|
2003, 2004 & 2005: Named one of the
101 best Web sites for writers by Writers Digest Magazine. |
The No Fee Contest Book includes more than 190 no fee contests.
Interaction
Publishers... Make Write From Home your Homepage.
Write From Home
Kim Wilson P.O. Box 4145 Hamilton, NJ 08610 Tel: (609) 888-1683 Fax: (609) 888-1672 E-mail: kim@writefromhome.com
|
Life of a Writer Mom Column
The Audience In Front of Us My books and columns keep me busy writing for my cyber-audience. I'm constantly thinking up new ideas and new plots, trying to attract yet another fan. Recently, though, I was reminded of another audience: the readers I have already won over. Let me explain. Every Christmas one of my favorite gifts I receive is a gift card to a bookstore. When everything settles down, the week before Christmas I take my gift card and my kids take their Christmas money and we all make our pilgrimage the book store. An outing my kids and I always look forward to. This year was no different. Soon my kids had their books chosen and it was my turn to browse the aisles. While my children happily plopped down in the aisle full of books I was perusing and began reading and I began my search for the perfect book. I can always be found in the bargain aisle—more books for your buck in my mind, but more importantly, the selection there is a compendium of a wide variety of books, any of which could trigger a story idea in my mind at any time. As I searched for the one book I knew I wouldn't be able to pass up, I felt a seven-year-old tug on my shirt. It was my youngest child, Matthew. With a big grin on his face, he said, "You need this," as he handed me a book. I looked at the book he had just given me. It was about the history of pirates, and there was a picture on the cover as someone my 15-year-old might categorize as "One scary looking dude." I knelt down to Matthew's level and tried to explain that I wasn't sure I really needed a pirate book right now. "Sure you do," he replied, "for my pirate story." A mixture of guilt and amazement filled me. It was last June when during supper he casually started questioning me about pirates. The questions were non-stop. "Do pirates live near our house?" Considering we're about two hours from the ocean, I replied, "No, probably not." "Are there still pirates today?" "Sure, why not," I said. "You mean they never had to go to school or take a bath?" "Not that I know of," I answered. Then came his request for a pirate story. Not a picture book about pirates but one about a real honest to goodness, sword wielding pirate. Since then with work and family responsibilities, his request for a pirate story got pushed to the back of my mind until now, in the bookstore aisle. I couldn't believe he still remembered his request from last summer. In the end, the pirate book did indeed come home with us. I've since purchased several notebooks as well and begun work on his pirate tale. And I'll always be thankful for the reminder from a seven-year-old about the importance of keeping my devoted fans happy. Carla Charter is mom to Samantha, Halden, and Mathew. In addition to being a mom, Carla is a freelance writer specializing in newspaper and magazine journalism. Among her publication credits are Woman's World, American Indian Report and New England Business Journal. Online she has been published in Scubasource.com and Military.com. She teaches creative writing courses at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Ma. Recently her novel Across Lots has been serialized at http://www.newenglandwow.com. She may be reached at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net. |
Have You Read...
New to freelance writing?
Authors Area
Resources |
|
Send mail to
kim@writefromhome.com with
questions or comments about this Web site. Report broken links to
kim@writefromhome.com. |
Writing
and Illustrating Children's Books
