by Bev Bachel

If you’re like me, you typically think about networking as a way to get more of what you want. In my case, writing-related work. Since I have to earn enough each month to make my house payment, pay my bills, and fund my retirement account—no small feat in these challenging economic times—finding work is a constant. Thank goodness for my network.

But it dawned on me this morning that the power of my network is actually twofold: not only does it help me find work, it saves me from doing work.

What Every Self-Published Author Should Know

by Rachel M. Anderson

How does one become a New York Times bestselling author? That question has been posed to many famous writers over the years, and in interviews they all offer similar answers: it takes drive, perseverance, and a little luck.

Rejection letter after rejection letter didn’t stop romance writer Nora Roberts from pursuing her dream of getting published. She finally got her big break in 1981 when Silhouette Books published Irish Thoroughbred. She now has had 171 titles on the New York Times bestseller list.

John Grisham’s second novel, The Firm, made him a household name after Paramount Pictures bought the rights to turn the plot into a movie. The book went on to become the bestselling novel of 1991.

A book Stephen King had thrown away ended up catapulting him to stardom. He has his wife to thank for rescuing Carrie from the garbage can.

Once Nora Roberts, John Grisham, and Stephen King made it big, they had the luxury of publisher-provided resources to help sell their books—book tours and blogs set up for them, media appearances arranged, distribution agreements and marketing taken care of, and so on. As a self-published author, you’ll need to take care of these tasks on your own; and if you want your book to do well, you can’t ignore them.

by Pat Dennis

The ability to make someone laugh, whether on stage or in print, is not only a gift but quite possibly a genetic defect. I believe a person’s funny bone is inherited, right along with eye color and feet the size of Toronto.

In other words, you’re born funny. From day one, the humorists amongst us have had no choice but to look at, see, and experience life differently from the norm. It’s as if we were shot into this world, straight from our mommas’ wombs, wearing 3-D glasses perched atop rubber noses.

by Lawrence F. Farrar

It takes patience to be a writer. Of course, it takes imagination, a way with words, familiarity with syntax and grammar, and lots more. But it also takes patience, an ability to hang in there and to endure the vagaries of the writing life. Whether defined as virtue or necessity, it doesn’t matter: if you have it, it works to your advantage; if you don’t, life is not always beautiful. It has something to do with emotional well-being.

by John Schaidler

Adapted from a discussion with parents at Salk Middle School (a Manhattan public school) by Dr. Mary Ehrenworth, Columbia Teachers College.

According to Dr. Mary Ehrenworth, one of the foremost experts on teen literacy, there is a direct, quantifiable relationship between a child’s ability to read and his or her overall academic success. The correlation is so strong, in fact, that even the most basic reading test can usually predict a student’s SAT scores—both verbal and math—with surprising accuracy. Not that it’s surprising to Dr. Ehrenworth. As students get older, she points out, they’re expected to read and comprehend longer, more complex works, everything from the proverbial 400-page “classic novel” to daunting 15-pound science textbooks. If they can read well, great, but if they can’t, they won’t keep up.

by Jodell Thorsett

One of my first activities upon moving to Minneapolis was finding volunteer opportunities, to put down roots in my new hometown and form instant connections to people with similar interests. As an aspiring theater critic, I was especially drawn to the rich and multilayered arts scene, with everything from regional stars like the Guthrie, Walker, and Institute of Arts, to daring experimenters at the Fringe Festival. Minneapolis-Saint Paul consistently rates first in volunteerism among large US cities. This year’s National Volunteer Week was April 10–16, but any time is the perfect time to explore the treasure trove of local volunteer offerings, and do inestimable good for others and yourself.

(Part I of this article was published on March 14, 2011)

by James Cihlar

Revising for Publication: Books

Now that you’ve generated individual poems, have used the tools of a writing buddy and writing group, and have tried some of the simple revision approaches discussed in Part I of “Entering the Sweepstakes: The Optimistic Approach to Revision,” it’s time to think about how your poems might all fit together in a book. Unless you are Adrienne Rich, simply putting together in sequence the poems you’ve written over a period of time is not going to be enough to hold a book together. A poetry book should be greater than the sum of its parts. However, it’s also possible to stray too far in the other direction, the themed poetry book, where every piece adheres to an overarching conceit; these can end up feeling forced and gimmicky.

by Sarah Tieck

The tiny snowflakes falling in golden light remind me of a snow globe. Waves of ice cascade over the roof’s edge, curling like an ocean stingray. Even as I notice the beauty and whimsy, this winter seems endless—especially as I stare at a particularly ironic yard sign that presides over an icy snowbank, screaming Grow!

by James Cihlar

Revising Individual Poems

The first steps in revision are the most basic. You must read a lot, and you must write a lot. Because cutting and reshaping are common revision tools, it helps to have plenty of material to work with. As you write first drafts, turn off your censor and generate poems. Keep it going every day, if you can. Your mind is an engine, your life is an enterprise, and your poems work from, elaborate, and develop your sense of how the world works, and how you work in it. Poems are a record of your attempts to mediate the world. Embrace that to begin with, and don’t give it up. Keep it separate from the revision process.

As writers who live and work in a community, we often give each other feedback. A funny thing about criticism: there’s something strangely hopeful about it. By pointing out what’s wrong, by naming the mistakes of the past, we unavoidably imply a world in balance, lay claim to our inherent rights. Writers do this in their subject matter, and in their process: we move from criticizing what is to imaging what could be. This visionary act requires faith. Writers seem to be more willing than most to take our chances in hopes of the big payoff, the personal achievement, the artistic success. We know the odds are against us, but we plunk down our money for the lottery ticket every time.

by Mary Carroll Moore

That first phone call came on a busy day at work. I was preparing 700 stuffed cherry tomatoes for a catering job that night and here was a publisher on the phone asking if I would consider authoring a book. It would be based on my cooking school, which had just been written up in USA Today. Of course I said yes—who wouldn’t? I didn’t tell the publisher I knew nothing about organizing a book manuscript.