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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. |
Well, we went strawberry picking today, again. This time I took dh with me, which was so much nicer. He carried the baby car seat, but the poor baby was in the seat for about four hours straight.  Anyway, impressions:The second farm I visited, Dahlonaga (?), was off Buisness 19 just north(?) of Dahlonaga. Go figure. The sign was easy to spot and off the main road, and we saw it from far enough way that we got to skip the hit-the-brakes-and-skid fun. I was somewhat turned off by the fact that every time I called the number, I got a recording, never a live person, as well as the fact that there was no 'street' number (probably a result of the area) or locale listed. There was a nice empty parking space on the top, graveled with 'no parking' signs everywhere, the 'no' covered with tape. Somewhat humorous. Near the parking sat several tables underneath a tent, where a couple of workers stood. Baskets of prepicked fruit and jams were set on the table. They gave us two buckets when we asked and didn't even point to the large, obvious field. We climbed down the steps - this was somewhat hesitant due to the steepness and the fact that the railings had large gaps, so I frequently worried about the toddlers. Once we got down the hill, a large expanse of green spread out before us, bedecked with several bright red berries. Even the rows right at the foot, what should have been the most cleanly picked spaces, revealed several berries in prominent view. We moved over four or five rows off-center and picked the berries. Dawn went with dh, who told her she had to show him the berries before picking, completely undoing all my work in the 'quest for only perfect berries'. When she came back to me about halfway through, she was asking, "Is this a good berry?" I had to set her straight again. "If it's not green or mushy, go ahead and pick it," I told her. Michael moved down the rows much faster than I did. He was at the end when I was maybe a third of the way finished. Different picking styles. I didn't realize until later that he was only picking the 'just right' berries and leaving behind those that were too small, etc. Perhaps it was my upbringing, or Mr. Kelly's teaching, but I didn't leave a 'good' strawberry behind. I got small ones, big ones, fire-engine red ones, and deep purplish red ones, all in one bucket. I also moved at a fairly brisque clip. I was quite impressed with how fast I was going, until I realized I still had to wait for dh. Let's put it this way: I filled the bucket as full as possible, climbed the steps with the kids, paid, walked over to the car (with two kids trying to stand at the end of the parking lot, making me afraid they would jump or fall down the hill), walked back, and then walked around and around. I finally called him. As for strawberries: my opinion was that the first batch, from Washington farm, was sweeter. They were also less expensive, by .50. However, the second batch was larger, 4 qts, easily proven when I tried to transfer the strawberries from the basket they gave me to the Washington farms basket. They didn't all make it; it was a good thing I brought the second pot, which was larger and also filled. Okay, so that is two strawberry pickings from the north side of town - north east and north west. The next and last place I'll visit will be about an hour south, in Fayetteville, and we'll see how that goes. Incidentally, I didn't do interviews today or last time. I will call back in the 'off season', or after the story is assigned. I thought of a few more questions, too. Pesticides and future plans. I need to put them into my notebook. Someone sent me a link to subscribing to Writer's Digest, which I would totally love. At present, though, with dh out of work (you'd think he could remember that), I don't think it's in our budgetary means. I'm sorely tempted, though. Still, WritersMarket.com was pushing it, and that was for my birthday. On the other hand, giving our current financial state and dh's tendency to make purchases without consulting me - we won't discuss the $250 he made on new tires for the van that we are supposed to be selling without cosulting me - or his tendency to ignore my counsels - that would be the Z car he bought to fix and resell that I told him was a bad idea; he wound up spending a total of $2500 and sold it for $2100, taking a $400 loss - maybe I should go ahead and get what I want. You won't believe how tempting that is. I just have to tell myself that marriages don't work that way, don't be petty, grow up, etc. Vengence doesn't work out, and even if he doesn't know what we can't afford, that doesn't mean I don't. Which reminds me, I have to pay the bills. I hate that. Tonight I am going to the bookstore to look for a few magazines to read and research. I'm going to look for the Georgia one and for Child magazine. Those are the two biggies. Those are the two I will prepare queries for tomorrow, first thing. Oh, yes, I need to call Atlanta Parent and get the correct editor's name. Then I can mail that one out. Incidentally, that gives me three markets, and I'll also watch tonight for the fourth one who's name I can never remember. In terms of fiction, I have a children's story written, but it is too long and I think too much dialogue. I need to print and review. I need to trim it to 800 words or less; it is 887. I already skimmed off a hundred words. I'll probably cut some dialouge and try to add some action, though I'm not sure what is right. I wrote it this afternoon and will give it some cool-off time; maybe I can review it tomorrow. While I'm writing my query letters. What exactly am I thinking? Alright, I'm going to do a bit of reading. I did a lot of research and driving today, so I'm going to hit the Child website to get some online input. That will give me an idea of whether they do second or third person. Which will give me something. Then I'll finish some more Little House on the Prarie. I'm almost finished with the series. Blech blech my brain is numb after all that driving. And picking. But at least it wasn't just me this time. Michael is definitely coming next time. |
| Okay, I am trying to pull it all together, but I'm not sure it's coming. This is an odd week, what with the strawberry picking. Speaking of which, I need to go find my locale for tomorrow. Okay, an hour's drive. That should be fun, especially since the A/C is out on the van. But dh says he is coming, though I haven't confirmed tomorrow as a work date. I wrote the query list for one magazine, and I need to go ahead and write a query for todays. Is it the third day? I guess it is, and I've only written one query letter. The other two are waiting on fiction stories. How unfair. What am I going to do about Child magazine? I need to search the archives. Then I need to work on a fiction story. I read through five issues of Highlights and found only two fantasy stories; one was about a leprechaun in March (thus St. Patrick's day). I had a fictional idea but it was fairy-related, so now I need to reponder. In the meantime, I am going to search on Child and then write and polish a query letter for it. I think I've pretty much decided to go ahead and mail my query letters for strawberry picking now rather than later; at least then I won't forget about them. And maybe they'll say, 'great idea, go for it' and pay me now, on acceptance. <wink> Tomorrow I will be doing research (aka pick more strawberries) and continue thinking up short stories. I think I might go ahead and write down the child's fairy story and see where I can place it; at the very least post it on Writing.com. I am also thinking a few turns through my scripture calender will help me come up with a morale piece for religious magazines, though - oh, wait, where did Clubhouse Jr go? I might be able to use that as a viable market. I still have it checked out; I meant to return it today. Thinking, thinking.... PS Got a return email from Budget Living, who I emailed regarding writer's guidelines, today. Boy, they are fast. Probably my snappy 'writer's guidelines' line that got such results.  They pay $1/word, and aren't even listed in Writer's Market. I need to skedaddle over to Mtn. Park library and grab their copies, I am thinking for 'next' week's query on cheap grocery shopping. I only read one magazine, however, so I'm not totally certain it will fit. But we'll see; I'm sure I can slant it in correctly. I can do anything if I put my mind to it, right? Or, as Steve (from Blue's Clues) says: with me, and you, and my dog Blue, we can do anything that we wanna do!  Too many kids shows... ****** She comes back later to say I tried to write my query letter, but realized without the magazine, I can't really capture the appropriate tone. Do they write to 'you'? Do they bring the writer in as 'I'? Should I refer to myself or demure? What kind of slant do they use? I want to communicate this in my query, that I have actually studied this out, so I guess I will wait. But when will I go to the library? Dh just said he would come to the strawberry pickin' with me and the kids tomorrow. Hey, I see more spinoffs - freezing those suckers for another day! Go strawberries! Hold on while I add it to my idea file. Alright, I decided that freezing isn't something I can do a lot with, but if, for instance, Child is a sidebar-full magazine, I can suggest a 'how to freeze' and a 'what to do with them' sidebars to make it click even better. So I'll keep an eye out for those. I think only four of my five magazines were nonfiction, but I am waiting on two of them, since they are local numbers. My fictional story isn't doing well; I'm not good with plotting, you know. Hmm, do Highlights & J&J take simaltaneous submissions? Whatever, I think I can vamp and revamp a story. I don't see info on either site, but maybe I'll do one, then the other. They both seem to take about 2 mos to respond, so there you go. If only I could think of a good story. I don't know why I'm story dead. I'm going to brainstorm: Brainstorming: (this may not make sense, so feel free to skip) Strawberry picking, hot day, need a challenge, kids, skipping rocks, summer, sweaty, maybe bored? maybe picking own strawberries so not an adventure, every year always the same, then friend comes over and "wow you're lucky"?, like that, all the strawberries we can eat, okay, I think I've got it! Thanks! End brainstorming How did that happen? I think I've got a story for one, at least. I have to type it and see how it goes. Wish me luck! |
| Just a quick entry on putting my thoughts together for tomorrow. I am going to the library to return some books and check some others out. I need to be thinking about next week's article - I am thinking of the "money saving" one I sort of sketched out in my head the other night before going to sleep. Sort of a "how to save thousands on your grocery bill without clipping coupons". I think I have the knowledge for that one. That one seems like an appropriate article for the not-to-distant future and I think it will be next week's goal. Okay, I'll think on some markets. The other thing I need is to do some market research. I think the Georgia magazine that I need to buy that I singled out will most likely be at the bookstore, so I can read over it then. I need to do some online reading, as well. I talked to Rachel about borrowing Child magazine, but she <gasp> cuts hers up. I will look to see if they get it at the library tomorrow - I'm going to both. I will also try to swing some copies of Highlights for Children tomorrow. Did I mention a plot to write some children's religious fiction? I just have to think of an angle, and then I can start researching more markets for that. I may extend the strawberry picking to two weeks, so I can do one for nonfiction, one for fiction, just sort of combine them. I have so many ideas floating around right now it is hard to keep up. I almost missed out on the rest of my "Deep Space" queries because of the weekend - I lost track of what was going on. Do you think it is better to send a seasonal query early (like a year) rather than six or seven months before the deadline? I am trying to decide about my strawberry article. On the other hand, I could go ahead and send it and see what they say. Just having a job will be a big help, and I can turn the article in super early, which will be nice. Okay, tomorrow's goals include: -Check out Highlights and some more Jack & Jill (for fiction research); look for Child magazine -Craft a more widespread query for something like Child or another higher parenting magazine; more general than local -Keep an eye out for the other local Georgia magazine I'll have to take a list to the library tomorrow. I'm hitting two. I'll work on slanting mine accordingly. And you know what? I'm going to finish polishing the strawberry query I already wrote and mail it. That gives them plenty of time. And it will also give me a few more "credits" to my name. Still thinking on fiction; need a moral/action/adventure and also something with a more moral tone for religious magazines. I need to check out a few on the web. I wonder if I could do one for Boy's Life, with a teen boy who doesn't want to go out with his mom and younger sibling but then ends up having fun? I could try it. I'm just worried about whether or not I can write children's stories. My luck is that I can't, LOL. Time to go! I have some reading and sleeping to do. |
| Today, thus far, I have called, prepared and mailed (well, stuck in the mailbox; it'll go out tomorrow) one query letter (for National Geographic Kids), and emailed a second. Both are for my "Deep Impact" article. As I said, yesterday I stayed on track, and both queried and researched. Now, according to my list, I have already developed five markets for this strawberry article; one requires a fictional story, and so I need to think about it. I'm not sure what I'm going to write yet. In the meantime, I'd like to try to describe what happened yesterday at the strawberry farm, to keep it full in my memory. It all won't make it into the article - very little probably will - but this way I can keep my recollections. Yesterday we went to Washington Farm (need to verify the name there). According to the online map, the farm is on Highway 20, and looks to be centered between 316 and 78. I decided to take 316 up, and took 78 back (since the interstate heading south was very backed up). It turns out that the farm is about ten+ miles from 316 (and I should've gotten off at Sugar Loaf, which dead ends there, and would have saved me several miles) and less than three from 78. Thus, 78 would have been faster. As I drove from 316, I saw a large sign on the opposite side of the road inviting us to "pick (our) own strawberries". (This happened as I was calling the farm the second time for directions; the first was unnecessary because, as usual, I got 29 and 78 mixed up and thought I'd gone too far). A dirt road led off the left side of the road, but as I continued, I came to a paved road. Spread out on both sides lay acres of green, straight rows, where people dipped up and down. I pulled onto the left side of the road, got the children out (a hectic handful), walked up to the booth, and was told picking was on the other side of the road today; there was a school group on this side that was about to leave. So you should call to see which side of the (small paved needs-to-be-named) road you are picking on if you have more than one child and getting in and out is difficult. We pulled up to the second side, walked up to the booth, and were given clear, easy to understand instructions. I started out with Jimmy strapped to me but had to go back to the car to get a blanket and lay him down; he was too hot! And so was I. The children and I selected a row, and I gave them each a bucket. I meant to sit with them and show them on-line what pickable strawberries looked like, and what nonpickables look like, but I forgot. We sat down (keep in mind the two older ones are 3.5 and 2) and I showed them several red, ripe berries. I cautioned them against picking the green ones or the slimy ones. We moved down the rows, picking and picking. Dawn delighted in pulling them off and, later, when I was carrying the baby in my hands (3 mos), admonished me not to pick the full stems. "Like this, Mommy," she said, and showed me how to pick the tops only. Mookie got tired after about ten minutes and was content to carry the bucket. At one point, he sat down on a big juicy strawberry, and his backside was stained red, both his shirt and his pants. Suprisingly, the children did a good job of staying in the rows and not stepping on the plants. I was quite impressed with them, though they did occasionally sit down on the hills (hence the strawberry stain). On occasion, I would give them a strawberry to munch. They were so sweet, yummy and juicy. There is nothing like the taste of freshly picked strawberries. Two buckets seemed to strain even Dawn's endurance, and certainly the baby's. I think one bucket is enough to cover the attention spans of the children. It's certainly enough strawberries; I picked the 2nd bucket for my inlaws. Anyway, the buckets were about 3/4ths full when Dawn started wanting to leave. I didn't fill them as full as I could have, but we will see how they do on one bucket when I go again Friday. Things to remember: forget the bugs and wear shorts! Bring more water in the car - the kids drank all theirs. Be sure your A/C works, especially in Georgia. Hats would be helpful, but even though we were out around noon, none of us ended up sunburned. More miracle than sense, though. Once home, the kids enjoyed helping me freeze the strawberries. I cut the tops off, Dawn washed the strawberries, and Mookie placed them carefully on a cookie sheet so they weren't touching. Then I put them in the deepfreezer, and later refroze them so they weren't one big blob. Okay, that covers most of it, except the bone-wrenching exhaustion I felt afterwards. Make sure you have no big plans for the next day! Now if only I had a short story idea in mind.... A lesson of some sort would get me into several of the Christian magazines; that's something to keep in mind for other markets. I need to think of a good one for Highlights as well. I will read several of their stories to get an idea of what they are looking for, and try to think of some good ones for a moral tale. I wonder if a nice strawberry picking story would work for Jack & Jill? I am going to read them next for a market study. Hmmmm. |
| Well, I completed a query letter for an article for a magazine next May. The article is on strawberry picking, and I am going to submit it to Atlanta Parent. That is, assuming I don't forget all about it. I need to have some form of reminder. Oh, I know, I'll use the mscript submissions thingy in Writer's Market.com. I need to do that tomorrow, too. But I have the query letter written. It says to query with seasonal material six mos. in advance. I will probably send it seven months, which is five monthes from now, no four; that's, um, September. That should give me ample time to respond to the query. I went strawberry picking today with three kids. Ugh ugh and blach. I need to have a better plan for the next trip. Which is Wednesday. I think Michael (my hubbie) will be coming, but we will see. I don't know much of what is going on this week. I do know I am about to the end of my writing time. Meanwhile, I need to somehow be inspired for a short children's story for strawberry picking. That's how I'm going to upgrade my market. I am going to submit it to Highlights. Gotta run now, but know that I did my requisite work - strawberry picking counts as research - for today, and even wrote a query letter! I'm ahead! |
| Okay, I have my first query letter typed. I am going to combat all known rules to contact Dr. Michael A'Hearn to determine when he would be available for followup questions. His mission lands July 4th, and I want to check in with him again after that. Otherwise, I have pitched a 300-500 word news brief to Boys' Life which I will arrange to have faxed tomorrow, given the time-sensitive nature of the piece. Maybe I should mail it with a SASE. Ooooh, decisions, decisions. I have a list of interview questions for the good doctor. I am quandrying (my own inventive word) as to whether I should go ahead and interview him now for the background (what will it lose?) or do it after I have the go ahead. I should probably wait for the go-ahead, although I could probably pitch it in a few other spots, as well. I wonder if the AJC would take a news blip on it? Probably not. Oh, I need to make a photo reference - NASA has some great artist renditions. Need to add that to the query. Made a note. Okay, it is 1:30 in the morning, and I finally achieved my goal of writing something today. Blech. I need to do better; stinking season finales. I really think next year I am just going to let an entire season go by, Tivo it, and then watch the season at my leisure. Take that, you evil production weenies. In the meantime, my plans for tomorrow: I have to go visiting teaching for church at NINE THIRTY tomorrow morning. That means I need to be up around 8, 8:30 if I am truly evil and feed my kids poptarts for breakfast. If I do 8, though, I can give them cereal and then take a shower. So 8 it is. After that, I am supposed to go help dh with his job. I'd better try not to forget that. I am also supposed to go over to the Dunwoody library and get some more issues of BL. Incidentally, the query I was considering for August didn't pan out, since I realized they just ran an article on meteroites (not showers, but still...) in April. Probably not interested in one in August. I tried for the December showers, but there will be a full moon so it won't be too great. But I'll find another NASA mission to pitch, never fear. Something will come up by then. I have an idea, and I suppose I should just go ahead and do it - I thought I'd email the Young Astronomer winners and see if they were, by any chance, boy scouts. If so, I can pitch a feature next, after my successful news article. I hesitate only because I doubt they'd trust me to a feature so soon. Then again, maybe they'll be knocked dead. I have to tell you, I intend to have my article written before the first interview, and complete it within two days of the second interview. At the most, I should have it done within a week, though I'll tell them I need two so I deliver early rather than late. But we'll see. Hey, here's my BL query letter. Any feedback would be greatly appreciate. "Invalid Item" I need to figure tomorrow's writing plan. I am going to keep researching, I think, read some magazines. Maybe I should try out a short story - or a nonfiction piece - for Highlights for Children. I will keep my head out that way. I also need to see if I can find a library with Odyssey magazine - I will call around tomorrow. I wish we had a landline. If I remember, I will ask them at the library when I go tomorrow. So I have no plans for writing tomorrow, really, just for researching. I will send my emails, and I would like to take a look at Odyssey to see if a piece on the Young Astronomer would fit at all into their schedule. We'll see. For now, it's bedtime. Oh, yes, I have another "warm and mushy" story idea from the local paper. I will nose around and see what kind of market I can develop. I feel slightly limited due to my lack of publication credits, but it never pays to not try, right? Right. Maybe I'll submit this one by mail to get me something to send to "Burn My Letter".  |
| That is, I don't really have a clue as to what is going on anymore. I thought I could shoot for a niche in the astro market for kids, but it turns out there aren't that many magazines in need of such info. I found one that I would like to try to break into - Boy's Life. Did I mention that that earlier? Anyway, I checked out four of the issues out from the library today and read through them. Good magazine - I am pretty sure I'll be subscribing when my boys get a bit bigger. I may go ahead and subscribe before then as a "buisness expense", to keep up with it. I think I can do some short astro news bits. The problem is the query takes two monthes to respond to, for them. BUT, I will go ahead and query, and maybe I can do a one-week turnaround time. I should do two just to be realistic, and I can turn it in early (rather than late). I also found a story but can't find a market. I wanted to write a piece about the young astronomer of the year, and I thought perhaps I could find a youth magazine to market it to. However, unless he is a boyscout (which he may be), I don't know who it would work with, and even if he was, I don't forsee them trusting me (mostly unpublished) to write a major feature right away. So odds are against that. On the other hand, I could try to market it smaller - but I can't seem to find the appropriate market for that one. I looked and looked. No luck. If you have any suggestions - on or offline - please let me know. I checked the old copies of BL and found that the newsie articles seem to be freelancers, with several submissions to other works, and that they vary. Lots of the same ones, however. But Writer's Market says they take columnists, so I will keep trying that one. I will just submit and submit up the whazoo. The worst they can do is tell me "no". The pieces are 300-750 words, or something like that, so I can churn them out relatively quickly. I will send the queries. Hmm, do they take them via email? No, just mail and fax. Mildly inconvenient. I guess I will fax them? Maybe I can set the computer up to ... I don't know. Anyway, I will, go ahead and start some up. The biggest problem right now is the stinking Dekalb county libraries limit checkouts of magazines to 5. That means I can only do them a few at a time. I've been to the Dekalb libraries twice this week, a total of three library visits (one in Gwinnett County), and I am tired. You try taking three kids to the library. I lied. The biggest problem is having no time to write. It's the tv, I let the season finales this week interrupt, despite the Tivo. Grrr. I will have to do better next week, a marked improvement. Maybe I will stay up tonight and start looking for some newsies to query. Then I can write and mail them tomorrow. Okay, tonight I am going to stay up past dh & Jimmy's bedtime and do some research and write. I am going to prepare a query for BL and mail it first thing in the morning, so it will be out. I wonder if it is a bad idea to send a query a week? Nah, that might overwhelm them. I am also going to look to whittling down my story - I think it would work in BL. Or I could come up with another one or two or few. That's an idea, too. But I think I will have more success if I write more frequently for them, start off with columns. Okay, so tonight's plan: submit a query for BL tonight. There are a few astro things I think will work but I have to brush up to be sure. I have a growing idea that will be off help. It's all about Titan, my favorite moon. I will do a bit of background checking and then submit it. Too bad I don't know where my Titan book is, it would be a great reference. Like I have a ton of time to read, anyway. Blech. Incidentally, my husband is watching the first Star Wars, and Darth Maul (sp?) is uggggly! |
| Frustration. I decided last night that perhaps the best thing to do was to develop a "niche" and polish it. That should get me into the publications. My niche, I decided in grand infamy, would be writing for children about astronomy. Visions of stories about upcoming meteor showers and other astronomical events danced through my head. Today, after my husband finally got off the computer, I sat down to peruse Writer's Market (online, the only good birthday present I got, purchased by me) and came up with a list of nine children's magazines that accept nonfiction of scientific nature. Four of them are Cricket-magazines, owned by the same company, three of which are thematic. All prefer to work with "published" writers. Furthermore, the other two good ones, Highlights and Boy's Life, have a six to twelve month lead time for publication. So if I want to submit a story about the Perseids (in August), I need to submit it, oh, now, for next year. Okay, I can handle that (especially since BL pays on acceptance). And at least I can say I will be published, which should give me some credibility with the other magazines (assuming, of course, I get published). So the problem I have right now is that a) one of the smaller magazines, a religious one, I don't have. I tried to look for churches in the area, to no avail. So I have to order one, which means waaaiiiittting. b) I don't have BL here, but that will be remedied when I go to the library tomorrow and pick it up. |
| I put a query in for Self magazine. I have to call them tomorrow to get the editor's name, and then I am going to snailmail the query. I didn't do the checks, either, so I have to do that. A couple of the SASEs have to go out for guidelines. But I need decide what, for sure, I'm sending out, and what is going to be suitable for checking on the net. I have to do a couple of on-line checks to see what it is. (I am watching Survivor and thus distracted) Anyway, I have to look online and see what I can query from here that is not in the library. Oh yes, I have to go to the Dekalb library tomorrow and see what they have. I need to make a list and then see if I have the Cricket magazines. I need to grab a stack of them tomorrow. I have a whole list of things to do. I had a whole bunch of things to do today, and I got most of them done. But not much on the writing side. I did get to the bookstore, and made a list of magazines that they have for studying for later, when the kids are not with me. I have to make a run for it. Surivior is killing me. |
| Okay, now the double nerves. I ran all over town today, then came home and submitted two queries, one to Health and one to Let's Live. Both via email. I think they take around two monthes to get back to you, so now I'm on edge waiting. For tonight, I need to go back and review Self magazine. I don't think my article will fit but I want to be sure. Then I'll go over either Family Circle or Good Housekeeping. I also need to start looking for webzines to submit it to. They pay cheap or not at all, but at least I would be published and have some published clips to reference, right? Anyway, I'm all nervy. My mom & MIL say "don't worry", "no need to be nervous". Yeah, well, they aren't putting their work out to have someone possibly - probably, given the odds - say "no thanks, not good enough (or what we want/need)". Total exposure, all in a blink. It sounds like dd is killing ds, so I guess I'd better go be a mommy. She can be so mean to him. ***** Back again. We won't discuss dd. She can be so cruel. I am at a tossup. Do I research the major markets, or start with the ezines? On the one hand, the major markets take longer to respond. So if I start with them, then start emailing ezines, I will wind up with responses close to the same time. Then I won't wind up selling out to an ezine and missing the big money. On the other hand, that's the purpose of queries - I can slant it in different directions and write new articles for both. It will also give me something to fall back on. Also, the odds are against getting the major magazines, but if the ezines respond faster, even without paying, then in future queries, I can reference the articles (even if it is a "to be published"). I think I told you I have an idea for the Laura Ingalls Wilder theme. I need to check those suckers out from the Dekalb library. That will give me a good idea of what is happening and acceptable, as well as the best way to slant the articles. Blechy. And I need to mail it by Wednesday, also a good reason to do a bit of research. I think I can probably do a little spot research to cover it, but I need to get cracking on that. I told my mom I've been working all week, and she was completely startled. She wants me to get a "real" job, but I think she'd be happy if I was writing, that might be enough of "not wasting" my education. <eyeroll> Okay, a little bit of studying to do. Catch ya in a little while. Odds are good I'll be back to rant/talk in a little while. DH doesn't seem very conducive to writing talks. Speaking of which, I'm not sure I decided what to do. I guess I'll go ahead and research the markets I already have checked out, and submit queries to them. Then I'll start with the ezines, although I am supposed to start researching Laura next week. Rush rush. Maybe I can get two queries done tomorrow. |
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