Welcome to New York (Backstage.com)

At some point every aspiring writer must evaluate his or her work and make a realistic appraisal of its worth. Are you just laying bricks? It helps to have unbiased readers who will give honest criticism. Do not try to write unless you are willing to fail. If you are unwilling to let your friends read your stuff because they might not understand it, it is unpublishable--the book buying public won't understand it either. This leads inexorably to my next point: if you have to explain to a reader what they should have gotten out of a story, it didn't work. Go back and work on it some more. The story must stand on its own. How well it stands is a direct measure of how well you have mastered the craft of writing.

Welcome to New York (Backstage.com)

The stereotypical image of New York is that of a cold, bustling metropolis where actors struggle and starve. While an acting career is never a sure bet, the odds have improved of late.

Creative sparks on display (Boston Globe)

You know you've stumbled into an exciting exhibition when the single piece there by Pablo Picasso looks meek and unrealized compared to the rest of the work in the show.

Santa Barbara Firefighting Costs Top $54 Million (Environment News Service)

SANTA BARBARA, California , August 7, 2007 (ENS) - The giant Zaca Fire in Santa Barbara County devoured 2,000 more acres today, although at least 2,370 firefighters are doing battle with the month-old blaze.

Cornell's Creative Writing Program ranked among the nation's best (Cornell News Service)

Cornell's Creative Writing Program has been named one of the nation's top 10. In its summer 2007 fiction issue, The Atlantic magazine included Cornell in its list of the leading U.S. graduate writing programs.

Madison team competes in its first bout at National Poetry Slam (Isthmus)

Our bout was at Ego's, a small, low-ceiling club that reminds me a bit of Cafe Montmartre if you replaced all the wine with beer. We were up against Phoenix, Farmington, Decatur and the perennially tough Nuyorican Poet's Cafe team from New York City. We drew a one, which meant that we had to read first -- which strategically, meant that I had to read first -- and as anyone in the slam scene ...

Virgin Mobile USA Debuts the Re*Generation Art Gallery in Online Auction to Benefit Homeless Youth (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)

Virgin Mobile USA, a leading provider of no-annual-contract wireless phone services targeted at the youth market, today announced it has commissioned a special gallery of works of art created by 21 internationally renowned artists on behalf of The RE*Generation, Virgin Mobile's pro-social initiative to raise awareness of the plight of at-risk and homeless youth.

Course(s) for Adventure (The Village Voice)

You've got a thing or two to learn. . . (By Kosiya Shalita)

New businesses, acquisitions and more (Inside Business)

Old Dominion University has renewed the management contract at the Ted Constant Convocation Center with Global Spectrum, a public-assembly management firm that is a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment firm Comcast-Spectator.

UNLV programs getting it 'write' (Las Vegas Sun)

Former university President Carol Harter has long dreamed that UNLV's academic programs would one day surpass its basketball reputation. That day may have arrived.

Theater events this week (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

PROFESSIONAL THEATER

Welcome to New York (Backstage.com)

3. My Writing: Also, to make my stories more exciting, and to fill in the dull spots, I read a lot from a book by my favorite author-Francine Rivers. She writes adult christian fiction, and is absolutely brilliant. I recommend her to anyone for a good read. Her books help me a lot, and I'm now a better writer for them. I have recently been going through the first chapters of my book, and adding a lot more material and diolauge. It helps make the story more interesting. A lot of things can happen while you're writing. I, for instance, was playing the same cd (dc talk) over and over for a few hours, and consequently learned my favorite rap verse. I have two lives: one regular, and one secretive. the other me, likes privacy, and lives half the time at the computer. My personality doesn't shout "WRITER!" and most of my stories don't sound like me. And don't be discouraged if you write something bad. The very first story I wrote was really not bad, but it wasn't book material. I still have it, but I've given up on it. You wouldn't believe how many short stories I've thrown away, and most of them were not all that bad. One of them was actually a favorite of my sister. But i tend to veer off from my writing style, and most of the time, in my case, that's a bad thing. You can't over check a story. I edited some of mine like you wouldn't believe, and every time I found more mistakes. Some huge, but not particularly noticable. Some small-like misspelled words or typos. All this, to say, I love writing, and want everyone who reads this to be able to write better.

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Welcome to New York (Backstage.com)