What should I do??

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
41

My Tuppence worth here,

T&D gets sent a lot of unsolicited articles, very few make it into print. The fact yours is even being considered I would take as an achievement.

Chris is highly experienced at what he does and is recognised as one of the best at it.

I would let him edit it for the magazine and use that as a teaching experience. He will take what you wrote and turn it into what the magazine wants, giving you a heads up on the style, context, format etc that is required to get into the magazine.

You can submit as much stuff as you want in your own style, if its not what the magazine wants they wont print it… Part of the art of being a writer is to write in the way the editors prefer. Part of the skill is being able to adapt your writing style for different editors/Titles with different markets.

When you compare your original to what appears in print you will have a better idea of how the next one should be written to have a chance of getting in again. Get a few published and it is not beyond the realms of possibility you could pitch a paid peice. Either to T&D or another magazine. Getting those first few in print to create a portfolio is the hard part.

Seriously congratulations on getting Chris to consider it. Take it as an achievement and learn from it

42

Thanks for that Rikki, looking at that way you are right the fact my work has been considered is an achievement in itself.

This is the second time I have had work put into a magazine with my first time being a piece in the Classic and Vintage Commercial magazine (October Issue) but I didn’t have to write much just some information about me and the trucks I got pictures of. I wanted to try and do a diary but never had the chance and used the chance to try further up and enter my pictures again to T&D with the article inquiry to see if it would be of interest to them.

Thanks again for the congrats as it’s an accomplishment for me as I’ve always wanted to see something I did in the magazine. It’s just nice to see my hard work over the past year has paid off on such a big scale :smiley:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

P.S I will be sure to compare what has actually been written on the article compared to what I submitted so I can see how he did it :slight_smile: I’m just hoping it turns out good for everyone to see :slight_smile:

43

No problem mate,

The same goes for photography, One of the best who T&D uses a lot is Tom Cunningham, take a look at his website to see what sort of things the magazines like, it may give you a few ideas…
tomcunningham.co.uk/

44

jonnytruckfest:
I understand what you mean Lucy, I suppose with this being my first time trying to get some form of article printed I’m going to make a lot of mistakes ( I usually do anyway! :laughing: :laughing: ) But it’s all learning curves that I have to take in order to get somewhere.

My first feature was a commissioned piece on the history of transport cafes on the A1. I was given 1500 words, and did it whilst I was on maternity leave as a way to boost my income. The first attempt turned out at 8000 words. Then I cut it to 7500. By the time I’d got it down to 6000 - so still 300% overlength - I had no idea what else to do, and Dave said to send it in and he’d try and advise (fortunately there was no deadline, it was an open-ended thing as a first go). I was utterly convinced it was perfect, and taking out so much as another syllable would ruin it.

It came back at bang on 1500 words with a note attached saying “Compare and contrast. Dave.”. After picking myself up off the floor and consoling myself over the loss of my “brilliant” work, I started on what was to be a very steep learning curve, one I’m still on to this day.

I have a copy of that piece somewhere, both the original and the edited version. He was right. It was crap. :wink:

I have a feeling that Chris might think I am a bit of a nob with trying to dig my heels in to say I was right but I admit I was wrong in trying to prove someone who does the job professionally wrong :blush: I just hope it doesn’t cloud his judgement of me as I just felt a bit let down with an idea I believed would be a great one for the mag.

No offence, but what would be great for the mag is not something you could possibly know. You don’t understand length issues yet, you haven’t got your head 'round the fact that printed media isn’t the internet and space is at a premium, and you don’t yet understand the pressures editors are under from many, many different directions to produce a closely-defined finished product.

I am stubborn so admitting I am wrong is like trying to take sweets from a kid :blush: And I’m just letting him get on with what he needs to do and I hope it’s done well (Probably better than I expect!!) I wouldn’t mind having a mentor and being able to have some bits in magazines as I’m all about sharing my work with the world I must admit :slight_smile: And it’s a way of me becoming an established photographer in the process as that’s where I would like to be, usually when I have my mind set on something I never stop until it’s done which I know can work both ways :open_mouth: I just have to hope I get there :slight_smile:

You get a mentor by showing raw talent. If someone thinks you’re worth mentoring, they will approach you and say so. In the meantime, be prepared for a lot of rejection, and to admit you’re wrong over and over and over and over again. If was easy, any bugger could do it, and they can’t.

The biggest thing is to remember is it’s not about what you think or what you want to write, it’s about what the editor thinks, what he wants you to write, and how many words he wants you to write it in.For example, I’ve got a small feature about different wages schemes in CM this week. It was torture trying to find company directors willing to talk AND get examples of 4 different ways of paying AND interview and then quote those people in a way that wasn’t just a list of facts, showed some of their character using their own voice, and made both interesting and coherant reading AND add a legal section, all in 1000 words. To a deadline. But that’s what I’m paid for.

And don’t worry about the typos it took me 2 goes to crack English myself so I have no room to grumble about typos :laughing: :smiley:

That was a tongue in cheek comment. I’m used to sub-editing my own work, so the typos were the first thing to come out of the post. Had it been for print, about half the words would’ve come out next, including nearly every instance of the word “that” and anything that could be shortened by use of apostrophes. Good grammar, vocabulary and use of punctuation are vital.

It’s all just a waiting game now to see what the article looks like. :slight_smile:

It always is. You’ll know you’re getting somewhere, however, when your main concern is simply whether it’s been printed so you can invoice for it and get paid a month later! :grimacing:

45

Lucy:

jonnytruckfest:
I understand what you mean Lucy, I suppose with this being my first time trying to get some form of article printed I’m going to make a lot of mistakes ( I usually do anyway! :laughing: :laughing: ) But it’s all learning curves that I have to take in order to get somewhere.

My first feature was a commissioned piece on the history of transport cafes on the A1. I was given 1500 words, and did it whilst I was on maternity leave as a way to boost my income. The first attempt turned out at 8000 words. Then I cut it to 7500. By the time I’d got it down to 6000 - so still 300% overlength - I had no idea what else to do, and Dave said to send it in and he’d try and advise (fortunately there was no deadline, it was an open-ended thing as a first go). I was utterly convinced it was perfect, and taking out so much as another syllable would ruin it.

It came back at bang on 1500 words with a note attached saying “Compare and contrast. Dave.”. After picking myself up off the floor and consoling myself over the loss of my “brilliant” work, I started on what was to be a very steep learning curve, one I’m still on to this day.

I have a copy of that piece somewhere, both the original and the edited version. He was right. It was crap. :wink:

I have a feeling that Chris might think I am a bit of a nob with trying to dig my heels in to say I was right but I admit I was wrong in trying to prove someone who does the job professionally wrong :blush: I just hope it doesn’t cloud his judgement of me as I just felt a bit let down with an idea I believed would be a great one for the mag.

No offence, but what would be great for the mag is not something you could possibly know. You don’t understand length issues yet, you haven’t got your head 'round the fact that printed media isn’t the internet and space is at a premium, and you don’t yet understand the pressures editors are under from many, many different directions to produce a closely-defined finished product.

I am stubborn so admitting I am wrong is like trying to take sweets from a kid :blush: And I’m just letting him get on with what he needs to do and I hope it’s done well (Probably better than I expect!!) I wouldn’t mind having a mentor and being able to have some bits in magazines as I’m all about sharing my work with the world I must admit :slight_smile: And it’s a way of me becoming an established photographer in the process as that’s where I would like to be, usually when I have my mind set on something I never stop until it’s done which I know can work both ways :open_mouth: I just have to hope I get there :slight_smile:

You get a mentor by showing raw talent. If someone thinks you’re worth mentoring, they will approach you and say so. In the meantime, be prepared for a lot of rejection, and to admit you’re wrong over and over and over and over again. If was easy, any bugger could do it, and they can’t.

The biggest thing is to remember is it’s not about what you think or what you want to write, it’s about what the editor thinks, what he wants you to write, and how many words he wants you to write it in.For example, I’ve got a small feature about different wages schemes in CM this week. It was torture trying to find company directors willing to talk AND get examples of 4 different ways of paying AND interview and then quote those people in a way that wasn’t just a list of facts, showed some of their character using their own voice, and made both interesting and coherant reading AND add a legal section, all in 1000 words. To a deadline. But that’s what I’m paid for.

And don’t worry about the typos it took me 2 goes to crack English myself so I have no room to grumble about typos :laughing: :smiley:

That was a tongue in cheek comment. I’m used to sub-editing my own work, so the typos were the first thing to come out of the post. Had it been for print, about half the words would’ve come out next, including nearly every instance of the word “that” and anything that could be shortened by use of apostrophes. Good grammar, vocabulary and use of punctuation are vital.

It’s all just a waiting game now to see what the article looks like. :slight_smile:

It always is. You’ll know you’re getting somewhere, however, when your main concern is simply whether it’s been printed so you can invoice for it and get paid a month later! :grimacing:

Thank you for that Lucy, I understand what you are saying standing back and looking to it now I agree 100% with what you are saying. And I understand that they will know better than me regardless of my opinion it’s a case of biting the bullet and baring with it and learn from it to do better next time. I can only put it down to eagerness to be recognized for my work and sharing it with the world.

And Chris said my work would be put into the truckstuff section of the magazine and they don’t generally pay for things put into that section. So that’s fair enough. I’m just interested in having my work put into the magazine :slight_smile:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

46

Nice to see some real constructive advice obviously ricki is involved with t&d so so knows what goes on behind the scenes and Lucy and mark(Newmercman) are published truck writers so know what is needed in the finished article and that’s what forums should be about helping each other.
If you can get a book called the road to mugglefluka by phil Llewelyn the godfather of truck and motor travel writing also have a look on Newmercmans blog for inspiration.

47

Thats a great book ,I bought mine on Amazon,highly recommended.

48

That Road to Muckle Flugga book is excellent, Phil Llewellyn is the inspiration behind my writing, that and my love of lorries and driving. I remember my first ever LDD when I was on staff at TRUCK mag, to me it was the lorry’ing equivalent of walking to the center circle of Wembley as captain of the mighty Spurs :sunglasses: :laughing:

Lucy, it looks like you still have a way to go with the learning curve, I said everything you said in half the words a few posts before you :laughing: :laughing:

You’re right about your piece about wages, very hard to put a story like that together without repitition (a writers biggest enemy) I did a piece on the early Foden Alpha which was my most challenging article, mostly because as well as finding ten people who ran the bloody thing, they all said the same stuff about it, making that interesting was very difficult, but I did it, Brian Weatherley, who was at that time Editor in Chief of TRUCK, called me into his office to congratulate me on it, I was over the moon, but to put it into perspective, I was a full time writer and I had been on as many courses as I could, every one of them taught me something that became useful, that’s where the mentoring part comes in, raw talent is necessary, but it needs fine tuning by someone who knows their stuff, in my case I had Andy Salter and Brian Weatherley, I also was tasked with reading every issue of TRUCK before I ever went near a keyboard (and I got paid too :sunglasses: ) that way I got a feel for the magazine, so Johnny Boy, to get as far as you have with Chris is quite an accolade in itself :wink:

49

Cheers for that NMM most of my work has been inspired by yourself and many other people on this forum who have done diaries of their trips as it makes for good reading as well as influencing ideas that maybe haven’t been thought of yet. :slight_smile:

I have to admit to have my work featured in a magazine that has been my first ever time entering an article with my pictures to have it featured in the mag even if it’s just one page it’s still a great achievement. As it is my second publication with my first piece being in another magazine I think my dad was more made up about it than I was to be honest as I knew what to expect!! and my granddad was shocked to find my name in it as my dad didn’t tell him about it :laughing: :laughing: But to say that I have achieved this while I am doing my A-level work (And applied business at A-level is a ■■■■ load of work on itself never mind the photography work that I have to do also! :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: ) I have managed to take time to do a little write up with some pictures it makes it all worth while. It certainly adds to my photography portfolio with my college work as my tutor has filled me in on the fact I’m the first person she’s known from her class to have something published! So I know i’ve accomplished a lot especially for someone of my age.

But I’m all about learning, I try to learn something new everyday and if I can learn just one thing then I am happy. :slight_smile: I can only hope one day someone see’s potential in my work to be front cover material for a magazine whether it be T&D or any other magazine. :smiley: I can only say that I hope that readers enjoy my work as I enjoyed it just as much getting the pictures and writing it up and any constructive criticism or complements people have I welcome them all with open arms and try use the criticism to improve my work for the next time round :smiley: :smiley:

Now it’s back to business for me today so I won’t be replying for a couple hours yet :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

50

What great feedback from Ricki, Lucy and NMM. I love the written word and like writing although most of you on Truck Net UK would never have guessed. :stuck_out_tongue:

Recently I wrote 2500 words for the Auto Cycle Union which I spell-checked, checked my facts and checked it again with friends and motorcycle enthusiasts. It came back 1000 words shorter and with so many changes I didn’t recognise it, it was still the same article, it just used words I wouldn’t normally use. The ACU have a committee member who is also a proof reader and because he understands the sport, he was finally able to condense “my article” to less than half without losing any of it’s impact.

On the other hand I just wrote a full page article for a newspaper and it was published verbatim. It has had lots of favourable comments and the phone was ringing for 3 or 4 days. I haven’t seen a cheque yet and doubt I ever will, but it was great practice.

I love the analogy between the writing and the knackered lorry :laughing:

51

I would probably say I wouldn’t have guessed either to be honest WN :smiley: But the world is full of surprises indeed!

I have to admit when Chris said that he would cut my article down to a couple hundred words I did get quite upset about it as I did think it was a bit of a waste of what I wrote but hopefully it will still be the same article just shorter to how he would word it. I’m putting my trust into him to make the article something good and I don’t usually put my trust in people but when people say he’s one of the best then I have to go with what other people say :slight_smile:

I just have to keep doing what I do best and practice getting pictures of trucks and hopefully they could see the light of day :smiley:


Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

52

An interviewer was talking to Joseph Heller who wrote the satirical 50’s novel Catch 22. He had written several other books after it prompting this quote.

“Since Catch 22 you haven’t written anything nearly as good.”

Heller: “No, but then neither has anyone else.”

I think that sums up this thread :stuck_out_tongue:

53

I am very impressed with the amount of help, advice and encouragement given to this obviously keen young man, in this thread.

54

All I can say is thank you to everybody who has given me the advice and that I will put it to the best way I can. This is going to be a short reply as I am up to my eyes in photography work and it needs to get done :smiley:

All that’s to say now is it’s a matter of waiting to see when the article comes out and then take it from there to see how I can improve how I write and where else my work is going to take me. :slight_smile:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses: