Signs Along the Writing Road
 

Making the right contacts is a vital part of succeeding as a writer. By attending writers' conferences, writers can give their business cards to agents and editors, put their faces before the key people in publishing, pitch their writing ideas, and also get linked to other writers who have valuable contacts. Similarly, by being active in a good writers' group, a new writer can gain experience from more seasoned writers, can get introductions to the agents and editors of other writers, and can get valuable feedback on whatever they are currently writing.

As a university teacher of freelance writing, I bring editors and agents and published authors into my classes as guest speakers. The students get to learn from them first hand, and they get to make direct contact with people in the publishing business. Later, these students can contact these people and it won't be a "cold call."

As a busy writer, I often cannot handle all the work that is offered to me. As a result, I pass it along to other writer friends of mine. But that is a two-way street, because my writer friends send work my way, too.

Very often, it is who you know that makes the difference between success and failure in the world of professional writing.

Dr. Dennis E. Hensley is director of the professional writing major at Taylor University Fort Wayne, where he is a full professor of English. He is the author of six novels and 36 nonfiction books, including HOW TO WRITE WHAT YOU LOVE AND MAKE A LIVING AT IT (Harold Shaw).

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