I'm collecting writers, photographers, comedians and artistic types in Michigan, and yes, I do know Jonny V the comedian. He's often around the Living For Sundance people and the Thought Collide film productions, so our paths have crossed.
I was reading on your website that you are an aspiring writer because you haven't published for cash before. Allow me to share a different perspective. You are a succcessful husband, successful father and a successful human being. After all, I see your picture of a happy wife, derive the happiness of the child therewith, and derive the successful human being conclusion from your achievement of age 31. You've outlived many neaderthals, whose lives were nasty, brutish and short, as goes the saying. Your life looks nice, gentlemanly and destined to run long. And with all that, you bring your life before the page with pen in hand and write. You are not aspiring. You have arrived. There's that old saying. If you write poetry at sixteen, you're sixteen years old. If you write poetry at thirty, you're a poet. Congratualtions, you have met the age requirements.
Of course, you must keep arriving. Arrive at your writer's desk daily. But here's three or four good places to arrive with that writerly habit, all of them close to your life in, I believe, Western Michigan.
The West Michigan Alliance for Film and Video:
http://wmfva.org/
These folks are really taking ground. They even set up a film bureau for Western Michigan
The Original Kalamazoo Poetry Slam:
http://www.kzooslam.org/
The key idea here is your poetry gets to live in the here and now, performed live before an audience hip to local writers. There's more than one successful, published poet in that audience too, and people looking for new talent to feature on local stages and readings in small venues, such as libraries and art galleries.
The Grand Rapids Poetry Slam at the Sazerac Lounge
Grand Rapid Poets at the Sazerac Lounge
There's a fellow named Greg Bliss who can give you more details: blamo45@yahoo.com
The Open Mike at the Livery, Benton Harbor, Michigan
http://www.liverybrew.com/
This is a personal favorite of mine since I hosted it the first few nights; the series is now hosted by Tochi, who is the third host to lead the evening. Now Tochi might not be a member of the American Academy of Poets, yet, but she is making her career as a writer known. The website is an inspiration worth checking out: http://www.tochi.us/
If you can take a joke, stop being an aspiring writer; become a respiring writer. Aspiring writers inhale; respiring writers inhale and exhale. Holding ones breath never helped a writer to advance in what is a very windy undertaking. The average guy says about 2000 words a day. The average woman says about 40,000. You've got to be using 80,000 words a day just to move into the lead.
Sincerely,
Wandering Wilbo
Are You Waiting to Inhale: Exhale Like a Whale
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