Slave Labor and the Birth of an Idea

Halleluia! I'm a bonefide published author ~ now it's time to peddle my wares to bigger fish in the ocean! :)

My four articles on Suite101.com have garnered 234 page views ~ only 766 to go (the goal is 1000 page views)!!

In my constant quest for work, I stumbled across a web-based homeschool newsletter and I got to thinking... since it seems like a no-brainer to marry my writing and editing with my homeschool curriculum activities, why can't I create and publish a student newspaper or magazine that is mailed to homeschooled kids nationwide? I can do a better job than the one I saw the other night, and kids still love to get physical mail in the mailbox, so why not try it?

So, I thunk and thunk about the market and the potential of such a project, and Mark mentioned a former colleague who used to work with him who is a former teacher with a background in marketing. I contacted her with the idea, and she sounded interested, so we agreed to meet for coffee today. After meeting with her, I'm more excited than I was before. We have a lot of work to do ~ information to gather ~ but I am convinced that our focus groups will show us that there is indeed a market and that it doesn't necessarily have to be just homeschooled kids. If we find a vision that is unique, and use the medium to inspire kids to think outside of the box in everything they do, we can appeal to a wider audience than just homeschooled kids! Can you tell I'm pumped up about this?

The next step is to brainstorm our vision and work on a logo and a unified graphic design element for the website and printed piece, while we also develop a survey and focus group mechanism for determining the strength of the market we're trying to target. Stay tuned for updates as we move forward with this project!! :)

I'm Published!

Well, it worked! :)

As of Friday, July 10th at 11:46am, my first article was published on Suite 101.com! It's entitled "Raising Kids for a New Economy" and has garnered 32 views in 2 days!! And the best part -- I've earned $.68! And all for a good cause -- filling my resume with publishing credits so I can get more writing work.

I have added the link on my blog page so you can check it out at your leisure. There will be more -- I have another article almost finished. It's about choosing the right high school. Mark wants me to write one on "Finding Your Mate on the Internet," and "The Sam Fowle Story: Standing Your Ground with Challenging Teenagers." We'll see what comes next! :)

Remember, make sure you go look at the articles when they're published! That's how I make my millions as an author -- one quarter at a time, apparently!

Let's Begin!

Okay, I started this blog a year ago, in a rather vain attempt to jumpstart my writing career, and as you can see, it so obviously did NOT accomplish that goal!

However, now that I've begun to write in other venues, it seems only right that I come back to this medium and document my journey into the world of publishing in a way I have not attempted before. To this point, I have been content to edit other people's work and only write when it was needed by an employer or a friend who needed a favor, etc. With the economy in the toilet, however, it has become much more apparent that I cannot rely on other people to write things and then pay a professional to make it look and sound intelligent, so therefore I must write my own intelligent prose and do my best to make it interesting and pertinent so I can gain a readership of my own. And why not? Everyone else is doing it (supposedly)!

The world of Internet writers is exploding, and I'm going to be left behind if I do not start writing now -- however meagerly it might pay -- so, I have stepped over to the dark side and applied for a writer's position on Suite101.com. Yes, I have prostituted myself to a website that will probably gain far more for my writing than I ever will (sad face). However, as long as I resolve myself to saving the good stuff for real venues, like magazines and the local press, I can't feel too guilty. AND, if what I write on Suite101.com earns me a following, then I might be able to leverage it for other paid writing work for real clients!! :)

So, I posted my first article today -- a mere 10 hours after being accepted as a staff writer for Suite101.com! It is entitled "10 Tips for Raising Money-Smart Kids" and as soon as it is actually accepted and posted on the site, I'll let everyone know. The more viewings my article gets, the more money I make -- it's still something obscene, like $10 for every 100 viewings or something like that, but visibility is worth its weight in gold, so...

I have another article waiting in the wings, called "Choosing the Right High School for Your Child." Again, I will post here as soon as it's up and viewable on the Suite101.com website!! :)