erika, I once described her to someone as a hot cranky angel. She is all that, and more.

Danyel the dynamo.

LJ, if you want to freelance, don't wait as long as I did to decide to go out on your own. I did it five years ago, and I found that there are a lot of writing opportunities out there that appeared once I actually committed myself to freelancing. You say that you don't have a lot of ideas, but many of the articles you see in magazines weren't pitched by freelancers; the editor picked a freelancer to write the article. If you just come up with one idea, sell the article and the editor likes it, he may well call you to write other articles. Even the stuff that pays the bills, such as corporate brochures and magazine articles, stays pretty interesting if you're doing it for different companies.

That being said, I'd really like to move up to the higher end-magazines, and that's going to take some serious query writing on my part. A good query is a significant time investment, and I keep putting it off.

Sister! Alas the hours are so not compatible with disability, it's to laugh.

Ah, I'm sorry.

You might be able to do the Laura Hildebrande thing of writing from your home based on phone interviews, but that's still not as much of a rush as going to the courthouse or whatever. (Plus, I'm not sure crime is as easy to write about from home as historic horse racing is.) I am sure you will find your niche.

Ginger, thanks for the advice. You're right that it's more about selling one story to the right editor than it is about selling bunches of ideas every month. I just need to find that one idea ... though,I was thinking lats night, and I have a few. Just need to turn them into queries.

Maybe if I could find one case and write a book or something. But you know, who am I? Don't have much cred.If there ever really was an Internet killer, maybe.And the teacher who taught the magazine-writing course thought I could...just reach out and touch Justin Dart or Steven Hawking. Secret Gimp Handshake, huh? I mean, we are kind of a small minority but still numbering in the millions. We don't all know each other.

Maybe if I could find one case and write a book or something. But you know, who am I? Don't have much cred.If there ever really was an Internet killer, maybe.

Actually ... that's an excellent idea. Not so much "internet killer," though there was some guy in Kansas who killed women he met on S&M boards, but picking a case and focusing in on it. You might not be able to sell a book, but I think crimelibrary.com is freelancer-written. (Or at least, I hope so, given how bad some of the writing on there is.)

"Secret gimp handshake," ick ick ick. You are not your disability.

(And isn't it funny how I can give advice to everyone except myself?)

LJ, that's why we need to throw these things at each other. I can give better advice than I can take, but giving it makes me better at taking it, too. If that makes sense, huzzah.

And go you on the ideas and querying!!!

Erika, I know there's plenty of bizarreness in the crime in the Valley of the Sun. Keep an eye peeled in the crime pages of your local papers. (Is the Repub still the main local rag?)

Though I haven't written any more pages on my novel recently, I just found an rather exciting idea to incorporate that will help me shape it more clearly in my head.

So, YAY me, too.

But you know, who am I?

A damn fine writer.

Thank you. But I'm not an expert in anything but the freakshow that is my life. Which to be fair intersects with disability experience, women's studies, and more tangentially mental illness and the legal system(those are not really my experiences just family ones) I know tiny things about a lot of things, and two sets of fandom kerfuffles. And dirty words in three languages and counting.(four if you count UK English as seperate)

Still, if you are lucky enough to know the kind of thing you want to write about, go for it. It might not make you any money (or it might), but it will keep you happier.

I think I need to be writing something. When I stopped, it was because I was hoping I'd be dead soon. Even then, I started some beautiful suicide notes. Of course, that's all in the lede. "By the time you'll read this, I'll be dead" may be considered hack by some, but it's a classic for a reason, imo.(Can you believe people think my queries are too intense? Where do they get off?)...I'm kidding. I never put that in. But it's true that "want" is only part of the deal.