What are myths and how and why did early Native Americans tell them? How did myths affect their traditions and cultures?
You’ll have to read my latest book (Crabtree Publishing Company) to get the answers and find myths related to the natural world, religion and gods, trade and warfare and more!
Hot off the presses!
Hiking Kananaskis with a couple of mountain hounds! (Photo credit: B Kopp)
I love the outdoors; always have. It doesn’t matter if I’m strolling a frozen riverbank spotting early spring migrants or hiking a desert canyon – I’m into being outside. I also love the information and technology that either allows me to get outside with greater ease or provides insight into the world outdoors. Sharing this passion through social media is an easy conversation. Columbia Sportswear took notice and asked if I’d like some of their gear. I said no.
Just joking! I came home yesterday after a weekend away to find a package on the front porch. Inside it was a Columbia Trail Drier Windbreaker and a note that, among other things, said: “We dig your posts about the outdoors and wanted to help you get outside and enjoy them more.”
Okay, maybe it is blatant flattery and they are just hoping that I’ll tweet or blog about the product as a gear tester. Good (even bad) reviews help spread the product name. It’s free – and personalized – marketing for them. Participation in this is, of course, voluntary and without compensation other than the gear, but – and here’s the catch – I like their gear. It’s stuff I would and do buy on my own.
Will I spread the word through social media about this product? I already am – in case you haven’t noticed! And I will continue to do so – in my own way and on my own schedule – because it suits me. Would I do this for every company? No.
I received an email last week asking if I’d like to write a travel-related post for a different company’s blog. I asked if it was a paying proposition. They said no, but would I be interested in goods or services in kind. I looked at their products and said thanks, but no thanks. It’s not that their product is bad – in fact, just the opposite – but it isn’t something that I would be spending money on. Their product is not my passion.
Writing for free is a hot topic these days. Dissenters will say that I should hold out to be paid for writing anything – even for a product that I personally like. I say that most times they are right…
… but usually not when it comes to outdoor gear!
What’s your passion/writing niche?
It never gets old!
Photo by: Megan Kopp
New book came today – Reality Television, from ABDO Publishing Company. After walking the dog, checking the mail and finding a package (following a day spent practicing my tele-turns on the ski hill) – it reminds me why I love freelance writing so much!
The latest crop from words sown and carefully tended:
Remarkable Writers: Suzanne Collins
Animals on the Farm: Sheep
Animals on the Farm: Chickens
American Icons: Liberty Bell
Canadian Issues: Should Canada Have an Elected Senate?
Ta da!
Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work this writer goes!
Yes, the office is back to its new norm with flooring in place, fresh paint on the walls, and too many years of collected scraps of paper sorted and saved or recycled.
In the midst of the renos, I met my deadline by wrapping up the final edits for a kid’s book on NASCAR drivers (who knew that Jimmie Johnson gets carsick when not behind the wheel of a moving car). If you say you can’t write because you don’t have the space or there’s too much distraction, you’re just not trying hard enough. Proof positive right here.
I also re-discovered a half-baked project idea buried in the depths of the storage closet. The question was what to do with those files. The idea was to explore the fine line between art and craft. I had brainstormed the project with a friend who is an artisan. She had the hands-on knowledge and I had the writing background. It seemed like the perfect partnership, but other commitments got in our way.
With this newly-found idea still percolating through the recesses of my mind, I happened to pick up the September issue of Writer’s Digest. In it was an article about blogging your way to a book. Our idea would work well as a series of blog posts.
I think I like that idea. Time to call Sus and see what she thinks!
Are you blogging about a topic that has book potential? If you stuck with it long enough to build a solid platform to support a book, would you consider traditional marketing of the idea, write an e-book, or look at self-publishing?
“Before writing, think a lot.
After writing, erase a lot.”
– Carlos Herrar Alvarez
“If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer. It means you are so busy keeping one eye on the commercial market, or one ear peeled for the avant-garde coterie, that you are not being yourself…”
– Ray Bradbury, from Zen and the Art of Writing, Capra Press, 1990.
Empty and ready for change!
Funny the things you find when you gut your office after 15 years. Tucked behind my massive desk weighted down with a ton of books was a slip of paper that had fallen from the bulletin board many years before; it had that quote written on it.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve started to question the direction my writing career is taking. I’m busier than ever, but more and more of the projects aren’t challenging my creative side. I’m not writing with gusto, with love, or having a whole lot of fun. The work has started to become… well… work.
Finding this slip of paper was just one more sign that I need to lighten up and get back to what made me happy with my writing career. I’m taking it to heart and I’m going to re-kindle the enthusiasm I used to feel about it.
Boxes in the bedroom, computer in the kitchen, desk in the living room – but the writing goes on.
So in the midst of chaos – with an office spread out over the kitchen table, boxes in the bedroom, and a desk in the living room – I’m ditching autopilot and taking back the controls of this flight. Change is in the air!
How does change affect your writing? Does it stimulate creative thought or make it impossible to get anything done?
June monsoons hit with a vengeance last night – thunder, lightening, hail, and torrential rain for much of the evening – making me doubly glad I took time for a hike up Forgetmenot Ridge before the weather descended.
Normally running underground at this point, the Big Elbow was showing signs of spring rain and winter melt-off. (Photo Credit: B. Kopp)
Wind gusts of up to 100 km/h added to the ridgetop experience! (Photo Credit: M. Kopp)
As always, there were beautiful things to see! (Photo credit: M, Kopp)
Now that the weather has turned, it’s time to hole up in the office. With no major deadlines looming, I can update the blog, learn more about LinkedIn and other social media marketing tools for writers, catch up on the requisite writer’s bookwork, and send out a couple of new article queries. Making the most of each day – whatever it brings – is what makes being a freelance writer worthwhile.
What are you up to today?
“We would accomplish many more things
if we did not think of them as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi
When January flipped the calendar page, I made a resolution. Break into a new market by the end of the month. With a clear slate and no looming deadlines, it seemed dead easy. I fired off three focused queries. The ideas were sound, but the market was really looking for writers with their own travel blogs to help cross-promote. Sigh.
The next day I was offered another children’s book title. I turned it down – sort of.
Less than a week before I was at a friend’s New Year’s Eve party. Chatting with one of the party-goers, I discovered that she was stay-at-home mom very interested in writing a children’s book… about hunting. Not my niche at all, but the conversation wound around to writing for kids in general. I had some resources to share, so we exchanged email addresses.
And then I was offered the book project. The topic was… hunting. I wasn’t interested in doing it, but I knew someone who would be. The only hitch was that she had never had anything published before. I convinced the editor that I could work with the new author to make sure the manuscript met the publisher’s needs.
And so, my first foray into editing – beyond editing my own work – unfolded. I would do this again in a heartbeat. The deadline was met, the manuscript was accepted, and the budding author is over the moon. Win, win, win!
No, it wasn’t the path I had projected at the start of the month, but I’m thrilled with the new direction.
“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.”
– Denis Waitley
Where to go?
Who to meet?
What to do?
How to travel?
Which path to choose?
Pull up a chair and join me on a freelance writer’s journey into a brand new year. My resolution is to prove that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Let’s see how I do!
Task one: break into a new writing market in January.