writing update

Finished my article for Country Connections yesterday, sent it in. The editor would like some visuals, so I'll be following up with some of the organizations I interviewed for photos as well as coming up with a related cartoon or two of my own. I still haven't had time to pursue the possibility of selling my cartoons to other markets and have added this to my Notetaker To Do list.

I've realized that I've been only mentioning positive writing news in my Blatherings. To keep the freelance writing life in perspective, I thought I'd share a bit of the other side as well.

One is the heartache of editorial changes. You work hard at establishing contacts at a publication, and then they move. I recently wrote to the Chatelaine editor who first gave the go-ahead on my article back in November to ask about the status of my article, for example. Turns out she's no longer at Chatelaine, nor is the editor who was helping to handle the article. :-( I've written to the new editor for an update, with fingers crossed. This majorly sucks, since I basically have to start from scratch again re: building up contacts at Chatelaine. Then again, I now have a contact at Profit magazine.

I've also been following up with some other articles that I haven't heard about in a while. The editor I was working with at Cleveland Plains Dealer seems to have disappeared, no news of the article I sent her. The editor at The Anvil says they are way behind in their publication schedule and says I should probably send my piece elsewhere, that they'll contact me about buying the reprint when they've caught up. I resubmitted the article to another market yesterday.

And meanwhile there are my novels. I have three, all waiting for revision, a chapter book series idea I want to flesh out in proposal form including the first book, and a new middle reader novel idea. Too many books to write, too little time. I'm working on revising Puck's Hollow (tentative title) right now. Right now, my priority is to start FINISHING these novels, but meanwhile I have to play the balancing act between working on writing projects that may not pay for a while (my novel writing) and the projects which are a more reliable source of income (articles, columns).

I wish I didn't have to sleep. As much as I enjoy it (the aftereffects, anyway), there are so many other things I'd rather be doing. Think of all the books I could be reading during those hours, for example!

My current reading: rereading The Two Towers, Primal Fear by William Diehl, Ghost Rider by Neil Peart. Gave up on A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.

Today's Blatherpics:

Hello Kitty sausages, of course. Courtesy Ray, from this blog. I want a Kitty-chan toasted sandwich maker.

Feb/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ