Ideas from The Writer Magazine, April 2008.

The purpose of this blog is to share with my readers interesting ideas I have found in professional publications dealing with the teaching of English at all levels, elementary, secondary and college.

Some ideas from the April 2008 The Writer magazine:

Publishing. A “moveable feast” is a breakfast, lunch or dinner at which authors move from table to table to promote their books. 5 minutes per table. D. Sundblad. The Writer (April 2008), 13-14.

Warm up for Writing: To get yourself started writing a poem, try making a list poem. Choose a topic. Make a list of connected ideas and then you will see ways of making variations in the scansion. Kind of like a brainstorm, except that it is designed to produce a poem. M Taylor. The Writer (April 2008), 17-18.

Publishing. Advice from a successfully published writer: Don’t turn down any writing jobs. Make each job the best you can make it. M Perry. The Writer (April 2008), 23.

How to write a “how-to”: 1. Make a list of things you do or can do. 2. Study your market. What have people written about on your topic. Put the topic in Google. 3. Choose a theme and decide on your title. 4. Make a rough outline. 5. Start writing. D Bouziden. The Writer (April 2008), 30-31.

Writing and seeking to publish are two separate acts. Don’t write to publish. Write to write as well as you can. “The real dream [of writing] has nothing to do with dollar signs.” TM Juvik. The Writer (April 2008), 29.

Should you show your writing-in-process to others? “Better yet, don’t show it to anyone until the first draft is completed. There is one exception: sharing your work to a qualified editor, story analyst or writing teacher at any stage of your writing process can be a good decision, because professionals can work with writers even at delicate stages when the work isn’t yet fully formed. But you’re probably better off not showing your nascent work-in-progress to your writing group, especially when the group doesn’t have a professional writer or teacher leading the discussion.” S Rabin. The Writer (April 2008), 45.