Michigan Poetry.com
A New Site for Michigan Poets
Please support this site by donating and /or purchasing some of the merchandise from the links below. This site is presented by Steven Robert Heine. Heine is a disabled poet in his 70's. He was crippled in a fall several years ago and suffered a stroke in 2023. Your support will help cover costs of this site and provide more frequent updates.
Michigan Poetry and Writing Groups.
Currently Michigan does not have a State Poet Laureate. Your writing assignment, if you decide to accept it, is to write to your Michigan State Legislator and request that a bill be introduced to create the position of Michigan State Poet Laureate. You might suggest the position be unpaid, for a two year term. A link is posted above so you can find the address of your State Legislator. State Poet Laureates serve an important role in promoting literacy and reading across the State. Many do so at their own costs. Sometimes funding is received from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Michigan Council for the Arts and Public Affairs was created in 1966. This from their website: the State of Michigan has recognized the value and importance of a vibrant arts and cultural sector. On August 28, 1991 the Governor by Executive Order created The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (the Council) to maintain and nurture its cultural and artistic riches. Today, the Council reaffirms and believes in our enabling doctrine. More information about programs and grants can be found on the link above.
The Poetry Society of Michigan was established in 1935. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious poetry societies in America. The Society has local chapters in many Michigan cities. For poetry contests and membership information, please see the link above.
For the past several years, thousands of Michigan high school students have participated in the Poetry Out Loud State recitation competitions, sponsored by the Michigan Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Your high school is invited to participate!
Poetry Out Loud is a wonderful program for students. The program helps the develop Stage and speaking skills, confidence and a love of poetry. Poetry really needs to be spoken to truly be enjoyed. Poetry Out Loud is a great program for students. To learn how to get your school involved in the competition, please see the link above.
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Poetry Slams are events in which adults and students read and perform poetry for awards and prizes. There are many local events and even a National competition. Check with your local poetry group for the nearest Slam event and Slam schedules. (The above link is for the University of Michigan Poetry Slam, one of many in the State).
Ann Arbor Poetry is a group of nearly 2,000 members in Ann Arbor that meet (when possible) to discuss poetry and encourage each other. More information about the group can be found on the link above.
Detroit Working Writers provides welcomes Detroit writers of all genres and all skill levels, from beginners to advanced writers. The group provides news on publishing opportunities and when possible, provides conferences where writers can network and critique each other’s work. For calendar and membership information, please see the link above.
Motown Writers Network is a group in Detroit that welcomes all writers and readers in the Detroit area. The group host a radio show and provide resources for Detroit writers. Their website states that ‘membership is free’, though you can donate if you want to. Motown Writers is definitely worth a look for any writer or poet in the Detroit area. Please see link above for more information.
Rochester Writers provides resources and support for Rochester writers of all genres. The group usually holds two annual conferences. Currently, all meetings of the Rochester Writers are online. The group advises that you will need a webcam to participate. Please see link above for membership and meeting information.
The mission statement of The Mid-Michigan Writers Group reads: The Mission of Mid Michigan Writers, Inc. shall be to inform and support individual writers through readings, critiques, workshops, and conferences. We will promote writing and writers in the mid-Michigan area.
The Mid-Michigan Writers group welcomes writers of all genres and skill levels. They hold monthly meetings (when possible) and provide resources for writers. Dues are $15.00 per year. Please see above link for more information.
** Southwest Michigan Christian Writers** is a group in Farmington Hills that welcomes all Christian writers. They try to meet once a month (when possible) at The Panera Bread on Twelve Mile Road in Farmington. More information can be found on the link above.
The Mid-Michigan Romance Writers support romance writers of all genres in the Mid-Michigan area. They try to meet once a month. Dues are $30.00 per year. This from their mission statement: ‘The Mid-Michigan Chapter of Romance Writers of America (MMRWA) was formed in 1984 to serve Central and Western Michigan writers of romantic fiction by helping them establish writing careers and become published. We are a friendly, fun-loving group of writers as repeatedly confirmed by our guest speakers.’ Please see link above for more information.
Breaking News!
Steven Robert Heine launches a new line of merchandise to help support this site. We hope you will consider purchasing tee-shirts and merchandise from the links below.
Steven Robert Heine is an American poet and author. He has spent much of his life supporting poetry projects and events. He is the author of 8 volumes of poetry. In 2011 he was seriously injured in a fall that left him in great pain and almost unable to walk. He suffered a stroke in 2023. Heine receives no disability and relies on a small pension and retirement income. He is no longer able to make public appearances.
We hope you will consider purchasing some of the merchandise in the links below. Many are original tee-shirts and merchandise created by Steven Robert Heine.
Thank you!
Heine tries to provide this site as a service to the poets of Michigan.
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I have exciting news for you I have spent many weeks researching web hosts and providers and written an article that I think will save you time and money on creating your own website. I have even included information on where to buy inexpensive domain names. The following are links for web hosts and resources. the full article follows below. I invite you to use the suggested sites to set up your own poetry or writing web site. Please see full article below!
Bluehost. Bluehost offers pretty much all services. Design is through Wordpress. Plans: ‘Basic’, $7.99 per month. Allows one website and one included domain. ‘Plus’ $10.99. Allows unlimited number of websites. ‘Choice Plus’, $14.99 per month. Allows unlimited number of domain and some extra services, such as domain privacy. For an ecommerce site, you will want to use ‘Woocommerce’, plans run from $13.99 (for one store) to $17.99 (for unlimited stores.
Bluehost is a full-service provider with all the tools you could ask for and good support. They even sell They even sell domain names. I have used Bluehost for several years.
A2 Hosting. Drag and drop platform for building with A2 software. Plans include ‘Startup’ $2.99 per month (one website), ‘Drive’ $4.99 (unlimited websites), and ‘Turbo-boost’ for $9.99 per month, (unlimited sites).
Siteground. Wordpress hosting. Plans include: Startup, $3.95 per month, allows one website, GrowBig, $5.95 per month, allows unlimited websites, and GoGeek, $11.95 per month, unlimited websites and more features. (no free domain with account).
Hostinger is one of the biggest webhosting companies on the internet. They provide ‘drag and drop’ as well as cloud hosting and Wordpress. Plans include: ‘Single Shared’ $2.15 per month (allows one website, ‘Premium’ $3.49 per month (allows unlimited websites), and ‘Business Shared’ $7.95 per month (allows unlimited websites and many other features. Premium and Premium and Business plans also come with a fee domain name. It is easy to see why Hostinger is so popular. And yes, I really like this hosting service.
i Page. Wordpress hosting. ‘WP Starter’ $9.49 per month (billed yearly). ‘WP Essential’ $12.49 per month. Good for selling online. iPage provides a number of choices of shopping carts.
NameCheap. Dot.coms start at $8.88 per year. Hosting plans are $2.88 per month to $8.88 per month. NameCheap has their own ‘drag and drop’ builder. NameCheap is a good site to save money on domain names.
Domain.com has domains starting at $9.99 per month and also provides hosting plans starting at $3.75 per month.
Malwarebytes provides reasonably priced virus protection. Please see the link above for details.
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Web Hosting Article.
Web Hosting Article
Magnificent 7seven Reviews.
Web hosting
I think you will find the following article very helpful as you begin to set up your own website or a website for your writing group.
Please pay close attention to what you are paying for domain names. I have listed three inexpensive domain registrars. Most hosting companies will sell them to you and many provide a domain free with your paid account.You may be looking at creating a website and don’t know where to start. OR you may have a product or book and don’t know how to create a website to sell it. Then this blog is a great place to start! I have reviewed many webhosts from CARRD to Zyro. I think you will find the following suggestions useful.As recently as a few years ago, most sites provided access to the programming language of the website, or html. This allowed you to make changes to the programming and see how that reflected on your website. Fortunately, knowledge of html is no longer necessary. (You may still find it helpful to learn what the basic elements of html are, in case you need to insert a link in your site or see the code for your site).
Please note: I was not paid by any of the companies listed below to promote their sites. I did find it interesting to research what they have to offer and list some of the main points to consider. And yes, these are affiliate links but they have all been researched.1. What is the cost of a website?
Many hosts can get you started for free! OR with a very monthly rate for the 1st year. Cost is usually listed as a ‘monthly cost’ provided you pay for a whole year at a time. IE: if the cost is $20.00 per month, you may be required to pay $240.00. Make sure you get a plan that fits your needs. Usually you can upgrade to a more expensive plan as your needs grow.2. What is the platform the ecommerce site uses? Generally, sites use either Wordpress or what I call, a ‘House’ software. Wordpress is in my experience a platform that requires an intermediate level of computer savvy. You will do better when you put some time into working with it and develop a ‘feel for it’. ‘House’ software is unique to the webhost site you are using. Most are ‘plug and play’. Like any application, you just have to get comfortable moving around in them. Each has some unique features. When you go to the webhost, you will see samples of web pages. When you like the look... go for it!3. If you are going to be selling products through your site, you will need to know what bank does the ecommerce site use? This is extremely important. It is great you made a sale on your website, but how do you get the customer’s payment into your bank account? You want banking tools that your customer will feel comfortable ordering with, AND you want banking tools that will give you access to your money. While many sites use PAYPAL, some use other financial tools.4. How many domains can I use on one account? If you have several domains, you will want to host them all in the same place. If you have different stores selling different products, you may want to use more than one site. Ecommerce sites vary from one domain per account to ‘unlimited’ domains.5. What kind of stats will this ecommerce site provide? You may want to look around to see how much traffic you are getting and where people are seeing your site. (You may be surprised to note how many people in other countries are viewing your site).6. How good is the technical support from this ecommerce site? You don’t want to wait days for a question to be answered. A good test or response time is to ask the Web host a question as ‘a potential client’ to measure response time.7. Does this vendor sell domain names and for how much? And will they provide me with a free domain name with my order?8. What is the difference between shared web hosting and a dedicated server?’ The answer is, that a dedicated server is a server used by no other sites and thus those sites can’t impact the server or slow it down. Dedicated servers are quite a bit more expensive per month. Most websites should be fine running on shared hosting.
We will try to answer those questions. You can click on the link provided to get Common Website Terms you should know:
Html: hypertext markup language. This is the actual programming code. No matter which programming tool you are using, whether it be **Wordpress ** a sitebuilder, that interface is adjusting the html as you move and change features.
CSS: cascading style sheets. This refers to how you website is presented in the programming.
When you have purchased hosting and are ready to build a website on the hosting server, you must put your domain on that hosts server. You do this by putting in the code numbers for that server into your domain names. Both the hosting provider and your domain seller will explain to you how to do this.VPS Hosting: ‘virtual private server hosting’. VPS hosting acts similar to a private server with more flexibility than shared hosting. Most new users will only need shared hosting.Domain names: this is VERY important, when purchasing a domain name, pay little attention to the initial price of the domain name. What is important is the renewal cost. I have seen domain registers that charge very little for the initial price but upwards of $30.00 per year to renew. Most paid hosting plans give you one free domain name with the purchase of a plan. Beyond that, you will need to go to the market to buy additional names.
Steven Robert Heine is a West Coast poet & author. He has traveled extensively through the United States, including trips to Michigan. Heine has spent his life promoting poetry; serving as founder for many poetry contests. He is the author of fifteen books, including poetry, history and his own short auto-biographies. His books can be found on Ebay, Amazon and Amazon Kindle.
Heine was crippled in a fall in 2011 and now makes very few public appearances.