Advice From a Writer: Wendi Aarons

A few months ago, I discovered the writer Wendi Aarons. Her humor grabbed me first, with her website, relatable tweets and always-funny Twitter profile picture, but I also had to appreciate how she keeps things simple in each blog post, choosing a topic and following it through in the ‘short but sweet’ way that I still have to work on. She makes a living based on her work, serves as coauthor of the parody Twitter account @PaulRyanGosling and just seems all-around cool. One day she published something about writer’s block and strangers disliking her style that made me think, ‘I should really ask this woman for a little advice! I want some of the things she has and she’s been in this field a lot longer than I have, so why not take a chance and come up with some questions?' I soon did just that, and – check this out, you guys – she responded! My work life has been eventful lately because I needed to change environments, y' know? It's time for a new adventure, so it was kind of a relief to read Mrs. Aarons' Wendi's answers since they made it clear that yeah, I’m dealing with the industry that Writer's Digest has been talking about. I wanted the combo of hard work, struggles and opportunities, competition, persistence and community, and this world has all that. It’s not like I’m trying to get a job keeping nuclear missiles secure. Writing (especially fiction) is definitely my thing. 

Below are the e-mails exchanged between clever celebrity blogger Wendi Aarons and myself! This has been a good dose of inspiration/reality for me.

July 7

Dear Wendi,

I’ve recently (finally) discovered your work and become a fan, so you ended up crossing my mind when I got another rejection from a website in my attempt to become a freelance writer. I’m ready for all the ‘No’s coming my way, be they deserved or not (and sometimes they are deserved), but I’d like some advice on how you’ve made it work. I have a day job, of course, but using a funny thought to make some scratch to feed the ol’ gambling addiction must be helpful and a little gratifying. I can relate to feeling “burned out” from writing smaller stuff when it comes time to cook up something for a novel, but the focus for me is to supplement my paychecks while looking for a second job when I don’t have a college degree. 
 I’d like to know what advice you might have for people like me. 

I’m going to achieve my goals somehow, sometime, but of course I have to work to figure out how; My brief, naïve childhood dream of being a Hooters waitress just ain’t gonna cut it.

Sincerely,

Shannon 

July 30

Hi, Shannon! Thank you so much for the email. My apologies on not answering sooner, but this Austin heat has made me 1000% slower than I normally am. Yesterday it took me eight hours to brush my teeth.

How exciting that you have a gambling addiction! I hope your game is Blackjack and not cockfighting, but hey, no judgements.

Regarding freelance writing, here are a few ideas:

1. Keep writing on your blog. It's great that your URL is your name because it's basically your landing page for anyone trying to find you and serves as a writing resume of sorts. (Although I'm a bit upset you didn't name it HootersLoser.com)

2. Be prepared to write for free. At least for a little while to get some samples. There are a ton of websites out there that take submissions and many new ones that are female focused like Bustle.com. A lot of them don't pay, and even the ones that do sometimes only pay $50 or less per article, but it's a way to get your foot in the door and then you can show those posts to other websites and demand money (in a nice way).

3. If you have a local newspaper or newspaper website, see if they use contributors. Jenny Lawson aka The Bloggess started by writing for the Houston Chronicle's website. My friend Robin O'Bryant wrote a small column for her local paper in Mississippi that became syndicated, then led to her getting tons of readers and a book deal.

Hope that helps, but feel free to ask me any more questions. About writing, I mean. Not about math.

Best,

Wendi

And again, Wendi, thank you! I know that even when it's your passion, it's still work, and I get to jump into this with a clue.