I'd be interested in hearing how you became a freelance writer and what was the motivation for going that route?
Originally, I started out as a short fiction writer...but three months before graduating from the University of Maine, I had an opportunity to interview a title winning bodybuilder. On spec, I sent that article into MuscleMag International and was shocked when they accepted and paid me $100.00! That was in 1985. I'm still writing for them, and yes, the payment has gone up considerably.
That experience opened the floodgates for me, though Bodybuilding wasn't exactly my cup of tea. But I saw it as a viable way to get my stuff in print. So, I began approaching Bodybuilding and fitness professionals for interviews. That has served me very well over the years, and I've been steadily (all paying markets) printed in such magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Flex and MuscleMag.
My real interest lies in the horror genre, however. I live and work in Maine, home of horrormeister Stephen King, and always wanted to get into Fangoria magazine. I broke in with them in 1986 by sending them an interview I'd done with an author by the name of John Coyne. That led to another long association, and I'm still working for Fango. In the years since, I've covered movies for them (Pet Sematary was the first), with the latest being Dark Shadows, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.
Between all this madness, I've been actively freelancing in the "nostalgia" market. I'm now old enough that my childhood has officially entered the realm of "vintage" (I'm 60), so writing about the late 50s, 1960s and 70s has proved both lucrative and a lot of fun. There are several publications that deal in this kind of subject matter, and they're always looking for new approaches and ideas.
How did you become a freelancer?
rod
Originally, I started out as a short fiction writer...but three months before graduating from the University of Maine, I had an opportunity to interview a title winning bodybuilder. On spec, I sent that article into MuscleMag International and was shocked when they accepted and paid me $100.00! That was in 1985. I'm still writing for them, and yes, the payment has gone up considerably.
That experience opened the floodgates for me, though Bodybuilding wasn't exactly my cup of tea. But I saw it as a viable way to get my stuff in print. So, I began approaching Bodybuilding and fitness professionals for interviews. That has served me very well over the years, and I've been steadily (all paying markets) printed in such magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Flex and MuscleMag.
My real interest lies in the horror genre, however. I live and work in Maine, home of horrormeister Stephen King, and always wanted to get into Fangoria magazine. I broke in with them in 1986 by sending them an interview I'd done with an author by the name of John Coyne. That led to another long association, and I'm still working for Fango. In the years since, I've covered movies for them (Pet Sematary was the first), with the latest being Dark Shadows, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.
Between all this madness, I've been actively freelancing in the "nostalgia" market. I'm now old enough that my childhood has officially entered the realm of "vintage" (I'm 60), so writing about the late 50s, 1960s and 70s has proved both lucrative and a lot of fun. There are several publications that deal in this kind of subject matter, and they're always looking for new approaches and ideas.
How did you become a freelancer?
rod
