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Excellent series Terp.
posted by
Hollee
on May 17, 2005 at 2:04 PM
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Pass on the energy please
I like your spirit. Please check out my writing and let me know if I have any talent.
check out my politics section. There are some long articles in there but, some of the ideas I think are origional.
Also, I'd like to write professionally. What steps did you take?
posted by
NorthernYankee
on May 17, 2005 at 5:46 AM
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You sound like you got it down well...
I guess I have spent a lot of time writing since then, but I never had to seek out places to sell my writing. Most of it was technical writing and editing what tech writers wrote for content. I find it truly ironic that the highest paying and most "prestigious" stints I ever pulled in the tech world involved writing as opposed to doing. But I did have to "do" in order to get there...
posted by
FactorFiction
on May 16, 2005 at 1:15 PM
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Fact
Trust me, I know where you're coming from. It was a tough choice when I was graduating college. The U of M/College Park's Journalism program gives you a degree in Journalism. Their theory (a good one, I think), is that you should have something to write about. They don't spend all the time on theory stuff, though you have to learn all of that as well. You are expected to constantly work on the writing end of it through signing on for local papers and the like. They make you get the equivalent of another degree, though you never get that degree. I went Business Admin/Accounting.
I was married right out of high school. It was so tough not going the accounting route. I kept thinking, "Get the house!!!" I also knew that once you get used to the standard of living/paycheck, you rarely give it up. I wouldn't have gotten out of accounting.
As I had extensive experience and clips by the time I graduated (newspapers and 4-color magazines), I wouldn't look at unpaid or low pay magazines. I hit the middle, and then did a sort of hunt and peck at some of the larger ones. Before I cracked the truly big ones, I was editing various publications, so the many needs were met.
Oddly, the thing I miss is the ability to work with spreadsheets and numbers. I've always joked that there are thousands of accountants who want to be writers. I'm the writer who wants to be an accountant.
What I find is that I have to do a little of a lot of things. I've been running a small antiques business on the side which fills that business itch. I wrote a column on it for a national syndicate for awhile.
posted by
terpgirl30
on May 16, 2005 at 8:07 AM
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Hammock
Mad Magazine, Cracked, The Onion. There have always been publications outside the norm. Mother Earth Jones, Survivalist. The Moneychanger, etc. For every personality, there are publications to fit. Who is telling you the stuff is too out there? Friends or editors of the publications. It could be that you're trying to fit the square peg into the hole. If Joe Queenan or PJ O'Rourke sent stuff to to a mercenary publication or a new age type magazine, odds are the editors would say it was off center.
Kim
posted by
terpgirl30
on May 16, 2005 at 8:01 AM
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El Postino
I've never been published, and probably never will. Seems like they always say my material is "too far out there". THats a load of bullsh!t though.
It all depends on who is delivering it.
posted by
Hammock_Noweilz
on May 16, 2005 at 6:14 AM
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Hey, who knows, maybe you will inspire me to
be published again myself...it's only been oh, twenty years. It lost out when I could make more money tutoring chemistry or geometry for an hour than writing a highschool sports article. I have toyed with the idea since then though...
posted by
FactorFiction
on May 16, 2005 at 5:33 AM
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Terpgirl30, I understand exactly where you are coming from.
posted by
Azur
on May 15, 2005 at 5:42 PM
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MayB
With the way your mind works just in your posts here, you'll never run out of ideas. If you just read the stuff around here, you'll have hundreds...some you want to erase from your mind, but they stick with you.
I'll do something on reprints, then something on how to stretch an article idea as far as you can...take an imaginary concept. I commented on Professor's magazine article post. I more or less did it there. If nothing else, it will teach people how to read with an eye towards expanding an idea.
My newspaper only paid around $50 per feature. Most of the women who wrote for me were retired, and I gave them many perks to make up for the pay. My editor friends thought I was nuts. The women told me in all their years as reporters, no one every sent them on the theatre reviews, dinner theatre stuff. I had two small children at the time. If I spent every minute just doing the fun stuff, I couldn't have done it all. For many of these retired women, if gave them a chance to take a relative or friend out to dinner or a show. I set up cruises and trips for a few of them as well. They rewarded me with loyalty. They were like lions. No one messed with me. Two of them came to my house during paste up week. My kids would say hi to them, running right past me. My dog even sat next to the one lady!
posted by
terpgirl30
on May 15, 2005 at 5:24 PM
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Terpgirl30, many people say they want to be writers but seem to baulk at taking the necessary steps. For many people it is a notion they like to live with. It is a shame because you often see people who have the talent but hold themselves back.
I tend to write articles which pay a lot more than $50-70 but some are obscure and difficult to take any further although I often manage to do it. And like you I have a long list of things I would like to write, so long I will never reach the end.
posted by
Azur
on May 15, 2005 at 3:35 PM
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