Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Authors Corner February 2009

Welcome to the month of lovers—literary lovers that is! Readers and writers will find this month’s issue filled with ideas, places to contribute, and inspiring information.

Instead of thinking of Friday the thirteenth as an ominous day, think of it as a day to do something different—like read poetry! WITS is creating a special poetry issue to publish on Friday, February 13. If you would like to send a poem with your name, short bio, and a link to your blog or Web site, please get it to me before February 6 using WITS contact page.

The conversation I had with editor Carolyn Howard-Johnson was fabulous! We recorded our candid chat about editing books, querying publishers, and some of the common mistakes writers make and how to correct them. We also answered questions our readers sent us. If you missed your chance to eavesdrop on us, you can listen to this conversation with editors now. If reading is more your style than listening, you may read a partial transcript of the highlights of our conversation.

The WITS mentoring program is going strong. So far, we have learned how to write a media release, write a strong resource box, explored article marketing, and some handy dandy Microsoft Word features and keyboard shortcuts such as this one:

Pressing Ctrl+F together will open a box that allows you to type in the word or exact phrase you are looking for. Click OK and Word will start from the point in your document where your cursor is located and find the next word or phrase that is exactly as you typed in the search. To replace that word or word phrase, click the “replace” tab at the top of the search box and type in the word or phrase you want to substitute. Word will replace one at a time so you may review each change or you may opt to have Word replace all of the occurrences at the same time.

If you missed the deadline to sign up for our newbie class, you may want to speak with me about one-on-one mentoring sessions. You get the same lessons and assignments as the Tuesday group, but more individualized focus on a day other. Learn more at http://writersinthesky.com/mentoring.html.

As you know, we have three grandbabies on the way. So far, we have learned that Katie and Sareya are having boys. Amanda is scheduled to have her sonogram this month. We’ll soon know if the boy to girl ratio is 2:1 or 3:0. Thankfully, things are progressing well for all three of our daughters and the wee-ones in the wombs.

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