Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 7

In reviewing the potential sources for my article it appears that it should be written within a 500-800 word count maximum. That let me know how detailed I can be.

I've written up my story and given it to two people to review and give me their feedback. I got one back with just minor changes, did a rewrite, and sent it to a second reviewer. I am now putting together a sidebar of facts to add to the story and a short puzzle to go with it. These will also be sent to the magazine.

An additional note from another book I am reading...I just ran across the term "The rule of 12" which relates to the concept of having 12 pieces at any given time in submission somewhere. In checking on my submissions, I discovered I currently have 7 pieces out. I will work to have more outgoing like this story to get it up to 12 pieces. And that doesn't count having someone critiquing my stories!

The other rule that I really need is "The rule of 24." This rule says that you should always wait an additional 24 hrs after you've done your final edit to review one more time before sending it out to an editor. This is critical to me as I get so excited about writing that I want to send it out immediately. By having that additional time to review my story one more time, I have found an error that needed correcting or a better way to get my point across.

Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 6

I have my story idea for the reptiles, now I have to figure out where to send it. I went to Amazon to find a list of children's magazines. This was very helpful. On the Amazon listing, it shows the target audience for the magazine and what it covers in the publication. Their list includes only ten or so options.

Now I need to go back online to find the writer's guidelines. I am amazed at how many publishers hide their guidelines. If you type in a search option on their site with "submissions" or "writer's guidelines" it comes up with nothing. However, if you click on the "contact us" it will then show you the writer's guidelines that didn't come up on their internal search engine or site map. With one major publication I couldn't find their details anywhere on their site. Then I did a google search with the magazine name and writer's guidelines and found it.

I also did some research at my library and the local Barnes & Noble to see what publications they stock. I found some wonderful choices and my two favorite for the best fit were Ranger Rick and National Geographic for Kids. I googled them and found that Ranger Rick is not even accepting queries and I could not find any info on submissions at all for Nat Geo. If it is that hard to find guidelines, I would think they really don't want any freelance work.

It looks like I have about four options. Now I need to review their publications to see what their style is. I picked up several magazines at the library and will start reading them. Some of these magazines set out a theme a year in advance for what each issue will cover. As a result, I had to check one publication off my list as they aren't dealing with reptiles in 2011.

Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 5

After doing some more research, I had a list of questions to ask my reptile wrangler. I wrote them all down to see if I had enough that would give me sufficient inspiration to write a story. It looked good. Now it was on to the interview.

My source was great in going through each of the questions with me. I've never been a big fan of reptiles. I think they are interesting in pre-historic way but I've never had a real interest in learning more about them. Now I was talking to someone whose life was all about reptiles. In listening to him talk about these lizards I wanted to learn more about them. I hope my story once written can create that same interest.

I am not ready to have one as a pet. The closest I think I will come to having a pet lizard is the ones my cat brings into the house to play "catch and release." I then catch them and release them once more to the backyard before they become a dead toy.

Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 4

On to the new writing challenge of the day...It is all about building writing credits. Nancy suggests that if you are constantly calling up people to chat, you may want to try to do interviews and write them up. You might then be able to sell the story to a local newspaper or magazine as a regional interest story.

Back in the 90's I worked on a cable TV show at our local college where I occasionally did on air interviews. I wasn't the one doing all the talking. I was there to prompt the guests about their area of expertise. I had to do minimal research on the guests as their info was provided. I just had to keep them talking.

I'm a bit rusty on interview style and technique, but there is someone I would like to interview locally. The son of a past client of mine is a reptile wrangler. He's one of those people who's names you see in the end credits in movies and wonder what the heck does that person do. I thought this would be a good source for an interview. I tracked down his phone number and gave him a call. He was in the car at the time and couldn't talk so he suggested I call him later. I did but that time the call just went to his voice mail.

I am learning that setting up an interview takes time and some patience. I will try him again tomorrow. I am not sure what questions to ask. I am not sure what reptiles he is currently working with - snakes, lizards, insects? I will probably start with an exploratory interview and then work up details for a second interview once I have done some research.

Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 3

I am using this book to help me focus. I get so excited about writing that I jump from one idea to another. Then I don't know which to work on. This dovetails somewhat into the idea that Nancy suggests in her book. This is to turn your weaknesses into strengths. But how do you turn a weakness of jumping about from one story idea to another into a strength? That she doesn't address.

So I will focus on what she does suggest. As an example, if you love to read books then use that love of reading to see if you can do a book review. That sounds doable to me. As I read lots of children's books I could see about doing a book review column. I have sent out queries to 6 ezines with that suggestion. Next I will try some local sources. What I am learning here is that writing entails research for not only your ideas but new sources where they can be placed. It is getting me to think outside the box as to other ways of writing.

The Benefits...This is getting me to focus on writing the dreaded "query" email. I re-wrote it three times from the first email to the sixth one. I also discovered there are a lot of ezines out there that already have book reviews, but that isn't stopping me. Even if I don't get a column I can still write reviews on Amazon and other sources. This will continue to hone my writing skills.

Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 2

This book begins with 6 pages of praise for the author and the book by other authors. So there is a strong hype for it. So will the ideas really pay off if I follow her suggestions step by step? This will be my daily journal on reading and working from the book.

After the praise for the book, the dedication and acknowledgments there is a 4 page introduction as a reality check in the form of good news/bad news. These pages outline that there is a lot of competition but still many ways to break into writing and get published.

The most amazing statement in this section is that this book will teach me how to find a publisher before I have written the first word of a manuscript! That gets my attention. She also states that many of her suggestions will go against what I may have learned from writing instructors,conferences and other how to write and get published books. I'm willing to buck the system. These are the techniques she used that worked for her and now she is going to show how they will work for me. The first chapter begins on page 23. More on that tomorrow.

"Yes! You Can" Writing Challenge 1

Through the recommendations from several people I purchased this book, Yes! You Can Learn How To Write Children's Books, Get Them Published, and Build a $uccessful Writing Career by Nancy Sanders. It's a great inspirational title. It has lots of recommendations for it in the front of the book. But does it live up to its expectations?

I have read many books on writing this past summer that claim if you follow their suggestions you can build a successful writing career. Is this book more hype or is this a successful format? I'm going to put it to the test. I am going to follow the suggestions throughout the book and let you read about my reactions and results. Let's see if this book can get results!