So you want to be an author?

Trying to become a published author is something akin to trying to get a record contract -- too many fish in the pond, not enough food or oxygen. If you want your work published, there's a distinct possibility you'll try for years and years. In the end, what was it all for? Absolutely nothing (kind of like war, eh?).

Sure you can self publish, but you have to have money and the time for your own marketing. Two things many of us don't have.

But if you're an author, poet, essayist, etc., in the Cape Girardeau area, it might not be as hard as you think to get your work in publication.

Right here in our hometown there's a press dedicated to publishing the work of local authors and poets -- the Southeast Missouri State University Press.

Don't have enough material for a full book? Then you can just submit to "Big Muddy," the press's interdisciplinary journal that covers everything from historical essays to contemporary poetry.

The most recent volume was just released in July, and can be found at Barnes and Noble Booksellers. Pick it up and check it out. And if you want more information, go to www6.semo.edu/universitypress.

Happy writing!