First of all, I believe I told you that one of my articles finally got accepted for publication some months ago, correct? Yes, my article about the Seoul-for-Seolnar jaunt got accepted at Real Travel Adventures, a free online e-zine (www.realtraveladventures.com). It's a small publication, but its articles never fail to be interesting: I've read some fascinating stories of people biking the length of South America, and taking wine-tasting barge cruises up and down the Seine in France. It got my foot in the door.
Shortly after this, another one of my articles was accepted (with recompense) at In the Know Traveler, a sort of online travel database (www.intheknowtraveler.com). It was a little piece concerning Gohyeon and Geoje Island, where I spent my tenure as an expatriate English teacher. I've been trying to keep track of it and find it when it's published on their website, but I haven't had much luck. If you see it, let me know, will you? ITKT pays on publication, and I haven't received payment yet, so I can only assume that the article hasn't been published on the site yet. I might send a message to the editor and check its status, in fact...
Finally, I may have mentioned that I was accepted as a freelance writer for Demand Studios, an information broker out of the L.A. Basin. Here's how it works: you get accepted as a writer, you choose what assignments you want (there are hundreds), "claim" them, write them up according to the formatting rules, and submit them. If they're approved, you get paid $5-$15 apiece for them. You can take on as many or as few as you want. Immediately after hearing the news that I was accepted, I logged on and claimed an article titled "Tips on Learning to Play the Piano." I wrote it, formatted it and submitted it, and received word that it had been accepted. I've gotten my payment through PayPal and am $15 richer. Neat-o!
Anyway, that's all I've done professionally so far. I've really got to get to work here (especially since I'm doing nothing, not even job hunting anymore; I'm waiting to see if I have any bites) and write up some more stuff and submit it. In the meantime, though, I'm really trying to get back to work on my novel. I've let it sit for awhile since getting back from Korea, and every comic book I read or adventure novel I peruse gets me itching to finish mine. I've just been plagued by uncertainty and self-doubt (I have a real problem with that).
So, to lug myself out of the rut, I purchased a book called How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey, a professor at Berkeley. So far it's been very helpful. Frey has a hard-hitting, no-nonsense, you-can-do-it style that is reassuring and didactic at the same time. His first chapter, concerning character, was just what the doctor ordered. Last night I got down to business and completed character bios for my two main protagonists, and now feel familiar enough with my two main characters to get on with writing. (That's very important, according to Frey; you should know your characters as well as you know your best friend or brother, including their stance on politics, religion, family, relationships, and whatever else might influence their behavior. Getting to know my protagonists has taken a long, long time and is basically what's holding up the show.) After completing them, I sat down and banged out two more pages of the book, quite a bit more than I've done at one sitting in a long while. I think I can actually see the end in sight...the plot of the book, including the denouement and the more nebulous parts of Act II, have been gradually coalescing in my mind. I think with a few more nights of solid work I can get this thing drafted. Then comes the rewriting process...we'll see if Frey can help me with that. Stephen King sure did. (On Writing is another book that I highly recommend for people who desire to write a book but don't think they could.)
Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted.
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