Comments on: The “How Do I Start?” Writing Question https://wordsonpageblog.com/2013/12/the-how-do-i-start-writing-question.html a freelance writing resource. Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:49:01 +0000 hourly 1 By: Lori https://wordsonpageblog.com/2013/12/the-how-do-i-start-writing-question.html#comment-12625 Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:49:01 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2013/12/the-how-do-i-start-writing-question.html/#comment-12625 I love that, Paula. That's when I figured it out, too. 🙂

I like that you can look on those older queries as learning tools. They are. It's funny how we think we're just so brilliant, clear, and concise when just a few years reveals how wrong we can be. 🙂

]]> By: Paula https://wordsonpageblog.com/2013/12/the-how-do-i-start-writing-question.html#comment-12624 Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:17:56 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2013/12/the-how-do-i-start-writing-question.html/#comment-12624 It's snowing here again, too. Light fluffy snow. One of the guest dogs is obsessed with eating snow, and DoggieLily seems to have picked up the habit. The shoveling is cutting into my work hours, though – about to head out and shovel now before the next cold front hits this afternoon.

I started out by subscribing to Writer's Digest when I was in high school. I studied (and saved) every issue. A girl in my creative writing class sold an article about horses to an equestrian magazine, and she wasn't even one of the best writers in class. I was.

Looking back, some of my first queries – sent while in high school – were pathetic, but I learned more with each one. I didn't have as much time to send queries while in college, but still kept studying WD and sending queries the old-fashioned way: by mail with SASEs.

Eventually I made a sale here and there. A local publisher started a bimonthly national business magazine and I honed my skills writing anywhere from 3-10 articles per issue. I used those contacts to spin off more ideas for other, larger publications and somehow wound up with TV being one of my specialties.

Along the way I realized WD recycled article topics every couple years so I let my subscription lapse because I wasn't learning anything new. That's when I realized I was a real writer.

]]>