The fun stories, the good news stories are needed, too

DUNDEE, New York - For most of the summer, I have been chasing stories for the Elmira Star-Gazette, the Ithaca Journal and Mountain Home magazine (out of Pennsylvania). All have been fun stories and/or stories where I knew what I was writing/photographing/publishing would be well appreciated.

Over the past weekend, I went to the Finger Lakes Wine Festival where I managed to find some friends pouring wine for their amigos (who own a winery) and voila! I was able to publish a photo of them, which promos their friends' winery quite nicely.

Plus, of course, they liked seeing themselves in the newspaper.

LINK: Monday's Wine Festival article in Star-Gazette
Then Tuesday morning there was a feature I had written about a local guy who is raising alpacas.

His hobby turned into a business that now has his entire family hard at it with a entire production of making yarn and products for sale.

He's living the dream which I chronicled and also gave a helluva boost to his business.

Right after it was published, I received several emails from people asking me for good directions to the ranch and little store. Multiply that times the circulations of the two newspapers and the family is in for a windfall.

It deserves it.

LINK: A passion for alpacas...

The experience this summer has taken me in a time machine back to when I started in the news business, writing hard-hitting, expose-type stories mixed in with features just like these. Looking back, the softer pieces may have made a bigger dent in the cosmos than any 'gotcha' story I ever wrote.

It's fun to make people happy.

I once took a photo and wrote a story about a local boy scout leader whose son had attained Eagle Scout - no small feat when your dad is the big kahuna of the troop. I can still see them standing there, posing for the photo. And the next day, when the photo and story were published, the dad came in and bought 50 copies of the newspaper.

One proud papa.

Professional journalists will often scoff at such stories, but know in their hearts that they count for a lot.

Nice to be reminded of it after all these years.

Always get the names, always get the names, always get the names...

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Forty pix into the Seneca Lake Wine and Food event this afternoon and I was sure I had at least a half-dozen good shots to accompany my story for the Elmira Star-Gazette newspaper.

And I was careful to get names and sufficient information to write captions.

I thought, I thought.

Wine in four packs

After writing the story (382 words), I dispatched eight photos to the editors. And in one photo, there was a young woman pouring wine who was clearly identifiable. But I hadn't gotten her name because I was at a booth where I thought I knew everybody.

I thought, I thought.

The rule of thumb in the journalism business is simple: If someone is identifiable, well, identify them damn it!

And so I after I sent over the photos - sans her name - I waited to see which of the eight shots the editors might pick. No sense going crazy to find the name unless I needed to.

Music at the event was great

You already know how it worked out..

That photo was THE photo they wanted to use - time to go crazy.

And so the Admiral and I went catapulting back to the event at the local park a mile away, only to find that the wine tasting was all closed up for the day.

Santo Crappo.

Using a very old-fashioned method - the telephone - I tracked her name down and so tomorrow's Elmira Star-Gazette will have Alexandra Doniger of the Hector Wine Company proudly displayed, along with one of her bosses, Justin Boyette.

Story over, lesson learned.

Again.

Rookie mistakes are not limited to rookies

MILLPORT, New York, USA - The assignment was one I had done hundreds of times: go out, take notes, shoot a few photos and write the whole thing up by deadline for a daily newspaper. In this case it was the Elmira Star-Gazette of (of course), Elmira, New York.

So today's walk-in-the-park assignment seemed just like that.

There were chatty Boy Scouts and leaders, an even chattier park employe and the coordinator of the event - a devotee of the hiking trail being cleaned by volunteers - was a reporter's dream, full of information, quotes and background.

Here's a link to the story: Catharine Valley Trail/Elmira Star Gazette

The rookie mistake? A spelling error in the story I turned in to the editor.

The name of the trail being cleaned is the Catharine Valley Trail. No big deal, except that in my life, one of my favorite aunts was named Catherine. Catherine with an E, not an A. Added to that was my spellcheck program defaulted to the spelling with the E. And even when I went to change it later - when the error of my ways had been pointed out by my editor at the newspaper - the damned name kept coming up spelled incorrectly, for the story anyway.

Lesson learned: Read signs more carefully, doublecheck all spellings, then check a couple of more times before you turn it in.

Sounds just like what I taught my undergraduates at CSU, Sacramento and CSU, Chico for nearly 30 years.

Jaysus.

Montour Boy Scouts cleaning the Catharine Valley Trail, Catharine with an A, thank you...

'The Last Supper potluck' ready for publication

WATKINS GLEN, New York - My second short story in a month was finished two days ago, a sci-fi piece called The Last Supper potluck.

Battlestar Gallactica, Last Supper

Yup, there's a little Christian tie-in, coupled with some time travel, techno-madness and corporate politics.

All the usual crap, you know.

But it felt soooo good to finish it, it was incredible. It took several rewrites to get the characters to do what I wanted them to do. Christ, you would think they were stage actors they were so hard to move around.

Still, in the end, I won the argument as the author. Can't wait to run into the same characters in another piece of fiction. I'll be ready for them.

And my projects on deck?

Well, there is the book I want to complete before leaving for Mexico in October (still in the planning stages, going out to sit in the sun and outline in a moment).  And a third short story is already filling my iPad, with about a fourth of it written.

That tale is tentatively titled The New Textament.

Someone has to go after the youth market, after all.

Book review offers a reminder about access to authors

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - I make it a practice to write a short book review at least once every few weeks, depending, of course, on the books being read.

Susan Orlean

I rarely write a review of any stinkers. I prefer to write reviews of books that I think people will like, (or should like anyway), and most important, should read.

This week I finished a book called 'Wild Coast' that fit all three categories.

Also in keeping with routine, after I posted the review (in my blog From Where I Sit: LINK: From Where I Sit) I sent a brief email to the author letting him know I posted something.

Today I received an email back from author John Gimlette within an hour. I have never communicated with Mr. Gimlette before, but received a very warm note in return... He said he will post my review on his Facebook page for people to check out.

In past, I have had similar experiences with other authors. Not too long ago I engaged in an email dialogue with Jodi Picoult.

That was fun.

And now onto my next bit of reading, a book about the pooch Rin Tin Tin, written by Susan Orlean, one of my favorite Literary Journalists.

I have her email address marked already.