Professionalism

Well, Christmas is over and here comes New Year's. I had a relatively stress-free Christmas, this year and I highly recommend it. I was so busy thinking about the Salem Chapter of Willamette Writers and what needed to be done and then getting it done, that I didn't have time to worry about who's Christmas gift I needed to buy. Everyone kept asking me if my Christmas shopping was done, and I'm like yeah, mostly. Then a couple of days before, I realize, I need so and so's and so and so's. So I ran to Wal-Mart in the wee hours of the morning, as I'm usually up anyway. The busiest day was Christmas Eve when they had fifteen-twenty people checking out and one checker. Don't you love that moment? Finally, they opened another one, wow, now there's two! Anyway, I got out in a reasonable amount of time and I was on my way.

Speaking of the Salem Chapter, I'm so excited for our first meeting on January 10, 2008, at 6:30pm! Our first speakers are Bernadette Baker-Baughman and Gretchen Stelter of Baker's Mark Literary Agency. My co-rep, Heather Cuthbertson and I had the great opportunity to meet these remarkable agents and we were both impressed. They were so great and we all had such a wonderful time learning about the other side of the fence.

Some writers perhaps don't understand that writing and selling your work is a professional business and you need to conduct yourself professionally. In order to do that, we need to learn about the selling side. How agents work, what they want, what editors will do for you and what they're looking for. That's why writers need writing groups. Whether you have a large one like Willamette Writers or small ones with some friends, you can always conduct yourselves professionally and encourage your fellow writers to do the same.

Salem Chapter meets at the West Salem Roth's, with parking and entrance in rear of building. Also, there are Chapters in Eugene, Medford, Newport, and of course the meetings in Portland. Check us out at one of these places or via the web; http://www.willamettewriters.com/ or http://www.salemchapter.com/.