Archive or Cuttings?

Squirl

Squirl

I'm interested to know how other readers use their WN & WM.

I used to archive mine in binders, certain I would go back to them. I didn't, not as much as they deserved. I was forever forgetting to enter comps even though I had made initial plans to write for them.

Now I am quite ruthless. I read EVERY word in both magazines. I make entries of comps, deadlines and other useful info on my pc database, then file away articles of interest - how to, hints & tips etc. I keep repeating this process over a period of several weeks until there is nothing left in the magazines I haven't stored or read to death. Then I lay the rest to rest. (There's another popular writing magazine I do this with as well).

Stan2

I left a copy of Writing Magazine and another writing mag in a hospital waiting room recently. The following week I saw a man intently reading the other writing mag.

Squirl

I am impressed by this - thinking of others. I do this with all the other magazines I get for market research. We took a heavy bundle to the doctors' surgery the other day and it has made a big difference to the waiting room.

kellyrose

I recently Freecycled about ten years worth of WN and WM, and now regularly pass them (and all my other mags) on in this way - hopefully spreding the writing bug as I go!
best wishes
kelly Rose Bradford

Squirl

Thanks Claudia and KellyRose - it seems we'll all be divided. Those who store, those who chop and those who pass on. Makes the world go around - all of us being different. The main thing, I think, is that we all get as much info out of each magazine before we part with it.

Island Girl

How generous. Donating your WN/WM to doctors' or hospital waiting rooms will help to spread the word on these wonderful issues and perhaps attract more subscribers, too. Sadly for the rest of the world I am far too selfish to ever part with my valued copies.

Neph

I have to admit to scanning the contents page onto my computer and printing it off, sticking it in a file and if Im looking for something I just flip through my file and then go and get the right mag.

Betsie

What a brilliant idea Nephilim - I might copy that one.  Mine are filed in chronological order with post it notes all over the front page to remind of competitions and anything of particular interest.  As you might guess they pile up and are not revisited often enough.  I think Dorothy's idea is the kindest and most constructive.

Squirl

If I'd been running a competition with this thread, I think Nephilim would win easily. Her method leaves nothing wasted and everything to hand.

doodle

I go through the mags when they arrive, read everything and highlight all the bits of interest to me as I go.  Then I use it as a workbook for the month, entering the competitions, adding relevant websites to 'favourites', etc.  I keep them for one year for reference then they go to the charity shop.