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).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-16 12:01 am (UTC)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!