Burt, Wendy 1970-

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BURT, Wendy 1970-

PERSONAL: Born September 7, 1970, in Groton, CT; daughter of Steve (a writer) and Jo Ann (a dietician) Burt. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Attended Middlebury College, 1989; University of Vermont, B.A. (psychology), 1992; also attended University of Aberdeen. Politics: Democrat. Religion: United Church of Christ.

ADDRESSES: Home—1124 Norwood Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80906. Offıce—Business Informant, 2812 West Colorado Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80904; fax: 719-575-0097. Agent—Deidre Knight, Knight Agency, P.O. Box 550648, Atlanta, GA 30355. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Freelance writer, 1994—; Audio Analysts, Colorado Springs, CO, marketing director, 1995-2000; Business Informant, Colorado Springs, editor, 2000—. Writing teacher in Colorado Springs and Denver, CO, 1997—; writing teacher for Mighty Muse Program for low-income women (2001). Creative Alliance of Women's Support, founder and president of Just CAWS.

MEMBER: National Writers Union, PEN Women, Front Range Fiction Writers.

AWARDS, HONORS: Winner of a contest to name a greeting card line, Gibson Greetings.

WRITINGS:

(With Erin Kindberg) Oh, Solo Mia! The Hip Chick'sGuide to Fun for One, Contemporary Books/McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Erin Kindberg) Work It, Girl!: Productive andFun Tips for the Hip Working Chick, Contemporary Books/McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to books, including In the Shadow of Pikes Peak, Heritage Media-California, 2000. Author of "Healthy Home," a column in Nexus, 2001—. Contributor of several hundred articles, short stories, essays, and poems to magazines and newspapers.

SIDELIGHTS: Wendy Burt told CA: "I love being a young writer. Perhaps it's my ego talking, but there's nothing like entering a room for a national writers conference and being asked 'Are you here for the speaker?' and responding, 'Actually, I am the speaker.'

"To me, writing and teaching go hand-in-hand. Why shouldn't we share our knowledge and experience? There are plenty of markets, agents, and publishers to go around. Besides, I learn something every time I teach.

"My first publication was a poem I wrote at age sixteen. My father, who is also a writer, the author of more than ten books, sent it in on my behalf when I was twenty. When I got the acceptance letter and check, I had two thoughts: Someone wants to pay me for my work? If I can get something published that I wrote as a teenager, what can I write now as an adult?

"I began submitting blindly and received a lot of rejections, but as I read more books about writing (and learned about query letters and rights from Dad) I began receiving acceptances—and checks.

"By age twenty-nine, I had published more than 450 articles, stories, greeting cards, essays, and poems, and I got a job as the editor of a business newspaper with the largest circulation in Colorado Springs, despite the fact that I had no journalism training or degree.

"When I signed my first book deal with Contemporary, I had already been teaching 'Breaking into Freelance Writing' for three years and was familiar with the agent/publisher process. Still, signing a contract took me to an entirely new world—a great new world.

"On top of my full-time job as an editor and my nights as a 'book-marketer,' I still write freelance articles for various local and national magazines and Web sites. I stay motivated by reading great books on writing, like Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird and Stephen King's On Writing. I've become quite good at limiting television, determining priorities, and working my way through daily 'to-do' lists. Of course, as a single woman with two black Labrador retrievers to support, money is always a good motivator. Anyone who says money doesn't matter is either independently wealthy—or lying."