirit can interact with us - they can't resist one who is dedicated and you will receive more help than you can imagine. 

Have a great time - I do hope that you are inspired and that we will receive your first article one day soon.

Blessings to you all, 

Raj

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