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Getting Started in Column Writing
by: Mridu Khullar

You’ve written many articles for Websites, newsletters and now you’ve even conquered the territory of getting published in a magazine. What’s the next step, you ask? How to I make the editor ask for my work weekly or monthly?

Enter: the column.

Before you march up to an editor’s office or send her unsolicited mail asking to write regularly for a publication, learn all there is to know.

A column is written weekly, monthly or bi-monthly, and must be focused on one particular topic. You have to be consistent in what you write, maintain the same tone of voice, and stay focused on the issue at hand. If you’re writing a column for the writing parent, don’t delve into issues of parenting in general. You’re readers will probably be parents who write, and they will be more interested in learning how to find time for their writing, rather than how to take care of their children.

A column can last from three to four months to ten or maybe even twenty. I know of a writer who wrote a column in a leading daily for more than twenty years.

When you decide to write a column, make sure that the topic you choose is of interest to readers and will keep them coming back for more, week after week. If your topic is boring or uninteresting, chances are you’ll have no readers, and the editor will soon wrap up your column with a short goodbye note.

Make sure that you can keep the commitment. Writing a column takes more than just a bright idea and good writing. It needs dedication, discipline and the ability to meet deadlines. If you can’t meet deadlines, you’ll soon be out of a job, and out of the publication—for good. A columnist has to make sure that she provides an on-topic, interesting, timely article each week (or month), interesting enough to make the reader come back to read it.

If you decide to delve into the world of column writing, your best bet would be to start with a regional daily or weekly newspaper. Not only will this market be easier to break into, but will give you a lot of exposure. Columns for cooking, astrology, inspiration and living in the city run frequently in newspapers and are the best places for starting off. However, try to avoid topics that have been done to death. Put a unique and interesting spin to a topic, and you’re bound to get the editor’s interest.

Websites too are now beginning to open up to columns. Just like their print counterparts, Websites, e-zines and even online versions of print magazines ask for original material on a weekly or monthly basis. The biggest advantage of writing online is the short acceptance and publication period.

The best way to query an editor about writing a column is by sending clips of your work and your column topic. If the editor likes your query, you’ll be asked to send in an article, and you’ll soon be on your way to publishing glory. Keep in mind though, that column writing is not like writing an article—it’s not *your* convenience and *your* time constraints that matter. The only thing the editor wants from you is a good quality article each week, submitted on time. Do that, and you’ll have a regular income from at least one source.

About The Author

Mridu Khullar is the editor-in-chief of www.WritersCrossing.com, a free online magazine for writers. Sign up for the free weekly newsletter to get a complimentary e-book with 400+ paying markets. Also check out her e-book, "Knock Their Socks Off! A Freelance Writer's Guide to Query Letters That Sell," available at http://www.writerscrossing.com/queries.html

This article was posted on January 22, 2005

 


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 Writing Help for College Students
 by: Tamara Owen

Your literature professor has asked you to write a 7-page essay comparing Medieval and Renaissance poetry; your economics professor wants 15 pages on how globalization is affecting the economy in three different countries; and your mathematics professor has forgotten this is a mathematics class, and wants 5 pages on the quadratic formula. And you have been staring at the computer screen for over an hour wondering how on earth you are going to do all of this in the next four days.

This is an all-too-familiar scene to many students. Many students learn of these large assignments at the beginning of the semester when they receive their class syllabi, and immediately forget about them because November seems like years away. Other students are busy with extracurricular sports, trying to adjust to being away from home for the first time, and other events and issues. Still other students are quite frankly terrified of the writing process, believing the blank page to be worse than their worst nightmare, and so these assignments get shoved aside to remain untouched until the last minute.

It is an interesting fact of college life that all students, regardless of major or discipline, are asked to write about their subject matter -- often quite extensively. While it is certainly important that all individuals be literate, and know how to read and write in a variety of capacities, styles, and genres, it is also the case that not everyone has to be a professional academic writer (www.korepetycje.com/join_us.html). Engineers need to know how to design bridges or better towel racks; pilots need to be able to take off and land safely and smoothly; and physicians need to be able to diagnose illnesses and injuries and to prescribe the correct medical interventions. None of these people needs to know how to write a term paper.

What, then, are the options for the poor student struggling in the first paragraph? What will happen to the student who is a prodigy on the piano but is facing failure because she cannot write 10 pages on Beethoven? What will happen to the next Frank Lloyd Wright who is stuck in his psychology seminar, unable to write a series of vignettes portraying various mental illnesses?

There are a few options. Most college campuses have writing labs, where many students are helped with researching and writing their papers. Many students form study groups, where they help each other through the tough assignments. Some students write their custom essays and term papers (see: http://www.korepetycje.com/indexam.html) and then pay an editor to polish them. Still others turn to professional writing services for assistance with their assignments. This is where services such as CustomPapers.com come in. We have a large staff of professional writers who specialize in writing papers about a wide variety of disciplines ranging from economics to ecology, marketing to Mozart, Hemingway to heart murmurs. We can also assist students with related projects, such as PowerPoint Presentations. In the many years of our existence, we have found tremendous success helping students with assignments of all sizes, all levels of difficulty, and all subjects.

Regardless of what type of help you choose, the important thing is that you get through college as quickly and effectively as possible. College is a step leading up to the rest of your life -- don't let a term paper be the skateboard in your path.


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