I wish I had one of these!
I’ve been quiet for a while and not following my own advice of blog, blog, blog – I am clearly the worse type of advert for my services! The reality is that I’ve been really busy with my magazine business, so my freelance work has taken a bit of a back seat, along with any spare time I have to blog. There’s always something more pressing going on and if it’s going to pay the bills then it has to take precedence.
I intend to correct this imbalance as best as I can in 2018, so there’s my new year’s resolution right there! After all, you’re not a writer if you’re not actually writing anything, even if you’re doing it for yourself or for free…
So, what’s the plan for 2018? Well for a start I still need to keep the magazine ticking along, but I fully intend to explore more freelance avenues. I wrote a post last year called ‘To niche, or not to niche…’ in which I discussed whether not having a writing niche was prohibitive to becoming a successful freelance writer. I’ve been reflecting on this over the latter half of last year and into this year and whilst I still think it makes sense to keep an open mind whilst you earn your stripes, I’ve also found myself being drawn back to the one thing I do know about, and that’s heritage.
I mistakenly believed that heritage was not a topic that was widely embraced by the magazine community. History – yes. You see many a history magazine on the shelves of the newsagents. A flick through reveals some fairly heavy topics, more often than not written by actual experts and historians – people who have been widely published and have written actual published books! Gasp! These people are pro’s – some are even household names and appear on popular history programmes on TV. I’m fairly confident I don’t sit within that esteemed clique of writer-folk.
However, what I hadn’t considered was that there was a market for social history type publications, family history magazines, and the ‘nostalgia market’. Now that I CAN do…
I’ve been doing my research and it’s not a chore, because before the kids, heritage was my passion. It still is, which in all honesty was a bit of a revelation because I didn’t think I had space in my life for my other big love.
So, I’m gathering ideas and making some pitches; retracing my steps and going back to my roots. Fingers crossed I’m able to get across my passion for the subject and my expertise and gain my first commission in this market.
I’ve also been commissioned by the fab guys at The Confectionery again to write their blog and brand pages, plus copywriting for their Valentine’s Day Facebook campaign – I’m hoping 2018 brings more of that as they are the best clients ever!
Seems apt then that as we approach the day when ‘love is in the air’, I’m falling in love all over again with one of my first true loves…heritage, I could kiss you! x
