Information for Authors

For those interested in contributing to the newsletter, here are some helpful hints to make the process run smoothly:

1. A full page article is about 850-900 words (or about 275-300 words per column). Try to adjust your article to match even page or column boundaries. If you have graphics, keep this in mind since you don't have to write as much text.
2. Graphics are very helpful. If you have photographs, please scan them in as TIFF or JPG files. If you can find artwork on the internet, download it and save as JPG or GIF format. Searching for graphics is time-consuming; any help would be appreciated.
3. When writing your article, please remember that your primary objective is to provide content. My job is to format it and fit it in the newsletter. The formatting job can be tedious, but you can help me by observing the following rules:
4. • Use one space after the end-of-sentence period, not two spaces.
   • Do not indent paragraphs or lines.
   • Do not change word processing fonts or use underline, bold, italics, etc. If you want something emphasized, surround it with asterisks (e.g. *look here*). I will replace them with real fonts.
   • Do not use any fancy word processing features like bullets, tables, fraction substitution, special symbols. These often don't translate and require extra effort to duplicate. If you want information presented in a certain style, describe it in parenthesis. I will edit out your notes to me and do the typesetting.
   • Do not use hard carriage returns after sentences. Let the word processor wrap the lines.
   • Use one hard carriage return after a paragraph.
   • Do not use word processing styles. All text should be the "normal" style.
   • Do not use excessive whitespace anywhere. I will just have to strip it out.
5. Please proof-read and spell-check your article. I don't always have time to do so.
6. I use Pagemaker for Windows, so I can read lots of different file formats. It's sometimes easier for you to do a "save as..." and save the file as any version of Word, or Rich Text Format, or even plain text, than to send me a proprietary file format of another word processor. If you're unsure whether I can read your file format or not, send me a test file in advance.
7. Sending files as word processing attachments rather than plain text is easier since I don't have to strip out hard carriage returns from each line.
8. E-mail is the preferred method of sending files. Send to meade@donet.com.
9. Please observe the editorial deadlines in the newsletter each month (second page, bottom of masthead).