WRITERS GUIDELINES

You are welcome to write about anything of interest to you, but what is most likely to be of interest to most of the readers of this site is what is most likely to be accepted by the editors. We suggest you write about things and places you are familiar with in your own local area, or places you have seen and enjoyed on your travels around the country. You don't have to worry about your grammar, style, and spelling, as our editors will probably find any minor errors and correct them for you before the item is published. If any sort of major problem is found, your item will be marked for revision and returned to your desk for you to consider. Comments by the editor will be shown when you edit the item. Once you have made the suggested changes you can the resubmit the piece for review again.

Topics -- All items will be published on the Topic Page which best fits the item. Topics currently include: Apartment Living, Art & Culture, Bargain Shopping, Cars & Trucks, Community News, Computers & Electronics, Crafts & Hobbies, Dining Out, Education, Family Fun, Gardening Tips, Government & Politics, Historic Places & Events, Home Repair & Decorating, Humor & Fiction, Job Hunting, Local Sports, Medical Care & Health, Money Matters, Movie Reviews, Music & Entertainment, Outdoor Recreation, Pampering Yourself, People & Lifestyles, Photography Tips, Photography Tips, Real Estate & New Homes, Recipes & Cooking, Religion & Philosophy, Romance & Relationships, Travel & Touring, Travel & Touring, Urban Nightlife, Wildlife & Nature.

Info Links -- These are news or informational items which have a headline and a short description of a story that appears on another website, including a link to the page on the other site. These other sites can be major news sites like Yahoo! News or Google News, local television or newspaper websites, or highly specialized or obscure sites that report any stories relevant to their topic or readership. These can even be pages on your site or blog if the content is relevant and related to what Arizona Life readers like to see. Having a small picture from the other page in the listing is optional, but encouraged.

Feature Articles and Stories -- A feature article should be an original text written by you that focuses on factual information about a place, people, or events in your local community or around your state. It should cover the subject relatively in depth and be of interest to tourists and visitors to your city or state, anyone wanting to relocate there, or current residents of your area. You can include any reasonable number of photographs, maps, or related graphics to illustrate the article, and select one main photo to be on the lead-in listing on the Front Page. Stories can be true or fictional, but always should be entertaining, motivating, or educational and interesting to the readers. All feature articles and stories will appear on individual pages in the Feature Articles section of the site and each will have an Intro listing on the related topic page which will also appear on the Front Page of the site initially. You will have a byline on the article or story page, which will link to your choice of your Writer's Profile page, your website, or your blog page.

Opinion Columns and Blogs -- This is where you get to express your opinions about whatever you feel is important, similar to the columns and editorials in a newspaper. You can even use this space as your personal blog, if you so desire. Common sense is required relating to the content of your columns, but you will have more flexibility for style and subject matter. All columns are still reviewed by our editors, and any materials which are considered to be blatantly offensive to the Arizona Life readership may be removed or not published. Your name, photo, column title, and any other personal information you wish to include will be at the top of the page, with a link to your choice of your Writer's Profile page, website, or blog page. Each column page will also have an Intro listing on the appropriate topic page and may be featured on the Front Page when it is submitted.

Desirable Content -- The purpose of Arizona Life is to promote the state and the communities it represents and present them and the people who live here in a positive light to everyone who views the website. The site is meant to be used as resource to help plan a vacation or other travel in this city or state, to provide guidance and information on relocating here, to assist in finding new places for recreation, shopping, entertainment, and other pursuits of leisure, and to inspire the reader with all the natural beauty of the area in general. We hope you will recognize the benefits of these goals and orient your writing to contribute in a constructive way toward achieving these objectives. Criticisms may be presented in the Opinion Columns, but must be done in a constructive and professional manner.

Unacceptable Content -- You may not publish any written or visual subject matter which the editors of Arizona Life determine, in their opinions alone, would be offensive to a majority of the readers of the site or the communities it represents. This includes, but is not limited to, anything that constitutes, advocates, or promotes any of the following:

• Pornography, adult content, prostitution, or violent content;
• Hate, discrimination, or intolerance based on race, sex, age, beliefs, philosophy, religion, nationality, disability, or sexual orientation;
• Activities that in any manner or for any purpose violates any law or regulation, or violates, misappropriates, or infringes the rights of any person, such as intellectual property rights, rights of privacy, or rights of personality and publicity, or that might be libelous or defamatory or otherwise malicious or harmful to an individual, group or organization;
• Computer hacking, cracking, dealing in equipment for interception or descrambling, or distribution of unauthorized data, malware, viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, worms, or other malicious software, programs or code, deceptive practices such as spamming, phishing, pharming or other illegal and unsolicited marketing activities;
• Illegal or unlicensed gambling or online casino-related items;
• Illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia, government IDs, or police items;
• Unlicensed trade or dealing in stocks and securities, professional services regulated by state licensing regimes, non-packaged food items, non-transferable items such as airline tickets or event tickets;
• Unlicensed sales of beer, wine, alcohol, tobacco or tobacco-related products, prescription drugs and medical devices, illegal weapons or ammunition, body parts and bodily fluids, goods made from protected animal/plant species, fireworks, explosives, or hazardous materials;
• Sales, exportation or distribution of replicas or imitations of designer goods, recalled goods, stolen products and items used for theft, coursework or student essays, or items subject to US embargo;
• Excessive profanity;

To facilitate the timely publication of important or time-sensitive information, your writing initially may appear on the site prior to an editor's review. Upon review of an item an editor may make minor changes, or refer the piece back to you for revision if the problem with it is not serious. Unacceptable content will be removed immediately. Frequent publishing of content that is not within these guidelines will cause your account to be tagged for review before publication and only those items that are approved will then be published. If you repeatedly submit unacceptable content, your membership will be terminated and your access to the Member Center will be blocked. The decisions of the editors about this will be final and without recourse. Your use of common sense and a spirit of cooperation and good intent will preclude any unpleasant intervention by the editors.

Beyond these unfortunately necessary cautions and legal statements, we hope you will see the opportunity of writing for our publications to be a beneficial endeavor for yourself as well as for the state and communities which the website represents. By working with us to communicate meaningful and worthwhile information, ideas, and solutions to the problems we all face today, we believe you can help us make a difference for everyone and bring back true peace, happiness and prosperity for our nation.

Please also refer to our Photographers Guidelines and our Copyrights Policy.