A new TV show, It’s All Write with Suzette, will share tips into the art of column writing, hosted by Suzette Martinez Standring on Milton (MA) Cable Access TV (Channel 8). The half-hour segment will feature writing advice, sample columns and featured columnist guests who will share insights into the writing process. The estimated local audience is about 8,000 subscribers, according to Don Roine, Executive Director of Milton Access Television.
Milton, Mass., which ranked fifth in Money Magazine’s 100 Best Places to Live, boasts a large number of writers as well as residents who have a keen interest in all things literary. Suzette is the author of the award winning book, The Art of Column Writing: Insider Secrets from Art Buchwald, Dave Barry, Arianna Huffington, Pete Hamill and Other Great Columnists. “I wanted to tap into the local writing audience and since the publication of my book, I’ve discovered a great passion for helping others to find public expression for their writing talent,” said Suzette, who is a syndicated columnist with GateHouse News Service and a past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
Taping for It’s All Write with Suzette began on June 25 with air dates to be announced on Milton Access TV’s website: www.miltonaccesstv.org
Suzette reports:
“I taped the first two shows in one morning and they went great. By and large, my show is going to be specifically about column writing.
“The first show’s topic was about ‘writing a memory as a gift’ for loved ones, and how sometimes a well written memory can lead to a column. The format is that I spend the first 15 minutes reading a sample column and then giving practical tips. The second half of the show features a guest.
“My maiden launch show featured Dorothy Fleming, a writing instructor at Curry College (MA) since 2001, who offered “writing prompts” to stimulate personal memories. She’s been featured in the Milton Times and the Patriot Ledger with her personal essays.
“My second show was on the topic of ‘Point of View’ and the importance of narrowing down one’s focus. For instance if you are a parenting columnist, then what is your special perspective? Are you the woman over 40 who just started a family? Or how about the single father who is raising three daughters of dating age? I talked about how a specific point of view will grab readers and create a special identity for the columnist.
“My guest was Julie Fay who writes ‘Just a Minute’ for the Patriot Ledger (MA). It’s a parenting column with a slice of life point of view, but what makes her column stand out is that two of her three young children are autistic and so she weaves that into her column. (She had no prior column writing experience, took my column writing class, and then approached the Ledger with her idea for a column. I was the one who encouraged her to consider writing about raising children who have autism as I believed there is a big demographic which would feel very encouraged to see their own family life mirrored in Julie’s writings). Also, she won an Honorable Mention in the 2010 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition!
