| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Beginner Issues > Topic: The hardest issue for me as a writer is...... |
Topic: The hardest issue for me as a writer is......
| Author | Message |
| mrpelican56 | Posted – 8/9/2007 12:18:28 PM | show profile | email poster I can write all day but it's difficult to know where to place what i'm writing. I have a blog (sophomorecritic.blogspot.com) where i write on entertainment issues and i can post on there, but i wonder if everytime i write on my blog, i could be better using that story elsewhere. i'm also contracted to write through d.c scene (www.thedcscene.com) so i can occasionally write a story through there but i'm not sure which stories are best to go there and they demand copyright on any work i submit to them but it's a better clip than if it goes on my blog. the dcscene also started a blog so i can write on the blog, but it's probably a little lower profile. meanwhile, i'd like to try to be published other places, because #1 the dc scene doesn't pay me, and #2 i perfer print to the internet, but that's usually so much work to try to find a publisher and line up work (although this website will make it easier) and there's no guarantee. i wish i had a headhunter or something because i just like to write and i don't like to do the dirty work to scour everywhere to try to find a publisher. |
| 1978 | Posted – 8/9/2007 1:08:39 PM | show profile Why not come with a bunch of ideas and start pitching them to local publications? It might take awhile, but that's a good way to start diversifying. Good luck! |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/9/2007 2:34:52 PM | show profile I agree that the time spent looking for a place for work is like dirty work .. it's grunt work. And I have posts on MB I reconsider when I realize I could probably sell the idea/work somewhere else! Seriously, a reply ready to post and then - no! copy, paste and tuck away for a pitch or essay instead. |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 8/9/2007 5:35:20 PM | show profile Wouldn't it be nice? Pitching is wearying work and I know very few people who don't have to do any of it at all. Don't scour "everywhere"; focus on maybe 5 publications, to start, and study them and decide where, if at all, you might sell some ideas within their pages. Once you find a few editors who like you and your work, you've got a base and then pitching new editors isn't quite as bad. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/9/2007 6:53:03 PM | show profile That's true of almost everyone in a creative profession -- everyone wants to do their thing and have someone else sell. But if you want to make a go at this, you have to do a gut check and focus on the unfun, necessary stuff. --i wish i had a headhunter or something because i just like to write and i don't like to do the dirty work to scour everywhere to try to find a publisher.-- |
| mrpelican56 | Posted – 8/10/2007 6:22:38 PM | show profile yeah i don't know. i'm extremely lethargic. maybe it's because i have to deal with my bipolar disorder, but i'm usually very drained. i can't spend more than 10 or 15 minutes searching on these websites for job offers and such without becoming tired of it. i usually can only do work if i know of an end goal to it. do you all recommend i just keep writing for my blog in the meantime? |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/10/2007 11:58:08 PM | show profile It really depends on your goals. If your goal is to publish in magazines and to be paid, you have to work through the lethagy and spend the time researching markets and marketing your work. And, honestly, almost every writer hates doing that and hates doing spec work and queries. If you are unwilling or unable to do that, sure, you might as well keeping putting your stuff on your blog if you enjoy doing that. --don't know. i'm extremely lethargic. maybe it's because i have to deal with my bipolar disorder, but i'm usually very drained. i can't spend more than 10 or 15 minutes searching on these websites for job offers and such without becoming tired of it. i usually can only do work if i know of an end goal to it. do you all recommend i just keep writing for my blog in the meantime? -- |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/11/2007 2:05:33 AM | show profile There is definitely some gritty work to being a freelancer -- queries, even rewriting and editing my own stuff. THen there's rewriting -- sometimes to what seem arbitrary things thrown in by people trying to justify their jobs as editor! ;) And invoicing? Collections? Fuhgeddaboudit! Dentistry can be funner, at least they give you painkillers. The fix can be to do something like a blog -- to satisfy the inner urge to write without having to do the business of the business. Or get an easy, constant gig -- a part-time thing covering education for a local paper, always the same kinds of stories, schedule, treatment, etc. |
| karriew | Posted – 8/13/2007 4:45:11 PM | show profile "but i wonder if every time i write on my blog, i could be better using that story elsewhere." This is one of the primary reasons I deleted my blog. Initially, blogging gave me permission to write--if no one liked my voice or style, it was "just a blog"--but increasingly blogging became another way to procrastinate and avoid the fear of rejection. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/14/2007 1:45:50 AM | show profile I wrote a self-syndicated humor column for many years. I did OK -- won a few national awards and at one point had a couple dozen pubs and made about $12,000 a year from it. Even so it was almost more work than the money I made from it warranted. And after a while, I just got tired of doing it. And that's how I think most people feel about blogging. Unless your blog turns into something, and you some tangible benefits from it, most people eventually get tired of doing it and the grind of constantly producing new material for a frequently indifferent or nonexistant audience. -- This is one of the primary reasons I deleted my blog. Initially, blogging gave me permission to write--if no one liked my voice or style, it was "just a blog"--but increasingly blogging became another way to procrastinate and avoid the fear of rejection.-- |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/14/2007 2:16:43 AM | show profile ---There is definitely some gritty work to being a freelancer -- queries, even rewriting and editing my own stuff. THen there's rewriting -- sometimes to what seem arbitrary things thrown in by people trying to justify their jobs as editor! ;) And invoicing? Collections? Fuhgeddaboudit! Dentistry can be funner, at least they give you painkillers. ----- Honestly, I don't think freelancers have it any harder with this kind of rigamarole than any other self-employed people. ----Or get an easy, constant gig -- a part-time thing covering education for a local paper, always the same kinds of stories, schedule, treatment, etc.------- The trouble is those easy kinds of gigs usually don't pay well. |
