May 07, 2008

This seven-part series will cover the 2 ½-year time span between the day I set out to become an author and the day I became one.

Becoming an Author – Part Two
Spring 2006

Part One is here.

After two months of constant writing, reading the boards at Absolute Write, and researching and querying magazines, I was getting discouraged. Although I still loved putting words to the page, there were so many hoops to jump before getting published. And editors were picky, so the fact that I could never seem to get my “its” and “it’s” straight couldn’t be helping.

I asked my Internet-genius brother-in-law what he would suggest for setting up a simple writer’s site. I thought I could post my company’s newsletter articles there, as well as any published articles (assuming I ever HAD any.) He suggested a blog – and I said, “A what?” I figured I hadn’t heard him correctly, since that was such a goofy word. I did a little research and anonymously played with Blogger for a bit. While I figured out what exactly a person would do with a blog, something unexpected happened.

Someone called a “fact checker,” followed up on a query I’d sent. She wanted to know if I could verify some information about the article I’d submitted for the True Stories section of Budget Travel.

The same week I received another unassuming email from an editor at Boy’s Life – asking if I would still be able to write the ice-fishing piece and provide photographs. The article wouldn’t publish until the following December, but I’d need to brave the punky ice and take the photos right away. The snow-covered lakes in Wisconsin usually open in late March.

And so I completed these assignments, anticipating the day my name would become a byline in a magazine.

I’d read several of Jenna Glatzer’s books, and since she seemed so approachable, I initiated an emailed conversation with her. She offered valuable insight and encouragement about non-fiction book publishing. It’s a connection I doubt she remembers, but one I’ll never forget.

With renewed conviction, I broke all the rules and sent a half-baked, but promising book idea in a spontaneous email to an acquaintance at publishing company. ..

Becoming an Author series:
Part One — Winter 2006
Part Two — Spring 2006
Part Three — Summer 2006

My book, Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things, will be available in June, from Search Institute Press.

 



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