PAMELA WHITE publishes 2 ezines, The Writing Parent at and Food Writing
She teaches online writing classes from both sites and has had over 600 articles published in newspapers, online and in magazines including Writer's Digest, ByLine, Home Cooking, Low Carb Energy, and in anthologies. Her short mysteries have been published both in print and online.
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PAMELA WHITE
Cool Moves and Writing
I have an 8-year-old friend.
She's a lively third-grader who has a strong sense of self. One evening I
was babysitting her and she shared a list of odd-sounding names. "Back
Stand," "Over-Under Flip," "The Round About-er," "Twist, Un-twist,” “Upside-
down Split."
"Gymnastics," she explained. "I made up some cool moves."
I was already curious so I was happy when she offered to demonstrate.
The "Over-Under Flip" turned out to be more of what most people would
consider a flop.
The "Upside-down Split" had her jumping up and down, twirling around
and making a run for the couch. She plopped on the couch, on her back,
and lifted her legs in the air, splitting them apart, and waving them around.
(Then she fell off the couch, but she assured me that was not part of the
move.)
Cool moves, indeed.
My grown-up mind recognized that each of her moves was merely a failed
attempt at some other real gymnastic move.
My creative mind jumped for joy at her way of turning a challenge into
a personal, unique success.
She could not perform a cartwheel, flip, head stand, or split so she adapted
them to suit her abilities. Suddenly, she was a success. In fact, it's safe to
say that she is the best Over-Under Flipper around!
When we put our writing dreams into motion, we are often given specific
rules to follow, steps to take and books to read in order to make it big.
In fact, we are also often handed someone else's definition of making
it big.
We could follow someone else's map to success.
Or we can look at where we are and what we are interested in, and build
our own "cool moves" as food writers. My best friends flip through Bon
Appetit for inspiration to create their own magnificent dishes. I look
through farmer's markets and my pantry to uncover exciting, fresh recipes.
Good news! We're all correct in our approach.
Early on in my food writing, I ran into someone who told me that there
were only five food magazines available for food writers, and nothing
else mattered. On the other hand, I've seen food writers start with a
free newsletter and turn their weekly recipe offerings into a cookbook.
Others write for sites, weekly newspapers, online syndicators and
ezines to build up both a following and published clips. Still others
write articles about food for camping, leisure, parenting, regional, and
travel magazines.
My 8-year-old friend's philosophy helped me refocus for the new year.
Instead of focusing on a few markets for food writers and comparing
my work with others' successes, I plan to return to writing culinary
mystery shorts, personal essays(always about food) and working on
my cookbook. These are the "Over-Under Flippers" that fill me with joy.
Now it's your turn.
What would you do if you didn't feel you had to compare your performance
with anyone else's?
©2007 PAMELA WHITE
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