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Re: Whew! pretty long dry spell here is ASA



On 9/24/2020 1:44 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
> On 9/24/2020 8:43 AM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>> On 9/23/2020 10:39 AM, Jim Davis wrote:
>>> On Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 9:05:01 PM UTC-4, Bob La Londe wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> So that's the end of my fishing story. Yours obviously is still in
>>>>> progress. Cherish it.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Best wishes for your wife's recovery
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You aren't to bad a story teller yourself.  Maybe break things up a
>>>> little to make it easier to read.  I bet using the spoken word in
>>>> person
>>>> you would be tell it pretty well.
>>>
>>> Yeah, I just started typing and kept going. When I got done I saw it
>>> all bunched together but it was late and I was beginning to nod off
>>> so I just left it. Sorry.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Why I am not an outdoor writer
>>
>> I may simpley not be that good.  I've only ever submitted a couple
>> things for publication and they have all been published, so maybe with
>> practice I could be, but I had some experiences that made me quit trying.
>>
>> This is a little bit of a rant so feel free to skip it if you want
>>
>> I took a shot at outdoor writing a number of years ago.  One article
>> was submitted to a regional rag, and they published it.  After I
>> rewrote the article a dozen times, and butchered it removing most of
>> the useful content to fit their idea of how short an article should
>> be.  The agreement was I would do that in exchange for so many months
>> free advertisement of my fishing website in their rag.  I spent a lot
>> of time on the article, and when it was done it was useless, but my
>> goal was to get my name out there and show some writing credits to
>> show other rags. They might have known how to publish a magazine, but
>> they didn't know shit about a useful and helpful fishing article.
>>
>> I expected to get a copy of the magazines that carried my
>> advertisement.   I didn't.  When I asked about it I was told if I
>> wanted a subscription I could buy one.  I asked that if they do that
>> to all their advertisers.   Make them pay to see their ad was
>> published.  Then I was told I was not an advertisers and if I wanted a
>> subscription I could buy one.  I reminded them of the deal and
>> mentioned I still had all the original emails.  The chief editor then
>> claimed that my emails were forwarded to them with out that
>> information.  I finally told them that under fair use I could publish
>> expose' articles on outdoors websites showing their magazine if it was
>> for the purpose of supporting an argument.  That I had proof they
>> whelched on a deal.  They could sue me, and I could counter sue, and
>> in the end they would lose, but I would rather they just honor the
>> agreement.  Especially since I had reworked the article at their
>> direction more like an employee than a free lance writer. Finally they
>> capitulated and the next month I received a copy of their rag.  In the
>> classified section about 1/2 an inch tall was a badly pixilated url
>> for my website.  Just YumaBassMan.com stretched and distorted so badly
>> it was barely readable
>>
>> That magazine didn't last another year.  They went to an online
>> presence that was so disorganized and chaotic as to make it less
>> useful than the article they made me butcher.
>>
>> I was so disheartened by the whole process I never submitted another
>> article to another rag.  Not even the local newspaper who had in the
>> past published some of my short essays unedited.
>>
>> I was smart enough to retain ownership of my work so that I could
>> republish it if I wanted to.  They had limited rights to publish it in
>> their magazine and I agreed not to publish it elsewhere for a limited
>> period.  Here it is.  (my version) Back then I thought it was the
>> Opus, but now I see it was just another so so article as I reread it.
>>
>> The Stick Worm Phenomenon
>> http://yumabassman.com/forums-new/index.php/page,page3691.html
>>
>> After all of that I still wrote and published a few articles on my
>> website.  Then one day I got a heads up that a commercial bass fishing
>> website had stolen one of my articles word for word including typos.
>> I contacted them and said they either needed to remove my article or
>> give me credit with a by line of my name and website url.  They
>> responded by telling me it was a shitty article, and they were in the
>> business of building a website and they weren't going to let me steal
>> web traffic from them or profit off their works so they were going to
>> remove my crappy article.  I was a little shocked.  Those thieving
>> bastards stole from me, and then accused me of trying to steal from them?
>>
>> I thought that was the end of it.  Until many years later a friend of
>> mine qualified to fish the Classic.  He did it through the Federation
>> structure.  Its quite an ordeal to make it up to the classic that way.
>> I posted a congratulatory message on his Facebook page.  A simple
>> short sentence like, "Congratulations on qualifying Steve."  I
>> received a nasty message from somebody I didn't know demanding to know
>> why I didn't give them credit for saying that sentence first.  I
>> didn't even know who they were.  It took me a while to figure out who
>> they were and why they were being a jackass over me congratulating my
>> friend on his accomplishment.  Yeah he was one of those guys from the
>> paragraph above.   It turns out he had posted that sentence on a web
>> forum I hadn't even seen, but now he thought because I also
>> congratulated Steve it was the same as being a POS thief willfully and
>> blatantly stealing other people's work.
>>
>> I think this was the article they stole.  I could be wrong.  It was a
>> long time ago.
>>
>> Getting Started On Popper Fishing
>> http://yumabassman.com/forums-new/index.php/page,page290.html
>>
>> I can't see trying to be in the writing business again.  It think it
>> would totally ruin my enjoyment of writing.
>>
>> Special credit to Sarah Sneed who was the only English professor who
>> ever TAUGHT me anything about actually writing.  English 102 Writing
>> Research Papers.
>>
>> Now I just hack out something when I feel like it.  I often don't
>> bother to proofread or edit anything.
>
>
> I should add that through out the 1990s I was very active in the local
> motorcycling community.  I am a life member of ABATE of Arizona, HOG,
> and the American Motorcycle Association.  I had begun assembling a list
> of "motorcycle games" and various other short articles on a subdomain
> website on the old GeoCities site. www.geocities.com/onebikenut.  Last
> tiem I checked about 30-40% of my work was still available on The Way
> Back Machine.
>
> I was approached by White Horse Press with the messages, "Please let us
> know when you are ready to write your book."  I didn't have the
> confidence to commit to something like that back then.  I also didn't
> have the time as I was working long days often 7 days a week building up
> The Security Consultant as a business.  Still, it was in the back of my
> mind that a real (if small) publisher recognized my work.

Bob,

Good story telling.  I can't imagine the frustration you were having
trying to get someone with that attitude to do the right thing.
Would certainly poo poo my thoughts about going down that path
as well.  I am guessing you have no regrets in going another way??

Kinda reminds me of the president of a company I use to work for
where I was the assistant shift supervisor.

Very long story short, but he said to the following to me.

"Anything you say can by mouth can always be taken back, but, if
you put it in writing you never can."

It was in response to me writing up a petition that everyone on my
shift signed requesting what was the status of the company going
forward after a few paychecks had bounced.  After the conversation
and his statement he said "I will make a notice to the employees
by the end of the week."  Well that never happened and with in
about a month on a Thursday when 2nd Shift was to get their pay
checks we were told that the checks were delayed and we would have
them on Friday.  Showed up Friday for 2nd Shift and I was told
that there would be no paychecks since the company had declared
Bankruptcy and was thee asked to go ahead and finish out the shift.
To which I said.  NO!!, we will shut down the machines now and be
out of here in about 30 minutes.

Ended up going to the Bankruptcy Court with another guy to find out
what we could do.  Was explained that the employees were 4th in line
to get paid if there was any money left.  But if you don't apply
for it you will never see it.

Requested 100 application forms and instructions on how to file.
Returned and called a meeting of all employees.  Explained what
we learned and handed out the applications.  It was 20 years
later, received a call from a paralegal asking for information
about certain employees.  She gave me names and I had to say
she/he was dead.  She explained that the pay would be given
to their heirs.  I said what pay??  She said that the employees
would be receiving their final paychecks in about a month.

My final paycheck was $398.00........................

I went to the bank to cash the check.  Signed it and gave it
to the clerk with $2.00 and asked for $100.00 bills.

Placed those bills on my desk waiting for something special that
I thought I could use it for.  Sat on my desk for 2-1/2 years
until I saw this beautiful Radio Controlled Glider for sale.
Bought it and still have it!!

End of Story!!

Les


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