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Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Discouraged but not derailed

It only took one five-minute conversation to take me from energized to totally discouraged. I wanted to write about this yesterday, but was feeling way too down on myself.

Got up the courage to call Editor yesterday and left a somewhat coherent, albeit rambling, message on her voicemail about my interest in pursuing additional stories for her. Was very encouraged when she returned my call less than an hour later. I felt it was a good sign. But, sadly, stories have already been planned for the magazine through the fall.

I'm not sure what I was expecting...perhaps something like: "Oh, so glad you called. Can't wait for you to whip up the next cover story." Okay, I wasn't really expecting that to be the conversation. And I know it's totally my own fault for not jumping in right away while still working on the last piece. But I was at least hoping to hear that they were still interested in my gripping piece on Bay Area c-sections.

Even though I didn't hang up with a new assignment, I suppose that I'm in a much better place than I was a couple of months ago. A couple of months ago, I didn't have an assignment. I didn't have a fabulous magazine cover story in boxes all over the Bay Area. I didn't my foot in the door at any publications. So, really I'm in a pretty good place. This way just means additional work on my end. And what I'd really like is to just have more work lined up automatically for whenever I'm feeling energized enough to jump on it. I guess that's just one more reason I need a personal assistant.

So I can still pitch stories for later this year, if not to preempt the current magazine line-up.

And Father in Chief, in all his soothing husbandry wisdom, said now is the time to approach other publications as well. The current exposure should help open doors elsewhere too. It just means a little more work on my end, which is all good. Except that it is actual work.

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