I've posted twice about how I need to write differently to succeed at website content writing and questioning the worthwhileness of writing for content websites because 6 months of doing so has not proven to earn much in way of compensation--in fact, I made less this month than I did my second month, disproving the theory that quantity is everything (considering that I now have 50 articles online versus a mere handful at month 2). And after a few days mulling a few things around in my head, I've come to a different take on the entire situation than my last 2 posts revealed.
My first reaction was to consider how I could get better results writing for Triond websites, where I currently write. But then it occurred to me that I could switch and write for another content website company. I did some research--just as I did when I began the whole enterprise. And again, I landed on Suite101 as a place of interest. I didn't go their route initially because I just wasn't confident that I could manage writing 10 articles every 3 months, their requirement. Now that I've been writing for over 6 months, I know I've output more than 10 in that time span, so I reconsidered.
What pushed me to consider other companies is page rank. I am not earning well on articles, despite serious change about how I do SEO research and am smart about keywords and tags. It all comes down to PageRank: Triond websites' are low--because they are not viewed as professional websites like Suite101, which has a good PageRank of 7. So all this time I've been writing articles that rarely ever showing up on the first page when anyone does a google search. I have improved where they fall in the list, but I've done all I can do; I can't compete any higher because of the PageRank of Triond sites. To become more findable on the web, I need to publish with a more reputable network of sites. And yes, this comes with more professionalism, more requirements, etc.
I almost applied to Suite101 the other night. But I hesitated. What's my goal anyway? Yes, writers on Suite101 do much better than Triond writers. But a reasonable expectation of making $1 a month per article is still not worth my time. Plus, I had to add in how much longer it'd take to write articles with more scrutinizing editors, more restrictive topic choices, and the style/length requirements. In the end, I'm not sure I want to be obligated to write 10 articles a month "their " way just to see if I make a little more $ than I currently am. And it's not smart to put myself into a contract like that when my reality is my one son went on a napping strike for a month this summer, during which I wrote very little. I am still in a very unpredictable land as far as my alone time goes.
Jumping ship and signing with a new publisher might be a good investment if I wanted to focus on online content. But my real goal is print magazines and their guaranteed fees (thought the process is so looong). What I like about writing for Triond is the freedom to write about whatever I want. I think I should stick with that--using online publishing as sort of my indulgence to write whatever I want, and then chance it that it'll get anywhere and maybe make some $ incidentally. Online content writing, for me, can't have attached to it the goal to make money, primarily. My niches just aren't money makers in the searchable sense, nor is my time enough to do better really well.
So time has proved not to change much, except to have refined my goals a bit.
Articles I've published recently through Triond:
Kids with Adequate Calcium Intake Less Likely to Become Obese in Adulthood?
Skirts for Trucks: More Than One Way to Increase Fuel Mileage
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Switching Systems: From Cloth Diapers to Disposables or The Reverse
Monday, September 27, 2010
How to Be a Better Match for Website Content Writing
Ok, in my last blog entry, I concluded that online content writing that pays through ad revenue isn’t the best match for me. I think I understand why now.
- Many of the articles I write are too well researched, and too time consuming to make it worth my while in this type of venue. My stuff on kindergarten readiness, the US school system's push to get kids to read before brain development is where it needs to be and learning issues as a consequence are examples of that pitfall.
2. Shorter is better in the online format. Many short articles earn better than one long one—you reach more people that way. Also, people getting articles thru social networking media, etc. aren’t likely invested enough to want to consume a lengthy piece of journalism. But it takes me LONGER to write a short article. Shortening my work to fit the online article consumer’s attention span takes me longer than I should really spend, and longer than I have, in the reality of my stay-at-home-mom life where writing is stuffed into the seams of my day.
So if I’m going to succeed and not just feel like the system abused me, taking many good, quality articles in return for chump change, I’ve got to change how I write for them.
- Cut down on the time invested in each article. It’s getting me just a little extra monthly income, so I should only be putting in a little extra writing.
- Write only what comes easily--I must if I am to use less time. If I need to do a lot research in order to write it, then it’s not an article I should publish through Triond or Xomba. If, however, I’m already learning about something, my brain is engaged, and the research is not “extra” and just for the purpose of writing the article, then I could write about it for a content website.
I think I recently did this successfully, twice. I read about two different topics in my interest zone, and seeing the info was not online already, but only in my grad school alumni magazine, I decided they were good topics others would be interested in: autism and green tea’s benefits. I did do a quick search on the CDC’s website for some statistics about Autism to write the one article, but otherwise, I did not put in any significant time into research.
- Leave it long or consider breaking it into two—but taking the time to cut it to be more concise is not always in my best interest. (Unless it is burdensomely long through lazy writing, in which case I should just cut my losses and leave it unpublished.) Shortening articles often takes me MORE TIME than writing it in the first place!
- If there’s something I really want to write and the effort it’d require goes against all my wise restrictions to guard my time and not sell myself out, I may publish it through online websites anyway if I really believe, altruistically, that the info just needs to be out there. I once realized an aspect of my writing was really becoming public service—like my article on when miscarriage turns out to be labor. I believe so strongly an article on that needed to be on the internet, because that is where I searched and searched for answers when it happened to me, and I could find nothing. For similar reasons, I recently wrote a series of articles on vulvodynia—how treatments were like throwing darts in the dark, what natural alternatives are available, how it destroys marriages, and how for so long it was treated as a psychiatric disorder. Because there just is not a lot of coverage on it, I felt the need to fill the gap.
Ok, maybe I'll give it another whirl, reducing the time I spend in this type of publishing, to give more time to traditional print magazines.
Some people say they do really well in this type of freelancing. Below is an article written by an online writer friend about all the different venues that pay to write. If it works, great, but I have to challenge myself to reevaluate constantly. When you get only a couple hours to write a day, the time is too precious to waste!
30 sites to write and earn: http://www.xomba.com/where_you_can_write_and_blog_30_sites_make_money_web
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Goodbye to Website Content Writing?
I’m revamping my strategy for trying to publish both in traditional markets as well as online content websites. I remind myself I started the online stuff just to fill time while I was waiting for responses from traditional print magazines—I just had so much energy, so much to say, and was getting impatient. Well, the circumstances that prompted me to write for the websites have changed.
Three or four months in, I thought I was beginning to see the potential for income that comes from viewers of the online articles clicking on ads (all revenue is solely based on advertising revenue). I saw how one article getting wide circulation really did add up to some cash. But now that I’d got a full six months and fifty articles under my belt, I’ve never seen that replicate itself with any other of my articles. I know it takes two years to really see whether it was worthwhile or not, as it take an average of that long for articles to garner enough views to be worth anything—but the skeptical side of me realizes that if views remain steady on my 49 articles as they have been, I’ll still be making less mere dollars per article! The optimistic side of me could expect other articles to take off, like my disposable diaper ingredients article, and get over 6,700 views (most of them in 2 weeks). But the painful truth is that as a writer, I have little to no power over that. Yes, I can find out in the research to choose the best tags and keywords that advertisers and web searchers are interested in, and I can create quality articles to keep people reading, but aside from that, I can’t duplicate what made one article of mine soar: post it inside private forums and other websites where people interested in that topic GO TO for information. If I do it, it’s called spamming, and highly lacking integrity, turning people off from clicking my link. When others do it, it’s magic. But a magic I have almost no control over manufacturing.
When I started getting somewhere with traditional magazines, and took a break from online writing to focus on other articles, I contemplated needing to divide my time between the two more appropriately. It occurred to me, that if I wanted to really know which was more profitable, I should write an online pay-from-ads article only as often as I write a query letter or article for a paying print magazine, then after two years, evaluate. True, it would be the way to go if my most important need was comparison. But in the end it isn’t. My most important need is to build a publishing resume in national magazines and get paid! My first paycheck for one magazine article paid me nearly four times what I’ve earned through all online ventures in six months. (But again I know it's not really fair--I can only guestimate what my online articles could earn over the next 2 or 4 years.)
A guiding principal I’ve used so far is what I think I’ll be falling back on: Write what you have the energy to write. (I heard that from a financial planner, who spoke of it in terms of doing whichever strategy gives you energy—if paying off student loans fast gives you more energy, then you’ll go further with that in the long run than if you started saving for retirement half-heartedly, unenthusiastically, and not committed enough to stick with it.)
Believe it or not, I’m trying to be “less disciplined.” I’ve realized I will likely do better in the end if I follow my instincts and interests. Yes, money is a motivator if you're trying to generate income, but I can't make it my only guiding principle. That even goes for choosing between writing for magazines that pay small or moderate fees versus ones that pay better. writing for lower paying markets, because if I churn out three articles I enjoyed writing, even though I am paid less on each, the total is better than groaning, plodding, to get through an article on something that pains me to write, but I discipline myself to do it just because it pays more.
So I’m going to apply this to my online content writing: if I really want to write about something, and it’s practically writing itself in my head as I shower, brush kids' teeth and drive to the grocery store, I should just write it and get it out of my system. (This is how a number of my articles came to be--they pestered me: one about new breast cancer research, all my articles related to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a rebuttal of Pampers' grossly misleading Myths and Facts page, and many others.) If I cannot find a print magazine interested in publishing it, then I can publish it online thru a content website. So yes, in some ways, the online content websites are sort of my default publishers (not always, but you can see how it is becoming so).
I’m definitely cutting back on the time I spend in the website content writing, and focus instead on the magazines. This is a change from a few months ago when I was pouring significant energy into the websites. But it’s just not worth it right now, and may never be (though it will truly take time to tell). But I want a portfolio and paychecks. Though it takes months, even years, to get articles through traditional publishers, I think this is the best route for me to focus on. So here I mark my shift of energy away from online to print writing.
PS I may also use website content writing as a way to deal with writer's block on magazine pieces!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
We Were Given Bodies; On Juggling Communication Media and Kids
I recently read a magazine article (Relevant) that kept applauding me at turns because I, part of this era of decreasing-attention-spans, had managed to stick with a print article that long. And I have to admit, with much sadness, that the writer's tactic worked--I did keep reading because it was almost a dare and I wanted to prove to myself that I was not one of "those" people always rushing, preferring all their information in tidy, truncated bites, with the inability/lack of desire to read what was once a standard article-length.
I tell myself I scan and only partially read media these days because I am a writer myself and I don't have time to read anything unnecessary if I am ever to get to writing myself! I tell myself I speed-read, especially anything online, because I prioritize my real life time (time with my family, friends and my time writing and reading books). But however I rationalize it, it's still true. I am just the type of consumer who's shrinking attention span is changing (and has been changed by) technology and online reading in general.
I started reading the article because the title and thesis interested me--the question about what our online time is doing to our lives. It's increasingly dividing us--into a body and a mind. Our bodies occupy a space, with our kids, significant others, friends or co-workers, and yet we are not present with them--or at least not entirely. Our mind is somewhere else, interacting with a computer screen, phone or other handheld media device.
I've read articles before about how it affects kids when a parent is constantly interfacing with some technology instead of giving the attention in the place and time their body exists in. But never had I thought of it in this very philosophical light. That overuse and addiction to communication media and social networks divides us in two--to the tune of a worldwide phenomenon.
This is a constant struggle for me, trying to work from home as a freelance writer. I began, saying staunchly that I'd write only when the kids were napping or sleeping. But in the mere 7 months since I've begun, sleeping patterns of kids have changed multiple times, as well as the schedules of my husband or myself. My writing time, as once strictly defined, sometimes disappears and I start stealing more and more online time for research, or writing time, during times of the days when I think my kids are otherwise engaged. And then too it becomes a crutch--a favorite video can give me time to write, etc. It's a slippery slope and then you realize you've been online, at least intermittently, all day, your kids are still in pajamas and you've not once been outside on a warm summer day.
I love writing. That's my problem. I consider it a great privilege to be a stay-at-home mom. I consider it a privilege too that what I do is something that can be done, at least very part-time, from home. But I think it will always be a struggle. Launching into writing has made me use social networking sites as part of my marketing and publishing. I've been drawn into that whole thing much more than I ever expected to be. It's a constant struggle to draw and then redraw boundaries for myself. I strive to continually make the unapologetic choice to put raising my kids first, and writing always has been something I do if I can fit it in.
I have to remember God gave me a body for a reason. He made me to be corporeal and limited to particular physical space because HE INTENDS ME TO BE THERE and interacting. We were made for relationship. No matter how much good I see come from relationships built and strengthened through social media, no matter how much good it gives anyone to read something I wrote, the primary relationships, for which no one else or any media or technology can never compensate, are the ones with the people in my house!
I'm not willing to trade my kids' first years in to daycare workers to go to work, as long as I have a choice. I do not then want to trade their first years in to the tv, loneliness, neglect at the hand of the facade of a mom who glances at them, distracted, glassy-eyed and glued to a screen. And all because she wanted to write "just a little bit longer."
I have cut back on writing, as daily facebook-visiting-friends may have noticed. What I have published is really stuff I wrote weeks/months before and only now just published, such as:
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Sleeping Tips to Give Your Child Restorative, Restful Sleep
I tell myself I scan and only partially read media these days because I am a writer myself and I don't have time to read anything unnecessary if I am ever to get to writing myself! I tell myself I speed-read, especially anything online, because I prioritize my real life time (time with my family, friends and my time writing and reading books). But however I rationalize it, it's still true. I am just the type of consumer who's shrinking attention span is changing (and has been changed by) technology and online reading in general.
I started reading the article because the title and thesis interested me--the question about what our online time is doing to our lives. It's increasingly dividing us--into a body and a mind. Our bodies occupy a space, with our kids, significant others, friends or co-workers, and yet we are not present with them--or at least not entirely. Our mind is somewhere else, interacting with a computer screen, phone or other handheld media device.
I've read articles before about how it affects kids when a parent is constantly interfacing with some technology instead of giving the attention in the place and time their body exists in. But never had I thought of it in this very philosophical light. That overuse and addiction to communication media and social networks divides us in two--to the tune of a worldwide phenomenon.
This is a constant struggle for me, trying to work from home as a freelance writer. I began, saying staunchly that I'd write only when the kids were napping or sleeping. But in the mere 7 months since I've begun, sleeping patterns of kids have changed multiple times, as well as the schedules of my husband or myself. My writing time, as once strictly defined, sometimes disappears and I start stealing more and more online time for research, or writing time, during times of the days when I think my kids are otherwise engaged. And then too it becomes a crutch--a favorite video can give me time to write, etc. It's a slippery slope and then you realize you've been online, at least intermittently, all day, your kids are still in pajamas and you've not once been outside on a warm summer day.
I love writing. That's my problem. I consider it a great privilege to be a stay-at-home mom. I consider it a privilege too that what I do is something that can be done, at least very part-time, from home. But I think it will always be a struggle. Launching into writing has made me use social networking sites as part of my marketing and publishing. I've been drawn into that whole thing much more than I ever expected to be. It's a constant struggle to draw and then redraw boundaries for myself. I strive to continually make the unapologetic choice to put raising my kids first, and writing always has been something I do if I can fit it in.
I have to remember God gave me a body for a reason. He made me to be corporeal and limited to particular physical space because HE INTENDS ME TO BE THERE and interacting. We were made for relationship. No matter how much good I see come from relationships built and strengthened through social media, no matter how much good it gives anyone to read something I wrote, the primary relationships, for which no one else or any media or technology can never compensate, are the ones with the people in my house!
I'm not willing to trade my kids' first years in to daycare workers to go to work, as long as I have a choice. I do not then want to trade their first years in to the tv, loneliness, neglect at the hand of the facade of a mom who glances at them, distracted, glassy-eyed and glued to a screen. And all because she wanted to write "just a little bit longer."
I have cut back on writing, as daily facebook-visiting-friends may have noticed. What I have published is really stuff I wrote weeks/months before and only now just published, such as:
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
Sleeping Tips to Give Your Child Restorative, Restful Sleep
Saturday, September 11, 2010
My First "On Spec" Writing Assignment for a Magazine
Months ago I reveled in getting the editor of one of my favorite magazines, Mothering, corresponding with me! I sent a standard query letter for my idea on an article topic, and after two months, she sent back a reply that they were interested in the topic. I was given the first go-ahead for an "on spec' writing assignment. There was no guarantee they'd buy it, but I had gotten their attention.
Now this was not my first attempt--with that idea or with that magazine. I'd already sent a manuscript to Mothering about four months ago, a birth narrative essay, and the response was a gracious no; so I re-sent it out and Midwifery Today is publishing that essay in its next issue, which has since been published.
So I embarked on writing up the idea as I described and ran into a couple roadblocks. One, I found in writing it that I came to something of a different conclusion than I expected, which changed the flavor of the piece as I originally described it. Secondly, I became aware of two completely different ways I could handle it and wasn't sure which the magazine would prefer. I ended up writing it two ways--one as a more philosophical personal essay, and the second more as a typical collection of interviews from other moms sharing their stories on the topic. I wrote an email asking for a little more direction, and the response I got, after I'd already written my two drafts, told me the second approach was more what the editor was looking for.
I sent it in, and for a long time ( a number of weeks) just waited to hear if they likde it, if it's what matches their vision for the magazine, etc. I tried not to let myself second guess every decision I make, thinking with the lapse of time that maybe I should have been softer or harder on the view presented, if I should have structured it differently, if my voice should have been different, etc.
The final answer was no, a short, to the point decision with no explanation. I was quit brash and emailed a request, respectfully asking that if the answer was simple and short, if they could let me know if it was the content or style that influenced their decision (since I already knew the topic was of interest.) I didn't really expect a response, and I got none. I do know from the other side of the editing desk how pressed for time an editor is, and even as much as one might want to help a writer, the time to do so just slips away--no, is eaten away by a fierce pit bull! However, I now know it is harder to take a rejection on a "on spec" article than any other unsolicited manuscript--to have gotten so far in communication with an editor, knowing you've succeeded in getting their attention, it all makes it seem so much more possible--then the rejection is worse because you were so close to success. But I have a theory about rejection, a view of my own purpose as a writer, which helps me handle rejection pretty well I think.
As a potentially better ending to the article's story, I did send it to another magazine, and that editor asked if she could keep it on hand for four months, for consideration in the next issue. And after having fretted about my style being the cause for it's previous rejection, this editor said she "liked my style." That's encouraging.
Articles I've written which I really like (compared to my others):
Fast Food, Junk Food and Obesity Subsidized by Federal Government
When Miscarriage Means Labor
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
The Cell Phone/cigarette Analogy
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
Transferring Your Values About Sex to Your Kids: Timing and Definitions are Key
Now this was not my first attempt--with that idea or with that magazine. I'd already sent a manuscript to Mothering about four months ago, a birth narrative essay, and the response was a gracious no; so I re-sent it out and Midwifery Today is publishing that essay in its next issue, which has since been published.
So I embarked on writing up the idea as I described and ran into a couple roadblocks. One, I found in writing it that I came to something of a different conclusion than I expected, which changed the flavor of the piece as I originally described it. Secondly, I became aware of two completely different ways I could handle it and wasn't sure which the magazine would prefer. I ended up writing it two ways--one as a more philosophical personal essay, and the second more as a typical collection of interviews from other moms sharing their stories on the topic. I wrote an email asking for a little more direction, and the response I got, after I'd already written my two drafts, told me the second approach was more what the editor was looking for.
I sent it in, and for a long time ( a number of weeks) just waited to hear if they likde it, if it's what matches their vision for the magazine, etc. I tried not to let myself second guess every decision I make, thinking with the lapse of time that maybe I should have been softer or harder on the view presented, if I should have structured it differently, if my voice should have been different, etc.
The final answer was no, a short, to the point decision with no explanation. I was quit brash and emailed a request, respectfully asking that if the answer was simple and short, if they could let me know if it was the content or style that influenced their decision (since I already knew the topic was of interest.) I didn't really expect a response, and I got none. I do know from the other side of the editing desk how pressed for time an editor is, and even as much as one might want to help a writer, the time to do so just slips away--no, is eaten away by a fierce pit bull! However, I now know it is harder to take a rejection on a "on spec" article than any other unsolicited manuscript--to have gotten so far in communication with an editor, knowing you've succeeded in getting their attention, it all makes it seem so much more possible--then the rejection is worse because you were so close to success. But I have a theory about rejection, a view of my own purpose as a writer, which helps me handle rejection pretty well I think.
As a potentially better ending to the article's story, I did send it to another magazine, and that editor asked if she could keep it on hand for four months, for consideration in the next issue. And after having fretted about my style being the cause for it's previous rejection, this editor said she "liked my style." That's encouraging.
Articles I've written which I really like (compared to my others):
Fast Food, Junk Food and Obesity Subsidized by Federal Government
When Miscarriage Means Labor
Governments Issue Warnings and Restrictions for Kids' Mobile Phone Use
The Cell Phone/cigarette Analogy
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
Transferring Your Values About Sex to Your Kids: Timing and Definitions are Key
First Success Writing "On Spec" after Query-letter Interest
published August 26 on old blog
It wasn’t the first time a manuscript or a query letter had gotten a magazine editor’s attention. It wasn’t the first time an editor had accepted an article of mine. Or even the first time I’d gotten to exchanging emails with an editor about an idea as I worked on a piece. But it was the first time I’d gotten an editor’s attention through a query letter, one of who-knows-how-many landing on his desk, and then actually sold it after he saw the manuscript. And I sold the story for my substantial sum!
I’ve had multiple query experiences lately, and even gotten to the point of writing on spec for more than one magazine—with no guarantee of course, that they’d buy the piece, just that the idea sounded good. One editor told me my query letter’s subject matter made her cry—she wrote to me within days of my query, and we batted emails around for about a week, until the editorial meeting concluded that the entire staff was not on board featuring my idea in the magazine. I was however encouraged to find a place to publish my “powerful story.”
A positive piece of knowledge is that I know that query letter was effective—I will send it out, to as many magazines as it takes, until I find the right place tp publish the piece. The success I started referring to at the opeing of this post actually wasn’t begun with a query. I sent a manuscript, and though the editor said they weren’t interested in publishing on the topic of breastfeeding at the time, he said they found my writing interesting and ASKED ME if I had any other topics I could write about for them. I felt like I’d been offered candy! I mean, I was just thinking, as I read their gentle turn-down, that if they liked my writing, it would be savvy of me to offer them other ideas and see if I could carve a place for myself. I was surprised, and honored, to have them offer outright!
I listed three ideas in reply, and the funny thing was, I almost didn’t add the third—because I recalled their writer’s guidelines saying they did not want any more articles on that particular topic of women’s health. As I listed that very “unwanted” thing, I didn’t know why I was doing so, yet left it in the list nonetheless. Against all likelihood, I got an email the next day, the editor saying he as in fact interested in that article from me. So I went back to the half finished file I’d begun and quit months ago, spruced it up, and sent it in a matter of days. Hardly more than 24 hours later, the editor mailed me a contract and told me to look for a check in 2-3 weeks!
The amount of that check surprised me too—this magazine had not published their typical payment-per-word, and it was higher than I expected. And the time frame? This was simply unheard of! Perhaps because this magazine, though having started as a traditional print magazine, has switched to an online format, they pay faster because they publish faster, more on their own terms than outside terms.
So because of this success, I try not to take too hard, or personally, the rejections I got the same week. I’m understanding that query letters have so mch to do with getting your foot in the door, but that it’s also about much more—a lot of which has nothing to do with how good I am at my craft. After making an editor respond with tears after reading my writing, I still got turned down cuz it wasn’t quite a direction the magazine wanted to go. So each article that got rejected last week (3), I’ll be sending right back out to other magazines I think may be a better fit. In fact, I already did that with one rejected mss on Friday.
And while I'm thinking how unlikely it was to get an article published on a topic that a magazine said they were expressly NOT INTERESTED in, I'm listing online articles I've written, but almost didn't, because I didn't think there'd be much interest:
It wasn’t the first time a manuscript or a query letter had gotten a magazine editor’s attention. It wasn’t the first time an editor had accepted an article of mine. Or even the first time I’d gotten to exchanging emails with an editor about an idea as I worked on a piece. But it was the first time I’d gotten an editor’s attention through a query letter, one of who-knows-how-many landing on his desk, and then actually sold it after he saw the manuscript. And I sold the story for my substantial sum!
I’ve had multiple query experiences lately, and even gotten to the point of writing on spec for more than one magazine—with no guarantee of course, that they’d buy the piece, just that the idea sounded good. One editor told me my query letter’s subject matter made her cry—she wrote to me within days of my query, and we batted emails around for about a week, until the editorial meeting concluded that the entire staff was not on board featuring my idea in the magazine. I was however encouraged to find a place to publish my “powerful story.”
A positive piece of knowledge is that I know that query letter was effective—I will send it out, to as many magazines as it takes, until I find the right place tp publish the piece. The success I started referring to at the opeing of this post actually wasn’t begun with a query. I sent a manuscript, and though the editor said they weren’t interested in publishing on the topic of breastfeeding at the time, he said they found my writing interesting and ASKED ME if I had any other topics I could write about for them. I felt like I’d been offered candy! I mean, I was just thinking, as I read their gentle turn-down, that if they liked my writing, it would be savvy of me to offer them other ideas and see if I could carve a place for myself. I was surprised, and honored, to have them offer outright!
I listed three ideas in reply, and the funny thing was, I almost didn’t add the third—because I recalled their writer’s guidelines saying they did not want any more articles on that particular topic of women’s health. As I listed that very “unwanted” thing, I didn’t know why I was doing so, yet left it in the list nonetheless. Against all likelihood, I got an email the next day, the editor saying he as in fact interested in that article from me. So I went back to the half finished file I’d begun and quit months ago, spruced it up, and sent it in a matter of days. Hardly more than 24 hours later, the editor mailed me a contract and told me to look for a check in 2-3 weeks!
The amount of that check surprised me too—this magazine had not published their typical payment-per-word, and it was higher than I expected. And the time frame? This was simply unheard of! Perhaps because this magazine, though having started as a traditional print magazine, has switched to an online format, they pay faster because they publish faster, more on their own terms than outside terms.
So because of this success, I try not to take too hard, or personally, the rejections I got the same week. I’m understanding that query letters have so mch to do with getting your foot in the door, but that it’s also about much more—a lot of which has nothing to do with how good I am at my craft. After making an editor respond with tears after reading my writing, I still got turned down cuz it wasn’t quite a direction the magazine wanted to go. So each article that got rejected last week (3), I’ll be sending right back out to other magazines I think may be a better fit. In fact, I already did that with one rejected mss on Friday.
And while I'm thinking how unlikely it was to get an article published on a topic that a magazine said they were expressly NOT INTERESTED in, I'm listing online articles I've written, but almost didn't, because I didn't think there'd be much interest:
Part 2: Writing from Personal Tragedy
published August 16 on old blog
Part 1 talked about how my miscarriage labor experience fueled me to start writing again, though it took four years after the experience. (Click here to read that part.) In this second part I talk about the different, unexpected ways its led me to writing opportunities.
There are so many angles to the stories of my miscarriage and birth experiences that I’m still producing articles on topics tangentially related. Perhaps the most unlikely was an article I wrote about my cat, sent to a publication about cats, because of the way she featured in the story of both my pregnancy losses, being my substitute baby of sorts. Another recently sent, in response to a call for articles on fertility issues, I tell the part of my story of how Levi’s existence is so miraculous, in part requiring the telling of how God granted his survival of the same thing that caused me to miscarry the second time.
I’m also really invested in getting an article published locally about how different local practitioners and birth facilities handle pregnancy loss—both miscarriages and stillbirths. Central PA is a perfect study in some very interesting comparisons illuminated by a Harvard anthropologist who wrote about how differing cultures handle pregnancy loss. I’ve got more than enough local women who are willing to share their stories in this article-- experiences covering the range of possibilities and situations. I realize my own experience is just one of many types. I tried to cover miscarriage labor more broadly in When Miscarriage Means Labor.
I’m tinkering, in my head, with another article on the importance of pregnancy classes and the different kinds available, illuminated by the stories of women who went into labor and found themselves unprepared or underprepared by the narrow focus of the type of class they chose. From the grief angle, I’ve been working on an essay about the difficulty of losing a child when your spouse doesn't share your world view, leaving you essentially to grieve on your own for a baby who’s father doesn’t even recognize her enough to mourn her. (The story has a good ending in real life, as my husband’s views changed over time, due to our experiences, and in credit to God’s amazing breakthroughs).
A fellow writer who hails from my alma mater Messiah College, Janel Atlas, also has published on the topic of pregnancy loss, after her experience of stillbirth. (Incidentally, she has a book on the topic coming out this fall from Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, entitled They Were Still Born.
I remember in one of her articles on dealing with the loss, she quoted her husband saying something to the effect that he didn’t get why she felt the need to tell everyone, even perfect strangers, about her experience. That resonated with me, because I feel that same push. Maybe at first it was just to be heard, recognized, understood, and then it was to find community—to locate the people who knew the experience first hand—like a bat sending out signals everywhere, just to sense the vibrations coming back from contact. But now, after I’ve processed through a lot of the attendant grief, I’m at a place where I feel driven to write about my losses and trauma from them because there’s a severe lack of useful information on the issues I had to live through without any preparation or anyone, even in the midst, offering any help or guidance.
Other writing I've published:
When Food Producers Mislabel The Food You Buy; What Labels Can You Trust?
Cell Tower Radiation of No Concern for Pregnant Mothers or Childhood Cancer?
Part 1 talked about how my miscarriage labor experience fueled me to start writing again, though it took four years after the experience. (Click here to read that part.) In this second part I talk about the different, unexpected ways its led me to writing opportunities.
There are so many angles to the stories of my miscarriage and birth experiences that I’m still producing articles on topics tangentially related. Perhaps the most unlikely was an article I wrote about my cat, sent to a publication about cats, because of the way she featured in the story of both my pregnancy losses, being my substitute baby of sorts. Another recently sent, in response to a call for articles on fertility issues, I tell the part of my story of how Levi’s existence is so miraculous, in part requiring the telling of how God granted his survival of the same thing that caused me to miscarry the second time.
I’m also really invested in getting an article published locally about how different local practitioners and birth facilities handle pregnancy loss—both miscarriages and stillbirths. Central PA is a perfect study in some very interesting comparisons illuminated by a Harvard anthropologist who wrote about how differing cultures handle pregnancy loss. I’ve got more than enough local women who are willing to share their stories in this article-- experiences covering the range of possibilities and situations. I realize my own experience is just one of many types. I tried to cover miscarriage labor more broadly in When Miscarriage Means Labor.
I’m tinkering, in my head, with another article on the importance of pregnancy classes and the different kinds available, illuminated by the stories of women who went into labor and found themselves unprepared or underprepared by the narrow focus of the type of class they chose. From the grief angle, I’ve been working on an essay about the difficulty of losing a child when your spouse doesn't share your world view, leaving you essentially to grieve on your own for a baby who’s father doesn’t even recognize her enough to mourn her. (The story has a good ending in real life, as my husband’s views changed over time, due to our experiences, and in credit to God’s amazing breakthroughs).
A fellow writer who hails from my alma mater Messiah College, Janel Atlas, also has published on the topic of pregnancy loss, after her experience of stillbirth. (Incidentally, she has a book on the topic coming out this fall from Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, entitled They Were Still Born.
I remember in one of her articles on dealing with the loss, she quoted her husband saying something to the effect that he didn’t get why she felt the need to tell everyone, even perfect strangers, about her experience. That resonated with me, because I feel that same push. Maybe at first it was just to be heard, recognized, understood, and then it was to find community—to locate the people who knew the experience first hand—like a bat sending out signals everywhere, just to sense the vibrations coming back from contact. But now, after I’ve processed through a lot of the attendant grief, I’m at a place where I feel driven to write about my losses and trauma from them because there’s a severe lack of useful information on the issues I had to live through without any preparation or anyone, even in the midst, offering any help or guidance.
Other writing I've published:
When Food Producers Mislabel The Food You Buy; What Labels Can You Trust?
Cell Tower Radiation of No Concern for Pregnant Mothers or Childhood Cancer?
Writing from personal tragedy
published August 5 on old blog
I just published an article about going into labor for a miscarriage, accessible via the internet and my friends on social networking sites. While I’ve been writing articles on the topic for as long as I’ve been freelancing, this is my only online article on the topic. It’s caused me to ponder my experience of writing from my own personal tragedy, and for an audience that knows me.
That experience, after years of not writing, is what compelled me to write. It gave me the energy, verve and a passion behind my words and an urgency to get them published in a way I maybe never experienced before. Almost four years after the trauma, I finally had a voice—a voice that could articulate my experience of pregnancy losses, traumatic childbirths, and struggles as a new mom, thanks to getting more sleep when my infant grew older and my getting treatment for Lyme disease.
The keyboard of my computer pulled out my stories and the information I’d researched over the years. The pressure in me to tell my story and shed light on some very under-reported issues drove me to trying a freelance writing career during naptime, while I continue raise my two small children at home all day.
My first instinct was to write about the birth of Levi, my triumph. In trying to write it, I kept backing up. I couldn’t just tell the story of the beautiful, successful birth of Levi—my mind and body wouldn’t let me. I had to stop writing that article and go back and write about giving birth to Eli, my first live son, which had been a very traumatic experience for me. And in writing about that, I realized I couldn’t adequately tell even that story until I backed up and told the story of Grace, the daughter I lost previously, in my first childbirth experience, and before that, my first miscarriage.
Backing up to the beginning, I wrote an article about miscarriage, a sort of expose on a gap in prenatal care in our medical system, and a dearth of information or preparation for the women who miscarry past ten weeks, a process that requires full-on labor and delivery. Suddenly finding yourself in labor for the first time, months before you’d begun to take classes on birth or read about it, is like waking up in a marathon with a gun to your head—there’s no way out, but you don’t know how to get through it. And when you begin it, you don’t even know what it is or how long it will take and what it will require of you. You’ve learned no strategies, no pain management, and, following the analogy, you don’t even know how to run. In my article, I compared my two miscarriages—my first, a typical early loss hardly distinguishable from a menstrual period, compared to my second one that occurred only five weeks later, gestationally speaking, and yet required a 15 hour labor.
I discovered, as a writer, back in college, that there was a truth to not being able to write about personal tragedy while I was in the midst of it. I couldn’t write about my father’s struggle with cancer, nor about his dying, until long after I had time to process it. I didn’t even write a journal entry about my pregnancy losses when they occurred. The only words I ever put down were in the form of emails to friends. But 6 months ago, everything came rushing out, and I found myself shocked that it was good, like a surprised god not sure of the quality of his creation until he stepped back to survey it.
After I wrote articles about features of the beginning of my journey, then I could work back up toward the present. Next I completed one on my second labor and delivery and how research predicted I’d likely experience post traumatic stress disorder when the sensations of my loss labor hit my body the next time, and post partum depression later. I was mad as hell that I could find the studies via the internet, months after my ordeal, and yet not one of the OBs I’d had in recent years, and who knew my history, ever told me or tried to prepare me for that. There was fire behind me to get the topic covered in magazines—the very magazines I turned to during and after my experiences, where I found nothing but anemic articles telling only the beginning of these stories.
When I got those 2 articles done, I could finally write about the victory—my water birth with Levi and how much it healed a lot of my wounds from my other births. I sent all 3 articles out, debating heavily about where to send them. I knew it was a long shot for a newbie freelancer to try the big national names—Pregnancy, Fit Pregnancy, and yet, I knew of no smaller, local publication that would tackle such a heavy issue, so I did nonetheless send the first 2 articles to the big mags because I feel very strongly that the topics need to reach a very wide audience of women. And as I expected, I’m still waiting, as they say it’ll take 6 months for a response, if any. (That's part of the reality in what I'm beginning to consider "the 2-year investment" in articles--a strange reality I talked about in previous blog "Wait 2 Years for a Paycheck?!")
But the 3rd article, I sent to smaller magazine that values natural birth. It was nicely rejected, and then, in days, accepted at Midwifery Today. This will be published this fall. While the focus is on the miracle and beauty of that birth, it is what it is because of the back story. So though the topic is not miscarriage or traumatic birth after, a shortened form of those experiences are included in that essay, in order to make sense of why I so desperately needed to leave the big medical business of hospitals and birth naturally under the care of midwives.
The one I just published on the internet, through a content website, HealthMad, entitled "When Miscarriage Means Labor" was rewritten a few times. The firs time it included too much of me, and too much of the agenda of the above articles. (That's hard--how much of me am I comfortable revealing? I wrestled with that in a couple other online articles: "Is Lyme Disease Lurking in Your Unexplained Symptoms?" and " Surprises in Recovering From Lyme Disease." But in the end, it was the only way I could write them.)
I didn’t really want the article to be about me, nor could it legally be a ditto of any other articles I’ve sent out (copyright laws). But I have a real drive to get the info available on the internet because that’s where I searched time and time again, to learn anything I could about women going into labor for am miscarriage. And I found such a lack of information, officially, yet tons of forums and blogs about women’s experiences. So by multiple rewrites, I finally got an article that is simply educational about what the body must do to miscarry after ten weeks, should a woman unexpectedly start miscarrying before or instead of having a D&C surgery performed.
But I’m finding this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are so many angles to the stories in my experience that I’m still producing articles on topics tangentially related. (To be explored in next blog entry….)
Unrelated publications of mine:
Treating Depression with Natural or Alternative Medicine
Sunburn Prevention: Take Off Those Sunglasses!
That experience, after years of not writing, is what compelled me to write. It gave me the energy, verve and a passion behind my words and an urgency to get them published in a way I maybe never experienced before. Almost four years after the trauma, I finally had a voice—a voice that could articulate my experience of pregnancy losses, traumatic childbirths, and struggles as a new mom, thanks to getting more sleep when my infant grew older and my getting treatment for Lyme disease.
The keyboard of my computer pulled out my stories and the information I’d researched over the years. The pressure in me to tell my story and shed light on some very under-reported issues drove me to trying a freelance writing career during naptime, while I continue raise my two small children at home all day.
My first instinct was to write about the birth of Levi, my triumph. In trying to write it, I kept backing up. I couldn’t just tell the story of the beautiful, successful birth of Levi—my mind and body wouldn’t let me. I had to stop writing that article and go back and write about giving birth to Eli, my first live son, which had been a very traumatic experience for me. And in writing about that, I realized I couldn’t adequately tell even that story until I backed up and told the story of Grace, the daughter I lost previously, in my first childbirth experience, and before that, my first miscarriage.
Backing up to the beginning, I wrote an article about miscarriage, a sort of expose on a gap in prenatal care in our medical system, and a dearth of information or preparation for the women who miscarry past ten weeks, a process that requires full-on labor and delivery. Suddenly finding yourself in labor for the first time, months before you’d begun to take classes on birth or read about it, is like waking up in a marathon with a gun to your head—there’s no way out, but you don’t know how to get through it. And when you begin it, you don’t even know what it is or how long it will take and what it will require of you. You’ve learned no strategies, no pain management, and, following the analogy, you don’t even know how to run. In my article, I compared my two miscarriages—my first, a typical early loss hardly distinguishable from a menstrual period, compared to my second one that occurred only five weeks later, gestationally speaking, and yet required a 15 hour labor.
I discovered, as a writer, back in college, that there was a truth to not being able to write about personal tragedy while I was in the midst of it. I couldn’t write about my father’s struggle with cancer, nor about his dying, until long after I had time to process it. I didn’t even write a journal entry about my pregnancy losses when they occurred. The only words I ever put down were in the form of emails to friends. But 6 months ago, everything came rushing out, and I found myself shocked that it was good, like a surprised god not sure of the quality of his creation until he stepped back to survey it.
After I wrote articles about features of the beginning of my journey, then I could work back up toward the present. Next I completed one on my second labor and delivery and how research predicted I’d likely experience post traumatic stress disorder when the sensations of my loss labor hit my body the next time, and post partum depression later. I was mad as hell that I could find the studies via the internet, months after my ordeal, and yet not one of the OBs I’d had in recent years, and who knew my history, ever told me or tried to prepare me for that. There was fire behind me to get the topic covered in magazines—the very magazines I turned to during and after my experiences, where I found nothing but anemic articles telling only the beginning of these stories.
When I got those 2 articles done, I could finally write about the victory—my water birth with Levi and how much it healed a lot of my wounds from my other births. I sent all 3 articles out, debating heavily about where to send them. I knew it was a long shot for a newbie freelancer to try the big national names—Pregnancy, Fit Pregnancy, and yet, I knew of no smaller, local publication that would tackle such a heavy issue, so I did nonetheless send the first 2 articles to the big mags because I feel very strongly that the topics need to reach a very wide audience of women. And as I expected, I’m still waiting, as they say it’ll take 6 months for a response, if any. (That's part of the reality in what I'm beginning to consider "the 2-year investment" in articles--a strange reality I talked about in previous blog "Wait 2 Years for a Paycheck?!")
But the 3rd article, I sent to smaller magazine that values natural birth. It was nicely rejected, and then, in days, accepted at Midwifery Today. This will be published this fall. While the focus is on the miracle and beauty of that birth, it is what it is because of the back story. So though the topic is not miscarriage or traumatic birth after, a shortened form of those experiences are included in that essay, in order to make sense of why I so desperately needed to leave the big medical business of hospitals and birth naturally under the care of midwives.
The one I just published on the internet, through a content website, HealthMad, entitled "When Miscarriage Means Labor" was rewritten a few times. The firs time it included too much of me, and too much of the agenda of the above articles. (That's hard--how much of me am I comfortable revealing? I wrestled with that in a couple other online articles: "Is Lyme Disease Lurking in Your Unexplained Symptoms?" and " Surprises in Recovering From Lyme Disease." But in the end, it was the only way I could write them.)
I didn’t really want the article to be about me, nor could it legally be a ditto of any other articles I’ve sent out (copyright laws). But I have a real drive to get the info available on the internet because that’s where I searched time and time again, to learn anything I could about women going into labor for am miscarriage. And I found such a lack of information, officially, yet tons of forums and blogs about women’s experiences. So by multiple rewrites, I finally got an article that is simply educational about what the body must do to miscarry after ten weeks, should a woman unexpectedly start miscarrying before or instead of having a D&C surgery performed.
But I’m finding this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are so many angles to the stories in my experience that I’m still producing articles on topics tangentially related. (To be explored in next blog entry….)
Unrelated publications of mine:
Treating Depression with Natural or Alternative Medicine
| Transferring Your Values About Sex to Your Kids: Timing and Definitions are Key |
Wait 2 Years For a Paycheck?!
posted July 31 on old blog
Whether writing for content websites or trying to break into print magazines, it's becoming clear to me how business practices translate into a 2-year wait for compensation.
One of the biggest cons to writing for content websites is the reality that you're writing as an investment.
You do not get paid up front (for most content websites)----pay is performance based. It takes an average of two years for an article to earn enough views (and ad revenues) to translate to decent pay. And yet, I'm finding that going the traditional route of magazine publishing is not much faster! Either way, it's seeming really plausible that it may take two years to see much of anything accumulate from this freelancing venture.
That's reality when it can take magazine editors 6 months to decide if they like your idea/article, hold onto it another year to try to see if/where they can fit it in their magazine, then let you know they're planning on using it, taking a few more months to go through the editing stages, including getting my feedback. Add this up, and you see more than 18 months have passed. Then the article is finally printed, and your pay is issued 90 days after publication! (Standard operating procedure.) SO with this reality in mind (sometimes even longer), I'm beginning to see that whether I go standard publishing or take my chances with content writing for websites, it's a 2-year investment either way.
I wrote a number of feature articles in February and March, and sent either the full manuscript out or a query letter about the idea. I'm still waiting to hear back (if I ever will) from the majority, and this is no surprise; some of those specific magazines said to expect six months, and most said a response is granted only if they decide they want to print my story.
For three feature articles, however, I've already gotten some variety of favorable response. One was accepted for print in April (super fast), and we've gone through the editing stage, and the print version is expected this fall. From all accounts, that was a speedy transaction, and yet, a full six months will have passed between my sending the article and it's fruition in print. (Eight months from when I started writing it.)
Another story was unofficially accepted, with a caveat that the editor wasn't exactly sure when/where they'd use it. After a couple of months and my inquiry, I found they wanted to hang onto it for a year and try to find a place for it though it didn't specifically fit into their plans for upcoming issues. (They did graciously say they understood if I wanted to sell it to another magazine, giving me the OK to shop it around while they held onto it.) So I'm starting over with that article, shopping it to other publications.
My third favorable response was to a query. The idea was of interest, so I wrote the story, turned it in 3 weeks later and am still waiting to hear if the actual story presents the idea they liked in a way they liked.
All in all, you can see that six months into my freelance journey, I'm realizing this is no quick route to cash. In two years I might see that I've been well paid for the work I've been doing lately. So if you can afford to wait two years (on average) to see some decent money, then trying to break into freelancing cold as I am I a good idea.
And realize, too, that I'm charting only the time that elapses from articles that get interest right away. How long will it take to sell my articles that spend 6 months in queue at a magazine that decides they're not interested? Or an article that spends many months, even years, getting passed on by editors before I find its perfect home in a magazine eventually? Especially to sell to a magazine with a large circulation, trying only two of them will take a full twelve months.
So yes, freelance writing, in my experience, breaking in like this, is very much a long-term investment.
This confirms that I think people are writers because they love it or simply have to write to feel alive, whether they get paid or not. They're the only reasons I can fathom that we have motivation, cuz it's certainly not external motivation!
A challenge then is for me to decide whether an idea I love is best to try to sell to a print magazine that may not print for over a year, or publish online in a matter of days or weeks. I just wrote an article, "Sunburn Prevention: Take Off Those Sunglasses!" and published it online, mostly because I think it's newsworthy now and didn't want to wait until next summer, the next time a magazine would publish summer topics (though I'd still have to write and send the article shortly as it'd take all year to get through the process!) I may still try for a print version in a parenting magazine, though much longer, incorporating a few more prevention tips that are still cutting edge and that I haven't read in common parenting literature.
Other articles I chose to publish online because, at least in part, I didn't want the topic to lose its timeliness waiting in an editor's slush pile of unsolicited submissions, include:
Kids with Higher Consumption of Pesticides More Likely to Have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
Oh, I have a lot to learn on how to best navigate this business. I'm sure I'm making mistakes I won't realize for months or years, but you've gotta start, and right now we writers have to do it without a map as the publishing word is changing like a rug shifting under our feet.
One of the biggest cons to writing for content websites is the reality that you're writing as an investment.
You do not get paid up front (for most content websites)----pay is performance based. It takes an average of two years for an article to earn enough views (and ad revenues) to translate to decent pay. And yet, I'm finding that going the traditional route of magazine publishing is not much faster! Either way, it's seeming really plausible that it may take two years to see much of anything accumulate from this freelancing venture.
That's reality when it can take magazine editors 6 months to decide if they like your idea/article, hold onto it another year to try to see if/where they can fit it in their magazine, then let you know they're planning on using it, taking a few more months to go through the editing stages, including getting my feedback. Add this up, and you see more than 18 months have passed. Then the article is finally printed, and your pay is issued 90 days after publication! (Standard operating procedure.) SO with this reality in mind (sometimes even longer), I'm beginning to see that whether I go standard publishing or take my chances with content writing for websites, it's a 2-year investment either way.
I wrote a number of feature articles in February and March, and sent either the full manuscript out or a query letter about the idea. I'm still waiting to hear back (if I ever will) from the majority, and this is no surprise; some of those specific magazines said to expect six months, and most said a response is granted only if they decide they want to print my story.
For three feature articles, however, I've already gotten some variety of favorable response. One was accepted for print in April (super fast), and we've gone through the editing stage, and the print version is expected this fall. From all accounts, that was a speedy transaction, and yet, a full six months will have passed between my sending the article and it's fruition in print. (Eight months from when I started writing it.)
Another story was unofficially accepted, with a caveat that the editor wasn't exactly sure when/where they'd use it. After a couple of months and my inquiry, I found they wanted to hang onto it for a year and try to find a place for it though it didn't specifically fit into their plans for upcoming issues. (They did graciously say they understood if I wanted to sell it to another magazine, giving me the OK to shop it around while they held onto it.) So I'm starting over with that article, shopping it to other publications.
My third favorable response was to a query. The idea was of interest, so I wrote the story, turned it in 3 weeks later and am still waiting to hear if the actual story presents the idea they liked in a way they liked.
All in all, you can see that six months into my freelance journey, I'm realizing this is no quick route to cash. In two years I might see that I've been well paid for the work I've been doing lately. So if you can afford to wait two years (on average) to see some decent money, then trying to break into freelancing cold as I am I a good idea.
And realize, too, that I'm charting only the time that elapses from articles that get interest right away. How long will it take to sell my articles that spend 6 months in queue at a magazine that decides they're not interested? Or an article that spends many months, even years, getting passed on by editors before I find its perfect home in a magazine eventually? Especially to sell to a magazine with a large circulation, trying only two of them will take a full twelve months.
So yes, freelance writing, in my experience, breaking in like this, is very much a long-term investment.
This confirms that I think people are writers because they love it or simply have to write to feel alive, whether they get paid or not. They're the only reasons I can fathom that we have motivation, cuz it's certainly not external motivation!
A challenge then is for me to decide whether an idea I love is best to try to sell to a print magazine that may not print for over a year, or publish online in a matter of days or weeks. I just wrote an article, "Sunburn Prevention: Take Off Those Sunglasses!" and published it online, mostly because I think it's newsworthy now and didn't want to wait until next summer, the next time a magazine would publish summer topics (though I'd still have to write and send the article shortly as it'd take all year to get through the process!) I may still try for a print version in a parenting magazine, though much longer, incorporating a few more prevention tips that are still cutting edge and that I haven't read in common parenting literature.
Other articles I chose to publish online because, at least in part, I didn't want the topic to lose its timeliness waiting in an editor's slush pile of unsolicited submissions, include:
Kids with Higher Consumption of Pesticides More Likely to Have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Breast Cancer Less About Genetics Than We Used to Think
Oh, I have a lot to learn on how to best navigate this business. I'm sure I'm making mistakes I won't realize for months or years, but you've gotta start, and right now we writers have to do it without a map as the publishing word is changing like a rug shifting under our feet.
Why I Chose Writing for a Content Website, Despite the Cons
posted july 9, 2010 on old blog
Perhaps my biggest complaint about writing for the content company I chose is the low standards. Truly, the bar is only as high as you set it. I’ve heard that the websites’ “editors” can reject an article, but based on what I see that has been published, I lack the imagination to comprehend how poorly written an article would have to be to face rejection for reason of writing style. I hate how it may cheapen the seriousness with which I approach my writing when the company places a link from my article to an article that is barely articulate, consisting of rampant misspellings, incorrect syntax and the foibles commonly indicating that the writer is leanring English. If it's a forum for international writers to develop their Englsh writing skills, well, then, fine. But it isn't.
Triond may feature some fine journalists, which I hope I am one of, but it is not a company focused on publishing good writing. It’s focus is on producing writing period, that is merely capable of getting people to the page to see the ads. Period.
The me of my college years would scoff at this entire concept and consider the writers engaged in this to be poor schmucks or sub-par by association. However, changing circumstances lead to things you would not have done otherwise. When I began looking into starting a freelance writing career, I was juggling the need of two children under the age of three. Publishing was a decade in my past, and I needed a way into the publishing world and a way to practice my skills before I aimed at the big national publications I wanted to reach. And I had to do this all from my living room, during nap time. And I need a way to do it that was flexible, without deadlines.
The first content-type website I looked into had an application process—that appealed to me. Not everyone was chosen, so therefore, the quality would be better. But there were restrictions—on what I could write about and about how often I must publish. After two weeks not being able to even complete the sample article, I gave up on the entire idea. For months.
A friend of mine with a newborn to care for told me about starting to write for Demand Studios and how they paid for articles up front. The pay was low, but it was predictable, unlike most content websites that pay based on pageviews or ad sales generated. However, she could write only about topics on a list given to her, and they were, admittedly, very specific. Now writing a short eHow article didn’t seem too demanding for $7.00 or $15, but if I had to research something obscure, demanding more time, I wasn’t sure that was worth it at all. I applied though, thinking if I didn’t find it worthwhile, I could just stop. But that didn’t even need to happen; despite the website’s call for needing many writers and the exhaust-less list of needed articles, I was not hired because they said there was no need for writers to cover my areas of interest.
I looked into as many content websites as I knew about, and I settled on arguably one of the least choosy ones, simply because it gave me all the power and decision making. When my reality is dictated by my kids getting sick, keeping my up all night with teething or vomiting, going through pacifier withdrawal or potty training issues by day, I had no need for something to make my life more difficult or something outside the home to answer to. But I could handle a publisher that permitted me to write as often or as infrequently as I wanted. Also, unlike some other content websites, there were not restrictions on the topics I could use or requirements on how many or type of sources I quote.
This has worked surprisingly well for me. I’ve written more than I expected to, but it’s not burdensome. I am my only taskmaster. The only thing I do miss is a real editor. I would appreciate that kind of constructive criticism to help me in my craft, such as writers on other sites have, but at the price that service comes at, in terms of flexibility and autonomy, I cannot afford that at this time in my life.
I use this online platform to publish on topics I wouldn't otherwise get to cover. In fact, that's how I choose my topics: if i have an idea for an article, I determine 1) if i know of a print publication that would be interested in it, 2) if the topic is not too time-oriented (and therefor not likely to get on any editor's desk before it's out dated), 3) would the publication consider me, a novice freelancer, to have the clout, experience or connections to cover the topic, or 4) would the publication require i meet and interview people around the country for expert quotes, rather than relying on books, etc? If I bump up against any of those issues, then I decide the article is best placed thru the online content company.
Sometimes I, in retrospect, think I made the wrong choice, and could have shopped the article around to magazines. My articles on my battle with Lyme disease and naturopathic treatment, and my recovery from Lyme disease are good examples of that. I later learned of a local alternative health newspaper that would have been a good venue for those. My articles on the issue of cell phones and the health concerns are more typical examples of topics I'd not likely be able to publish in traditional print. Between me and all the other writers out there, I would never have gotten my foot in the door on so big of an issue requiring interviews and access to primary sources, or without having some sort of credential in the medical field. So I write those articles through the online company because i feel so strongly the information needs to get out there! I'm not OK with the fact that the radiation we once had no evidence of as harmful is so penetrating for children, or that the issue of cell phone's associations with health concerns is being covered up and ignored in the same way cigarettes' link to cancer was.
Writing online this way lets me write on things I feel very strongly about but otherwise may not have been hired to write about through traditional print venues.
Triond may feature some fine journalists, which I hope I am one of, but it is not a company focused on publishing good writing. It’s focus is on producing writing period, that is merely capable of getting people to the page to see the ads. Period.
The me of my college years would scoff at this entire concept and consider the writers engaged in this to be poor schmucks or sub-par by association. However, changing circumstances lead to things you would not have done otherwise. When I began looking into starting a freelance writing career, I was juggling the need of two children under the age of three. Publishing was a decade in my past, and I needed a way into the publishing world and a way to practice my skills before I aimed at the big national publications I wanted to reach. And I had to do this all from my living room, during nap time. And I need a way to do it that was flexible, without deadlines.
The first content-type website I looked into had an application process—that appealed to me. Not everyone was chosen, so therefore, the quality would be better. But there were restrictions—on what I could write about and about how often I must publish. After two weeks not being able to even complete the sample article, I gave up on the entire idea. For months.
A friend of mine with a newborn to care for told me about starting to write for Demand Studios and how they paid for articles up front. The pay was low, but it was predictable, unlike most content websites that pay based on pageviews or ad sales generated. However, she could write only about topics on a list given to her, and they were, admittedly, very specific. Now writing a short eHow article didn’t seem too demanding for $7.00 or $15, but if I had to research something obscure, demanding more time, I wasn’t sure that was worth it at all. I applied though, thinking if I didn’t find it worthwhile, I could just stop. But that didn’t even need to happen; despite the website’s call for needing many writers and the exhaust-less list of needed articles, I was not hired because they said there was no need for writers to cover my areas of interest.
I looked into as many content websites as I knew about, and I settled on arguably one of the least choosy ones, simply because it gave me all the power and decision making. When my reality is dictated by my kids getting sick, keeping my up all night with teething or vomiting, going through pacifier withdrawal or potty training issues by day, I had no need for something to make my life more difficult or something outside the home to answer to. But I could handle a publisher that permitted me to write as often or as infrequently as I wanted. Also, unlike some other content websites, there were not restrictions on the topics I could use or requirements on how many or type of sources I quote.
This has worked surprisingly well for me. I’ve written more than I expected to, but it’s not burdensome. I am my only taskmaster. The only thing I do miss is a real editor. I would appreciate that kind of constructive criticism to help me in my craft, such as writers on other sites have, but at the price that service comes at, in terms of flexibility and autonomy, I cannot afford that at this time in my life.
I use this online platform to publish on topics I wouldn't otherwise get to cover. In fact, that's how I choose my topics: if i have an idea for an article, I determine 1) if i know of a print publication that would be interested in it, 2) if the topic is not too time-oriented (and therefor not likely to get on any editor's desk before it's out dated), 3) would the publication consider me, a novice freelancer, to have the clout, experience or connections to cover the topic, or 4) would the publication require i meet and interview people around the country for expert quotes, rather than relying on books, etc? If I bump up against any of those issues, then I decide the article is best placed thru the online content company.
Sometimes I, in retrospect, think I made the wrong choice, and could have shopped the article around to magazines. My articles on my battle with Lyme disease and naturopathic treatment, and my recovery from Lyme disease are good examples of that. I later learned of a local alternative health newspaper that would have been a good venue for those. My articles on the issue of cell phones and the health concerns are more typical examples of topics I'd not likely be able to publish in traditional print. Between me and all the other writers out there, I would never have gotten my foot in the door on so big of an issue requiring interviews and access to primary sources, or without having some sort of credential in the medical field. So I write those articles through the online company because i feel so strongly the information needs to get out there! I'm not OK with the fact that the radiation we once had no evidence of as harmful is so penetrating for children, or that the issue of cell phone's associations with health concerns is being covered up and ignored in the same way cigarettes' link to cancer was.
Writing online this way lets me write on things I feel very strongly about but otherwise may not have been hired to write about through traditional print venues.
Is Writing for Online Content Websites Hurting My Writing Career?
posted on old blog June 29, 2010
I started out trying this freelance writing thing by trying to put one foot each in both the traditional print magazine world and the new online content-website way of publishing. Was this the best way to start my writing career? Only time can tell, I guess.
One doubt I had and have heard, is that dividing your time will keep you from giving either your all, and success in the writing business requires doggedness. I have found it to be true. I'm always seeing what I need to do in one venue to capitalize on a recent success, but in doing it, I realize I'm putting the other on hold, losing ground.
So I go in alternating streaks. I've been currently working on getting an article ready for one of my favorite magazines. I wrote a couple months ago, querying a story idea. Last week, I got a reply that the topic was of interest and they'd like to see my article 'on spec,' though that is certainly no commitment that they'll like my article after I put in the time to conduct my interviews, research and write it. So while I've been focusing on that, I've been frustrated by the unfinished articles for the online content sites I write for.
I tend to write articles in groups--usually one idea proves to be too big for a single article online, so I end up breaking it into 2 or more. The problem with that is, I don't want to publish any until they are all done, because they link together. And sometimes it takes me weeks or even months to finish because my time is not my own as I raise very small children--time tomyself is no guarantee!
For instance the other week, I published "Yeast and Infant Thrush Outbreaks; Basic and Advanced Survival Tips." I had plans already for a part 2, but not the time to write it, but at the end I mentioned a second part was coming. It's been 23 days and I still haven't linked the companion article (let alone finished it!) And really, that second part is the important part all else just paved the way for!
I had goals when I started about writing a certain number of queries a week. In fact, I once had the goal of writing 1 query a day to print publications. Then I got down to just trying to get one out a WEEK! Now, there's really not even a goal. I realize I've become slave to writing and finishing pieces. That doesn't sound bad for a writer, huh? But it's really bad if you're a writer who wants to make money!
My goals, when I began, were solely in regard to print publications. I think the online venue was secondary--something to do to fill time when I knew there would be waiting. But a strange thing happens. It's a magic that truly has a sadistic psychological hold on a content writer; those who run the websites really know what they're doing. By allowing us writers to see and tracks everything, it's easy for us to get addicted to seeing how articles perform. Now, it is useful and necessary if we want to succeed--but at a certain point, you may realize you're being motivated to see increases that actually amount to very little. If the print world sent us letters in the mail that an article we wrote made three cents today, we'd quickly lose momentum. But something about all the little measurements on Triond, the content site I write for, can become addicting and you have to discipline yourself to just not look so much so you can focus on that article for a magazine that could pay you $300 instead! (Even after I've seen how an article can take off and earn far more than mere cents a day, it is still true that you can't predict when and which articles will take off. Even after such success, you cannot duplicate it on your own. It's truly up to readers who repost articles in forums, chat rooms, on facebook, etc. Yes, I have to write it well and can be smart about SEO search terms and keywords, but in the end, I can't predict popularity with absolute certainty. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that my most popular article would be "What's in a Disposable Diaper Anyway?")
This sheds light too on how trying to succeed in the print world hurts my chances of really making it economically worthwhile to do it the online content way. The key is in quantity of articles and really keeping on top of marketing your articles and piggy backing off success immediately. When you have a articles earning very slowly, it doesn't seem like much in the beginning, but (so the experienced ones say and the publishers claim) over time, compensation grows exponentially. I've read that the magic number for many people is 200 articles--things seem to take a turn there somehow. Because it is true that it's like a snowball--articles feed off the momentum of other articles you've written. Others mention an amount of time--a year. For me, I know I won't have near 200 articles in a year. There is an MD I read sometimes who seems to publish 5-10 articles every couple days--she's very serious about it. But I don't have the resources to be so consistent and industrious, even if I knew for sure the income would be as it is claimed.
So in the end, I'm sure that trying to follow both writing opportunities is hurting each individual endeavor. And yet, each has its own benefits over the other, and I cannot yet ascertain which is the better way to go. Well, actually, I am motivated by the fact that print pays so much better up front. While online articles may eventually earn comparably, selling an article for a couple hundred next week is preferable. So for now I'll continue with one foot in each door until one door opens so wide that I'm in.
Writing for content websites has given me more than the value of immediate cash; it has really helped my writing because of the feedback from readers and the exposure boosted my confidence when I was still thinking of myself as a mushy mommy-brain. The articles I wrote that really helped galvanize what I'm now doing are:
Are Schools Expecting Our Kids to Read Too Early?
Chef Jamie Oliver Vs. School Lunches: Where Do the Dietary Guidelines Come From Anyway?
One doubt I had and have heard, is that dividing your time will keep you from giving either your all, and success in the writing business requires doggedness. I have found it to be true. I'm always seeing what I need to do in one venue to capitalize on a recent success, but in doing it, I realize I'm putting the other on hold, losing ground.
So I go in alternating streaks. I've been currently working on getting an article ready for one of my favorite magazines. I wrote a couple months ago, querying a story idea. Last week, I got a reply that the topic was of interest and they'd like to see my article 'on spec,' though that is certainly no commitment that they'll like my article after I put in the time to conduct my interviews, research and write it. So while I've been focusing on that, I've been frustrated by the unfinished articles for the online content sites I write for.
I tend to write articles in groups--usually one idea proves to be too big for a single article online, so I end up breaking it into 2 or more. The problem with that is, I don't want to publish any until they are all done, because they link together. And sometimes it takes me weeks or even months to finish because my time is not my own as I raise very small children--time tomyself is no guarantee!
For instance the other week, I published "Yeast and Infant Thrush Outbreaks; Basic and Advanced Survival Tips." I had plans already for a part 2, but not the time to write it, but at the end I mentioned a second part was coming. It's been 23 days and I still haven't linked the companion article (let alone finished it!) And really, that second part is the important part all else just paved the way for!
I had goals when I started about writing a certain number of queries a week. In fact, I once had the goal of writing 1 query a day to print publications. Then I got down to just trying to get one out a WEEK! Now, there's really not even a goal. I realize I've become slave to writing and finishing pieces. That doesn't sound bad for a writer, huh? But it's really bad if you're a writer who wants to make money!
My goals, when I began, were solely in regard to print publications. I think the online venue was secondary--something to do to fill time when I knew there would be waiting. But a strange thing happens. It's a magic that truly has a sadistic psychological hold on a content writer; those who run the websites really know what they're doing. By allowing us writers to see and tracks everything, it's easy for us to get addicted to seeing how articles perform. Now, it is useful and necessary if we want to succeed--but at a certain point, you may realize you're being motivated to see increases that actually amount to very little. If the print world sent us letters in the mail that an article we wrote made three cents today, we'd quickly lose momentum. But something about all the little measurements on Triond, the content site I write for, can become addicting and you have to discipline yourself to just not look so much so you can focus on that article for a magazine that could pay you $300 instead! (Even after I've seen how an article can take off and earn far more than mere cents a day, it is still true that you can't predict when and which articles will take off. Even after such success, you cannot duplicate it on your own. It's truly up to readers who repost articles in forums, chat rooms, on facebook, etc. Yes, I have to write it well and can be smart about SEO search terms and keywords, but in the end, I can't predict popularity with absolute certainty. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that my most popular article would be "What's in a Disposable Diaper Anyway?")
This sheds light too on how trying to succeed in the print world hurts my chances of really making it economically worthwhile to do it the online content way. The key is in quantity of articles and really keeping on top of marketing your articles and piggy backing off success immediately. When you have a articles earning very slowly, it doesn't seem like much in the beginning, but (so the experienced ones say and the publishers claim) over time, compensation grows exponentially. I've read that the magic number for many people is 200 articles--things seem to take a turn there somehow. Because it is true that it's like a snowball--articles feed off the momentum of other articles you've written. Others mention an amount of time--a year. For me, I know I won't have near 200 articles in a year. There is an MD I read sometimes who seems to publish 5-10 articles every couple days--she's very serious about it. But I don't have the resources to be so consistent and industrious, even if I knew for sure the income would be as it is claimed.
So in the end, I'm sure that trying to follow both writing opportunities is hurting each individual endeavor. And yet, each has its own benefits over the other, and I cannot yet ascertain which is the better way to go. Well, actually, I am motivated by the fact that print pays so much better up front. While online articles may eventually earn comparably, selling an article for a couple hundred next week is preferable. So for now I'll continue with one foot in each door until one door opens so wide that I'm in.
Writing for content websites has given me more than the value of immediate cash; it has really helped my writing because of the feedback from readers and the exposure boosted my confidence when I was still thinking of myself as a mushy mommy-brain. The articles I wrote that really helped galvanize what I'm now doing are:
Are Schools Expecting Our Kids to Read Too Early?
Chef Jamie Oliver Vs. School Lunches: Where Do the Dietary Guidelines Come From Anyway?
The Reality of Writing as a Stay-at-Home-Mom
posted on my old blog, june 12, 2010
"You neglect me, and then get mad that I'm right where you left me, just as you left me? Of course I'm still dirty, water-logged noodles cemented on the bottom, a slimy cheese sauce encircling my inside. That's what happens when you postpone washing supper dishes so you can write--because baby's in bed and husband and son are off to the races. And that's what happens when you postpone washing me again the next morning because you're hurriedly washing diapers you didn't wash last night when you were writing... And now you're dangerously close to having a naked baby. And yes, you find me still here, dirty at 5 PM when you want to make dinner, because that's what happens you don't wash dishes STILL after lunch and the kids are napping and you just "have" to continue writing that piece--get it down in hard black fonts on the computer screen, because you've been writing it all day in your head, no, since last night in fact, when you lay in bed revising from memory, line by line. So yes, I'm you're favorite cooking pot, covered in stubborn cheese sauce, because you have a hankering to write..."
I wrote that as my response to the writing exercise at my last writer's group meeting. It is hard to juggle writing with being a mom and a housewife. For me it's a constant tug of war--I have the desire to write all day, every day and such a drive to do it. I ENJOY writing immensely. It makes me feel alive, purposeful and that I'm contributing to humanity beyond the walls of my house. I have twenty pieces of writing (articles) in various states of revision and many more ideas I haven't the time to pursue. I'm at the peak of my life as far as inspiration goes.
My frustration level is high because there's never enough time. Some days I finally get the coveted time at the computer and as soon as i open the file to write what's been pouring thu my mind all day--a kid wakes from the nap mere miutes after falling asleep and I never get back. Some weeks, that will recur for days--every opportunity I think I'll get to write disappears like water falling through fingers. There are days too though when both kids will sleep for 2 hours or more. But sometimes I hardly get to enjoy it-- my body is so conditioned to the fact that this-could-end-any-minute that I function on adrenaline, like i'm on a newspaper staff and deadline is the moment the boss walks through the door--which could be nay minute! I type and click at a frenzied pace, my foot anxiously bouncing--all nerves alert to any noise from the kids' rooms that could signal my time is up. When I hear a cough, a whimper or even a crinkling of the mattress ( my computer is just outside their doors), my heart plummets then races, heat surging through my chest. Some days like that make me think how unhealthy it is for me to write like that at all. Enjoyment isn't the word I'd use. But that isn't always the case either. When the kids have slept regularly for a while, I can calm down and just write more leisurely.
I think I get most anxious like that when I haven't had any guaranteed time lately and the days of disappointment have zipped by like falling dominoes. I'm blessed, most weeks, with a couple hours of guaranteed time--this comes in the form of a family member being with my kids for an afternoon or evening so that I can leave the house with my laptop. That time is a gift I can't adequately describe. I just had 3 weeks without it. Though 2-3 hours a week seems small, the absence of it nearly ground my writing to a halt. Without focused, uninterrupted time, I couldn't embark on anything new. I could manage piece-meal revision, but that was it.
After 3 weeks without writing time, when I finally got it this week, my mind so full of so many ideas- I sat and fidgeted for the first hour, unable to focus on just one thing! I had so many irons on the fire that i was desperate to attend to.
Then there's the angle that there are real children involved here. I'm learning to create boundaries and they're ever changing. Right now i'm allowing myself to write only during naptime. The exception, or bonus time, comes when one kid wakes earlier than normal in the AM; then i'll do networking, editing and marketing stuff on the computer then. But once they're both up, I have to make myself refuse to even open a file until after lunch. Trying to sneak writing in otherwise just led to more frustration--it wasn't worth it or good--for me or my kids!
When I started this, I thought I'd write at night too--as I am now, but that's not worked except for when the husband and one son are away. Staying up to write , though it's a better guaranteed time than naptime, without interruption, and produces some of my best work, was negative because I was becoming sleep-deprived! I can easily not notice 3 hours passing because I'm so involved in writing. And then I can't fall asleep for a while because my mind is racing. My body can't handle that when it also has to get up and respond to kids 2-6 times in the we hours of the morning. So now I can allow myself night writing only once a week.
It's hard to write as a SAHM--it's sometimes like writing under the gun--most of the time I get is so pressured, ephemeral and so vulnerable to instantaneous destruction that I'm learning the hard but necessary skill of letting go. This week I'm just trying to say it's OK I didn't get to write today...the ideas ad stories will still be there. Even if I don't get them done and sent out as soon as I wanted, there's still time. (Which is also why I don't write about time-sensative news!) I tell myself to make notes for myself so ideas aren't lost--and then just let it go and enjoy my kids and all their needs and ideosyncracies. Because they're the biggest stories I'll ever co-author.
But it is hard to be in the moment. I've spent the last few non-writing years trying to be present and enjoy the moment--and returning to writing destroyed that! I feel, most of the time, divided--part of my brain is writing all the time while the other part tries to live life. So it is a real spiritual discipline to deny the writing drive sometimes for my own well-being and my family's. This is just my process so far trying to juggle things.
Some articles took insufferably long to produce --weeks longer than I anticipated, because of the SAHM reality. One about how to manage children's annoying habits in the classroom, which I eventually sent to a magazine, took forever. As well as these which are published online:
"Your Body is Electric--How Electromagnetic Fields From Cell Phones and Wireless Devices Interact with Your Body's Nervous System"
"The Cell Phone/Cigarette Analogy"
"Should Nutritional Supplements Be Regulated Just As Drugs Are?"
"You neglect me, and then get mad that I'm right where you left me, just as you left me? Of course I'm still dirty, water-logged noodles cemented on the bottom, a slimy cheese sauce encircling my inside. That's what happens when you postpone washing supper dishes so you can write--because baby's in bed and husband and son are off to the races. And that's what happens when you postpone washing me again the next morning because you're hurriedly washing diapers you didn't wash last night when you were writing... And now you're dangerously close to having a naked baby. And yes, you find me still here, dirty at 5 PM when you want to make dinner, because that's what happens you don't wash dishes STILL after lunch and the kids are napping and you just "have" to continue writing that piece--get it down in hard black fonts on the computer screen, because you've been writing it all day in your head, no, since last night in fact, when you lay in bed revising from memory, line by line. So yes, I'm you're favorite cooking pot, covered in stubborn cheese sauce, because you have a hankering to write..."
I wrote that as my response to the writing exercise at my last writer's group meeting. It is hard to juggle writing with being a mom and a housewife. For me it's a constant tug of war--I have the desire to write all day, every day and such a drive to do it. I ENJOY writing immensely. It makes me feel alive, purposeful and that I'm contributing to humanity beyond the walls of my house. I have twenty pieces of writing (articles) in various states of revision and many more ideas I haven't the time to pursue. I'm at the peak of my life as far as inspiration goes.
My frustration level is high because there's never enough time. Some days I finally get the coveted time at the computer and as soon as i open the file to write what's been pouring thu my mind all day--a kid wakes from the nap mere miutes after falling asleep and I never get back. Some weeks, that will recur for days--every opportunity I think I'll get to write disappears like water falling through fingers. There are days too though when both kids will sleep for 2 hours or more. But sometimes I hardly get to enjoy it-- my body is so conditioned to the fact that this-could-end-any-minute that I function on adrenaline, like i'm on a newspaper staff and deadline is the moment the boss walks through the door--which could be nay minute! I type and click at a frenzied pace, my foot anxiously bouncing--all nerves alert to any noise from the kids' rooms that could signal my time is up. When I hear a cough, a whimper or even a crinkling of the mattress ( my computer is just outside their doors), my heart plummets then races, heat surging through my chest. Some days like that make me think how unhealthy it is for me to write like that at all. Enjoyment isn't the word I'd use. But that isn't always the case either. When the kids have slept regularly for a while, I can calm down and just write more leisurely.
I think I get most anxious like that when I haven't had any guaranteed time lately and the days of disappointment have zipped by like falling dominoes. I'm blessed, most weeks, with a couple hours of guaranteed time--this comes in the form of a family member being with my kids for an afternoon or evening so that I can leave the house with my laptop. That time is a gift I can't adequately describe. I just had 3 weeks without it. Though 2-3 hours a week seems small, the absence of it nearly ground my writing to a halt. Without focused, uninterrupted time, I couldn't embark on anything new. I could manage piece-meal revision, but that was it.
After 3 weeks without writing time, when I finally got it this week, my mind so full of so many ideas- I sat and fidgeted for the first hour, unable to focus on just one thing! I had so many irons on the fire that i was desperate to attend to.
Then there's the angle that there are real children involved here. I'm learning to create boundaries and they're ever changing. Right now i'm allowing myself to write only during naptime. The exception, or bonus time, comes when one kid wakes earlier than normal in the AM; then i'll do networking, editing and marketing stuff on the computer then. But once they're both up, I have to make myself refuse to even open a file until after lunch. Trying to sneak writing in otherwise just led to more frustration--it wasn't worth it or good--for me or my kids!
When I started this, I thought I'd write at night too--as I am now, but that's not worked except for when the husband and one son are away. Staying up to write , though it's a better guaranteed time than naptime, without interruption, and produces some of my best work, was negative because I was becoming sleep-deprived! I can easily not notice 3 hours passing because I'm so involved in writing. And then I can't fall asleep for a while because my mind is racing. My body can't handle that when it also has to get up and respond to kids 2-6 times in the we hours of the morning. So now I can allow myself night writing only once a week.
It's hard to write as a SAHM--it's sometimes like writing under the gun--most of the time I get is so pressured, ephemeral and so vulnerable to instantaneous destruction that I'm learning the hard but necessary skill of letting go. This week I'm just trying to say it's OK I didn't get to write today...the ideas ad stories will still be there. Even if I don't get them done and sent out as soon as I wanted, there's still time. (Which is also why I don't write about time-sensative news!) I tell myself to make notes for myself so ideas aren't lost--and then just let it go and enjoy my kids and all their needs and ideosyncracies. Because they're the biggest stories I'll ever co-author.
But it is hard to be in the moment. I've spent the last few non-writing years trying to be present and enjoy the moment--and returning to writing destroyed that! I feel, most of the time, divided--part of my brain is writing all the time while the other part tries to live life. So it is a real spiritual discipline to deny the writing drive sometimes for my own well-being and my family's. This is just my process so far trying to juggle things.
Some articles took insufferably long to produce --weeks longer than I anticipated, because of the SAHM reality. One about how to manage children's annoying habits in the classroom, which I eventually sent to a magazine, took forever. As well as these which are published online:
"Your Body is Electric--How Electromagnetic Fields From Cell Phones and Wireless Devices Interact with Your Body's Nervous System"
"The Cell Phone/Cigarette Analogy"
"Should Nutritional Supplements Be Regulated Just As Drugs Are?"
The Momentum of Writing for Content Websites
published on old blog june 6, 2010
Just yesterday someone asked me how writing for the online sites where I'm published work--how they pay, what articles are most popular, etc. My answer is now invalidated. My most-viewed one, I answered, the follow-up to "Are School's Expecting Our Kids to Read too Early?" posed the very controversial outcome of problems arising in the recent cohorts of kids who were taught reading in kindergarten rather than in first grade (as used to be the practice).
But that's no longer my top-performing article. Early this morning, an article I published a week ago got nearly triple the views of any I've published to date. I just checked again and saw that the views occurring in just the few hours of this morning total more than any other article I've written has garnered, total. I'd never seen any article reach a 1,000 views yet, but that milestone has swiftly come and gone for "What is a Disposable Diaper Made of Anyway?" where I examine the health as well as environmental impact of the ingredients. Apparently, it's been posted to some very popular baby info sites, both here in the US and the UK.
Is it just "cute" that I'm so new to this that I get so shocked and excited? Well, maybe, but this is my blog and I'll reveal my naiveté. When I think of my self as just a stay-at-home mom trying to eek out minutes to write, I am surprised when my writing reaches beyond my loving friends and family who care about my writing because they care about me.
I've been writing for content websites for a almost three months now. I knew it was a controversial move in the world of writing, but after some research, I decided to make my start into freelancing with one foot each in both the traditional print markets as well as the new content website world where writers' pay is determined, often, by ad revenue. (read: variable, unguaranteed, but sometimes very profitable)
I confess I sometimes wonder if I'm wasting my time or if this is the best thing since sliced bread. By all accounts I've read, I'm not in deep enough to make any valid assessment yet--it's a long-term investment. But I have found some very real short-term benefits to my writing, even if they aren't (at least not yet) momentary.
My online writing really gives me momentum. Because the turn-around is so quick, I see something published in days not months or years as is typical in the print magazine world. What I'm writing about now tends to be topics that I consider public service writing--I write from a drive or conviction that there are others who want/need this information. (And sometimes it's more than a conviction--sometimes friends or family members will ask me if I know about a certain topic or can point them to some research on it.) Getting it published this week versus next year satisfies my desire to help people sooner rather than later.
Another feature of the new online publishing setup is that readers can directly communicate with me. While this, surely, can have its drawbacks sometimes, it is almost always a good thing, in one way or another. Getting feedback from readers really gives me energy to write more and better articles. Affirmation that I've led someone to information that has benefited them or that they were looking for reminds me why I'm doing this.
So today, my opinion on content website writing is favorable. Stay tuned for days when I think it's eating into my time better spent pursuing traditional print publication!
But that's no longer my top-performing article. Early this morning, an article I published a week ago got nearly triple the views of any I've published to date. I just checked again and saw that the views occurring in just the few hours of this morning total more than any other article I've written has garnered, total. I'd never seen any article reach a 1,000 views yet, but that milestone has swiftly come and gone for "What is a Disposable Diaper Made of Anyway?" where I examine the health as well as environmental impact of the ingredients. Apparently, it's been posted to some very popular baby info sites, both here in the US and the UK.
Is it just "cute" that I'm so new to this that I get so shocked and excited? Well, maybe, but this is my blog and I'll reveal my naiveté. When I think of my self as just a stay-at-home mom trying to eek out minutes to write, I am surprised when my writing reaches beyond my loving friends and family who care about my writing because they care about me.
I've been writing for content websites for a almost three months now. I knew it was a controversial move in the world of writing, but after some research, I decided to make my start into freelancing with one foot each in both the traditional print markets as well as the new content website world where writers' pay is determined, often, by ad revenue. (read: variable, unguaranteed, but sometimes very profitable)
I confess I sometimes wonder if I'm wasting my time or if this is the best thing since sliced bread. By all accounts I've read, I'm not in deep enough to make any valid assessment yet--it's a long-term investment. But I have found some very real short-term benefits to my writing, even if they aren't (at least not yet) momentary.
My online writing really gives me momentum. Because the turn-around is so quick, I see something published in days not months or years as is typical in the print magazine world. What I'm writing about now tends to be topics that I consider public service writing--I write from a drive or conviction that there are others who want/need this information. (And sometimes it's more than a conviction--sometimes friends or family members will ask me if I know about a certain topic or can point them to some research on it.) Getting it published this week versus next year satisfies my desire to help people sooner rather than later.
Another feature of the new online publishing setup is that readers can directly communicate with me. While this, surely, can have its drawbacks sometimes, it is almost always a good thing, in one way or another. Getting feedback from readers really gives me energy to write more and better articles. Affirmation that I've led someone to information that has benefited them or that they were looking for reminds me why I'm doing this.
So today, my opinion on content website writing is favorable. Stay tuned for days when I think it's eating into my time better spent pursuing traditional print publication!
Lessons in Stress and Controversy
published in old blog May 24
I woke up, or rather, bolted up-right in bed, often after the high school newspaper was off to the printers, and whatever I had written and edited was struck in ink. Solid. Permanent. The regret burned like a hot brick sinking from my face, through my heart, landing in my stomach. Whether I was obsessing over a sentence I wished I could rewrite for clarity, or weighing every word (and its connotation) in an article I knew would be controversial, it was always something. Usually multiple somethings. I would lie in bed, seeing every word and sentence of my editorials pass in front of my eyes, suddenly worrying about the reaction of readers.
The two years I was the editor in chief of that monthly school paper, I thrived on the process of researching and writing my articles, loving every second of it—until the day it was published. Then it was almost noting but a cause for stress. I never learned how to get this under control in high school. Stress ate me up, and when I entered college, I wanted nothing to do with a career in journalism like I always thought I did. It took me two years preparing to be an English teacher before I changed my major again, leading eventually to an internship with a magazine.
It has been a number of years since I have been publishing, but oh so quickly did the reminder come as to why I’ve quit multiple times! A writer who publishes must have thick skin. We can nurse fantasies of being like Emily Dickinson, whose words were discovered after her death. It seems quite romantic, actually. But anyone wanting to make a profession of writing obviously needs to be read in her lifetime!
A profession or hobby in the field of communication simply puts oneself up for a lot of criticism. Few people in other professions have the general public criticizing their craft. Getting used to that criticism is simply a job requirement; you cannot make it go away. You cannot possibly avoid offending or upsetting people if you write with any conviction about anything. No matter what aspects of an issue you illuminate, someone will want you to have covered others. Whatever you report, there will be a group of people happy to hear you reflect something they already like, believe, etc., and a group that likewise already hates, disbelieves it, etc.
To survive as a writer, you have to learn how to put readers’ reactions in perspective and effectively deal with the stress inherent in publishing. You need to remember the purpose in your piece and not second-guess that based on everyone else’s comments. Do evaluate if criticism is warranted. Were you careless, unethical or unprepared? Is there something constructive in the criticism that can help you improve your craft? But if you know you did your research, presented it honestly, wrote well and addressed the issue appropriately for the size of the focus lens, you have to let go of the false guilt of simply not being able to write it in a way that satisfies everyone.
A particular difficulty of mine is criticism in the form of someone wanting me to have included more information or another viewpoint—especially when it is something I considered, but the scope of the piece was not a large enough platform to cover all angles. Sometimes as a writer, you will land projects that you could write a book on in the effort to present a completely balanced and thorough treatment of a subject. Remember you are only one writer, given the opportunity to write a mere piece; no one writer can be all things to all people, pleasing every one. Journalism isn’t about that.
As a journalist, realize controversy will court you. Whether you cover local PTO meetings and the local political machine nurses petty jealousies and factions try to sway your coverage, or you write investigative pieces for a national magazine. The job of the journalist is to educate and inform people of what they do not already know or believe. It is called “news” not “status-quo.” This aspect of writing applies even to fiction as fiction will often take on the role, at least in some readers’ eyes, as social commentary. Even if you stick to writing novels, what you write has the potential to upset people. Sometimes especially those close to you.
I’m reminded of how Jesus said a prophet is never accepted in his hometown, and learned the truth of this, as early as sixteen years old. Trying to illuminate things will invariably be seen as “stirring the pot” to some people. When your work as a writer exits in the daily lives of friends and family who live the consequences of your effort, things can get sticky. I recall a controversy in my school district on censorship in school English classes when I was in high school. The desire to censor some books was initiated by the parents who were friends of my parents. I was charged with handling the issue in an editorial. Despite trying my best to fairly present both sides, criticism came from both. Some words were spoken to my father from the man challenging the school board to censor the books, and it impacted my father’s business as that man had been a customer.
The fact that you have a voice and that it gets attention will always bother a portion of a community. And that does not go away when you publishing goes beyond the walls of high school; your community just gets larger, and the internet makes it global. When you get criticism from Milan and Shanghai, you know you’ve arrived.
Most people are and become writers because they have a need to express, teach or inform. Something from inside you loves soaking up all the information you can, hungry to learn new things—until they fill you up and you begin to look outward to find the audience that needs to learn it. Writing is a way to reach people, to complete the cycle you were created for. Even if you try to quit, you later realize it was merely a break. The compulsion to write and even publish again will return—because it’s your calling. And you will be drawn, continually, to the fringes of issues, to the minority opinions, to the controversial stances—because that is where there is something to learn, something testing the status quo of society, offering the checks and balances. We need to question what we are so comfortable with, unquestionably, because the worst problems arise when we all get comfortable and stop questioning.
I wrote this, with the exception of this paragraph, months ago, after I started publishing again, but I remembered this now because some things I will soon be publishing may very well be the most controversial subjects in my career yet. This is my reminder to myself to expect the criticism. If everyone just patted my back and praised my skill, I wouldn't be really informing anyone of anything. To do anything really important, anything that really helps people learn anything new, some people will feel their feathers ruffled. Some people just want to shoot the messenger. (And sometimes, I have to ask, God, why did you pick me to be a messenger?!)
So I dig into my faith and the God who gave me this mission, do yoga, and practice stress-relief techniques. This is part of the writing gig. Publishing is not for people-pleasers or the faint of heart.
My most controversial articles, to date (and yes, while I expected it with some, reaction to others was a surprise):
Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression Incorrect; Antidepressants Ineffective
If an Antidepressant Works Due to The Placebo Effect, What is The Harm in That?
Problems Arise When Children are Pushed to Read Too Early
I woke up, or rather, bolted up-right in bed, often after the high school newspaper was off to the printers, and whatever I had written and edited was struck in ink. Solid. Permanent. The regret burned like a hot brick sinking from my face, through my heart, landing in my stomach. Whether I was obsessing over a sentence I wished I could rewrite for clarity, or weighing every word (and its connotation) in an article I knew would be controversial, it was always something. Usually multiple somethings. I would lie in bed, seeing every word and sentence of my editorials pass in front of my eyes, suddenly worrying about the reaction of readers.
The two years I was the editor in chief of that monthly school paper, I thrived on the process of researching and writing my articles, loving every second of it—until the day it was published. Then it was almost noting but a cause for stress. I never learned how to get this under control in high school. Stress ate me up, and when I entered college, I wanted nothing to do with a career in journalism like I always thought I did. It took me two years preparing to be an English teacher before I changed my major again, leading eventually to an internship with a magazine.
It has been a number of years since I have been publishing, but oh so quickly did the reminder come as to why I’ve quit multiple times! A writer who publishes must have thick skin. We can nurse fantasies of being like Emily Dickinson, whose words were discovered after her death. It seems quite romantic, actually. But anyone wanting to make a profession of writing obviously needs to be read in her lifetime!
A profession or hobby in the field of communication simply puts oneself up for a lot of criticism. Few people in other professions have the general public criticizing their craft. Getting used to that criticism is simply a job requirement; you cannot make it go away. You cannot possibly avoid offending or upsetting people if you write with any conviction about anything. No matter what aspects of an issue you illuminate, someone will want you to have covered others. Whatever you report, there will be a group of people happy to hear you reflect something they already like, believe, etc., and a group that likewise already hates, disbelieves it, etc.
To survive as a writer, you have to learn how to put readers’ reactions in perspective and effectively deal with the stress inherent in publishing. You need to remember the purpose in your piece and not second-guess that based on everyone else’s comments. Do evaluate if criticism is warranted. Were you careless, unethical or unprepared? Is there something constructive in the criticism that can help you improve your craft? But if you know you did your research, presented it honestly, wrote well and addressed the issue appropriately for the size of the focus lens, you have to let go of the false guilt of simply not being able to write it in a way that satisfies everyone.
A particular difficulty of mine is criticism in the form of someone wanting me to have included more information or another viewpoint—especially when it is something I considered, but the scope of the piece was not a large enough platform to cover all angles. Sometimes as a writer, you will land projects that you could write a book on in the effort to present a completely balanced and thorough treatment of a subject. Remember you are only one writer, given the opportunity to write a mere piece; no one writer can be all things to all people, pleasing every one. Journalism isn’t about that.
As a journalist, realize controversy will court you. Whether you cover local PTO meetings and the local political machine nurses petty jealousies and factions try to sway your coverage, or you write investigative pieces for a national magazine. The job of the journalist is to educate and inform people of what they do not already know or believe. It is called “news” not “status-quo.” This aspect of writing applies even to fiction as fiction will often take on the role, at least in some readers’ eyes, as social commentary. Even if you stick to writing novels, what you write has the potential to upset people. Sometimes especially those close to you.
I’m reminded of how Jesus said a prophet is never accepted in his hometown, and learned the truth of this, as early as sixteen years old. Trying to illuminate things will invariably be seen as “stirring the pot” to some people. When your work as a writer exits in the daily lives of friends and family who live the consequences of your effort, things can get sticky. I recall a controversy in my school district on censorship in school English classes when I was in high school. The desire to censor some books was initiated by the parents who were friends of my parents. I was charged with handling the issue in an editorial. Despite trying my best to fairly present both sides, criticism came from both. Some words were spoken to my father from the man challenging the school board to censor the books, and it impacted my father’s business as that man had been a customer.
The fact that you have a voice and that it gets attention will always bother a portion of a community. And that does not go away when you publishing goes beyond the walls of high school; your community just gets larger, and the internet makes it global. When you get criticism from Milan and Shanghai, you know you’ve arrived.
Most people are and become writers because they have a need to express, teach or inform. Something from inside you loves soaking up all the information you can, hungry to learn new things—until they fill you up and you begin to look outward to find the audience that needs to learn it. Writing is a way to reach people, to complete the cycle you were created for. Even if you try to quit, you later realize it was merely a break. The compulsion to write and even publish again will return—because it’s your calling. And you will be drawn, continually, to the fringes of issues, to the minority opinions, to the controversial stances—because that is where there is something to learn, something testing the status quo of society, offering the checks and balances. We need to question what we are so comfortable with, unquestionably, because the worst problems arise when we all get comfortable and stop questioning.
I wrote this, with the exception of this paragraph, months ago, after I started publishing again, but I remembered this now because some things I will soon be publishing may very well be the most controversial subjects in my career yet. This is my reminder to myself to expect the criticism. If everyone just patted my back and praised my skill, I wouldn't be really informing anyone of anything. To do anything really important, anything that really helps people learn anything new, some people will feel their feathers ruffled. Some people just want to shoot the messenger. (And sometimes, I have to ask, God, why did you pick me to be a messenger?!)
So I dig into my faith and the God who gave me this mission, do yoga, and practice stress-relief techniques. This is part of the writing gig. Publishing is not for people-pleasers or the faint of heart.
My most controversial articles, to date (and yes, while I expected it with some, reaction to others was a surprise):
Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression Incorrect; Antidepressants Ineffective
If an Antidepressant Works Due to The Placebo Effect, What is The Harm in That?
Problems Arise When Children are Pushed to Read Too Early
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