There are many steps that go into publishing a book. Getting the work from a thought to an idea to a published work and available for sale is no simple task.

Renee Nicholson, professor in the multidisciplinary studies program at West Virginia University has written “Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center,” a collection of poems, to be published in Spring 2014.

“Sometimes it’s hard to really put a stamp on what a collection is,” Nicholson said. “People collect all sorts of different things, like my younger brother who collects ‘Star Wars’ figurines. He has since he was a kid. He has them across the movies and can arrange them in all sorts of different ways.

“With poems it’s similar in that there can be wide variety in both the individual poems and the arrangement of poems across the collection.”

In the case of “Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center,” Nicholson includes a variety of poems about her past experiences as a ballet dancer, West Virginia and her early adulthood viewed with a wiser eye, among others.

Her poem, “What I Didn’t Need to Know,” was written after she’d returned from the beach and watched The Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week.”

“Vargas Girl,” is a persona poem Nicholson wrote from the voice of a 1940s pinup girl who is annoyed by the ridiculous taglines she is paired with in magazine advertisements.

Nicholson writes in a variety of different contexts, including a weekly column for “Career Thoughts,” an online career advice and employment resource.

One of her latest columns, “Tips for Staying Positive during Your Job Search,” can be found at http://careerthoughts.com/positive-job-search.

For more information, contact Renee Nicholson, at 304-293-4722 or renee.nicholson@mail.wvu.edu

-WVU-

ma/12/16/13

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304.293.6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

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