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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. |
| Not including your phone, computer, or other Googling device, write about the top five most useful items you own. Taking away my electronics leaves me hard-hit, but I'm going to have to give the most obvious answer that everyone should expect from a writing site. The most useful non-electronic items I own has to be my library card. To be honest, I considered 'books' but I would be hard-pressed to narrow it down to a handful. But my library card literally opens up new worlds to me, as well as worlds of the past. Of course, it's best used in tandem with my computer, so I can put books on hold and perform interlibrary-loan requests, but those can be done at the library, in contact with librarians. My phone is also useful here because it allows me to check out electronic library books, which has been fantastic during the lockdown. If I were going to be stuck on a deserted island, I can only hope that it houses a library, or that the library section of my ship washes to shore with me. It should be obvious why books via the library card are the most useful, but I'll state the obvious just in case. Books can be a fantastic escape from the mundane and sometimes terrifying world. Fantastic locations and intriguing characters abound on shelves of fiction. If that were their only strength, then the card might not rank among the most useful of items, though being able to escape reality can be useful at times. But even in fiction, books can raise thoughts, introduce new ideas and new ways of thinking. Nonfiction can be more direct in teaching and instructing a reader on how to perform a task. Before youTube showed us how, books of diagrams could be the best way to build, reshape, and learn new skills. I still prefer reading to watching most of the time because there's no rush through the step; I can linger over it and analyze and reanalyze however long I want without having to hit rewind. Books can help shape our thoughts and our ideas and make us into new people. I suppose along those ideas, a pen and paper would be the next two most useful. In theory, they can allow me to shape new worlds of my own, or to try to share those thoughts. You may think I'm crazy, but even though I'm out of school, I still like to write an occasional essay on a novel I've recently read, because the process helps me to organize my thoughts and impressions and make clear what has been hazy. Then of course there is the far more mundane: the ability to make lists, write instructions, and communicate that all come with pen and paper. I'm trying to think of what might fit into the last two slots. For work, maybe my Echo Livescribe pen, which records my interviews and matches them up with my notes. This makes it much easier to jump to specific points in interviews to verify a quote or statement. I'm a huge fan and am very disappointed that LiveScribe has gotten rid of its 4gb pen to stick with the 2gb. I'm also quite unimpressed by the pen that essentially works only as a mic and transmits directly to your phone, skipping the recording step. I would love to see them upgrade the LiveScribe to continue recording. Admittedly, the pen is a bit bulky and takes some getting used to, but it is a fantastic help in my line of work. I think for the last 'item' I'm going to cheat and say 'board games'. My kids are all teenagers now, and while my oldest has left and is wise enough to miss her mom, it's harder to engage my two boys, 17 and 15. I've managed to convince them to sit and play board games with me, and it's a good way to spend time together even though I'm the lame mom. My oldest really likes Twilight Imperium, a game that makes Monopoly look like a short jaunt. It takes anywhere from six hours to two days to play. It's nice to sit there with him and spend that much time together. My younger son is a bit less engaged but there have been a couple of games he's enjoyed playing. And my youngest takes the cake, she's much easier to grab the attention of. |
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