Me and schnee

[mamagotcha]

Woke up this morning to a powdered-sugar world (not unlike what Linc did to the kitchen the other evening when I left a sifter full of confectioner's unattended) . Neighbor guy with toy snowblower revs up about 10am (hey, he let us sleep in for two whole hours this time!) and since he's 80-something, I get out there with my shovel.


The snow is light, fluffy, a bit of grain, like fleur-de-sel but not as grey. It's brilliant white, the kind that would sparkle like Hedwig (the inch, not the owl) if the sun were out. My little helper is industriously shifting the stuff all over the back deck (he has a hat and mittens, honest! He just sheds them immediately when we force them on... he's got Bill's radiator constitution).



The shovel lifts the snow neatly, but the snowblower leaves a dirty quarter-inch film of packed ice in its wake. I follow after and scrape some of it off our common driveway, but give up after the blower's noxious fumes start making me gag... if the ol' coot wants to make ice to skate on, that's his business.



There were bunny tracks around the garage, and a little bird had landed on the front door mat, leaving the remains of an interpretive dance along the lines of "fill the bloody feeder already, would you?" I do as I am told.



Now I'm curled up with a steaming mug of mocha, a biscotti, and a squirmy toddler combing my hair (gotta be careful with that... a few days ago, he dumped a quarter cup of BioSilk on my scalp).

In other news: I wrote and submitted a magazine article yesterday morning... the first in a few years. It's a delight to have the pure and obsessive NEED to write fill me. 1300 words flew effortlessly from my fingers (were they good words? That's still up in the air... we'll see if the articles editor thinks so). But feeling the writing flow again is like crawling into the hot tub when I'm tense and cold... everything is soothed and relaxed, parts of me that I thought were unusable start to limber up and flex again, I can open my eyes and see the stars and just fly anywhere.

Comments

[lunacow]

Yay for writing again! Yay for snow, too.

[cheesepuppet.livejournal.com]

I'm glad my kids aren't the only ones who shed their clothes when outside.

Hey, how did you get started writing for magazines? I've thought about doing that before, but I'm not sure how it works. Is it hard to break in to?

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Well, what do you love to write about? And what magazines are you already subscribing to/familiar with? It's way easier to sell to little obscure mags than Time (of course, they pay crap, but them's the breaks). Check their Web site and see if they have any submission guidelines or calls for articles or upcoming themes. Remember, they're working 3 to 6 months ahead of time, so think about the kinds of things they'd be looking to publish a season ahead of where you are right now.

I've never read something like this (http://www.writersweekly.com/books/217.html), but it might help. I do know that if you turn in really well-written stuff, that will help a TON (I mean, not just pretty prose, but very clean grammar and no typos and in an easy-to-access format... you'll at least be more likely to get your stuff read that way).

I first started writing for newspapers, and most local papers like to have "stringers" or freelancers they can foist crappy little stories on. Do a bit of stringer work, get them to trust you, then ask for the plum jobs (interviewing an author that's coming to town, covering a music event you want to hear, that sort of thing... then you get in free, too!). Then you'll have a few clips to show the magazine editors (they'll ask for them, so they know you can write a coherent sentence).

Being willing to take stupid little fluff stories for a while really helps out editors, and then when you have your own ideas that you want to pursue, they'll be more open to hearing about them.

Then there's places like The Sun, where you just do cold submissions and wait to hear from them. I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but I've been submitting to them for a few years and I've never had a single thing accepted. (No, wait, I had a "Readers Write" thing published. Once.) It's sort of a sore point... I really love this magazine, but apparently I suck at writing the stuff they want. Maybe I need to get a heroin habit or do jail time for knifing someone first... they seem to really love to publish that stuff!

I had a friend who wrote down funny things her kids said and sold them to Reader's Digest like six times, and got something like $100 each time they were accepted. You also have VERY photogenic kids, and might want to submit some shots to something like Mothering (if you have access to very hi res quality files, at least).

Hope that gives you a few ideas to get started... IM me next time you see me, I'm sure I can think of a few dozen more ideas! And good luck... I totally want to see what you come up with. You have a really good sense of humor that come across in your writing... you might want to try Brain,Child (oh, you would have been a natural HipMama!) with a humor piece. I'd be happy to help you out (I can read it over and give you some feedback, and give you comments on how to best present it to them, and so on).

GO FOR IT!

[cheesepuppet.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to let you know, I bookmarked this comment and I'm referring back to it. It's got some great tips, thank you!

I'm surprised that The Sun hasn't told you more what they're looking for, if they keep rejecting you. I thought that was part of the practice, like, "This isn't right for us, we publish things from a more ____ perspective," or something like that. ?? Can you tell I've never submitted anything anywhere before? :)

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

They send very polite rejection letters: "Your material, while noteworthy, doesn't suit our needs at the present time. Thank you."

Actually, most of the rejections I've received have been really polite, sometimes almost apologetic for not being able to use my work. I guess I've been lucky... I hear they can be brutal!

You really don't get feedback on WHY they won't use it unless you make an effort to establish a connection with someone in editorial... they can give you hints about what they're looking for to use in upcoming issues, and so forth.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Aw, I miss that kid. Gonna be seeing you guys in a few weeks! :D

And hooray for writing! I did try to get you to do NaNoWriMo with me...

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

There's a teensy different between smacking out 1300 words before breakfast one day and committing to grinding out 50,000 in a month.

But... maybe next year...

And I can't WAIT to see you! I hope you can get a few days off to go gallivanting around with us (if you have to narrow it down, ask for Jan. 6, 7 and 8... I really want to try to see Caren, and I also want you to meet Jean, and go on the sailboat, and and and!)... ROAD TRIP! (Hmm... better reserve a van, shouldn't I?)

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you can get 1300 done before breakfast, that's only 367 more to write for the rest of the day. (Unless you're Lisa, who has some kind of Magic Wordcount Power of which I can only dream.)

I wanted you to do it with me this year because I'm not going to be able to do it for the next few years. When I'm in college, that's what I'm going to do: college. I'm not going to try to handle the added stress of a project like that. But I'll happily be your cheerleader if you do it!

Eh, I probably won't even have a job in January. Both of my current ones are seasonal. There's a chance I might be able to stay on, but it's pretty slight, and I don't know if I want to stay at Michaels even if they let me.

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Well, if you wind up unemployed, I can at least provide a little bit of silver lining by dragging you around the state in the presence of your three brothers and your mom in a small vehicle. Um, wait. Let me rephrase that...

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Hey, it's not like the last time that happened I ended up wandering around the red-light district of Seattle at midnight!

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of...

X-TREME HOMESCHOOLING!

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Wait... why are you answering comments at four AM?

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

Heh. Five AM, now.

Long story and lots of writing. See my more recent posts... plus, Bill will take the Linc in the morning so I can sleep in. Yay.

Going to bed now. Love ya. G'night.

[lunacow]

(Unless you're Lisa, who has some kind of Magic Wordcount Power of which I can only dream.)

Oh, man, you don't even know how my accomplishments pale in comparison to some of my NaNo friends. One wrote 100,000 words by November 16. Another wrote three separate 50k+ novels during the month -- she'd work on one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. They make the rest of us look bad, but I forgive them because they're both such cool people.

I definitely think Katje should give NaNo a go next year!

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

I'd like to, really. Y'know what my major stumbling block is? I've never really written any fiction. I mean, sure, I've elaborated a story plenty, but to spin an entire yarn out of thin air? Yeek... daunting! How can I possibly come up with anything as cool as what Real Life throws at us?

Ah well. I've got a whole year to get panicky get psyched for it.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

You can do it! *waves pom-poms*

[lunacow]

How can I possibly come up with anything as cool as what Real Life throws at us?

No one ever said fiction can't be based on real life. You've certainly had an interesting one to draw on, as much or as little as you like.

In any case, open your mind to the idea of writing a novel a year from now, and maybe by then you'll come up with the seed of a story you're just dying to tell.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Gah. I was proud of barely scraping by with 50,000.

[lunacow]

And well done, by the way!