If you decide to delve into world of column writing, your best bet would be to start with a regional daily or weekly newspaper. Not only will this market be easier to break into, but will give you a lot of exposure. Columns for cooking, astrology, inspiration and living in city run frequently in newspapers and are best places for starting off. However, try to avoid topics that have been done to death. Put a unique and interesting spin to a topic, and you’re bound to get editor’s interest.

Websites too are now beginning to open up to columns. Just like their print counterparts, Websites, e-zines and even online versions of print magazines ask for original material on a weekly or monthly basis. The biggest advantage of writing online is short acceptance and publication period.

The best way to query an editor about writing a column is by sending clips of your work and your column topic. If editor likes your query, you’ll be asked to send in an article, and you’ll soon be on your way to publishing glory. Keep in mind though, that column writing is not like writing an article—it’s not *your* convenience and *your* time constraints that matter. The only thing editor wants from you is a good quality article each week, submitted on time. Do that, and you’ll have a regular income from at least one source.

A couple of hours later he worked up courage to confront my father, which turned out to be something of an anti-climax because my father had no idea about Robert's part in drama. When Robert tiptoed into my room he handed me a sheet of paper; he had written a poem for me as he sat across street from my house. I remember how thrilled I was that someone would do such a thing. It was like something out of a novel or a movie.

I kept that poem, which ran to one and a half legal pages, for a number of years, until it disappeared when we moved house a decade later. But I still remember first four lines:

Her name is Marguerite I very much like that girl She means much more to me Than any gem or pearl

That was a lifetime ago and yet those words remain in my memory.

As for boy himself, by time I got back to school Robert had moved on to greener pastures (he now liked my best friend's new best friend). But that hardly mattered as I was now a minor celebrity because I got hit by a bus while chasing a boy. The nuns had a field day praying for my soul, which was not last time they'd engage in that futile exercise.

My right foot is still a little flatter than my left but it was worth it for notoriety. And hey, Robert, wherever you are, thanks for memory.

Using Other People's Love Poems

If you don't have Robert's literary talent, there is another option. Find an existing poem that best expresses how you feel and present it to your lover inside a greeting card or gift.

There are a number of sites online that offer love poems. You can find a list on our web site.