How to Write an Article for the Journal

by David Ottalini

Whether a short time Pi member or a longer-lived one like me, the Pi Journal has hopefully become one of your best "friends." Every other month, the Journal brings you great articles, reviews and information about your club.

But unless you are one of a small group of people, there is one thing you won't see in the magazine - an article by you. The Journal is driven by material written by volunteers. One of its biggest strengths over the years has been the wonderful contributions by members. The vast majority of material came >from within.

Today, the mix has changed - it's still 90 pages, but we are using more and more outside material, articles by folks who are not Pi members. The magazine is still a good one - our Editor Kathryn Murray does an outstanding job. But it could be so much better with contributions from our own folks.

We're all busy - believe me I know that. Juggling your time between family and work is a never ending battle. But I'd like to put a challenge before you. Instead of watching TV for an hour this weekend, use the time to write an article for the Journal. Write 500 to 750 words. Tell us what you do with your Mac. Why did you buy it? What do your kids use it for. What is your favorite web site? I suspect that once you get going, you'll find that the words come easily. After all, you're talking about one of your favorite appliances - your Macintosh computer.

If every member of the club wrote just one articleof 500 to 750 words, we would have more material than we could use in a year's worth of magazines. And once you've written one, I suspect you'll find that you forgot something - a review, say, of your favorite program.

And if you have trouble putting together a complete article, how about doing this - write me three sentences each (where applicable) to the following questions and email them to dave.ottalini@wap.org and I'll do the rest.

My Name Is:

I've Been a Pi member since:

I Work As A:

I Have This Kind of Mac:

I First Found Out About the Macintosh By/From :

I Bought a Mac Because:

The Best Thing about my Mac Is:

I would recommend a Mac to others because:

I Use My Mac Primarily For:

My Favorite Software Package is:

It's My Favorite Because:

(If you have kids) My Kids like the Mac because:

Their favorite games are:

That's all there is to it! Answer the questions, send them to me and I'll turn them into an article for you. You'll get final approval before its submitted to Ms. Murry for publication. But better yet, just turn everything into your own article and submit it to our editor directly. You'll get a thrill seeing your name in print and the knowledge that you're helping make the Pi Journal a better magazine for all our members.