A Poem For My Wife On Our Wedding Anniversary

Strange things tend to happen on Bus Stops
Like Umbrellas left in the rain
The owner was rushed
As they boarded the bus
Their loss became some others gain

Strange people are found around Bus Stops
Young Goths and Grannies and Kids
They don’t own cars
Some hang out in Bars
Wouldn’t swap their lifestyles for quids

Strange emotions are tested on Bus Stops
Like crying and laughing or worse
There’s no reason for this
Sometimes their just pissed
Or sadly they’ve just lost their purse

Strange Meetings are formed around Bus Stops
Like Fate they are all meant to be
While you might not expect it
you should always reflect it
I know - cause it happened to me

Strange objects are scattered around Bus Stops
Because some people simply don’t care
Like trash and chewed gum
That sticks to your bum
Or money - but that’s really rare

Strange looks are passed around Bus Stops
A glance between lovers or friends
See someone attractive
You get all reactive
And flirting is setting new trends

Strange lives are touched around Bus Stops
Seems God is lending a hand
Fate interferes
Guides you and steers
Pass Go - to the ol’ Wedding Band

I’ll always be thankful for Bus Stops
It certainly changed my sad life
Blond an’ Blue Eyes
Shapely surprise
A Package wrapped in my wife

So Thanks to my favorite Bus Stop
For years you’ve granted my wish
3 Kids and a dog
An occasional snog
And a wife I adore who’s called Trish

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I received an interesting message yesterday from E.D. Easley who seemed to have a complaint about Copyright.

Copyright Handbook: What Every Writer Needs to Know

Price: $25.78 USD

I have listed his message first together with my reply in an attempt to clarify just what the Writer’s Rights to Copyright are.

I would also appreciate any comments you may have regarding this matter and will, without bias or favor, print them right here for everyone to read.

Here is Ed’s first contact message with me…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I noted with interest that you reprinted a copyrighted article of mine in this edition. I’d like to be paid for the use, please.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is in relation to an article we have re-printed on this site. You can read it here:

http://writing.golden-books.com/writing-fiction/romance/characters-in-a-romance-novel.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naturally, as a strong defender of Copyright, I wanted to make sure I had my facts right before I replied.

Shown below is my answer…

G’day

I noted you claim to copyright for the ‘free to use’ article available from article directories and attributed to author Patty Apostolides who’s resource box is listed at the bottom of the article.

Unless you can substantiate your claim, we are well within our rights to use this article without copyright payment.

regards. Dave Lucas

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t long before I had a reply. This is what Ed had to say…

“Dave, Understand that I don’t want to get really uptight about this.

It should be a little embarrasing that a writing magazine would pick up an article without authorization from the author.

I only sold first rights to the e-zine. You had the bad luck to publish it without asking. As far as substantiating my claim, it’s a matter of your presenting documentation you were authorized to print it or that the writing was available through the Fair Use Doctrine or was in the public domain.

In short, it’s up to you to prove you had the right to use it.

They call that theft where I come from.

Just send the check and let’s not hassle about this.

The original article was part of a $110 sale. I think $55 is a fair price for reprint rights.

Thanks,”

–Ed Easley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hmmmm? I was getting a little suspicious now. Could this be genuine - a real complaint - or a scam?

Better check ezinearticles.com for their clarification.

Once that was done I wrote back to ‘Eager Ed’.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

G’day Ed and many thanks for your swift reply.

As a published author myself, I hold very strong views regarding copyright, and naturally wouldn’t abuse them.

This article you CLAIM is yours is currently available free of charge at ezinearticles.com at this address:

http://ezinearticles.com/index.php?Characters-In-A-Romance-Novel&id=31613

According to the Terms of Service:
http://ezinearticles.com/terms-of-service.html

I have complied with every aspect of copyright - including:

Paragraph 4. No additional permission is required from the author of any article within our directory as long as you agree to every term listed above in section 1. a) thru 1. n).

Which I have done.

You still don’t sound like Patty Apostolides either?

regards. Dave

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to make it quite clear here that MAYBE a writer like Ed uses the pen name of Patty Apostolides. I have no way of knowing that fact - nor do I really wish to explore that posibility further.

But as you can guess - Ed wasn’t going to let this serious matter go.

He wrote back - within the hour - such was his urgency.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dave, Like I said, I’ve only granted first rights to the publication I sent it to. How anyone assumed I’d given them permission is beyond me.

They’re my next letter.

It’s not hard for me to establish ownership of the piece. I have a magazine editor who would back me up. She was a co-author on one of the articles. It’s also the first appearance of the piece you could possibly find.

Go ahead, give me Patty’s e-mail. I’ll bother her.

I didn’t want to do this except I intended to resell that piece, and could. That was before it appeared to be a public domain article.

In any case you should be more careful with reprints. It costs us all money.

And in a writing publication…

Man.”

–Ed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not a happy chappy…

So there you have it. The saga of the ‘Is Ed - really Patty?’

I still don’t know if this is a Con or not?

Writer’s who supply articles to the ezine and article directories do so for FREE with the sole intention of getting their work published and then PASSED AROUND.

The price is the link in the bottom of the article which increases publicity to them - and if they have it - a website.

I do it - if you write anything - you should do it too.

It makes sense to distribute free articles to spread the word about you, your website and your writing. You always retain copyright -you are not giving THAT away. Just the right to re-print the article in exchange for the Resource Box at the bottom of the work.

Sounds like a fair exchange to me and WILL help you get published and recognised. It’s a tool I personally use and I recommend it.

As for Ed…

I await more comments.

Science Fiction Books… Brought to you by Dave Lucas…

I guess what I liked so much about these science fiction books was their epic scope.

There are books of what is called speculative fiction, a type of science fiction that attempts to look into the future of society, that I do like a lot, but the space opera is always better…

I have always enjoyed science fiction books, from the time I was a very small child on.

When I was 8 years old, I joined a science fiction book club, where we read some of the science fiction classics.

I remember “The Time Machine” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” like they were yesterday.

Read Full Article on How To Write Science Fiction…

Before you even begin writing your novel, you need to know who your characters will be. Minimally, you would want two major characters, the hero and the heroine. They will interact mostly with each other throughout the novel.

How they interact with each other will determine the outcome of the story. Will they resist each other in the beginning of the story and by the end, fall in love?

Read Full Article on Characters In A Romance Novel…

Before writing an article, have you ever felt overwhelmed by a blank sensation, not knowing where to start?

…I’ll bet you have!

This checklist should help you eliminate some common problems in writing articles:

1. Have a specific purpose in mind.

Always have a specific purpose in mind before you begin writing: you should be crystal clear about what are you hoping to accomplish by writing your article…

Read Full Article on Checklist For Writing Effective Articles…

Understanding Google Adwords and getting the right Keywords AND Traffic is one of the Easiest ways to make Money on the Internet.

But you need writing skills PLUS you need the correct formats and formulas to make it happen.

This Complimentary eBook from Brad Callan is yours to Download and Keep, as my gift to you as my way of saying ‘Thanks’ for coming to my website. Just Right Click on the Book Image and then use the ‘Save As’ menu to download it to your Desktop. - Enjoy…

Write For The World - Why Not? It’s a Big Place…

Writing Poetry and Prose is a great way to start - then move up to Short Stories and learn your craft.

Study Plot - Dialogue - Structure - Character. Finally write The Great [_________] Novel (replace Blank with your country) and remember the Golden Bookstore Guide Rule - If it’s NOT fun - don’t do it….

This is the Art of Getting Published…