Blogging Off

Only for a few days holiday though, I'll be back soon.

Sarah x

All is quiet

I sent out a pile of pitches and not one response has winged its way back to me yet.  I don't know whether editors are saving their pennies or whether the pitches just weren't very good, but I'm definitely going through a period of famine at the moment.

I've started the process of registering to be a supply teacher again so that I can get back into the classroom and hopefully get some more ideas of what I can be offering publications.

I had hoped that my writing business would have grown a bit by now, but realistically it isn't much bigger than a year ago.  One of the biggest problems is the tendency to "pay on publication" - which really means up to a month or more after something has actually appeared and leaves you being really unsure of when money is going to be coming in.  Luckily, my OH has a steady and well-paying job or we'd be in a bad way.

I'm not going to be giving up writing by any means, but I think I went for the full-time option way too soon - before the business could really sustain itself.  Anyway, watch this space for developments.

From Brain Straight to Keyboard (Part 2)

Today I wrote my first piece straight to keyboard as challenged (?) by my friend Anne Wollenberg and it went REALLY well.  

I'm happy to say that I got the work done in no time at all and have managed to put together and send out 5 pitches as well (fingers crossed on those).

So thanks Anne, you were right!

From Brain Straight to Keyboard

My friend and fellow journo Anne Wollenberg has finally convinced me to have a go at writing my first drafts straight on to my computer rather than in long-hand into a notebook, etc.  Having thought about it, I blog straight onto the computer, so I'm going to give articles another go and see how I feel... I'll keep you informed.

Exciting Prospect

An exciting prospect might be arising for me in June.  It involves working in a primary school to help high achieving writers get even better.  I'm meeting with the Head in a couple of weeks to see what I could offer.

I'll also hopefully be doing some other more general classroom helping.  I trained and have worked as a primary teacher, but I've always really enjoyed doing special projects with small groups of children.  Now, where are my puppets?...

Tips on Pitching

A great post here from Joanne Mallon about the process of pitching to magazines and newspapers. 

New Blog

I've started a new blog here  Its an opportunity for me to write about things that grab my attention in the news.  I'm hoping it might help me hone my writing skills.

Please feel free to comment on what I've written.

Sarah

3000 words

on the seaside for childminders over today and tomorrow.

Quite a nice topic to cover, particularly from a history and geography perspective.

Planning to write some restaurant reviews and some outdoor activity pieces this week.

Just had a positive contact from another website that might be interested in some articles from me... keep everything crossed.

Quiet Month

My gut feeling about the piece I pitched and talked about yesterday was right, the ed. came back and said "over commissioned, sorry, can't take any more".  Im really annoyed - not by the rejection, that's fairly standard - he must have known when I first made contact that he was going to say no. Grrrr...

May is looking like a pretty quiet month.  I've got a couple of pieces booked in, but not a lot.  I've sent quite a few things out and am chasing eds. just to get an answer.  If its a no at least I can offer the pieces elsewhere, its the shilly shallying I can't stand.