Writing To Be Read

Well it’s that time. Time to start a new year and that means resolutions. According to Colorado Springs author, Cicily Janus, in her Huffington Post article, A New New Years Resolution: Redefining the Tradition, most of those resolutions involve weight loss in order to achieve that perfect, stick thin figure that is socially acceptable in our modern culture. She’s right, of course. This society puts high emphasis on attaining that Barbie-doll figure that really isn’t healthy at all, which is why anorexia and bulimia are so prevalent today. I think the ancient Greeks had the right idea concerning the ideal female figure, portraying women that had a little meat on their bones. They weren’t fat, but they looked healthy, not sickly like some of today’s ideal women. I bet you never saw any Greek Goddesses starving themselves on fad diets. Of course, they could just readjust their toga and look good without major alterations to their enire wardrobes, too.

My new year’s resolutions do involve loosing weight, but not for a Barbie-doll figure. I need to loose weight so I will feel better both physically and mentally about myself. I don’t like the way my extra weight makes me feel and I want rid of it. My plan for accomplishing this goal will include a healthy exercise regime along with a sensible diet. Probably, I’ll include getting rid of the cigarettes on that list, as well. Maybe I could combine those two into one resolution to improve my health in 2010.

My main resolution, though, involves my writing. Over the last few months, I’ve finally begun to generate a small income from my writing. My goal for 2010 is to make enough from my writing to be able to do it full time. Actually, that has been my goal for a long time, but now I’m in a position where I could actually make it happen. Best of all, it is a resolution that won’t fall by the wayside and be forgotten by mid-March, because I already work at it every single day, so I really don’t have to make any major lifestyle changes to accomplish it. All I have to do is keep writing and work diligently to find new paying outlets for my work. Fortunately, I subscribe to several great newsletters and writing blogs that are filled with ideas on how to do just that. Anyone who wants to make a living off of freelance writing can benefit from these publications, as they are all very helpful, so I will post them here for any of you who might have a similar goal on your resolution list.

Editor Unleashed: http://editorunleashed.com/

Smart Writer’s Newsletter: http://www.writersgiveaway.com/treasure/

The Urban Muse: http://www.urbanmusewriter.com/

On the Premises: http://www.onthepremises.com/index.html

The Pedestal: http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/page.php?pid=17

The Writing Bug: http://the-writing-bug.blogspot.com/

Writing, Etc…: http://filbertpublishing.com/current.html

Writer’s Digest: http://filbertpublishing.com/current.html

3 Chix: http://www.3chix.com/

Writer Gazette: http://www.writergazette.com/

Writing My Way Into the New Year 

I wrote my way through many years

All to no avail

No one knocking at my door

Though my writing was for sale

Last year things began to change

I got some writing gigs

I made some pennies this past year

But nothing really big

Now the New Year will be different

I can feel it deep inside

The money has begun to flow

My sail’s begun to glide

I feel big things in store this year

My writing is just right

Success is just around the bend

It starts with New Year night.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

We all know that the strongest emotions in writing are conveyed in the words that evoke passion with you, the writer, but have you ever stopped to examine which emotions those are? I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the emotions that evoke the most passion on the page are love, anger, fear and grief. Perhaps that is why these are favorite themes in music, as well as in poetry and, even in the historically epic tales of the distant past.

Notice that all but one of these would probably be considered negative emotions. Why would it be, that so many negative emotions are so strong, but only one positive one?  Are the negative emotions felt more intensely? I think that perhaps they are. Perhaps love, as the strongest felt positive emotion by far, may just be the only positive emotion that even comes close to being as intensely felt as negative emotions are. I think that is why these emotions have been used in themes throughout history so often and so well.

If you doubt this, take a moment to compare any story that you have read where a character was happy, perhaps even elated, to one in which a character is enraged or overcome by grief, or afraid that a monster lurks just around the corner. If the tale is well written, you probably experienced some of the character’s anguish yourself, or sat on the edge of your seat on pins and needles until whatever was on the other side of the was revealed. However, even though you understood that the character was happy and why he was happy, you probably didn’t feel a smile cross your own face, did you. Now look at your favorite romance or love story, and again, you are able to put yourself in the character’s shoes and feel all the love that she feels, in a comparable intensity, because love is right up there in intensity, because love is passionate.

We’ve all heard that you must have the negative so that we can appreciate the positive. We need sadness so that we can feel happiness in its absence, hate in order to truly love, etc… But I ask you, if that is true, why then are not the negatives and positives equally balanced? Is love so intense that it takes anger, fear and grief, all three to balance it out? Those three negatives are pretty powerful, yet we have only one positive that comes close to equaling any one of them, but is that positive really equal to the three of them put together?  Think about it. Fear can be immobilizing, anger can throw one into a murderous rage, and grief can consume one’s whole being. Love can be consuming, and can even provoke a jealous rage, but then it becomes jealousy, which is yet one more powerful negative emotion. That’s a lot for love to compete with.

I don’t know the answer, but whatever conclusion you reach, there is one thing for certain. It is our job as writers to convey that intensity, that passion; that terror; that fury, onto the written page and through to readers in a way that makes them experience the same emotions that our characters are feeling, or that we ourselves are trying to communicate. It’s funny that in life, we often hide our emotions and don’t reveal our true feelings to others, but as writers, we must learn to do just the opposite and put those emotions out there for everyone to see.

In a college English class, a student teacher assigned us to write a descriptive essay and as an example, he played a tape of a descriptive essay for us in class. His example was in the form of a narrative, and I went home and wrote a narrative that described what it felt like to play the “Asteroids” arcade game, which I was very much into at the time, (you know, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth). I put my soul into that essay and when one read it, one could feel the excitement of battle, the fear of near misses, the elation of watching your target be blown to bits. It was probably the best thing that I had ever written up to that point in my life and I was proud of it. The student teacher, however, dropped everyone in the whole class, because we all turned in narratives and he claimed that they did not meet the requirements of a descriptive essay. My essay was dropped down to a “C”, and I latter found out that mine would have been the only “A” in the entire class, which did make me feel a little better, but I went all the way to the Dean’s office trying to appeal my grade on the premises that: one, his example had been a narrative, but then he acted surprised when every person in the class turned in a narrative; and two, it was an excellent piece of writing and should have been graded upon its merit as a quality piece of writing. What made it a quality piece of writing was the emotions that it conveyed, even if it did not fit the guidelines of the assignment, which our dear student teacher had obviously not made clear. So I was a better writer than he was a teacher. I wonder who got a better grade? More importantly, I wonder who learned a more valuable lesson from the experience? The lesson that I learned was not the differences between a descriptive essay and a narrative, (I still believe a piece of writing can successfully be both simultaneously), but how to portray my emotions on the written page. It was a lesson that has stayed with me to this day and I believe that it is one of the most valuable lessons a writer can ever learn, and a necessary one if you plan to write well.

False Smile

Everyone tries to be so nice

I smile and it feels like my face

Will crack into little pieces

I hold that false smile until they can’t see

Because I don’t want them to feel bad

Don’t want anyone to know

That I’m dying slowly with each passing day

Rotting away on the inside

No one knows

No one sees

My fading inner self

All they see is my false smile

They don’t see below the surface

To see what is really going on or who I really am.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

I recently caught one version of A Christmas Carol on television. Although there have been many versions of this classic story, they all stick pretty much to the same basic theme that we are all familiar with, from the original version by Charles Dickens. There was nothing particularly different about this one, but as I watched, I began to think about what my own Christmas Carol would be like. What would the Christmas ghosts reveal to me, were I in the place of Ebenezer Scrooge?

We would all like to think that our Christmas ghosts would have no surprises in store for us, but if we are honest, we have to admit that the ghost of Christmas past would probably be able to dig up a few occasions when we could have been kinder; a few opportunities where we could have been helpful to someone else, but were to busy or in to much of a hurry to bother with it. I can think of several occasions when I turned down invitations to go do things with my friends, when maybe they just really wanted to spend time with me, or maybe they were lonely and needed some company. Would my acceptance of their invitations made them have a better day? I wonder if it would show me things that I could have done that would have made it so my son would be here with us this Christmas day. Perhaps I could have been there to listen at some point when I did not take the time out to do so, and that one conversation would have let me say the right words to him, to give him strength in his time of pain.

I know my Christmas present could show me a lot of things that I currently regret, but I already know about those. I think that my Christmas past would reveal to me the relationships in my life that are not as good as they could be; the ones that I need to work on. My kids are scattered over Colorado, and I don’t get to see my grandkids much. It seems that we are always trying to plan a trip to see one or the other of them, but something always seems to get in the way. More often than not, it is a lack finances that prevent us from going to visit, so in some ways I may be more like Scrooge than I care to admit. Perhaps the ghost of Christmas present would show me what I could do differently, so that we could make those trips and get to know my grandchildren. I think relationships are one of the most valuable things that we can have; friends, family, and loved ones are more precious than many people are willing to acknowledge. To quote an unknown author, “A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.” For me, this is the true meaning of Christmas. The kids will always love you when they open their presents, but when they show their love in the absence of gifts, that is the true spirit of Christmas.

Of course, Christmas future is the real mystery. That’s the one we’d all really like to see. I wonder what my current actions will bring about for Christmases to come. Would I see my own death, alone and unloved, as Eebenezer’s was? Or would I see the friends and family that I hold so dear, mourning my death and missing me at their own Christmas futures? It is something to ponder. I work in the health care field as a C.N.A. I have built relationships with each one of my residents. Even though some of them probably don’t know my name, their smiles light up when they see me and I know that I’m fulfilling an important role for them, but I don’t think that is who would be at my graveside. Yet, I do think that those relationships are important, because I feel that I make a difference in their lives. Margaret Fishback Powers once said,

            “100 years from now it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of     

              house I lived in, how much money I had in my bank account, nor what my     

              clothes looked like. But the world may be better because I was important in

              the life of a child.”

I think that this statement is very true, but I would add that if you are important in the life of an individual, no matter what age, you have made a difference in the world. This is what is truly important in life; making a difference in the lives of others.

That may be the entire purpose of the story. Charles Dickens wanted us to think; to look inside of ourselves and consider what kind of Christmas Carol each one of us would have. I think that overall, I could accept what my Christmas ghosts have to show me. Could you live with what your ghosts would have to show you?

The Perfect Christmas 

To make the perfect Christmas, all you need is love.

That’s all God had to offer, when he sent his son from above.

Christmas isn’t tinsel on the tree or billions of tiny lights,

You know what really matters, are those you kiss goodnight.

It isn’t Christmas cookies, baked to a golden brown,

But the time that’s shared in making them; all the children hanging round.

Christmas isn’t presents either, as so many seem to think.

It’s the spirit that they’re given in, love flowing to the brink.

So before you pull out the decorations, and start trimming up the tree,

Bake Christmas treats, sing out the carols, and wrap the gifts so neat,

Stop and take a moment, to reflect on what Christmas is really about.

If you can feel the love around you, tell the world; just shout it out.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth 

Thanksgiving is only a few days away, and I know everyone has different things that they are thankful for. As writers, we may be thankful for some unusual items that others may not even consider. For example, we writers might be thankful for our ink cartridge not running out before our entire manuscript is printed, or we may be thankful to the inventor of ink pens, because we no longer have to dip our quills, or for trees that provide paper, so we don’t have to print on papyrus. Okay, so maybe these aren’t the first things to cross, even a writer’s mind. Personally, I am thankful for my laptop and the Internet, because without these two things, I wouldn’t be writing Writing to be Read or anything else for that matter. I tried writing way back in the Stone Age, when you still had to use a typewriter and lots of white out, and submit your work in manila envelopes with a SASE, if you wanted it back with your rejection slip. I carry my laptop almost everywhere with me and write in some pretty unusual situations, but that’s how you can tell that I am serious about writing. I can also say that I am thankful for spell check, because it just makes my life so much easier.

I am also thankful that I can now say that I am a paid writer. I am finally making money for my words of wisdom. It is with a feeling of satisfaction that I walked into the bank and cashed my first paycheck in October. I haven’t quite my other job, the one that I have to actually leave the house to go to. I’m not making enough to say good-bye to the drudgery of working for someone else just yet, but I can feel it coming. It has not been an easy road to travel and I have often gotten discouraged, but my perseverance is finally paying off.

I am also thankful for all the other wonderful authors that I have come to know through my profiles and reviews. I have a whole network of fellow writers and authors, who I social network with, and they are all some pretty great people. Some Colorado authors that I have grown particularly fond of are Beth Groundwater (Colorado Springs); Warren Hammond (Denver); Barbara O’Neal (Colorado Springs); Annie Dawid (Westcliffe); Mary Peace Finley (Eastern Plains); JoAnne Sundell (Grand County); Susan J. Tweit (Salida); Bill Trembley (Fort Collins); Nancy Oswald (Cotopaxi); Jessy Randall (Colorado Springs); Laura Resau (Fort Collins); Kent Haruf (Chaffee County); Cicily Janus (Colorado Springs); and Robert Spiller (Monument). Through social networking on sites like Writer’s World and Facebook, I have also met some writers and authors that may or may not live in Colorado, but are awesome, just the same, such as Art Rosch (Petaluma, CA; Cynthoa B. Ainsworth (St. Petersburg, FL); Scott Martin Locke; Cynthia Vespia (Las Vegas, NV); Christopher Scott Silva (Frankfurt, Germany); Carol Berg (Fort Collins, CO);  Mark A. Cooper (Sarasota, FL); Gary Val Tenuta (U.S.A.), Signe Pike (New York, NY) and many others. In addition, I became acquainted with my illustrator for my children’s book, Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend, who is also my agent for the same, Aidana WillowRaven. She does excellent work, which I am very pleased with so far, and I can’t wait for her to be finished. I have also made a wonderful friend through my poetry, who is a talented artist, Mitch Barrett (U.K.), who will feature my poetry with one of his painting series, (?). So you see, writing has really expanded my horizons, and I am thankful for that.

Of course, I am also thankful for all the regular stuff. The blessings that I have received in the form of friends and family are always there to be grateful for. I am thankful for my 15 year old son, who is growing into a young man, oh, so fast. I am thankful for my older children that have made families of their own and given me 13 beautiful grandchildren. I am thankful for my loving husband of 28 years. I am thankful for the roof over my head and the food on our table.

Last, but not least, I am thankful for all of the wonderful people out that that read Writing to be Read and Southern Colorado Literature Examiner! Without you guys, I would not have been as successful as I have without you all reading my stuff. So now, I would love to hear all the things that you are thankful for, as writers and as readers. I hope you will leave a comment and let me know about all the wonderful blessings that you have received for this holiday season, so that we can all give thanks together. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Best Part of Thanksgiving

Could it be the turkey, all roasted golden brown?
Could it be the Jello mold, all jiggly and round? Could it be the salad, filled with lots of greens?
Could be the mashed potatoes, thick with sour cream?

Those of you that follow the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner will know that November is National Novel Writing Month, (or NaNoWriMo for short). To celebrate, The Office of Letters and Lights issues a challenge each year to all writers. For more information on this, check out my article; Write a novel in 30 days for National Novel Writing Month. Anyway, so it sounded like fun and I decided to try it. Starting November 1^st, I’m going to begin writing a novel. Only problem is, I don’t have the slightest idea what I am going to write about. I need inspiration, and of course, this is when my muse decides to take off for parts unknown on vacation. So, between now and then, I have to come up with some ideas. Inspiration can be found in some of the most unlikely places, and I am always on the lookout for new places to look. So, here a few online inspiration spots where I have found my muse hanging out. Muses stick together, so perhaps you’ll discover yours in on of the following places.

·        oneword.com – On this site, you are challenged to take one word and write against the clock for a period of sixty seconds to see what you can come up with.

·        Writer’s social networks can often bring information, just by listening to what other writers have to say. I have my own network, Writers’ World, which includes a group called Inspiration Corner, where writers can keep a journal of things that have inspired them and share that with others, as well as sharing inspirational quotes or links to inspirational articles and blog posts. There are many other networks out there, too, such as The Writer’s Box, The Writer’s Network, AuthorNation, All Who Create, IMPnow, My Writers and Authors, etc….

·        Follow your favorite writing blogs. (Don’t forget to put Writing to be Read at the top of your list). Some of my favorites include Editor Unleashed, Writer Unboxed, Chinese Whisperings, Writing About You, Electric Alphabet, The Blog of Fascination, The-Writing-Bug, and Urban Muse.

My apologies. I did not get this finished as quickly as I had hoped and in the interim have been too busy trying to get this novel thing together to come up with a poem for this post. I know this is kind of my signature for Writing to be Read, but I’m hoping you will all forgive its omission just this once. It’s either that or post it way after the fact, which doesn’t seem like the good choice to me. Until next time, Happy Writing!

Well, it’s that time of year once again, I fear. October is a time of fear, isn’t it? During this month you are liable to see a little of everything that scares you: spiders, bats, witches with black cats and pointy hats; ghost, ghouls, and goblins too; werewolves, vampires, and zombies galore; mad scientists, Frankenstein, psychos and more.  I think that for writers, this is a great time of year, because we can let our imaginations run wild and never worry that readers will think we are just too far out. That may be true the rest of the year, but in October, readers just chalk all of outrageously dark stories up to the season, and they assume we’ll return to our normal selves, (as opposed to our Halloween transformations), and write about normal things once again as soon as November comes round. Of course, there are writers, like Stephen King, that can get away with writing scary stuff all year long. His readers just know that he has a warped mind and they love him for it.

As for me, I’ve got a whole series of scary Colorado articles swirling around in the head of the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner, so be sure to pop in there once in awhile to see what I’m brewing up. I am currently reading Retribution: An Anna Strong Vampire Novel, by Jeanne C. Stein in preparation for its review, for starters. I’ve also got an idea for an article on Colorado ghost stories, and maybe one on books about Colorado ghost towns, as well. I’m on the hunt for a Colorado author of dark fiction for a profile and my eyes will be open for any other good scary Colorado literary stories.

Of course, I couldn’t leave out Writing to be Read. A big fan of horror myself, I enjoy the master of the macabre; the one and only Stephen King, but I also enjoy great reads, such as Anne Rice’s Vampire and Mayfair Witch series, Dean Koontz, John Saul, Clive Barker and Peter Straub.  For this site, I thought I’d try to encourage some reader participation, so here’s the deal. This month I want to hear who your favorite author of dark fiction is. They can write horror, sci-fi or even just some very intense thrillers. All you have to do, is leave a comment at the end of this post. You don’t have to be a member of the site, or anything, just leave a comment telling me who is your favorite and why. At the end of the month, I’ll publish a list of all the books that readers think are the scariest. So that’s it, kids. Just let me know who does it for you. Who writes the novels that make you want to sleep with the lights on, or the ones that won’t let you sleep at all.  

Spooky Things

Black cats and witches hats

What a scary time of year

Ghouls and ghosts and goblins;

All that you might fear

Vampires and werewolves

Shape shifters, too

Monsters of all shapes and sizes

Sent to frighten you

Creepy, crawly, slimy things

You don’t want in your bed

Flesh eating zombies;

Walking, talking, living dead

Not so friendly aliens

That stir the urge to run

Wait, where are you going?

The fun has just begun

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

September has been a hard month for me. Not only was the 21^st the anniversary of my son’s death, but the 9^th was his birthday, as well. Needless to say, I feel like the Green Day song, Wake Me Up, When September Ends. I tried to figure out a way that I could just sleep through the entire month, but I wasn’t too successful. Actually, I was lucky to sleep at all, as Michael has been heavy on my mind. Then, I was  so tired all the time that my concentration is off, making it hard to get anything else done either.

September doesn’t seem to have the same effect on everyone else though, so I am still expected to meet all of my obligations. Easier said than done, I’m afraid. For example, I was going to write a piece on September, which would have been more appropriate at the beginning of the month, but since I did not get it done before, I am doing it now. Better late than never, right?

Although it is a difficult month for me, September is a month for literary celebration. That’s why I had planned to write an article about it. Those that enjoy writing, and reading should know that September is Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month. I don’t know who thinks these things up, but I’m glad that someone thought to recognize the hard work of all the editors and writers out there. I imagine we all need to know that our work is appreciated occasionally. Even best selling authors, who sell oodles of books and are famous, like to hear from their fans how much they’ve enjoyed their books. For writers like myself, who are not even in the same league with those authors, checking each day to see how many hits I’ve had on my sites can bring a smile to my face, even on the glummest of days. I hope someone thought to make a (Be Kind to Loyal Readers Month.) So, even though the month is almost over and I’ve been so terribly tardy in getting this information out, before the month is out, send flowers or candy to your editor, or just drop your favorite writer a note or an e-mail, telling them that you enjoy reading their work. There’s still a little time left to make September a great month.

Other September dates to take note of:

• September 2 – e.e. cummings died
• September 4 – Richard Wright’s birthday
• September 6 – Henry David Thoreau left Walden Pond (1847)
• September 9 – Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolkas move in together in Paris (1910)
• September 11 – D.H. Lawrence’s birthday
• September 12 – Publisher, Alfred Knopf’s birthday
• September 13 – Ronald Dahl’s birthday
• September 15 – Agatha Christie’s birthday
• September 17 – Ken Kesey’s birthday
• September 21 – Stephen King and H.G. Well’s birthdays
• September 24 – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday
• September 25 – John Steinbeck received Nobel Peace Prize (1962)

                                      Shel Silverstein and William Faulkner’s birthdays

• September 26 – T.S. Eliot’s birthday
• September 28 – Herman Melville died

Now You Walk With Angels

It has been a year now

Since you were taken from this life.

Our family now is broken.

Your death has caused such strife.

You were a very special person,

An old soul, if you will.

You had a whole life ahead of you

Since you left us, time stands still.

Now you walk with angels,

Perhaps soaring on new wings.

We cry and miss you oh, so much

We can’t go on to other things.

It feels like only yesterday

That you were still right here.

We long to hear your voice once more,

To see your face, so dear.

It’s not right that you were taken

When you were still so very young.

You were whisked from life so brutally

Before your song was fully sung.

Now you walk with angels,

Perhaps soaring on new wings.

Someday we will be with you, but for now,

We can only wait, to see what fate will bring.

We miss everything about you

Your smile, your hugs, your voice.

The potential stood before you

To create the destiny of your choice.

What hurts the most, is knowing we won’t

Watch you grow into a man.

To know what fate held in store for you

It seems God had other plans.

Now you walk with angels,

Perhaps soaring on new wings.

Through our tears, we long to hear

The music you now sing.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

Hello. I guess I haven’t written anything for this site in awhile. I have been busily pumping out articles. Between the writing and the research required, I haven’t even had a moment to breathe. I believe I mentioned in my post, Building A Portfolio, that other reasons to write, besides the minimal amount of money that I make, building readership and references, as well as web exposure. Well since then I have discovered some other perks in writing for Examiner.com.

My position as Southern Colorado Literature Examiner can also be used as a form of networking. Now I am not talking about the kind of networking that is aimed at building readership, (although it does). I am talking about making connections with my fellow writers, authors and other professionals in the writing and publishing fields. Since I do author profiles, I usually contact the authors and ask them to answer a few questions, so my profiles will be accurate and also so that I can include some direct quotes and information that you won’t find anywhere else on the web in my articles. At first, I looked at this as just a necessary step in getting the story, but to my surprise and delight, many of these authors have joined my Windows Live Network and/or correspond with me regularly via e-mail or Facebook. Believe it or not, friendships with other authors and writers are blossoming from my article seeds!

These friendships are the kind that both parties can benefit from, too. For instance, authors that correspond regularly keep me updated as to their activities, and I write about anything they are doing that is newsworthy. As a result, they get their name out there and several authors have asked to link to my profiles and/or reviews on their websites, which in turn brings traffic my way. One author even shared information about the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner with her writing group, which brought me several new readers, as did contacts with members of The 5^th Monday Writers in Chaffee County. Both the authors and I benefit from these connections and I become more and more of a professional in my field every single day. Let me tell you, it feels great!

In order to do reviews, you have to read the books that you are reviewing. Since most (not all) of the books I review are either getting ready to come out or have been just recently published, I foresaw difficulties in getting my hands on these books. Another pleasant surprise was that most of the time, if I just contact the authors and request a review copy (or ARC), they are delighted to send me one. Again, this is an opportunity for them to get some press, so they have no problem in sending out the materials to be reviewed. So reading the works has turned out to be much easier than I had anticipated, and has in fact, turned out to be another fringe benefit of the job.

While it is true that these benefits are probably niche specific and if I had opted for another area to write in, I would be looking at different advantages, I would bet that every topic area has a few. Entertainment or celebrity examiners probably make connections with celebrities, rather than authors, and relationship or domestic examiners may make contact with counselors or social workers, but I would bet that the connections are being made, no matter what the area of expertise. The point is that there is more to this writing business than just making money. While I would love to make enough to write full time, I see this to be a slow uphill climb, and these little perks just make it easier along the way.

(If you would be interested in writing for Examiner.com, please leave a comment here or contact me at angelslight34@hotmail.com, and I’ll show you how to apply.)

To Be A Cat

To be a cat wouldn’t be so bad

Lazing around all day in the sun

Sharpening my nails on the scratching post

Maybe teasing the dog just for fun

Of course, there’s all that fur to clean

The hairballs must be horrendous

And eating mice doesn’t sound so good

Trying to catch them would be stupendous

Then there’s always the possibility

Of being chased by a dog

And you wouldn’t be very fast, you see

Because you’ve lain around all day like a log

On second thought, I really don’t think

That I would want the life of a cat

There has got to better things to do

Than to lay around and get fat

 Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

Modern technology is truly amazing.  Computer and Internet technology transfer information super fast. However, they still don’t do the job as fast I can think.  I constantly find myself sitting idle while I wait for sites to come up on my screen, so I can post my latest brainstorm of an idea, or respond to a brilliant comment that someone else has made.  Networking is important to promoting your writing, as we discovered in my post on Self Promotion.  So how do I get the word out there about my writing without taking away so much time from the act of writing?  As I wait, I find my brain thinking up all kinds of brilliant ideas for new topics to write on, as well as other places I need to post, or tasks I need to take care of, but if I try to pop onto another site, or worse yet, tap the keys or the mouse repeatedly in an effort to speed things up, I risk freezing the whole thing up and loosing everything.  My son used to catch me trying to urge the computer to work faster with a constant tap, tap, tap several times, and listened to my rantings when my laptop would freeze up on numerous occasions before he finally clued me in that each time I touch the mouse, the computer thinks I’m giving new instructions, and when it tries to do too many tasks at the same time, it overloads and shuts down.  So in essence, I was causing my computer to freeze up and then blaming the machine when the fault was my own.  “You just have to have a little patience, Mom.” was his advice to me.

Easier said then done.  I’ve tried to have more patience, but when ideas are popping into my head faster than I can get them down, and I am stuck sitting there watching then little circle that tells my my hard drive is working on it, it becomes difficult, if not impossible to not pull up something else in the meantime, (although I have stopped the insistent tapping), even though I know that it slows the whole process down in the long run.  To avoid loosing my ideas totally, (for it seems they disappear as fast as they came at times), I have gotten into the habit of quickly pulling up a new page on Microsoft Word as soon as the chance arises, and jotting down a title for the idea and saving it, so that later I can come back and (hopefully), pick up the thought and produce an outstanding article, blog, poem or story.  That’s the idea anyway.  So now I find my file folders filled with documents that consist of only one line, until I have time to develop the idea more fully.  So far it has proved to be a successful strategy.  I still get stuck waiting on my laptop to work its wonders, but now at least I’m not loosing my ideas while I wait, and my computer freezes up only occasionally.  Since I can’t seem to slow my brain down or speed my technology up, I guess it is what I must settle for.  It seems patience is a virtue that I just don’t have.

Hurry Up and Wait! 

My fingers fly across the keys

As fast as they can go.

I hit publish and wonder why

The Internet is so slow.

Hurry up and wait!

Hurry up and wait!

Seems that’s all I ever do.

If my computer would go faster

I’d already be through.

I watch the little hour glass

That tells me it’s working hard

But nothing seems to happen

From what I’ve seen so far.

Hurry up and wait!

Hurry up and wait!

Seems that’s all I ever do.

If my computer would go faster

I’d already be through.

I have stories bouncing in my head

Just waiting to be written down.

My computer won’t go faster

No matter how I scowl and frown.

Hurry up and wait!

Hurry up and wait!

Seems that’s all I ever do.

If my computer would go faster

I’d already be through.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth

When I first began writing, way back when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth and there was no such thing as Internet, I entered a poetry contest that was advertised in my local paper.  Not long after, I received a letter stating that my poem had been chosen to be included in their anthology.  I was elated.  One of the first poems that I ever submitted was going to be published.  Soon after, I began getting mailings offering to let me purchase the anthology with my poem in it.  I was new to this writing stuff, but I had thought that publishers would at least give you a free copy, especially when there was no monetary compensation.  Guess again.  Over the next year, I received numerous mailings offering to let me buy a plaque with my poem on it,  bookmarks featuring my poem, even refrigerator magnets featuring my poem.  One mailing informed me that my poem had been chosen to be read by me at their annual conference, all at my own expense, of course.  I didn’t have much luck back then in getting my writing published, although I did manage to have one poem accepted and even made a whole five dollars off of it.  I put my pen and pad away, deciding that I would never be a published writer, and went on to pursue other ventures.  

Several years later, I got my first computer with Internet, and somewhere down the road, I decided to give writing another shot.  Before I had actually made that decision though, I received an e-mail advertisement from a company with a familiar name, requesting that I submit a poem to their online poetry contest.  It was the same company that wanted to publish my poem in their anthology, oh, so many years ago.  (I don’t know if they actually did publish my poem, because I had not purchased their anthology, and apparently, that was the only way that I could find out.)  They were looking for poems with Halloween themes, although I think the advertisement came in March or April.  I was already onto their game, but I figured, what the heck.  I sat down and quickly jotted down a poem about Halloween and submitted it, just for laughs.  (I included this poem in my blog post, Can You Feel It?, as an example of a poem that was not very good, if you care to read it.) 

I soon discovered that not much had changed since the Internet came on the scene, as my e-mailbox quickly filled up with offers to purchase anthologies, plaques and every other kind of gimmick they could think of to get money out of me.  What had changed with the Internet was the information that I had access to and I soon learned that this company and others like it were called vanity presses, because they played on the author’s vanity to get the author’s money.  I also learned that they would publish just about anything that was submitted, whether it was of good quality writing or not, so acceptance by them meant very little.  The Wikipedia definition of a vanity press is:

            “According to the US National Endowment for the Arts, “For the purposes of this           

            category, a vanity press is defined as one that does any of the following: requires individual

            writers to pay for part or all of the publication costs; asks writers to buy or sell copies of the

            publication; publishes the work of anyone who subscribes to the publication or joins the

            organization through membership fees; publishes the work of anyone who buys an

            advertisement in the publication; publishes work without competitive selection; or publishes

            work without professional editing.”^[3] 

            A vanity press will generally agree to print and bind any author’s work if the author is willing

            to pay for the service; these fees typically form a vanity press’s profits.”

Many vanity presses will publish books for you, too, at the author’s expense, of course.  Now don’t get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with self publishing, if that is the route that you choose to go, but I’d rather go with a publishing house that will tell me straight what needs to be changed to make my work better, so that I can make it the best that it can be.  Vanity presses are not very selective and nor are they very critical.  You won’t get honest feedback from them.  They will tell you that your writing is good, even if it stinks, because they just want your money.  Although I do enjoy writing and receive great pleasure from producing work of good quality that I can be proud of, it is for that very reason that I want to earn money from my labors.  I want to make a living doing something that I can enjoy.  Is that so much to ask? Well, maybe, but the point here is that the idea is to make money, not to spend it.  I don’t think that I am alone in being an author on a limited budget.  If you can afford to self publish, that is great, and I hope that you find a really great publisher that will honestly help you to make your work shine.  My problem with vanity presses is that they try snow you, and that, in my opinion, makes them a big group of professional scam artists.

I went on with life, ignoring their e-mails, for the most part, and I made the decision to give my writing career one more shot after I discovered how many avenues were available via cyberspace, and how much easier access to them had become.  Then one day, I noticed that I had several e-mails from my vanity press and it made me curious as to what they were trying to sell me now.  So, I opened the first one, which had been sent earlier that morning.  It said that my poem, the same one that had been accepted months ago, was not good enough to make the cut and requesting that I submit another poem instead.  I was flabbergasted!  I knew the poem wasn’t good, but I also knew that these people accepted just about everything sent to them and this poem had previously been accepted, so I didn’t understand what was going on.  I then opened the next e-mail from them, which had been sent that afternoon.  It stated that my poem, (the same poem they had already accepted and now, rejected), had been selected to be featured on their home page, indicating that this selection was quite an honor.  That was it.  I wrote and submitted the following poem, just to see if they would really accept anything submitted:

The Scam 

9:30 am I get a rejection from poetry.com

Woe is me, I want my Mom.

I’ll tell you though why I had to smile.

All I had to do was wait awhile.

10:30 am poetry.com sent another e-mail

About the very same poem, without fail.

Another rejection? Oh, no. This time

A spot on the home page could be mine.

The first message wants me to submit a new poem

I’ll sit down right now and e-mail it from home.

They didn’t understand my poem last time.

They suggest that I write something that rhymes.

Now my poem is great, they’ve got something to sell

So they think that my poem is really swell

I’m glad that they want my poem in their book

But for my money, I will not be took.

Copyright ©2009  Kaye Lynne Booth 

 I disproved the theory that they would publish anything with this poem, because they never even sent me one response regarding it.  What a surprise!  Soon thereafter, I unsubscribed from their mailing list and we parted company for good.  I had known the poem wasn’t good to begin with.  After all, I just thought it up in about 15 minutes.  I never even revised it.  I guess it’s a good thing that I am not vain about my work.