I have been looking for people I knew in grade school and high school on Facebook and I've been finding a lot of people, but I won't contact them until I'm further along in the memoir. Right now, I'm just testing the waters, only time will tell if I commit to these projects and actually turn them into books and saleable essays and articles. I've ordered three books on the nuts and bolts approach to freelance writing because I am clueless about how to practically try and earn money through writing. I did do some research online about freelance writing jobs and they are definitely out there, but a lot of them look like drudgery work. Right now, while I'm financially supported, I want to aim high and go for selling essays to literary magazines and/or their yearly contests or to selling articles to well established magazines. I know the likelihood is that I will get a lot of rejection letters or emails, but that is part of the process. The main thing is to do the work, send it out and be stubborn and persistent. I'm just looking to get my foot in the door and earn some extra money.
The StoryMill program allows me to jump around in time. I can write about life in grade school and then jump forward and write about my first boyfriend and then jump way back and write about my mother's childhood in The Great Depression and then jump forward again and transcribe a more recent journal. I can also do a lot of research online. I've been cutting and pasting a bunch of stuff from the internet into the research section and character section of the program, both text and photographs. It's very cool. So I'm not stuck interminably in one place, but am free to wander and collect memories. In fact, the whole process has given me access to memories I thought I had lost forever due to my illness.
2 comments:
Hi Kate,
Just be careful doing all your research on the internet. Alot of it could be crap. The real stories are in the lIBAARY WHERE i AM AFRAID YOU SHOULD BE CHECKING UP ON THE INFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN FROM THE INTERNET.
sORRY THE WRITING CHANGED AND CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO CHANGE IT.
jENI
Good for you, Kate! It sounds like you are being optimistic and very productive, which are both good things. I hope that you do get published somewhere, even if it takes a while or isn't published in the place you most prefer. If you get an audience, that makes writing worthwhile, I think. Even if you don't, you're doing something worthwhile, and I hope that you keep up this blog in the mean time and let us know how things are going for you. I have tried writing for little publications before, nothing major, but in my experience there aren't a lot of freelance jobs that pay much. I may not have looked far enough into it, however. I definitely think you have a story worth telling and some things to say that people would like to read. So good luck!! I am sorry I haven't been in touch more often lately, but I'm glad you are doing well.
Post a Comment