Idea To Article -- Part one

Over the last ten to fifteen years, books have been my passion and the bulk of my writing life. It’s not where I began and I write much more than books.  Please don’t misunderstand. I love books but I continue to believe many writers are missing golden opportunities by not practicing the short form—magazine writing.

In the article format, I’m able to practice many of the techniques I use in my books, yet in a more compressed form.  It’s a sharpening process for my writing life and important. If you’ve strayed into only writing books, then I recommend you return to writing magazine articles. It will build something into your books.

Over the next few posts (I’m unsure how many), I’m going to provide some specific insight into each step of the magazine writing process. Where do you get ideas? How do you pitch your ideas to the editor with a query letter? How do you find people to interview? How do you interview? After the interview what happens? How do you write the article?

I’ll be walking you through the specifics and hopefully providing some insight and tips for you—whether you are starting the process or have written hundreds of articles and several books. I’m eager to begin this series but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Hurry back.