Paula B. contends that an author's voice should be so distinctive that his or her writing can be recognized out of context. In this episode of The Writing Show, she reads 14 examples of distinct voices and challenges you to identify them.

In episode 6 of "Getting Published, with Mark Leslie," Writing Show guest host Mick Halpin issued a challenge to Mark: "Stop messing around and start writing. If you'll write 10,000 words on A Canadian Werewolf in New York in 30 days, I'll write up a story about how I recently lost a tooth."

In episode 7, we find out whether Mark made his goal and whether Mick actually got that story written. Mark also tells us about some of his recent short story publications.

Despite your possibly negative high school classroom experiences, it isn't impossible to learn languages, and doing so doesn't have to be boring. If you've learned one language, you can learn another, no matter how grammatically inadequate you may think you are.

Elizabeth Little, author of Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confessions of a Language Fanatic, is a writer and editor living in New York City. She has worked as a literary agent and as a writer and editor for the travel guide Let's Go: China. She writes regularly for the travel section of The New York Times.

Please join Elizabeth and host Paula B. as they noodle around with:

Why languages can be fun to learn

How various languages do odd things with nouns and verbs

Which languages are hardest to learn

How the idea of gender for nouns came about (now you know whom to blame)

What happened when Elizabeth asked for a menu in a Chinese restaurant (in China).

Janice Ballenger was the deputy coroner on call the day of the Amish schoolroom shooting in 2006. She is looking to publish a book about her experiences related to that incident as well as other cases throughout her career.

In episode 1 of "Getting Published, with Janice Ballenger," we introduce Janice, her book, and her goals, including:

What her book is about

What inspired her to write it now rather than wait till she's retired, as she originally intended

What her writing background is

What her long-term writing goals are

How her book will benefit readers

What happened when she sent out her first query letters

Where to look for help getting published.

There's a lot of competition among management books, and even more in the self-help arena, so you have to know exactly what you're doing in order to succeed in either genre. This week's guest is a master of both, blending them in a way that captures our imaginations while empowering and inciting us to take action. How in the world did he do that?

Kevin Eikenberry is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that has been helping organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential since 1993. Emphasizing the power of learning, Kevin's specialties include leadership, teams and teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, training trainers, and more.

Join Kevin and host Paula B. as they probe:

What the secrets of writing effective business self-help books are

Why stories and anecdotes are so engaging

What the relationship between a self-help author and his audience is

Why numbers are important in business books

How to make a business self-help book stand out from the pack.

We haven't focused on poetry on The Writing Show nearly as much as we should. And what better way to start than by looking at the state of poetry today. But if you think you're about to hear a lot of flowery talk, grab hold of your seat. This week's guest, unlike most of the poetry establishment, is not pleased.

Joseph S. Salemi has published poems, translations, and scholarly articles in over one hundred journals throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. His four collections of poetry are Formal Complaints and Nonsense Couplets, issued by Somers Rocks Press, Masquerade from Pivot Press, and The Lilacs on Good Friday from The New Formalist Press.

Please join Joseph S. Salemi and host Paula B. as they explore:

Why he feels poetry is dying

How poetry got to this point

What types of poetry he would like to see people write

What his eight rules of thumb for writing poetry are.

We all know how difficult it is to break into writing, but there's a great route you may not have considered: your career. This week we hear from one writer who, like Writing Show host Paula B., made the leap by writing about the thing he knows best: his work.

Patrick Smith is a composer, producer, keyboardist, and author. He has composed music for media for more than 20 years and has produced music for network television, films, and advertising.

He is the author of Gardner's Guide to Digital Sound Design and Career Diary of a Composer.

Join Patrick and host Paula B. as they discuss, among other things:

How Patrick came to write his books

What he struggled with as a new writer, and what he found easy

How much guidance his publisher provided

Why an author's personal voice is so important, even in a technical book

How he feels about writing now that he's got some experience under his belt.

You don't hear many people say, "I want to write miniseries when I grow up." Yet this week's guest, who's written several, has found great satisfaction as well as success in this oft-neglected niche.

Simon Moore is an award-winning writer and director in film, television, and theater. His works include "The Tenth Kingdom," "Traffik," "Dinotopia," and an adaptation of Gulliver's Travels.

Join Simon and host Paula B. as they discuss:

How he manages to maintain such a varied career

What the issues are in writing and producing miniseries

How he researched the drug trade for "Traffik"

Why he likes to write female lead characters

What he does when he pitches ideas

How he writes differently for UK and U.S. audiences and why (and how the difference sometimes trips him up).

In episode 5 of "Getting Published, with Mark Leslie," we heard that Mark was still taking a detour from his horror story A Canadian Werewolf in New York.

In episode 6, we find out just what Mark has been doing since July of 2007 when we last spoke with him: what happened when he pitched I, Death to an editor he met at a conference, and how the science fiction anthology he edited, North of Infinity II, has been remaindered (and tells us what remainders are and how they affect writers). He also presents parts of chapters 9 and 10 of A Canadian Werewolf, along with another insightful Mick Halpin critique.

At the end of the interview, Mark and Mick issue challenges to each other. What are they, and will the two rise to the occasion?

This is the first in a series of shows about writing dialogue. In each show, we'll start with a principle or two and then look at some examples of that principle in action. This time, we'll talk about the importance of character agenda.

Using examples from well-known writers, Writing Show host Paula B. will explore:

What dialogue is

What dialogue should do

Which three things you need to know about your characters in order to write effective dialogue

How to move your story forward through dialogue.