School's Out for Summer!

Nothing like the Alice Cooper fave to express how I feel about summer. I do actually like school but the Paralegal program is turning out to be tougher than graduate school. The good news is that the law is more interesting than I ever thought possible. If I were 10 years younger I’d take up my oldest brother’s offer to go to law school, but not when you’re so much older than the majority of students and nearly debt-free. 

That said, it was a very busy semester and I did not get those 15 Squidoo pages relating to Hollywood and Catholic Women even close to remotely done, so they’re on the summer “To Do” list. I’m also planning to finish my novel, teach myself short-hand and the premier in legal software, Summation; and submit short fiction to various contests. So much for biting off more than I can chew.  

Helping to make finding a literary agent and contests easier is a new site (just a year old in February, 2009) recommended by another one of the Women Write Resources, WOW-Women On Writing. What Word Hustler attempts to do is make the whole process of seeking markets much easier for authors so we have more time to do what we love – write.

Founded by writers John L. Singleton and Anne Walls, in 2008 they realized a sad but true fact – in the 21st Century writers were still contacting most agents, contests, journals, publishers, etc. the old-fashion and paper intensive way. And they thought that with current technology they could do better. Signing up for Word Hustler is free and celebrating their first birthday the site already offers of wealth a markets, contests, writing assistance with query letters, and much more. I believe Word Hustler is an idea whose time has come. As the tagline notes, “One click to destiny”. Sounds good to me.

I also want to take an opportunity to congratulate fellow author Sandy Young of Cool News 4 Writers who just sold her romance novel, “Falling for Autumn” to an independent publisher recognized by Romance Writers of America. Sandy promises more details in the June issue of Cool News.

This summer write well, write true, and write often!  

Kathyrn Schleich

© 2009