This afternoon I signed the contract with Practical Homeschooling for my upcoming article “Going Beyond the Egg: What Keeping Chickens Can Do for Your Family.”  I’m pleased because this was several firsts for me.  First time negotiating a conract’s terms rather than just signing it.  First time writing on a nonfiction subject (rather than a personal essay-style article), and I think I came across intelligent and articulate.  First time providing the pics for the article.  And first time doing all of the above because I’d set a specific freelance goal and tried to meet it!

What I’ve figured out–and I know it sounds silly that this took figuring–is that I really love to write.  My own fiction, sure.  It’s fun to world build and I love the characters I get to create.  But, I enjoy other forms of writing, too.  Like talking about my pet subjects and favorite interests in articles, and even writing to someone elses specifications in fiction!  They all use different creative muscles and tap into different parts of my brain–which provides it’s own buzz!

So, while I while away the weeks waiting for agents to read NinChicks and sign me up for the rich and famous package, I’m exploring these other forms of writing.  I’ve mentioned before that I moonlight as a romantic suspense author, and I’m continuing to explore in that direction.  I’m brushing up my writing resume and plan to approach a couple book packagers.  And this chicken article was really fun and really easy to write, so I’ve pulled out my old freelance books and dusted them off.

Just in case you’ve got the same yen, these are the books I’m working with:

Writing Articles About the World Around You, by Marcia Yudkin.

How to Write Articles That Sell, by Wilbur and Samsel

The Well-Fed Writer and The Well-Fed Writer Back For Seconds, by Peter Bowerman

The first two have been most helpful for what I’m doing, but Bowerman is great for pumping you up and helping you see overlooked opportunities.  All of them I have found to be very readable, and the authors have my thanks for helping this writer write!

Share, share away: