May 6, 2010.
This morning I had a nice breakfast with the Rogers Park Independent Writers. This is a very comfortable handful of folks who are professional writers. Some are book authors and some are freelance writers. I attended thanks to an invitation from my new friend, publisher, Jim Kepler who I introduced you to in a previous post last week. I was also happy to meet Ann Kepler, Jim’s wife and business partner. Adams Publishing has been in business for over 50 years. Ann and Jim took it over about 15 years ago using considerable combined knowledge they acquired while working for a large New York Publishing firm. Ann explained how she and Jim compliment each other in terms of writing and editing skills they bring to their publishing organization which is further embellished by the technical know-how provided by their son.
One of the other new people I met and with whom I had the most interaction was Marisa Naujokas a writer of science related topics. You can read some of Marisa’s work at The Examiner where she specializes in reporting on environmental health issues. Marisa who is a Ph.D, tells me that she likes to use her scientific knowledge and writing skills to make complex science issues understandable to a general audience.
The other new person I met was psychologist Jerome C. Yanoff author of The Classroom Teachers Inclusion Handbook which you can find at amazon.com. The purpose of the book is to help teachers help children with special needs integrate into the classroom. Jerry also provides training to teachers in this area. I was happy to be able to introduce him later to my good friend Wes, a licensed clinical psychologist who also provides training for teachers and parents, and guidance to children with special needs. The fun thing about networking is you never know who you might meet and how that connection might help other people to get together. Effective networkers certainly have their own agenda but are also looking out for others within their sphere of influence. It’s not simply a matter of helping others so that they will help you. It’s just a good way to be and it promotes good karma.