Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 18

More on writing to get published...

I currently have over 70 magazine sources in my writer's guidelines files for submissions. To date, I have only sent out 10 articles; so there are many more for me to mine and hone my skills. For the ones I have sent out articles, I have done as Nancy suggested. I have read past issues of the publications to see where my story might be a fit.

Actually, in being honest I have only done this with eight of the publications. For the other two magazines, I only read what I could glean from their website and their sample articles. Those publications were not available in my local library or bookstore. I just had a gut feeling from those readings that the article would be a fit. As yet I have not received a response from them.

I did just discover that I did not make the top ten short list for a travel article contest. The contest was to highlight a travel moment that really stuck a chord in your life. I wrote about my first scuba dive in Tahiti. While it may have been unique, my scuba story got beat out by one of a dive in the Galapagos Islands looking for a rare species. I can see why my story was trumped - just not unique and arm chair vicarious living enough.

My story wasn't a fit for that travel publication, but I have hopes that it could be for another. My travel magazine writer's guidelines list is small. I will need to find more sources to submit for this and other travel stories I would like to write. I have been an avid traveler for about 10 years and I would love to share what I discovered with others.

Yes, You Can - Writing Challenge Day 13

As most writers don't own their own publishing companies, the book tells how we need to seek out venues that will accept our writing. I do this by subscribing to newsletters that give leads to companies that are currently seeking unsolicited manuscripts whether they are short stories or books. I probably spend 5 hours a week reviewing these sources. Some of the leads are a fit for my work, some are not, others are hopeful. By hopeful, I am referring to sources that I do not currently have a writing sample that fits their guidelines, but someday I would like to write for that genre type.

As an example, I've saved one writer's guidelines for a mystery publisher. I am an avid reader of mystery and suspense,when I allow myself to read for fun. I have written a couple of stories in this genre though, I don't believe they are ready for publication. I also have an outline for a murder mystery, but just the outline. "Someday" I tell myself I will write for that genre. For now I am trying to stay focused.

Now I will delve into being non-focused. In reading today's batch of writer's guidelines, I ran across one for greeting cards. I have always thought it would be fun to write greetings cards, tossing out bon mots and quirky quips. So I took the time to read through the guidelines thoroughly. It got my attention and I wanted to learn more. I didn't understand a part of the guideline standards and I noticed it had a phone number so I called to get more specifics.

I discovered that it was a small greeting card company and the editor had the time to talk to me about submissions. We chatted for several minutes,laughed about writing, and shared stories of our work history. We definitely clicked. I thought this person would be a great interviewee, if I could just find a source. I also thought that since we had a good rapport, I should build on that and send her something while she still remembered who I was. Only problem, I don't have any short verses for greeting cards at the ready. So now I am wondering how I can become inspired to write greeting card verse?

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.