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Surprised By Success
Author: Linda Hull
In 1994, I began writing a discipleship newsletter called Words of Encouragement. It was my first attempt at a home-based business, but with few subscribers, it was definitely a fizzle. Sympathetic to my disappointment, my husband suggested that I continue my newfound writing hobby online.
With his help, I created a web page and published Words of Encouragement as a ministry to women all over the world. While I enjoyed writing, I never believed my writing would become a viable profession until three years ago when my best friend went back to college.
Her college professor, a freelance writer, encouraged her to submit an essay on mentoring to Leadership Journal magazine. With his help, it was accepted and published! Excited about her success, she encouraged me to submit my work, certain that I, too, could be published if I just followed her professor’s tips.
She was right! Much to my surprise, my first professional writing attempt was published in Frontline Magazine.
The next year I went back to college. After my own graduation two years later, I decided to pursue writing full time, but I couldn't stay focused.
Once again my friend encouraged me to get busy writing and suggested I set a goal to write one piece a day. Bolstered by my friend’s encouragement, and a lot of prayer, I began to write and found the courage to submit my work.
Over the next year, I had a couple of articles published in local newspapers and smaller publications and a story accepted by an Australian author looking for stories on dementia for an anthology. But I wasn't yet ready to call myself a professional writer so I took Barnes & Noble’s free online writing courses.
In Thinking Like Your Editor, I learned how to create a proposal and a query letter. In Writing for Quick Cash,I learned to identify opportunities available for freelancers and I received valuable feedback from my instructors and classmates.
With newfound confidence, I began by going through The Writers Market, Christian Writers’ Market Guide, and The Best of the Magazine Markets for Writers to find publications in need of articles I could write. In addition, I searched the Internet for opportunities.
I was very excited when I discovered that my contact in Australia was looking for travel writers. I grew up in a military family, so I had a lot of travel experience, but I had never written a travel piece before. Luckily, she was willing to take a chance on me. After a bit of discussion, we agreed that she would edit my pieces to cut out American idioms, and change American spellings to British.
As time progressed, and with practice, I was able to create interesting articles on locations in the United States for readers in the United Kingdom. By end of the summer, I had written over twenty travel articles, plus other pieces that were to be published in the fall.
When I started writing twelve years ago, I hoped to create a home-based business. Instead, to my surprise, I created a ministry by reaching out to women all over the world.
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