Today I have the honor of interviewing Hope Clark of Funds For Writers. Hope and I met via email a few years ago when I began my writing career. I had a question and dropped her an email. She was kind enough to respond. Then when the well began to run dry for article submissions for The Dabbling Mum, I contacted her about letting her readers know about my writers' guidelines. A few years later, I needed an expert for my e-book and she provided great insight. Today, I continue to read her newsletters because she's down to earth, not "full of herself" and offers wisdom that just can't be passed up. So take the time to really pay attention to her words of wisdom, you just might be surprised at how much you gleam...

How did writing become your career? Did it find you or did you find it?

I've always been a writer from grade school to present date. Where writing was used varied widely, though. I was editor of my high school yearbook but after that, I felt the need to pursue the sciences where I'd always scored high grades. I worked 25 years in the US Dept of Agriculture utilizing my agronomy degree and finance education. However, even in those fields of endeavor, writing never escaped me. Whether writing letters, file records, congressional replies or strategic plans, people noticed my writing. Soon I was asked to write anything of importance for the agency, ultimately for a politician boss. I won many investigative cases and court situations for my agency via my spin on a case. Finally, a friend asked why I didn't write for myself. So I started. After three years, I decided during a painful year of work, that I needed to focus on quality of life, so I applied for an early retirement at age 46 and left to write full-time. Guess writing has always been there, but I had to grow into it as a career. It's always been there for me, and now I exercise it fanatically.

What has been your biggest obstacle when it comes to finding the confidence in yourself to reach for those higher paying writing assignments and what did you do to conquer that obstacle?To this day I fear making a major mistake in whatever I send out, because once I had a piece killed based upon a mistake the editor saw I never figured out. I finally decided the interpretation was very subjective, but the killing of my contracted piece really hurt - even more so than a rejection. I have no problem submitting, but I always wonder if I left something out of the package, misspelled a name or overlooked a grammatical error. Also, I've learned that those higher paying markets are moving targets. Because you landed one once, doesn't mean you have a long-term meal ticket. They disappear as quickly as they arrived. One magazine recently declined my article when I usually could pitch anything and have it accepted. The magazine had made some changes in format and they decreased their content quantity, and they've told me "no for now" due to a backlog of accepted pieces. And when editors change, you might as well be pitching to a whole new publication.

What has been your biggest struggle locating writing assignments and how did you overcome that struggle?

I dislike publications that do not talk payment until after submission. I try to keep my submissions going to magazines that pay above a certain level, so I'm leery to pitch someone who won't divulge a pay range. I use Writer's Market as a resource, but they miss a lot of magazines out there - especially the trade publications. Luckily, I have to gather information for FundsforWriters.com, so I see way more markets than I can possibly submit to. What I need is less time writing newsletters and more time writing queries, pitches and articles, but FundsforWriters.com is my first love. It gave me sanity during a time when I needed an outlet from the 9 to 5 grind, plus the readers are phenomenally loyal and supportive, and the newsletters are a grand promotional tool.

Visit her at http://www.fundsforwriters.com/

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