Kyoto!

So, here's the thing -- remember the story I sold to the big time editor? Well, we finally touched base about the story in detail last week. He was brusque and efficient, telling me what needed to be done, that he'd send me a contract, here was how best to put together my lede, and oh, yeah, was there a way I could go visit the researchers I'm interviewing?
"Sure," I said laughing. "But it's in Japan."

"Ok. Well if you can get there and back for $1000 that's fine."

Um, what??? My jaw literally bumped into the floor. Thank goodness we were on the phone instead of in person and I had the chance to recover before he realized what a complete and total amateur of a writer he'd hired who didn't even know such trip offers might ever happen to her.

So. . . I'm going to Japan at the end of the month. How cool is that?

Laziness Gets You Everywhere

It is amazing to me how often the whole zen, release-yourself-from-the-outcomes, just-stop-worrying-about-it attitude, well, works. After I told myself I needed a bit of a break from tracking down more magazine work, I was able to cross off a whole host of things from my to do list that had just been weighing me down.

One of these was a serious thorn in my side -- I pitched the story six weeks ago, I was going to send a follow up e-mail about two weeks later, and Christy told me I should just call. "Call Burk" has been on my to do list for literally four weeks, and every day I tell myself it's not such a big deal, just pick up the phone and call this guy (whom I have never met, who is busy, who clearly must not have liked my story or he would have called back, who won't recognize my name when I call, who clearly hates me).

I have not called. Christy keeps telling me I should. I tell myself I should. I haven't.

Yesterday, with the magic stroke of a the mouse, it was off my to do list. Gone! Done! Who cares if I get that story or not? I have other things to pay attention to!

It was a major load off my shoulders.

. . . and I got home this afternoon and he had called. He apologized for taking so long to get back to me. He wants the story.

This is so exciting I can't STAND it. It's my first article for a magazine that I would love love love to write for.

Um, but I'm just not sure what the moral should be here. Give up and good things will come to you? Laziness rules? Succomb to your fear and you will succeed? I mean really.

Interviewing

It's been awhile since I interviewed anyone for an article in person. I used to do a fair amount of live interviews for radio, so I've put in time learning how to make people feel comfortable (don't sit across from them, sit at an angle, or sit next to them) and encouraging them to talk without interrupting (the judicious nod and smile). But yesterday I had my first such interview in several years.

And I was, well . . . nervous.

In this case, things had actually gone a bit awry in advance too. I drove up to NYC the night before the interview, so I could quickly get to New Jersey the next day for the lunchtime meeting. My original plan was to drive up yesterday morning, but I realized that didn't leave any wiggle room in case something went wrong.

As it happened, something did.

I had a major tire blowout on I-95 right on the Marlyand/Delaware border. This wasn't too horrible in of itself. Besides the fact that the spare tire was bolted on so tightly that I couldn't get it off with my bare hands and I had to wait for some (jean-clad, strong, pickup-driving, handsomely-rugged) guy to stop and offer me a wrench, changing the tire was not that big of a deal. Neither -- after a few moments of consideration -- was it such a big deal to drop my car off in Newark, Delaware at a dealership that could get me a fairly specialized tire by the next morning. I'd just rent a car and go on up to NYC as planned. Even more of a bonus, I called a friend who lives in Delaware and convinced her to come pick me up and drive to New York with me -- so I didn't even need to rent a car.

All well and good, but this meant that on driving to the interview's house I had a guest in the car. It just simply wouldn't work to have an extra person along for the interview even if she was graciously invited in and allowed to sit in a different part of the house. It would have given the interview too much time pressure. . . so she gave me the keys to her car, and she lay down in the back seat so it looked like the car was empty. I drove up into the driveway and just left her to nap in the car for an hour. Really.

So in the back of my head as I do this interview, I keep having the vague fear that someone is going to discover her and I am going to appear to either be the biggest freak of all time, or possibly -- worse -- someone will think I have a dead body in the car since I am, after all, interviewing a mystery writer. I mean, who knows what kind of sick obsession I might have with mysteries?

But the truth is I was mostly nervous because I was interviewing Harlan Coben. I love love love his books. So there I am trying to be professional and to make it all comfortable and easy, and it's all I can do not to squeal things like: "Do you know the angst I felt when you finally let us knew who had screwed up Myron Bolitar's knee??" I feel a little like I interviewed him under false pretenses really. . . pretending I was there to just write a profile of him, when really I was busy doing hero-worship. I kept mentioning bits of his books hoping to seem charming since I knew his work, and then would worry that I was appearing, well, a wee bit obsessive.

But I think I am a wee bit obsessive, because every time I sit down to try to write this article I start talking about myself -- I have lots of things in there about how I got to meet him and what I thought of his answers and how I felt about this, that and everything. So I am writing it up here -- and hopefully that will free me to write a lot more coherently for the actual article.

It's On!

Yes, I am going to interview him! I am!

Mystery Interviews

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I'm going to get to interview one of my favorite mystery writers for my alumni magazine. Could be NONE more excited.

Query Writing

OK, I just e-mailed off a parapraph query that literally ended with the sentences: "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"

And the editor wrote back within an hour and said he loved the idea.

I swear casual -- good and interesting of course, but comfortably casual -- writing makes all the difference.

(Since he still has to check with other editors, I'm not going to jinx myself by telling what the story is yet, but I have my fingers crossed, 'cause it's a story I've wanted to do for awhile. . . )

E-mail, Take Two

. . . And what's up with those people who don't HAVE easily accessible e-mail addresses that I can search for and find on the web? Who are these people who are making me CALL them??? Mean, mean, mean.

E-mail vs. the Phone

Here's another thing I learned at the workshop last week: it's ok to e-mail your sources for interviews. I am behind the curve on this one -- always thinking that e-mail is perhaps the way to first touch base with someone, as well as a method for follow up questions, but it's not a real interview unless you actually have a phone conversation.

Now obviously for big interviews and big stories you need a phone conversation or even an in-person interview. . . but it was so nice to be told -- from some NYT reporters no less -- that they totally trust to e-mail if and when they can.

I kind of knew that my friends who write for women's magazines rely excessively on e-mail. This took me by surprise the first time I answered an e-mail query to be interviewed for a Glamour article and then realized that this wasn't just a pre-amble "do you have a story good enough for me" set of questions, but the whole shebang. I went straight from e-mail to Glamour e-mail fact-check.

Anyway, I wrote in big letters across my notebook: "Give yourself permission to do e-mail interviews!" And I was nothing but excited when I sent off a handful of e-mail questions to a few people on Friday regarding an article I'm writing for Ride magazine on how tourist revenue has increased at parks where they've lifted bans on jetskis. (I am interested, btw, in any and all other story suggestions about jetskis -- sorry, on personal watercraft -- that anyone might have. I'm truly desperate for a SCIENCE story on the subject. . . you know something where the researcher could get closer to the dolphins/coral reef/underwater volcano/sunken treasure because they were using jetskis. . . )

OK, but here's the problem -- apparently nobody else is on board with my whole e-mail interview plan. I have gotten no replies from these people. Do they not understand? Are they really going to make me CALL them?

I announce to the world: I have given myself permission to do e-mail interviews, now you have permission too. E-mail me back already!

Pitching Stories Update

And last news for the day. . . as far as magazine writing goes. . . which I am of course trying to be better about doing:

1) I have promised one editor (with whom I had lunch ten days ago) a paragraph pitch which I have half written, and need to get done asap. Hmm, I'll give myself a deadline of tomorrow.

2) I heard today from a magazine to which I sent my CV and clips a few weeks ago that they would like to assign me a story (on how opening parks up to personal water craft -- read jetskis -- has helped tourist revenue), so that's fun. I am pretending that this is like travel writing. :-)

3) I also am setting myself a deadline for contacting zoogoer magazine -- just to say hey ho and can we meet to discuss what your needs are -- of tomorrow.

4) I also need to investigate a little more on a story I want to pitch to Discover.

Animals

Oh, I also want to pitch a story to Zoogoer magazine -- the magazine of the National Zoo, which gets sent to all the FONZ members. It's a tough magazine to pitch, because the stories tend to be fairly general without a major news hook. I.e. they're in the category of "All About Flamingos!" (with often an added dash of ". . . and here's how their habitat is being destroyed.") So how do you manage to come up with something that is somehow both streamlined and simple, while still interesting and different enough to catch the editors' attention?

So far I have negged the suggestion of two friends who suggested capybara and peacock recipes ("Tastes like quail on the grill!"). With the latest National Zoo PR, I figure that wouldn't fly.

But I am looking for any and all ideas -- suggestions?

More Magazine Contacts

I'm on a tear. Having written that one e-mail to the editor in California, I have gotten my act together to make more contacts. The embarrassing thing here is that these "contacts" are, like, my friends. I mean, it's inexcusable that I haven't mentioned to them before now that I want to write for them.

Of course, one reason I have motivated to do all of this is because it was one of my homework assignments from the last writing group meeting -- so that's a material bonus of this new writing group right there.

So, the editor in California on the big, new physics magazine wrote back. He was very nice and said he knew who I was and that he was hoping to have a budget for freelancers set up in the next few months -- he couldn't hire on outside help at the moment but I should write back in a bit. Good, positive feedback, even though not any immediate writing assignments.

But THEN, I also followed up on a note that was mailed out to a listserv I'm on about a need for writers for a watercraft magazine. The note was to a general DC audience, but it happened to have been sent by a friend. It also had the words "Freelancers willing to ride personal watercraft for assignments are especially desirable." Am I willing to be paid to go out on the water? Um, YES. So I sent her some clips and my CV, and she made it sound like we'd be a good match, so that's exciting. It's also a bit of a start on every freelancer's dream to become a travel writer.

Next, I have had in the back of my mind that I need to contact another friend who just got a job as an editor at a fairly big magazine. But these things are kind of delicate and I didn't just want to say -- "Hmm, haven't seen you in a couple months, but hey can we talk about what you can do for ME?" Anyway, we were e-mailing today and of her own accord she asked if I wanted to do some writing for them. Whoo hoo! We're having lunch the first week in June to discuss.

So, all in all, I'm feeling good about my prospects at getting back into magazine writing after my 2 years of just focusing on books. . .

Checking Things Off the To Do List

I know this is SUCH old news. . . but why is it so hard to check off some of the most basic stuff off one's to do list? You put it down there at a moment of total organization and motivation. This, these things, that bullet point, THAT'S what I'll get done this week.

And then it just sort of sits there, getting transferred from one list to the next, gathering metaphorical dust. . .

. . . until one day you just DO it. And you can't figure out why the hell it took you so long to get around to it, since it was so damn easy.

Case in point: Last week I cleaned up my balcony and planted flowers in the 17,542 pots that I had lying around from the last time I bothered to plant flowers three years ago before a sub-tenant killed them all and I decided it wasn't worth it. My balcony is now so gorgeous that I have to run out there almost every two seconds to see just how many femtometers the morning glories have grown since I last checked. And -- including the time it took me to go to the plant store -- the whole shebang took me three hours. Absurd that I put it off for so long.

More to the WRITING point: I have been meaning to send a note to an editor in California for three months. I wanted to strike while the iron was hot, back in February after I had just met his supervisor -- but not him, since he was out of town -- and gotten the low-down on the brand new physics magazine they are putting together. It's a magazine with heady goals, as they're trying to make a really glossy, interesting, culturally-relevant magazine out of high-energy physics. From what little I know of the people involved, and the amount of support and enthusiasm behind the project, I think they've got a decent shot. And BOY do I want to write for them.

And yet, that "send e-mail introduction" to the editor has sat on my to do list for months. It's embarrassing really.

So, I just motivated to do it. A quick e-mail introduction, a quick edit of my current CV to make sure it was appropriate -- and boom, it's been sent into the ether.

WHY ON EARTH DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG???

Perhaps I just needed the inspiration of my balcony. . . I think I better go check on my morning glories.