IT AIN’T OVER ‘TIL IT’S OVER

It was reported in the July 7, 2008 issue of Publishers Weekly that the Barbara Bauer defamation-of-character lawsuit against Wikimedia Foundation and 19 bloggers and websites was dismissed. After checking its sources, WritersNewsWeekly learned that the defamation suit filed against Wikimedia Foundation was, in fact, dismissed, citing the 1996 Communications Decency Act. However, according to the docket of the New Jersey Superior Court, many of the cases have yet to be heard and have not been dismissed. According to the office of the presiding judge, Honorable Jamie Perri, the cases are “all ongoing.”

The initial ruling in favor of Wikimedia Foundation was anticipated by many and did not come as a surprise to those following a potential ground-breaking case. Judge Perri did not rule out the possibility that Bauer may file an amended complaint against Wikimedia Foundation alleging that its Internet site published its own defamatory statements about the literary agent — not defamatory statements made by others. When asked if Bauer had amended her compliant against Wikimedia Foundation, the office of the presiding judge repeated that all the cases were ongoing. The Honorable Judge Perri did not comment on the case.

“If (Wikipedia) blocks certain posts but refuses to block those derogatory of Ms. Bauer, that does not strip them of 47 USC 230 immunity,” says Eugene Volokh, law professor at the UCLA School of Law. When asked if Wikipedia has the right to take down defamatory posts on any page they want to—and if they don’t want to they are still immune, Professor Volokh answered, “Exactly.”

“The Bauer case is very important to many writers, agents, literary services providers and publishers whose reputation and income has been damaged by bloggers,” a source who wished to remain unidentified, citing “fear of reprisal” from certain websites and individual bloggers, referring to Bauer as an example of what happens when you try to defend yourself against them. “Should Ms. Bauer prevail against these people, this will give others who have been damaged legal recourse.” The unidentified source went on to say that, depending upon the outcome, they are prepared to join with others in pursuing their own lawsuits against some of the parties listed in the Bauer lawsuits.

Others being sued by Bauer include Jenna Glatzer, James D. MacDonald, Kent Brewster, Patrick Nielsen-Hayden, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA,) Ann C. Crispin, Victoria C. Strauss, Lesia Valentine, Christina Walden aka Christina Bristol, David L. Kuzminski, Thomas S. Tully, Stephan Spencer, Shewta Narayan, Kristen Fischer aka Kristen Pascuili, Gregory Ludwig and Aimee Amodio.

The defendants are being sued for defamation, tortuous interference with prospective economic advantage and conspiracy to defame. Schenck Price Smith & King are representing Glatzer, Stone, Macdonald, Brewster, Nielsen-Hayden, Kuzminski, Tully and Spencer. Miller & Lamastra are representing Crispin, Strauss and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Read more about Wikipedia v. Bauer

Libel on the Internet - Part One
Libel on the Internet - Part Two
Libel on the Internet - Part Three

Read Dr. James S. Payne's Article on Bloggers

Agree? Disagree? Tell us at editor@writersnewsweekly.com or join the discussion on facebook.com.

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Submit Your Questions to: dearlee@writersnewsweekly.com.

It is the last full day of our vacation in Yachats, pronounced "ya-hahts".

This amazing place was named after the Yachats Native Americans who were hunters and gathers in the 1500's. There are several translations of the word, but the one I appreciate the most truly characterizes the environment here: "as far as you can go along the beach."

I am in our living room nestled up in the lounge chair, looking at the omnipresent ocean through our panoramic view windows. The sky is cloudy with streaks of power blue on the horizon, hinting to a possible clearing.

Ocean waters appear foamy, grayish-white, but they play surf music with wave cymbals and splash drums. Sometimes they erupt into blow-hole spectaculars; actually shooting spray twenty or more feet into the air between the volcanic rock fingers.

I think that writers should capture images that inspire and connect emotionally with the reader. For example, the last two sunsets here were an almost out-of-body experience for me. We can all relate to sunsets, right?

Along these lines, I recall that the sun sphere presented its magical illusion of disappearing into the ocean horizon. The sky became a radiant portrait of pastel colored ribbons, gleaming with flame red, tangerine, soft pink and every shade in between.

Such a vision was accompanied by a sea chorus, singing to all of us about the mystery and wonder of life.

I suggest writers read their material out loud. The sound of words casts a rhythm of sentences, which comfort, inspire and reveal pathways to better stories. They can even point the way to emotional healing.

To illustrate this, I remember the hike I took yesterday with our son Jason and our 14-year-old granddaughter, Kaidyn. I experienced considerable comfort and pleasure from reading out loud the following passages:

We started at a place called Cape Perpetua, high in the mountains off the Highway 101 South, heading out of Yachats towards the quaint town of Florence. The ocean view from the roadside observation station was enough to take our breath away.

In the distance was the pine tree covered peninsula that formed one arm of the U-shaped bay. Pulsating, whitecap waves in parallel lines rolled endlessly up and over the volcanic rock slabs below. The rocks appeared to look like gigantic, distorted, black and white checkerboard squares.

This scene compelled us to move down the hilly hiking trail, which descended through ferns and Queen Anne’s Lace fauna to explore the rock formations at the oceans' edge. These ancient protrusions, we soon discovered, kept hidden wondrous tide pools, stocked with fishy sea smells of anemones, multicolored star fish and purple and pink sea urchins.

We laughed and shouted to each other when making new discoveries, played out against a background of surf timpani and blow-hole eruptions. The water spray, sea energy and excitement underscored the incalculable value of family love, and the awesome glory of life itself.

My last idea for writers is to slow down and breathe. I cannot emphasize how important it is to do this. When you live in the moment, your positive inner voice will guide you and achieve whatever you seek, whether it is a published book or a healthier life.

I believe we move too fast in American culture. We numb ourselves out with mind- altering behaviors, distractions and electronic devices. Let me share with you how I slowed down on my vacation.

Now the clouds have moved out; the sun is gloriously back, framing the sky with a collage of deep blue, power blue and pale pinks on the ocean horizon. I walk outside to the grassy cliff behind our rental home and simply pause to listen.

I become more aware of the sea concert carried on a salty, windy breeze that embraced all of my senses. I assume the crouching Tai Chi position, taking a deep breath for three seconds, exhaling slowly for six, and float my arms up like the extended wings of a great swan.

As I went through my healing ritual of breathing, stretching, dancing and affirmations, I noticed my son and granddaughter observing me through the windows. They were laughing and copying my various closed-hand prayer positions. I smiled back, gave them a thumbs up, and finished the process of standing still in the blessed moment of the now.

The message my inner voice told me was about the acceptance of humility and gratitude that comes from writing about these precious moments, and the joy of sharing them with all who find comfort from a writer's word pictures.

Mr. Eby is a Master Social Worker with more than 30 years of professional experience. He is a new author published by SterlingHouse Publisher. He currently works as a therapist and counselor at Options for Southern Oregon, the local mental health agency. He has also provided online life coaching services on eBay for many years. For more information visit his site at www.squidoo.com/garyeby

"Do you need help, support, or free marketing exposure for your work? Just click on Gary Eby's squidoo lense. Check out the helpful information. Leave samples of your work or questions and concerns in the blurb box at the bottom of his page. Or, click his bio for direct contact with him and his fan club. Better yet, click on the red button on his page, start your own free lense, and connect with an online community of more than 500,000 members."

Publishing Club

Whether you’re building a house or writing crime novels, it helps to have a good set of tools. Handsaws are great for some jobs, but mitering roof beams with elbow grease is murder. For the big stuff, and for extra muscle on small jobs, it helps to power up.

Like carpenters, writers have to plan, construct, problem-solve, improvise, repair and fudge angles. As it is with all jobs, the tools we use make a difference in the quality of our workmanship. This series of articles will plug you into a variety of literary power tools that no writer’s box should be without. First on the gear-list, three brainstorming techniques:

Freewriting: Many writers free write, but few use it for creative problem solving. Like the techniques that follow, it requires you to silence your critic and let your right brain run wild. Unsure how to motivate your protagonist? Bring the problem to mind, then write about it without pause for five minutes. If you’re unsure where to start, write nonsense until your left brain quiets. If you stray off topic, let yourself go. When you’re done, read what you’ve written and underline ideas that resonate. Look for patterns. The solution to your problem often hides, delivered by your subconscious.

Listing: This technique is great for finding answers to specific writing questions, brainstorming titles and nailing down details, etc. Start with a question, such as, “What does Gypsy do after Ed loads the gun?” or “What kind of car does Father Priestly steal?” Fire out as many answers as you can without thinking or letting your hand pause. Go crazy. Get weird. Maybe Gypsy nails a love letter to Ed’s head and your story takes a new turn. Priestly may steal a Model-T, sending your screenplay back in time. Listing can open hidden doors in your writing, by producing unexpected and engaging ideas.

Clustering: Write a word or phrase such as “elephant” at the center of a blank page and circle it. Then, brainstorm and circle words related to elephant, such as “gray” and “memory,” and join them to “elephant” with lines. You can continue to work off the center circle or follow the branches outward; i.e., from “memory” to “brain” to “surgery,” etc. Go until you’re tapped. You’ll end up with a cluster of circled words, and among them you’ll find unexpected connections, fresh ideas and unique organizational structures you might never have discovered otherwise.

Remember, a power drill isn’t just for making holes; you can drive screws and mix mortar with it, too. Adapt these tools to your needs. Make them your own. They can be applied to anything you’re writing, and are limited only by your willingness to use them.

If you have your own favorite power tools and would like to share them with other writers, I’d love to hear from you. Click on the link below to send me a description and a list of uses. And if they’re cordless, don’t forget to charge the batteries.

Have a question for Doug? Click here to submit it to THE WRITE MIND.

Doug Kurtz is a published novelist, certified life coach and the owner of Write Life Coaching (www.writelifecoaching.com). He earned his MA in creative writing at the University of Colorado, where he also taught fiction writing. He currently lives in Boulder, where he’s busy coaching other writers and working on his next novel.

CW: We can have both inspiration and perspiration, and still not write a quality piece; one that assists or entertains readers. To write a quality piece, we usually have to be creative. To be creative, we usually have to step outside the box.

Inside the box, we are not creative. We are limited in a number of ways: Old beliefs, closed mindedness, political correctness, jargon, rigidity and perfectionism. To get out of the box, we usually do the opposite, as we demonstrate in the attached table.

A single “aha” experience is not usually enough. Creativity takes at least 5 stages: 1) preparation (focusing on a problem and its dimensions) 2) incubation (the problem is internalized into our unconscious, while externally nothing appears to be happening) (3 intimation (getting the sense that a solution is on its way) 4) illumination (the creative idea bursts forth into our conscious awareness) 5) verification (the idea is consciously verified, elaborated in writing or other ways, and then applied (from “Art of Thought” by Graham Wallas & Richard Smith, 1926.)

Creativity is not just being new or different. We can still use old, healthy or efficient concepts or principles, but we can now see or use them in expanded ways.

With originality, flexibility and time, our being expands outside the box. This process can take days, weeks, months or years.

BW: My most profound instance of stepping outside the box was with a group of psychiatric colleagues. We wrote papers on counseling near-death experiencers and others who had a spiritual awakening triggered by other means. Unfortunately at that time, psychiatry, as exemplified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM; also known as the ‘Bible’ in psychiatry,) labeled these people as “disordered.” My colleagues and I knew we were researching a phenomenon that was outside the box. The final paper that was accepted by the DSM committee, after several years of writing and appealing, was called “Spiritual Problems.” The title was (loosely) defined as what happens when our past religious beliefs are in conflict with our present spiritual experiences. This means that we can be outside the box and not be labeled as pathological.

This taught me about practicing science in a way that was outside the box. It was an experience that couldn’t have been explained, because it has to be lived. I realized that most scientists are technicians who have the techniques of their work carved in stone, inside the box. Creative scientists move outside the box, and allow confusion and chaos to move around and form new ideas.

My creativity often comes from the chaos of my audience’s questions. Like me, their past beliefs are in conflict with their present spiritual experiences. Audiences typically start off saying how confused they are. We laugh. We cry. We allow the intensity to wash over us. Later, I sit in front of my blank computer screen and say a simple prayer. Ideas start to form and move into my fingers, which send them to the screen. With patience over time, a new chapter forms for my next book or an article on our website.

Illumination takes form, giving each one of us writers a continuous flow of new ideas if we will just step and stay outside the box.

Charles and Barbara Whitfield share a private practice in Atlanta helping adults that have addictions and/or were repeatedly traumatized as children. They are the authors of 15 published books and numerous articles. They also give talks and workshops. For more information, visit www.cbwhit.com and www.barbarawhitfield.com

The maxim is to never judge a book by its movie. Readers’ opinions tend to be strong when they watch favorite books play out on screen. Even when it’s Hitchcock, Manderley just isn’t Manderley. When we read books, we first meet the characters and are inducted into their worlds, even allowed inside their minds. The reader vanishes and we become part of another life. We’ve really lived at Wuthering Heights, and when Catherine haunted Heathcliff she haunted us as well. Books provide an insider’s perspective. The audience isn’t made up of spectators but active participants in the story. Readers create their own film version of books in their heads and are entirely present as the story unfolds. Anyone else’s vision on screen can be seen as competition, good or bad.

On the flip side, movies allow readers to visualize aspects of books that are foreign to them, especially with period pieces or stories set in less familiar places. The screen version of a book adds the powerful sense of sight to give the viewer a clear understanding of what the setting is like or what people really wear; everything is a visual backdrop of the characters’ everyday worlds. How can Mr. Darcy not look like Colin Firth? Sound plays this role as well. Before watching “The Lord of the Rings,” I never imagined what a wraith sounded like. Even though there is a gap between what is playing out on screen and the spectator in his seat, devices such as narration allow private thoughts to be revealed, the character’s head read aloud, I had a farm in Africa. And of course, nothing beats good acting and portraying a character for who she is, especially when a look alone reveals the character and her intentions to the core. The British do it best.

Truthfully, I’m fully guilty of loving both books and film so I recently asked friends in both industries which books make the best movies. The reality of the transition is that less than one percent of books even get optioned for film. Even after that, it’s safe to say that less than one percent of those books ever make it onto the screen. Books that are action-driven make for better screenplays, and that doesn’t necessarily mean bullets flying. It can mean following the wanderings of Alice in Wonderland. Movie makers do need to be able to play visually, much the same way writers play with language. Books that are inherently visual make screenplays much easier to write and the transition from book to movie much smoother. If while reading a book a reader is able to see, taste, touch and hear everything as it happens, then the story is already that much closer to film in its original state. Think “Babette’s Feast.”

Different arts call for different modes of expression. It’s inevitable that books must change in order to be expressed through film. The screen version of stories can be quite different than what the author intended, and authors take this in different ways. Alan Moore publicly disassociated himself from “V for Vendetta” when the film version of the comic book series he co-created was released. Other stories such as “No Country for Old Men” change very little from book to movie. Large portions in the dialogue of Cormac McCarthy’s novel remain line for line on screen. No matter what the author’s take, successful at the box office or not, loved by critics or hated by the public, the simple truth is that movies are great for book sales. There is no argument against the fact that a movie, good or bad, offers incomparable publicity for the story in its original form.

Yes, purists love books in their original form more than their movies, and I suppose I agree with them most of the time. Because the attention of movie goers is short, movie makers are forced to tell a story in less than two hours, no matter how compelling the plot. While my vote is for reading and imagination first (since I like the movies in my head best,) films are inspirational in their own right because of their individual artistic expression, think “Casablanca” and “Room with a View.” Besides, it does work both ways; movies influence authors and thus their writing. Admittedly, my life and pen wouldn’t be the same without that Hitchcock obsession early on.

Tyler Oaks earned her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from California State University, Stanislaus and her Master of Arts in Spanish from California State University, Sacramento. Tyler lives in California's Napa Valley with her husband and twin daughters. Tyler is presently at work on her next novel.

Photo courtesy: Jim Munnelly

While relaxing on a secluded beach in Maui with my daughters, Jade and Lily, I recognized just how important it was for me to take time off on a regular basis.

For weeks leading up to the vacation, I had mixed feelings about spending the money in such unstable economic times when everything seemed to be at a standstill. After shortening the vacation, I continued to question whether taking time to relax was an extravagance I should postpone. Looking forward to the time away, I still felt uneasy as the plane took off.

It didn’t take me long to appreciate just how important the break in routine was. Not only was it a great opportunity for us to spend time together as a family, it helped me see things in a different light and gain a new perspective on all I had been doing and thinking. The restful holiday allowed me to unwind and reconnect with myself, easing the way back to feeling my best.

I think it is undeniable that we often lose sight of the big picture. We’re inclined to change our priorities, but in the daily grind, it is difficult to identify the transition.

For the most part, I’ve trained myself to forget about my work when I am away, doing my best to shut out as much as possible. However, one of the burdens of being an Internet junkie is that I am always available, even when I’m on vacation. Because I run my own business, I feel it’s my responsibility to stay connected to my clients when I am out of town in case a time sensitive problem occurs. While I feel it is necessary for me to be reachable, I don’t allow myself to become enslaved by my commitments. After all, we all need a break!

I’ve also come to realize that because I am working for myself, there is the problem of knowing when I should take time off. When the office is literally your home, you have that uncontrollable urge to work continuously. It’s so easy to get caught up in the grueling routine, making it almost impossible to decide on a time to go on vacation.

However, watching a breathtaking Maui sunset puts it all in perspective. Taking a break and relaxing is hard to do, but definitely necessary. Without it, I could easily burn myself out and begin to despise what I once enjoyed.

That said, there’s no time better than the present to make my reservations for next summer.

Lisa Martin owns Martin-McLean Literary Associates LLC. She represents established authors as well as new writers.

Colin Woodard

Colin Woodard is an award-winning global environmental journalist and author of bestselling nonfiction about the deterioration of the world’s oceans and the environmental
history of coastal Maine.

Q: How has being a journalist and foreign correspondent helped you with your writing?

A: Enormously, as it’s a medium that doesn’t tolerate superfluous tangents, cluttered transitions, or dense writing, or as I call them the Three Great Curses of Non-Fiction, which plagues the historical field with particular intensity.

Q: Describe the amount and kinds of research required for your books.

A: My first book was on the global crisis in the world’s oceans. I traveled to Antarctica and five other continents to see the oceans and interview people. I met with marine biologists, ecologists, fisheries scientists, glaciologists, historians and anthropologists while researching the book. The pirate book was a down-and-dirty archival treasure hunt. I spent days digging through dusty letters in the British Archives and organizing clues on a series of vast Excel spreadsheets.

Q: What has been the most successful marketing avenue for selling your books?

A: National Public Radio is a gem. I also find that speaking events are by far the most effective means of promoting my books. I’ve also learned that museums, clubs, libraries and other organizations with their own following usually have the best turnouts, while big box bookstores have the worst.

Q: Why did you decide to write Republic of Pirates as non-fiction?

A: There’s plenty of pirate fiction out there. The real story had never been told and is far more interesting and peculiar.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact and Touching The Dead, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.

Carlotta Holton has just received her second award for Touching the Dead from the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest. Click here to purchase the book.

Deborah Greenspan is a writer turned publisher, who brings to self publishing the same high standards as are expected of traditional publishing. Her company, Llumina Press, is a leader in the POD and self publishing field, and offers great, personal service as well as quality work. Call or email Llumina for a free editing evaluation.