Happy Thanksgiving!  Hats off to everyone who gave their time, energy, and money to make the PAWS workshop and contest such a successful endeavor. Georgina Gentry and her husband said the trip was worth the food alone and the company was delightful. Georgina taught on the O’Henry Twist, and now I’m looking for an opportunity to use the concept in my own work. Dusty Richards is always entertaining and informative, and M.E. Cooper gave us some insights into research and self-publishing. All of the authors reminded us that if you really want to write, you’ll stop making excuses and do it. I’m sure that others who attended came away with their own take on what was valuable to them. Even though I was stressing about a deadline, I have to declare the workshop an altogether worthwhile experience. Thanks to all of you.

 Want to Crack the Top Women’s Magazines Market? Write for National Newspapers? Write a Love Letter...
 When you write to an editor proposing a story idea, write a love letter. Toss out the conventional notion of a query letter or proposal, and instead focus on passion, emotion, a sense of urgency, even a bit of breathlessness. Only by writing this way will you shake the editor format stupor evoked by reading all those staid, letter-perfect proposals. Proposals that go nowhere except into the rejection pile.

 A number of months ago, I wrote an article for The  Internet Writing  JournalTM discussing Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce Et  Decorum Est.” In that article I discussed reasons why an  active present-day poet should have a working  knowledge of, or at least an understanding of, past forms  of poetry. I argued that poetry is a dynamic force,  changing with each new poet who attempts to write. The  poet must understand what has come before in order to  change what exists. It is only then that Poetry can evolve  and progress. I am not talking about monumental change  but merely change that offers a new way of looking at a  thing (be it the subject, imagery, symbolism, or even  form).