Writing Diary - Page 4

[white_queen_22]

Originally Posted by Smokering

I saw my name in print today!

I was flipping through magazines at the airport, and saw a fitness magazine and thought 'Hey, didn't I write an article for them?' I'd even forgotten what it was about--I had the vague impression it was about henna--but I looked through the index and there it was, an article about natural haircare, written by me! With, like... columns. And text in a coloured box. And my name in little letters and also in big letters. (Well, smallish big letters). And a picture! And an ad for feminine hygiene products underneath! I'm a real author!

The sad part is, my grandmother has threatened me with grievous bodily harm if I don't send her a copy 'of all my articles', as she so blithely requests; so I had to fork out $9.90 for the privilege of buying my own work. Hmph. Now I can't remember if my wedding magazine article has come out yet or not; I might have missed it.

Anyway, just had to share. I know it's only a silly little service piece in a magazine, but still--seeing my name on shiny paper was more of a buzz than I expected! And the inspiration was well-timed, as I have an article due tomorrow which is driving me up the wall...

In other happy news, my cosleeping article comes out in a few days, and the article's mentioned on the front cover! I'm thrilled. Wonder if I'll get any death threats from horrified readers?

Hey Congrats!!! :-D I helped edit that Natural Hair Care article as I recall! :-D

I'm the nobody-friend-of-a-famous-somebody! Cool. :

You're on a roll there. I love how you've tapped in to several different magazines. I have, so far, only been published in the massage magazine. At least she requested another article from me.

Angela <><

[Smokering]

I believe you did help edit it! And you must have done a good job, because I don't think they changed anything in the final article--I was pleased about that. You'd be amazed at how much more snazzy it looks with columns and colours and stuff, though.

And be sure to mention my name at all the hot nightclubs, so as to get in for free. No, don't thank me. I gotta look out for the little people.

I've decided to query... someone... about an article on birthrape. It came up when I was researching birth trauma, and I left it out of that article because it was long and complicated enough already. But it would be an interesting and important topic... the question is, for what magazine? Not the parenting magazine for which I wrote the original article. It's too similar, a bit too horrific for a pregnancy/baby mag, and I'll be doing a number of other articles for them next year anyway, so I'd prefer to build up my 'resume' with a number of different magazines.

A non-women's magazine would be good, for diversity's sake. I'll scroll through the list of NZ magazines and try to find a good fit.

[j.lucymuses]

Hi all. My achievements are minor compared to most of you but *huge* for me now that I'm a WOHM 24 hours a week. Anything I can do to keep writing is important. So here are my latest...

1. Submitted an essay to Literary Mama.
2. Submitted an essay to Mama Says.
3. Will be teaching a journaling course at a writer's center in the new year.
4. Have kept up with my blog - writing at least once a week.

[white_queen_22]

~ Submitted my article written on spec to Mothering
~Submitted my pre-purchased article to Massage and Bodywork mag...hopefully that check will arrive before Christmas because we could use the money for traveling to my folks house. :-P
~ Need to follow up on some of the queries I sent out previously. Hmm...
~ Published my first ebook on BellaOnline http://www.bellaonline.com/ebooks/ebook156
~ Took over the Journals site on BellaOnline as well (great ebook potentials)
~Turned S101 articles into two different ebooks - http://angenglandebooks.tumblr.com/

Whew!
Angela <><

[Smokering]

I sent out two queries today; one was my birthrape article, which nobody seems to want, but I just discovered another 'issues'-type magazine so I tried them. The other was for the same magazine that published my haircare article; I adapted one of my queries, which is more or less about monophasic sleep, and sent it in. We shall see!

My next articles are due on January 12 and February 2, which gives me a bit of breathing space.

[Smokering]

Well, that's a bit of cheek--! The fitness magazine didn't want my monophasic sleep article, so I queried another fitness magazine, and she replied by saying their editorial budget was all used up, but would I mind a) doing it for free anyway and b) writing about a slightly different topic instead?

I'm now trying to think of some superbly tactful way to say 'Dude, I'm innit for the money, who dew you think I am?'. Sigh.

[j.lucymuses]

Just got an essay accepted at Mama Says... my first published work

[ceilydhmama]

Originally Posted by j.lucymuses

Just got an essay accepted at Mama Says... my first published work

you rock!!

[white_queen_22]

Originally Posted by j.lucymuses

Just got an essay accepted at Mama Says... my first published work

Thats great!! :-)

angela <><

[Smokering]

Congratulations! What's it about?

Right. DH goes back to work tomorrow, and I need to get back into the swing of writing. I have an 800-word piece due in six days, half written, and a 1800-word piece due at the end of the month which will require mucho research... plus an annoyingly deadline-vague 500-word article I keep putting off because the editor doesn't seem to care if I don't hand it in before 2015. Tomorrow I need to work on the 800-word one and email an editor about the 1800-word one.

I didn't quite make my '100 articles by 2009' goal after all. :/ I'm stuck on 95. Got busy with Christmas (whodathunkit?). Should really do a few to bump up my productivity if nothing else, given that the Suite meter says I've only written 11 over the last 3 months. I might use some of the research for the 1800-word article to write a few little pieces on circumcision and placentaphagy.

[MyTwoAs]

I am immersed in a new blog right now - it has been about a month and I finally feel like I'm getting into my groove with the topic. I just looked at my Suite productivity meter and I'm at 10; since I stepped down as a FW I'm on target but I was behind while still being listed as a FW. Like you Smokering, I think I need to do a few to bump up productivity.

[MyTwoAs]

Originally Posted by j.lucymuses

Just got an essay accepted at Mama Says... my first published work

Woo - congrats!

[Smokering]

Handed in my secondary edibles article today, and got a very nice email back from the editor saying she liked it. Cool. Now I can concentrate on the article due February 3. It covers circumcision and dealing with the placenta and piercing baby girls' ears and cord blood banking, so it'll be research-heavy! Plus it turn out it's really hard to write about circumcision without sounding ranty and extremist. Ordinarily I wouldn't, you know, mind sounding ranty and extremist, but I want them to actually print this, so...

[Smokering]

Hmm, interesting. I wrote a little piece about post-partum hair loss for a parenting magazine last year (call it magazine A), and then they wouldn't let me write any more for them because I was also writing for parenting magazine B, and A has exclusive writer contracts for some odd reason. So that was fine, and I'm currently working on my third article for B. But today I got an email from the editor of A, saying she'd read my cosleeping article in B, and great job, and would I be interested in some 'investigative health journalism' for A?

I'm rather pleased she asked me, but it'll depend on whether A will let me write non-exclusively (under my maiden name if necessary). I still have some pieces lined up for B and a good relationship with B's editor, which I don't want to jeopardise; she's lovely. So we'll see what A thinks about that. Anyway, it adds a spice of interest to my day.

[Smokering]

Well, I haven't heard a peep from magazine A. Hmph.

Just wrote a query last night for an article on cloth nappies/menstrual pads/TP/cleaning cloths/hankies etc. I got a sort-of refusal from an eco-mag which thought the cloth TP thing was just too extreme, and already had articles lined up about cloth nappies and pads. I've sent the query to a fitness/health women's mag, but it's not a perfect fit so we'll see.

I also finally found out how to see the CPC on the Google Adwords tool... it's embarrassing how long that took me! So I'm going back to various articles and tweaking the keywords.

I also have a couple of half-written Suite articles on the go, and I'm procrastinating again on my circ article.

[white_queen_22]

I've been so stinking busy. Really just crazy.

I finally got a rejection back from MomSense magazine about oh - seven months later - so am qorking on resubmitting that piece to a few other mags.

Got an acceptance from Mothering on my Birth of a Playmate article so HURRAY! Yeah for that! *laughing*

No word on when it will be published but still - very cool.

Time to move on and query a few other jobs/articles/pieces and keep the ball rolling on the print thing.

Angela <><

[ceilydhmama]

Originally Posted by white_queen_22

I've been so stinking busy. Really just crazy.


Got an acceptance from Mothering on my Birth of a Playmate article so HURRAY! Yeah for that! *laughing*

No word on when it will be published but still - very cool.

Time to move on and query a few other jobs/articles/pieces and keep the ball rolling on the print thing.

Angela <><

Wonderful news!
It is really about having queries out all the time so work stays steady. I'm in the midst of a querying blitz right now - because work was starting to slim out.
Things are getting nice and busy again and I have stories booked for some great mags::
I'm also having a really good time blogging for a regional green mag http://www.granvilleonline.ca/gr/blogs/home-economics.

Keep sharing the fab news - it's motivational!

Diane

[white_queen_22]

Just wanted to bump this back up to the top to see how everyone was doing. I'm wanting to send out another flurry of queries. Wonder if it's something about this time of year??

Maybe it's because I feel the chill of winter creeping into my garden writing! LOL

Angela <><