[stylist] How to be a Crow

[Jacqueline Williams]

Ashley,
In answer to your many questions, yes, I am a published poet, but not in any
big publishing houses. Nor have I self-published.
Mainly I enter contests, different states, and the yearly National
Federation of Poetry Societies  contest.
Also I have a manuscript I have entered in about 11 contests, with no
success, and I am in the process of re-writing and re-organizing it. A new
deadline is in August.
The two anthologies that have selected my poems are strictly Arizona, and
they have paid nothing. The Centennial was considered an honor to be
selected, and The Granite Reef is a senior center in Scottsdale, and I take
a poetry class there, and so it had three selections put in the "Soundings
from Granite Reef." 
Even the most successful poets usually have secondary jobs so they can make
a living. If they are MFA's they usually teach at a university or such.
In my experience, one does not write to make money or to become famous but
rather because they must. Either it is an ego which insists that their words
be heard, or because they love words and want to pursue the mystery of those
words in every genre. 
Because I am retire, free of a partner who requires a lot of time, and now
kept at home because of lack of transportation except for cab coupons, or
mileage re-imbursement, and family, I can indulge myself with books, and
writing, and responding to lovely people such as yourself, all of whom
enrich my world.
Thank you for your interest.
Jackie