2014-03-12

Writing Journal

I want to share my thoughts on the #AmtrakResidency program. Please note my opinions may be influenced by the fact that I was actually on a train from Omaha to Salt Lake (but I got off early in Provo) when I first heard about it.

Basically, writers appeal to Amtrak for the chance to take one of 24 trips within the year so that they may have uninterrupted time to write on a train. Don't worry, I'm working on my application. I've seen a lot of dismay about the fact that Amtrak reserves the world rights forever to the writing sample that you submit with your application. 

Authors are upset because they want to retain the rights to all of their writing. I'm not that hardcore about it. I write to share stories with people, not make money. (Although I'm not opposed to that.) If I were to want to write for money, I would have turned to tech writing.

2 comments:

Mrs. Teacher said...

Amtrak gets the rights to ONE single writing SAMPLE? But writers, if accepted, get to ride for free while they write? Sounds like a good deal to me.

Anonymous said...

This is an interesting proposition. I agree with Mrs. Teacher; this sounds like a fair trade.