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Use Your Enewsletter to Brand Yourself

January 11, 2012 By

Want a cost-effective way to touch base with fellow writers and readers? Then create an enewsletter. In this challenging economy, authors should consider the e-newsletter as a vital part of their marketing plan to distinguish themselves from other writers and allow potential readers to get to know them and their books for the long haul. You don’t even need to know HTML in order to publish a class-act newsletter: email marketing software providers such as Constant Contact, iContact, MailChimp and RatePoint can help you launch permission-based email campaigns through step-by-step templates and easy contact uploads. They also help you create top-of-mind awareness to help with your branding and marketing campaigns.

How to get subscribers

Encourage your readers to sign up for your newsletter directly from your website where they can quickly provide their information and choose exactly what kind of information they want to receive from you. You can even show them old issues of your newsletter through the “archiving function” so they know exactly what to expect from you. Potential subscribers can also sign up for your newsletter via a signup sheet provided at any workshops or presentations you give. Make sure that on the signup sheet, as well as on your website, you let these signups know what the newsletter will contain and the frequency of your campaigns.

Under no circumstances should you disclose your contact list to anyone, but consider broadening your contact base by a partnership with another writer. For instance, you can publicize their book launch, reading or workshop on your newsletter and they can do the same for you.

What your newsletter should contain

First get the basics right with a clear subject line that reveals your name. The line can be creative or more straight-forward, but it must set up the reader’s expectations of what’s to follow. Once a subscriber opens your enewsletter then you can continue to build your list, expose them to links, send valuable content, and get people to become “sticky” with you. Getting sticky means they’ll want to come back to you for more AND they’ll tell their friends about what you’re doing through sharing your newsletter on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Besides updating your readers on your next event you should also write about what you know. For example, you can write about publishing trends, conferences, tips and tricks. You may want to include a “Pet of the Month” or “Recipe of the Month” or a book review or a story about a locale you’ve been to recently that will be featured in your next book. Consider using third-party content from other newsletters—just get permission first!

Be sure to make a nice “eye trail” for your readers with plenty of white space and graphics. Make sure you keep your colors consistent so that you keep your brand consistent.

Using an enewsletter software company (I use Constant Contact) to generate your newsletters can be one of best investments you’ve ever made. Many of these companies mentioned above offer free 30-day trials and many have affordable (less than $ 20/month) tiered plans depending on how many subscribers you have. These companies also offer seminars, newsletters, tutorials and more so that you can be as effective an emarketer as possible.

I’ve sent out my enewsletter for three and a half years and it’s been the single-best way of reaching my clients and readers every month. In fact, I sometimes get emails asking me if I’ve sent my newsletter out already! I strive to give the best information about contests, publications, conferences and readings, while also keeping my readers up-to-date on what I’m offering. I also ask my readers questions and sometimes have my own contests and special deals just for my enewsletter subscribers.

Yes, it does take time and energy to publish an enewsletter every month, but the results will be worth it because an enewsletter can reach so many more people than you can via face-to-face or even via email.

 

Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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What to Expect at an Open Mic

February 1, 2008 By

Many people think Open Mic Nights only apply to musicians, but all across the country there are literary open mics in your local coffee shop, bookstore and library. I’ve hosted an Open Mic reading series for almost two years and these events bring out writers of all genres: fiction, memoir, poetry, spoken word and more. We’ve had crossover artists, but for the most part we stick to the written word. At these events, we have about 20 readers and about 40 folks in the audience, which is fantastic! Imagine, 40 people decided to get off their couch and listen to other people read their own poetry!

Open Mic Do’s

· Let the MC know you’ll be reading at least 3 days in advance of event (especially if the Open Mic is an advanced sign-up kind of event)

· Practice reading your work beforehand so you know it’s 5 minutes or less

· Remind the MC if you have any specific requests for your introduction

· Keep it PG or PG-13 – sometimes there are children in the audience. And, yes, maybe they watch HBO, but don’t assume that it’s cool to throw F-bombs every which way

· Do try to stay till the end of the open mic and if you can’t, please tell the MC you have to leave

· Tip generously and patronize the bar, coffee shop, or bookstore

Open Mic Don’ts

  • This is not the time or place to get on your political or religious soap box
  • If the MC has motioned you to stop, don’t take another 3 minutes to finish!
  • Don’t shuffle papers or chit chat while folks are reading
  • Bring your material on paper—don’t plan to read off of your laptop or other smart device
  • Turn off your cell phone!

Most of all Open Mics are meant to support writers and give artists a forum to present and practice their words before a live audience. They’re meant to be fun! There’s always a special energy in the room during an Open Mic and it’s because people are there because they want to be with other like-minded creatives who don’t think they’re funny because they scribble or mumble in odd places.

My next Open Mic will be Fri Nov 12th from 7:30-9:30 at Calm and Sense in Glenwood Village, next to the Harris Teeter. It’s a fundraiser for Veterans’ Day and the suggested donation is $ 10. We’re expecting a fantastic line-up of writers and artists. Hope you can come! For more info visit my website at http://aliceosborn.com




Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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Why I Teach Memoir

January 26, 2008 By

I teach memoir because I want to help others remember the past. I want others to preserve their memories so no one’s left wondering what happened? Writing down the past provides a link, like a rope between the past and the future. Some people want to capture their stories to give something real and tangible to their grandchildren; others want to feel that their life meant and means something.
Writing your memoirs can also teach you to stop cycles of abuse and give logic to highly charged emotions. Writing down your memoirs may not eliminate family secrets but it can create reckoning and growth. Memoir writing helps you control something in the present you weren’t able to control in the past and that’s so powerful.

I think it’s a shame that we cannot be witness to so many of our grandparents’ lives because they didn’t leave a record for their descendants. For instance, I hardly know anything about my French grandmother, born in 1895, died in 1995. My namesake. I know she could elegantly sew and cook and lost three brothers (or was it an uncle in WWI in Northern France?) but I don’t even know what she looked like before the age of 50. She didn’t like to have her pictures taken and my mother told me she burned all of her photos because she didn’t want anyone making fun of the clothes she wore back in the day.

On the other hand, my father’s father who was born in Holton, Kansas, kept meticulous records and I have many of his framed postcards and ship paintings hanging in our house. He was a retired naval captain who served in Bremerhaven after WWII and commanded a ship in the Pacific during WWII. On the backs of the postcards and photos he lists where/when and who. He was a nonfiction writer who wrote for Naval Proceedings and in later years for the Op-Ed section of his local paper in Annapolis, Maryland. Because of Grandpa Osborn I have my childhood photos of me at age 3 and 5 from his mantle. My parents and I are estranged from each other and I don’t have any photos of myself that I didn’t take. So my grandfather’s photos of me are the only ones I have which I acquired after he died in 1998.

When you write down your memories you’re also preserving them and you help connect others to your life. If you are interested in learning more about writing your memoirs and are ready to jump in, sign up for my “Sharing Your Story: A Beginning Memoir Experience” at A Place for Women to Gather in North Raleigh starting Tues. January 11th to Tues. February 15th from 11:30-1:30pm. No previous experience is required and all writers at all levels are welcome to join us. And don’t let the name fool you—gentlemen: we welcome you, too! Cost is $ 60, which is extremely reasonable—only $ 10 a 90 min class. You can easily register online HERE

Looking forward to having you share your story with us!

Alice

Sharing your Story: A New Beginning Memoir Experience
Location: A Place for Women to Gather, 8380 Six Forks Rd, Suite 201, Raleigh, NC 27615
Starting Tues Jan 11th through Tues Feb 15th Duration: 6 weeks
Suggested Donation: $ 60
Time: 11:30-1:30, participants bring their own lunch. Drinks and dessert provided.
Any Questions? Call Alice at 919-971-9414 or email Alice HERE
Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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How a Correspondence Course Can Fast Track You to Publication

January 22, 2008 By

In 2011 do you want to be published? Do you want to learn how to be a better writer? Do you want to receive individualized teaching? Do you need an accountability partner to keep you on the creative track? Then consider taking a correspondence course!



With a correspondence course, which is a form of distance learning, you learn your lessons via email and/or snail mail. Correspondence courses are in fact older than our country. The first one started as a shorthand course originating from Boston in 1728.



I got my feet wet in the writing world I’m now a part of by taking two UNC-Chapel Hill Friday Center correspondence courses nine years ago. Today, I want to give back to writers by offering my own set of correspondence courses in poetry and memoir that provide individualized feedback, coaching and encouragement. [Note: my poetry correspondence class is open to new students this month and my memoir correspondence class starts up again this October.]



After my son was born in 2002 I took a Beginning and then an Intermediate Fiction Writing Course through the Friday Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. My goal was to attend graduate school at NC State in English, but I had a problem. My undergrad was in Finance and although I loved to read and write, I didn’t possess the necessary experience or coursework needed.



In the Friday Center courses students were required to purchase the Norton Anthology of Short Stories along with a course manual. I did the lessons from the course manual and then mailed them in to my instructor. After about two weeks, she mailed them back to me with feedback. Since this class happened way before the iPhone, all of the class interaction occurred via snail mail. I got A’s in both correspondence classes and was able to attach the transcripts to my graduate school application.



Through this UNC Friday Class I gained valuable knowledge in writing fiction and a few years later I signed up to take a poetry correspondence class, hoping for the same results. In fact, a poetry book later and after having won several poetry contests I owe much of my good publishing fortune to my poetry correspondence class teacher I met while taking her poetry class at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.



I knew correspondence classes work and last year when I held my first class I wanted to reach students who live out-of-state or who can’t attend my in-class workshops due to family and work schedules. Correspondence classes also give offer a personalized touch you may not receive in an online class. After a successful first year, I’m now looking forward to forming a new group of correspondence class poets this month.




From Barry, a 2010 Poetry Correspondence Class student from Ferrisburg, VT:

“Taking Alice’s correspondence course has helped me dig deeper, work harder, revise more and like what I write more. I know that I wouldn’t have written any of the poems that came from the monthly challenge of her prompts. Alice’s input has helped me see my poetry in a different light, expanded the subject matter for poems beyond emotion and encouraged me to do research just to write a couple of lines.”



How It Works



I issue you a prompt via email, then you send me your poem via email and then I print it out, handwrite my feedback and then snail mail it back to you. Postage is included in your class fee.



A Few Spaces Still Open!



If you want to be a better poet, consider enrolling my 2011 Poetry Correspondence Class, which starts this week. It is $ 295 for the entire year (which is less than $ 24 a month!). There are a few spots still available. By keeping up with your monthly prompts and improving on your feedback, you’re only a few months away from possible publication. Click HERE to begin your journey today!



Your Turn



I’d like to know if you ever took a correspondence course and what you got out of it!
Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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E-newsletters: What’s in a List? How to Build and Nurture Your Most Valuable Asset

January 17, 2008 By

You know that having a strong e-newsletter is key to create top-of-mind awareness for your clients and to capture potential clients as well. But how do you get good subscribers for your newsletter? It will take some consistency and some effort, but in a short amount of time it’s possible to grow your list and reach many more people who want to buy your products and/or use your services. I know this since I grew my list from 100 to 1000 in eighteen months. With that said, I’d still go for quality over quantity in my list. Make sure you add people who want to be added and never hijack anyone’s list from an email or sign-up sheet.

How to Grow Your List:

  • At every event or workshop you facilitate, be sure you have a sign-up sheet attached to a clipboard. Why a clipboard? When it gets passed around, the clipboard stands out and looks more professional than a sheet of paper. On the signup sheet have room for name, email and phone number. You may also want to state the frequency of your e-newsletter and that you never give out names to spammers.
  • Add a subscriber-capture box on your Facebook Fan Page (here’s mine) and on your website. Mine is in the top right corner of my homepage. With this capture box, be sure to give information away with every new subscriber so that people want to receive you in their inbox! After each new subscription, I give away writing tips and writing market information.
  • In the e-newsletter itself, be sure to have a Forward option so your news can be passed on.When someone queries you, ask them if they would like to receive your free newsletter with free tips and if yes, you’ll gladly sign them up today.


Now that you have your names, you need to add them in your newsletter program’s contact page. Be sure to also add their names along with their emails. At this point, it’s a good idea to separate new names into lists. Your lists can be “Local Only”, “Out of State,” and product and service-specific. You can also divide up your list my age and gender. TAKE THE TIME TO TYPE THE NAMES TO YOUR LIST! After you’re done adding, go ahead and file the sign-up sheet in a safe place just in case something happens to your e-list. I’m so glad I did this, especially after my computer crashed along with all of my contacts.

When someone wants off of your list (even if they opted in), take them off immediately. The auto-unsubscribes really work here so you never have to interact with someone who wants out.

Finally, keep your list secure and never give out your list to anyone. You’ve worked very hard to build this list and this list will help build you and your business.

Reward your followers with good content and make them care so they’ll anticipate your newsletter every month and share it with friends!

Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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Win Your Unfinished Projects Goodie Mug Today

January 16, 2008 By

As you know my new poetry book Unfinished Projects, published by Main Street Rag is now available! You can buy it through me personally or via my website, Main Street Rag’s website or at these three Triangle-area bookstores: Storyteller’s Bookstorein Wake Forest, Northgate Books at Northgate Mall in Durhamor Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. If you get it through me you will always receive a personally signed copy!

Till the end of 2010 my book is available for $ 8 on my website (only $ 2 shipping and handling) Wow! Also, I’m running two contests to win a free mug (pictured above with my daughter Erin). If you purchase from now until the end of the year, you’ll go into the drawing for the mug. And if you already own the book and also want a mug, answer this question (What books are mentioned in the poem “Sex Ed”) and message the answer to me HERE. Offer good till when the ball gets dropped in Times Square! (12/31/10)

OK, a litte bit about this book. I am a narrative poet who loves to dish about my life and create poetic meaning from my past. This makes sense since I also write and teach memoir–memoir is about making meaning from your memories while also producing a reckoning of your life. Part of this reckoning is discussing the good and the not so good parts of your life. I am also a narrative poet who fictionalizes a lot of events–sometimes you can’t tell the difference between what’s real or not. Many of these poems in this book came to be because of the memories I have of the split level house I grew up in Annandale, Virginia with my parents and brother, outside Washington, D.C. I have also included many persona poems about men who make a living working with their hands. As I gathered the poems together I noticed a pattern: all of the poems contain images of houses, both of their interiors and exteriors. And so Unfinished Projects was born! My ideas for these poems came from poetry prompts and many of them also came from my dreams. I most strongly remember my dreams about the house I grew up in.

If you’d like to check out my poems, they’re available here on my author page at my publisher’s site HERE

And stay tuned for my “World Tour” coming in Jan 2011. My first BIG EVENT is Fri. January 28th at Storytellers Bookstorein downtown Wake Forest from 7:30-9:30. I’ll be launching by book not only with a reading, wine and chocolate, but many of my poetry friends will be joining me to read from their work. My friends include Barton and Megan Cutter, Jenny Maness, Larry Johnson and Sean Ingram. There’ll also be an Open Mic after the featured readings (sign up at the door). This date also have special significance to me because it is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. My lead poem in my book is “Challenger 7″ about the 1986 shuttle accident that cost the lives of 7 brave Americans.

After the 28th I’ll be reading my poems at various Triangle locations along with traveling to Charleston, Charlotte, Hickory, New York! and the beautiful mountains of Waynesville, NC.

Good luck on getting the mug which is filled with Godiva chocolate (Hmmm…chocolate), a bookmark, letter opener, pen and more!

To purchase UNFINISHED PROJECTS, CLICK HERE 

Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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Alice Osborn’s Free Poetry Workshop on Long Island

January 16, 2008 By

This Sunday afternoon from 3-5pm, June 26th, I’ll be in Huntington, Long Island giving a free poetry workshop at the Book Revue Bookstore, Long Island’s oldest and largest independent bookstore. This special gig came about last Thanksgiving when I was up in New York visiting my in-laws with my husband and children. We visited my husband’s sister and I told everyone I wanted to check out the Book Revue and see if 1) they’d be interested in carrying UNFINISHED PROJECTS, my poetry book published by Main Street Rag in 2010 and 2) if I could have a reading/workshop with them in the the summer of 2011. So here I am! Dream it and do it, I always say!

 

During the workshop, I’ll be leading the writers on creating personal poems with images, emotions, metaphors and similes. We’ll discuss the Four Elements of a Poem and read several examples from the greats like Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, and William Carlos Williams. We’ll also read two of my contemporary favorites: Dorianne Laux (she teaches at NC State!) and Yusef Kumunyakaa. Participants are guaranteed to have fun and are encouraged to publish their work. In fact, several of my poetry students have been successfully published!

Poetry workshops don’t come often to the Book Revue, so join us!

 

Here are the details:

FREE Poetry Workshop with Alice Osborn

Location: Book Revue, 313 New York Ave, Huntington, NY 11743

Sunday, June 26    Time:  3:00pm-5:00pm  FREE!
More info: http://www.bookrevue.com/AliceOsborn.html
Poet and author, ALICE OSBORN, will teach a poetry workshop as well as present her new book of poems, Unfinished Projects. Focused writing exercises delving into images/metaphor and Alice’s gentle feedback will help you generate memorable poetry so you can write in a voice your readers will savor. All passionate writers welcome! 

Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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Why I Write Poetry

January 14, 2008 By

Poetry is an important part of who I am and how I see the world. Poetry opens me up to possibilities of sound and rhythm, plus it helps me say what is so hard to put into words. I also love how poetry demands that I see the space we live in as more than black and white. Through poetry, I can bear witness to current and historical events and tell a story about them. These and so many other reasons are why I write poetry and why I continue to struggle to find the right words to express an image, a feeling or the hardened ground after last week’s sleet storm in Raleigh.

As an eight-year-old, I loved hearing the pounding hoof beats in Robert Louis Stevenson’s poems, followed by his easy end rhymes. I also couldn’t get enough of Walt Whitman’s extended metaphor about Lincoln’s assassination in “O, Captain! My Captain!” I, too, wanted to express something grand and meaningful. I first got my chance my sophomore year of high school when I won second place in the annual poetry contest. I wrote a three page poem about the epic fight between King Arthur and Sir Mordred. After trying the next year and not making the award cut, I stopped writing poetry until my mid-twenties when a friend invited me to an open mic. I felt that what I wrote could have been better, but I didn’t know what I needed to do get better.

Now fast forward to five years ago when I first started sending my short stories and essays out to various publication markets. I didn’t get any takers for these pieces and I was getting tired of all of the rejections. Then one of my writing teachers suggested reading and writing poetry to become a stronger fiction or memoir writer. I could do this! After all, I had written poetry before. The third poem I wrote after my nineteen year hiatus won honorable mention in NC State’s annual poetry contest. Wow! Maybe I needed to keep doing this poetry thing. It was called “Ghostcards” and it was about the dual hanging deaths of two 14-year-old African American boys in Shubuta, Mississippi in 1942. Langston Hughes had portrayed the boys’ fate in “Bitter River” and I wanted to present my own version using the color gray throughout the poem.

The title of my poem “Ghostcards” came to me in a dream and wouldn’t let me go until I had finished writing the poem. A lot of my poems emerge similarly, while others come from the newspaper, random encounters, personal experiences or strange family behaviors. For instance, I’m working on a poem about when I was a kid my family went to McDonald’s for dinner every two weeks and my dad always ordered the wrong hamburger for my mom. She complained, but he kept doing it for the next five years. Now, that’s a poem!

Even if you’re not a writer, I encourage you to read poetry to discover a fresh insight into an old idea or see how a poet performs acrobatics with his words. You just might learn something cool about yourself or the fellow drinking black coffee two tables over at the Panera.
Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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Five Easy Ways to Video Blog

January 12, 2008 By

Using video on your blog can instantly help you build trust, credibility and your expert standing. Video can also give your potential clients a keen sense of what you do and how you do it. For instance, if you’re blogging about “5 Ways to Boost Traffic On Your Website,” wouldn’t your message be more powerful if you could add video to that post along with your image, voice and passion? These days it’s even easier and less expensive to add video with the Flip cameras, iPhones, digital cameras and more! And once you’ve created your video it’s a snap to upload it to YouTube or Vimeo–both video sharing sites can let your video go viral thanks to social media. I also found a new site called Animoto which allows you to create a video/slideshow post accompanied by music using your photos. Now that’s easy!



Here are Five Easy Ways to Video Blog:



•know your content so you can talk comfortably in front of the camera without a script; be sure you know what you want your viewers to do after watching your video. It can be “Call Me for a Free Consult” or “Check out my eReport” or “Come Visit My Website for Other Cool Videos.”



•Use good indoor lighting, or better yet go outdoors! I love filming on vacation (see my videos taken in South Dakota and New York)



•Make sure your sound is clear–clear audio is vital for a good video blog post



•Share your videos on Facebook and encourage your friends to “Share” it by asking them do it directly



•Don’t try to cram too much into a video post; keep it around three minutes long on a single topic (multi topics in the same video will confuse your viewer and they won’t know what action to take). List posts work really well for this format. For instance, you can create a video about “Three Ways to ….” or create a video for a product or book review.



If you want to know more about video blogging, I suggest you check out this workshop facilitated by Alex Ferguson of EpicRealm Studioand Alice Osborn of Write from the Inside Out:



Video Blogging Boot Camp with Alex Ferguson and Alice Osborn

Location: EpicRealm Video Studio, 901-D Kildaire Farm Rd. Cary, NC 27511

Thursday, March 31st from 11:30-1:30pm

Cost: $ 37

Register HERE

Everyone knows blogs help you cultivate a following on the web, but did you know that video blogging can help you establish even more trust and impact with your followers—plus, it’s just darn fun! Join web video specialist Alex Ferguson and writer Alice Osborn as they discuss creating strong vLogging (video blogging) content, including how to work on your script. This will be a hands-on workshop which will most benefit those who have some video and blogging experience.



Get your video questions answered and start having fun with sharing your expertise to the world!



Your Turn:Do you video blog? If yes, have you found that it’s boosted your traffic and your business? Let me know in the comments below:
Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals

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Be Safe…No Rare Hamburger for You in NC

January 11, 2008 By

Growing up in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, my parents were extremely safety conscious: we kids always wore our SPF 30 and hats, we biked on the sidewalk, wore our seatbelts, but when it came to meat, my mom liked to run a little on the wild side. Although we never ate a rare steak or hamburger, we sure used a lot of napkins and that wasn’t because of the A1 Sauce (my mother abhorred A1). I remember my mom’s cutting board brimming with the steak’s red juice along the board’s gutters. Yum! She always bought the best quality meats and the only thing I can fault her with her hamburgers was buying buns that were always way too big for the burger. I’m so glad I had this juicy experience because if my dad was in charge everything would be well and well-burnt. He was always so afraid of anything juicy because his mother cooked everything to death and warned him about the dangers of trichinosis. Yes, different meat, but same risk. Thank goodness he let my mom cook, although he manned the grill. I know I blocked out those arguments about meat temperature and his mother. All I could smell was the seared beef drifting in through the screen as I popped another tomato meant for the burgers into my mouth.

Why am I going down burger memory lane? My good friend, Steven Elliot, owner of Falls River Books and Northgate Books is passionate about making rare burgers legal in North Carolina (Read more about rare burgers at Steven’s website). Although I’m not a rare burger fan, I can understand why he wants burger lovers to have a choice. Because of fears of undercooked ground meat causing an E. coli outbreak, North Carolina requires all restaurants to cook their burgers to 155 Fahrenheit, which eliminates you from having a rare, medium rare or even a medium beef patty. Overcooked burgers don’t taste good even if you dunk the whole thing in a bottle of ketchup. If NC restaurants do serve rare hamburgers they receive demerits from the Department of Environmental Health which can affect their restaurant rating.

Steven wants restaurants to allow rare hamburgers to be served to anyone older than 18. Hey, the restaurants can even issue a disclaimer on their menus. Even if you don’t like rare hamburgers, is it right that the state can tell you how you like yours done? Imagine never seeing a burger that’s pink in the middle—that was my dad’s experience until he married my mom.

With Steven’s persistence and advocacy, the rare burger ban in North Carolina may be a thing of the past next year. Stay tuned!

Alice Osborn, M.A. is the author of two books of poetry, Unfinished Projects (Main Street Rag, 2010) and Right Lane Ends (Catawba, 2006); she is a manuscript editor, freelance writer and storyteller. A former Raleigh Charter High School English teacher, Alice has served as a Writer-in-Residence in the United Arts Artists in the Schools program since 2009 and has taught creativity, poetry, memoir and blogging workshops to Triangle residents for five years. Her work has appeared in Raleigh’s News and Observer, Soundings Review, The Pedestal Magazine, and in numerous journals and anthologies. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and two children. Visit her website: www.aliceosborn.com.
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