Writers' Words- How to write for magazines

When I first decided to write articles, I searched for a free course and found this:

Magazine Writing by Lisa-Anne Sanderson

The experienced author recommends writing about popular topics, which include:

1. How to save time
2. How to save money
3. How to make money
4. How to be loved

And ask the editors of magazines you already know e.g. those to which you subscribe, so I contacted two such magazines.

For ‘Foods Matter’, I wrote about how to save money if you have to eat a special diet. This fitted in with the second item on the list.

For ‘A Single Step’, I wrote: ‘Social strategies to use when you have depression’. Item 4 on the list: check!

Both editors welcomed my articles and would welcome more in future. I didn’t ask for payment because their magazines have helped me so much in the past.

Next, I asked local magazines if they would like articles about the local area. The first to reply was enthusiastic, so I sent two articles off but didn’t hear back.

The second was equally keen but made it clear no paid jobs were available. But at least I could build a portfolio of my work, so I wrote an article for him on a local landmark and it was published.

Then the first editor phoned to ask what I’d like to be paid for my article and if I could write two per month about local historical buildings! He wanted exclusive rights to them too!

We agreed on a price of £100 per month for the two articles of 500 words each. It took him a while to organise payment but I got it eventually.

The going rate is 20p per word for qualified journalists, 10p for non qualified ones. I’m not qualified which leaves me room for more negotiation with editors.

To summarise:

• Write what you know.
• Write what other people want to know.
• Ask at smaller magazines to start with.
• Give them an example of your work.
• Find out the going rate of payment.
• Keep asking until they pay you.

The entire article is here: Catherine Chisnall at Speak Without Interruption

Stacey Danson's 'Faint Echoes of Laughter', the sequel to her 'Empty Chairs'

I am beyond delighted to invite Stacey Danson to my blog today. You are very welcome Stacey, lovely to see you again.

Tell us more about your book.

Faint Echoes of Laughter was written in response to a large number of people who kindly asked what happened to me after I began living with the kids in “The Palace”: the shipping container on the docks in Sydney where I ended up staying for five years; from the age of almost twelve till after my sixteenth birthday. It wasn’t a maudlin request made from people who were looking for a thrill read, these folks genuinely wanted to know how my life turned out. I felt an obligation to give them the answers.

Why did you choose that title?

Faint Echoes of Laughter is what I hear every time I’m around the streets and the parks where we lived. I still hear the lovely sounds of normal kids playing and bathing in the fountains right in the heart of our beautiful city. I can hear us through the decades every time I go into the city, the reminders are right there. For most of the time they make me smile in remembrance. Some of the happiest days of my life where spent with the gang. At times we could almost convince ourselves that the way we were living was normal, because it became ‘normal’ to us.

How has your life changed since you wrote Empty Chairs?

My geographical location has changed. I am now delighted to be living back in the heart of Sydney with my daughter. We share a rented apartment together and that arrangement has worked out so wonderfully well. She is probably the only other human being I would even consider living with. As for her, yes…she has said the same thing. We get on so damned well together, it’s unusual apparently for mother and child to feel that way as adults. She is now expecting her first child, and we are both like a couple of silly kids enjoying the wonder of the whole thing.

As for my personal life, I have been absolutely blown away by the numbers of total strangers that have reached out to me since the book came out. People that have thanked me for sharing the horror of my childhood, simply because it gave them a measure of understanding of what does go on even today, behind closed doors. For some folks they have shared with me the fact that they too have been abused and my work has given them a push toward seeking some help with their fears and remembered pain.

From the comments on Amazon and various blogs, you have touched many, many lives in a positive way. How does that make you feel?

It’s a responsibility. I have to be so careful in this regard, for I am not a qualified counselor, I am not a professional in the field of abuse; I am simply someone that managed to scrape a life out for herself, and not linger in the pain of memories. People ask me for advice that I can only give as a person that lived beyond it. Perhaps they feel that if I could do it, they can do it.

Whatever the reasons I am hopeful that perhaps one or two or even a few people male and female may be prompted to seek professional advice where they may have been too overwhelmed to before they read Empty Chairs.

Has anyone told you that your books have helped them practically, such as given them courage to walk away from abuse?

Yes, several people have entered into correspondence online with me in that regard. I doubt that I would have given them the courage to walk away. That courageous first step can only come from deep within the individual.

Perhaps I have simply helped them become aware that what they have going on currently or have gone through in their past, is not insurmountable.

In today’s world the awareness is far more common. The powers that be recognize that this monstrous behavior exists in numbers people find unbelievable and overwhelming. Sadly it has desensitized many folks to the problem.

The numbers of people coming forward and talking about this dreadful thing, and indeed any violence perpetrated against an unwilling person, be they child or adult have swamped the professionals and the media.

My concern is that too many people will ignore what is going on around them simply because they think the problem is too overwhelming to be dealt with. They are wrong. Each and every human being has a right to a quality of life un-tempered by fear and reprisal.

You re-visited the places of your childhood recently. Did it help? Did it make you feel worse?

I knew it was something I needed to do before I began writing Faint Echoes of Laughter. When I finished writing Empty Chairs I fell ill. A combination of physical factors and emotional distress I underwent whilst writing the book culminated in very poor health.

When I made the decision to write Faint Echoes I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it without going back and facing the remaining demons. I was shocked at just how vulnerable it made me feel to go back to the house where most of the abuse took place. I thought I would be able to stand there and look at it as just bricks and mortar…I was so very wrong. However once I had done it, and also revisited some places that had happy memories connected to them I knew I could write the book without as many harrowing flashbacks as before.

I still had bad ones, but not the debilitating ones I went through when writing Empty Chairs.

What happened to your street friends, are they still with us?

No, Catherine. Apart from Jamie and myself they are all gone. It distresses me a great deal to talk about that. I cover it in the book. Most of those wonderful people ended their own lives. It should have been so different.

What next for you as an author?

I have written two fiction novels and they will be published later this year. I want to see if I have what it takes to write good fiction, a totally different ballgame to writing both Empty Chairs and Faint Echoes of Laughter. I would like to spend my time creating characters and stories that allow folks to escape into them. Reading was always a savior for me, I would dearly love to create somewhere people can escape to with my writing. Time will tell.

I hear you are to become a grandmother soon, how does that make you feel?

Joyous! Totally and completely joyous. My daughter is such a delight and has given me so much to be thankful for since the day she was born…the fact that she is going to have a baby is just the most wonderful news.

I am so damned thrilled that I have been granted the gift of still being here to experience being a Grandparent. How lucky I am.

I and every one with an ounce of humanity in the world, wish you the very best.

Faint Echoes of Laughter is available here:

Amazon

Stacey Danson's profile On Night Publishing

Relationship Ramblings- Are you depressed, or just Highly Sensitive?

Dr. Elaine Aron’s research in the 1990s found that 15-20% of the population have nervous systems which function slightly differently from the rest.

Such individuals notice subtleties: in the environment, differences and relationships between people and/or objects. Dr Aron named this trait ‘Highly Sensitive Person’.

Some features are:

• People’s moods and the ‘atmosphere’ in a room affect you
• You need time alone to process your experiences
• You have a rich inner life with a vivid imagination
• It is hard to function when you are very hungry or tired

Do any of these sound familiar?

In the West, being Highly Sensitive means you are in a minority and minorities can experience misunderstanding. The fashion at present is to be assertive; work long hours; keep going no matter what; be extrovert. Not the opposite.

So if we grow up in the West, is it any wonder that our Highly Sensitive trait becomes a source of shame and disappointment? Such a sense of isolation can lead to thinking we are ‘not good enough’ and/or feeling depressed.

However, do not think depression is inevitable. Being Highly Sensitive has great benefits:

• You are highly aware of dangers, so can often prevent them.
• Your awareness of ‘atmospheres’ gives you an ability to build bridges between people.
• Your inner life means you spend much time thinking and can devise resourceful solutions.
• Your empathy means you are very good at creating intimacy with others.

I am not suggesting that everyone’s depression is caused by being Highly Sensitive. However, those with this trait comprehend experiences far more profoundly and see the consequences of events far more clearly. Such deep processing can lead to worrying and anxiety: this combined with feeling isolated and ‘not normal’ can produce depression.

However, it IS normal to be Highly Sensitive, because up to 20% of the population is the same.

Look around. Put ‘Highly Sensitive Person’ into a search engine. Notice shy people- are they Highly Sensitive? With some effort could they become good friends? Now I know I am Highly Sensitive I seek out others and am gradually building a network of supportive friends.

Elaine Aron’s site: http://www.hsperson.com/

That was a summary of my article. Read the entire one here: Catherine Chisnall at Wikinut

Winner of the November/ December Night Reading Poll

The last winner of last year was Tanya Etherington, with her book Paradise Ruined. It will be available very soon from Night Publishing via Amazon and all the other outlets.

Synopsis

When Elle arrives at the “Hotel Paradise” for a long awaited family holiday, she believes that she truly has arrived in paradise. Greeted by brilliant sunshine and bright blue skies, she is looking forward to doing nothing more for the next two weeks than spend her days building sandcastles and her nights drinking cocktails.

But when her son is kidnapped and her husband disappears she is quickly exposed to the dark side of paradise. Caught up in a web of drugs, murder and revenge she struggles to survive in this dangerous new world, never giving up hope that one day, she will be able to return home.

Winner of the October/ November Night Reading Poll

Way overdue, but at last, here is the penultimate winner of the year. Will MacMillan Jones with his book, 'Memories'.

Synopsis:

His visit to the House has awakened the ancient evil called there by his family. What will he do now that people have started to vanish - again? Can he find the courage to brave the House, and face the consequences of the dark deeds from a time before he was born? For this is his legacy, and maybe only he can expunge the darkness that enfolds the House.

To be published in January by Night Publishing, so will be available on Smashwords and all its outlets, and Amazon.

A New Year Book and Author Promotion

Divided Loyalties by Melanie Dent

My new novel 'Divided Loyalties' tells the story of two sisters and their relationship with each other, their parents and their husbands. One of the sisters, Helena, is a main character in the main Lynchcliffe Cuckoo trilogy of books.

I found this a very harrowing book to write emotionally because of what happens to Celia. I drew on my own experiences with relationships and historical research to help complete it: thankfully I have no first hand experience of rape or sexual assault.

But as an author I found writing the book to be a major source of satisfaction and cannot wait to tell more of my characters' stories in more detail.

Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069VV5TO