Reversing a change in direction…sort of…

I really thought that giving freelance writing a go was a good idea…for awhile. Then I decided to just concentrate on those assignments that seemed to be more in my wheelhouse. It seems that my way of writing does not suit the editors at Helium so, I am bailing on that for the time being. I find it hard to produce an article that I think is good only to have it soundly rejected by the staff over there.

Ok, I know I’m having a pity party and all but, I really think I am not cut out for the type of writing they want. For one thing, the turn around time is too short for my thinking process. I am just too slow.

With all of that being said, I am ready to leave those distractions behind and dive into the outlining work I have been doing. I have two of them going and this is a skill I need to master if I am going to advance my writing to anything approaching a professional level.

So, that is where I am headed. I am dropping all pretense of being a freelance article writer and giving my full attention to my outlines for the next year.

Introducing an outline…

One of my Facebook friends asked this morning what our imaginary friends were doing today. I replied that “I think they are deciding if they want to play with me or not. They have been strangely silent for awhile.”

After thinking about that and doing some additional research on outlining (prompted by K.M. Weiland’s book “Outlining Your Novel”, I decided to start an outline even if I wasn’t sure how to go about that properly. I mean I have read her book with great enthusiasm but, I am a person who wants to see sample outlines that I can copy from. I have created lot’s of outlines for other things but not for my writing.  I felt stymied.

Then I just decided to dive in even if I might not be doing it “right”. That was something I saw in her book. To paraphrase, just do what works for you. I have one started now. We’ll see where it ends up.

I just updated that thread with: “Ok, I decided to force them to talk by starting an outline for a series of four stories based on Hagar the mother of Ishmael. They’ll soon crack under the pressure. HA! HA! HA!”

We’ll see if the joke is on me or them.

Two down….

I have written two articles for Helium. Neither was rejected, but only one was purchased by the publisher. I call that a mixed result. But, I do intend to persist and hopefully, if nothing else, I will broaden the scope of my writing and gain more experience.

I am busy with a new job and my wife has had to go to be with her parents for about a month. My father-in-law’s health is failing and they expect that he will go home in the near future. I am glad for him. He is not having fun any more and the relief from the strain of his physical difficulties will be welcomed. 

I am going to need to start working on a series of stories soon to tell the AWANA boys next school year. I am looking forward to that challenge. I have two of the four that I promised already but, I want to add some continuity to them and perhaps use them as the basis for a short story book. We’ll see how that works out.

Steve