Sep 23 2009
Writing Courses
I’ve been told on several occasions that I should write children’s books. My step-father, in particular, was a big advocate of this, to the point that he, at one point, filled out a form for me for some sort of Children’s Literary Association who then proceeded to send me all sorts of things telling me if I just filled out their questionnaire or sent them a writing sample they could assess my writing capability.
In the end after several different requests from them and further badgering from my step-father I did send in a writing sample. The first chapter of something I was working on. It involved a metamorphic police officer chasing down a suspect through a traffic jam and finally catching up by turning into a fly and freaking them out when she turned back into a person on their windshield.
After that I kept getting letters from them telling me how talented I was and offering to set me up with a writing coach and all the rest of it for X amount of dollars. That was when I realized that it was a scam, just like some of those offers for cheap insurance and viagra and things you get in your spam folder can be. Up until I was in college for several years I was still getting letters from them. Since I’ve been married I’ve seen the last of it.
However I get offers now and again from random publishers or agents who are wanting to help me self-publish and a lot of the time when I investigate them they’re also scams. I do know that their are some authors out there who will mentor people but I doubt that they’d be involved in something like that. I realize now that they’re more likely to do guest lectures and courses at actual universities.
