Prescription: Writer's Retreat, 1 dose for three consecutive days

I said I was going to cut back on freelancing for magazines to devote more time to completing the first draft of my novel by July. Followers also probably wondered if I was sticking to that goal at all, based on my posts about taking on more assignments! Yes, I've been shooting my novel in the foot with article success. In December particularly, I took too many assignments and barely touched the novel.

So how can I get myself back on track with my goal to complete the first draft by this summer? When I know I say it, and then still keep taking more freelancing opportunities?

It's just that I really like freelancing. It's that magazine article writing is very manageable, finite, and comes with a firm reward and pay at the end. I like the satisfaction of completing something and getting paid (however low it may be at some publications...) I get weary sometimes of writing something to difficult, so long-term that I can barely see the light at the end of the tunnel. Freelancing revived my love of writing, many times--but there is too much of a good thing. I said I'd stop seeking new assignments after Christmas. That too has not been true. I was seduced multiple times by call-outs for a few magazines.

When I set my July goal for the novel draft, I thought I was being generous, thinking I could even finish by January. It's now February...

I needed some accountability and encouragement, clearly! So I went to a three-day fiction writing retreat though Aaron's Bookstore in Lititz, PA, featuring editor Kate Kennedy and author Susan Gregg Gilmore (Searching for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove).I hoped it'd energize me towards completing my novel.

So far, so good. As I drove home last night from the conference, my mind was at warp speed entertaining new possibilities for getting my characters to that end--my mind thinking about basic equestrian knowledge, Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing that I'll have to brush up on, and beach scenes. I got up at 6 with my husband this morning and put in over an hour toward moving my novel towards its end in the plot.

And now I'm going to take that inspiration and work some more this afternoon. But I hope, in later posts, to share what I learned at the writing retreat. But for now, I've got to use my drive to write for the novel!


Articles I've published recently:


Job Search: How to Make Your Application Climb to The Top of The Pile

Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods

How Much Genetically Modified Food Do You Eat?

Prostate Cancer: Nutrients for Prevention and Defense

A Day Well Spent Following My Own Advice

Today I actually did what I say I want to do: I worked on my novel for about 30-40 minutes this morning, after my husband went to work. Then during the kids' nap, I edited a quick (literally an hour or less of work) article in response to a magazine's call for articles on eating at restaurants with kids, then sent out an article I wrote nearly 2 years ago to an anthology calling for submissions on the topic.

See, my goal is to stop writing so many new articles, and instead redirect the time to 1) my novel and 2) finding homes for the articles already done.

I tell myself the article on eating out with kids was OK because it was not time-consuming; I'm just trying not to rope myself into 10, 20, 40 hours of work on an article that may never see the light falling on a printed page. Or even for one that will get printed, because I've got this goal to complete my novel draft in July!

All in all, this was a good writing day--a day when I feel accomplished, having finally obeyed my own pronouncements about my priorities. These days are rare...

Keep writing! We'll all get there if we keep writing!

Perseverance--most important skill for selling your writing?

I was giving up on the article. I'd written it a year ago, and had failed to sell it to the few magazines I thought would be interested. The topic was herbal remedies for common ailments--typical things like colds, fevers, poison ivy, etc. As has happened before, I was just behind the trend, not right on it. Parents magazine had just done a similar multi-page article, and Kiwi magazine was addressing the topic regularly through a monthly column. After magazines I thought would be interested declined, I even tried a small website that published things for natural-minded mommies, and I got no response even then. I'd thought my article would be an easier sell than my longer articles; I rarely write short, and this was around 800 words.

My default plan of publication is publishing online through a content writing site; I've really fallen off writing for them; the financial rewards are far below what I'm making in other print arenas. But if I can't sell an article to a magazine, it's a good last-ditch effort to make something, rather than nothing, off of an article. So that was my plan--but I was slow in getting it done (even though the sooner I'd place the article on the site, the sooner it could earn....)

Meanwhile, while I was "not getting around to it," a local magazine editor responded to a list of article ideas I'd sent her a while back. She pulled 3 of my 5 suggestions and said she wanted me to write on them--2 due in mere weeks, another for later in the year. She said she was doing a special issue in March/April on green living, so my 2 natural/green-lifestyle ideas (natural makeup/skin care products and natural birth prep) fit what she was looking for. With 3 assignments snagged, I felt pretty good--I'd never gotten as much repeat business from a client yet. Then the next day, a germ of an idea grew in my mind. If the editor was looking for green lifestyle ideas, what about my herbal medicine cabinet article I was about to give up on?

Now, this editor doesn't accept already-written articles--she doesn't even operate through the traditional query system that magazines use. She's a newspaper gal and the magazine is produced by the newspaper, so it's a different style altogether. But I gave it a shot anyway--retitled the article "Greening your first aid kit", explained I'd already been working on it and wondered if she might find it interesting for the March/April issue.

Her response: "I love it. Just throw in a couple quotes from local natural health professionals, and it's done."
So I'd gotten 4 assignments! And one almost done!

And to think, I'd almost given up on that article. I'd almost turned it in for chump change, but now, I've gotten considerably more already direct-deposited into my bank account for it! Not to mention, I've gotten an article out to the reading public on a topic I'm very passionate about and think is important info.

So here's the lesson: Keep looking for other places to sell; don't give up!

Other articles I've published.
Treating Depression with Natural or Alternative Medicine


Is Lyme Disease Lurking in Your Unexplained Symptoms?

Baby Food: Save money by Making Your Own

Potty Training: Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables

Cloth Diapers Versus Disposables: Switching Systems

Writing for Call-Outs Versus Cold-Query Freelancing

This summer has been one of making decisions, determinations, about my career as a writer. I've written past posts about what I think of writing online content after a year of trying it, another entry about writing regularly for a only a few publications, simplifying my life, and most recently, about how I've determined to place working on my novel as top writing priority, relegating article writing as something to do to deal with fiction writing block.

So I'm still basically sticking with those decisions, but with a little tweaking. OK, I do confess, I've not written as much on my novel as I wished. But I've also found I cannot write exclusively on only it. For me, writing such a long work of fiction takes a lot of mulling time. I don't always know the next step for my characters; I have to let them tell me (and they're not always revealing immediately). Also, I'm becoming increasingly aware of mood and atmosphere, and until I've decided on the mood I want to create in a scene, I can't write well. So I need other writing projects to work on while I let the novel simmer.

I've written a lot of new articles, though I told myself not to. However, I've made a smart, less-risky change in what I write: I am now writing in answer to call outs, rather than writing what I want and then doing the grueling work to find a magazine who hopefully might want to publish on that topic, from my point of view, and with my style. (This takes a blessed long time, as my post about it taking 13 months to sell one article. But that's not even the whole story--that was simply the first post I could write about the long-term nature of the business; I have other articles I've been trying to sell even longer--I've just not written about how long they took yet because I have yet to sell them!)

 So now  I'm writing on given topics or themes that publications say they are looking for. Since August, I've done everything from listing ideas for summer family fun for Thriving Family magazine to personal essays about buying a house and how positive thinking affects health for Chicken Soup anthologies. Obviously, my work is better targeted. I don't have the time though to search out these opportunities--that'd mean looking on the website of every publication in the Writer's Market monster book! But I've found a great website done by someone who loves to share all the market info she gathers. She posts, almost daily, what she finds, and her interests match mine pretty well, so I've found many call outs that I've been able to answer pretty easily. Also, some info is the kind that the public is not privy too--it's insider info that is known only to writers who've already been published by the publication.

This change really does impact the kind of writing I'm doing though--I'm writing fewer 3rd person magazine articles, and many more first-person experience kind of essays. That is an attractive change; it is easier in my current employment as stay-at-home-mom: not so much research!

Success rate: While it's too early to tell in most cases--I've done this only 6 weeks--I already got word back from one that my essay will be published, and is also in contention for one of the cash prizes as one of the top essays. For more data, I just have to wait.

Online articles I've published:


Veggie-loaded Meals Kids Like

Pampers' Myths and Facts Page About Environmental and Health Impacts: A Critique

Zucchini for Breakfast, Dinner and Dessert: Five New Ways to Use Up Summer Squash and Zucchini

How Much Genetically Modified Food Do You Eat?

Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods


http://www.christwriters.info/index/burning-the-midnight-oil-poetry-contest-sep-19-2011-7-06-35-pm-35

A Change in Direction: Stop Looking for New Markets!

Today I turned in my first assigned article for a local publication. It marks a transition n my writing goals, and has left me with some mixed feelings. It's helping me refine the big question I've had all along--should I try to build a freelancing career or whole-hog be putting my time into my novel?

I'm not under pressure to make a lot of $ right now--it's nice but not necessary. When else in life might I have time to work on my novel, getting it to the place I could try to publish it? But on the other hand, if I can build a freelancing business, that could be more reliable than trying to publish fiction.

I've been struggling with what direction to go, and so, I've spent over a year dividing my time, not just 2 ways, but even more ways, by trying to write for parenting magazines as well as devotionals, as well as online content stuff, trying to feel my way around which way I should commit to.

But when I line up my options (neither certain or predictable) with my goals and priorities for my family, kids and life, and my mission, I think I see a path emerging.

Funny I had mixed feelings about not needing to cold-query tons of publications anymore--because if I focus on a few publications that like my writing and have more work for me, the hunt is no longer necessary. At first I felt saddened by that--maybe because I hadn't achieved what I'd wanted to, getting published in certain big national publications, etc. But my main goal wasn't landing in big national publications; I guess it was getting to the place where I could get paid  to write what I like to write about, and I'm there, for the moment.

So my new path is to focus on those 3 markets, and I'm trying to discipline myself to not write any new articles for other untried markets--except that I will keep trying to sell articles from the past year that haven't yet found a home... My hope is to then take the time I used to spend cold-querying publications and spend it working on my novel. I'm giving myself a deadline for the first full draft. A lofty goal, and yet I think I can do it.

A sample of my online articles:
Job Search: How to Make Your Application Climb to The Top of The Pile

13 months to sell an article--the long journey of one eventual success

What is typical for the cold-querying freelancer? I'm not sure yet, but I can share my first long-term shopping-an-article story. A few of my experiences are shorter, better. Most are still in progress, and I don't know yet if they will succeed or fail. But all I'm learning is teaching me being a freelance writer is akin to being a marathon runner.

May 10, 2010, I sent out a story about toddler tantrums entitled "Changing my heart to change my son's angry outbursts." I sent this article, part how-to, part personal experience, to a Christian publication targeted to families. I received a response the very same day! The editor was very interested, but said it'd be a few weeks to see if they could fit it into a magazine issue soon or if they would want to use it online, perhaps on their facebook page. I followed up months later, to inquire of the status, and was told they hadn't found a place for it, would like to hold it for a year to see if they could find a use for it, and added that I was within my rights to shop it elsewhere in the meantime. So I did.

When you're starting freelance writing, you hear often about resending--if one place says no, you just resend it--keep the articles in circulation! However, as I learned, it's not that simple. I had a 1200+ word article that may or may not be printed in a year; I decided I should try other publications, but those with the same audience wanted articles no longer than 600 words.

"Just re-sending it" was not "just so simple." I put hours into splitting that article into two different articles--one's a third-person sort of how-to article on dealing with preschool temper tantrums, and the other a first-person experience story of what I tried with my child. In July I sent one to the premier Christian magazine for moms of preschoolers, and the other one I sent to an online family magazine available by subscription only.

In September, I received a favorably reply from the preschooler-centered magazine, but I heard a similar disclaimer--they weren't sure when they could use it as their themes didn't quite fit it, but they'd like to hold it for a year, and I had rights to shop it around in the meantime.

By December, having heard nothing more from any version of the article I'd sent out, I tried my 4th market. This time it was a secular parenting magazine, though a smaller national one, and one where the editor had written me back about every query I'd ever sent her--she was very atypical. I decided to send the query letter first, not the article, because I'd have to rewrite it significantly, taking out the Bible verses and such that were a core part of my articles at that point. I figured it was better to know if the editor was even interested in the topic before putting any more work into this project unnecessarily.

To my surprise, the editor of that magazine, for the first time, never responded. Then, juggling and writing twenty-some other articles, I forgot about this one for a while. But I never did hear anything from two magazines who said they wanted to buy it, but were waiting for the right timing.

So April or May 2011, a year after my first send-out, I wrote a query letter on the idea to the editor of a parenting magazine in England which had published an article of mine last winter. I thought the topic might appeal to that editor, because one small piece of my story was in using breathing techniques to calm my son down, and in a recent issue of the magazine, had seen those very techniques mentioned, but as new ideas, yet undescribed. I figured, if the editor were interest, I could rewrite the article to put more emphasis on that.

Within days, maybe even the same day, the editor said she was indeed interested in seeing the article. I sent it to her, with more time put in to rewrite it, and within a few weeks, she wrote back that she was seriously considering it for the August issue, and was taking it to the meeting for the final decision. A few weeks after that, she wrote to say she wanted to buy it for that issue, officially.

But I still wasn't done with the work. I put in perhaps an hour more on it, making side bars, as I had suggested I could, to better give instructions on the breathing exercises I mentioned.

All said, I finally sold that piece--one of my best, in my estimation. I received the printed magazine in the mail the other day. But I've lost track of the hours I put into it, through the multiple rewrites, not to mention the marketing side of it. I made a little over $200 for it. I wasn't likely to make much more than that for any magazine I'd sent it to, but the amount of time and work it took me to get it there--well, I might be scared if I found out how much I really made on that one, per hour.

This certainly is a business you do only if you really love the writing.

Samples of my work online:
Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Against Obesity?
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Thirteen Reasons to Avoid It
Fire Retardants Found in Babies' Umbilical Cord Blood Associated with Developmental Delays
Whole Wheat Bread with Honey or Molasses, for a Bread Machine
Lyme Disease and Autism Patients Prescribed Diets Free of Genetically Modified Foods

Being Too Busy, Having Too Many Deadlines

I'm perhaps the busiest I've ever been, with a to write list of 10 items long for actual articles people are planning to pay me for, on spec, or at least good odds of being chosen to publish  (due to prior publication in that market) . All are due by the first of next month. I sent one article on spec out this afternoon; 9 to go...

My last blog talked about the interview form heaven and the possibility to get a lot of assignments from one source, and i can already see the challenge in success. I'm still a stay at home mom with limited writing time. I sensed today already my rising level of frustration with my kids because i have a lot of articles filling my head and looming deadlines. This is perhaps the biggest battle. I love writing, but if it becomes too problematic for me to handle it and still be a good stay-at-home mom, it'll have be truncated or axed. Today was just an inkling of it but it reminds me to recommit myself to my priorities. I tend to put more pressure on myself than anything external. Yes, if I have one deadline in a week posed by someone else, it's my tendency to give myself three more, just as my own personal goal, to send out to magazines that wouldn't care if I sent next week or next year. I'm quite talented at being driven, focused and ambitiously workaholic. That's why I've got to tame the ambition. It's great if my priority is to have a soaring writing career. But that's not my top priority--my kids are, and writing is something that fits in when and how often I can fit it.

Something has to give. I know already it's going to be the online stuff I do. It's a no-brainer--it's the lowest paying of all the writing I do (at least so far; it takes months/years to know how much an article will earn....). Funny, that publishing company is having some perks for writers producing quality stuff right now, but never mind. Being practical, their little bonus is still monetarily far below anything else I could get paid for. SO probably until my social -conscious drive to produce service writing online just for the benefit of people getting new info, I'll probably cool it on that front.

A sample of articles I published:

Sunburn Prevention: Take Off Those Sunglasses!

Nutritious, No-cook Summer Lunch Ideas

Cell Tower Radiation of No Concern for Pregnant Mothers or Childhood Cancer?

Medical Treatments for Vulvodynia: Throwing Darts in The Dark?

When Food Producers Mislabel The Food You Buy; What Labels Can You Trust?