Language, literature and biography.

IF YOU'RE TIRED OF REJECTION, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. Whether you are a novice writer or a veteran who has already had your work published, rejection is often a frustrating reality. Literary agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month. While it's the job of these publishing professionals to be discriminating, it's the job of the writer to produce a manuscript that immediately stands out among the vast competition. And those outstanding qualities, says New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, have to be apparent from the first five pages. The First Five Pages reveals the necessary elements of good writing, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry, and points out errors to be avoided, such as * A weak opening hook * Overuse of adjectives and adverbs * Flat or forced metaphors or similes * Melodramatic, commonplace or confusing dialogue * Undeveloped characterizations and lifeless settings * Uneven pacing and lack of progression With exercises at the end of each chapter, this invaluable reference will allow novelists, journalists, poets and screenwriters alike to improve their technique as they learn to eliminate even the most subtle mistakes that are cause for rejection. The First Five Pages will help writers at every stage take their art to a higher -- and more successful -- level.

Whether you are a novice writer or a veteran who has already had your work published, rejection is often a frustrating reality. Literary agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month. While it's the job of these publishing professionals to be discriminating, it's the job of the writer to produce a manuscript that immediately stands out among the vast competition. And those outstanding qualities, says New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, have to be apparent from the first five pages. The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile reveals the necessary elements of good writing, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry, and points out errors to be avoided, such as: - A weak opening hook - Overuse of adjectives and adverbs - Flat or forced metaphors or similes - Undeveloped characterizations and lifeless settings - Uneven pacing and lack of progression With exercises at the end of each chapter, this invaluable reference will allow novelists, journalists, poets, and screenwriters alike to improve their technique as they learn to eliminate even the most subtle mistakes that are cause for rejection. The First Five Pages will help writers at every stage take their art to a higher - and more successful - level.

Atwoods first book of poetry since "Morning in the Burned House" in 1995, "The Door" contains 50 lucid yet urgent poems which range in tone from lyric to ironic and meditative to prophetic, and in subject from the personal to the political.

"Takes the straitjacket off punctuation…Lukeman's wit and insight make this an instant classic." —M. J. Rose The first practical and accessible guide to the art of punctuation for creative writers. Punctuation reveals the writer: haphazard commas, for example, reveal haphazard thinking; clear, lucid breaks reveal clear, lucid thinking. Punctuation can be used to teach the writer how to think and how to write. This short, practical book shows authors the benefits that can be reaped from mastering punctuation: the art of style, sentence length, meaning, and economy of words. There are full-length chapters devoted to the period, the comma, the semicolon, the colon, quotation marks, the dash and parentheses, the paragraph and section break, and a cumulative chapter on integrating them all into "The Symphony of Punctuation." Filled with exercises and examples from literary masters (Why did Poe and Melville rely on the semicolon? Why did Hemingway embrace the period?), A Dash of Style is interactive, highly engaging, and a necessity for creative writers as well as for anyone looking to make punctuation their friend instead of their mysterious foe.

Rue McClanahan, best known for her portrayal of Blanche Devereaux on the Emmy-award winning series The Golden Girls reveals her life in and out of the spotlight in a laugh-out-loud funny memoir about love, marriage, men, and getting older that is every bit as colorful as the characters she played. Raised in small-town Oklahoma in a house “thirteen telephone poles past the standpipe north of town,” Rue developed her two great passions—theater and men—at an early age. She arrived in New York City in 1957 with two-weeks worth of money in her pocket, hustled her way into a class with the legendary Uta Hagen, and began working her way up in the acting world against the vibrant, free-spirited backdrop of the sixties. That’s when she met and married Husband #1—a handsome rogue of an aspiring actor who quickly left her with a young son. Still, she was determined to make it on the stage and screen—and in the years that followed, rose to the top of the entertainment world with a host of adventures (and husbands) along the way. From her roles on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman and Brad Davis, to her first television appearances on Maude and All in the Family, to the Golden Girls era and beyond, My First Five Husbands is the irresistible story of one woman’s quest to find herself. Rue is proof that many things can and do get better with age—and that, if she keeps her wits about her, even a small-town girl can make it big. People always ask me if I'm like Blanche. And I say, 'Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta—and I'm not from Atlanta!’” —Rue McClanahan

"This valuable guide made an immediately favorable impression on me--I recommend it." --Letitia Baldridge Business communications expert Mary Mitchell gives business people and job seekers everything they need to make the right first impression, whether in person--at job interviews, sales calls, or social gatherings--or via letter, fax, or e-mail. Based on Mitchell's popular corporate seminars which have been attended by employees of Arthur Young, Ritz Carlton Hotels, Merck, and other top firms, The First Five Minutes. Gives practical tips on cultural customs, body language, and cross-dressing customs. * Uses realistic scenarios and sample dialogues to show readers what to do and what not to do in every type of first-meeting business situation. * Explains and simplifies the new and changing rules of conduct in today's global business environment. MARY MITCHELL (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is President of Uncommon Courtesies, a firm specializing in teaching business people better communication and relationships through improved social skills. She writes a syndicated column called "Ms. Demeanor" for King features, is the Prodigy online modern manners expert, and is the author of The Idiot's Guide to Etiquette. JOHN CORR (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a writer with the Philadelphia Inquirer.