Non Fiction Workshop

I can honestly say it was worth the wait!!   Last Saturday Caroline High www.carolinehigh.co.uk/ led a wonderful workshop on Writing Non Fiction.  There were only 5 attendees which was enough for a lively discussion, but small enough for it to feel very personal.

As I said at
http://theonlyconsequence.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/non-fiction-workshop-cancelled.html  I had already put together a list of topics, but the workshop made me realise there are so many other subjects that I can write about. 

The use of our own lives and our memories from days gone by was a subject I had not even considered, but once you start to think about, and chat about, events / objects that you remember, the stories come flooding back.  It also happens when asking others about their memories.  I may need to invest in a digital recorder to capture all the information / research that is 'out there.'

The course also made me realise that there is more to magazines than just articles to be written.  There are readers letters, quizzes, reviews, interviews, profiles, top tips, etc. etc.

Following the course, I have started to ask all myfriends to give me thier old magazines so I can check out possible markets.  I got a huge pile from work this week.  I am hoping to ger a few more from people over the weekend, and this morning I invested in a few magazines myself - purely for research purposes you understand!  I have just got to think about the topic to initially focus on.

Topics that immediately spring to mind for me are: Motherhood, Organising Children's Parties, Psychology, Parapsychology, Mental Health Issues, Time Management, Home Renovation.  I have personal experience with all of these topics that could be woven into an article, but where to start?

It's all about the market. Who would want to read an article written by me?  What do I have that is different from  other writers submitting articles?

The attendees from Caroline's course mentioned meeting up again in February / March next year, when (hopefully) we will all have been published,  but for the time being, its back to my research.....