MichKids: Our Online Community
by Kim Marie Wood

I was a lonely writer. Picture me in my lonely writer's garret. But wait! All I have to do is sit down at my computer, hum along with my modem, and click on the icon to "get mail." In an instant, I am now connected with a family of children's writers and illustrators. With MichKids, I am alone no more.

MichKids is an Email Community, sponsored by the Michigan chapter of SCBWI. It is a place where professional and pre-professional children's writers and illustrators share ideas, insights, and experiences with one another in an effort to learn more about our business and craft. MichKids provides an avenue for our members to connect regardless of their geographical distance and has become an online community for more than 130 of our Michigan members.

Subscription is free and open to any SCBWI-Michigan member; if you are not a Michigan member, but you are a Michigan Newsletter subscriber, you may join our Cyber Community for a small fee. To join MichKids, put "SUBSCRIBE MichKids" in the subject line of your email, fill the body with your full name, street address, city, zip code, and the expiration date of your membership (and your newsletter subscription expiration date if you are not a Michigan member). Send your email to mailto:MichKids-owner@yahoogroups.com%20%20.

SCBWI membership will be confirmed and you will be added to our listserv. The process generally takes less than a week. You will then receive an automated welcome message with subscription options and information designed to help you participate. Our list is currently operated through Yahoo Groups. After you become a subscriber, you can access subscription options at http://www.yahoogroups.com/.

I encourage you to join us.

What is an Email Community?

An Email Community is an automatic email mailing list where participants share a common interest. Subscribers send messages to a single email address. The list management "server" (in this case, Yahoo Groups) automatically forwards these messages to all the other subscribers.

One might think of posting to an Email Community much like writing one postcard, putting one address and one stamp on it, and having your postcard immediately and simultaneously delivered to an entire community of people. Readers may reply to you via the list, privately, or not at all. But anything sent to the common address can be viewed by all who subscribe.

Our list allows subscribers a choice to receive either individual messages as they are posted, or a digest version (one post containing all the messages of the day).

Upon subscribing, you will receive a welcome message with information on how to select the digest version, how to change your address, and other common subscription commands. Once you are a subscriber, you can also access subscription options through the web at http://www.yahoogroups.com/.

Emily Post(ing) on Netiquette [or the do's and don'ts of online posting]

Our thanks to our listserv volunteers:

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