Career-building tips for mom writers from the author of Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids.
The Writer Mama Zine Masthead
Inspiration for Raising a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids
Publisher and Editor: Christina Katz
Assistant Editor: Amy Mercer
Columnists:
Christina Katz: Invest In Your Writing Career
Abigail Green: Crib Notes
Jen Applin: The Write Attitude
Mary Andonian: Write Like a Pro
Tiffani Hill-Patterson: Bookmark These Sites, Mamas!
Amy Mercer: Self-Care for Mom Writers
Megan Pincus Kajitani: Being Enough
Comic by Debbie Ridpath Ohi from Inkygirl.com with permission. Please read the re-posting policy prior to posting here.
By Megan Pincus Kajitani
“Death and taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them!”
Writer mama, you are a time magician. You create extra hours in a 24-hour-day. Find moments hidden in dusty corners, under bright red playground slides. Craft leads as you sauté onions and pass out crayons. Edit sentences in your three-minute showers.
You know time is what you make of it, and there is no perfect time. You deserve any moment you can get–just for you–so seize it.
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Megan Pincus Kajitani is a California-based writer mama and recovering overachiever who blogs at Having Enough (In a “Have-It-All” World).
By Amy Mercer
Love is in the air and just because we’re knee deep in the motherhood trenches doesn’t mean we can’t spend some time with cupid! Taking care of ourselves means getting as well as giving love. Sex adds a glow to our skin, burns calories, and raises dopamine levels. Give love and it will come back to you. We are much more than Desperate Housewives; we are smart, sexy writer mamas.
Here’s some tips for taking good care of you:
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Amy S. Mercer is a freelance writer living in Charleston, SC with her husband and two sons. Her writing has been published in skirt! Magazine, Literary Mama, Diabetes Forecast and A Cup of Comfort for Writers. Amy is Blog Editor for Literary Mama and Associate editor for The Writer Mama Zine. More at Dreaming About Water.
By Tiffani Hill-Patterson
Show Me The Money
“Sick and tired of seeing writers settle for $2 or ‘exposure’ gigs because they felt they had no other choice,” Deborah Ng started Freelance Writing Jobs to help work-at-home moms find “decent” paying gigs. Since she started her blog in 2005, she’s helped hundreds of writers do just that. Not only does Deborah compile lists of paying gigs, she also blogs about issues writers face, such as writing on spec. A discussion section lets readers add tips, get advice from other writers in the trenches or vent a little, like her Fun with Pet Peeves post. Check Freelance Writing Jobs and you just might find the perfect gig.
She’s One Hot Mama
As an author, a freelance writer and a mom, Allison Winn Scotch is in demand. Yet she still finds time to share her writing wisdom in her blog Ask Allison. She calls it “the place to post questions and find answers on all of your too-afraid-to-ask concerns, hesitancies, and worries about breaking into the publishing field.” Between releasing and promoting her first book, The Department of the Lost and Found, and working on her second novel, Time of My Life, Allison has been fielding lots of questions about fiction writing. Her archives also contain excellent posts about breaking into the magazine business – check out this gem: Editors Sound Off. Her secret to finding time to do it all and do it well? Read A Method to the Madness for some excellent ideas.
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Tiffani Hill-Patterson is an award-winning journalist with thirteen years of writing and editing experience. She’s a regular contributor to The Writer Mama zine and Birmingham Parent magazine, and her articles on health, parenting, fitness and pop culture have also appeared in The Huntsville Times, The Moulton Advertiser and The TimesDaily. She lives in Alabama with her husband and daughter. Read more at http://www.tiffanihillpatterson.com.
By Mary Andonian
Take this mini-quiz: Google your name. How many records on the first page of results are about you? I am fortunate. My name is unique, so the very first record that shows up when I Google my name is my website. Your job this month is to find a way for your web content to show up on the first page of a Google search.
What if your name is Mary Smith? A quick Google search yielded Mary Smith as a: painter, novel character, landscape architect, and police officer, all at the top of page one! If you have a common name, try including your middle name in your professional signature, or create a unique business name that will put you at the top of a web search. Just make sure to include it on your letterhead and business cards.
This can be accomplished any number of ways. If you’re lucky, you can affiliate yourself with a hit E-zine, like The Writer Mama or Writers on the Rise. These E-zines use technology that “tags” your name so it will be one of the first results in a web search. I don’t completely understand how it works, but I certainly reap the benefits.
If you’re not a contributing columnist, you can accomplish the same feat by being the master of your own domain via website or blogging. According to this morning’s edition of The Oregonian, I live in one of the most blog-friendly places in the United States! To learn more about blogging, visit www.wordpress.com, www.blogger.com or www.typepad.com. These blogging sites will walk you through the set up process.
You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on expensive software like Adobe’s Dream Weaver or Contribute to build and maintain a website, (although if you’re technically savvy, they can prove to be invaluable tools). Instead, you can create a free Yahoo account and use one of their templates to create your own “shingle.” Purchase a domain name (your name, preferably), select a basic site, and get typing!
No matter what strategy you choose, creating a professional web presence has advantages. An editor can glean more information from your website or blog than a one-page query letter. Your query letter can point to your website or blog, allowing an editor to see the expanded version of your bio or read your clips in their entirety. But please don’t fill your site with an endless array of cute family photos and whimsical musings about your pet cat. Your site should define you as a serious writer. Unless you are writing about family life, try to keep your site as professional as possible.
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Mary Andonian is the agents and edtiors coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference, one of the largest writers’ conferences in the United States. In past years, she was Co-chair and Program Coordinator. She just completed her second book, Bitsy’s Labyrinth. Contact Mary at maryandonianwwconference AT yahoo.com.
By Jennifer Applin
“I’m a freelance writer…well sort of.” When I first started my writing career this was the type of reply I gave when asked what I did for a living. I should have stopped after the word “writer”, but inevitably I’d follow up with “well sort of” in an apologetic tone. The truth was I didn’t feel like a writer yet and so declaring to be such made me feel like I was being deceptive and a fraud.
If you can relate to my inability to really own the statement “I’m a writer,” you may be letting your lack of confidence hinder your success. To quiet that questioning voice in your head that asks, “What are you doing!?!” make a list of everything a writer does. Your list should include tasks such as: brainstorm ideas, research markets, construct (bullets here?) queries, and time actually writing. You are most likely doing all of these things, and will soon reach the next level of getting published and making money. If you were to compare your writing related to-do list to that of an established writer you would see striking similarities. What does this mean? You ARE a writer, so it’s time to make that claim.
It took me a while to quit adding the “well sort of” at the end of my reply. What finally did it was when my daughter’s teacher mentioned, during a discussion on careers, my daughter told the entire class that her mother was a writer, even though I hadn’t been published yet. When the teacher asked if this was true, I just smiled and replied confidently, “Yes, I am.” If my daughter could stand up in her class and tell everyone that her mother was a writer then it was time for me to own that title. We’ve all heard the saying, “If you build it, they will come.” When it comes to a career in writing you need to change that to “If you say you’re a writer, you will be.”
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Jennifer Applin is a freelance writer living in Ohio with her husband and four young children. She is a regular contributor to eLearners.com and writes for many regional publications. She spends her days cooking, cleaning and caring for little ones, and her nights writing about pregnancy, parenting, and the quest for peace (as in peace and quiet). You can also find her at Managing the MotherLoad.
By Abigail Green
Heidi Klum is starting to get on my nerves. You’re probably thinking, “Huh? What does the internationally famous supermodel, host of ‘Project Runway,’ and mother of three who is married to the sexy recording artist Seal have to do with YOU?!” The answer is nothing, except that Heidi is a regular reminder that my life as a working mom is far less romantic and effortless than hers.
See, Heidi and Seal have been popping up all over the media lately—proclaiming their love for each other on “Oprah,” holding hands in magazine photos, beaming at each other on the red carpet. For them, every day is Valentine’s Day. In case you missed it, Seal proposed to Heidi by building an igloo, decking it out with rose petals and champagne, and secretly whisking his bride-to-be there in a helicopter! In interviews, he has said that Heidi is his best friend and that despite having small children and wildly successful careers, he makes it a point to always put her first.
Now, I’m guessing Heidi and Seal don’t pick up their own dry-cleaning. Even so, I’m wondering how they have the energy to be so romantic. In my house, champagne and roses are in short supply. Raising a child, working, and sometimes mopping up the flooded basement take precedence over romance. Who can hold hands when you’re wrestling a toddler into his pajamas? And champagne would just impair my ability to match up the sippy cups with the correct lids.
Some days I see my husband only in 20-minute increments: before he goes to work, during the post-work hand-off before I go to the gym or upstairs to work on a writing assignment, and after the baby goes to bed before we collapse in exhaustion.
We do plan the occasional date night, but when it comes to shelling out hard-earned money on dinner and a sitter or on a much-needed home repair, the house usually wins. A crayon-clogged toilet’s not going to fix itself. And when it comes to spending time alone together or sleeping, sleep usually wins. Boy, Heidi and Seal have nothing on us, huh?
Of course, it’s easy to be spontaneous and romantic when you’re rich and famous. Heck, Oprah probably baby-sits for them herself!
Personally, I feel one of the most loving gestures my husband can make is to take our son swimming on Saturday mornings so I can have a few hours to myself, or take over baths and bedtime stories when I’m on deadline, or whip up a batch of vegetarian chili that will feed us all week when I have no time to cook. And when it comes right down to it, I’ll take a foot rub over a rose-petal-strewn igloo any day. Hear that, Heidi?
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Abigail Green is a freelance writer in Baltimore. Over the past 10 years, she has written for national, regional and online publications including AOL, AAA World, Bride’s, Baltimore Magazine, Cooking Light and Health. Her latest project is raising her first child, which she chronicles in her blog Diary of a New Mom http://diaryofanewmom.blogspot.com/.
By Christina Katz
When it comes to thinking about your writing space, the key is to think incrementally. Sure, you can start a nonfiction writing career with a basket or briefcase containing a pen, a journal and a magazine you’d like to write for someday. But eventually, you will look around and realize that humble basket has transformed itself like Cinderella’s pumpkin into a home office, complete with your bulging portfolio of published work, a CEO-worthy desk, an up-to-date computer system. And see those bookshelves over there, they have space reserved for your very own books.
Don’t get hung up on how much space you do or don’t have. In the same vein, don’t get discouraged if you don’t have the best, most up-to-date equipment. Don’t bemoan whatever physical circumstances you find yourself starting out in. Just make the most of what you already have with an intention to expand incrementally from here on out. Remember: What you don’t have today is a result of what you didn’t do consistently for so many yesterdays. If you want to change the outcome, change your actions…today.
I just posted in my blog about three writer mamas who took the circumstances they found themselves in, rolled up their sleeves, and dove in. When you go to their Websites and blogs, you won’t see all of the work that they’ve done, but you see a writing career that has definitely taken root. The space where you write is the place where your writing career takes root.
Specifically plan to reinvest a percentage of what you earn into the expansion of your workspace. Go ahead and pay yourself first. Most home office purchases are a tax write-off, so track every single receipt and consult your tax preparer. If you are a do-it-yourselfer like me, check out The Writer’s Pocket Tax Guide by Darlene A. Cypser, Esq.
I suggest you prepare for your future home office by putting down on paper what you’d like your future space to look like.
Is it large or small?
A quiet nook or a sunny room?
Do you like lots of bookshelves or clean, white walls?
A fireplace?
A comfy rocking chair or couch?
Will you decorate in a particular style or just with lots of color and panache?
What color are the walls in your office?
What computer will you use?
What software will you need?
What kinds of pens, pads, and paper will you buy regularly?
What email provider will you use?
When can you afford the fastest Internet connection?
Can your printer also fax, copy and print photos?
Think this sounds like a fantasy? It isn’t. I keenly remember what it felt like to want the office and income I have today. I remember what it was like in the beginning: the practically empty portfolio, the file cabinet begging to become full, the list of writers admired from afar, and most challenging of all, my confusion about the single next most important step to take to get to all of these destinations. Envision what you want and what you need and then, gradually, invest in it.
Because writing spaces don’t tend to be widely accessible or visible to the public, I usually study photos of artist’s studios for inspiration instead. Witnessing how any creative person claims their space will lift you up out of your present circumstances and into the realm of possibility. When you see a look you like in a magazine, rip out the page and post it on a bulletin board to visualize your future office. Look at it often and expect change soon.
Okay, now that we’ve dreamed a little, let’s get back to basics. What do you absolutely need in your office space to launch the business you’ve projected for 2008? Don’t balk and say you can’t have it. Why not skim a little bit from your grocery bill to purchase items a little bit at a time if you don’t have enough writing income yet? I once knew a watercolor artist who used this strategy and ended up with her art displayed in the Smithsonian.
Would a doctor launch a professional practice out of his or her car? Probably not. But you can, if it’s the only place you can find enough peace and quiet to imagine the writing space that you deserve.
Plan to graduate to something better soon and you will.
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Christina Katz, author of Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, is working on her second book for Writer’s Digest Books, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform. She has also written over two hundred articles for magazines, newspapers, and online publications and has appeared on “Good Morning America.” Christina is a popular writing instructor who has taught hundreds of writers over the past seven years. She blogs daily at The Writer Mama Riffs and is publisher and editor of two zines, Writers on the Rise and The Writer Mama. More at http://www.thewritermama.com/.
My muse wears a baseball cap, backward. The minute my daughter is on the school bus, he saunters up behind me with a bat slung over his shoulder and says oh so directly, “Okay, author lady, you’ve got six hours till that bus rolls back up the drive. You can sit down and write, now, or you can think about looking for a day job.
Oops! Sorry, mamas.
The Writer Mama E-zine went out twice today in my caffeine-fueled attempt to get it out this morning.
You may think you are subscribed twice, but no worries. It was my bad.
Onward!
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Write on, mamas! The next issue of The Writer Mama zine will be out at the beginning of February.
And you’ll always find the archives right here.
Click here, if you think you missed a January column.
Christina Katz
The Writer Mama
Comic by Debbie Ridpath Ohi from Inkygirl.com with permission. Please read the re-posting policy prior to posting here.
By Megan Pincus Kajitani
“Best be yourself, imperial, plain, and true!”
Writer mama, you needn’t be anything but who you are. Embrace your life’s stories, your regrets, your evolving dreams. Honor your messy kitchen, your card-table office, your high-school poems, your food-stained yoga pants. Write from what you know, see and imagine. No more education, time or possessions are needed. No one else is better or worse. So just do it. Be a mother. Be a writer. Be you, and that is enough.
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Megan Pincus Kajitani is a California-based writer mama and recovering overachiever who blogs at Having Enough (In a “Have-It-All” World).
By Amy Mercer
Take these dark, rainy or snowy days of winter to retreat from the world, create a cocoon for yourself and regenerate, mamas. While everyone else is spending money on gym memberships, you can save and take a few precious moments to curl up at home in front of the fire while the kids play in the snow or, if you live in the South like me, jump in the puddles.
Drink lots of hot tea or coffee and take warm baths while the kids are in school or asleep for the night. Slow down, stop trying to do it all, put away the overused, worn thin superwoman costume for the month.
When the sun starts to shine again from within, you’ll come out of your cocoon refreshed and ready to send out those articles, essays and book proposals. You will be strong and ready to face the inevitable rejections as well as embrace promising opportunities.
Here’s some tips for taking good care of you:
1. Write a memory of your most relaxing vacation, how did it make you feel and why? Pull out the photo album, what did the beach smell like, how did the sand feel between your toes? Take us there with you.
2. If you work outside the home, schedule a “sick day” and spend it alone under your covers with a notebook and your favorite pen.
3. Make a movie date with the kids, blow up the inflatable bed, pull the shades, pop some corn and snuggle down under the comforter.
4. Unplug your computer for the day. Organize your bookcase, fill a box to donate to the local library, or sell on Amazon and find an old favorite to re-read while the kids are sleeping.
A little self-care goes a long way in the face of a long winter, mamas. What will you do to take care of you this January?
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Amy S. Mercer is a freelance writer living in Charleston, SC with her husband and two sons. Her writing has been published in skirt! Magazine, Literary Mama, Diabetes Forecast and A Cup of Comfort for Writers. Amy is Blog Editor for Literary Mama and Associate editor for The Writer Mama Zine. More at Dreaming About Water.
