Technical Stuff:

Tabs: Please do not ever hit the tab key. I will indent when I format your article(s). I will center, when I feel it is needed. Please, Please, Please do not ever hit the tab key.

Return key: Use the return key at the end of each paragraph. Even if your computer flushes the line to the left, don’t worry about it. I prefer to create the indents. (Often I leave everything flushed left.) The computer will hyphenate automatically also, so please do not try to hyphenate words, except in situations such as story-telling.

CAPITAL LETTERS: You see them? Please do not, do not, do not capitalize entire words. Do not capitalize every word in a title. I will have to retype them and I don’t type all that well. ;0) The only time you would use all capitals is in an abbreviation such as SASE. If you want to use an abbreviation more than once in an article, then the first time it should read Self Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE). After that SASE is enough.

Columns: Please do not attempt to create columns. Again, I will format the article. This most often occurs in recipes.

Italics, bold, underline: Book titles need to be italicized. Do not do it when you send me an article, For some unknown reason it throws my computer into a frenzy, especially if it is also used with bold or underline. I will italicize book titles for you.

Websites, email addresses: There is no need to underline nor use blue coloring in the text for email or website addresses. The webmaster or the computer automatically create those online and folks will be able to use them from your article(s).

Photos, graphics, artwork: We like to give credit where credit it due. Please identify folks in the photo(s), what is happening, and who took the photo. We will usually use your cut line(s). We like lots of photos, color and artwork. If you attach photos to email, we prefer jpg, and RGB color. 

Proof: Please proof your articles several times before sending them in. If I have already sent the articles to the webmaster, it is difficult and costly to have him make corrections.

Quirks: Morning and evening are a.m. or p.m., They are not AM or PM. Hyphens and dashes are different. A hyphen is the width of the letter n (and is called en). A dash is the width of the letter m (called em) and is used to pause—for example.

Numbers: If it is less that ten, spell it out; one, two, three etc. If it is more than 10, use the numeral, 15, 20, 30— except when using a large number to begin a sentence. Ten can be used either way.

Attachments: Attach your articles to an email and send it to me by Email. Do not include articles in the guts of an email. This usually destroys the formatting and places a paragraph at the end of each line—that is at the end of each line, not each sentence. ;0)

Copyright: At the end of your articles, please include the following:
© 2003 Your Name. All Rights Reserved. The copyright symbol can be found probably under tools on your computer. If you cannot find the symbol, please include everything else, and I’ll add the symbol for you.

Personal email: If you would like to have reader response, we will assign you a Chesapeake Style email address at no charge, and then emails will be forwarded to your personal email address. This keeps your personal email address off the internet.

What to write: Take some time to peruse the online magazine. You will note there is a wide variety of topics and options. Fiction, poetry and photo-journals are included in the Literary Corner. Non-Fiction falls into a number of other categories. If you want to write a series of articles, that is an option. If you have written a book, and want to serialize it, that’s also an option. Remember, photos, artwork and graphics add interest to your articles. Everybody loves recipes.

Calendar: We want as many items in our online calendar as possible. So if you have calendar information, please send it by Email. If you belong to an organization and want to add lots of calendar items, I will give you the easy-to-follow instructions and you may add them yourself.

We reserve the right to refuse any articles for any reason whatsoever. We also reserve the right to edit articles, but we do so carefully, and attempt to preserve the tone and character of the author. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email.