Here’s Help For Budding Writers On Hitting Paydirt With Non-Fiction

Consider this truism: There’s more to writing than simply putting words on paper.

Obviousness aside, the statement deserves further consideration. Actually, it deserves study - which is what the seminar “Nonfiction: How to Write It, How to Sell It” will do.

Sponsored by the creative writing department of Eastern Washington University, the seminar is designed to answer questions for neophyte writers such as “How to get started” and “So you got the assignment, now what?”

Taught by novelists John Keeble (“Broken Ground”) and Anna Monardo (“Courtyard of Dreams”) and free-lance magazine journalist Pope Brock, the class will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday in room 208 of Eastern’s Spokane Center, First and Wall.

The fee is $50. To register, call Judy Samples at 359-2434.

Ya gotta have heart

If you’re looking for something child-like to do for Valentine’s Day, Auntie’s Bookstore is holding a special event for children on Friday. Auntie’s staffers will read stories and help those attending make paper hearts and other items. It begins at 1 p.m. Auntie’s is located at the northwest corner of Main and Washington.

Diga, jambo, pronto, huh?

Hands on Books Press of Kirkland, Wash., has put out an interesting book. “Telephone Tongues” ($8.95) by Shelby Tayler is a compilation of all the ways that people around the globe answer the phone. The greetings listed in the above headline hail from, respectively, Argentina, Tanzania, Italy and San Antonio, Texas. To order, write to Hands on Books Press, P.O. Box 8425-04, Kirkland, WA 98034-0425. Or fax (206) 668-4238.

Literary leanings

Steve Olsen, an associate professor of English at Central Washington University, is author of “The Prairie in Nineteenth Century American Poetry” (University of Nebraska Press, 211 pages, $14.95 paperback). A sample chapter: “From Revery to Nightmare: The Limits of the Optimistic Metaphor in the Private Voices of Dickinson and Melville.