To Be or Not To Be: The Right To Be A Writer
To Be Or Not To Be: The Right To Be a Writer
By Beth Morrow
Central Ohio Fiction Writers’Write from the Heart
September 2004 Vol. XVI, Issue 9 RWA Chapter 48
Last weekend, my son Jason had his friend Evan over to spend the night with us. As I made dinner and they set up for their PlayStation festival in the adjoining family room, I caught snippets of their conversation.
“What do your parents do?” Evan asked Jason.
Jason shrugged as he untangled the power cables with his twelve-year old indifference. “My dad teaches chemistry at the high school.”
I held my breath, wondering why he hadn’t just admitted to Evan that both his parents were teachers, therefore earning from Evan the typical sympathetic response of ‘oh, man, that sucks.’ But instead of further lamenting his fate in life when Evan prompted him about my occupation, Jason flicked on the television and replied, “My mom’s a writer.”
“Cool,” Evan replied before grabbing a controller. Jason popped in a game and they immersed themselves in a college football video game while I stood temporarily speechless, knife stalled mid-chop over a cutting board brimming with salad vegetables.
My breathlessness wasn’t from Jason’s conveniently omitting that the reason he had a PlayStation was because I happened to be an ESL teacher. It wasn’t irritation from his part-truth, or surprise that my name and ‘cool’ were in the same sentence that made me pause over the green peppers–it was the experience, for the first time, of someone other than my writing group friends considering me a writer.
I must admit Jason’s comment went straight to my head. Not that it changed the routine of my writing life—I still awoke at 4:30 the next morning for an intimate session with the characters in my work-in-progress, a few ideas for an article, a little editing on a short story I finished a month ago—but I can’t deny that it didn’t give me a little smile, put a little extra sparkle in my fingers on those keys that next morning.
Writer? Me? How can I be considered a writer if the only things I’ve published is newsletters for my gardening group? How can I be considered a writer when six unpublished novels sit in boxes upstairs in my writing room, a glorified spare bedroom-refuge where I have spent days sifting through story ideas like prospectors sifted through sand for flakes of gold? How can I be considered a writer when my short stories have yet to see the light of day from a glossy page and not my recycled printer paper? How can I be considered a writer without having signed my name to a contract or on a book cover at a bookstore signing? How can I be considered a writer?
Shouldn’t the question instead be, ‘How could I not consider myself a writer?’
After the glow of being coined a writer had dulled by the weather of a few days’ time, I thought back to Jason’s comment. Since I didn’t proclaim myself as a writer every night at the dinner table, he must have picked up the idea elsewhere. And if it were obvious enough for him to mention it to Evan, why hadn’t it been obvious to me?
Some writers have difficulty defining themselves as writers because, to them, what distinguishes the writer from the ordinary human is to have something that necessitates a contract, agent or editor. The supreme danger of this belief is that to deny the writer his identity because he hasn’t yet published is to deny the writer the very existence of his soul. Albert Einstein created formulas for years before he hit on something with the ubiquitous ‘E=mc2’. Before his discovery, do you think he refrained from calling himself a scientist because he hadn’t found a publicly-accepted, undisputable, universal representation that defined energy and mass as different forms of the same thing and that each could be converted to the other? Or, rather, did he don his lab coat daily and study elaborate equations like every other scientist, just one who had yet to make that career-defining discovery? What of Thomas Edison’s numerous failed attempts (rumored in the hundreds) to improve a working model of an invention that would bring the light of day inside homes after sunset? For all of Edison’s successes, there were just as many failures. Imagine Edison at a dinner party being asked by a stranger about his line of work. Should he have dropped his chin, lowered his gaze and mumbled ‘inventor’ in reply?
The writer’s shame should not come from being unpublished; the shame should lie in the inability to admit to others what most matters to the heart and soul of the writer as an individual: the joy of the written word.
Think, too, of the archeologist still hoping to unearth the missing link of human civilization, the researcher who hasn’t yet discovered the cure for diabetes or the professional baseball player whose team has yet to make the World Series. Do these people—or the millions of others on Earth—limit themselves to describing their passions for their line of work in terms of what they’ve accomplished on a grand, elaborate scale? Or do they allow the genuine passion and happiness of their chosen field to shine through? Do they shy away from questions about their work and try to justify their choices with unnecessary babble or do they answer with gusto and excitement?
Writers aren’t writers because they’re published. Writers are writers because they write. Frighteningly simple and elegantly truthful. Of all occupations, writing is one of the most timeless and noble. Being able to take the abstract and form it into the concrete, into something capable of bringing a reader to laughter or tears, to fill the reader with hope or hopelessness, to bring about understanding or revelation through the written word is a talent many wish they had but few possess.
Dare yourself to be a writer. Don’t hide your gift behind mumbles and fumbling stammers—use the power of language to communicate your own wishes, hopes and passions. You were, after all, given the gift of words for a reason. You have every right to be a writer.
(Beth Morrow is a writer who gets ideas by listening to other people’s conversations. Though she loves writing romantic fiction, her latest nonfiction article can be found in the Sept/Oct. ’04 issue of TWINS magazine.)
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To Be or Not To Be: The Right to Be A Writer
Originally published in Central Ohio Fiction Writers’ Write From the Heart, September 2004
Politics and Education In Ohio: How Much Do You Know?
By Beth Morrow, OTESOL K-12 Advocacy Co-Chair
Whether you teach the alphabet to kindergarteners from Somalia or grammar to ESL undergraduates, the actions of our elected officials impact us all, to some extent, in the classroom.
With 2006 being such an important election year, here’s a quiz to see just how much you know about politics, legislation and education in the state of Ohio.
1) Name your local (either where you teach, live or both) elected officials for
a. the US House Representatives from Ohio
b. the Ohio House Representatives
c. the US Senators from Ohio
d. the Ohio Senate
2) Name the main education bill currently before the Ohio Legislature and how, if enacted, one way it would impact public education.
3) Name 3 websites where you can find current education legislation information.
4) Who is the Ohio Education Association endorsing as the gubernatorial candidate for 2006?
5) What are the last three ways you’ve personally participated on a political level in the last three years?
Answers:
1) Your House of Representative and Senate delegates vary on where you live. To find yours, visit these websites and type in your zip code:
a. US House Representatives from Ohio: http://www.house.gov/
b. Ohio House Representatives: http://www.house.state.oh.us/index.html
c. US Senators from Ohio: Mike DeWine and George Voinovich
d. Ohio Senators: http://www.senate.state.oh.us/senators/SenateZipSearch.html
This election year is a crucial one for public education and politics. All Ohio House seats will be up for re-election and half of the Ohio Senate will be up for re-election (those senators elected in an even year will remain). Imagine the impact if just half of those new legislators elected are pro-public education.
2) One of the most important bills currently pending in the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee is House Bill (HB) 530, the Budget Corrections and Capital Re-Appropriations Bill.
The Budget Re-Appropriations bill plans to expand the eligibility criteria of the Ohio Educational Choice Voucher Program to include schools that have been in Academic Watch for three years. The original program, under HB 66, provided 18,000 vouchers to only those students in schools designated Academic Emergency for three or more years to attend any other school of their choice. HB 530, if passed, will make students from 50 additional schools across the state eligible for vouchers. The voucher program is slated to begin in the 2006-2007 school year and has not yet been proven to be an effective method of educating Ohio’s students.
3) In addition to the House and Senate sites listed above, you can visit these websites for updates on public education:
National TESOL’s Education Advocacy Center
http://capwiz.com/tesol/home/
Ohio TESOL’s Advocacy page
http://www.ohiotesol.org/advocacy.htm
OEA’s Cyber Lobbying web page, where you can sign up for automatic email updates from OEA regarding current legislation:
http://cyberlobbying.ohea.org/
Connect With Colleagues: National TESOL’s E-Lists, where you can sign up for an email update of educational and legislative issues around the US (must be member of National TESOL):
http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp?CID=495&DID=694
The US House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/
4) D-Ted Strickland and Lee Fisher
5) There are a variety of ways to become politically active without investing a huge amount of time or money:
• voting for candidates who support public education
• volunteering at a voting precinct after school hours
• write letters to the editor supporting public education
• distribute/display yard signs, campaign buttons, bumper stickers and t-shirts
• visiting, writing, emailing or calling legislators to share with them how their decisions on particular issues will affect your classroom
• participating in a literature drop, phone bank or other volunteer activities to support political candidates
How did you do? The importance of being an active participant in education legislation cannot be underestimated. As teachers, we’re on the front line of education on a daily basis and more aware than anyone of what our students need most. It may be impossible to change the world in one day, but even the smallest step toward political action—which, like everything, begins with education and knowledge—makes a difference.
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Fiction To Freelance in Five Easy Steps
Fiction to Freelance in Five Easy Steps
Romance Writers Report
By Beth Morrow
All that research you do for your books could be put to another use.
Here’s a quick quiz you’re guaranteed to pass: choose one topic you know more in-depth than anyone. Okay, maybe not everyone, but the majority of people. Got it? Good. Now think of two different aspects of that topic you could confidently teach others.
Complete that with no problems? Congratulations-you can be a writer.
A freelance writer.
What? Freelance? But I’m a fiction writer, I hear you protest. I create worlds of the future and heroes who make women cry. I’m full of witty dialogue, sparkling characters, and happy endings. I don’t do nonfiction.
Sound familiar? Since the beginning of time, the implied distinction between fiction and nonfiction has kept many a writer safely clinging to one side of the mountain without granting consideration to the other. Fiction writers love that their work fuels creative escape and fantasy; freelancers thrive on making sense of and providing information for the real world. While the chasm between the two may seem impossible to bridge, you’re doing a disservice to your writing, your readers, your career, and ultimately, yourself, if you limit yourself to only fiction or only freelance.
Venturing into freelance writing can be a scary proposition if you’ve spent your time immersed in fiction, but the hardest part is learning to write-and you’ve mastered that. If you’ve ever had an interest in the world of nonfiction, come along for the ride. From the basics of freelancing to how writing nonfiction articles are guaranteed to improve your fiction writing career, you’ll never look at a magazine the same way again.
But I Write Books…
While that may be true, have you given thought to the ways in which writing nonfiction pieces might help your writing career? From knowledge gained, to contacts made, to character insight, to the ever-popular paycheck, a reason exists for every romance writer to consider freelancing.
Before she left her regular job to become a full-time novelist, Cindi Myers (The Man Tamer) took her insight from working as a medical office manager and turned it into articles for a variety of medical trade and other magazines. “Freelancing allowed me to quit a corporate job and become a full-time writer. This made the transition to full-time novelist smoother and allowed me to see myself as a ‘real writer’ well before my fiction was selling.” On the reverse side of the coin, using the content from researching your fiction details can be easily spun into freelance articles. “Let’s say you did a ton of research for your lead character, a scuba diving instructor. Use what you learn to pitch an idea to an editor of a diving magazine after researching their needs,” suggests Holly O’Dell (Spin Control). Likewise, freelancing on a wide array of topics helped expose O’Dell to “…many ideas, careers, and experiences that I never knew existed. Every experience in life is fiction fodder.” For Dorchester author Christie Craig, research for an article on high-tech home furnishings led to a talking refrigerator, microwave, and litter box in her tentatively titled Divorced, Desperate, and Delicious. “Writing freelance is educational,” says Craig. “You never know where you might use the information.”
Expanded knowledge isn’t the only way freelancing can benefit your fiction works. “[Freelancing] can give a meta-view of what editors do and helps me understand the process better,” says Harlequin Blaze author Samantha Hunter (Untouched). Cheryl Wright, editor and owner of the Writer2Writer.com Web site and author of the upcoming The Write Resources from Central Avenue Press, believes that being able to work on deadline made her an editor favorite, and that being able to tell editors and publishers she’d been widely published helped her acceptance rate immensely. Developing a network of other publishers, editors, and agents through freelancing helped lead Holly O’Dell to publishing her own book and receiving valuable (and unsolicited) insights on publicity. Publishing articles on the same general topic as your fiction can also help build the ever crucial readership base for your fiction before, during, and after your book hits shelves. “Once you’re published in fiction,” adds Marcia James (At Her Command), “you can use your freelance writing skills towards self-promotion.”
One final consideration for adding freelancing to your writing repertoire is that the writing muse knows no boundaries with respect to words: the craft skills you pick up from freelancing can only improve your storytelling through fiction. “The content of [my freelancing] is similar to my fiction, but based more on personal profiles. This has spilled into my fiction and has improved my characterization and even plotlines,” says April Star (Tropical Warnings: A Wanderlust Mystery). Harlequin Everlasting Love author Tessa McDermid (Family Stories) uses some of the same techniques, such as involving the senses and showing the story with strong verbs and specific nouns, to strengthen both her fiction and freelance writings. Becky Barker (A Matter of Trust), has improved her fiction by learning to write a tighter nonfiction article using the most effective words. Conducting frequent interviews has given Holly O’Dell insight into writing fictional dialogue. And Christie Craig has used her experience in writing for Highway Trooper magazine to strengthen her cop heroes. “Knowledge gained freelancing opens your world. It helps widen the world in your books,” she states.
OK, I’m Interested. Where Do I Sign Up?
First thing you’ll need is that idea you came up with earlier. Don’t get too attached to it in a particular form, however: the magic of freelancing comes from taking one topic and twisting it in infinite directions to suit the need and style of the publication you’re targeting. Much like choosing your romance subgenre prior to writing a piece of fiction, you’ll want to consider the end point, the magazine or publication you want to write for, before you begin to write. “Most writers write an article then try to submit it to the appropriate magazines,” says mystery author L.C. Hayden (Why Casey Had to Die). “They get rejected and wonder why. Do it the other way: find a magazine you’d like to write for, study its style then write for it.” This sentiment is mirrored by multipublished author Shirley Jump (Pretty Bad). “Research the markets that fit best with what you already know. If you’re a mom, try parenting publications. If you’re a business person, look at business publications. If you want regular work, consider trade publications.”
Once you’ve found the publication where your envisioned article might fit, how do you target that market? That is, how do you figure out for certain your article would fit better in Dragons Weekly, not Life and Time of Dragons? Easy: a little thing called slant.
Loosely translated from freelance to fiction, slant = voice + tone + style. To discover the slant of your magazine or target publication, read several recent, back issues of it closely and take note (and notes, if necessary) of the following things:
Types of verbs (active, passive, impact)
Average length of articles
Tone (serious, light, humorous, informational, technological)
Point-of-view
Themes (often mentioned in the editor’s message or table of contents)
Audience. Who is the main reader of this magazine? Checking out the advertisements in magazines often gives good insight to the target reader.
Mission: What is the magazine’s main goal? To teach, inform, or entertain? Some of these items you’ll find in market listings, but some you’ll need to train your critical writer’s eye to locate. Best of all, the more you evaluate publications based on slant, the easier it becomes. “Even magazines targeted to the same audience vary in style,” says Hayden. Knowing the difference between styles can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection.
A Trip to the Market…
By far, the easiest part of freelancing is finding markets-freelance speak for publisher’s guidelines. New markets literally pop up daily. There are thousands of markets and market listings online, and some Web sites will even mail you free market listings each week, such as www.FundsForWriters.com, www.writersweekly.com, and www.absolutewrite.com.
While markets are a dime a dozen, don’t overlook the obvious when trying to find places to publish your nonfiction. Current magazine subscriptions (yours or borrowed from friends and family), local, and regional publications you can get free in your neighborhood, office waiting areas (ask first), the annual Writer’s Market, and even word of mouth, are all easy places to begin. If you’re published, you may want to ask your editor if they have contacts in the nonfiction publishing world. The only caveat in searching for markets is to be forewarned that finding freelance markets can become extremely addictive to the person with a creative, flexible mind. Like e-mail and solitaire, you can spend hours perusing markets and not writing, which is detrimental regardless of genre you write in.
Oh, No. Don’t Even Say Query!
I know, I know. But I promise freelance queries are much more succinct and less painful than their fictional counterparts. Besides, not only will a good, solid query sell your article to the editor, it’ll help tighten and streamline your next fiction query.
While you may have a burning desire to write the article first (writing an article without an editor’s prior approval is called “on spec”), resist the urge. Many editors read only queries, so doing your homework here will have a direct payoff in time saved.
Writing the nonfiction query essentially boils down to three parts: the article idea and how it fits into the target publication, the “about me and why I’m perfect to write this article” paragraph, and your contact information. Some editors prefer longer queries with more of the article idea embedded; some like a short, sweet query letter to get to the point. If your idea isn’t right but the editor likes your query, they may ask for other ideas. Be flexible and open-the editor knows their publication more in-depth than anyone else, so what they sense as crucial for their readers is ultimately what they want to get your article to address.
Submission: The Final Frontier
You’ve conquered the query. What are you waiting for? Submitting to nonfiction editors is, in essence, the same as submitting to fiction editors. In a nutshell:
Always check guidelines before sending a submission. Always.
Ninety-eight percent of submission requirements will be in the market listing, on the Web site or in the magazine’s fine print. If you can’t find specifics, it is perfectly acceptable to call and ask details. Never pitch over the phone unless invited to. Simply call and state that you’d like to clarify the submission guidelines before sending in your query or article.
If you break rules, break them in writing, not submitting. Most editors will trash any query or submission that does not adhere to their guidelines (e-mail queries only, snail mail submissions only, no attachments, include samples, etc.). Don’t assume because you’ve been writing or been published that you have permission to do things your way, not the editor’s way. Common, professional consideration and respect should be the cornerstone of every writer’s career.
“Being proficient in both fiction and nonfiction has meant rarely being without an assignment of some sort,” says Cheryl Wright. “Whether it’s editing, writing short stories, researching articles or something entirely different, doesn’t matter. Being busy writing and having money hit your bank account regularly is paramount to a successful writing business.”
Whether by improving your craft, keeping your name active in the reading community between books, building readership or just getting another paycheck or two, the value of freelancing to your fiction career can take your writing to the next level. Embracing the opportunities available through nonfiction writing can open a world where your words have even more power to entertain, inspire and inform-and isn’t that the ultimate dream of every writer?
Online Freelance Resources
www.fundsforwriters.com
www.writersweekly.com
www.absolutewrite.com
www.woodenhorsepub.com
www.freelancewriting.com
www.writing-world.com
Printed Freelance Resources
The Renegade Writer by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell
Ready, Aim, Specialize! by Kelly James-Enger
Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: How To Win Top Writing Assignments by Jenna Glatzer
How to Publish Your Articles: A Complete Guide to Making the Right Publication Say Yes by Shirley Jump
Get a Freelance Life by Margit Feury Ragland
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Beth Morrow is a nationally published freelance writer whose first love is writing romance fiction. In addition to blogging (almost) daily writing resources at www.fountainpeninc.blogspot.com, she shares her take on the writing life at www.writer-in-progress.blogspot.com and will be teaching an online course through Hearts Through History RWA this June for fiction writers hoping to break into freelance at www.heartsthroughhistory.com/freelance.htm. Visit her on the Web at www.bethmorrow.com.
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Fiction to Freelance in Five Easy Steps
Romance Writers Report April 2007
Dispatch Essay: Grisly Crime Does Not a Town Define
My essay in the November 27, 2010 Columbus Dispatch: