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Write on! Plans & Probs with Publication

by Scottiegazelle

Rated: 13+ · Book · Writing.Com · #812129

How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist

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.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Kåre เลียม Enga

Aug 10, 2020 at 11:49pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

YaY gallstones! not

So ... no excuses! Share something here (maybe a short short once a week?). Something.

July was brutal for me because I took on too much writing. Even after trying to balance it out with other real life 'experiences' (like cleaning) I was still overwhelmed. So... crash and burn the first week of August. I've cut back on obligations this month, but will still write a lot.

I'm back to studying Norwegian among other things.

Scottiegazelle

Jun 10, 2020 at 6:52pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Writing is the best therapy. My dad told me when I started that I would grow to hate something I once loved. I don't think that's the case, but I'm definitely tired by the end of the work day and have limited interest in creating something, where it was once a joy. On the other hand, I still enjoy my job after ten years so what can I say?

I like to build memory palaces and put eclectic information in them. One thing I would love to do is keep track of all the research I read and convention talks I see and remember who they connect with. As it stands, I remember some and forget most. I'd also like to do a better job of remembering who I have interviewed so that when I chat with them, I recognize the name, something I've been caught missing previously!

On the other hand, I'm already up to 85 books read this year, so I guess my slacking comes through in other ways.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jun 9, 2020 at 10:19pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Yes, money and time and priorities!

Money: I started here when I was homeless and penniless and continued after I got disability. I could feel guilty about not working, but...

Time: I have too much time and too little discipline! Except when I travel, then I don't write much. I take photos to remember. Memory work?

Priorities: I have no one depending on me. I live alone. I have no one bugging the hell out of me! I don't even have pets.

But I also write because I HAVE to. It's a bad habit ... and cheap therapy.

1 Like

Scottiegazelle

Jun 9, 2020 at 8:57pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Yeah I know the worn out feeling. I have a two-fold reason for not really doing a blog. The first is because of the impression people have about my job versus my actual job. Most people who don't interact with me professionally, I think they believe I am running a mommy blog and thus making very little money. When I moved to Georgia, a friend of mine said he could help me get a job. I was like, thanks, but it turns out Scientific American - which is if you don't know a pretty prestigious science magazine - pays enough to support me. I used to say I was a "science writer" and people asked me where my blog was. Now I say I'm a "science journalist"; they still ask but in much smaller doses.

The other reason I've been so averse to a blog is because I'm literally spending my day writing. It seems silly to do for free what I usually get paid to do. What I learned this month is that it's fun to write casually, a fact I used to know but haven't really had time to remember for awhile. For the longest time, I was a single self-employed homeschooling mom of four. The only thing that has changed, other than growing my biz, is that one of my kids went off to college and two of the remaining three decided they want to do public school. So I have a little more time, but not a lot. I'm hoping getting back on WDC helps me engage a bit more.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jun 1, 2020 at 7:37pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

There are lots of blog prompts floating around in the ether! Just choose any you find fascinating. For June that's what I'll do.

Writing brings in money for many people, as you well know. That seems to be the focus these days. $$$ No time for sharing as one does in a community. Before spacebook many blogged and wrote here for fun and connection. Then the 'serious' writers went to Saloon and the chatty fun people went to Spacebook and finally those who just wanted to fling you-know-what decided to Tweet like baby birds.

WdottyC is a place for the young, the old, the misfits.

Serious, intellectual, inspirational? Not so much. A group for socratic bloggers might be nice. Another for religious/spiritual/inspirational writers. Maybe for 200-300 word essay bloggers on serious issues? How about politics? Mental-health bloggers find each other... group or no group.

If I had the energy to set up blog groups? I'm worn out.

1 Like

Jeff

May 31, 2020 at 12:26am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I definitely agree on the library and the roomy living area! I've always thought that when the kids are grown and out of the house, I'd like to maintain rooms for them to come home and stay, but maybe not their own rooms or dedicated space. I'd hate the idea of just having rooms sitting vacant waiting for visitors to return, so I'd probably make them dual-purpose like you mentioned. It's a home gym AND a place for kid #1 to sleep. It's an art studio AND a place for kid #2 to sleep. The office would obviously have to be dedicated because I don't like to share... I've done enough of sharing my workspace over the years.

Sumojo

May 29, 2020 at 2:12am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

If we were to win a million dollars, we would be worse off financially, as with the terrible interest rates offered from banks these days we wouldn’t get anywhere near what we get from our pension. We wouldn’t be allowed a pension because we’d have too much cash and if we gave money to help the family or to a charity it would still be classed as our money. No, we’d have to get much more than a mill.

Scottiegazelle

May 28, 2020 at 9:49pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I was joking about reposting the post, but I would like to know how to export a book. That's one of the items I have locked on the site that didn't export with everything else.

Kåre เลียม Enga

May 28, 2020 at 6:52pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I have copy-pasted entries I wanted to keep but needed to delete because of space constraints (No longer a problem). I wanted to keep comments so I had to copy and paste those as well. Too much work. I need to back up everything here and on facebook. But how and where? I also should have hard copies of anything I value.

1 Like

Chris Breva

May 28, 2020 at 5:06pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Scottiegazelle

good question. You can copy, paste into a word processor, then delete the entry, and paste?

2 Like

May 18, 2020 at 9:01pm

#983892

Day 18: Chores

What chore do you most dislike doing? Tell us a creative story about how you might get out of doing it.

Seriously? I'm a mom - a single mom to boot. For the longest time, I was doing all the chores.

Actually, that's not really true. I've had my kids doing chores - albeit not perfectly, for several years. When my oldest was three (and subsequent children as well), I would take the sharp knives out of the dishwasher and then have her put away silverware. I remember reading somewhere that it was basically shape matching, which is good for toddlers to do. Similarly, at about 3 I would have them load the drier with their dirty clothes; I would toss them to the dryer door and they would push them in. They got to the point of pushing them in, then moving them over, and finally doing it all. Now that they are all teenagers, I get to make them do all of my least favorite chores!

The two chores I hate the most is washing dishes (by hand) and cleaning the bathtub. Not the toilet, the tub. When I was a kid, I always had to wash the dishes after dinner, swapping with my sister to rinse, or dry, or whatever. At one point we had a dishwasher, which in 1992 was the greatest thing ever. We were in that house maybe two months when there was some punishment - I think maybe we didn't properly scrub the dishes clean before putting them in - and we lost the ability to use the dishwasher for the remaining 2.5 years we were there. Also at one point, when I was maybe six and my sister was five, I bet her something - don't recall what - that I could finish washing the dishes before she could finish rinsing. I think she tried for a week to beat me but never managed.

The other chore I hate is the bathtub. It always takes forever. My youngest used to love it. She would put on her bathing suit to climb in and scrub it. She's 13 now, and I think she only stopped that in the last two years. But you reach and strain and ugh, I just hate it.

The most creative thing I ever did to get out of both of them was get married. I told my new husband that I detested those chores and he promised to do them. He actually did clean the tub while I was pregnant with our first - I have always enjoyed escaping to a hot bath with a book and something to nibble - but then dropped it soon after the baby, when I most needed the peace of a bath. Similarly, we've had a dishwasher since I got out of college/got married, so I've managed to avoid that. Convinced him that if I was doing dinner, he could do pots and pans. That didn't work very well when he was on the road, which he was for the lat part of our marriage. Suffice to say, I do not recommend this as a method of evasion.

I suppose I already mentioned my follow-up method of evasion: having kids. My youngest has the chore of cleaning my bathroom and hers each week, so I don't have to do that, most of the time. So second method: having kids and waiting several years. I'm not sure it's worth the trade-off strictly from a work sense, though, as I'm pretty sure I spent more time working when she was young than I am currently evading. Still a better method than marriage, though.

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