Oh, the Writing U Can Do

2007-11-11T06:13:00.000-08:00

The General Problogue

Thus begins the blog of published writers' tales
Penned by some who do for free and some who do for sales.

Herein, you'll read their 31 tales, oh so true
And, think of how nice your writing journey shall be for you.

Enjoy the lessons, enjoy the passions, enjoy the variety.
Then, go forth along your pilgrimage, writing your own poetry,
Writing tales and emails and songs and blogs and plays.
Writing text notes to friends but also those dreaded English essays.

The sky is the limit for young writers true.
So, work hard, learn well, and practice too.

Keep all of your writing and return to it some day
Cuz, you never know what a part it can play
When you have a thought you need to say
And, there it'll be, just waiting to be used today.

Now, by this time, you must all be thinking
Ms. Love's poetry skills---they sure are stinking,
but it's the thought that counts in this General Problogue.
She's bad, she knows---but you're cog
in the future of phenomenal writing

and

she wants you to be the ONE all readers are citing.

So, read the wisdom these seasoned folks have to say,

and

Then, happily continue on your own publishing way!

Special Note: I'm opening this blog, as promised on this Monday morning, Nov. 12,2007, but it's still a work in progress, with a few more minor items to finish. I arrived home last night from the Young Authors' conference in St. Anthony, and I arrived home to a houseful of Border Collie puppies along with my own kids.

Needless to say, puppies have dominated life here at the Lovestead in Sandpoint. So, I'll get those items finished today or tomorrow. For now, enjoy what published authors have to say, and feel free to leave comments for any individuals on this list. Check back to see if they respond. I'll be letting all contributors know the blog address today, so they'll probably be reviewing it themselves in the next few days.

Again, check October and November archives to read information from all contributors. Thank you, young authors, your teachers and your parents, for two wonderful conferences in Moscow and St. Anthony. I had a delightful time at both; thank you for your gracious hospitality, hard work and contagious enthusiasm. Marianne

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James W. Ramsey, author, longtime journalist

2007-10-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Name: James W. Ramsey

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I think reading Mark Twain as a young person – Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer – was the first bait.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: Entered the county poetry contest in junior high and won first place for a poem about a ski jump competition.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? English in high school and a great literature teacher who loved Edgar Allan Poe. Later in college, a journalism professor who was a NY Times foreign correspondent.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? The editor/publisher of our local weekly newspaper (in Iowa) who came to speak at our career day in high school. He introduced the idea of a career in journalism. Later, an editor who worked with me for United Press International in Denver who taught me to write concisely.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: My first book recently published – for aviation followers and others. Having a news story appear on the front page of the New York Times, written when I was with UPI (United Press International) in Denver. I was assigned by the local bureau to cover the disappearance/murder of the heir to the Coors Brewery fortune who vanished on his way to work. Time, Newsweek and other major media had sent correspondents to cover the story. Because I knew some local police, I got a tip the other reporters didn't have. So the Times ran it with my byline on the front page. Coors was later found dead, and his murderer/attempted kidnapper was found across the border in Canada.

Your publications or venues for writing: The Buried Dot, my first book. Also, I continue to write articles for a monthly worldwide aviation magazine – Avionics.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Consider journalism as a career – it pays your bills while you learn to write accurately and concisely. (Hemingway is a good example of a journalist who became a great writer).

Larry Gilstad, Visual Information Specialist, Miami VA Healthcare System

2007-10-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Name: Larry Gilstad ~~ (www.gilstadmedia.com)

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I’ve never considered myself a writer in the literal sense (pun intended) since I’ve spent the bulk of my career in video production. I considered writing the scripts and narratives part of the creative process. Writing for print was and remains an agonizing process for me. There was no ‘eureka’ moment. However, when I was a junior in high school a speech class requirement was participation in a district declamation tournament. The teacher, Florine Dooley, suggested I compete in ‘Radio Announcing’. I won. Then I won the regional. Instant gratification, and my career plans changed.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: The high school newspaper, the Cedar Post in the fall of 1966 printed my two-inch story on the muddy student parking lot (I think) after the paper’s adviser, Mr. Hamilton, had drowned my copy in red-ink corrections. My first ‘commercial’ publication was for the Sandpoint Daily Bee. That three-inch story paid $4.50

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

Writing. Even though it was painful, the more I wrote the easier it became.
Reading. I started reading science fiction in first grade (Robert Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit Will Travel). It opened my mind to the concept that anything’s possible.
Required Courses. I took a course in communications law that confirmed I didn’t want to be a lawyer. A history of architecture course taught me to look at buildings in a new and delightful way. And, a dreaded graduate course in modern poetry that I actually enjoyed.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Mr. Hamilton. He taught me how to write a decent lead sentence that, in broadcast journalism, is just about all the time you get to tell a story. Florine Dooley assumed I would do my best, so naturally I tried

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: ‘Unwed Mothers’ for Idaho Times, a weekly magazine-format program on KUID in 1980. It was a feature segment about the problems facing Sandpoint High School students with children of their own.

‘Common Ground’ for The Sunshine Network (Florida), a 1-hour documentary that followed a group of people learning how to become community activists through mentoring, an ‘Outward Bound’ experience (long before “Survivor”) and other fun challenges involving ‘ropes courses’ and more mosquitoes.

Your publications or venues for writing: When I was working for the University of Miami, a few of my video news releases made it to the networks along with regionally and nationally televised football ‘halftime spots’ between 1983 and 1999. The Hurricanes were winning bowl games and national championships on a regular basis back then. It was always a thrill to see my work and hear my voice on national TV.

I’ve written, produced, and directed freelance projects ranging from fundraising videos for a new medical school in Samoa to a ‘comeback’ video for Gabe Kaplan, to local commercials for car insurance and dental services.

I’m currently a visual information specialist at the Miami VA Healthcare System, a job I got as a result of a freelanced video my wife and I produced for them. It won a ‘Best in Florida’ film festival award, which probably helped. Most of my writing now involves video news stories for the Veterans’ Administration (VA) Knowledge Network, information and training videos, and award submission/acceptance segments. The hospital was just named the “Best in VA.”

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

Learn the basics. You’d be surprised at the number of people who have a problem with simple sentence structure and grammar. If you don’t have the tools, you can’t build the house.

Know your audience. Write to and for them.

Define the goal of your writing. I’ve had more than one client ask me to write a ‘fund raising, promotional feel-good’ multi-purpose piece. Sure, it can be done. But is it effective?

Keith Lee Morris, award-winning literary writer and novelist

2007-10-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Name: Keith Lee Morris

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: It didn’t come until pretty late. Most writers I know say they knew they wanted to write when they were 13, 14, whatever. I didn’t really start reading literature seriously until I was around 19 or 20, and I think I was 21 when it started to dawn on me that I wanted to give fiction writing a try. It wasn’t a revelation or burst of inspiration or anything like that—just a slowly growing recognition that I wanted to try to contribute something myself to an art form that was in the process of changing my life and my thinking.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: Earliest writing experience—when I was in grade school, I wrote a fascinating play about the Civil War in which Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Ulysses S. Grant shot and killed one another in a church. The play was an astounding treatise on the horrors of war—it consisted of 4 entire hand-written pages. A masterpiece that should have achieved its aim—world peace—but somehow, tragically, didn’t. Publishing experience—my first published short story was a hefty two pages in length. I wrote it as a poem then decided it was a story—which meant I took out the line breaks. I had sent a much longer story to a magazine called Quarterly West, and they lost it--near as I can figure at some wild, drunken editing party (seriously). By way of an apology, they asked me to send the story again and told me to feel free to include something else for them to look at if I wanted—usually magazines will only consider one story at a time from a particular author. They didn’t like the story I’d sent originally, but chose to publish the shorter piece I submitted with it. So my first publication was a short story that I wrote in one sitting and thought was a poem and submitted to a magazine as the result of an accident. I was deceived into thinking it would always be that easy.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? That would have to be Marianne Love’s sophomore English class. But there were other helpful parts, too, and I suppose I should mention at least one, the MFA program at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. I was involved with a great group of people there, and I had as much time to write as I wanted—that doesn’t happen once you get out in the real world.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Honestly I would have to say that writers like William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cormac McCarthy, Willa Cather, Fyodor Dostoevsky, JD Salinger, TS Eliot—the list goes on and on—influenced my work more than any writers I actually know. But I do think that friends of mine who write fiction also influence me—we trade manuscripts back and forth and edit each other’s work, and that’s always very helpful. I would also have to say that my old friends back in Idaho, the ones who’ve stuck with me through thick and thin over the course of 20 or 30 years, have influenced me greatly. And I’ve had wonderful support from my family.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: Well, my first novel, The Greyhound God, might not be the best thing I’ve written, but it’s the one I’m most emotionally attached to. The main character, Luke Rivers, seems like a real person to me, someone I can go back and encounter from time to time.

Your publications or venues for writing: I’ve published in literary journals large and small, and my books have been with university presses, or, in the case of my new novel, The Dart League King, with a smaller commercial press, Tin House Books.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Never quit. I’ve seen a lot of good writers fall by the wayside simply because they weren’t persistent enough. Develop a thick skin—don’t let rejections get you down, because there are bound to be a lot of them unless you’re extraordinarily lucky. Read, read, read. Write, write, write. Of the two, I’d say reading is probably more important in the early stages. Write things you care about—your writing is the statement you’re making to the world, and if you don’t believe in what you’re doing, you’re just wasting your time. Listen carefully to good editors and good readers, but never abandon your own vision for someone else’s. Always try to do something new, something you haven’t seen someone else do.

Connie Lloyd -- blogger

2007-10-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Name: Connie Lloyd

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I have always expressed myself best through the written word, not the spoken. Many days, I would come home from school and write out my frustrations of the day. It was my way of releasing everything that had gone wrong that day, and once I wrote it down, I could let it go. I also had a great imagination as a kid, and loved to write stories about our life, and things we did, always with a bit more flare to them than what had really happened.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: The earliest I remember writing and being ‘published’ was in second grade. I won a local writing contest for elementary students and my piece was published in the local library in Lake Mills, Iowa. Shortly thereafter, we moved to Kootenai, Idaho, and I won a writing contest in Mrs. Libby’s class as well.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? I would say the encouragement of Mr. Ford, Mrs. Love, and Mrs. O’Donnell in my high school English classes is what helped me the most. They were honest, yet fair and encouraging, always willing to show me how to do things better.

It definitely would not have been in college, where my English teacher told me that my high school teachers were teaching an archaic way of writing. I told her writing was writing, how can it be archaic? Needless to say, I did not do well in her class.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? My aunt is a writer and she has always encouraged me to write.

Joy O’Donnell was a huge supporter of me in my writing, and she encouraged me to continue to write often. She took some extra time my senior year to help me improve my writing skills.

Marianne Love has encouraged and inspired me over the years as well, and I feel very humble when receiving a compliment from her on my writing.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: I’ve written a couple very personal things to my parents and grandma. Those would definitely be the most satisfying pieces, because I am very thankful to them for being such great parents, and to my grandma for her unending love and support.

Your publications or venues for writing: I journal a lot, just for me. I have a blog-(www.livelovelaughhope.blogspot.com) where I share my thoughts. I write some things for our middle school ministry at church, as well.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: It doesn’t have to be perfect! Never let anyone tell you that you can not write, just because it may not fit that person’s personality and what they think writing should be. If you enjoy it, just do it, even if you are your one and only reader.

Grab a pen and a journal and keep track of your thoughts, because writing is a wonderful way to express yourself, and to keep track of your deepest thoughts, concerns, joys, and desires. Have fun writing. If you enjoy it, have a great time with it, and if it becomes a chore, then you’ve made it much more difficult than it needs to be. Writing is an expression of who you are, so shine through your writing!!

Billie Jean Plaster, Sandpoint Magazine editor

2007-10-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Name: Billie Jean Plaster

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: At age 10, I gave up watching TV - but not by choice. We moved to a home without electricity (or running water). I had always been a reader, but then I started reading voraciously, and I started writing short stories and poems. It was about this time that I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I signed up for journalism class as a junior and started writing “news briefs” for the Cedar Post, the high school’s weekly newspaper. At one point, I got up the courage to interview Mark Plaster, a popular jock in the school, about a project in Mr. Marker’s history class. That resulted in one of my first published news briefs. That occasion may have been the only time I talked to Mark during our high school career. A shy wallflower type, I carried on my secret crush. Later that year, I wrote my first real feature story, about a local disc jockey, Larry Pearson, who did the morning show on KPND at the time. Much later, about eight years, I married Mark Plaster. Was it a simple twist of fate?

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? My education under Mr. Bob Hamilton and working on the Cedar Post for two years was probably a better education than four and a half years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I “double-majored” in journalism.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Bob Hamilton; see answers above.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: Not sure.

Your publications or venues for writing: Sandpoint Magazine, The River Journal, Ruralite magazine

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: If you want to be a writer, use every opportunity you can find to write. Try to write every day, if possible, maybe even keeping a handwritten journal or a maintaining a blog. And read a lot.

Brendan Short, novelist, poet, short story writer

2007-10-25T05:47:00.000-07:00

Name: Brendan Short

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I’m not sure. There wasn’t really a big moment, more like a bunch of little moments that I pieced together in college. When I was in kindergarten or first grade, I wrote and illustrated a one-page story called “The Tuff Man.” When I was in fourth or fifth grade, I wrote my own “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. I wasn’t much of a reader, but I was always trying to do something creative – cartoons, animated films, songs with my sister. In college, a few teachers encouraged me, and I found myself putting my greatest effort into essays, stories, and other pieces of writing that gave me the freedom to be creative.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: In terms of writing, it was “The Tuff Man,” which is still in my room at my parents’ house. I really should hunt it down. In terms of publishing, it was a short story in my college literary journal; I was proud to see my name and story in the journal, even if they called me “Brenda Short” in the table of contents, and I still remember a guy from one of my classes coming up to me in the dining hall and complimenting my work. As far as fame goes, it wasn’t much, but it was flattering nonetheless.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Oddly enough, I think it was math. In grade school and high school, I was always better at math than English (in part because of my aforementioned lack of interest in reading), and once I started enjoying and working at reading and writing and gave up on math, I realized that all writing relies on some sort of structure and logic, just like with equations and formulas. Even today, when I write a poem, story, novel, essay, or grant proposal, I try to think of the piece and its components as having structure, symmetry, and balance.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? My composition teacher freshman year in college was fairly disreputable in some ways (including sexual terminology in our weekly vocabulary lists, offering to extend a deadline for a dorm-mate of mine in exchange for a case of beer, etc.), but he took literature seriously, and he allowed us a lot of freedom with our writing assignments. His comments on my first few papers were encouraging, which meant a lot to me.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: My novel, even though the audience thus far has only been a handful of people. At almost every point along the way, writing a novel seemed impossible, but clearly it wasn’t.

Your publications or venues for writing: I write poems and stories, which I’ve been fortunate to publish in small literary magazines, but for the past six years or so, I’ve mostly worked on a novel, which I hope will one day have a bigger audience. I’ve also used my writing as a fundraiser for nonprofit organizations serving low-income people. It has been eye-opening to discover how good writing can bring in money for a company or organization. I’m not very talented to persuading people in speech, but in writing, I’m not too bad.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Don’t be afraid to fail, and don’t give up. I think there is a lot of pressure on students to do things correctly, to find the right answer quickly, but writing (especially creative writing) almost requires you to look and/or feel foolish in order to produce anything worthwhile. Many of my old poems and stories embarrass me now, but I needed to write them to gain confidence and become a better writer—plus I didn’t need to show them to anyone if I didn’t want to.

Cindy Wooden, Senior Vatican correspondent, Catholic News Service

2007-10-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Name: Cindy Wooden

Getting started: I worked on a school paper in California when I was in the fifth grade. We called it Chalk Dust and managed to put out only one issue. I don’t even remember what my role in it was or if I had an article in it. But there were only four or five of us involved in the project! In junior high school in Sandpoint, we managed to publish more than one issue of the school paper, but definitely not more than one a month. I worked on the school papers in high school and in college as well.

Education: English classes and journalism classes obviously helped enormously, but there was and is no substitute for actually working on a paper. That’s how you learn to handle deadlines, style questions, space requirements and editors.

Advice: Writing is a discipline. While blogging or journaling can help you realize you actually can fill that blank page, it is even more important to realize that anything you write can be improved. That’s where editors come in. Sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes they ruin your pristine prose. But mostly, they make you look better and may even save your butt!

To write well, you must read EVERYTHING. For aspiring journalists, you must read newspapers. I try to find copies of the Pulitzer Prize winning news stories each year. Any time I read something that makes me think, “Wow,” I try to rewrite it as something normal and boring, then compare that to what made me say, “Wow.” It’s a fun exercise, and my writing seems to improve … at least for a few days!

Pam Eimers, food writer

2007-10-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Name: Pam Eimers

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I never actually set out to be a writer, but as I look back I realize that I always wanted to gather facts and inform others in some way. At some point in high school (1968-1972) I thought I’d like to be Barbara Walters. I liked the idea of exploring a topic, interviewing people and then making that information available to others. And I was pretty good at writing news stories for the school newspaper (not so good with creative articles).

In college I got the idea that I’d like to write consumer information booklets – you know, the ones that come from the consumer center in Colorado. Everything you need to know about shoplifting, washing machines, avoiding car repair rip offs, or winterizing your home.

Later in college I visited the Campbell’s Soup Company. Standing in the photo studio surrounded by the distinctive kitchen ware featured in their print and TV advertising, with a view of the test kitchen in the background, I decided I wanted to write advertising copy.

Two years later I became a teacher.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: (I had a Thanksgiving poem published in the local newspaper when I was in the 5^th grade. “Today is our Thanksgiving time, the turkey in the stove is fine. The beans are in a pan to warm, while father husks our yellow corn…” Perhaps, Marianne, you’d like a copy?) As a high school senior I wrote for the school newspaper. Part of my assignment was to write a column for the weekly town paper describing for the readers what was going on around the school. To me it was just an assignment that I was always getting in just under the wire.

Later, I learned that one of my cousins serving in Vietnam always looked forward to receiving the hometown paper, and reading my name on that column brought him closer to home. It is perhaps that single experience that stays with me as an example of the power of the written word once it leaves your hands.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

My ninth grade English teacher, Mrs. Higgins, came out of retirement to teach the overflow group of students in my exceptionally large class. The 15 of us trudged through the rain and snow every day (anyone remember the winter of ’68) to our makeshift classroom out in the bus garage. Mrs. Higgins was strict. We wrote every night. Not a lot, but enough to drill in the rules that still echo in my head whenever I’m writing.

Who influenced you most along your way and how?

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience:

My most satisfying pieces are some that I wrote the last two years as the Public Relations manager for our local hospice. I’ve had the opportunity to visit with patients and write their stories. A volunteer photographer accompanies me and snaps b/w photos. An exhibit of our photos and stories will open this spring at a local art gallery. People love to share their lives – especially as they near the end - and I’m honored to listen and commit it to paper as a legacy for their families. It’s amazingly satisfying to read their stories back to them, watch their smiles grow and know that this tiny window into their lives means so much to them because it will survive.

Your publications or venues for writing: Sunset magazine is the first publication I was paid to write for. Hired as a staff editor in the food department, my job was to develop article ideas and bring them to the pages of the magazine: develop the recipes, style the food for photographs, research and write the text and photo captions. It’s safe to say that I wasn’t hired for my writing ability, but that was the place I corralled my writing skills and became more focused.

Simply Seafood, Herb Quarterly, Publications International books and magazines, and Veggie Life – all magazines that hired me for my recipe development skills more than for my writing abilities, but along the way my writing skills developed, too.

Syringa General Hospital and Yolo Hospice – nonprofits for which I wrote newsletters, new releases, reports, newspaper and magazine columns and even a speech here and there, plus I edited other’s writing.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

Keep a journal. I’ve not done this, but I wish I had. Every now and then I sit down to hammer out a memory or some thoughts, and I would love to have the discipline to do this regularly. It doesn’t need to be perfect or even completed. Start the habit now, and you’ll be surprised how your writing develops. You will also have a place for all the thoughts, ideas and experiences that are the basis of most writers’ work.

Write letters. Pay attention to grammar, syntax, and spelling. It’s good practice and fun, AND most importantly, you are connecting with another who appreciates your attention. Life is about relationships. Build and nourish them. Writing is a fabulous vehicle for caring.

If only I’d take my own advice.

William Love III, assistant sports editor

2007-10-21T18:54:00.001-07:00

Name: William Love III

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: A non fiction writing class my first year at Boise State. I wrote about an experience where I went with a friend to Canada for the day and was detained at the border by Canadian officials for about two hours.

It was fun recounting the story, but I remember reading it to the class and the response I got. I had all 20 people or so hanging on my every word. The story was meant to be humorous and all of my classmates (who I didn’t really know) were laughing and enjoying the story.

That was when I first realized the power of writing. During my three years of school at Boise State, I realized that I liked having that kind of power.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I don’t really remember writing a lot as a child; I guess you can say I am just entering high school as far as writing goes because I am learning something new every day

My first published piece that really stands out to me is an article I wrote when I was a reporter for my high school newspaper. The story was about the student council approving a measure to put toilet seat covers in all of the school’s bathrooms. I interviewed a lady from the local health department about why toilet seat covers are a good thing to have. That is when I first learned about pubic lice and other dangers associated with sitting on a public toilet seat without some type of protection.

The story on toilet seats and their dangers wasn’t my first story published, but it is certainly the one I remember the most from my high school days.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? It would have to be getting bad grades. I wasn’t a very motivated student (you can just look at my grades) in high school and when I went to college at the University of Idaho. I eventually took a year off from school and transferred to Boise State. My first semester at BSU is when I took the non fiction writing class from Devan Cook and got hooked.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Too many people to mention, but my mom, professors and other people I have met along the way. A lot can also be said about my colleagues in the sports writing profession or newspaper in general. I am always reading different journalist throughout the country to get new ideas.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: I don’t know if I have had a most satisfying piece yet. I am one who always re-reads what I have written and sees ways where it can be improved. I remember reading my story on my trip to Canada a few months after writing it and thinking to myself: “Wow, that needs a lot of work.” That is usually the case for all of writing. I have changed the responses for this several times already.

There are a couple of pieces that do stand out, however. An article I wrote on geocaching for Sandpoint Magazine I thought turned out well. I also received an award for a story I wrote on a drug raid in Pend Oreille County, Wash., that somebody seemed to like.

Your publications or venues for writing: The Cedar Post (high school paper), skits I did on a radio show in college, The Miner newspapers in Newport, Wash., The Idaho Press-Tribune in Nampa, Idaho, a blog on high school sports at the Web site (www.treasurevalleysports.com), a chapter in the book Lessons with Love.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

There will always be a need in the job market for people who can write well. Just look at me. I have a literature degree and took one journalism course in college, but when I graduated I knew the basics of writing. That ability got me my first job out of college at a weekly newspaper where I wrote news articles, features and columns. I was hired as a sports reporter when I moved back to the Treasure Valley and eventually became the assistant sports editor at one of the largest newspapers in the state.

Virginia de Leon, regional newspaper reporter

2007-10-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Name: Virginia de Leon

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: From the time I was in fourth grade, I loved words. I won nearly every spelling bee at school and almost went to Washington D.C. for the national spelling bee (I couldn’t spell “zaguan.”) I used to memorize the roots of words and their origins – ie. “phil” in Greek means love; “phyll” means plant or green; etc. Because I was such a word nerd, I figured I had to learn how to put them together in coherent sentences.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: My first publishing experience was a negative one, actually. I was in high school and the newspaper assigned me to write a story about the school’s dance club. So I did, but someone – an editor, I presume – rewrote the lede using some kind of dance cliché. I never wrote for my high school paper ever again.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? My English teacher in high school encouraged us to read a lot – not just the books for class, but other novels as well as articles in magazines. Reading taught me a lot about writing.

When I was a junior in high school, that same English teacher recommended that I send some of my essays to The Seattle Times for a high school journalism workshop. I got picked to go and had the time of my life. About a dozen other teens and I spent a week at the University of Washington where we stayed up late at night writing, editing and publishing our own newspaper. That’s how I got hooked.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? My mentors – teachers and other reporters – through their example and encouragement.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: A few years ago, I wrote a story about catastrophic loss and grief – kind of in an essay form after a very horrific accident involving a family with five young children. I interviewed parents who had lost their children and others who have suffered catastrophic loss. It was so hard to talk and ask people these questions, but there was something very therapeutic about writing the story. It was an unusual story to run on the front page of the newspaper, but I heard from many families and others, even people who had never lost children. I guess it was satisfying because instead of focusing on the gory details of the accident, I was able to write a story about grief and loss, which affects all of us in one way or another.

Your publications or venues for writing: Mostly newspapers, although I've had a few articles published in magazines and newsletters.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

- Read a lot – fiction, nonfiction, magazine articles, the newspaper, poetry.

- Write in your journal everyday.

- Find a mentor.

Trish Gannon, newspaper publisher

2007-10-21T18:46:00.001-07:00

Name: Trish Gannon

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I don’t actually remember a time when I wasn’t both a writer and a reader.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I skipped second grade and in third grade I used to write stories for extra credit. I didn’t actually need the extra credit, as I was an A student, but I had to have something to do with all the extra time I had in class. I remember writing a story about cats that I was terribly unsatisfied with – I felt like I had just cobbled some research together and there was no real ‘original’ writing in the story. I got an A+ and a lot of recognition for that story, and I was amazed that people could think something so bad was so good. ;0)

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Reading. And more reading.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Oh wow. I’ve been influenced by everyone I ever met in ways both good and bad.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: Really too many to pick just one. But a favorite is a story I wrote back in ‘93 or ‘94, about Comp White Jr. Comp was a U.S. Congressman, born and raised right here in Clark Fork. His father was a U.S. Congressman before him. And he hated newspapers and journalists! I finally got Comp to meet with me, talk, and let me write his story. I not only got a good friend out of it, but loved to write about some of my favorite subjects – people, history, and this little town that’s become my home.

Your publications or venues for writing: The River Journal, Sandpoint Magazine, Internet…

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: When I talk with students and ask who in the audience is a writer, generally only one or two will raise their hands. But when I ask who in the audience is a talker, all hands go up. Yet if you can talk – if you can tell a story verbally – then you can write and probably write well. Unfortunately, people think they’re not writers and that blocks them when they try to write. I always advise students that if they have to, dictate their story into a tape recorder, then write down what they hear on playback. Reading, a good editor, and practice will teach you grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, spelling, how to limit what you write, etc… these are all concerns that stop people from writing. Yet the first secret to writing well is to find the voice in which you tell your stories – and if you listen to how you talk, you can figure that out.

Rule number two is practice – just like every other skill (volleyball, playing the piano, painting) the more you do it, the better you will do. I have watched almost every writer I’ve worked with on the River Journal (Marianne Love and Sandy Compton are glowing exceptions) grow in their writing ability throughout the years.

Susan Drinkard, freelance writer

2007-10-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

Name: Susan Drinkard

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation:

I was very shy in school and had a huge crush on Mr. Rushmore, my junior high math teacher. I wrote an article for the school newspaper about how handsome and wonderful he was. I had attended 12 grade schools as a military kid and I didn’t ever have consistency in my math education. After I wrote that piece, I received special attention from him, and on some level I believe I understood there was power in the written word. I got attention, something I was starved for. Ultimately it bombed for me because I improved so much that they made me go to a higher-level math class with a teacher that was very fat and very mean and who told us most kids are born with tails, but they cut them off in the hospital.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I heard you didn’t have to take regular English if you got on the newspaper staff at my school, Watson Junior High in Colorado Springs, Colorado. So I petitioned and was selected for the newspaper, which we called THE BIG RED MACHINE. After a few editions were published, we were forced to change the name of the newspaper to THE WATSON BEAT because the school’s administration thought THE BIG RED MACHINE sounded “too Commie.”

I don’t really remember what I wrote, but getting something published was truly a self-esteem builder for me, who didn’t have much of that during those years. I was part of a team and it made me feel a little important. Plus, I didn’t have to do grammar like the kids in the regular English classes.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

I believe reading and writing helped me keep my sanity when I was young and moving sometimes three times per year. When my dad went to Vietnam and then we were transferred to the Philippine Islands, I was one freaked out fifth grader. I was a fairly happy little cheerleader in Oklahoma with long hair. We moved to the Philippines and during the first couple days there a “beautician” bloodied my neck with a knife in a beauty shop as she cut my hair off while rats ran around my feet. There were geckos on my walls and glass sticking up on the fence around our yard to discourage burglars. I fortunately quickly found the public library on base and started to read a book a day. It helped me through the transition because it seemed normal. And reading helps you learn how to write, even though you don’t know it.

I had a high school teacher at my horrid high school in Texas who required that we write five pages of journals each week about anything we wanted; that was quite unusual for the 1970s when it was mostly “Read the text and do the questions at the end of the chapter,” and mimeographed worksheets. I still have that journal. It’s very boring. I wrote things like “Thurman said ‘Hi’ to me,” and I kept good records of what we had for dinner. We had a lot of orange cake.

I worked hard creating my church’s youth newsletter in high school in Texas and then writing and editing my college newspaper, The South Coloradan at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado.

Who influenced you most along your way and how?

Ted Nelson. He was the editor of my college newspaper. His writing proved so convincing that he got policies changed on our campus. He drilled me with his mantra: There is no job more interesting and exciting than being a reporter.

My crusty and brilliant editor of the Salida Mountain Mail, Ed Quillen, the only person I’ve ever met who types faster than me, taught me how to edit a newspaper, how to think in terms of story ideas, how to put a paper together in a morning.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: My grandfather was larger than life to all of us grandkids. He was a big hilarious bricklayer who wore those blue and white striped overalls every day with levels and Prince Albert Pipe Tobacco cans sticking out of his pockets, along with big pencils and string and measuring tapes and pipes. He was as strong as a draft horse even when he was old. With three pair of dime store glasses on his head, his big swollen fingers would untangle the tiny chains of my necklaces when I was a young girl. He was my hero. I wrote a column about him—“The Most Handsome Man I Ever Saw” when I was writing for the Daily Bee and sent it to him. I think it rocked his world. I’m glad I did that. When Grandpa died, we thought his picture should have been on the cover of Time.

Once when I was reporting for the Sandpoint Daily Bee, I interviewed several mothers who’d had their children stolen by their ex-husbands. It was as though their hearts were torn out. One’s ex had taken their son to Saudi and she hadn’t seen him for two years. Tim Tucker, an Idaho legislator at the time, read the piece and worked to get a custodial interference law passed in Idaho. He told me my story had influenced that, and it may have helped a few kids have better lives. I like to think so.

Writing a Q and A piece with Putlitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson last year for the Sandpoint Magazine was important to me personally. I savored her book, Gilead, and for me writing about it clarified many questions about church doctrine and spirituality. It made me feel better about my own spirituality and answered some deeply puzzling questions about theology.

Your publications or venues for writing:

I do long billing notes for my job. For every hour I spend with a client, I write about it for 15 or 20 minutes. If I couldn’t write well, I couldn’t do my work helping the mentally ill in Sandpoint because what I write gets me the paycheck. Sandpoint Magazine, e-mails.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

Turn off the video games and television; they are making your brain mush.

Read. Read. Read.

Patrick F. McManus, best-selling author/humorist

2007-10-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

Name: Patrick F. McManus

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I wanted to become a writer as soon as I found out what a freelance writer is. “This is for me,” I said. I was a freshman at Washington State University. I was absolutely thrilled with all the possibilities. It was if a great light had been turned on inside of me, a distinctly physical thing.

Earliest remembered writing or publishing experience: My first published piece was in the student newspaper at WSU. I had just discovered Hemingway and obviously was already under his influence. The story was about an expedition the hiking club took to Chimney Rock in Idaho.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? My freshman comp teacher at WSU gave me all Fs on my first half dozen essays, but suddenly I becamed inflamed with the desire to be a writer and by the end of the semester he recommended me for honors English.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? My girlfriend and later my wife. She tells me if my humor is funny or not, and has always been supportive even when the humor wasn't funny. Every writer needs that kind of spouse.

Most satisfying piece(s) you've ever written---audience: I can't recall my most satisfying piece. Every piece is written with fear and pain and doubt, and when it is published and readers like it, there is an explosion of satisfaction.

Your publications or venues for writing: I have written 18 books and hundreds of magazine articles and stories. More than 20 stories have been published by Readers Digest, where I learned you don't get rich from their rates but the world-wide display of your work is fabulous. Other publications include Sports Illustrated, TV Guide, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Saturday Evening Post, New York Times, and endless others. Books have been published by Simon & Schuster and Henry Holt Co.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: My one regret as a writer is that I didn't start when I was in middle school. If you want to be a writer, that is a wonderful age to get started.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Copeland-Payton, minister

2007-10-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

Name: Nancy Copeland-Payton

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: Actually, becoming a sometimes writer was more like backing through the back door. In high school, writing was “fun”, an imaginative creative break from calculus and physics. On a lark, I entered and won an essay contest while in high school. One of the judges said, “Well, it’s obvious you’re going to be a writer as an adult.” I thought I was going to be a scientist.

After practicing medicine as a physician for about 20 years, I started writing again as a creative break from medicine. Eventually, I changed careers and writing is a part of my vocation. It’s interesting how insights into who we are may appear early in life. We may put these insights and feeling pulled toward an area in a “back pocket” while pursuing other interests. But eventually, if we pay attention to our inner urges and in the fullness of time and our lives, they resurface.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: That lark of a high school essay that was published.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? While formal education is certainly helpful, it’s the informal education of daily living. It’s the rubs and tensions, the wonder and joy, the playfulness and surprises, the profound times of sorrow that taught me so much. It’s also in the paying attention – the being acutely aware of what is happening inside me and outside me in every situation. And then taking the time to ponder, and explore those inner and outer landscapes.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? The spirituality of living, of taking the time to know myself and others and creation, of looking beneath the obvious at the mystery of all the layers underneath.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: A recent piece for a publication on spirituality – telling story while exploring the paradoxical blessing of lonely places, of loss and grief.

Your publications or venues for writing: Every Sunday sermon, church and spirituality publications.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Pay attention to what brings you joy – there are deep insights there for your adult life. And be patient – it may take a lifetime for it all to come full circle.

Mindy Cameron, former Seattle Times editorial page editor

2007-10-21T18:23:00.001-07:00

Name: Mindy Cameron

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation:

I was a junior in high school. My literature teacher was very inspiring. One time, in front of the class, she singled out a paper I had written and said it was well done. She said I definitely had a writing “style.” From that day I have thought of myself as a writer, and writer with a style!

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: High school newspaper. I wrote about serious issues -- school district budgets and school board matters. I have always been drawn to issues and ideas more than breaking news such as disasters, crime, etc.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Any class that required writing, whether journalism courses, English, literature, history, etc. Teachers who took the time to read my work and critique it were essential to my learning.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Shirley Malcolm, that high school teacher. She later moved to the college I was attending and I took a linguistic course from her there. She was a wonderful teacher.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: I think I wrote some very good columns for the Seattle Times editorial page when I was the editor of the page. I didn’t hit a home run every week, certainly, but every now and then selected a topic from the news, or from my life experience, and, based on reader feedback, touched many people. I came to realize the importance of writing about people or even personal experience as a way to illuminate public policy issues. For example, I wrote about having had an abortion many years earlier, using that experience as a vehicle for cutting through the political rhetoric surrounding the issue. I had a huge response (mostly hand-written notes; we didn’t have e-mail in the early ‘90s.)

Your publications or venues for writing: Mostly newspapers, first as a reporter, then as a columnist. I have also written for television newscasts and documentaries. After retiring from the newspaper I researched for a longer piece on the history (1950-2000) of the Seattle Public School District, which was published in pamphlet form in 2003.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Write, write, write. Read, read, read. You cannot be a good writer if you are not an avid reader. Have something to say. Write it, then rewrite and revise until it is the best you can make it. Aim for clarity. Read it aloud. Use short sentences and active verbs. Apply critical thinking skills – to your own work and everything you read.

Kelsi Camp, independent writer

2007-10-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Name: Kelsi Camp

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: In high school I realized that I could easily imitate writing styles. I wrote a review of the Little Mermaid for (ahem) my sophomore English class. I still have it – it’s terrible (I was trying too hard to be funny) -- but at the time I liked it, and my teacher liked it too.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: In third grade I would load a clipboard with notebook paper and write Ramona stories (you know all those Ramona books by Beverly Cleary?) starring me as Ramona and my sisters as the antagonists.

In fifth grade my friend Maria and I decided to start a newsletter. For some reason, I was the only one who wrote any stories for the first issue, so I was listed as the sole author. Maria made photocopies on her dad’s office equipment, and we distributed them to everyone in the fifth grade. The plan was that she’d write the next issue, but that never happened. I was embarrassed.

And my family got a computer when I was in ninth grade and I started writing stream-of-consciousness stories and parodies of books I read, for fun, just to type. I liked typing.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Since I'm not technically a writer, or at least have no employment as such, I don't think I can claim to have had any “path.” I don’t know, English classes?

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Ha.

Most satisfying piece(s) you've ever written----its audience: I’ve written many brilliant pieces but I have no audience. I should say my thesis... the PDF version is available to a worldwide audience.

Your publications or venues for writing: I read something the other day about the “democratization of writing” that has happened with the Internet. Traditional venues for publication can be hard to get into, but online venues are readily available and easily accessible. I have a hundred (give or take a few) online journals or blogs (or blahgs) of different persuasions, some for fiction, some for everyday journaling, some more “artistic” than others.

There’s also National Novel Writing Month () every November, which I’ve been able to actually participate in only once but have signed up for every year for the past five years. (I plan to participate this year unless something terrible happens like getting a full-time job). It’s not really a venue but it’s an excuse for writing something, at least, and, if you’re interested in interacting with other aspiring writers, there are discussion boards.

Back when I was gainfully employed, I started writing a limited-distribution fake weekly email newsletter, which was a hoot and a half. Still, despite all the technology, my main venues are notebooks, which is to say, nowhere. But I recently got a real gig – I’m supposed to be writing an article for the local running club’s newsletter. Deadline: 9 days. Haven’t started yet.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Read. Write.

Jeff "JT" Bock, sreenwriter, box office analyst

2007-10-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Name: Jeff Bock

First clue you wanted to be a writer; tell the situation:

Well, I was walking down the street…with a ham in my hand…Actually, I’m not sure I ever wanted to be a writer…but definitely an entertainer, a storyteller. And with today’s media outlets, there’s more opportunity than ever to find your niche. Initially, I think the positive reaction I received from my “Eggman” short films gave me my first real inkling that I might want to “entertain” with words and images. God it was scary though, reading your work, or showing it in front of an audience was like baring your soul, your true self. But as difficult as it is to do, it is also the most fulfilling experience.

As a writer, I think exploring sports in our high school newspaper, in the first person, was a precursor to everything I do no. Screenwriting, for me, is a quest really, to uncover the spine of a particular character(s)…and I’ve always felt I had to walk in those character’s shoes, to truly do justice to them.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience:

Ah, well, The Bonner County Historical Society book. A first for many of us, I’m sure. But there’s something very important and indeed historic about seeing your name and your thoughts published for the first time. It definitely fueled the fire.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

The encouragement of teachers. Without a doubt, this has been the single most important aspect of me continuing along the path.

Who influenced you most along your way and how?

Marianne Love. One of my biggest supporters!! I truly thank her (you) for that. She was constantly on my case (and on my list), which I needed, and ultimately forced me to challenge myself and set deadlines…a must for any writer.

Other writers-- Roald Dahl. Stephen King. Dave Eggers (with a name like that, who would’ve guessed), Cormac McCarthy. Chris Columbus (screenwriter “The Goonies” “Gremlins”) Judd Apatow (“Freaks & Geeks” “Knocked Up”) Tim Burton.

Students. Having your peers thoughtfully critique your work is essential. Join or create a weekly/monthly writer’s group. Share your favorite authors, etc.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written-----audience:

A TV series entitled “Time Tots,” which is actually written for tweens. Also, a short story about my days working at the lumber mill, called “The Green Chain” and most recently a screenplay about life in Sandpoint, circa the early 1930’s, entitled “The Mighty Riverpigs.”

Your publications or venues for writing:

Screenplays. Short stories. Documentary: Jenny’s Journal. I'm a Box Office Analyst for a company called Exhibitor Relations, Co. I analyze box office numbers and distribute grosses to various media organizations: CNN, E!, Bloomberg News, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Etc.

My column, appropriately enough, is called BOCK'S OFFICE, which I update every Sunday in our newsletter that goes out to various film studios and media entities. I discuss how various films performed (or underperformed) and the consequences that follow in an informative and entertaining manner. Basically, I opine in that traditional first-person narrative that has always been my signature. It will also be online when our new website goes live this holiday season.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

Read. Read. Read some more. No matter what outlet you’re striving for, know the trailblazers. Those that have come and gone before us, still have the power to reach out, grab us, and shake us with incredible force…all from mere words on a page. That’s something to strive for, knowing that the way you arrange your words and experiences can jolt a generation. That’s true power. That’s the secret to immortality. Write what you know, from your own specific voice; the audience will gravitate toward you. Don’t make the mistake of writing for an audience, write to yourself. If you’re entertained, the audience will be, too.

Visit coffee shops frequently. Listen and translate conversations between people that you overhear, as these could be the beginning of a great story. It’s also a superb place to find the individual rhythms of your characters…and that’s what makes a character not only believable, but interesting and unique.

Kathy Osborne, newspaper editor, columnist

2007-10-21T06:20:00.000-07:00

Name: Kathy Osborne

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I knew I wanted to write in tenth grade, but the Creative Writing teacher told me I had no talent for it, which soured me for many years. I continued to journal. When I got to North Idaho College a couple years after graduation, an English teacher there gave me the confidence I needed to move on. That was when my love for writing really began.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I was first published as a Guest Opinion writer on the Op page of the Daily Bee many years ago. I got a lot of good comments on the writing of that piece.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

Frankly, it was the experience I received at North Idaho College and the English department there which helped the most.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Local writers I have been influenced by include Sandy Compton and Trish Gannon. Trish gave me the opportunity to write a regular column for River Journal. That has helped me a great deal.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience:

“Longbridgitis” for the CO-OP Round up. Audience: newcomers to the area.

“Empty Nest Is for the Birds” Audience; emptynesters

Your publications or venues for writing: The CO-OP Country Round Up, The River Journal

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: If you love to write don’t let anyone, not even a teacher, tell you that you can’t do it. No one knows what is in your heart or the stories you have to tell. You and your voice are a valuable part of the broader community. Someone needs to hear what you have to share, so allow other lovers of the written word to help you learn to write your story well.

Jenny Meyer, blogger

2007-10-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Name: Jenny Meyer

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I wouldn’t say that I’m a writer. I happened to discover the world of blogging. Now, it started out with posting pictures for family and friends, but later turned into an outlet for providing hope and joy in the lives of those who know me. I simply was finding my purpose in life and a purpose in battling terminal cancer.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: Your [Mrs. Love’s] class as a sophomore. The Bonner County History project and the story of my amazing grandfather.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? I would have to say that I learned a lot in your class. In anything you want to accomplish in life, you must have the basic fundamentals in order to build on them in the future. You can’t become good at anything you do unless you have the basics mastered.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? You [Mrs. Love] were definitely a powerful influence in the early years and have continued to foster my confidence as a blogger. Other people have started to notice what I am capable of and push me to continue to spread the word of hope and faith through my writing. This includes family, friends, and complete strangers.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: I have to say that my blog is something I’m very proud of…especially when I hear that what I write about has a profound impact on someone’s life.

Your publications or venues for writing: www.mangymooseacres.blogspot.com

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Listen to your teachers. Get the basic skills mastered so you that you’re ready when you finally discover the true purpose in your life. You may not set out to be a writer, but you can bet you’ll find a passion that needs words expressed from your heart.

Helen Newton, Sandpoint City Council

2007-10-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

Name: Helen Method Newton

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation:

I loved doing book reports in school. I have just always had a love of language –initially through reading. The written word – what exceeds that????? I entered a writing contest at SHS sponsored by the state to write a short story about hiring handicapped workers. I won 3^rd prize. I was encouraged to enter by Mary Parker and Ruby Phelps. They must have recognized some talent.

I went to work the day after high school graduation at the Moon Mortuary. One of my assignments was to write obituaries for the newspaper and KSPT (yes – they ran full obituaries on the morning news every day)! I remember a reporter at the News Bulletin asking me one day who wrote the obits. When I told him I did (I was 17), he commended my skills and suggested I do more “newspaper” writing.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience:

I suppose those obituaries were my first published writings. When our younger daughter was born, I stopped working at the funeral home. Our neighbor across the street, Gertrude Racicot, had written for the Spokane Chronicle for years. She was looking for someone to take over. She offered it to me so for 3 years I stayed home and worked from home, meeting the 4:00 train to Spokane every day with my stories.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

Every English and literature class contributed together with the teachers who loved teaching those subjects. (One can definitely discern the difference among teachers who actually love what they are teaching and those for whom it is just a job!)

Who influenced you most along your way and how?

All of those who taught English or literature or who insisted on grammar and spelling and punctuation no matter the class.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: Interestingly, it was a speech I wrote as city clerk for Mayor Ron Chaney. He was addressing the survivors of the Bataan March. I drew on his memories of his brother going off to World War II and did some research and put together a 5 minute speech for him that he said brought tears to every person in the room! The greatest generation indeed!!!!

Your publications or venues for writing: Newspapers

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

1. Language IS important! Never forget it! Insist on proper language – always!

Example from Oxford’s Unabridged (read that 1,300 pages) dictionary:

Byway: a secluded, private or obscure road.

Bypass: a road enabling motorists to avoid a city or other heavy traffic points or to drive around an obstruction.

2. Writing the truth may not be possible if one is always concerned about being “politically correct.”

Editor’s Note: The Bypass/Byway issue has been a controversial issue in Sandpoint, Idaho, for more than 50 years.

Diane Rice, editor of Appaloosa Journal magazine

2007-10-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

Name: Diane Rice

First clue you wanted to be a writer; tell the situation: Fourteen years ago, I was a recently-separated mom of five girls ages 3-14 with the goal of going to veterinary school. With no income, steadily mounting student loans and no nearby family support system, I realized that goal was just out of the question. So I decided to capitalize on what had always come easily for me: English/writing. I changed my major to agricultural journalism and haven’t looked back since. I was able to marry my passion for animals—horses in particular—with writing. It was perfect for me.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: My job here at Appaloosa Journal, as assistant editor. I was SO fortunate to be hired into that position right out of college!

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

Not to make light of the actual writing skills I was taught, I think the main thing college taught me was time management. Handling five kids and going to school full time made me utilize every minute and triage all the demands on my time. Those skills are exactly what I do now as an editor!

Who influenced you most along your way and how?

I think Robin [Hirzel-Hendrickson, previous editor] has. I have a tremendous respect for what she accomplished at a young age. She started here as circulation director right out of college and was editor before she knew what happened to her. J She has an incredible talent for magazine editing and writing, and has also taught me—pretty much an introvert—tons about relationships, both personal and professional.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written-----audience:

Horse, of course! I think that would be the article I wrote about Linda McCartney’s memorial service in New York City at which an Appaloosa performed the Spanish walk. Having been a total Beatles fan with a huge crush on Paul McCartney in my early teens, I felt a real connection to that piece. And receiving a thank-you letter from him following the article’s publication was the highlight of my writing career so far. It’s framed in my office with a photo of the horse and rider who performed.

Your publications or venues for writing:

I write for Appaloosa Journal, of course, and have also written for several other equine magazines and a web site called meridianmagazine.com. I’m currently working on some freelance pieces for a new regional magazine about the Palouse that’s being launched soon by one of our former graphic designers who now lives in Sandpoint and works for Coldwater Creek. I’ve also submitted a children’s book for consideration.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

Write about what you know and love. Passion will make your writing much more vibrant and interesting.
Nurture your relationships by treating people with kindness, respect and consideration. Networking will bring you opportunities that you never expected if you maintain friendships with people you work with in any capacity.
Read good writing. My favorite magazine is Oprah, and I treat myself to a copy whenever I travel, to read on the plane. There are many more great magazines and books out there, and you can learn so much from devouring them and figuring out what makes them great.

D.F. Oliveria --- Blogger, columnist Spokesman-Review

2007-10-20T20:42:00.001-07:00

Name: D.F. Oliveria

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: In high school, I enjoyed the attention and influence that I had as a student journalist working for the school’s newspaper. Ditto for community college and the four-year college I attended afterward.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: Gridley Union High School Bulldog student newspaper and an occasional sports story in my small-town weekly newspaper.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Hands-on experience on my student high school newspaper, typing class, and part-time job working for the daily newspaper while I attended upperclassmen journalism classes at Chico State (Calif.) University.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? The late S.F. Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. I patterned my Huckleberries print column after his three-dot approach to column writing and eventually won the national Herb Caen Memorial Tid-Bits Column Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: The eulogy that I penned for my still-born daughter Amanda in 1984, which I share with church friends, families and others who face a similar situation

Your publications or venues for writing: Online blogging (Huckleberries Online) and Spokesman-Review

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Read good writing over a broad spectrum, work on the school newspaper or a newspaper-sponsored section like the SR’s “Vox Box.” Also, it wouldn’t hurt to learn about blogging and opportunities to write online.

C.J. Box --- best-selling mystery novelist

2007-10-20T20:39:00.001-07:00

Name: C.J. Box

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: Two things. I was a voracious reader growing up in Wyoming. I read everything written about the state and the region I could get my hands on. It bothered me how few books portrayed the state and area as I knew it. I wanted to someday write my own vision of how I saw things. The other was the experience of reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, still my favorite novel. After I read that book for the first time I realized how unique writing could effect a reader. I wanted to do that. Not that I've written a book like Catch-22, mind you.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I guess we're talking high school newspaper here. I volunteered to write sports and feature stories for my high school newspaper as a freshman, and I was thrilled when I saw my stories in print. I couldn't get enough of that and eventually became the editor of my newspaper. That resulted in a journalism scholarship to college, where I wrote for the paper there.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? I'd have to say journalism. Journalism, if it's taught right, teaches the writer to get to the point, be brief and clear, and write in a straight-forward manner. It also taught me how to outline a story and how to meet a deadline.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Joseph Heller (see above) and my high school journalism teacher.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: A hard question. I'll say BLUE HEAVEN, my upcoming novel set in North Idaho. It was a hard novel to write because it takes place over 60 hours in real time and is told from the point of view of six different characters. The audience, I hope, is hundreds of thousands of readers.

Your publications or venues for writing: I can write anywhere, but I prefer my basement office in Cheyenne or my cabin on the Encampment River in Wyoming.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Read! It astounds me how many fledgling writers don't read much. Read fiction, non-fiction, blogs, essays. Read good writing and then figure out how the writer moved you.

Dr. Christine Moon---professor/researcher

2007-10-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Name: Christine Moon

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: Early in my career, I was writing a grant proposal late at night when I realized that I was really enjoying the process of laying out the ideas well in order to convince others that the research was sound and worthy of being funded. Prior to this, it did not occur to me that the process of writing about research could be so enjoyable.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: My first published article was in a professional research journal and it was on newborn infants' responses to the sounds of speech.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? My science education helped me enormously because it taught me to think clearly and to write carefully. But before I entered the science field, I was a French major so I guess I have always loved language.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? One huge influence was my high school biology teacher, Mr. Fredlund, who did not emphasize writing at all. He gave me a love of the scientific method and made science meaningful and fun.

Most satisfying piece(s) you've ever written----its audience: The most satisfying piece might be an article in a publication for neonatal intensive care nurses. It was on how premature babies learn, and my hope was that it would reassure them and the babies' parents about some of the pain that the babies experience.

Your publications or venues for writing: Medical and psychology research journals.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: My first piece of advice would be to read anything and everything – books, magazines, blogs, newspapers, instruction manuals, just everything! This will give you lots of words to use and lots of models to try out. My second piece of advice is to welcome criticism. A thoughtful critique of something you have written is a gift from a teacher, parent or friend. A knowledgeable editor is a terrific helper.

Bill Love, professional forester

2007-10-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

Name: Bill Love

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation:

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience:

As president of my college band at McNeese State University, I had a letter published in the college newspaper encouraging participation and support from students to follow the marching band into the football stadium as a way of showing school spirit.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

My seventh-grade English teacher was in his first year of teaching having recently retired as an Army drill instructor. Although he only last twelve weeks before being reassigned to high school, he taught the equivalent of a college-level grammar class. That “boot camp in grammar” carried me through high school and college English classes.

A good knowledge of grammar provides a necessary foundation that allows creativity to thrive.

Who influenced you most along your way and how?

Reading the writing of good authors is always inspirational.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience:

Without a doubt, the most satisfying pieces have been personal correspondence intended for an audience of one. These pieces tend to be written from the heart.

Your publications or venues for writing:

Mostly personal correspondence but some local/regional forestry publications and the
(www.geocaching.com) website: Geo-caching, sometimes referred to as "the fastest growing sport you've never heard of, " involves a high-tech treasure hunt. Coordinates obtained from an Internet website are plugged into a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to send the geo-cacher searching for a hidden container. Once found, the geo-cache contains trade items such as trinkets or keychains, along with a notebook to log your visit. A return visit to the geo-caching website further documents discovery of the cache.

In addition to listing the latitude and longitude coordinates on the website, the "owner" offers a variety of comments, describing unique aspects of this particular cache.

As owner of more than 20 geo-caches, I like to place them in locations that have a story to tell. I use the website to tell that story. For example, an old telephone wire strung between trees along a ridge allows me to tell about an extensive hand-crank telephone system employed by the Forest Service to communicate with fire lookouts and remote ranger stations.

I placed two geo-caches at abandoned mines to tell the history of an old mining district.

A cache located next to a survey monument on the Idaho/Montana border describes the delineation between two states.

I use writing skills to creatively describe the unique aspects of my geo-caches. I hope that fellow geo-cachers enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

Keep writing.

Dr. Richard Benjamin, senior fellow Demos Think Tank

2007-10-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

Name: Rich Benjamin

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation:

Don’t remember!

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience:

Writing an expose of teens and plastic surgery for my high school newspaper, The Observer. Appearing decades ago, my teenage “lifestyle feature” pretty much predated the public obsession with Botox, cosmetic procedures, Paris Hilton, Nip/Tuck, etc. My female classmates were surprised to learn of the practice’s growing popularity (especially rhinoplasty) among fellow youth, locally and nationally!

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

Two college English professors, Gertrude Hughes and Kachig Tololyan. Not only did they expose me to some great books, short stories, and literary commentary, each taught me how to really read; that is, to dissect how language works, the better to understand broad ideas, subtext, nuance, metaphor — and all the ways that the written word can seduce us.

Who influenced you most along your way and how?:

See above. I would add David Callahan, co-founder of Demos, who snatched me from my naivete, then showed me (in a more cunning, nuts and bolts way): how to write for mass publication, how to “pitch stories” to grizzled, overworked editors, and how to earn a living from my sentences.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience:

The book I am presently writing. Its anticipated audience is the general public; more specifically, reliable book consumers who read non-fiction current affairs, which generally means middle to upper-middle-class people thirty-five and older.

Your publications or venues for writing:

USA Today, Boston Globe, Tom Paine.com, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Omaha Herald, etc

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

A.) Read, read, read — then read some more. I don’t believe you can understand sentences, and execute good ones, until you’ve read a ton of them. I believe constant reading not only gives you a wealth of knowledge, but allows you to absorb ideas and writing mechanics — the more you read, the more your self expression will become like second nature.

B.) Until you reach your late 20s, take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth! It’s difficult to become an observant, perceptive youngster, if you’re too busy talking. Listen and learn. In college, we had this one smarty-pants classmate who loved the sound of his voice. In class one day, the professor picked up his banana, like a phone, and shouted: “Hello, President Clinton? I’ve got this kid here, Max. Why don’t you give him a job, while he still knows everything?” We roared with laughter. I don’t know that Max ever matured into a published writer. As a youth, he was just too busy talking.

C.) There are those who like to write, and those who like to have written. If your primary joy is to have written (getting the byline, the acclaim, etc), that may never sustain you. Enjoying the writing process will propel you. I can honestly say that I enjoy traveling, meeting people, collecting information, hearing stories, and putting my thoughts on paper more than I enjoy seeing my own byline. Recognition is great, but I believe that writing is an endeavor to be enjoyed on its own terms. If you want money and recognition, it’s simpler to become a trial attorney or an entrepreneur.

D.) Find a wise teacher, relative, neighbor, or local professional who will mentor you and your writing!

Ben Olson --novelist, journalist

2007-10-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Name: Ben Olson

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: There was never any “first clue.” It was just something I had inside of me, since I could remember. I would always listen to older people complain about their jobs, their lives, their bills, their frustrations. I got the sense that there were so many people out there unhappy with their lives and their mundane careers. I didn’t want to be that way. I wanted to make a living doing something I loved, on my own terms. I never wanted to punch a clock or push a rock. I just wanted to tell stories. The first time I really thought it was possible to make it as a writer was when I dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles. I spent several months roaming around the littered, jaded street corners; broke, hungry, desperate, and lonely. I began to write and suddenly it was good. My life experiences were a story that was ever unfolding and worth reading. I knew, then and there, that I could never do anything else in my life. I was going to be a writer. Anything else would never match up.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I wrote a screenplay in high school. It was terrible. I knew it was terrible the whole time I was writing it, but I also knew that I had to write it. I had to finish it. I had it inside of me and couldn’t write anything worthy until it was out. It was like I had to clear the tubes of all the gunk. I didn’t get anything published until my friend Zach Hagadone started an indie newspaper called The Sandpoint Reader and I began submitting articles. Every time I saw my name in print, it would further my desire to keep going.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Reading books. Lots and lots of books. Not the mainstream bestseller rags that you see in grocery stores. Bestsellers are worthless to me. When I was living in Santa Cruz one winter, I had nothing to do after work, so I looked up the 100 Greatest Works of Fiction from the Harvard Library and read every single one of them. I would type chapters of books by certain authors that I identified with – Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Wolfe – just to see how their words fit together. College did nothing for me. Creative writing classes did nothing for me. It was mostly regurgitated nonsense that I already knew. Every writer’s style is an amalgamation of the styles of those they’ve read before and identified with, as well as the experiences they’ve had and the region in which they’ve been raised. I was born in the West, in a small mountain town full of change and soulless progress. My writing reflects that; both the bitterness and the hope that something will happen to halt the American migration toward the middle.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? Myself. I knew that the only way I could function in America would be to write and find someone that could pay me for it. Nobody ever really understood what I was doing with my life. My parents wished I would “settle down” and “find a real job.” My friends wished me luck, but resented the fact that they had to buy all the drinks when we met at the bar. Nobody ever really pushed me like I pushed myself. I sent off hundreds of query letters to publishers, magazine editors, literary agents and was met by constant, steady, indifferent rejection. But I kept going. Rejection is surprisingly motivating.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: My first novel, Wanderlost. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, but when I finished the last paragraph after 37 days of straight writing and sent it to the publisher, I felt more accomplishment and worth than ever before. I had written a book. Nobody could ever take that away from me. It didn’t matter if it ever sold any copies or made me rich… I had no control over that. I cared more about the fact that I somehow got a contract to write a novel, and finished it.

Your publications or venues for writing: I write occasionally for The Sandpoint Reader and am currently working on a second novel which a few publishers in the Midwest are interested in. I’ve also been published in several literary journals and a couple of magazines.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Keep a daily journal of thoughts, actions that occur, observations and happenstances. It works the muscle of writing, but it also gives you a cache of material to use later. I’ve pulled out whole sections from old journals and put them into a current piece of work. Write in the moment, and try not to write for any audience. I know that goes against conventional wisdom. To hell with conventional wisdom… just write. And experience. If you don’t experience life, it’s hard to write anything interesting

Barbara Sofer --- Columnist, author from Jerusalem

2007-10-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

Name: Barbara Sofer

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation:

I can remember writing stories to read to my classmates on recess when I was in second or third grades. My father would type them out for me. Maybe it was even first grade because after that I could have written them myself.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: When I was in eighth grade I won a watch in a national essay contest advertised on the back of Scholastic Magazine: Why do you want to go to college? I lived in a small town and winning the prize got a lot of publicity. The same year I sent submissions to the junior-senior high literary magazine and they were all accepted.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? I think that my eighth grade English teacher who had an old-fashioned Catholic education and still believed in poetry and diagramming sentences gave me a sense of how language worked. As an adult, I took two important courses: a semester of non-fiction at the New School in NY, and fiction-writing at the Harvard University extension in MA. By then, I had to get my whole family—husband and five kids—to Boston for the year. I'd recommend that young people go after this training when they don't have that kind of mega challenge!

Who influenced you most along your way and how? The editor in the Hartford Courant who bought a series for me when I was a teenager; my best friend writer Sarah Wernick (www.sarahwernick.com) with whom I have exchanged ideas for 25 years, my writing teacher and friend Pam Painter.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: The most satisfying work is my novel—almost like having a baby—and the collected columns I write for the Jerusalem Post. These hundred articles form an opus of my thinking.

Your publications or venues for writing: I've written everything from speeches, scripts, newspaper and magazine articles, fiction and non-fiction books.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Read good writing, and don't be afraid of re-writing. Keep a notebook of good ideas. Don't let the critics discourage you.

Alan Humason, magazine freelancer/marketing

2007-10-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

Name: Alan Humason

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: Ninth Grade English Class, Lincoln Jr. High School. I began writing short stories and poems; my teacher (Mr. John Freisinger) took an interest; Grandparents sent me money for sending them stuff. I was lousy at everything else ~ so go figure.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: Wrote a longish (66 lines) poem (a love poem at that) that Freisinger made me read aloud in front of the class. Heavy duty. 10^th grade won an essay contest (and $50), giving a well-observed public beating to the class valedictorian in the process.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Having an alcoholic-then-dead father, an abusive older brother, a divorced-frustrated-remarried-horny-and-loud-as-hell mother, a self-important blonde stoner step-sister, brain-damaged and ultimately suicidal step-brother, and the (achieved) goal of being the only person in my family to actually graduate from college. On the flip side, my step-father never read anything, but encouraged me to send my stuff out into the world, so I did.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? In real (early) life, Mr. Freisinger, through allowing my writing to “bribe” him (his words) to A’s in class, basically granting me the sense of having sails to fill with my hot air. In college, the poets Edgar Bowers, Kenneth Rexroth, and Carl Shapiro, who gave me the time of day, read (or listened at coffeehouse open-mike sessions) my stuff and didn’t puke. Of course, in Letters I fell under the spell of Hemingway for a time, Kafka (everyone should read the story “The Great Wall of China”), Yeats, others. Later, magazine editor Jim Reynolds was key, because he was the ultimate managing editor, knew his Craft, and made me his son.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: I like the poems “Copeland’s Home” (which won the top honors of the writing competition when I was a grad student at San Jose State U.) and the six-part “The Impressionist Painter” (which I wrote as an exploration of the creative process and gave as a present to my Art History prof). I like the 14-page feature article on Yosemite, a collaboration I worked on at Sunset Magazine in 1985. And I thought I did a good job on a couple of travel articles for Sacramento Magazine freelancing in the last couple of years. Unpublished, I have a novella called “Silicon Valley Story,” about a transplanted software salesman who engages in corporate espionage with Japanese industrialists pursuing Artificial Intelligence, while (briefly successfully) lusting after a fine-looking coke-snorting neighbor woman in his apartment complex . . . a mass-market serio-comic fictional meditation on the 1980s ripe for cinema!

Your publications or venues for writing: I have lots of bylines; in the last several years mostly for Sacramento Magazine as a contributing editor. Otherwise the “creative stuff” is mostly for a cadre of friends and family. I do a certain amount of technical, marketing/PR, and “white paper” prose in my day-job ~ I’m pretty good at that stuff. I still do the occasional full-issue magazine critique (those can be loads of fun).

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Don’t get hung up in technical details like “your intent” and “your grammar and spelling” so much as committed to your story, your idea, your thought. Be on the lookout and on your feet for the telling first ~ the other things you can return to, to fix as needed ~ and you will need to know how to do those things, too, in a coldly self-critical way, beyond expectation. Try to take an entire summer writing for at least several hours every day ~ see if you have the temperament and, come the autumn, if you maintain a momentum. Don’t be afraid to share. Do expect to meet a bunch of self-possessed whackos but so what? Observe and report. Feel and express. And always agree to endorse Marianne Love book dust jackets whenever she needs to fill some space!

Alana Watkins Morris---public relations, publicist

2007-10-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

Name: Alana Morris (formerly Alana Watkins)

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I think I had always wanted to be a writer, ever since I was a little girl. While other girls were playing house, I was playing “writer”… scribbling furiously in notepads even though I had no idea what I was writing. I used to tag along with my mother’s best friend, Jane, who was a journalist, when she would do interviews and I loved how open people were with her, how they were share their lives and their personal stories with her. I wanted to be a part of that.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: In third grade, I entered into a program called Gifted & Talented (GT) that was for advanced students. By fifth grade, our GT class started learning Latin. Part of our end-of-year project was to creatively depict one of the many stories we had learned in Latin class, whether about Rome or the Greeks or whathaveyou. I chose to write a book. I recreated the stories as modern day fairytales and my mother helped me bind the book. I even drew all the pictures. I still have that book today.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? There are many, many things I could point to that helped my writing throughout my education. Taking Marianne Love’s journalism class and being a part of the Cedar Post student newspaper was first. The book reports I wrote for Mr. Vanek’s senior English class helped me immensely in terms of elevating my level of writing. Reading difficult texts and important authors whether in school or on my own helped me develop my writing style. And in college, just being in that environment and being exposed to so many writers, so many opportunities to learn… that really spoke to the writer in me.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? I think my greatest influences as a writer have been those people I’ve written about as a journalist. Their stories really compelled me to be a better writer in order to do these individuals and their stories justice. Whether they had accomplished something grand or had been through something horrific, my writing was the vehicle that shared their story with the world and that demanded my absolute best.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: I have two (I’m noticing I have multiple answers for a lot of these questions): First was a piece I wrote for the Cedar Post when I was in high school. Our volleyball team broke the St. Maries’ volleyball team’s winning streak—one of the longest winning streaks in high school sports history. It was such an exciting game! Deadline for the paper was the next day, so I started the story as I was driving home, writing on the notebook in my lap while navigating the way home. I got pulled over for speeding but the cop let me off when we bonded over the broken streak. Writing that story and seeing the drama recreated in print was quite satisfying.

The second was an autobiographical piece that I wrote for a nonfiction writing seminar in college about a terrifying experience I had as a child. It was the first time I had written about it—or really discussed it at all, for that matter—and it was an incredibly freeing experience. It was received very well by my professor and peers but more than anything, I found that writing was also an outlet for grief, pain, fear and many other emotions that we hold inside.

Your publications or venues for writing: Publicist at Random House. This was an amazing experience. Being a part of the process of getting a book published and then making that book a success was fascinating for me, even on my very last day there after five years.

As an avid reader and writer, it was thrilling to read manuscripts in their raw form before everyone else in the world and to have a say in the best way to market that book and its author. My role was to publicize the book, and that generally met writing press materials, getting them out to the reviewers and the press and then scheduling interviews/press tours with the author.

In writing press materials, I almost acted as a reviewer, scouring the book for the most interesting paragraphs or plot lines; plucking memorable quotes or phrases from the text to illustrate the author's style; explaining the author's inspirations for this character or that denouement.

Ultimately, the reviewer might choose whether or not to read the book based purely on my press release, so it had to represent the book and give just enough away to make the reviewer want to put it in the “read” stack instead of the “toss” stack. And that review might make or break a book, depending on where it might appear. So, although I was only writing press releases, it always felt like my role was integral to the success of the book, and whether the book sold 500 copies or 5 million copies, that was always something I cherished.

Today, I use my writing in the public relations field. I write press releases and feature pitches, on behalf of my clients, for the PR agency I own. It's quite a different type of writing from what I've done in the past, but it allows me to be creative and tell stories--my clients' stories. I still hope some day to write a book . . . it's something I have always wanted to do.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Explore the different avenues of writing—poetry, plays, journalism, fiction, nonfiction, essays, journaling. Write about your passions. Read everything you can get your hands on. Learn to take constructive criticism.

Annie Love---Customer relations specialist

2007-10-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Name: Annie Love

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation:

I don’t really think of myself as a writer and I have not aspired to be one. I’ve just always heard from teachers and a certain writer that being able to write would help me go far in life.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience:

My second grade teacher Mrs. Loman has given me samples of what I believe to be my earliest works. My handwriting has changed since then, but I believe the basics of my abilities are still intact.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing?

Being forced to write term papers, short stories, poems, etc. for school assignments really was the best writing education. This helped me learn how to write for the “audience” for which my writing was intended. Science teachers didn’t want the same writing style in papers that I would use for my English essays. This has been directly applied to where I use my writing skills today. On a daily basis I am using writing to help people all over the world who have different levels of education and different levels knowledge of the English language. If they’re going to understand what I’m saying, I have to write in a style that they will be familiar with.

Who influenced you most along your way and how?

My mom’s a teacher and a writer so that’s always been the greatest influence. My high school English teacher Miss Tibbs and one of my college English Professors Devan Cook both pushed their students to give a little more – with me, the pushing helps.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience:

A couple of papers in college that I wrote at the last minute and got A’s on. While waiting until the last minute is not a good idea, the fact that I could write a quality paper with little time for revisions made me feel like I was a decent writer in general.

Your publications or venues for writing:

Emails to geocachers all over the world helping with every kind of issue imaginable in the geocaching world.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school:

Listen to your teachers when they say being able to write well can take you places. I got my current job from writing an email to the company.

Marianne's Keynote Speech

2007-10-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

Keynote Address to Young Authors’ Conferences

November, 2007

by Marianne Love

I’d like to thank Elinor Michel, Susan Hodgin, Bonnie Warne and Barbara Crumb for their generous collaboration in issuing me an invitation to speak at this prestigious event for young authors. You’re, indeed, brave souls! I am honored to be here.

Before going any further, I’m asking for a standing ovation---not for me but for Bonnie, Elinor, Susan, Barbara and all hard-working teachers who recognize and appreciate your talents and especially those who have encouraged you to come today.

Elinor, Susan, Barbara and Bonnie and many other dedicated teachers have worked for many years to develop the Northwest Inland Writing Project into a wonderful tool for inspiring and guiding other teachers and hundreds of students in the craft of writing.

Through their vision, they’ve developed two regional writing conferences into stimulating and practical enrichment opportunities for aspiring young authors from throughout the area to get acquainted, to learn, to practice and to share their creative talents. So, let’s show the dedicated organizers the appreciation they deserve, especially Bonnie who has worked so hard here to bring us all together here in beautiful St. Anthony.

Thanks also to all of you students who saw my name and mug shot on the conference poster and still signed up. You’re very gracious and open-minded. Seriously, I’m thrilled with this opportunity to share, with students, my passion for writing for the first time since my retirement from Sandpoint High School in 2002.

I view today’s opportunity as an important duty. I sincerely hope that my simple thoughts and anecdotes throughout the day will inspire many of you to persevere with your writing desires---especially when you learn that even above-average klutzes, devoid of other creative talents, can make it in writing.

So, let’s get on with the show. I’m going to start today by going interactive with a segment from my first book Pocket Girdles. Let’s practice. Whenever I raise my hand, you say, “Marianne’s madder than a hatter” WITH GUSTO until I tell you to stop. A few rehearsals. . . . . .

Now, when I read and get to the refrain in this story, do your part and loud! Read story segment . . . .

This story about youthful crime illustrates just one reason why I became a writer. I had brothers. Two of these were older brothers. For a long time, I was the only girl. Those monsters picked on me all the time. They drove me to criminal acts for which I got caught---like stealing the neighbors’ mail. I also nearly burned down half the woods after my brother Kevin mentored me on how to play with matches.

I was miserable, thanks to Mike and Kevin. So, I had writing material.

I also had a mother whom I often considered my childhood nemesis. She was hard driving and intense. She was also talented as an artist, and she could draw beautiful horses. I had no talent as an artist. Try as I might, I could not even draw a recognizable horse tail after dozens of lessons.

My mother was also a proud lady---educated in private Catholic boarding schools. I, on the other hand, was a clumsy, unpolished tomboy who failed miserably in all my mother’s earnest efforts to sophisticate me.

That created writing material.

My mother later became the antagonist in many of my funny stories about the perceived and often real miseries of my childhood.

Even later than that and, happily, to this day, she has transformed into my biggest fan and best reviewer while listening to me read my rough drafts aloud. I’ve yet to meet anyone who laughs harder than my mother whenever I share with her chronicles of my most recent exploits. She always needs a kleenex box.

There were other reasons I became a writer.

I became a writer because I could not sing. My only distinction in seventh grade choir occurred when I got caught with friends removing the nuts and bolts from the school auditorium chairs.

I became a writer because I could not sew. I ripped out thousands of faulty seams and got white ribbons at the county fair.

I became a writer because I was a certified klutz. I got white ribbons in modeling at the county 4-H style review where my so-called friends would hurl catcalls as I stumbled down the walkway toward the modeling stage.

I could play sports like baseball, basketball----and football, but girls’ sports were not encouraged or supported back in the dark ages of my youth. Besides, Marvel Ekholm, my principal, yelled at me out the sixth grade window at Stinkin’ Lincoln Elementary School that “girls do NOT play football---especially while wearing dresses.”

That ended my gridiron career.

I became a writer because I was not pretty nor cool enough to be a queen or cheerleader or even to nab a steady boyfriend.

In spite of my TDD (Talent Deficit Disorder), I loved people. I loved horses. I love to laugh, and I loved knowing things-----first---before anyone else. I loved telling the story---first---before anybody else. In general, I loved telling stories and still do.

I was also hungry. I ate a lot, which did lead to stories, like the one about the 13 cinnamon rolls I consumed during one sitting at Eleanor Delamarter’s house

BUT

that constant hunger also included a voracious desire to succeed at something---anything. I wanted fervently to have a talent.

Those ingredients, along with my eventual recognition of the true silver lining of my youthful shortcomings and personal disasters, planted the seed for what I do today. Plus, some little doors opened along the way.

While enrolled in 4-H as a member of the Mountain View ABC’s Club, I was elected reporter at age 11. My first story appearing in our weekly Sandpoint News Bulletin went something like this:

On Saturday, Feb. 11, the Mountain View ABC’s 4-H Club met at the home of Mrs. Lucille Hudon. Fourteen members were present, and election of officers was held.

Genevieve Hudon was elected president. Pat Nikkola was elected vice president, and Frances Paulet was elected secretary-treasurer. Marianne Brown was elected reporter.

Project books were handed out by Mrs. Hudon and Mrs. Winifred Nikkola. The meeting was adjourned and refreshments were served. The next meeting will be held at Mrs. Hudon’s house on March. 10.

Seeing my story adorned with a headline attached in the local paper was probably the most exciting thing that had ever happened in my life to date. The feeling was incomparable.

So, when I went to junior high the next year and found out there was a school paper called the Cedar Chips, I signed up. Most of the heavy-duty reporting jobs were taken by upperclassmen, so I had to settle for the job as seventh-grade snoop. That meant keeping track of ever-changing romantic overtures between boys and girls and recording the momentary love affairs for posterity.

The writing went something like this:

Gregory M. has been passing notes in math class to Janice S. Could this mean 1 and 1 make 2?

Billy F. always carries Susan S.’s books. Is there a love story in the making?

Dale I. requested “You Ain’t Nuthin But a Hound Dog” for Susan B. on KSPT Radio Station Saturday night. I’m sure this must mean puppy love.

Later, I’m assuming the ninth grade honchos and newspaper adviser, Miss Ann Curtis, felt I deserved a chance for bigger and less presumptuous writing, so I was assigned the “Homeroom C” beat for the monthly mimeographed paper.

By the time, I became a mighty ninth grader, I knew what I wanted for a future and firmly validated my desires on a school interest test---a test where I earned a much higher grade than on any of my algebra exams. I even outsmarted the test.

We indicated our responses by poking a straight pin through the multiple-choice answer we thought most fit our desires. It took only a couple of questions for me to spot the pattern. Every answer that included anything remotely connected with writing got my pin prick.

I deviated a couple of times, just so the administrators would not suspect any cheating.

The scientific? results indicated that I had 98 percent interest in becoming a freelance writer. I was ecstatic. My future was now officially plotted. I envisioned myself living the country life, taking time out from watching my horses or going for hikes down dirt roads to sit down at the typewriter and write for great magazines or even maybe write a book.

In 11^th grade, my long-held hunger received its first significant tidbit of satisfaction. The main door to my desired future miraculously opened one day when journalism teacher Bob Hamilton pulled me aside and told me I had talent as a writer. I’d never heard any such welcome words in my life. On another day that same year, he told me he wanted me to attend the spring journalism conference at the University of Idaho.

“I don’t have enough money,” I told him.

“I’ll find the money,” he said. “I’d like you to be editor next year.” I went home and told my mother. Obviously pleased, she said they’d come up with the money. In Sandpoint, almost since the paper’s beginnings back in the 1920s, serving as editor of the renowned Cedar Post high school newspaper is tantamount to winning an Oscar. If you pull it off, you earn a respected status among an illustrious group of SHS grads who are equally proud to let folks know of their stint as Cedar Post editor.

Bob Hamilton taught me the basics of journalism and turned me loose as a reporter and editor. He remains my foremost mentor to this day.

I later attended the University of Idaho with help from two locally-funded scholarships, one for journalism, one, for teaching. As a person who took responsibility seriously, I found a way to combine both through an education major called English Area, which included a heavy concentration in journalism.

I wrote a few features for the Argonaut, including one called “Carter Hall Girls Get the Shaft,” which chronicled the experience of my friends whose elevator got stuck between floors in the Wallace Complex and who passed the time during the rescue operation playing pinochle.

After college, I began teaching at my Sandpoint High School alma mater, advising the yearbook alongside my mentor, Bob Hamilton who still advised the Cedar Post. I freelanced occasionally and worked three summers as a feature writer and beat reporter for the Sandpoint News Bulletin, that same paper which printed my first story about the 4-H club meeting.

I cannot think of much time spent since high school when I wasn’t writing something for someone. Through those decades, my writing experienced continued growth, thanks to editors, ranging from hard-nosed to compassionate to hands-off. I’ve appreciated them all, and have learned to be highly self-critical of my work, which has appeared in several publications.

I’m Catholic so I’ve written features for the Idaho Catholic Register. I’ve written off and on for the regional Spokane Daily Chronicle, Spokesman-Review and Pacific Northwest Inlander.

I’ve lived in Sandpoint forever, so lots of my stories appear in Sandpoint Magazine. Probably my most famous or most-read piece of writing is a Sandpoint Magazine interview with Lord of the Rings King Viggo Mortensen.

That story transpired because Viggo blew my daughter Annie a kiss when she put up a sign at the Wellington, New Zealand, world premiere of “Return of the King.” Viggo was on the red carpet doing an interview with the hordes of media when he read Annie’s sign that said, “Sandpoint Loves Lord of the Rings.” Viggo stopped his interview, asked if that was Sandpoint, Idaho, and when she nodded, rewarded her with the airborne kiss. Viggo has property near Sandpoint. When the Viggo interview appeared on my website, it received 4,700 hits in one week, and I received several letters from 40-something women from around the world who swoon whenever the word “Viggo” is uttered.

As mentioned before, I love horses, so I’ve freelanced for the past ten years for the Appaloosa Journal, a worldwide magazine. That has involved stories about Appaloosa owners from Sweden, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States----and, no, I didn’t get to go to all those places----thanks to the Internet our writing options are endless and much more available than they were even 20 years ago.

All tolled, I’ve probably written around 500 published pieces in my life---including obituaries, speeches, introductions for publications, commentaries, histories, stories of tragic deaths, and features about welders, politicians, opera stars, salty old cowboys, phenomenal students, brave soldiers, ancient canoes, cattle ranches, cancer patients, wine tasting events, corporations, dinosaurs, storms, real estate booms, athletes, heroes, radio DJ’s, secretaries, teachers, school administrators, actors . . . . the list goes on.

Eventually, after writing a column for a local paper where I could focus on topics of my choosing---a clear, recognizable writing voice developed. That same voice had also been loud and clear in the classroom where it told stories to suit just about any teaching topic.

One time a student brought in a copy of a Patrick F. McManus book called A Fine and Pleasant Misery. After reading a couple of stories aloud to the class, I asked if I could borrow the book and take it home for my husband. After all, this author was from little ol’ Sandpoint, and he wrote funny stuff about the outdoors. Bill would be impressed when I introduced him to this local author whom I’d never heard of.

Bill was not at all impressed. Why? Because my Louisiana husband already had heard of Patrick F. McManus and had already read his stories for years in outdoor magazines.

Only later did I learn that I’d really always had heard about this guy, who spent part of his childhood just a mile away from our North Boyer farm. I had never zeroed in that he was a famous author, mainly because of the tone his sister Patricia, our longtime family friend, used when referring to that awful brother Pat. Maybe some of you know about the famous troll in McManus’s early stories----she was my friend, Pat Gass, and his older sister Patricia.

Later, the troll actually helped me realize my dream of becoming an author. She sent some of my stories to “that brother of hers” for review. Seven months later, after I’d completely given up, he wrote back, saying “. . . by all means, aim for a national audience. The stories are nostalgic and funny. Just insert more dialogue.”

After I came down from the ceiling, I got busy and wrote the rest of Pocket Girdles, a collection of stories about growing up on our North Idaho farm. That was in 1994.

Pat McManus and his sister, The Troll, were kind enough to endorse my first book.

Later, came Postcards from Potato Land, in 1997, which continued the slice-of-life saga of living on a North Idaho farm.

Finally, this past May came Lessons with Love: Tales of Teaching and Learning in a Small-Town High School, a collection of serious and funny stories involving my 33 years of teaching at Sandpoint High. The book also includes a story penned by my son, Willie. "Confessions of a Reborn Student" serves as Willie's payback for a story I wrote about him called "Labor of Love: Reborn Student."

So, that’s the journey of one person toward authordum. It’s been a long, hard and very satisfying road. I’ve endured endless hard work and many, many moments of self-doubt. My family has suffered through most of those, but I have learned, like Pat McManus told me, the writing projects and the writing lust never end.

These days, I’m having the time of my life, every day posting on a blog called “Slight Detour: Mutterings of a Country Hick.” (www.slightdetour.com) People in my house know not to bother me each morning from 7-8 a.m. because I’m in my zone upstairs writing---often giggling---as I write about family happenings, farm life, local hot-button issues or thoughts based on what I’ve read in the newspaper.

It’s a good gig, and I can guarantee you that the pin pricks these days would indicate a 100 percent interest in living the life of a freelance writer. After all, I’ve fulfilled my fantasies of a life centered around fascinating people and horses. I laugh a lot. I’ve made my mother proud, and I’ve found a talent that suits me. I’ve never needed a shrink because I work out my aggressions and sensitivities through writing. I married a man named Love, which provides a nice advantage as an author. I get to know a lot of things about people before anyone else, and most folks love to have me tell their stories. I also know that endless unwritten adventures lie ahead for me to recount in my unique way.

And, so to all you aspiring young authors, we all have our story. That’s mine, and I’m sticking to it. Nobody else has one exactly like it. You are still writing yours. My wish for you is that your individual tales will take you to experiences, places and people you never dreamed possible---and that as they happen, you will chronicle them in your own way. It will not be easy. It will involve hard work, education, persistence and rejection. You will benefit from all four, even if it doesn’t seem so at the time.

Your writing will not necessarily put you on the Forbes Magazine list of the filthy rich, but you will know a wealth that no economic downturn nor greedy person can ever take away from you. You will amass the wealth of immortality through your creations with the written word.

My wish for you also includes a day just like today where you can get nervous, you can stand in front of an audience of budding young writers just like you, you can tell your unique story of authordum, and you can help move the circle onward.

Good luck on your journey, and thank you.

Addendum: For a sample chapter of my new book Lessons with Love, visit www.lessonswithtalesofteaching.blogspot.com where you'll also find ordering information. All three books are available at www.amazon.com or at www.keokeebooks.com