Mentor Author Offers Advice: Five Tips to Help You Get Published

In a few years, Rachele Alpine went from an aspiring writer to a published author with a book available in stores and online.

Before she or any other scribe made it to bookshelves and tablets, they had to find it within themselves to make time, get serious about the craft and find feedback. Here are five tips the Mentor resident offered to those who hope to make a similar transition:

• If you want to be a published writer, then write!  — "I think the best thing you can do is to get into the practice of writing as often as you can," she said.

• Feel passionate about something? Start there. — Writing about something you feel strongly about or repeatedly see doesn't guarantee you'll stick with your project, but it provides a better chance than the alternative. Though Alpine's CANARY was partly born from a poem she wrote years ago, it was also highly influenced by news stories she constantly saw online and on television involving athletes, idolatry and scandal. She thought about what these stories might say about society and went from there.

• Don't keep said writing to yourself, either. — "Don’t be afraid to share your writing," Alpine said. "The writing community is very supportive, so it helps a lot to find a group online that you can connect with or join your (local Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) chapter to meet other writers in person."

• See how others do it. — "Devour as many books as you can. Reading is so important. Expose yourself to great writing. I’m always carrying a book around in my purse. I feel like the two go hand in hand," she said.

• Make time. — If you have a time-consuming job like Alpine, a 10th-grade language arts teacher at Perry High School, you wonder where you'll find time to work on a book. She dedicated a couple of hours per night to writing, but any amount of time you can allot and stick to will help. She also used weekends to catch up, but not without sacrifices. " It’s a good thing I love writing, because you often have to give up other things in order to make time for it," she said.