Comments on: Worthy Tip: Reuse, Recycle, Repeat

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:08:55 +0000

My editor caved and gave me 50 more words, stressing that she can't pay me any more that she'd already promised.

Nine single-spaced pages of the transcript and I only used three direct quotes. I sure hope the other pitch I sent about this guy gets assigned!

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:17:08 +0000

Devon, I figured! I usually lose my research in piles of files. I need to keep a cheat sheet of ideas on my desktop.

Two hundred words? Can that be done, Paula? Cripe, that's like a picture caption! LOL

She must be misguided, Cathy. :) And yes, I've revisited topics a few times because they usually warrant it.

Hugh, forgive my oversight. :) If it helps, we're impressed that you measure your work-to-results ratios. I measure how much I got done versus how hard I hit the mattress that night.

By: hugh.c.mcbride

hugh.c.mcbride — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:35:54 +0000

"Ever get those days you think you worked three times harder than others, but accomplished half?"

Waitaminute -- You mean to tell me that the rest of you occasionally have days that *aren't* like this?

And nobody thought to tell me this until now?

Looks like I picked the wrong week to be impressed with my work-to-results ratio ...

Sigh ...

By: Cathy

Cathy — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:16:16 +0000

It took me a while to figure this one out. Duh-better late than never.

As you know, Lori, few things in the health care niche stay the same -especially health care reform. So, it is easy to take a previous article or post on a specific topic and update it for changes since it was first written.

You may remember me talking about my long-term client who I write wellness articles for in an industry magazine. For the 1st time, she changed my title and theme for an article.

We haven't discussed yet what she didn't like about it - she must be misguided :-). I only found out when it got published.

Well, I loved the theme, so I think I am going to market it in another industry magazine and rework the information.

Great ideas here!

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:02:49 +0000

The other day I was interviewing a fascinating guy whose memoir is being released next month. It was for a super-short (200 words or less) piece for one of my regular markets. Before our conversation ended, I said I might pitch a longer story on him to another magazine that dovetailed perfectly with something he told me was coming up after the first of the year. I wrote and sent the query before I'd transcribed the interview.

Oh, the transcript (even after abbreviating my questions)turned out to be 9 single-spaced pages. For a 200-word article. I'm going to have fun today trying to whittle it down so I can write that.

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:43:06 +0000

The big thing with research is to remember to file it immediately, and by topic, not by article name or source name, so you can find it easily when you need it for something else.

Yeah, I learned that one the hard way!

"I know it's here somewhere, but what did I file it as?"--dangling participle and all.