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READ LIKE A WRITER, a teaching blog

FACTORS TO DETERMINE ‘FAIR USE’

This is Part III of a series of articles on how to legally use mixed media within novels or nonfiction. Media Attorney Aimée Bissonette has been guiding us through the legal minefield of copyright versus public domain, and, today, how to determine fair use.

Aimée  Read More 

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PRIMER ON COPYRIGHT VS. PUBLIC DOMAIN

In the last blog article I talked about advantages of using mixed genres within a work. However, if you use copyrighted materials without permission, you can find yourself in expensive legal trouble. Today, Media Attorney Aimée Bissonette has generously shared  Read More 

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MIXED GENRES IN ONE WORK GIVES READERS RELIEF

Mixed media in novels and nonfiction gives readers visual and reading relief. Honor copyright, though, or you could get sued.

By Christine Kohler

Mixed genres within one novel or nonfiction book gives readers visual and reading relief from the narrative. It can also add authenticity to a story or factual account. In real life, we use different forms of communication besides dialogue. People e-mail, text, post online, call on a phone, video-chat. We read  Read More 

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GETTING UNSTUCK

By Christine Kohler

As a former journalist, I have often said I don’t believe in writer’s block. I stick by that statement. Not writer’s block in the sense most people speak of it, as if they can’t get any words down on paper for a period of time. Poppycock. Research  Read More 

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TRUTH IN FICTION

By Christine Kohler

“When journalism is silenced, literature must speak. Because while journalism speaks with facts, literature speaks with truth.” Seno Gumira Ajidarma, an author, film critic, and creative writing teacher

I was on a panel at a Teen Bookfest when two authors gloated that they lie to their readers. I was dismayed that  Read More 

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10 TIPS FOR TURNING NONFICTION INTO A NOVEL

by Dandi Daley Mackall

I grew up on my parents’ amazing true war stories—how Mom joined the Army as a nurse when WWII broke out and Dad signed up to report to the Army the day after he got his medical degree. Even as a kid,  Read More 

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10 TIPS FOR VIDEO-CHAT SCHOOL VISITS

Take the stress out of computer video-chat school visits by pre-planning for any potential technology failure. Illustration by Pixabay.com

By Christine Kohler

“If anything can go wrong, it will.” – Murphy’s Law

In today’s techno-world this is especially true. The day of a recent video-chat school visit I posted on Facebook, “Satan is alive and lives in my computer.” Although my stress-level skyrocketed that morning when my PC’s operating system corrupted,  Read More 

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HOW AUTHORS CAN USE GOODREADS

By C. Lee McKenzie

It may seem obvious, but if you’re an author you should be on Goodreads. That’s where your serious readers and reviewers hang out. Christine asked if I’d write something to show what I do to make Goodreads work for me, so here are a few tips that  Read More 

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URSULA NORDSTROM GIVES TIMELESS ADVICE TO A TEEN WRITER

By Christine Rhodeback Kohler

Ursula Nordstrom. senior vice president and publisher of Harper & Row from 1940-1979, didn’t address me as “Dear Genius”, but she was kind enough to write a two-page typed letter to this sophomore in high school who dreamed of growing up and becoming a published author.

I found this dictated  Read More 

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CHAMORRO JOURNALIST CELEBRATES GUAM’S LIBERATION

By Zita Y. Taitano

The date July 21, 1944 is a time Chamorros—the indigenous people of the island of Guam—can never forget. On this particular day, United States Armed Forces set foot on Guam to liberate the Chamorros from two-and-a-half years of occupation by the Japanese Empire.

Many of the native islanders suffered greatly  Read More 

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