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RUBY36-8
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1994-08-16
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Copyright (c) 1994
What E-Mags Mean to Me
(an editorial comment)
by little Mikie Hahn, age 36
About a thousand years ago, while I was still in high school,
I wrote a series of articles for the hometown newspaper. They
weren't anything special, just bits about Homecoming and my
internship in the state capital. I wasn't a writer; I was a
math/science student.
A couple of years later, I worked summers in the college
admissions office at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois.
Part of my job was writing a couple of pieces for the admissions
newsletter. When I switched majors from math/physics to theatre
arts, I had a few more papers to write than I had previously. I
still wasn't a writer, though.
I placed a couple of poems in the college literary magazine
before I graduated, and I wrote newspaper articles publicizing a
couple of plays by the Jacksonville Theatre Guild. Oh, and one
other thing: I was a runner-up in an OMNI magazine contest. I wrote
a set of "Fractured Dictionary" entries that won a keychain, an
advance copy of the magazine, and twenty-five dollars. Still wasn't
a writer, though.
A few years later, I bought a personal computer and discovered
BBSes. I started corresponding on RIME, fell into the Writers'
conference, and "met" Del Freeman and Ruby Begonia. Early in 1992,
I was convinced to try my hand at writing short stories, and Ruby's
Pearls ran "Snapshot" in April of 1992. I was surprised. I wasn't
a writer.
Two years and seventy stories later, I guess I'm a writer.
My work has appeared in five electronic magazines, but the majority
have been in Ruby's Pearls. I suppose my stories are designed for
electronic magazines; they tend to be short, usually two or three
screens of text. Just call me O. Michael.
I write my stories for recreation, not profit. I suppose I
could try to sell them, but the investment of time and energy in
selling the story would probably far exceed the return in filthy
lucre. I pull down a full-time paycheck as a consultant (a job I
got in part through my stories), so I don't need to support myself
with my writing.
Del and David Freeman are two of a number of folks who invest
their time and energy in producing free electronic publications
that feature the writing of folks like me. The publishers of free
electronic magazines do it because they love it, not because it's
"the wave of the future" or a way to make a quick buck. The
electronic publishers of magazines like Ruby's Pearls are the next
generation of publishers of small-circulation "pulp", "literary",
or fan magazines.
As with the paper magazines before them, these electronic
magazines don't need an organization to drive them. They only need
dedicated publishers, willing to donate their time and energy, and
dedicated writers, willing to donate their stories.
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