Tag: Mondays with Martin

Our Motto is “Write On,” Do You?

Dear Writers,

Mondays with martinPlease tell all people you know who like to read and write and have good stories to tell that Fine Lines wants to hear from them. Contact the elementary schools in Oregon. Invite the community college students in Florida. Notify the writers on your email list that we are looking for traditional and non-traditional writers and creative ideas wherever we can find them.

We are now in our twenty-third year of publication, have traversed many publishing hurdles, and transformed ourselves often to keep this 501 (c) 3 non-profit, educational, literary organization available for all, because we are involved with a wonderful labor of love. Our enthusiastic and rowdy editors enjoy opening the mail to find submissions that ask readers to share the authors’ messages.

We fill four issues per year with writing from the heart, human interest stories, essays, and poems that make us want to fly. Well-crafted declarative sentences make the world a better place in which to live, no matter the academic status of the writers. A third grader who wrote a wonderful three line observation about winter and several poems from a ninety-four year old great-grandmother both earned our equal respect.

Our motto is “Write on,” and we do.

We are pleased to have you involved with our mission to change the world one page at a time. If you want to become more involved in our efforts to increase world literacy, let us know, and we will be happy to send you some “stuff” that you can share with writers in your community. Give us your mailing address, and Fine Lines will get it to you.

Answer our “Call for Submissions” before the end of this year.

Let the beauty of our language live on in your words.

– David Martin

One Voice Matters – Let Your Voice be Heard

 

ondays with martinWhen I hear people complaining about what is going on in their lives and the world, I ask them what we should do about those issues. Usually, they say, “Oh, nothing,” because their vote doesn’t really count, no one will listen to their ideas, and they do not matter in the big picture of world events, anyway. Across time, people have used this reasoning for not voting, not getting involved, and letting less qualified people run our world; however, history demonstrates that one vote has made the difference on several important occasions, and when “little people” unite, their impact may become a most powerful force.

Consider This

 

In 1645, one vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England.

In 1776, a few votes in the Continental Congress gave the United States the English language instead of German.

In 1820, President James Monroe ran for a second term. He was so popular that he won all but a single vote in the Electoral College. John Quincy Adams cast the one vote against Monroe. Adams stated that the reason he did this was “to make certain that only George Washington would ever have the honor of being elected President by a unanimous vote.”

In 1845, one vote in the U. S. Congress brought Texas into the Union. That same vote also resulted in the U. S. acquisition of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, California and part of Colorado.

In 1868, Andrew Johnson, who became President after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, was impeached by the U. S. House of Representatives for abusing his executive powers and was tried in the U. S. Senate but was found not guilty by one vote.

In 1875, one vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic.

In 1920, one Tennessee vote ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote.

In 1923, one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party.

In 1941, one vote saved the Selective Service, just weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

In 1960, Richard Nixon lost the presidential election, and John F. Kennedy won it by a margin of less than one voter per precinct in Illinois.

In 1976, one vote derailed HR-11193 and prevented the U. S. from adopting the handgun ban.

In the 1996 U. S. presidential election, fewer than half of the nation’s voters voted!

Even as recently as in the year 2000, only a few more votes from only a couple of counties in Florida would have resulted in Al Gore being elected the President of the United States.

 Martin Luther King said, “Voting is more than a badge of citizenship and dignity. It’s a tool for change.”

Cast your vote and make a difference in the next election. One vote can make the difference. If the person who cast the deciding vote in the examples above had not voted, what would have happened to our country and the world?

Words and Action

When we write and share our positive ideas with readers, we are “voting” for humanity. When we choose to increase our literacy and help others do the same, we are “voting” for the betterment of all. When we take even one step to improve the way we move through the world, we are “voting” to bring a little more light to those areas filled with shadows.

Join Fine Lines now, and submit your best writing today.

Do your part to celebrate our language and reduce the darkness in the world.

  – David Martin

Fine Lines, Good Writing

The Fine Lines project is all about good writing.

Good Writing

What we want to do is make the clear thinking of our authors visible in print and on our website. Since 1991, Fine Lines has provided a place where creative writers share their written ideas. Our quarterly publications are dedicated to the writing development of all its members. What started out as a single classroom project is now a fifty-state network of authors who love the written word, and it has developed into a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit educational organization.

New Publishing Frontiers

When we found out that WriteLife, our publisher for the last six years, closed its doors at the end of July, we knew Fine Lines would have to evolve once more. As we pursue the many options available writers, we have chosen to start by sharing the summer 2014 issue via our website, www.finelines.org. It will be there, by September 15, 2014. In the future, we may try to publish in both mediums. Time will tell.

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What I Have in My Heart I Must Out

ondays with martin“Have you ever had a realization that the whole beautiful, terrible crazy drama of life was perfect? Sometimes, this realization comes during holy moments, those brief suspensions of time when eternity steals over us, and we feel the inherent integrity of life” (Joan Borysenko, Fire in the Soul).

Recently, I was reading a CD cover on Ludwig van Beethoven’s concertos and came across his quote:

“I have never thought of writing for renown and glory. What I have in my heart I must out: That is why I write.”

Beethoven’s story still inspires many people. He discovered at age 26 that he was losing his hearing, became moody and withdrawn due to his embarrassment of impending deafness, and was ashamed to tell people to “speak up.” “Alas! How could I possibly refer to the impairing of a sense which should be more perfectly developed in me than in others, a sense which once was perfect.”

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Operation Chrysalis – First of Mondays with Martin

*From Fine Lines Founder and Managing Editor David Martin

 

23 Years In…

ondays with martinThe Fine Lines project is now in its twenty-third year of publishing our members’ creative writing. When we prepared our first issue of four pages in 1992, no one could have imagined that we would come this far. Developing our quarterly issues remains a challenge, and every day, we think of new ways to reach more writers of all ages and encourage them to improve their craft as wordsmiths.

Who We Are

During this time, Fine Lines evolved from a newsletter to a magazine to a quarterly journal, from four pages to three hundred pages, from an initial audience of one high school class to one of national scope, from local submissions only to international contributors in thirty-three foreign countries, from second grade haiku poets to college professors, from “wannabe” authors of every genre to a nuclear scientist, a congressman, and a Native American chief.

When we found out that our publisher for the last six years is changing its path, we knew Fine Lines would evolve once more. As we pursue the many options available regarding publishing, we have chosen to start by sharing the Summer 2014 issue via our website, www.finelines.org. In the future, we may try to publish in both mediums. Time will tell.

Continue reading “Operation Chrysalis – First of Mondays with Martin”