Life Writing for Publication
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In the last issue, I wrote about the advantages of on-line journaling. It's one of the most energetic developments in life-writing today, offering easier accessibility to readers (no gate-keeping publishers to tell you "no, thanks") along with a technology that's getting friendlier all the time. You can sample some on-line journals at Diarist.net (http://www.diarist.net) and Metajournals (http://www.metajournals.com) or through search engines like Yahoo (http://dir.yahoo.com, where you can link from "social science" to "communications," to "writing" to "journals and diaries") and Mining Company (http://journals.miningco.com, click on "online journals"). Seeing other women's online journals might just encourage you to publish your own.
So what do you do next? Read on.
Getting Good AdviceDiarist.net and Metajournals make a point of welcoming new on-line journalers with advice from folks who've been there. Diarist.net offers recent articles on aspects of on-line journaling: today I read there a useful piece on titling your on-line journal. The side also provides an archive of similar articles posted in the past. To get to this section, start at the Diarist.net home page. Click on "Diarist.net Guide" and then on "Start Up." Metajournal's help for beginning on-line journalers is located in the site's "Permanent" section, at the upper left-hand corder of its home page. The link to "Resources" gives advice on questions of on-line writing style, design, and technology. "Metalinks" connects you to other websites that also address these issues. Metajournals also maintains an archive of past issues, and on its home page, current articles about specific on-line journaling topics. One dealing with anonymity -- which can be wise for on-line journalers -- was full of great perspectives and ideas.
From Webmaster to WebringNow you're ready to write for the web!First, you'll need to create a web page -- not so intimidating, really. You have two basic options. Hire a web page designer to do it for you. Or -- my preference -- be your own webmaster. Your regular word processing software may allow you to save files as web documents in HTML (the web's programming language). Or use software specifically designed for web writing, such as Webmaster, PageMill, or HomePage. Now you want to find a web host for your journal. More choices. If you use an Internet service provider (ISP) it may give you some free web space where you can post your journal. Otherwise, you'll want to located a host. Some web hosts charge for their service but many, like Geocities/Yahoo (http://geocities.yahoo.com/home) are free. Uploading your journal to the web host isn't hard. Your web authoring program can probably do this, or you can download a free FTP (file transfer protocol) utility from the web, that you then use for uploading. Finally, make sure that readers can find your journal on the web. List your site with one or more Internet search engines such as Yahoo, Mining Company, Infoseek, or Alta Vista, using their registration forms. And add your site to one or more journaling "webrings," so that poeple surfing other on-line journals will find yours, too. Both Diarist.net and Metajournals can help you to do this. |
SOURCES AND RESOURCES
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Last updated: 02/07/00