The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

Nonfiction

Nannette Croce

Who Said This Isn't "Real" Writing?

When someone from T-Zero picked up on my experience writing for newsletters and suggested I submit an article on the topic, I was just a little taken aback. Newsletters? That isn't a real writing job. Real writing jobs are something you try out for. You submit items from your portfolio and you are either accepted or rejected. Newsletter openings happen when the person who is doing it gets tired of it. Then it usually falls to the person who has the most difficulty saying "no."

After a while, I realized how odd it was that I should cling to that notion, since every newsletter job that I've taken on I've done so of my own volition. Some I even sought out, and in every case I learned something that I was able to use later on in my more "serious" writing.

First, there was the newsletter that I started myself when I worked for a local YMCA. My job was to create and promote programs for Active Older Adults (formerly known as "senior citizens"). I soon discovered that my target audience rarely checked out the programs listed in the big YMCA brochure. So I started my own quarterly newsletter, "The Senior Scene," banged out in Microsoft Word with a little clip art thrown in for variety. This newsletter started out as just two pages. The second page was a calendar of events, the first page offered a couple of articles of two or three paragraphs each designed to draw attention to new programs.

However, it wasn't long before I saw the value of including regular features like, "Cooking for One," that members would look forward to reading. The newsletter never expanded beyond three pages (all newsletters needed to be compact for mailing purposes), but I learned to pack a lot of punch into those three pages, a valuable lesson for when I started writing query letters to other publications.

Then there was the volunteer group I belonged to at a local historical site. After getting several newsletter issues promoting programs that had already taken place, I realized that the editor either didn't like the job or had too many other things to do. So I approached her, asking if she could use a little help and telling her about my experience with the YMCA. It turns out she was only too happy to give up the job, having hit a point in her life when she was overwhelmed with other things, and I, honestly, was happy to take over.

This time it was a little different because, being a historical site, some of my articles involved facts and dates. I learned a hard lesson about verifying my sources when I set the Battle of the Brandywine one year too soon. But I also learned a little about research, and how to bring interest to an old story.

And now, here I am again. Just the other day an organization I joined only two weeks before sent out a list of volunteer opportunities. What was on the list, but the job of newsletter editor? I haven't even attended one meeting yet, but I signed up anyway. This time around, it will be much harder. Having decided to focus on a writing career of my own, it's going to be a little tougher to make the time, especially as it means attending a lot of meetings to stay on top of what's happening.

So why am I doing it? Why would anyone interested in "serious writing" continue to take up her time with something as "insignificant" as newsletters? Actually, there are lots of reasons.

First, I don't consider the writing I do for newsletters to be "insignificant." In most cases, I am writing for results and, better yet, often those results can be measured. That's a rare opportunity for a writer, and one you can really learn from. If ten new tour guides sign up at the historical site after reading my article "Walking Through History," then I've hit my mark and I'll incorporate some of those same ideas in similar articles. On the other hand, if my article fails to attract anyone, I know I need to try a different angle.

Second, the experience I've gained transfers well into other aspects of my writing. Catching the reader's attention with a good opening line and making my point in just a few words has been great experience for writing query letters. Writing for tight deadlines, and thinking ahead on timing, has taught me a lot about querying for seasonal articles. And you just can't underestimate the value of coming up with catchy titles.

But the main reason I write for newsletters is that I enjoy it. There's something about knowing my work will go into print, whether I labor over every word or not, that revs up my creativity. Suddenly, clever titles pop into my head, humor abounds, and my fingers fly across the keyboard. Furthermore, it's a terrific remedy for "writer's block." The satisfaction that comes from producing a finished product, even if it's just a few short articles, often inspires me to go back and tackle a short story that seems to be going nowhere. Once, in fact, a perfect ending popped into my head just after I had dropped my newsletter off at the printer. It seems to inspire a "can-do" attitude that opens my mind to different possibilities.

Now, this is not to say that telling a group of writers that I write for newsletters doesn't still feel a little like telling a group of heart surgeons that I volunteer at the hospital. The word "only" has a tendency to creep in. And if this proved to be the last stop in my writing career, I would not look back on my life with total satisfaction. However, as a rung on the ladder, newsletter writing has proven to be a good first step. Plus, it's just plain fun.