south dakota, my dakota

So! The editor at Backpacker who liked my trail dogs idea and I have been eamiling back and forth. I wrote today to tell him I dropped a packet in the mail for him yesterday. So we start talking and he asks me what areas I"m familiar with in North America. I tell him about New Hampshire, the Gunks, the places I've traveled like Mexico and Yosemite. Offhandedly, I tell him tthat I grew up on the corn and cows east side of South Dakota. Well, he writes back. Apparently, Brookings is named after some distant relative of his. Then he says, "South Dakota is a state we could do something with." Then I say I'd love to write about, like, hiking in the Badlands or something. (Not that I've ever *been* there, but he doesn't know that). He writes back telling me I should check out their redesign, that he'll send me some back copies of the magazine, and that I should "start thinking about South Dakota."

Now, I'm not sure this will really lead to anyth8ing but that sounds to me like it could blossom into an *actual paying assignment." To go hiking in South Dakota! Or maybe write about buffalo or Crazy Horse or the Black Hills or something. Rad. I wonder if I need to find something newsy going on there. Hmmmm. Seems like if I'm going to do something, I should do it now -- in just a few weeks it will be too cold there. But then they couldn't run it anyway, 'cause it's of no use to readers in the winter. Maybe I'll be able to write about it in the spring. Sigh. So far off.

the daily news

hated my ideas. Seems they thought they were too "big," needed to be more specific. Well, we'll keep trying. At least I got three pitches and three packets off today.

more progress

Today I put together packets for two people who rq them -- one editor at that golf magazine and the editor at Backpacker. I also put together one for an editor at Outside, the creme de la creme of outdoors mags, along with a story pitch. Gonna cross my fingers on that one. I'm having problems getting laura's computer to stay charged (gotta use hers since i don't have a printer) so i don't know if i'll make it to the PO in time. That would be pretty unfulfilling. Writing all those cover letters takes FOREVER.

finally, progress

Today I pitched two stories to the Daily News. I think one is pretty strong and the other would be not much more than filler, but their section kinda sucks so who knows. One is about Red Hook, a neighboring 'hood I'd be psyched to write about.

I'm having lunch with a financial mag editor tomorrow to talk about working for them part-time, and one of my sources recommended me to an acquaintance of his for some corporate work that would probably be *very* lucrative. I intend to hunt her down. I also spent NINETY DOLLARS at Kinko's, that robber baron, making up packets to send out. It's nice to have them all done, though. I'm sending one off to Backpacker and a few other places today. Hurrah.

Crippling self-doubt

Leads to multiple posts!

Who am I kidding. I'm blaming my craporific home computer setup on my current lack of success. It's not you, you POS computer. It's me.

OK, no more stream of consciousness. It's self-defeatist, apparently.

Maybe it's the weather

But I guess I sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself. Damn you, hurricane Jeanne. Or maybe it's my lack of Microsoft Word. Oops, there I go again. Chin up camper!

Faulty equipment

I spent 90 minutes this morning trying (and failing) to accomplish a task that would have taken 15 seconds at the office -- printing a stinkin' resume. I tried all three of our apartment's printers and, for reasons far-ranging and too infuriating to get into, none are able currently to print a decent enough page to make copies of. That means today, with my face numbed to the hilt and looking like an especially sorry stroke victim, I'll be off to find some rapist copy shop that will steal all my money simply so I can print a resume and make copies of that and my clips. Whee.

My home computer setup is laughable. While I"m ever grateful to Lacy for his castoff, it has serious problems, most exacerbated by the fact that I had to upgrade from Windows ME -- basically, the digital equivalent of a buggy abacus -- to Windows 2000, and it didn't really take. Somehow it bifurcated my hard drive, hogging all available memory and leaving me with what amounts to little more than a typing machine with access to the Internet. It's not great for what I'm trying to do.

Dreaming of a laptop, a digital cam, and a laser printer that actually works....all tools of the trade I'm trying to do here. When I think of the equipment I'm currently monkeying with, it makes me think of Dad hauling around our first video camera -- a battery pack over one shoulder, the entire VCR on the other, with a camera the size of a Smartcar propped near his head. Ah, technology. Maybe someday if someone pays me to write or edit something, I can make a visit to eBay and take my chances with someone else's hobbling computer rejects. Again, whee. Adventure!

Biting the bullet

Today I applied for a part-time copy-editing job at a women's magazine. Dow Jones editing internships may get you far in the business world, but maybe they won't care about the AP stylebook so much as my knowledge (or lack thereof) of lipstick and Thighmasters.

Soon, I'll be off to the dentist to squeeze the last remaining drops of insurance money out of DJ. And the dentist will squeeze a few vials of novicane into *me*. Fun, fun!

Freelancing -- it starts off easy. Then it gets hard!  

Daily News

Well, I just heard back from the Daily News editor. He seemed ammenable to giving me work, I just have to pitch something he likes for the Monday papers. Quick, I need to find a back copy of a Monday paper. Eek. the stories have to be short, "breezy" and tehy pay about $300 or $350. Gee, I'd only have to do, er, four a week to live on that. :) Anyway, it'd probably be relatively easy work so I better come up with some pitches.

Whew

I'm exhausted. I emailed my little fingers to the bone. I resent the trail dog pitch to Hooked on the Outdoors magazine, but haven't heard anything back. The Daily News editor called me; we chatted a bit and he passed along the business editor's email and phone, so I sent him some clips, my resume and a note about the kind of stories I can do.

then I got in touch with one of the staff writers at Self, who used to be an editor there and is a good friend of someone I know at the Journal. She's out of the office until next Wednesday, but hopefully after that I will have a contact there. They pay really well -- $2 a word. A lot of it is fitness stuff so that would definitely be up my alley.

I also shot off an email to this guy who is starting up a new upscale gold and lifestyle magazine. I have a few ideas for it; he's also a friend of someone from the Journal.

I also updated my resume today. Somehow this doesn't sound like a lot, but it still took me all day to do it. I guess I just have to make sure when I'm emailing editors and such i don't sound like a doof, so there is a level of thought that has to be put into it.

Oh, and last night I attended some PR hoo-hah at the Loews Imax theater put on by the Australian tourism council. I got one story idea there that maybe I would be able to sell to someone. It's actually very NYTimes food section-y, but I think I'd have a pretty tough time just waltzing in there with it. Maybe I can sell it somehwere else. It's about truffles. They had free wine and Australian food, which was nice because it's allowed me to spend ZERO DOLLARS in both of the last two days. Yay.

Off to jog.

One step forward, one back

Well, the editor from Backpacker that I managed to actually reach wrote back to say he liked the idea but they had an item on trail dogs on May. Ack. So I'm going to pitch it some other places, but that was the best bet for placement. I couldn't dare hope for Outside; perhaps outdoor life? He did ask me to send along some clips, and said he'd "like to see some of [my] work and try to see where you might fit into the magazine. So that is good!

In other news, the top editor at the New York Daily News called me to talk about freelance stuff. He gave me the name of their business editor and seemed interested in getting me in there to do some feature-y stuff.

So. We'll see. Everything is sort of progressing, but not at the pace that's providing paychecks. One of my writerly friends said I'm way, way, way ahead of the game considering most people go freelance with far fewer contacts than I have. But it doesn't feel that way.

Off to find a new place to pitch trail dogs...

that didn't take long

The editor I emailed is in Tuscany and won't be back for more than a week. Hm. May have to try another editor there.

Let the nail-biting begin

Lest my (nonexistent?) audience think I'm doing nothing over here, I've spent the last two days after coming back from beautiful Belize organizing my home office -- buying supplies, getting my printer hooked up, etc. This takes much longer than one might imagine. I also had to return about six thousand emails I received from press agents while I was gone.

Tonight, I'm attending my first media event as a freelancer, which is a show being done by the Australian tourism agency. Basically, I'm looking for story ideas, but I'm also going with hopes of meeting magazine editors.

Also today -- I put out my first story pitch! Now I begin the waiting, nail-biting game of waiting for the editor to get back to me. I pitched a story about picking the perfect trail dog to Backpacker magazine. I think it's a solid idea and I also passed along ideas for a few sidebars to help sweeten the pot. Hopefully they bite, but I won't get my hopes up too much. They say you have to pitch 10 times for every acceptance. Dear lord, let's hope that's not true. I need some cashola. I have $2 in quarters to last me until next Thursday.

Oh, I also attached a picture of Jackson with his backpack on. Nothing like a cute dog to make an editor like you, er, right?

So luckily, there's also free food and wine at this thing tonight and my fridge is stocked. Two money saving tips: buy a $5 rotisserie chicken, pick it all apart, and eat it every lunch and the occasional dinner for a week. Cheapola! Also, it costs only a quarter more to buy a liter bottle of diet coke than it does to buy the 20 ouncer. Rock.

A good friend once said to me...

"Fortune favors the brave..." -- Virgil

What a way to end it

Today is my last day at the really big newspaper. Tomorrow, I start my freelance career with a trip to Belize. A Conde Nast glossy is sending me down there to check it out for honeymooners. I'll be staying on a private island which caters to really rich folks and celebrities. I'll probably be the poorest guest they've ever had. Hey, I may not be able to pay my rent, but I can stay at a $1,300 a night resort where I'll have my own butler! Criminy.

Anyway, it seems a fitting end to my time at the WSJ. Yeah, so it's fluffy. I'm not saving anyone from genocide or uncovering political untruths or saving the whales, but after five years of a job that was oftentimes a whole lot of drudgery, I feel like I've earned this pina colada of an assignment.

Curiously, it was not my affiliation with this big, prestigious newspaper that got me the gig. It was my work for Black Table, an amazing independent site run by my dear, sweet friend Eric, a man who makes a mean latke and weilds a witty pen. Everyone who writes for them writes for free (again, I'm putting the "free" in freelance so far), but I really enjoyed what I was doing for them.

Because I enjoyed what I was doing, I think it turned out better, and it attracted attention. When I got the Belize assignment, the editor told me how much she liked my Black Table stuff and said my personality came through. You always hear people say that if you love what you do, success will come, but I think I was afraid to believe that. It had happened to some other people -- a book deal here, a magazine gig there -- but I didn't think I was good enough for it to happen to me.

Only when pushed to the max was I able to break free of the golden handcuffs of the WSJ. So let's hope those people were right, that I wasn't stupid to believe them, that kharma does its magic and that if I chase work down with fervor, I'll be able to wrestle some paychecks out of it.

This Is My Story

After spending five years -- the last two of them more or less miserable -- writing for a really big newspaper in New York, the money was finally getting comfortable, if not cushy. Though pigeonholed as a writer, at least I could feather that little nest.

But the soul-crushing boredom of the repetitive kind of reporting I was doing, the incredible stinginess of corporate management and the number wrongs the company inflicted on its employees post Sept. 11 -- in return for us making heroic efforts to keep the company going strong -- were pushing me over the edge.

New York tends to make you nasty anyway, but it was too much. I felt like kicking grannies and taunting babies with lollipops they couldn't reach.

The final straw in a very large, prickly pile came two weeks ago, when a senior editor put the kabosh on a trip I was supposed to take doing some freelance writing in Belize. It didn't conflict with our freelance policy, and the reasons that he gave me for nixing the already-approved work for a nice glossy Conde Nast publication were laughable.

So I quit.

With $73 in my savings account.

This is the story of what comes next.