Getting Started in Column WritingWritten by Mridu Khullar
You’ve written many articles for Websites, newsletters and now you’ve even conquered territory of getting published in a magazine. What’s next step, you ask? How to I make editor ask for my work weekly or monthly? Enter: column. Before you march up to an editor’s office or send her unsolicited mail asking to write regularly for a publication, learn all there is to know. A column is written weekly, monthly or bi-monthly, and must be focused on one particular topic. You have to be consistent in what you write, maintain same tone of voice, and stay focused on issue at hand. If you’re writing a column for writing parent, don’t delve into issues of parenting in general. You’re readers will probably be parents who write, and they will be more interested in learning how to find time for their writing, rather than how to take care of their children. A column can last from three to four months to ten or maybe even twenty. I know of a writer who wrote a column in a leading daily for more than twenty years. When you decide to write a column, make sure that topic you choose is of interest to readers and will keep them coming back for more, week after week. If your topic is boring or uninteresting, chances are you’ll have no readers, and editor will soon wrap up your column with a short goodbye note. Make sure that you can keep commitment. Writing a column takes more than just a bright idea and good writing. It needs dedication, discipline and ability to meet deadlines. If you can’t meet deadlines, you’ll soon be out of a job, and out of publication—for good. A columnist has to make sure that she provides an on-topic, interesting, timely article each week (or month), interesting enough to make reader come back to read it.
| | You Don't Have To Be A Genius To Write A Love PoemWritten by Marguerite Bonneville
Love poems are a wonderfully romantic gesture and can often express your thoughts far more eloquently than verbal communication.If you have some talent with words, why not take a few moments and try your hand at writing a poem for your lover? Just sit down and list all reasons why you think they're special. Then put them into some kind of free verse format: a wide column of lines, roughly same length, which may rhyme but don't need to. Even if your poem won't win any literary prizes, person you present it to will most likely treasure it as if it were composed by one of great Romantic poets. People tend to value a personalized gift far more than one that's purchased. What they're really appreciating is time and effort invested on their behalf. I'd like to share a story of first time I received a love poem. When I was twelve years old I had a crush on Robert, new boy in my class at school, and he had very generously decided that I was "cute". One afternoon we were waiting with some classmates at bus stop when he announced that he didn't like me anymore. He was now in love with my best friend, Julie. I was so incensed by this betrayal that I lunged at him and chased him down street. He swerved into gutter and I bolted after him just as bus pulled in. It hit me from behind and I went down. The bus then ran over my right foot. A short time later, ambulance arrived and paramedic driver examined me. He decided that I didn't need hospitalization so he drove me home with instructions to spend next six weeks in bed. Meanwhile, a distraught Robert was blaming himself for accident. He asked other children at bus stop where I lived, and walked two miles to my house. Then he sat across street on pavement, wondering if my father would strangle him if he knocked at front door.
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