Slate and Style: The Magazine of the National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division 
Content Editor: Shelley J Alongi
Poetry Editor: Barbara Hammel 
Summer, 2021
Phone: (940)249-2517 
Email: S-andS-@nfbnet.org
Queenofbells@outlook.com
Web Site: writers@nfb.org
Twitter: @nfbwd
Your 2019/2021 Leadership
Shelley Alongi, President
Barbara Hammel, Board member
Chelsea Cook, First Vice President
Shawn D. Jacobson, treasurer
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Table of Contents 
Editor's Musings Shelley J. Alongi
Presidential Bell Notes Shelley J. Alongi
Get Ready for National Convention Shelley J. Alongi
2021 Elections Shelley J. Alongi
Get Ready to Build our New Writers' Division Anthology Joanne Evermoor
Write for the Community Services Division Maggie Stringer
Penny Lane, Shawn D. Jacobson
The Self-publishing Goal Update Shelley J. Alongi 
The Greatest of all Time by Dr. Lashawna Fant 
Writers' Resource: Read and Write to your Heart's Content Camp NANOWRIMO and The Braille and Talking Book Audio Reading Download App
Member Profile: Miss Ruth Williams  
Slate and Style Guidelines
Join the Division
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Text of eddition starts below this line.
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You Can Live the Life You Want. Blindness is not what holds you back.
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Editor's Musings
 Shelley J. Alongi
The weather it seems here in north Texas has finally turned from hit and miss rain and thunder showers and storms to high pressure with temperatures in the 90s. Did I say 90s? Weather forecasters have said this summer won't be hot. Hot is probably measured by degrees over 100. Well, we shall see how that all pans out. 

When you sit down to read through this issue hopefully under your airconditioning, look for all the information you need on convention 2021 and help us get ready to elect your 2021/23 leadership, take in the sights and sleepiness of a soft, seaside morning, share a Father's Day memory, learn about podcasts and get those manuscripts ready for an anthology of Writers' Division work and help lead the way toward independently self-publishing it. Stay cool. This issue comes out just before our last zoom gathering before the national convention. To join our Zoom call on Sunday June 27 click the line below.
https://zoom.us/j/97824170833 See you online in July.
Don't forget to pay your dues by July 8 so you can vote in the upcoming election.
Go online to writers.nfb.org and click on the PayPal link. Don't worry if the instructions say to donate. This is the correct link. 
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Presidential Bell Notes
by Shelley J. Alongi
Welcome to the summer issue of Slate and Style. This issue along with featuring some poetry and an essay and our usual offerings will serve as a resource for all things Writers' Division at convention 2021. This will be the final issue of Slate and Style before dues are due. Plan to pay your $10 dues by July 8 or in the last week of June so you can be elgible to vote in the 2021 election to be held online at our Writers' Division business meeting. Once the convention goes live, visit the Exhibit Hall for divisions to find out how you can help support the Writers' division. Would you like to purchase books written by Writers' Division members? Do you have books you have written that you'd like us to know about? We will put out a list of current books available by division members by email so contact Queenofbells@outlook.com to add to the list or receive a copy of it. The Writers' Division is ready to go! Come with us.  
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Get Ready for National Convention
 by Shelley J. Alongi
Join the National Federation of the Blind for our 2021 national convention online again this year. We will be meeting anywhere and everywhere, a precedent begun during the 2020 pandemic. Show this issue to your children someday as physical proof that you were a part of history. I'm sure there's lots more history you can show them. Include the Writers' Division. We love history! History is part of the writing life. So, be a part of our history from July 6 to July 10. Join the Writers' Division on July 8 from 1:00 to 3:30 PM for our division and business meeting. Come help us elect new leaders. Come enjoy our contest winners creative offerings. Come help us move forward to our fortieth anniversary which is officially celebrated in 2022. In the meantime there is lots to write. 
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2021 Elections
by Shelley J. Alongi
We will be conducting elections for officer and board positions at the 2021 July 8 Writers' Division business meeting. Pay dues by July 8 to vote in the election or have your name placed in nomination. Be sure to tell us why you would make a great candidate for leadership. . We need you. See the spring eddition of Slate and Style for the official list of job descriptions for officers and board members.  
Visit writers.nfb.org to pay dues by July 8.
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Get Ready to Build our new Writers' Division Anthology 
Joanne Evermoor
The Writers' Division energy centers around telling stories whether in poetry or prose about all kinds of subjects. What more could an introduction like that lead to than a plug about the undertaking of an anthology of work published by our members. Indeed, it has been a few years since we put out one. It is time to do it again. We are looking for your work either published in Slate and Style or work you have published in other places. If you are able to grant us publishing rights we are happy to consider work. You can publish fresh work. Submit your work to Queenofbells@outlook.com or to S-and-S@nfbnet.org by December 31, 2021. When considering your work for publication in the anthology please follow the submission guidelines  for Slate and Style. They can be found at the end of each issue. We look forward to your work. 
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Write for the National Community Service Division 
by Maggie Stringer
[We were asked to carry this announcement from the National Community Service Division.]
Maggie Stringer, an editor for the National Community Service division newsletter Beyond the Six Dots, says the Community Service division is looking for community service oriented articles. In order to find out which topics are available, contact Maggie Stringer at ravensfan784@gmail.com. As an example, she forwarded the division's May newsletter in which they featured Mental health Awareness month, an event celebrating mothers, and positive messages surrounding the pandemic. I know Writers' Division members have lots of community resources to add. How can we help? 
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Penny Lane
Shawn Jacobson
[Shawn is division treasurer and has just retired from his long-time job with HUD. Congratulations. Now, he may have time for Penny Lane.]
Penny Lane sleeps in this morning.
Her empty shops, with shuttered eyes.
await full light, flocking tourist throngs.
Then, they will awaken to the day
to tempt passers-by with their wares.
Yet eastward, the sun arises from the sea
the boardwalk shimmers in eye-burning light.
Waves fracture the radiance of reflected day
the dazzle speaks to a new, luminous morn
when we who travel commune with the sea.
I see the quiet beauty in this sleeping lane
imagining the mysteries these shops might hold
for those who wander here from the beach.
what is the draw to this secluded place,
so close, yet so removed, from beach’s life?
But Penny Lane we will not learn your secrets;
the offerings of your shops are not for us.
For we must travel on, see other sights.
These journeys that we make are fleeting.
With ephemeral speed they pass behind us.
We exit Penny lane into the morning.
The dazzling sun ascends into the sky
The heavens lighten to a blinding brilliance.
The next sight on our list stands waiting.
The day beckons, insists, and we are gone.
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The Self-publishing Update
by Shelley J. Alongi
In 2021 we set out to make the tech world and even blind authors aware that self-publishing web sites are not accessible to blind authors. What, you say? You mean blind authors don't know self-publishing web sites aren't accessible? Sure, they do, that's why we all get help uploading work. Sometimes, we're so used to asking for help that it's just easier that way. So, what would we like to do about this? Hold on for a ride. What would you like to do? 
The year 2021 has been our year of discovery. We are collecting the experiences of self-published blind authors so that we can tell the web sites dedicated to self-publishing how to make their sites more accessible. As part of this effort we are collecting your experiences. We would like to gather the answers to the following questions. 
1. Do you independently upload your own work to self-publishing web sites? 
2. Do you have help submitting your text, cover art, and other atributes of your books to those sites? 
3. Can you independently access forms you as an author fill out and documents you need to read on the individual sites?
If your answer is yes, great. If not, not so great. Does your amount of usable vision affect how accessible the site is? We want to know. Whatever the case, send your answers to Queenofbells@outlook.com or S-and-S@nfbnet.org. 
Totally blind authors who have answered these questions beginning in January 2021 have stated that they have employed assistance submitting their work. That list includes me. There is nothing wrong with getting help submitting work. There are markets out there for assistance for services rendered and people who are willing to charge and people willing to be charged. If you want to pay to have someone self-publish your work, that option is certainly available. But why should I have to ask for help self-publishing my work? What if I'm up late at night with a burning inspiration with that final single flower with one red and white leaf that will fit perfectly with the theme of my book cover? Why can't I get up and get my diet Pepsi and sit down at my computer and insert the drawing onto my own book template? Right now I can't do that because my idea of spatial concept does not fit the idea or the representation that is on the screen. 
Sometimes, accessability on a self-publishing web site is not even as deep as that. Authors who publish with sites need to fill out forms supplying tax information so that the site can pay me when I've finally reached the sales threshholds required for payment. In my own case I've had to have assistants fill out those forms for me. The goal of accessible self-publishing web sites should be to (1) be able to independently submit text and cover art within the confines of the book template and (2) to be able to independently fill out all forms required on each site. 
Live the life you want is a great slogan so lets make it work within the self-publishing web site field. 
In April, 2021, we sent an email to the NFB's BUILD Program, the people who work on helping make web sites accessible. This is the email that we sent. 
 
Dear Ms Dubnow, 
Under my watch as President of the NFB Writers’ Division I have laid out a set of ambitious goals for us to start working on. These goals involve making improvements to the self-publishing web sites to include independent use by blind authors. Many blind authors have regularly self-published with sighted assistance, including myself. However, in the name of living the life you want why shouldn’t it be possible for blind authors to independently self-publish their own works? 
The NFB Writers' Division would like to refer the following websites to you for potential inclusion in the BUILD Program.
As mentioned, many blind writers are interested in self-publishing; however , the self-publishing websites really are not accessible in all their functions. Sometimes, you can read books that have been uploaded by an assistant to the site. You can as a blind author order copies of your books to have available to others. Sometimes those things change and one build may be more accessible than another. The main part of the site, i.e., the publishing aspects where one uploads their own work to the site is not at this time in any experience recorded by any blind person I’ve spoken with accessible to the blind and visually impaired.
We would like to propose that the self-publishing websites Lulu, IngramSpark, KDP Kindle Direct Publishing, Draft2digital.com be evaluated for accessibility.
In all cases that I am aware of, our members have had to ask sighted individuals to help with formatting, uploading and cover art, etc. These websites' FTP systems are not coded for screen readers.
We'd like to inquire if any work has been done with these companies already, and if not, would like to start the ball rolling.
I look forward to hearing from you soon and reporting to our division the progress that can be made in this important endeavor. Thank you. 
Sincerely,
Shelley, Queen of Bells Out!
President, NFB Writers’ Division 
Editor Slate and Style 
[As of this writing, there has been no response. Our aim is to make all aware that this is an important issue. Sometimes, this takes time. Hold the torch as we continue to learn how we can affectively make this happen.]
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The Greatest of All Time
By Dr. LaShawna Fant
[Dr. Lashawna Fant serves in the Mississippi affiliate. She is a teacher of the visually impaired. This is her second article for Slate and Style this year.] 
	When I think of Father’s Day, I cannot think of anyone but my maternal granddad. His name was Ed. Some called him Chief, and many others referred to him as Mr. Ed. He was a simple man who worked in a sawmill and mowed yards as a side job. He was an only child who enjoyed boxing, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and Dr. E.V. Hill.
	Daddy, what my siblings and I called him, daily hung his clothes on a clothesline to dry. He also wore modern suits, which he faithfully took to the dry cleaners. Daddy rocked a youthful vibe and even displayed a slight dip in his gait. At the top of his list of favorites were pound cake, chicken and dumplings, and Coca-Cola.
	My siblings and I will forever treasure the volunteer work he did in our community. Daddy and other male family members kept the grass at the cemetery trimmed, grounds cleaned, and headstones positioned upright. He helped older family members with maintaining tidy homes and with whatever else was needed. Daddy was the male leader on our street and was the glue connecting its residents as one close-knit family.
	We will never forget the protection, balance, and sunshine he brought to our lives. Our mom worked countless hours to provide for us, so we were often at Daddy’s house. During these times, our happiness spilled over and was endless. It was as if our feet never stopped dancing because we were overjoyed. He ensured we were fed, had what we needed for school and community activities, and were all-around good citizens.
	Beyond all doubt, my grandad is the greatest of all time. When God gifted him to my siblings and me, he could not have selected a better grandad. He loved and cared for us as if we were his children. I will forever be grateful to God for him. Hopefully, in reading this, someone comes to mind who has left an indelible impression on your life. 
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Writers' Resource: Read and Write to your Heart's Content 
NANOWRIMO Camp, BARD app 

NANOWRIMO.org's July Camp
Each year, in preparation for National Novel Writing month, you can sign up for NANOWRIMO camp. NANOWRIMO has been hosting the camp for the last three or four years and they've been promoting National Novel Writing Month for at least twenty years. I remember hearing about them in a writers' group I belonged to in college. When you sign up for the Nanowrimo camp you can collaborate on a project with writing buddies or you can write on your own, updating your project individually. You can prepare for your participation in November in National Novel Writing Month or you can work on a completely separate project. Why not give it a try? Go to http://www.nanowrimo.org to learn all the details. You can donate to the cause, purchase merchandise from their store, taked part in their forums, and learn even more. They have  a Young Writers' program. They encourage children to write through online participation in classrooms. Give them a looksee. 
 
Have you tried BARD for the iPhone? I know this probably sounds repetitious, but maybe not. If you are a PC user or an iPhone or Android user you can download an app that will show you the Braille and Audio Reading Download collection of books. They have digitized many of the collection's books, books that I read on casette or even flexible disc years ago. There are books listed that I have not found on the digitized list yet. One particular book I've been wanting to reread is Time no Longer by Taylor Caldwell. I know the book exists in the National Library collection. I read it on hard discs (remember those funny shaped square boxes with round raised shapes inside?) Every few months I check the author listings to see if the program has digitized more audio recordings. 
My mother signed me up for the NLS Talking Book program when I was five years old. The first book I read was A Letter From Amy, in Braille. I have read Braille books, audio books on discs and casettes and now through the BARD app downloaded on a succession of iPhones. When I moved to north Texas six years ago I activated my BARD account and haven't looked back. If you get your books on carttridges for the  talking book digital machines then you are halfway there. It's very easy if a fit of sleeplessness hits to pick up my iPhone and look for a book and download it. Belonging to a face-to-face book club and two online clubs I have been surprised at the number of books I have found on the BARD app, coming of course from the overall collection. Search books by title, author, subject, and read to your heart's content. Searching by author can be a bit tedious, but the main trick I finally learned was to navigate that section by page. Swipe right till you find the "next page" icon, then keep tapping it till you think you might be close. For instance, Look up authors beginning with the letter C. The authors last names will appear in alphabetical order. Navigate to the beginning of a list of pages you think might contain the letters you're looking for. In my case, I was looking for Caldwell so I navigated till I found the Cal listings. Navigating by page saves a lot of time. This might seem obvious but because navigating by iPhone can be a bit tricky it might take a while to figure out the best way to save the most time. 
Just because navigating can be tedious doesn't mean it hasn't yielded some great finds. I can't tell you how many great books I've found in the NLS collection by accident. You can search books by narrator if you're an audio book user. Sometimes there are several recordings of one book. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is available in two audio recordings: one narrated by John Horton and one recording narrated by George Holmes. Simply download the one you want. If you like a particular narrator you can search the app for books recorded by anyone you prefer. Sometimes I get in the mood for a particular narrator and make use of that function. I remember when we couldn't do that. The only access to that information was through a reader adviser. 
You can also download Braille books digitally for use with a display. If you don't have a Braille display you can find the hard copy number and order it through your regional library. 
You can also download audio and Braille magazines. You can subscribe to them through the app then check your wish list to see when the latest issues become available. 
Can you tell I spend a lot of time on my BARD app? I think you can. My wish list has over one hundred books on it. Currently I have forty books downloaded onto my iPhone. My iPhone is a trooper. Your portable device can be one, too. 
Enjoy the app for all the hours of pleasure it gives you, free of monitary charge, except for the device, of course. 
So, why do I include a book app in a writing resource column? 
Because Good reading and Good ideas makes Good Writing!---Me  
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Member Profile: Miss Ruth Williams 
20210531_175940.jpg
Caption: Miss Ruth Williams 
[Editor's Note: Ruth Williams is one of our newest members, joining us in 2021 through the Senior Division's 2020 seminar. I met her through Robert Leslie Newman a former President of the Writers' Division, now involved with the national Senior Division. He asked me to talk about the Writers' Division in October 2020 during the segment on hobbys and how blind people continue interacting with the things that interest them. She subsequently joined one of our division meetings and then signed up as a paying member of the division.] 
Profile of Miss Ruth 
So to start off, I go by the name, “Miss Ruth” for two reasons. One: I’m a kindly-auntie type who always wears a smile and sensible shoes. Two: Williams is my married name, and I’ve been divorced for several years now. I’d change back to my maiden name, but here in New Jersey, it costs $250 to do it. So I figured I’d just nix the last name. Kind of like Cher! 
So I’ve been a Freelance Writer for many years, and I’ve had plenty of gigs. 
My favorite gig as a Freelancer was writing prayers for women of all faiths for a website called Prayables. Here’s one of my prayers, which was also included in the Prayables Prayer Book.
Paso Doble
Each day is a blessing
of epic proportions.
I give thanks for
what might seem meager comforts:
real cream in my coffee,
a day without a bill in the mail,
the Paso Doble - the Spanish two-step. 
Sometimes life is a dance
a woman has to do backwards
pushing against the wind
and obstacles in the way.
Thank You for being the partner
who always leads.
Time went on, and I found a niche, writing about seniors’ topics, and tapped into a steady supply of gigs, including magazines and online outlets. 
Some of my best gigs came from Craigslist. I would also search Remote Writer Jobs.com, Freelance Writing Gigs.com, and Writers Weekly.com.
I did some copywriting as well, which I enjoyed. One client worked for a hospital foundation charity that allowed donors to select the type of medical research their donated dollars would fund. “This medical breakthrough has your name on it,” was the tagline I wrote. She loved it, and they’re still using my words now, some ten years later. That’s a good feeling.
But Freelance Writing can be a slog, and it really isn’t for everyone. Some clients don’t pay writers at all, instead offering “experience” and a “byline for your portfolio.” Could you say that to your plumber or doctor? Sorry, this clogged drain is a non-paying gig, but it will hone your skills. Doc, this surgery won’t net you any cash, but you can take a picture of my appendix for your resume. Deal?
Other types of writing I’ve done include website copy, newsletters, brochures, and flyers. I also tried my hand at SEO writing, but it was never a good fit for me. SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and involves using keywords that will make your product or service show up higher in Google search results. 
The SEO writing gig I had was for an educational scholarship finder website. The publisher of that site hired me to write articles about various topics that students looking for scholarships might be interested in. I had to include certain keywords in these articles so that his site would be found sooner in result ranking than other sites on Google.
The upside of that gig was that the client paid like clockwork, every Friday. The downside was, the pay was peanuts, only $33. It was a lot of work for that piddling amount of money.
For that gig, I had to research a topic and write five paragraphs incorporating the chosen keywords. Next, I had to re-write the article in different words two more times. 
At that point, the publisher would put the three articles into an article-aggregator that would mix and match all of the various paragraphs into new versions of the article. So essentially, from my three versions of the article, he could create hundreds of different articles, which he could then sell to content websites. He was making a lot of money from my hard work.
I finally stopped writing for that publisher when he told me one Friday that my submission for that week was not up to my usual high par. I was stunned. Not because I was offended at the slight, but because I thought he and I both knew that these articles were crap (pardon mon Francais) and were only a means to an end: making money for him. He really thought those articles were good. Yikes. So I re-wrote them to his satisfaction, then told him I wouldn’t be continuing to write for him, as I was overextended with gigs. It just goes to show that two people can experience the same events in dramatically different ways.
Even though I’m no longer actively seeking writing gigs, somehow, they seem to find me, only nowadays, they’re mostly volunteer work. I’ve written brochures for local churches, school district newsletters, flyers for a neighbor who’s a handyman. etc. 
One project I’m particularly proud to be a part of is the NFB Survivors’ Task Force Communications and Engagements Branch, led by Daphne Mitchell and Marci Carpenter. We write vignettes in support of survivors of sexual abuse, including such topics as consent, setting boundaries, and clear communication. I’m grateful to be a part of the movement to extend healing through words. 
So, that’s me in a nutshell! I’m very glad to be a part of the NFB Writers’ Division, and look forward to getting to know everyone in the group. Thanks for visiting with me! Write on!
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Slate and Style Guidelines
Here are the guidelines for Slate and Style
They include submission deadlines, contact information, requirements for your bio and cover letter, general information and word counts for genres. Enjoy. 

Submission Dates 

Spring Issue: March 21st---Submissions close February 28th

Summer issue: June 21st---Submissions close May 31st

Fall issue: September 23rd----Submissions close September 2nd

Winter issue: December 21st---Submissions close November30th

Please read through all the guidelines carefully. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines may not be considered for Slate & Style. 

Submission guidelines are as follows:

Length requirements are: articles, 1500 words or less, fiction and memoir/personal essay, 4000 words or less, book reviews, 1000 words or less, poetry, 36 lines or less.

Again, send ALL submissions as email attachments no matter the genre. Include a cover letter along with your submissions with author's name, title of piece(s) and contact info-phone, email and address included. Also include a bio with your submission(s). Your bio should be no more than 150 words. Do not send an entire history, just include key items you feel are important for readers to know. Send as an attachment as well. More than one submission is allowed per email but do list all submissions in the required cover letter. 

Send submissions to s-and-s@nfbnet.org 

In the subject line of your email, write: Slate & Style submission, your name, and number of submissions. Example: “Slate & Style submission, Myrna Badgerow, 3 submissions”.

Use Microsoft Word or create an RTF document for all submissions. No other formats are accepted, and therefore will not be considered. 

Proofread and check your grammar and formatting before submitting. 

Slate & Style will consider all submissions for publication. However, please be careful with graphic sexual and violent content as well as language and -religious, anti-gender, anti-racial and anti-homosexual orientation content. Characterization and plot often require this type of material, but it must serve a purpose. Gratuitous material with no purpose or meant only for derogatory reasons, will not be considered. Material will be published according to the discretion of the editing staff.

Please direct questions and comments to the email address listed above for submissions, in your subject line, please include your name and simply write: “QUESTION”. Then write your question in the body of the email.
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Join the Division
Join a group of creative, active writers involved in all aspects of writing: educational reviews, poetry, short stories and novels. We have writers in
all phases of the craft. We have some who enter contests, some who self-publish, and some who have worked with mainstream publishers. We are always looking
for writers with new ideas.

It’s only $10 to join. Pay online by going to 
writers.nfb.org our division web site. Click on the button that says “PayPal”. If you’re new to a screen reader, you can search for the word “pay” on the site till you find PayPal and
then click on that button. The PayPal information encourages donations, but this link can also be used to pay dues.
The End.