After Frank was finally triaged (He sat in the waiting room, bleeding, for about 40 minutes, until people started complaining. They even triaged a little girl who was laughing and skipping around her mother in the the E.R. before they looked at Frank!), we saw a doctor. They didn’t order x-rays or anything else. The doctor looked at him, felt the wound, and said, “I’m going to glue you right up.”
I thought he was kidding…
Many novice writers think that being published, having an idea and your name in print, is the “biggy”. It is the ultimate sign of success, the breaking of the cherry, so to speak. Time and again the old-timers warn that seeing your name in print is NOT a good reason to want to write a book- or anything else for that matter. Heck, if that is the be-all end-all, then go stand in the park with a shot gun and start shooting pigeons. Believe me, in no time at all you WILL be asked to write to your heart’s content and sign it, and I have a pretty good feeling your little story will end up in print all over the papers, perhaps even nationwide! Fame is easy, rites of passage, not so much.
Think about it. Does a woman’s first pregnancy mean she is no longer a virgin? Does the birth of her first child indicate the first sexual encounter? Not on your life! At least, not too often these days…
A legit, well-respected publisher just accepted an article that I wrote and will be running it later this year. How long should I give them before asking about payment?
Thanks
Writing might have come natural to me, but it was never easy. As far back as I can remember, I enjoyed telling stories to my young brothers and sister. When classes in English grammar and composition required the writing of essays, poems, and short stories, I was excited
This morning, after Mason went down for his nap, Frank and a neighbor started banging on the front door. I got angry because the dogs started barking and they woke up the baby. I opened the front door, ready to lecture them on being too noisy (I feel so guilty about that now)…and Frank was standing there with blood all over him. He had a pretty bad head wound…
As a diligent freelancer, you’re in a bookstore doing your homework. You’ve settled into a comfortable chair, and the lights shine down on the pages of a magazine you’re studying–you know–the one you’re determined to “get into.” As you read the feature articles, you notice that the tone is smart, catchy, and hip. These pieces might not be suited for Grandma, but they’re definitely perfect for a young, professional, female audience. “I could write like this,” you say to yourself. And you continue studying…
Although I have been freelancing for a while and tackled a few high paying markets, I still find myself looking at the medium paying markets to chase after.
Recently, as I scanned through my market lists, a gig caught my eye. It was a travel writing gig, but then when I saw the pay it said $300.00. It suddenly threw me!
We’re on the road, desperately trying to enjoy our summer vacation.
First, Jet Blue made our lives hell by canceling one of our flights, after we’d already gone through security! Our trip was delayed a day which resulted in a $200 hotel bill. Jet Blue claimed air traffic control shut down flights going in and out of the state we were trying to visit. We found out later that another passenger was given a completely different excuse. In addition, they had to fly us into a different city. We lost our original rental car reservation and had to get a new one with a different company in the new city. That cost was an additional $500 ($1200 for 2 weeks instead of $700). So, Jet Blue, which we will never, EVER fly again, cost us $700 plus a ton of aggravation and stress. And, by the way, air traffic control did NOT shut down flights to our original destination. We checked. And, yes, Jet Blue will definitely be hearing from me when this is all over.
