Online Interview for Experienced Writers:

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   summerclark7387posted 12 years ago

   Hello, my name is Summer Clark and I am currently seeking information for my college research paper.
   I am hoping to get the input of experienced writers who have witnessed the shift in literature from traditional print to the digital era. My topic addresses the changes in writing, reading, and publication since the introduction of computers and the internet, and it will go on the address whether these changes can be seen as positive, negative, or both.
   
   If you are interested in participating please leave your responses to the questions within this forum. You may answer all the questions that apply to you, or just a few. I would be grateful for any input, and I thank you all for your time.
   
   **Please include how many years you have been writing, and whether you consider yourself a professional writer. (So I may evaluate your experience and your answers). 
   
   1. What method and process did you use when using a typewriter? (Did you write everything out by hand first? How long was this process?)
   
   2. Do you remember your first experience with a word processor and computer? How revolutionary did you feel this was for your career as a writer?
   
   3. How did you seek publication of your work before the introduction of the internet?
   
   4. How do you seek publication now? (Do you purely self-publish? Do you use websites that assist writers in finding sites and magazines needing articles/stories? What resources do you find most helpful?)
   
   5. Have you noticed a change in your writing over the years to adapt to internet use and it’s readers? (Things like inserting keywords, a focus on search results, shorter articles/stories, simpler language, etc.?).
   If there is anything else you would like to include that you feel may be pertinent to my topic, I would be grateful for the help. And thank you again for taking the time to respond.
   -Summer

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      Marcy Goodfleischposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not sure how online writing and journalism relates to 'literature,' but here are my answers to your questions:
      
      Background:  Have been writing professionally (published & paid for it) for at least 33 years.  Several years as newspaper columnist, was magazine editor, freelancer & staff writer for various organizations.
      
      1)  Always composed at the keyboard - never had a typing class, so learned to type in standard position through just plain doing it.  As a result, I cannot 'transcribe' (maybe painfully - but I refuse to do that stuff).  However, I am very fast at composing on the keyboard.  Started with typewriters (electric, thankfully).
      
      2)  First use of word processing equipment - 1982 or so in a newsroom.  It's head & shoulders above using typewriters; I have felt that way since Day One.
      
      3) Sought publication at first by contacting editors and publishers and 'pitching' stories. Later evolved to them contacting me with requests. Got job as regular columnist by brazenly calling the editor and telling them I wanted to write for the paper.  Job lasted for five years, until I left to work as a staff writer for government agencies.
      
      4)  Primarily self-publishing at this time. I also submit queries or sometimes fully developed stories.  And some have been accepted for publication.
      
      5) Yes - writing for online publication that is self-driven (UGC) is very different from just writing an article for other venues, or even an article for an online publication.  This applies more to the titles of articles, subheads and other areas that appear in search engines. I do not, however, think that much about keywords when writing the articles - that would create an artificial feel and interrupt the flow.  I also don't promote my work on social networks (very rarely do that).  The majority of my traffic comes from various Google engines or other search engines.
      
      Your research sounds very interesting - hope you will share the results with us!

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         summerclark7387posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Marcy thank you so much for your response! This will be very helpful for my paper and I am grateful for your input. That was a very interesting read, and I especially like that you put yourself out there and got yourself a job. Very inspiring! Thanks again,
         -Summer

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