Boo Hoo

I want to make people cry. I've been trying to do that for a couple weeks now and I don't think I've even come close yet.

I want people to cry at my story. I'm talking about the one I adapted from the news story about the executions. I think I mentioned this one on here before. Anyway, I think it's come along very well in the last week, but it doesn't have the tension and the emotional gravity that it needs.

Today in workshop one of my classmates had the satisfaction of hearing that she caused one person in class to cry, and others were saddened by her story. It made me want it even more. I want them to weep.

I'm not mean, and I think you all know that (although, I was taking a great deal of enjoyment from my cousin, Joe, getting a root canal today).

Oh, and I'm now volunteering to write feature stories for the school newspaper, The Echo. I'll be turning in my first story on Sunday to be printed in next week's paper.

Networking

For one of my classes I have to write a column for a newspaper. I thought boo! I don't have anything to write a column about. But I'm finding that it's more fun to write than it sounds. Out of sports, life, entertainment, politics, international, and business, I chose life. My column is about off-campus life, and in it I discuss the things that make life different for a student who has never lived on a college campus and never will.

In the first column I wrote about parking, roommate problems and having my cat, Puppy. It's kind of rough, though, so I want to write another column today to see if I can get it smoother.

I haven't been sticking to my schedule. That may be because I've been fighting off a cold for most of this week, but next week should be better.

While I was interviewing a source yesterday, it occurred to me to see if I could get a client, too. The subject I was interviewing works at one of my former jobs and I asked him to pass my card along to a man in the office I thought might have some work for me. I'll be following up on that next week.

Thirty

That's all I kept thinking about yesterday. I'm thirty years-old. Now, I'm not complaining. I'm very happy that I've had thirty years and I hope I get to stick around for a whole lot more, but I would just like to have a few more accomplishments to my name. That's all.

I had a good birthday, even if it was boring. Joey (my 14-year-old cousin) and I watched a movie, I drank wine. I gave him some. Is this starting to sound a little creepy? He didn't drink much of the little bit I gave him, but the idea was to let him have a little alcohol so it would seem less romantic, off-limits and appealing, and then maybe he wouldn't think getting trashed was as awesome as a lot of other teens do.

Yesterday I got a ridiculous deal on a digital audio recorder. Originally $109.00, I got it for $54.00 at Best Buy. What's wrong with this thing? I wondered about it. I'm skeptical. I'm also pretty broke and I need to do some interviews. The recorder I had was being unreliable and wouldn't record when I needed it to. This one feels like a lightweight piece of garbage, though.

I wrote about five pages of a short story that I based off of a story in the newspaper Friday. It's about two girls in Somalia who were accused by militants of being spies and were executed by a firing squad in front of the members of their town. Unwilling witnesses to the executions, the people who watched were outraged and horrified. I don't know how much of the story can be real. I want to use the real names of the victims. I also don't want to have to make up a village. I can use the true info, can't I?

Submitting the Draft

I love being in the position to send a draft of an article to a professional editor and get it back for revisions without ever submitting it to a publication. School is great for that. My professor was a magazine editor, and goes through my work line-by-line, looking at sentences and figuring out what I can do better.

I have to figure out where I'm going to send my article when it's done, but I'm sure it'll find a market somewhere.

Today I start on the profile I've been wanting to write for a year. I'm so excited to tell this story. I don't plan on giving the details here, but when it's published I'll put the link up.

I think I'm gonna reread this book by Ralph Keyes. A pep talk would be nice right now.


I still haven't heard back from a few of the writing jobs I applied for. I thought they would have been good experience for me, but it doesn't look like it's meant to be. I'll keep looking, anyway.

Interviewing Issues

I'm working on a story about the recent legalization of guns in establishments that serve alcohol, and my angle was on local bar owners and patrons who disagree with the relaxed gun laws.

Earlier today I interviewed Basil Marceaux. For those who don't know that name, he's a former gubernatorial candidate for Tennessee. He's also insane. My question for him was: "Will you please clarify this statement that you made: 'I want everyone to have a gun. . . . I think that if someone doesn’t have one, maybe I’ll fine them $10.'?"
He proceeded to tell me about how this country is made up of two governments and that the people should be armed to protect themselves from their governments. He wanted to leave me with a question, but I could hardly make it out. It was something like, "If you go to Afghanistan and they point a gun at you, what will your government do for you?" 

I politely told him that his question would be better asked of someone with the qualifications to answer it, then thanked him for his time.

It was a relief to get off the phone with him!

I had lately been feeling discouraged by the direction my interviews were taking. Aside from Basil, I had spoken with a young woman who owned a gun, and had worked at the nearby Hooter's Restaurant where their gun policy is prominently displayed. She was all for people keeping a gun for safety. I next spoke with an owner of a popular bar. He is himself a card carrying member of the NRA. The predominance of pro-gun sources made me unhappy, and I though my article was doomed. Then I realized that my sources actually agreed with the popular opinion all around: guns should NOT be in bars. I found that I had a story after all. Now I just have to stop blogging and write it.

Do What You Love

I've recently quit my job at the library and I've been looking into freelance writing. It's something I can do part-time while I'm in school, and guess what: it pays pretty well. Even the low priced freelance writers are able to make $45/hour.

I'm reading The Well-Fed Writer, How To Open and Operate a Home-Based Writing Businessand Writing For Money. I recently checked this book out from my library. It'd be nice if my library had a better selection, but these should be fine for now.

I recently had an article published in The Chattanooga Pulse. I was very happy to see something I've written finally make it to a public medium. It's not going to keep me afloat financially, though. I'll have to find some other ways of making money. This kind of stuff will just allow me to have some freedom with what I write.

To gain some experience doing promotional materials, I've been working with a client in town on print ads, press releases, fliers and a brochure. This is only to gain experience, however, and not a paid job.

I have sufficient education and enough experience to go for professional work, although my experience is very limited. I expect to start work at $30-$40/hour until I've proven that I deserve a raise (a concept that makes me smile). Here's my card:

I don't have much to list just yet, but these are enough to start. I plan to add grant writing, Web content and technical writing to my resume eventually.

I've considered working for a certain online company, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the rates they offer. $5/article seems silly to me. I'm not exactly sure what they're looking for based on the directions they gave me, which were basically: write a 450 word article about Viagra for altitude sickness and add lots of links to other sites. Who would be reading this?