I've sent my article back to my interviewee to check my facts. Once I have that I will be sending out my story. It will be interesting to see the response from writing non-fiction. I've done newsletters and reports for years in my full time job. I hope that experience can pay off in writing for others.
So far I have read 33 pages of the book. Nancy's writing is like having a cheerleader by your side to encourage you to try new ways to write. She makes it sound so utterly easy - you have this idea for a story/article, send it out and wow they've accepted it! It is so easy you just need to find your niche.
It's like those commercials Kelly Ripa does for Electrolux. In the commercial, she walks over to the dryer with her laundry basket and the clothes are magically folded as they drop into her basket. Then as she walks to the children's bedrooms they jump out and neatly land into the drawers. All this is done to the background music of the old Bewitched TV show. The concept of the ad is that Electrolux appliances will make your life a breeze. Hah!
The ad doesn't take into account that in reality you have to search for the dirty clothes (like socks that my cat loves to parade around the house); sort through them so you don't mix color fading clothes (my husband doesn't want his favorite shirt to change to the pink or purple of my clothes); and make sure you empty the pockets (you don't wash the business cards of contacts you might need).
Maybe some writer's lives are like the Kelly Ripa ad, but mine isn't. Writing is a lot of trial and error. I read several blogs that give leads for sources that are looking for articles. In their blurbs, it shows you what the publisher wants. When I go to the actual website for the publisher, I discover that the lead is out of date. One source is no longer taking queries, another doesn't take any more fiction pieces, or one is no longer in existence. At this point my writing is more like 80% research and 20% writing.
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