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Publish or Perish: It�s Not Only for Academia, Part 2

by: Emily Hanlon

The Writer's Journey Is the Biggest Payoff of All!

There are ways, too, to share our writing short of being published. Several come to mind. I think of Terry, a writer in one of my weekly workshops. He�d been working on his book for several years and during that time, the make-up of the group hadn�t changed much. All five of us had pretty much been with Terry throughout the creation of his novel. When he read the last chapter for what he hoped would be the last time, we listened, wanting it to work for his sake, but knowing if it didn�t, we would tell him that, too. I remember my heart beating faster as he read. It�s working, so far� so far� I kept thinking. And it was! When he finished, we spontaneously burst into applause and cheering�there were even a few wet eyes! The ending was perfect.
Grinning, Terry said, �This is as good as it gets, isn�t it?�
I have to agree with him. For what agent, editor or reader is going to know all that it took for Terry to triumph as he did? No one else, but Terry himself, can love his characters so deeply as those of us who had shared in their creation.
I think, too, of my own experiences during the writing of Petersburg. My daughter was a freshman at the University of Vermont. She was quite unhappy the first semester, so my husband and I made the seven hour trip to Burlington at least twice a month. During those drives, I read chapters and chapters of the book. He gave me feedback. We talked and argued over characters. He challenged me, as he is wont to do. Our love for the characters as well as the characters themselves grew with the sharing. And together we developed the plot. (I called him �The Plot Meister�.) We cried, too, as events brought pain, sorrow, joy, redemption and finally resolution into the character�s lives. I remember the day I read him the last chapter of Petersburg. We were driving down a highway banked in snow and tears were flowing so furiously, my husband had to pull over to the side of the road.
Another memory� It was eleven o�clock at night and the phone rang. I picked it up and my daughter shouted at me, �How could you? I�ll never forgive you! Never!�
�What? I asked. �What did I do?� She was very angry and I couldn�t imagine why.
�You killed him! You killed _____!� (I won�t tell you who, in case you haven�t read Petersburg yet and would like to. Don�t want to ruin the suspense!) �How could you kill him off? I loved him. I�ll never forgive you for that. Never!�
I smiled. My Inner Writer and I were taking flight!
Even now, writing this brings back the intensity of these experiences, none of which would have been diminished if the book had not been published. And each of which hold far deeper, more tender places in my heart than any publication kudos.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the great challenges that we face as writers is to understand in the core of our beings that the journey of being a writer is the biggest payoff of all. That�s when the magic happens, when unknown corridors within open, when writing becomes the song of the soul. There is inexpressible pleasure that comes from the unleashed imagination; the effortless flow of words; the appearance of characters who say the unexpected and do the unpredictable. There is inexpressible pleasure in waking up in the morning, hungry to return to my characters and their stories. Then there is no such thing as a �bad writing day.� Then there is only the writing, and my doing what feels as natural as breathing.
I have come to believe that the �bad days� only seem more prevalent than the �good days� when I am dry of passion. And that only happens when the insidious brute, Publish or Perish, sneaks up on me. I hope one day soon to be fully free of the brute, to know as surely as I breathe that every day I write will be a good day, simply because I have written.
In closing, I am taking lines from a cumulative poem, Why I Write from The Message Board of The Fiction Writer�s Journey.

Why I Write�
A cumulative poem
Writing is soul, breath, it is the way into
self and the universe.
Words become like one-way mirrors,
our characters see their reflection,
while we see through the mirror,
in search of the I
I do not know I am.
Giving life to imagination,
filling it with color, texture, passion.
Sipping the wine of words with the Muse
I am emboldened, enlivened,
at one with the Universe.
Inside there is chaos waiting to be understood ...
waiting to be written into order.
And there is also order waiting
to turn into wildness and freedom through words.

Writing is a WOW!

It is the punch of life pulsing through minds.
To add flames to a fire that burns inside.
To explore parts of my soul that I have not yet touched.
To satisfy something with-in. To find a voice. To dig deep. To be.
To revive the lilting, longing
of the impervious soul�

To feel my pen glide across the paper
To become more human
And somehow less.

Less afraid to be the real you,
Less willing to give into others.
More willing to grow as a person,
More able to fight your demons.

I write because then I can be heard, and fully known
....heard by the universe of my mind.

To give in to the desperate longing
of my soul to reveal itself.

To provide a voice
For silent thoughts
That scream to have a choice

I write to remember who I am.
to drink in the light of the moon�
to illuminate the day
and extinguish the night
to fight fright.

I write quite simply, because my characters want me to.
They have a tale to tell, and have chosen me to tell it.
Who am I to ignore such generous offers of story telling?

About the author:
Emily Hanlon is a writing coach who works with writers all over the world on the telephone. She is the author of 8 books of fiction, including Petersburg, translated into several languages and reached the best sellers list in England. She leads writing retreats for women and workshops in this country and abroad. Her websites are: and

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Steps to a Writing an Effective Press Releases
by: Diana Ennen

Want to get the most media attention and spotlight for your business? Then the first place to start is with a GREAT press release. Now I can almost see half of you leaving now, dreading the thought of having to write one of these. But wait!! I�m going to show you easy methods to make your press release work for you and get the attention it deserves. Ready? Let�s go.

We�ll briefly go over the basics because of their importance. Editors want to see things done the RIGHT way. I would bet that a lot of good releases simply get tossed out just because they aren�t set up properly. To a busy editor, that all too familiar �10 second glance� says a lot for you and your business; it let�s them know if you�ve done your research enough to warrant that release to be placed in their newspaper or magazine.

Here are your essentials:

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" on the top left of the page.

Your contact name, phone number, e-mail address, and website follows.

Headline is next, normally in bold and centered on the page. Summarize what the release is about and capture their attention. Spend almost as much time on your headline as you do writing the release. It�s that important.

The press release body starts with the location of the release and the date (Margate, Florida, May 5, 2005.)

Most press releases are between 200-500 words, and no more than a page. The first paragraph has the most important information. Don�t save the best for last, it won�t get read. In this paragraph answer the questions, who, what, when, where and why?

It is recommended that you write press releases in the 3rd person and use short sentences and paragraphs. Do not go over board, trying to dazzle the editor, it won�t work.

Target your release. You will be sending your release to a specific audience so make sure that in your release you keep to what would appeal to that audience. What don�t they know that you can add? Nothing works better than getting an �AAH HAA� when an editor is reviewing your release.

Provide statistics. Do some research and find some relevant information that applies. You can easily do this through Google. Once you find your quote, do a Google search or Yahoo quote on that particular topic. However, don�t stop on the first Google link and take that for gospel. Research it a bit further. Have it come from a respectable company or magazine.

Include relevant quotes from experts in your field that will reinforce what you are saying. Approach authors, leaders in your Industry, and other experts that back up the facts you are stating in your release. They will normally appreciate the added publicity and you get the quote you�re looking for. For example, as an author I�ll often get asked to provide a quote for an article on home-based businesses or the virtual assistant industry. I welcome the opportunity as it provides me more publicity.

Also, if you have a satisfied client that you feel will add credibility to your Release, add a quote from them as well. The first time you mention the expert, write out their full name. Then list them by last name or Mr. and Mrs. Smith only. I normally prefer the last name.

The last paragraph should be your call to action. You�ve talked the whole release about your business or product, now tell them what to do with the knowledge they just acquired.

At the bottom of the release include ### to indicate you are done, followed by a short bio. Make sure if you include your website that you include http:// in front of it for search engine recognition.

Your bio should include your information, any books authored, etc. Double check this for accuracy. At this point, you�re tired and done with the Release. But if it goes out to the world with the wrong web address, the valuable time spent even writing the Release has been wasted.

That�s it; the basics for writing a press release! Now one other thing I�d like to add in, they work! They truly work. I�ve had a recent release get accepted by PRWeb (and yes they do reject bad ones!), and then go on to hit several other major newspapers and media outlines and the Google alert, which resulted in our paper in the area contacting me. You want to set up a Google news alert for your name so that you can follow the path and see when you make the news so you can follow up. Also, PRWeb at http://www.prweb.com has complete guidelines for setting up a good press release. Go with the extra money and spend $20.00. It�s worth it to get the additional exposure.

About The Author

Diana Ennen is the author of numerous books including Virtual Assistant: the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA, Words From Home, Start, Run and Profit from a Home-Based Word Processing Business & the Home Office Recovery Plan. She specializes in publicity and book marketing and is president of Virtual Word Publishing http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and http://www.Publicity-VA.com. Articles are free to be reprinted as long as the author�s bio remains intact

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