by Tami Kamin Meyer | Aug 3, 2022 | Blog, Write Now Columbus Essay Archives
AN AUGUST OF ACTIVITY – WRITE NOW COLUMBUS AUGUST 2022
Tami here.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
Thank you for taking the time to peruse our monthly summary of literary news and events from throughout central Ohio. Nita and I enjoy sharing monthly local literary news about book releases, book fairs, author visits, book signings, workshops, and other writing-related happenings throughout the area.
To be honest, if we were trying to make a living at this, Nita and I would both be clients of my personal bankruptcy law practice (yes, I practice law on the side). We could really use some outside financial assistance to defray the costs of our website, its maintenance, occasional technical glitches, our researcher, and more.
Neither Nita nor I draw any kind of salary for these efforts, so our request for help isn’t about lining our pockets. We need help to keep the site running as it has for the past 19 years.
To donate whatever you can, please visit Nita’s DONATE page. To set up a recurring payment, check the box on that page. To send a check or money order, email nita@writenowcolumbus.com for the address. We take Venmo, too.
We also welcome sponsorships of this newsletter. At $15 a month or $40 for three months, we will mention your book, writing-related event, or even a little love note to your Write Now Columbus creators or our readers. Find sponsorship details HERE.
Thank you so very much!
DOING THE (freelance) HUSTLE!
In personal albeit professional news, I am excited and proud to announce I have been hired for four new writing opportunities. One of the freelance gigs is to write about cars for U.S. News and World Report. Another is to create original content for attorney websites. The two other writing jobs relate to banking and residential home buying, respectively.
It might seem I am flush with work, but, as a longtime freelancer, I know better. Things can change overnight. For example, a website I began writing for in January 2022 stopped using freelance writers in May, forcing me to find new opportunities.
To survive as a freelancer, a person needs to be a hustler. I don’t mean ‘hustler’ in a sneaky, unsavory way, but rather a ‘self-motivated, continuously digging for new challenges’ kind-of-way. Sure, it gets tiring, but overall, I enjoy the thrill of the hunt. And the dollars in my bank account!
IMPROV COMEDY at NEST!
Even more great news to share! Regular readers of this column know I am involved in the improv comedy community in Columbus. I’m THRILLED to announce I will be appearing in two shows in August at The Nest Theatre, 2643 North High Street. The first is Saturday, August 6, when I’ll be participating in a musical improv performance. The show will be the culmination of an intensive, 15-hour workshop I will be participating in Thursday, August 4 through the 6th, with the show at 8 pm that evening.
On August 11, at 7.30 pm, I will be performing a five-minute standup comedy routine as part of a class I am currently taking at The Nest. Yes, life is funny, and I have a lot to say about it.
And, in September, WORD: Live Lit and True Tales, will make its return. Neither the date nor the theme are set as of this writing, but if you’re interested in being a storyteller, please email me at tkmwrites@gmail.com. I’ll share more details as they become known.
For ticket information for any of those performances, please visit www.nesttheatre.com.
Happy August!
~ Tami
(c)Tami Kamin Meyer, 2022, all rights reserved
by Tami Kamin Meyer | Apr 3, 2022 | Blog, Write Now Columbus Essay Archives
Hello Spring.
When I wrote the March essay one month ago, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was fresh and horrific news. I expressed my hope that when I wrote the April essay, I could write how the whole thing had been a terrible April Fool’s joke.
Sadly, that isn’t the case, but the unmitigated resolve displayed by Ukrainians, is so reassuring. Of course, there’s not just fighting for show. They’re fighting for their very existence. They’re standing up to the Big Boys, and it gives me hope that Good can truly conquer Evil.
Besides the incredible loss of life, shocking destruction and sorrowful circumstances that have befallen Ukrainians and others impacted by this aggression, there have been additional deaths and injuries stemming from the war.
“Additional deaths and injuries”
Just hours before I sat to write this essay, the Pope asked people to appreciate the sacrifices of the journalists killed covering the invasion of Ukraine.
Pope Francis spoke to journalists aboard a plane returning from Malta. In the U.S. News & World Report story, he said he was prepared to travel to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to express his condolences to “their fallen colleagues.” However, he noted, no decision has been made on the feasibility of such a trip.
“Your job is a job for the common good. They have fallen in service of the common good of information. Let’s not forget that they were courageous. I pray for them, I pray that the Lord rewards their work.”
Pope Francis
It is incredible to me there have been and continue to be journalists, photographers and countless others in supporting roles who risk their lives to be our eyes and ears in the midst of danger and peril. As I sit in comfort of my suburban home, enjoying the freedom of living in the United States, I am forever grateful to them for their dedication and sacrifice.
It’s magical to me the same day I planned on writing about the bravery of news gatherers and their teams, the Pope expressed his support for them, too.
As a journalist, I am proud and humbled to be among those to receive Papal consideration.
~ Tami
(c)Tami Kamin Meyer, 2022, all rights reserved
by Theresa Garee | Nov 12, 2020 | Blog
You Made the News! Now What?
A media outlet interviewed you. Congratulations!!
Contributing to articles is a fabulous way to become a well-respected expert in your field!
But once the article goes live, your work isn’t over.
First, share it all around.
I’m so grateful to have landed with Mango Publishing Group. My editor and their social media coordinator share pretty much anything I send their way. So my first step is to send a link to any new piece to them.
Tweet the link and tag anyone else in the piece, including the publication and especially the journalist who wrote it.
Post on Facebook. If you have a business page, start there, but there’s rarely harm in sharing to your personal page at a different time for more visibility. If your friends won’t celebrate your success, why are they your friends? Don’t overdo the promo, of course. But people want to know what’s going on and might be interested enough to share the article.
Also post in any Facebook groups that allow promotional links. Find ones that are the right fit for you and your topic. I belong to many groups but also started my own wellness group where I share relevant information.
Are you on LinkedIn? That’s where the biz folks are. If there’s any business angle post it there.
Pin to a board on Pinterest. Create a board for a specific topic or a “Where I’m Quoted” or “Featured Ins” or some other catchy title related to your topic. Things pinned on Pinterest have a very long shelf-life.
Instagram allows you to use Link Tree to create a link in your bio where you can add articles, social media platforms, and your website since Instagram only allows one link. Post a photo from the article, preferably the one closest to your quote, then say the link to the article is in your bio.
Don’t forget other relevant organizations. Would the piece interest your high school, college, or professional association? Send it all around.
Hashtags
Be sure to find relevant hashtags because that’s how strangers find articles on social media. Check out Frances Caballo’s excellent post on hashtags for authors. Sometimes that’s what you’ll want, but if your feature covers more than writing, use a hashtag appropriate for your topic. Tons of articles cover hashtags. Here’s one I like. Choose hashtags for the correct social media channel. Popular Twitter hashtags may not trend on Instagram.
Blog It
If you’re new to this process, you could blog about the experience of pitching to a journalist and doing the interview. Write about moving forward with a more involved marketing strategy. Or blog about your topic and link to the piece. Be sure to use the WordPress plugin Yoast or another search engine optimization (SE)) tool. I love Yoast because it removes the guesswork.
Email It
Do you have an email newsletter? It’s lovely to include a link to this new “featured in” with your next newsletter. If you were quoted at length, send the whole quote as the newsletter content with a quick “Not sure you saw this” note. People subscribed to your newsletter because they want to stay in touch.
In the News Page
If it’s your first interview, now’s the time to start an “In the News” page on your website where you collect these things. Leave it as a draft at first, until you collect a few, but have them all in one place on your site.
Save It
And do save a pdf of it. In Chrome you can “print” to “save as pdf.” I do that with every article. Sometimes articles disappear and you want to save it for posterity.
Go you!
![Author Interview – Greta Solomon]()
by Theresa Garee | Sep 9, 2020 | Author Interviews, Blog
In this Bum Glue series, I interview other authors. The techniques shared in Greta Solomon‘s Heart, Sass & Soul: Journal Your Way to Inspiration and Happiness are powerful. So, I wanted to learn more about her. I bet she’ll inspire you too.
Nita Sweeney (NS): When and how did your writing journey begin?
Greta Solomon (GS): It began in 1988. I would listen to Madonna songs on repeat on my tinny cassette player and write down all the lyrics. Then I would pick them apart to figure out the structure, and why this rhymed with that, and so on, and write my own lyrics. But magazines were my true love, and I was so excited to have reader letters published in my favorite ones, between the ages of nine and 12. I knew I wanted to be a journalist, and in 2000 around six months after graduating in Psychology, I got my first journalism job at a businesswomen’s magazine in London.
NS: Plotter or pantser?
GS: As a non-fiction gal, both! I tend to channel and free-write and feel my way into my books and articles. Then, I work like a sculptor to create an overall vision. Then, I create a clear outline to write from.
NS: What’s your biggest writing struggle and how do you handle it?
GS: Not having consistent time to write. I’m a mum to a seven-year-old, which is a full-time job in itself – especially as I have had to homeschool for the past six months due to the Rona. But even though she is back at school, I am still writing in all the spaces between and grabbing time, here and there. I handle this by making sure that I periodically have days and sometimes entire weekends when I can just focus on my writing and creativity.
NS: What is one thing about writing you wish you’d learned earlier?
Photo credit Will Ireland, taken at Blogtacular 2018.
GS: That you need to find ways to keep your creative channel open. For my first six or seven years of being a journalist, I couldn’t freely express myself in writing. I was “good” at writing but often creatively blocked, and my writing personality was governed by fear. It was only when I studied lyric writing at Berklee College of Music in 2007 that I learned a technique called object writing, which completely opened me up, and enabled me to write freely and easily. This creative freedom is so vital to a writing career, that I started teaching my unblocking techniques to others. This became the foundation for the work I do now as a writing teacher and Journal Healer.
NS: What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever heard?
GS: That writing can’t be taught – it can! Anyone can write well, given the right tools and techniques and the ability to tap into their creative current.
NS: Do you write by hand or on a computer?
GS: Both – I journal by hand, which often turns into part of articles and book passages, which I then type up. I plot and plan by hand too.
NS: What are you currently reading?
GS: I have so many books on the go, but I am really enjoying Motherwell: A Girlhood, which is a memoir by the late Deborah Orr.
NS: Is there a book you couldn’t finish? Why?
GS: Lots, too many to mention. Usually it is nothing to do with the book, but that I got what I needed from it, before the end.
NS: What book couldn’t you put down?
GS: I loved Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
NS: What advice would you give writers starting out?
GS: Get a side hustle sooner rather than later. Expecting your writing to fully pay for your bills, and your life, piles up a lot of pressure. That pressure can weigh down on your writing, making you less agile and adaptable and throw you out of your creative flow.
NS: Has your writing life turned out differently than you expected? If so, how?
GS: I’m not sure, as I have never had a long-term plan for my writing, I just knew that I felt called to write. I didn’t expect to leave full-time journalism so soon (after three years), but I followed my intuition, which told me to go freelance and explore my creativity. For four years, before becoming a writing teacher and author, I enrolled in a London drama school and starred in adverts and short films. I became a travel writer and explored health and wellness. And I became a published poet and songwriting. All of this was the perfect pathway for what I do now.
NS: What’s next for you writing wise?
GS: I’m re-launching my online course in Writing for Creative Self-Expression, which is a seven-module self-study programme in finding and expressing your inner voice. You can find more details on my website, www.gretasolomon.com
AND FINALLY:
NS: Mermaids or Goddesses?
GS: Ooh – tough call, but I think mermaids.
NS: Toast or bagels?
GS: Both.
NS: Ocean, mountains, or forest?
GS: Ocean – but just for the magnificence, not for swimming!
NS: Leggings or jeans?
GS: Leggings, but with flowy dresses on top.
NS: Dogs, cats, fish, guinea pigs, or horses?
GS: Horses – I love the freedom you get from horse riding.
Biography
Greta Solomon is a writer, author, teacher and Journal Healer. Through her books and courses, she guides people to use journaling, writing and creative self-expression to wake up, connect to inner wisdom, and heal the tender, violated parts of their inner worlds.
Greta is a qualified life coach, lyricist, and lifelong learning teacher, and has clocked up thousands of coaching and tutoring hours with her clients. She has a degree in psychology from University of Warwick, a former career as a women’s magazine journalist and priceless life experience from several years of making a living from acting, modelling, promotions, sales, public relations, and freelance health, lifestyle and travel writing.
Heart, Sass, & Soul By Greta Solomon
Greta has over 13 years of experience in training individuals and multi-million pound companies in writing skills, delivering workshops and talks in Norway, Holland, Ethiopia and across the UK. She was also a visiting business writing lecturer at University of London, City. Greta is a Forbes.com contributor and has had hundreds of articles published, most recently in Red and Kindred Spirit. She is the author of Just Write It! How to Develop Top-Class University Writing Skills (McGraw-Hill Education, 2013) and Heart, Sass & Soul: Journal Your Way to Inspiration and Happiness (Mango, 2019), and is a published poet and songwriter.
Born in London to Caribbean immigrants, her maternal DNA line traces back to Cameroon and Gabon. Greta has returned to London after several stints abroad, and lives with her husband and daughter.
Website: www.gretasolomon.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/greta.solomon
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gretasolomoncoach
Twitter: www.twitter.com/greta_solomon
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gretasolomon
![Author Interview – Greta Solomon]()
by Theresa Garee | Jul 19, 2020 | Author Interviews, Blog
Author Interview – Debra Eckerling
In this new Bum Glue series, I interview other authors. Much gratitude to Debra Eckerling, author of Your Goal Guide and founder of Write On Online‚ and The D*E*B METHOD for being my first willing participant.
Nita Sweeney (NS): When and how did your writing journey begin?
Debra Eckerling (DE): I have been writing ever since I was a kid – I loved making up stories. Growing up and through high school, I was really drawn to fiction. I studied journalism in college, and have been focused on non-fiction for my professional career.
My high school creative writing teacher who altered the way I looked at journaling. We were required to write at least 5 pages a week. I usually did about 20. Most classmates did the bare minimum, but some filled entire books. He never looked at what we wrote. He just wanted us to get what was in our head onto the page. Who knew journaling would be the basis for so much of what I do today.
NS: Plotter or pantser?
DE: I am a pantser who plots. I like to write outlines – or brainstorms – on a legal pad before I jump into any new projects, writing or other.
As a goal coach, I often talk about the importance of having a plan: you need to find the happy medium between over-thinking and under-thinking your goals and projects. Before jumping in, it’s helpful to have an idea of what you are writing. However, the level of detail will vary, depending on the topic, medium, and ideal outcome.
That being said, I also enjoy writing in the zone. So much awesome can happen when you put pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard, you start writing, and see where it goes!
NS: What’s your biggest writing struggle and how do you handle it?
DE: Finding time for my own writing projects is sometimes a challenge. This is common among writers, creative, and entrepreneurs, who make up my clients and communities. But, I practice what I teach, which means scheduling time for long-term or passion projects, even if that means calendaring appointments to write … and keeping them! Even spending a little bit of time each week on those passion projects adds up.
NS: What is one thing about writing you wish you’d learned earlier?
DE: Patience. Things happen in their own timeframe, not in the time you want them to happen.
I have been writing, speaking, and leading goal-setting and productivity groups (Write On Online) for many years. I’ve helped entrepreneurs and consultants develop their books for either self- or traditional publishing, and self-published two of my own ebooks – one on kids writing prompts and the other on blogging.
A little over two years ago, I rebranded my goal-coaching to The D*E*B Method, my system for helping people figure out what they want and how to get it. “DEB” stands for Determine Your Mission, Explore Your Options, Brainstorm Your Path. I planned to self-publish it as a workbook, when I met an agent who asked for my book proposal. I wrote a book proposal, which found its way Brenda Knight at Mango Publishing toward the end of 2018. Mango published Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning and Achieving Your Goals in January 2020.
Since we are living in a time where everyone needs to rethink their path and reboot their goals, the timing couldn’t be better to introduce Your Goal Guide to the world. I am thrilled my book landed at Mango and that it was released this year.
NS: What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever heard?
DE: Early in my career, when I was doing events for Barnes & Noble in Schaumberg, IL, I was invited to attend a Romance Writers of America meeting. A woman, who was reading her first chapter, was getting feedback from all over the place. People in the meeting were telling her everything from changing her characters to altering the plot. I just kept thinking, “Leave that poor woman alone.”
They had a rule about letting new guests offer critiques, so I had to seek her out after the meeting and tell her to ignore everything! Especially when you are first starting a project, you need to take the time to explore your vision for your book, before opening your work up to critique. That way, you can objectively examine any feedback, so you know what to ignore and what to embrace.
NS: Do you write by hand or on a computer?
DE: Mostly on computer, but I do like to write outlines, jot notes, and sometimes start drafts on paper.
NS: What advice would you give writers starting out?
DE: Start journaling regularly. It’s great for idea development, problem solving, and keeping track of what you see, feel, hear, experience, etc.
Journaling is also one of the best ways to develop your style and tone. When you already have content to write about – your ideas, feelings, activities, and observations, you can spend your writing time getting better at the craft of writing, while exploring who you are as a writer.
NS: Has your writing life turned out differently than you expected? If so, how?
DE: YES. When I was a teenager, I planned to write the great American novel. What young writer doesn’t? In my early 20s, I thought I might end up a successful screenwriter. Then I got my freelance writing break – for a national college-centric magazine – about a week after I finished the first draft of my first screenplay. Lifestyle and non-fiction writing really came naturally to me, so I followed that path. I am so glad I did.
NS: What’s next for you writing wise?
DE: I recently started writing more column-like articles for The D*E*B Method blog, which has been a lot of fun. I am also working on a creative semi-non-fiction project that keeps getting put on the back-burner, as well as a new podcast, called #ChangeHappens, in progress.
And finally:
NS: Mermaids or Goddesses?
DE: Goddesses
NS: Toast or bagels?
DE: Bagels
NS: Ocean, mountains, or forest?
DE: Ocean
NS: Leggings or jeans?
DE: Jeans
NS: Dogs, cats, fish, guinea pigs, or horses?
DE: Dogs
BIOGRAPHY:
Debra Eckerling is the author of Your Goal Guide: A Roadmap for Setting, Planning, and Achieving Your Goals and founder of the D*E*B METHOD®. DEB stands for Determine Your Mission, Explore Your Options, Brainstorm Your Path.
A communications specialist and project catalyst, she works with individuals and businesses to set goals and manage their projects through one-on-one coaching, workshops, and online support. Eckerling is also the founder of Write On Online, a website and community for writers, creatives, and entrepreneurs, as well as host of the #GoalChat Twitter chat (Sundays at 7pm PT), and #GoalChatLive (Mondays at 4pm on the Mango Publishing Facebook Page). She lives in Los Angeles.
Reach out to Debra at these outlets:
TheDEBMethod.com
WriteOnOnline.com
YourGoalGuideBook.com or YourGoalGuideRoadmap.com
TheDEBMethod@gmail.com:
Find Debra on social media:
LinkedIn.com/in/Coastbunny
http://Facebook.com/TheDEBMethod
http://Twitter.com/TheDEBMethod
http://Instagram.com/TheDEBMethod
http://Facebook.com/WriteOnOnline
http://Facebook.com/groups/WriteOnOnline
http://Facebook.com/groups/YourGoalGuide
