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How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist |
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I'm revising this intro after more than 15 years to better reflect my intention When I started this blog in 2004, I was a stay at home mom to two small children, a college graduate with a degree in English and Astrophysics. By 2007, I had four small children, ages newborn, 2, 4, and 6. For several years, Writing.com was how I kept my sanity. This blog began, first as a way of staying connected. Later, when I worked on a novel, I used it to stoke the writing fires as I plotted out short stories and the next step of my novel. Ultimately, I moved my writing preparation to "Invalid Item"  In 2010, I became a single mom who had homeschooled her children for several years. I had a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old and had never had a "real" full time job, since I was married while in college. Everyone told me that I would have to buckle down and take on a "real" job. Instead, I decided to attempt to live my dream: to make it as a writer. I knew that if I didn't try then, I would never really dive in. I counted my money and set a deadline. If I hadn't began making a decent (defined) amount of money after so many months, I would suck it up and get a J-O-B. After some thought, I decided to play to my strengths. I served an internship at Sky & Telescope magazine while in college and enjoyed writing about space and astronomy. With an astrophysics degree, I thought I would be able to sell myself more easily, and a small niche should be easier to penetrate. It's been about ten years since I was first paid for an article on Space.com. In that time, writing - journalism - has been my primary moneymaker. I've often thought about setting up a blog on my website - www.astrowriter.com - but just haven't gotten around to it. There are a few things I would like to share for those who are interested in scientific journalism in general. Now that I'm back on WDC, there's no reason not to combine the two and use the site blog for that sort of interaction. There are certainly plenty of folks on this site interested in the publication process. So while I'll probably meander around some, that's the intention of of this blog: to share some of my struggles as a published journalist and to help answer oft-asked questions. |
| Write about a fictional road trip where you meet up with your fellow competitors from the 30DBC! Who do you visit first? Do you bring any gifts? Tell us about the crazy blogger shenanigans you all get up to! *Laugh* Oh dear. So there I was, in my car, forced by a supernatural entity (see yesterday's post) on a Writing.com roadtrip. I'm apt to be a bit disgruntled, because I'm not much of a roadtrip kind of person. I'd much rather prefer to drop in on folks when I am local, perhaps attending a conference for work in the area. Behind the wheel, I review a list of people I'm most likely to visit. Thankfully the roads are relatively barren because we're in the middle of a pandemic---wait, no, what the heck, it seems like people have decided that since politicians have declared it safe, it must be so, damn the scientists full speed ahead. So I pause to grump. Obviously, route notwithstanding, the first person I would visit would be Kåre เลียม Enga   . I showed up on this site last month after something like ten years offline, made a blog post, and Kare almost immediately showed up to post a welcome back. I cannot express how touched I was by that, so on this forced-social roadtrip, I would likely intrude. Of course I'd be scrambling for an appropriate gift. I'd consider a book of poetry but my taste is abysmal so then I'd consider printing some of their poems from the site and binding them but that also seems pretentious and I'd probably pick all the wrong poems. So now I'm on the road, still giftless, freaking out about showing up empty handed. Maybe I'll grab some cookies or something from a bakery right before I arrive - oh flowers! Flowers seem good.The problems is that, while we've been browsing each others blogs for some time, I'm always awkward with folks I don't know. So I arrive at Kare's and make awkward small talk, and they are probably sneezing over the flowers I brought. I don't think either of us are into shenanigans. My next stop would probably be Waltz Invictus  . Unlike Kare, he probably doesn't remember me from days past, but I remember him. I spent some time a million years ago as a mod - yes folks I once sported the blue suitcase of doom! - before retiring from the site and the position around the time of my divorce. Anyway, for Robert I would have brought some craft beer from Georga. I don't drink, so I would have to act several of my friends for their input on the best local brewery and grab something from there. I suspect we'd have a similar awkward moment, though hopefully he wouldn't be allergic to the alcohol. Actually, I might have to shove my way through a crowd around him and Kare both, which would at least make it easier to blend into the wall. Some small talk and then I leave.Which is not to say I haven't met friends from online in the past. When I was 18, I flew from North Carolina to Vegas, against my mother's wishes but I was about to head off to college, to meet a guy I met on AOL. That turned out well but in retrospect was a stupid idea. More recently, I spent several years playing World of Warcraft. In that context, I was online in voice chat almost every night talking to people, and that lends to more intimacy than comments. We were already good at making small talk and knew more details that had been shared on a one-on-one level. I suppose then that the difference is the level of engagement I entertain on Writing.com but what can I say. That's just who I am. |
| Do you believe in ghosts or other supernatural entities? Have you ever experienced something you could not explain? Crazy weekends seem to cause problems for my blogging. Perhaps if I blame a supernatural entity for the delay, it will make a difference? Alas, I do not believe in ghosts, goblins, or rougarous, so there is no solution there. As I religious person, I do believe in angels, although I suspect they are rather rare. I believe that the spirits of those who have passed on, as well as those yet to be born, are able to watch over us alive today. I suppose that means I must also believe in demons and devils and evil spirits. That said, I'd be more inclined to raise an eyebrow over stories regarding them, which I suppose is somewhat hypocritical. I suppose in some ways it's akin to my belief in aliens. I believe that, with the billions of stars in the universe, and the planets likely to surround them, alien life exists. I believe that some of that life is intelligent and that some of that life has likely been able to unravel the secrets of travel between the stars. Do I think that they showed up at Earth to kidnap people and probe them? I suppose they could technically manage to do so, but I would view any reports with healthy skepticism. |
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