I started out writing poems but I soon found that article-writing was a great way forward. You can visit an event, take some photos, write it up – hopefully in an engaging way – and get paid for your efforts! What’s not to like?
Admittedly, it’s not always that easy. My first article, published in People’s Friend magazine, described a trip I took solo to Toronto. I soon found that a woman travelling alone has a very different experience from travelling with a friend or partner, perhaps because of the vacant seat beside her. Other women of a certain age make a beeline for it and start up a conversation. At Heathrow, my plane was delayed for seven hours. I need not have wondered how to fill the time: a lady asked me if, like her, I had received food vouchers and we spent some happy time together picking and choosing our lunch. Not once when travelling did I get my book out – chatty ladies popped up on the train, on coaches and even in the café in Toronto when I’d hopped in for a quick coffee and to rest my aching feet.
To date, I have had around 100 articles published in magazines such as People’s Friend, The Countryman, This England, Evergreen and Hertfordshire Countryside (the last two now sadly defunct). Articles can be about anything that interest you. Mine range from local events, heart-warming life stories, churches, animals, travel and even ice-cream, Robin Hood, comets and stars, the Bramley apple and a vicar who hitch-hiked around villages from A-Z raising funds for his charity.
An Editor at one of the magazines I had contributed to connected me to Amberley Publishing. Have a look at their wide range of non-fiction books. My first book for them was the A-Z of St Albans - Places, People and History. It was followed by the A-Z of Lincoln, A-Z of The Isle of Wight and A-Z of Hitchin. As mentioned in my Latest News, they are all 20,000 words plus 100 photos, captions, introduction and blurb.
At Verulum Writers, we have an online magazine, Veracity, to which I am a regular contributor. Shorts for All Seasons is a collection of short stories written for VW competitions over the twenty-five or so years that I have been a member.
Some of my writing is personal, of course. I surprised my two children with books on their first fifty years when they reached their half-centuries. Luckily, I had lots of childhood photos to jog my memory. The books are lovely keepsakes and memories. I also keep a Book of Life, musings on the little things in life that bring a smile or tear. I have another entitled Biblical, poems mostly written at Easter and Christmas, or little thoughts that wing their way, that I don’t want to lose.
Writing is an amazing journey and I have met some wonderful people along the way. Poetry gave me space for humour and the freedom to express feelings in endless similes and metaphors. Article-writing taught the importance of research and reliable websites. Writing for Amberley Publishing is sheer joy.