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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. |
| Okay, my big fear is coming. We just subscribed to DirecTv and Tivo, which I am *very* excited about, but I have to wonder if it will change my viewing habits or not. Will I wind up watching more television than I did with clearanced bunny ears? Will I begin to neglect my writing? I already am, to some degree. I submitted my story yesterday. I actually did an email submission on Friday but I CCed myself and never recieved it. So yesterday I took a deep breath and sent it again. I have my fingers crossed that it didn't go twice. I CCed myself AGAIN and this time I got it, so I guess it went through. Woohoo! Step one taken. The next step is to print out the story and mail it for submission. I already have a market researched, I am just waiting for the dratted printer. Also, I had a huge fear; the chosen market takes up to 30 pages and I had done all of the editing to cut my story from 7000 words (24 pgs) down to 5K (about 22). I felt the 7K version was more complete. I didn't save a special version of the pre-cut story and thought I was out of luck, but the printer problems saved me! I had emailed all stories to my husband to print at work and (thank goodness) he still had them. So I have to do some minor edits and then I will send again! Yahoo! I was going to do it today (I thought the printer was fixed but it was a cruel trick) but I have been sick as a dog all day and didn't go anywhere (I'm going to church tonight because I'm in charge of running things, aack!, but that's it). So I will do the editing tomorrow (Wed) and then have my husband print on Thursday, and I will put my second submission in the mail Friday. The other fear I'm currently suffering is that I seem to have dried up of ideas! I need to write *another* for-submission story but nothing is coming. Perhaps tonight I will be inspired by something said to me, LOL. And I'm going to start carrying a notebook in my purse, it's large enough. Gotta run, the battery is dying. Keep your fingers crossed, and maybe I won't have a letter for SM's contest!  |
| Yikes! I did it! I sent off a submission today to the magazine, "Irreantum"! It was an email submission and I'm doubly nervous. First, because it's not showing up in my "sent" box which is starting to freak me out. I also cced it to me and another email address and it has not yet come through. I'll give it 24 hours and then resend it. <eyeroll> Of course the biggest reason I'm nervous is that whole "submission" thing. Aack! On one hand I wonder "what am I thinking"; on the other, "it's about time!". LOL So anyway, I'm on my way to being either a published or a rejected author. Even rejected is better than where I was, the lady who types short stories that everyone seems to find amusing. Plus, rejection builds character, right? So here comes my character building – IF my email went through. |
| Wow, someone actually *read* my journal! I'm so suprised! I finally have it. 5,066 words. That means that I'm ready to submit. I have made all the cuts I'm going to make. Tomorrow I am going to polish my cover letter for my first submission and then <swoosh> it is off electronically. I'll work on the next couple of cover letters and my goal is to have the rest of the stories in the mail by Monday. I have another package to take to the post office, so I'll just take them all down at once. The very idea of mailing off my story is making me *soooo* nervous. It's been my lifelong goal to be a "published" author but now I have the "what are you thinking?" syndrome going on. I've gotten a lot of good feedback from this site, and lots of ego boosts  so I can't be terribly awful (or else you guys are just bad judges of writing character). I think this whole nervous syndrome has been part of the reason I slipped into my (writing) funk. I feel overly conscious of what I'm producing if it is for publication. I started avoiding my short story and then felt guilty if I worked on something else. Major blue funk. Anyway, the story is being submitted tomorrow. I have to go VTing tomorrow afternoon (at 3) so I will have to submit before then. On the other side, my hubbie and I won tickets to a previewing of "50 First Dates". Pretty good movie. I'm not a big (crude) Adam Sandler fan, although I loved "The Wedding Singer." 50 First Dates was a bit more crude, though not because of Sandler; it was his costars. But it definately earned the PG-13 rating in my book. Still, it was a great movie, and if you an handle a touch of crudity I think you'll enjoy it. |
| I know, three entries in one day, what am I thinking? But I decided I need an ongoing "bragging" post for all my coupon bargains, so you're it, LOL. Today, I went to CVS and got 15 Maybelline lipsticks 12 Maybelline lip pencils 14 Colgate Simply white toothpastes After I used my $10 extrabucks, I spent less than $15 AND will be getting back $30 extra bucks on Wednesday AND a $2.49 rebate Then I went to Publix (not quite as good) and got: 14 cans of Bush's beans (3 of 'em were chili) 4 1/2 gallons of milk 1 1/2 gallon Hershey's chocolate milk 1 roll paper towels for just shy of $8 I also did my weekly Eckerd stop and spent my gift card on construction paper so we can make valentines. Who cares? No one, but that's okay I still like to brag, LOL! |
| My husband broke the printer on Friday night (remember I was going to print out my story, revise, and mail today?). So that was a no-go. But I did some computer revisions. I was all ready to submit on-line when I did a word count and realized I have 1,800 words *too many*! Now, for that I really do function best with a pen and paper. So I have requested that my hubbie BRING HOME the printed story (now emailed to him). I'll do my revisions tonight and tomorrow, and then tomorrow I will email it to "Irreantum". I'll make my hubbie print out several copies and then mail THEM on Wednesday. I was really looking forward to posting today that I had submitted it. But I did too many revisions. <winds up and pitches out into space> |
| Well, even though I've missed a few days, you should feel special that I am writing in this journal rather than my book one. I wrote in that one yesterday, though, for a whole whopping fifteen minutes. I have an idea for a review forum but I'm not sure if it's a good idea. I have several short stories that I would - okay, I'm lying. I have ONE short story that I am working on for publication. I would like feedback. However, thanks to Jessiebelle's article "Invalid Item" (you should be glad I'm linking it, I was just going to list the name) I don't want to post my "good" story on the site.My initial thought was this: create a forum and a survey where people can apply to be a reviewer. I mean, I want folks who are going to do detailed, indepth reviews. In return, I thought I would offer the big bucks (LOL): at least 1,000 gps and possibly up to 5,000 (depending on the length of the story; my 20 page double spaced would be worth more than, say, a 2 pger). I thought I could put five folks on the list as reviewers, with the stipulation that they review the item within one or maybe two weeks. If they miss three reviews, then I'll move them off and move the next person on (I was thinking about a waiting list, LOL). For the appliation, I thought I would ask folks to review any item from my folder "Review Me!!" . That way they get an idea for my type of writing and I get an idea of their style of reviewing. For all applicants I will respond with gps, depending on how in-depth I feel the review is.This sounds great and I was very excited about it, and then the idea of "copyrights" crossed my mind. What is to stop someone from taking the story I email them and reselling it (assuming, of course, it's any good)? I don't even know what my rights would be for that, should I stumble across it. So I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I'd love to hear any suggestions or thoughts! |
| I have to confess to feeling a little guilty. I have a regular written journal that I try to write in frequently (and frequently fail to write in). It seems like cheating to me to keep one on-line. But oh well, every little bit helps! I'm in this blue funk right now in regards to my writing. I decided to bite the bullet and seek publication. I wrote the story, researched markets, and asked a few great friends to R&R (I didn't post it on Writing.com because of the 'previously published' limitation/problem/whatnot). I chose three or four different places to send it. I revised and then revised again. Then all of a sudden, the site of my story was enough to make me sick. I couldn't take looking at it, or giving it the final revision, or anything. They say that when you try to make a living at it, writing becomes less fun. I didn't make it very far, huh? Now, granted, I'm not sure this is the only or even biggest reason. I read an article from Jessibelle "Invalid Item" that has made me hesitant to post on Writing.com. Several stories that I have spent a lot of time on suddenly became less "marketable", and I was kind of ill at myself for not already knowing that. I also started back into couponing heavily, after an almost two month break (read: heavy time constraints). We're trying to cut our budget down to minimalistic proportions so we can pay off the credit cards faster (but that doesn't look likely any more, as my hubbie pointed out that it would be better to pay off the van [in both names] than the cards [my name only] if we want to get into another house sooner. This is compounded by the fact that the stupid van is at a higher interest rate than the cards, anyway; I just really wanted to get out of credit card debt). And also, I've been a big contest enterer but the prompts lately just don't seem to be inspiring me. All of this together could account for my downturn, but I don't know. It seems remarkably coincidental that it all happened when I decided to "take the plunge."But that's okay. I read palindrome's journal and I have decided to press forward again. As soon as Michael hooks my printer back up (right now it's on the floor while he plays Nintendo - the original - with his friend who is spending the night, let's not go THERE) I'm going to print out the most recent draft, read and revise ONE LAST TIME and then it's out of here. Tomorrow I'll work on the query letters with Monday being THE DAY I put in the mail. No matter what. You guys can listen to my excuses on Monday, LOL. Okay, maybe Tuesday, since I won't be doing anything on Sunday....Yeah, we'll make Tuesday be THE DAY. That gives me tomorrow to revise (though the printer won't get hooked back up til after basketball so after three or so tomorrow) and Monday to "touch up". I can do this. |
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