I’m getting pretty good at this slowing down stuff.

Of course, I realize that my “slowed down” work schedule is busier than some people’s “high gear” schedule.

For example, today I worked on planning the 2009-2010 Northwest Author Series, while supervising a sleepover, taking the dogs on their walks, and otherwise holding down the fort while my husband is away for a few days at yearbook camp.

Tomorrow, I’ll get up, drop my daughter for an early playdate, go for a powerwalk with my walking buddy, take care of the dogs, and then host #platformchat, the new Twitterchat I started.

Did you catch that?

Twitterchat I started…? Does that sound like slowing down to you? (You can learn more about #platformchat here.)

How about planning for the Third Annual Writer Mama Back-to-School Giveaway?

Getting excited about Cindy Hudson and Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s book launches?

Overseeing three e-zines?

Switching rooms for my office?

Planning my daughter’s fall activities?

Selling a pile of stuff on Craigslist?

Scheduling fall appearances?

Am I fooling anybody? Besides myself, I mean.

My husband claims that I am such a good multi-tasker, I sometimes make him feel slow. (He’s not.) I don’t do it on purpose. Of course I don’t. I’ve always been a quick-minded, somewhat impatient, foot-in-my-mouth-can’t stop-the-words-from-tumbling-out kind of person.

No, I may never slow down to other peoples’ paces. But I’m slowing down for me and that’s going to have to be good enough.

Christina Katz
Publisher & Editor
www.christinakatz.com

Friend me on Facebook
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Search on Twitter for #platformchat

Sun tea

The beach

Lying in bed or on the couch reading a great book

Taking morning walks with a walking buddy

Walking the dogs in a big open field at sunset

Purging old reading materials to make space for the new

Finally getting my buns to the physical therapist (and other overdue appts.)

Supporting my husband’s desire to get into film acting

Hearing about my former students’ successes

Day trips

With a nod to the historic occasion (Happy Fourth of July!), here’s a link to the writer’s guidelines for The Saturday Evening Post.

Submit your writing today!

Do you have a signed copy of Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids?

You don’t??? Then, please consider this “prize inside” signed book promotion offer.

I am selling ten signed copies of Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids at the cover price plus shipping ($17.99).

My husband, Jason, has taken these copies and slipped prizes into three separate books that together add up to over 200 dollars!

When I receive an order, I will pull a book out of the pile (I don’t know which books have the prizes in them), custom inscribe it, and pop it in the mail.

Three random winners will get one of the following prizes at no extra cost:

1. A one-hour writing career phone consultation.
2. A half-hour writing career phone consultation.
3. A free, signed copy of Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform.

When your book arrives, check page 150 to see if you are a winner!

Fun, right?

Thanks for spreading the word to your friends who might not yet have a signed copy of their very own!

I am doing the same promotion over at the Get Known blog (only with my second book). Check it out!

Pay by Paypal to christinakatz@earthlink.net or by snail-mailing a check to: Christina Katz, PO Box 1354, Wilsonville, OR  97070

Offer expires July 31st or once all ten books are sold, whichever comes first.

Well, July is here and no doubt, many of us moms have fireworks on our minds.

But what about our own personal fireworks?

I just heard from a former student yesterday that she is awaiting her first official contract for an essay in a national magazine! Woo-hoo! How awesome is that? I never tire of this kind of news.

That announcement is her fireworks. How about you?

We are half-way through the year now. I bet you have accomplished a lot with your writing.

Would you be so kind as to share you success with us?

If yes, I’d like to direct you to the “Success” tab above. (Scroll down to the bottom to share your news.)

This is how we celebrate around here. By sharing our successes with other moms who “get it.”

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Hope your summers are going great!

Don’t forget to friend me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, so we can wave to each other on the road to writing success.

By Christina Katz

Will you work straight through the summer? I typically use some time in the summer to think about plans for the following year. I usually begin setting those plans in motion in August so they can be ready to fly by January 1st. This summer will be no exception. Even though I’m taking more time off for R&R than during previous summers, I’ll still be planning ahead. How about you?

Craft
Here’s the difference between writing for fun and writing practice, for me. Writing practice implies that…

• you are writing for a specific audience.
• you are writing frequently enough to see improvement in your  craft.
• you are working with an editor or at least some kind of editorial process, even if it’s one you’ve set up for yourself.
• you are seeing improvements in your writing as a result of your efforts, not just writing lots of words that will never see the light of publication.

Pitching
What if you are uncomfortable pitching yourself or your work? Here are some strategies to employ if pitching doesn’t come naturally:

• Create a query form letter you can use over and over.
• Verbally bounce your idea off someone you trust before you commit it to paper.
• Have a set checklist you use to go over your pitches and make sure they are as thorough as they can be.
• Writer Mama contains resources for all of these steps.

Self-promotion
Got platform? I worked my buns off for over a year to write a step-by-step guide on how to grow a platform from scratch alongside your writing career that would help every writer. I sure hope you have a copy!

A key point of the book is: we are all 100% responsible for our writing careers. Does this describe you? If not, and you’d like to work through the platform process with me step-by-step, Platform 101 starts in August.

Professional Development
A lot of mom writers are telling me that they are attending writing conferences this summer — hooray! So what can you do before the conference to get the most out of it?

• Re-read Chapter 22, Count Down Days to a Conference, in Writer Mama for tips on conference preparation.
• Read Mary Andonian’s “Writing Conference Success column in The Writer Mama archives.
• Take care of all your logistical issues far in advance of the conference (i.e., babysitter, transportation, etc.) to insure that you’ll have some time before the conference to plan which sessions to attend and otherwise create a personal plan to get as much as possible out of the conference. After all, if you are going to invest your hard-earned money into your writing career, you’ll want to get as much out of it as possible.
• Trust what happens and the people you meet. Make the most of every encounter and learning opportunity. Have a great time and you are sure not to be disappointed!

Happy summer, mamas!

Sometimes it can seem like editors are speaking a foreign language. After college, I worked on staff at a regional magazine. The editors were always talking about “the book.” And I kept thinking, “What book? We publish a magazine.” Come to find out, “book” is editorial lingo for “magazine.” Don’t ask me why.
 
You may encounter such puzzling terms even as a freelancer. For instance, an editor might say, “The front of the book is a good place to break in.” The front of the book, often abbreviated as FOB, refers to the short, newsy items in the first pages of a magazine, after the TOC (Again with the abbreviations! That means “table of contents.”) Cooking Light calls their FOB section “First Light”; The Writer calls it “Take Note”; and Amtrak’s Arrive magazine calls it “First Class.”
 
But while short FOB articles — sometimes called “fillers” or “shorts” — are a good way to break into some magazines, that’s not true for all publications. To my knowledge, Working Mother writes their news and trends section in-house. When I was pitching Men’s Health, they did not give bylines in their FOB section. The best way to find out such information is to study the most recent issue of the magazine you’re targeting, or call the editorial offices and ask whether they accept freelance submissions for that section.
 
After a magazine’s FOB section, you usually find department pieces and columns. These are the regular sections you see in every issue. Often, these are written by staffers or contributing editors. Match up the bylines to the masthead to learn if this is the case with your target publication. In some cases, though, department pieces are ideal for freelancers. They’re usually longer than FOBs but shorter than features, and since they’re in every issue, editors need more of them.
 
“The well,” also called “the feature well,” refers to the middle part of the magazine where the longest articles are found. These are usually, but not always, reserved for big-name writers with longstanding relationships with the magazine. Even so, it doesn’t hurt to aim high. If an editor rejects your feature pitch, you might reply with an offer to focus on a smaller piece of the subject matter for an FOB or department piece. Or it could happen the other way around. I once pitched a department piece on “girlfriend getaways,” only to have the editor assign it as a feature. Score!
 
By familiarizing yourself with the anatomy of a magazine, it will become clearer to you which sections are the best bet for freelance submissions.