Calgary Creative Writing Examiner Page is Live!!

Hi everyone!

In my last post, I broke the exciting news that my first freelance writing application had been accepted. I am officially the Calgary Creative Writing Examiner for Examiner.com!

I know that it is still quite early on in the game, and that this first step won't exactly bring me fame or fortune, but I'm pretty happy to have started making progress. I am also really looking forward to the opportunity to practice my writing and start getting my name out there.

After submitting my first article last night, there was nothing to do but sit back and wait to find out whether it would be acceptable, or if I would have to make some revisions. Happily, I received an e-mail today informing me that my page has gone live!

That means I am now an active Examiner, and I can continue posting articles whenever I like, without having to wait for approval. I have a lot of ideas for potential articles in mind, and am beginning to keep a notebook to keep track of them all.

A couple key things to remember though, as I continue writing for Examiner.com, are to keep my articles relatively short (the recommended length is only 200-400 words) and to include as much local content as possible.

The list of potential topics is practically limitless, as Examiner.com publishes a wide variety of articles including reviews, advice, commentary, events, profiles, how-to articles, lists, Q&A, and reports. My role as Calgary Creative Writing Examiner is to write about pretty much anything related to creative writing, especially information that is relevant specifically to Calgarians. I am a part of the Arts & Entertainment channel, and the Books sub-channel.

My first article, titled "Can Creative Writing Help You?", briefly examines the issue of writing and healing. It encourages those interested in practicing creative writing to get started, using whatever method works best for each individual. 

Over the coming weeks, I plan to cover some diverse and exciting topics such as:

• Creative Writing Exercises
• The Benefits of Creative Writing
• Creative Writing for Personal Development
• Creative Writing for Professional Development
• Links Between Health and Creative Writing
• Creative Writing as an Outlet for Emotion and Stress
• Dialogues
• Short Stories
  
• Creative Fiction
• Creative Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Journaling and Autobiography
• Travel Writing
• Reviews
• The Art of Writing
• Why Write?
• What is a Writer?

These areas are all of personal interest to me, especially after completing some related coursework for my Masters degree. Under the Cultural Studies stream, I took both Writing the Self: The Experience and Potential of Writing for the Purpose of Personal Development and Narrative Possibilities: The Transformative Power of Writing, Story, and Poetry in Personal and Professional Development.

Another amazing experience, which could be counted either as part of my Cultural Studies specialization or my Adult Education specialization, due to its interdisciplinary nature, was What I Tell You May Not Be True: Autobiography, Discourse Analysis, and Post-Colonialism. I plan to incorporate readings from all of these classes into some of my future articles. The materials referenced in my first published article happen to be resources from Writing the Self.

And now, as I have obviously failed at my most recent attempt to write a more concise blog post, I will leave you. Come visit my Calgary Creative Writing Examiner page, and check back often for new articles! Until next time...