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suelick
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Publishing a column
Everybody I meet seems to want to publish a column--including me. Has anyone out there done it successfully as a freelancer? I have had columns as a staff writer, but getting in the door on my own has proven tough. Ideas?
Sue
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1/13/2005, 7:46 pm
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SFGirl
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Re: Publishing a column
Hi Sue!
I'm not speaking from experience here, exactly, but I think in a lot of cases it probably comes down to giving the editor an idea that he/she wants, even if they don't know they want it yet.
By that I mean, pitch a column idea so great, so original, so timely and so absolutely something you'd be the perfect writer for, that they'd be crazy to say no. If you've done columns as a staff writer then you've already got the credibility, you just need the idea.
And of course you have to pitch it to the right market. 
Do you already have an idea that you want to base a column around, or are you trying to find one that's a good fit for you?
Hey, and drop over to the Water Cooler and tell us all about yourself!
Sherry
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Reading: Best of F&SF 50th Edition
Writing: editing "Summer of The Widows"
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1/13/2005, 10:36 pm
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suelick
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Re: Publishing a column
Hi, Sherry,
I have several columns sort of underway. I got body-slammed by some real life issues this last year, so I haven't followed up on them lately, but I do have ideas and pitches. Just need to get out there and do it. How about you?
Sue
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1/13/2005, 11:26 pm
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SFGirl
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Re: Publishing a column
Well, I co-wrote the school news column for the local paper when I was in highschool...but since then I've really only attempted one column idea. I pitched my local paper with a web-review sort of thing, focusing on a different topic each week and listing good web resources for that topic.
I never even got a reply (how unprofessional!) and a couple months later, what do you know? There's a web site review column in the paper. Hmmmm, wonder where they got that idea?
Oh well, I'm more fiction-oriented anyway, and I don't know how well I'd do at meeting deadlines. And I have the editorial column at The Scriptorium if there's anything I really feel I want to say!
Sherry
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Reading: Best of F&SF 50th Edition
Writing: editing "Summer of The Widows"
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1/14/2005, 10:58 am
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supersonic4
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Re: Publishing a column
Hey why cant we make a colum forum.
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Customer: "Do you really need a modem to connect to the Internet?"
Tech Support: "Yes, ma'am, you do."
Customer: "WELL, THAT'S DUMB!!!!" [click]
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2/8/2005, 3:12 pm
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suelick
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Re: Publishing a column
Sounds good to me, except that it took a month for anyone to reply to the last posting. Is there enough interest out there? If there were such a forum, maybe it would push me into working harder on my own columns.
Sue
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2/8/2005, 7:49 pm
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SFGirl
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Re: Publishing a column
Just tell me what you want, folks, and I shall create it. Would you like a forum for journalism in general? Or just writing columns and opinion pieces?
Sue, good to see you--I was wondering where you'd disappeared to! 
Sherry
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Reading: Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Writing: short story: no title yet
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2/8/2005, 9:39 pm
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suelick
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Re: Publishing a column
Oh, I've been lurking. The class I'm teaching has eaten a lot of time lately, but things are falling into place.
My feeling right now is that it would be better to just have one nonfiction forum that covers journalism, creative nonfiction, opinion pieces, columns and all those other types of articles I have been writing and teaching about. If we divide it up, then it might be hard to know which forum to plug into. Maybe if individual threads start getting lots of action, they could become their own section. But so far, the nonfiction forum has been awfully quiet.
What do other people think?
Sue
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2/8/2005, 11:35 pm
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nuanc
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Re: Publishing a column
Hi Sue,
I'd been wondering where you were too. Good to have you back.
I am beginning to do some non-fiction pieces after a long time of writing nothing but fiction - or oftentimes, just nothing... 
But I'm currently putting together an online magazine on creativity. It's getting me back into writing short essays and articles. This is something I think about doing a lot but don't because I seem to need a specific reason for it.
I did one yesterday and while it's a draft and needs work, it was quite a pleasant respite from the novel because it could be 'done' quickly and set aside to simmer for a while. Simmer seems to be my word of the week... hmmm, maybe I'll write an essay on that....
~nanc
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READING: Not Wanted on the Voyage, Timothy Findlay
WRITING: a love story (planning stage)
PROPPING UP: Being Practically Creative
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2/9/2005, 10:55 am
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supersonic4
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Re: Publishing a column
Okey so is there going to be a forum to write colums in?
---
My Whose Line forum:
http://www.runboard.com/bwhoselineisitanyway
Customer: "Do you really need a modem to connect to the Internet?"
Tech Support: "Yes, ma'am, you do."
Customer: "WELL, THAT'S DUMB!!!!" [click]
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2/9/2005, 1:15 pm
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