This is Bonnie, writing from the wide sky expanses and oceans of wheat fields in Kansas. Breathe in. Breathe out. Yeah.

I've been lurking, coming out only at night to furtively read posts and scuttling back to my burrow with kernels of thought and opinion to chew on for awhile. And then I thought -- am I a man or a mouse? Actually, though, I'm neither.

I'm a NEWBIE! That is so exciting to say, at nearly 40, after having been an engineering services marketer, teacher, alternative health consultant, community planning developer, and single parent of 6 (well, I'm still that).

Three weeks ago I had a brainchild (I know, yes, I know what causes that, and I thought I had that taken care of with the divorce) and decided that I wanted to do freelance writing. I've been reading everything I could lately, have written a few poorly done queries and pitched a local newspaper editor (only clocked 72 -- gotta work on my arm, but dang she was heavy.)

I have some solid goals, and I think I'll really like this new avenue. I'm a WAHM, BTW. (I don't think I'll ever get used to that; that just does not sound flattering at all.) I propose a new one -- I'm a 10 (how many projects I can juggle in the air at once...)

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"People do not grow old no matter how long we live. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we were born."
--Albert Einstein

Welcome, everyone!!



zubbycat :)

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"Read! Read! Read! Write! Write! Write! Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite!" - Pierre Berton
"Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words." - Mark Twain

Welcome, Newbies!

grassblade

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Of all the creatures both in the sea and land,
Only to man Thou hast made known Thy ways,
And put the pen alone into his hand,
And made him secretary of Thy praise.
--George Herbert
www.patriciasbaker.com

Hello, new arrivals. Welcome in.

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Rejection is Nature's way of telling you to write better.

Hi!

I'm Sue from the glorious 3 rivers and many bridges city of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, I'm a Not-SAHM or WAHM, but the latter is my goal.

I've been writing professional in my full-time day job for about 5 years and have always wanted to work for myself. Now that I have a 13-month old beautiful baby girl, I really need to. So, I'm just starting out with this freelance thing and keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out. I want to publish in magazines, but my main goal is to write for nonprofits (grants, brochures, annuals, etc), which is what I current do in my FT job. I've been procrastinating the start of this for some time, have overloaded myself with reading about it, and finally decided to jump in. So, if anyone has any tips for a beginning freelancer and future WAHM, send them my way! :D

~~~BUMP~~~

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www.davidlevinchess.com

Welcome, new arrivals. Nice to meet you and I hope you have a good time here.

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Rejection is Nature's way of telling you to write better.

~~ Bumped up for the newbies ~~ Sign in and let us get to know you. :)

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Jeanne

Hi. I'm one of the newbies and I'd thought I'd introduce myself to the Writers' Weekly Gen Pop. My name's Beth and I'm from the great Garden State of New Jersey. I live just outside Philadelphia and terrifyingly close to Camden, which was ranked as the most dangerous city in the U.S. by the F.B.I. earlier this year. Being from NJ, and not even the cool, "Sopranos" area of the state, means that you're a prime target for humiliating armpit- of- the-nation jokes by various late night hosts. Setting myself up for more rejection and humiliation as a freelance writer seemed to be a natural fit. So, here I am! Fire away with the New Jersey jokes! I've heard 'em all.

When I'm not slinking around Philly with my perpetually unhip hairdo, I volunteer at my local Cooperative Extension Service as a Master Gardener. I have an old house that needs constant attention, a two-year-old daughter that needs even more, a hardworking husband, and two of the laziest cats on the planet. I'm a lefty liberal who enjoys watching Fox News for the sheer comedic irony, and thinks that Karl Rove and Ann Coulter are the embodiment of evil. I drink a lot of coffee and, no matter what the AMA will say about it this year, next year, or ten years from now, I will never, ever give it up.

I look forward to getting to know you guys. I've enjoyed this forum a lot since I joined.

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Travel Light

Welcome aboard Jersey Girl ... I'm about 90 miles south of ya ... no jokes from me . :-)



Join the club ... I live on caffine and nicotine.

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Life is like a roll of toilet paper ...
The closer to the end it gets ... the faster it goes.

Back in pre-history, I worked at an ad agency on William St., in NYC and lived for a time in North Bergen. Traffic was horrendous even then, so I got acquainted with Port Authority's bus terminal, but otherwise Joisey wasn't bad at all.

I'm a fiscally conservative liberal who agrees with you about Rove & Coulter (actually, I think combines stupidity with plain ol' fashioned nastiness), but I promise you will at least slow down on the coffee in later years. I drink more half strength now (completely decaf coffee totally defeats the purpose of the beverage), and I drink less of it.

Current local is what is called south central Virginia, 10 miles from the nearst town. It wasn''t a really big change, because I moved to rural NY State before moving to even more rural Virginia.

Enjoy the group. It's fun and educational.

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Charlie Self
www.charlieselfonline.com

After decades of drinking and loving the stuff, I kicked soda a month ago. That's my bit of extremism for this year.

Mind you, I'm still loving it, but I'm just not drinking it any more.

Other than that caffeine withdrawel headache for a week, I don't really notice any change.

Oh, and I never did drink coffee, although I still love those chocolate covered coffee beans.

I thought my hometown was the armpit of the nation. I "fondly" refer to it as the Tatooine of the Midwest.

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Some days you're the dog. Some days you're the hydrant.

Are they cooked or something? I'd imagine they'd be hard on the teeth.

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"I am building a stairway to the stars. I have the authority to take the whole of mankind up there with me.
That is why I write." - Bessie Head


http://thoughtsfrombotswana.blogspot.com/

Welcome Sue and Jersey Girl!

And no NJ jokes from me, either...I grew up in northern Jersey, and have fond memories of hills and trees (which are sadly missing here in the flatlands of north Texas).

~~ bumped up for the newbies ~~

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Jeanne