Add to Your Income by Covering Conferences and Trade Shows By John K. Borchardt

Many professional groups and industry trade associations hold conventions and trade shows. These can be huge events, such as the annual International Home Builders Show with an attendance of 92,000, or much smaller groups numbering in the dozens. While big conferences are held by necessity in major cities, smaller groups often meet in cities of less than 100,000 in population. So, whether you live in a large or small city, you can add to your writing income by covering conventions and trade shows for newspapers, magazines or websites.

If Other Writers Can Sell Their Work, So Can You! By Danielle Westvang

When you decided that you wanted to become a professional writer, did you visualize yourself at book signings or working for large publishing companies? Some may dream of writing a best seller, or perhaps even being published by a top magazine. My dream has always been to have my own column in a magazine or newspaper.

Whispers and Warnings For December 8th

This Week:

Goodbye, Blotch…

Many of you have been tracking Blotch’s progress since we learned he had an aggressive tumor (fibrosarcoma) in the sinuses above his left eye.
Last Friday, I noticed something inside Blotch’s left nostril and, by Sunday, it appeared to have made significant progress toward the opening. I realized it was probably the tumor. The doc told us that the tumor might break through and reach his brain, but we never thought it would grow the other way. I hoped the children wouldn’t notice it, but Ali did and was distraught that she could actually see what was killing her best friend…

Reviewing Your Ideas – Just Keep Stirring By William Meikle

Reviewing Your Ideas – Just Keep Stirring By William Meikle

Let’s talk about ideas. Ideas exist in a soup in your brain, and like all good soups, ideas need time to stew. The trick is to keep stirring. As the idea churns around in what passes for your creative capacity, you should periodically review it and ask yourself some questions.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Blank Page? By Daphne Dykeman

Having left full-time paid employment to become a mother, I still wanted to contribute in some way to the family budget. I saw that the local paper printed book reviews by a number of freelancers, and I felt that, with a degree in English and a passion for books, it would be a natural fit.
I checked out the most recently printed book available at my local library and began thinking about my sample review. And continued thinking about it for four months. I played around with openings and phrases, but it was impossible to actually commit anything to paper.

Ah, Gluttony…

Trying to get an early start on the holiday preparations, we put up some of our Christmas decorations last Sunday. Max doesn’t remember Christmas from last year (he turned three in September) so we’ve been having fun reminding him about the season. He seemed to understand the “Santa” concept and even said he’s going to ask Santa for a new train.