I remember talking one evening with the husband of a friend at a neighorhood meeting. He wanted to know how to get published, and knew I'd been doing freelance writing work. I gave him a simple list of things to do, and a couple of resources, thinking that he probably wouldn't follow through. But a year later I couldn't have been more pleased to have him give me a signed copy of his book. He'd decided my information was good, had followed my instructions, and had found a publisher for the book he'd been working on. That book (out of date now) is still on my shelf. (!)

Another time a similar conversation happened with one of my English professors (he was on my MA thesis committee). He wrote an email to ask about getting published in commercial publications. I'd thought that an English PhD would know all about getting published, but in fact, they know about getting a lot of hard work published for no remuneration. I was surprised some months later by an email from him with the news he that he'd sold an article. I wrote back and asked "but did they pay you?" His response was memorable--he was embarrassed to say that this payment for a trifle of an article was more than the advance for the last scholarly book he'd published! He regularly publishes for payment now, along with his scholarly work.

I'm raising two talented and gifted children, and every so often they'll ask me for guidance that leads them to some success at school or elsewhere. I know they did the work, but am always pleased to know that 1) they were comfortable enough to ask me for help and 2) they were diligent enough to follow through, and receive recognition for their own work. My son was just nominated for a junior high school level National Honor Society. Whoo hoo! He did the work, but had parental encouragement helping him along (mostly in learning discipline to get the schoolwork done).

SRS