NaNoWriMo prep

Today I have been putting together some information to give to the library director about National Novel Writing Month. I composed an article to insert in the library's August newsletter and wrote a flyer to distribute to people interested in more details. I used parts of a NaNoWriMo press release from last year. They haven't posted one for 2015 yet, although it is clear from the website that it will be happening.

This got me to thinking about my own writing career, such as it is. When I was a freshman in college, I had a couple of poems published in a national poetry review. When I entered the Carmelites, I began to have devotional and short biographical articles published in their magazines. Later I wrote more scholarly articles and book reviews. While I was prior at Holy Hill, a guy I had known when doing doctoral work at Catholic University invited me to write entries for an extensive dictionary of spirituality. He originally asked me to write two things that he knew were in my field of study, but when some people failed to meet deadlines, he convinced me to do a few more that required more research. Some of my public conferences were recorded and released on cassettes and later on CDs. I have been published in European and African periodicals as well as here in the States. Altogether, I have about 40 publications, including my five books. The books are all available through Amazon around the world. I have sold copies in England, Italy, Germany and Spain. And, of course, I am working on two more.

I certainly have not made much money with all that, but I was paid. The IRS considers me a self-employed writer.  So no matter how amateurish my output, I guess that makes me a professional writer.