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How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist |
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I'm revising this intro after more than 15 years to better reflect my intention When I started this blog in 2004, I was a stay at home mom to two small children, a college graduate with a degree in English and Astrophysics. By 2007, I had four small children, ages newborn, 2, 4, and 6. For several years, Writing.com was how I kept my sanity. This blog began, first as a way of staying connected. Later, when I worked on a novel, I used it to stoke the writing fires as I plotted out short stories and the next step of my novel. Ultimately, I moved my writing preparation to "Invalid Item"  In 2010, I became a single mom who had homeschooled her children for several years. I had a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old and had never had a "real" full time job, since I was married while in college. Everyone told me that I would have to buckle down and take on a "real" job. Instead, I decided to attempt to live my dream: to make it as a writer. I knew that if I didn't try then, I would never really dive in. I counted my money and set a deadline. If I hadn't began making a decent (defined) amount of money after so many months, I would suck it up and get a J-O-B. After some thought, I decided to play to my strengths. I served an internship at Sky & Telescope magazine while in college and enjoyed writing about space and astronomy. With an astrophysics degree, I thought I would be able to sell myself more easily, and a small niche should be easier to penetrate. It's been about ten years since I was first paid for an article on Space.com. In that time, writing - journalism - has been my primary moneymaker. I've often thought about setting up a blog on my website - www.astrowriter.com - but just haven't gotten around to it. There are a few things I would like to share for those who are interested in scientific journalism in general. Now that I'm back on WDC, there's no reason not to combine the two and use the site blog for that sort of interaction. There are certainly plenty of folks on this site interested in the publication process. So while I'll probably meander around some, that's the intention of of this blog: to share some of my struggles as a published journalist and to help answer oft-asked questions. |
By the way, utilizing the freelance-for-hire boards on the net (I don't even remember which one, for shame), I applied for a position writing for a web site at .05/word. Um, that is a decent price, isn't it? Not great but not like content writing. It is for an entrepreneur/mom site, and I thought, great, I can handle both of those!  I probably won't get it - it was posted two or three days ago so I am probably applicant #1732 - but I can hope. So wish me luck. Maybe they will be blown away by my clips, eh? |
| Okay, now I'm freaked. My survey lady emailed me back after about TWO HOURS! She wants me to call and talk to her. The problem is - I have no cell phone coverage, and phone calls from the hotel are going to be horrendous. Anyone know what the cost is to call on credit card? <scurries off to look> The next question, of course, is how in the world will I manage tomake a call with my kids running wild? Maybe I can convince dh to let me call around lunch, hole up in the office, take notes, and he can occupy the kids. Ha ha. Okay, I am going to head to walmart and pick up a phone card, looks like they sell them there. Something like .08/minute. If we are going to continue traveling, then I will probably need to keep one in stock 'just in case'. Like, in case our cell phone breaks, right? Argh. So, hypernervous here. I was hoping she could just give me two quick answers but it doesn't look like that will be the case. Eeek! This is what she says: Let's talk. I'd like a better understanding of the audience you are writing for (parents? Daycare providers? Parade magazine? Physicians?). I don't have another manuscript in submission right now, but would be glad to talk over the issues based on the cases in my database. Wow, she is awesome, and very willing. I guess I really should come up with some basic questions for the interview now so that if I need to go full-scale, I can. Didn't even think about that. Better to overprepare than under. And then I can ask if I can contact her for follow-up once I have the green light, in case the editors want more information. AAACCCKKKK!!!!!!!!!! I have an interview tomorrow! I'd better go prepare! AAACCCCKKKKK!!!! <runs around for awhile like headless chicken> That's me, cool, calm, and under control. |
| Okay, I have taken the plunge. I have sent out two emails. The first one was to the writers of the aforementioned study. I will utilize their response in crafting my real-life query. This is actually the most nerve-wracking of the two, LOL. The second email is a 'query' to LFC which I mentioned earlier. It is for an essay on the same subject. I am holding my breath and hoping to make $20-30. This is not a big huge query, but still a little nervewracking to submit your stuff anywhere they might reject you. The next step, of course, is to start some market research. Which I was supposed to do yesterday but ended up writing until ink ran out from under my fingernails (hmm, like that image, I might have to actually use that somewhere). Okay, I was typing, but you get the idea. What I'd like to do - but am a bit nervous - is head over to the hospital and see if they have any back issues or free issues of American Baby I could have. Come to think of it, I could call the local pediatricians. If there is a hospital, there must be pediatricians and doctors. I can call them and ask if I might have some of the back issues of magazines as they clean out their waiting room. Still nerve-wracking. Heck, I have trouble asking people I know for things. Blech. Anyway, I'll look online and get an idea for American Baby's style. I already know that I will follow-up with Parents and Child if those don't make it. And then I will turn to Atlanta Parent. I think they have an editorial catalog; once I get my gift certificate <drools> I will check it out. So, last night I had another zinger of a dream, and now I have another idea for a novel. Sadly, I still have my last novel sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to take the time to research it. And write it. Little details. One day, perhaps, when I get back to writing fiction. I'm not sure when that will ever be. <sigh> For now, I'm going to have to continue writing for profit, and one day move to the for-profit fiction. Probably after I am dead. (I'm such an optimist, eh?) Alright, well, I guess I will go. I am excited to have sent in a query, and I'll go examine the American Baby guidelines and articles. Wish me luck. Oh, by the way, dh just told me we are not going to Philadelphia. So I guess we are going home after the weekend. What a stinker. Then we are going to Alabama - but I like Philadelphia better. I guess I should start looking up what might be happening there. I'm sure there is some history or something interesting in that part of town. And at least I will get to return all of the overdue library books. I think we have 5 books right now overdue, thankfully at .10/book/day, so we're racking up .50/day in fines. <shudder> But if we go home at the end of hte week - and if I return them to the library that is closed Thursday through Sunday - then they will be counted as being in on Wednesday. That only works if we get home on or before Monday at 2, though. I'm sure we can do that. Then again, if staying means making another....$250, I guess we can handle that, too. |
| I know I promised not to come back tonight, I'm sure you are all tired of what I have written, LOL, but here I am. I finished up my goal of 25 articles this month. I managed to save up enough gps in this month to transfer enough to my savings account to pay for a PREMIUM upgrade next year. Woohoo! I plan to have lots of fun with any gps. I also found another content writing site that pays better, closer to $20-30/article. It is here: http://www.bkserv.net/LFC/WriteForLFC.aspx And the 'other writing site' seems to say good things about it here: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22130 I still want to do a search. This is a one-on-one shot. Basically, you send them an article idea, summed up in a paragraph. The article should run 6-15 paragraphs (wonder how many words that is?). They say they pay $20-30 per article. That is better than writeforcash or AC. Since I still haven't sold anything on CC, that makes it better there, too. Perhaps I will add that to my query list. I like that idea. Around the middle of the week, I will take my research and plan a 'plain' article, similar to the free and other, and write up a query for it. They said they take up to two weeks to respond. I will just save various queries even if I don't hear back (they want one query at a time) and then when I send in said article, I will either include or follow up with a query, depending on their preference. That would make a nice, oh let's lowball it, $20/week or $80/month. Not a lot but every little bit helps, and if I have the research on hand, may as well, right? So, okay, they pay by Paypal. Interesting, it looks like you can resell the article as long as it doesn't appear on the internet. Hmmm. I'll have to further investigate that. I am having peace and quiet right now in the church alone across the street from dh and the kids. Ahh, bliss. The kids are asleep and dh has indicated I can come back, but it's so tough to be quiet over there, all scrunched up. I think I'll do this every night we are here, though. Aahhh. Better go back before dh calls the cops, LOL. |
| I think I am exhausted. I wrote two more genealogy articles. Both on death. I'm so morbid. No, really, it's just that the obits tend to give you the most information. You'd be surprised. The problem is, I think I am all articled out. I could probably come up with another genealogy story but nothing springs to mind. I am only one article away from my goal, and my brain hurts, and I am sick of the computer. I may not be here tomorrow, I may take the day off from writing. Yeah, right. I suppose I could skip the writing, but it's not like I'm overwhelmed with things to do right now. Maybe I can write the weird book review. By the way, I went through and spruced up my book reviews with the amazon links, in case I convince someone to buy something. I would like someone to buy me One Tuesday Morning. I've come across some great writers in the books I checked out while out-of-town, and I am going to die waiting to get home and read the other forty things they've written. I even tried to see if there was a used book store in this town. I asked at the library, figuring the librarians would know. Nothing.One thing I really enjoy doing is rereading kids books. I checked out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and zoomed through it in about two hours. I have reread many other classics and enjoyed them. I think my next big kids read will be the infamous Harriet the Spy which I loved and totally identified with as a child. One of the greatest regrets of my life (in terms of small scale regrets, anyway) is that I sold off my Sweet Valley High books. Now, granted, SVH isn't all that 'classic', but I so loved the storyline and always identified with Elizabeth. I used to own every book up past a hundred, and all of the special editions (summer, winter, etc) they had out. It took me years to collect. Now I have about three of them at home. I have been checking used bookstores but apparently they aren't that popular anymore. And no wonder. I don't think Jessica, the 'wild' twin, ever got beyond some passionate kissing. Which is why I'd love to have them around for my daughter when she gets older. So if you want to just box up all you have and send them to me... But one of the biggest shocks I had in kids books came this weekend. While scouring paperbacks at the library, I came across a Judy Blume book for grownups, Summer Sisters. Now, Judy Blume was a crazy favorite of mine; I read pretty much everything she wrote. So of course I had to check out this novel. I had grown up; time to see if Judy did. One of the things I enjoyed as a kid was Blume's realism and frankness. Although Ramona Quimby (age 8) was cute and adorable, she wasn't exactly realistic. Although Matilda was brilliant and could read by age 2 and move things with her mind...well, let's just say I identified with her except for that whole reading by age 2 and moving things with her mind. But Blume's characters were real kids with real problems. The same is true of what I read in Summer Sisters I suppose. We have two girls experimenting with sex, naturally curious, and putting together one of those 'odd' relationships. However, in searching for realism, I felt Blume overdoes it. Sure, teenagers are sex crazed, but oh my goodness, I didn't know you could pack that much sex into so few pages. The novel was just too much for me, and so, although the storyline was interesting, I finally gave up and closed the pages for good when the girls started discussing their experiments with oral sex. The characters were realistic and credible, but I guess just too nitty gritty for me. I also had a problem with the seven or eight point-of-views tried throughout the book, while the majority was told in the first person. I seem to be hitting a lot of that lately, and it has been driving me nuts. If nothing else, it breaks the flow of the story. So I think I'm going to keep my mind uncluttered. I'll head back to one of my childhood favorites by Blume, Blubber and avoid the remainder of her adult novels. She's a great writer, but I guess I have another 10 or 20 years to go before I'm that grown up. |
| I am trying to decide if I can make 25 entries this month. I was thinking about book reviews, but now I am leaning more towards blog entries. However, I like to make them on topic (see the aforementioned spiritual journal entry, which was originally submitted with the first paragraph that I did not intend to put online other than here. The problem is, I have no idea what to blog about. LOL. I can't even manage that much. I am hoping that furious typing will lead me to an idea. Perhaps I could do a simple list-type article, such as 'top ten reasons for....'? Um, for what? I am not good at top tens. I could go funny - top ten reasons not to kill your spouse. I don't know how tounge-in-cheek that would play, though. LOL, I'm not even sure I could come up with good reasons. Let's see. Sometimes, your spouse can drive you up the wall. In fact, if your husband is like mine, you're parked up by the molding at least twice a day. In brutal moments of pscyhotic insanity, you might even try to find ways to convince him to tie blocks to his feet and jump in the river. DON'T DO IT! No matter how good an idea it might seem when you are collapsing in hysterical, stressed out fits, murdering your husband is never a good idea. In fact, here are ten reasons it is such a rotten plan. 10. The insurance company won't pay up if you kill him, so you'll wind up having to work two jobs to pay the rent. 9. If you think he never helps with the housework now, wait until he's buried. The odds are good he'll never fold laundry at that point. 8. The kids may drive you bonkers now, but imagine how much crazier you will go without their dad to wind them up - allegedly burning all energy - right before bedtime. 7. Orange neon jumpsuits make your complexion look nasty. There's no way around that. 6. And if you think your husband hogs the hot water now, wait until you have to shower with ten or fifteen other prisoners at the same time. 5. Lawyer fees are even more expensive than golf and boating charges. That's why the lawyers like to play golf and go boating. 4. If you try and fail and manage to reconcile, and then a one-armed man comes after your husband, the cops will most likely blame you, leaving you to scream, "It was not me! It was the one-armed man!" They'll think you've just watched too many movies and ignore your alibi. 3. Not to mention the fact that generally, murder attempts make it less likely for you to reconcile your differences. Counseling is probably less hassle. 2. Then there is all that stress about coming up with an alibi. Although as a wife, you feel like you are always doing two - or ten - things at once, odds are good that you can't really commit murder AND get your hair done at the same time. AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON NOT TO KILL YOUR HUSBAND: 1. C'mon, you know you love him. Sure, he can be an annoying pest at times, but you married him for a reason. You probably get under his skin just as often. Work it out and save yourself the stress of trying to plan a funeral from jail. ********** That was actually really fun. I told my husband I couldn't come help him yet because I had to write down ten reasons not to kill him. He seemed okay with that. I guess it is better than the alternative. |
| Okay, well, I am going to try a blog entry instead of a book review, so you will all be my captive audience. <evil laugh> After years of rolling my eyes at those who have suggested it, I decided to start a spiritual journal. I have always maintained that it would be easier to simply include my spiritual promptings, thoughts, and experiences in my regular journal. However, a few things have recently changed my mind. A spiritual journal, for those who don't know or are curious, is a journal where you write down your spiritual thoughts, experiences, or promptings. Very simple. You can take the opportunity to make a note of your blessings or answered prayers. From what I have heard, this is a great chance to do several things. First, by simply writing them down, you are recognizing them. Sometimes it can be difficult to pull out what thoughts come from you and what thoughts come from the Holy Spirit. Processing through them as they happen can be a big help. I remember the first 'spiritual journal' thing I wrote. It was when I first felt a strong, burning testimony that the church was true. I was 17 at the time, and worried that I might look back at my decision to join the church and rationalize and overanalyze it, as I am prone to do. I thought I might convince myself that it had to do with a crush I had since I was about 11, on a boy who lived across the country. But at that moment, I knew it was not the case. I literally felt my burn and the Holy Spirit tell me that I needed to be a part of Christ's church. Which leads to the second reason for such a journal. It can be easy to explain away or rationalize such promptings. When you follow them and something good but unexpected happens, it can be easy to define it as 'coincidence'. But when you write these things in yur journal, you will be able to remember them as they occured. (The letter, by the way, was unnecessary. I never questioned my testimony. But it makes a nice keepsake.) The third reason is because, as humans, we tend to be a forgetful lot. It can be hard to remember our promptings from months before. I have had friends tell me that they felt a prompting and then, months later, when reviewing their spiritual journal, they were amazed at the blessings that came from heeding that prompting. They had forgotten why they had started down the path in the first place, but because of their journal, were able to look back and remember - and add a new entry. The final reason is for posterity. How faith-promoting would it be for your children (and even your spouse) to read through your journal and observe how your testimony grew. "So that's why we moved," they might say, or perhaps just nod in rememberance. Our children learn our faith from us, but if they never see that faith in action, even if we have it, then they miss the chance to grow. Besides, I don't want my kids reading my regular journal - especially of my pre-church teen years - until I am dead. Maybe not for five years after that. I started my spiritual journal last night, while I studied the scriptures. It wasn't so much that I felt overly prompted in any direction, but that I felt like I identified with the Old Testament story I was studying. But I look forward to adding more entries. |
| Knowing that you are all dying to read every word I have ever written - excuse my while I collapse on the floor, laughing - I put together a collection of my book reviews. It is located here: "Invalid Item" I am struggling to get any work done in this environment. Today I was supposed to be investigating markets for my article, but I failed. This was supposed to be done during the now-completed naptime. It may still be possible during the day, but not as likely. Actually, I'm pretty familiar with American Baby, so I'll just doublecheck to see if it has been included, and then query them for next year. Come to think of it, a major publication like that probably does plan a good while in advance. Anyway, I did spend the free time writing (in the dark, of course). I wrote up two more book reviews, trying to hit my goal. I now have 20 articles written, exactly. It would be nice to come up with five more for the final day, but I would probably do book reviews the fastest, and I'm not sure I could manage. Still, anything is possible, especially once everyone is asleep, LOL. If you read a book and it is so distasteful that you can barely make it through a third, is it fair to do a review? I honestly cannot make myself read anymore, it is that repulsive. Sad, eh? Love any thoughts. |
| Odd, I know, but I am having trouble falling asleep. We all got pretty worn out yesterday and slept well, waking up about 5 minutes before church. Believe it or not, we were only 10 minutes late - with three kids. Impressive, huh? Of course, being a 30 second walk away did help. I have a whole long to do list for tomorrow. I've decided it is time to stop being on vacation. I am going to get this awful hotel room picked up and start making sure we all make our beds each morning - and each after-nap time. I finally went ahead and unpacked my clothes from the suitcase and put them in the drawers, something I rarely do at hotels but I figure, if we're here another week, I need to. Tomorrow I'll probably take dh's out of the laundry bag and do the same. I brought the kids outfits on hangers so just hung them up when we got here; that was easy. I'm also going to have to instigate a weekly 'food budget'. I am thinking we can swing it on $200/week <shudder>; we will be reimbursed $175 at least, hopefully more ($25/day). I would like to do less, but we'll see. I am going to Walmart tomorrow to get more hot dogs for dh and the kids (well, kielbasa for dh, regular dogs for the kids). I'll need to figure out how often we want to do dinner and go from there. But dh eats half a kielbasa for lunch each day, so I'll need at least 4; I'll probably wind up with 6 which will net him 4 nights of dinner. I'd like to come in under budget rather than over. We can alternate dinner nights - fast food one night, eat in the next - and then once a week actually go somewhere fairly decent. Probably around the end of the week, once we see what our limited budget is. But, like I said, it would be nice to make money, and the idea of spending $800/month makes me gag, since my regular budget tends to run closer to $100-200/month. <sigh> Other plans include emailing the library to beg for mercy on the four books we have maxed out our renewal on; emailing some folks from chuch about being out of town; taking the kids to the park and running them 'til they drop; going to Walmart. And then there is my writing goals. I don't have my membership to writersmarket online yet, but I am going to do some market research (since I've already done the prelims) for the larger commercial pieces like American Baby. Specifically, I want to see if they've printed anything on the subject this summer (I figure if so, it was probably closer to the beginning of summer). Also, I need to write out emails for the study coordinators to see about new study material. Finally, I have two book reviews and a short article - possibly two - to write for the last day of the month. I had a goal of 25 articles this month and I am still short, but if I can hit 20, that will be decent. I also decided, since I've been doing book reviews lately, to copy an idea I saw elsewhere. Namely, a book of book reviews. I will have to peek to see if I can find the reference. Ah, yes, a copy of "Invalid Item" . I asked permissiong first, just so you know. Anyway, I will post it here in its rough form.I've also added a blog, "Invalid Item" to my list on the left, as well as including my Redd Infinity blog as a link, since I know you were all dying to check it out. Alright, I'm going to bed. Although I am still toying with the stay-up-all-night idea, which is lousy. But it would reset my cycle, at least, and I might wind up in bed early tomorrow night, which would be a miracle. What does it take, 3 weeks to change a habit? Do you think in 3 weeks I could go from being anight owl to being a morning person? |
| Last night, as I tried to go to sleep, I had an idea. I am not sure how well this will work, but it made me smile with joy. I thought about, once we have things settled, applying for another blog on families.com, this one for genealogy. If I write full-time for them on genealogy - that is, my family tree, a hobby I love - then I could use that extra money in part for researching. I don't know, but it could even be tax deductable. I could also create other genealogy articles for magazines and use that to further my freelancing career. I really enjoy family history. I love my family tree. The only problem is that of time. I am not sure how I would even manage to pursue freelancing AND genealogy the way my time is cramped right now. On the other hand, in another year I could perhaps manage it. My kids will be a little older, and I will have gotten used to the freelancing work. I could also do a great deal of the genealogy on Sunday and then write about it throughout the week. I'm not sure I could generate enough blog entries, but then again...I don't know. I think it would be a wonderful thing even to just have enough income to spend on genealogy. Speaking of income, I was running the numbers. If my husband can continue doing this job, even for just just 40 hours a week - or for three 50-60 hours a week and one week off - then we could have enough income to not only pay our bills (and our utilities would be greatly reduced if we aren't home all the time) but also to pay an extra thousand a month towards the credit cards. Any extra income I pick up from there would be an even faster route. I am very hopeful that that is the plan the Lord has for us, but I have to trust in Him to guide us. Yesterday we made a long and miserable trip to the outer banks. We had no air conditioning in our van, and we got stuck in stop-and-go traffic, going something like 5 mph. We went a mile in about twenty minutes, and wound up stopping at a Walmart because I felt like I was going to pass out, thanks to the combination heat and humidity. Once we finished that long stretch however, things got better. The kids loved visiting the Wright Brothers memorial at Kitty Hawk, and seeing the plane. We walked up to the memorial; it was a great view. I think the kids really liked it. Then we went to Nag's Head and played on the beach. Jimmy - my 18 mos old - hated the wet sand but enjoyed the waves licking at his feet. Dawn, my 5 yo DD, ran in and out of the waves grabbing sea shells. And Mookie, my 3.5 yo DS, ran down to grab shells but ran away from the water. We all wound up soaked and sandy, but all in all, it was a good trip. The trip home was cooler. It took a little extra time to find dinner; I don't know why there weren't any fast food places on hte way back, but there weren't. We finally got food around 7 or 7:30. Overall, a great trip. Now I'm going to go do some genealogy. Woohoo! |
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