I have had several questions in recent weeks about my job as freelance writer via email, in person, and even during interviews : ) People ask how it works, what I do, how it pays, etc... I thought I would give a little information here, in case anyone else is curious.
I write and take pictures for multiple, primarily agriculture affiliated, newspapers and magazines. I contribute regularly to BEEF Magazine, Hereford America and Tri-State Livestock News. I've also had either my writing and/or photography work published in The Fence Post, Limousin World Magazine, Wyoming Livestock Roundup, Beef Producer Magazine, and in Wyoming Stock Growers flyers and promotional materials,
To explain how I got started as a freelancer, we need to go back to how I got started in writing. I have my degree in animal science, and had never written anything beyond an opinion column at the University of Wyoming school paper prior to being hired as the assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. They hired me because of my practical background in agriculture, and obviously not my writing experience.
After a year and a half in that position, I left the Roundup and decided to attempt freelancing because I thoroughly enjoyed the interviewing and writing aspect of my job. I contacted some of the people I had met during my time as an editor, and/or who had published my photos, re-published articles I wrote during my time at the Roundup, or who were publications I thought would be interested in my work.
I had a few people willing to give me a chance, and several others who weren't interested. I sent out a lot of examples of my work, came up with a lot of ideas, and built up gradually to the amount of work I do now. Roughly 10 months after I started, I have a wonderful form of self-employment that compliments my photography business and ranch related responsibilities nicely.
Yes, I have three jobs total.
Everyone is always very curious about the pay. Well, it varies greatly, to the extent you can add and subtract the number of zeros paid per article at different publications. I know some people who make a very good living exclusively as a freelance writer. However, I don't think this is overly common, and certainly not how you start out.
As with most self-employed positions, it takes a lot of hard work, responsibility and long hours, and you have to be dedicated and willing to put in the amount of time and effort necessary to produce a quality product every time. But, if you can handle that, the rewards are also great in that you set your own schedule, the amount of work you want to within a given time period, and the location from which you work.
I am also frequently asked what advice I have for someone wanting to enter this field. What I say is that you need to work at a publication, as in within the office, for a period of time. As with most professions, being involved in the day-to-day tasks is when you really learn about what it takes to work within the industry, who the people you need to know are, and various other nuts and bolts bits of pertinent information. There's no way I would have a clue how to even do this job without that time spent as an editor.
That's not to say that there aren't any successful writers out there who have never worked in an office, it's just that for me that was a critical contributor to my current success.
I would also encourage a person to work on a paper in high school or college if you're in that age group, and give writing or photography a try. While at the University of Wyoming, I worked with an extremely talented editor. He continually asked me to try writing editorial for the paper, but at that time I was the paper's photography editor, and in no way every saw myself writing much beyond addressing envelopes in the future. Honestly.
I cannot imagine how far ahead I would have been when the opportunity to work at the Roundup presented itself if I had taken him up on writing, even if it was just once or twice. You never know where God is going to direct your life, so if you have the chance to try something, for peets sake try it. It may just be useful in the future!
As usual, if anyone has any more questions about my writing work, anything ranch related, or other topics covered on this blog, please feel free to ask. I enjoy covering topics you want to read about!
Showing posts with label University of Wyoming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label University of Wyoming. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Christmas Countdown 2011 - Alma Mater gifts
I'm back with more Christmas ideas for you. I don't know about the college you attend, or attended, but the University of Wyoming has a wonderful bookstore that sells everything from the expected UW labeled clothing and office supplies, to high end stemware, decor and jewelry.Our mascot is also the cowboy, so for those of you who love western inspired items, make sure to stop by campus if you're ever in Laramie, Wyoming.
In addition to great gifts, the UW bookstore offers an AWESOME selection of ornaments and holiday decorations every year, many of which are also western themed. Then, they have a sensational clearance sale on all that goodness each year too. Gotta love a bargain! Either way, I have to budget myself if I stop by anytime near the holidays.
Please be warned, their website doesn't have half the stuff that's available in the actual store!
In addition to great gifts, the UW bookstore offers an AWESOME selection of ornaments and holiday decorations every year, many of which are also western themed. Then, they have a sensational clearance sale on all that goodness each year too. Gotta love a bargain! Either way, I have to budget myself if I stop by anytime near the holidays.
Please be warned, their website doesn't have half the stuff that's available in the actual store!
I bought a set of the above ornament in red, turquoise, and brown last year in the bookstore!
What little boy doesn't want to be a cowboy (Pistol Pete kids shirt)
Kitchen related gifts are always a hit. I have two over sized wine glasses with this design etched in the side, and love them!
Brown and gold accessories always a hit in Wyoming!
Monday, March 29, 2010
One windy day
The wind is howling today. Weather guy is saying 60 mph gusts, I actually think he got it pretty close!
My weekend was great. To fill you in on my life I have actually downloaded some photos from my fun little Canon Powershot
It looked like snow Friday night, so instead of our usual walk I threw balls for the dogs in the back yard. 
Speaking of my yard, there is stuff growing in it besides the expected grass!! I'm guessing this is rhubarb?
And tulips?! I'm waiting to rake the leaves because I think they are insulating the plants every night. I did start raking the rest of the lawn Friday, it really needed it!
This is why my dogs are allowed on the furniture after they "ask." I cannot resist this face and we were all cuddled on the couch Friday night. 
Saturday morning I put on a 45 minute photography workshop for 4-H kids in Douglas. Then headed to Fort Collins for a bulls sale and to catch up with my friend. We had a blast!I didn't get a buyers number to ensure I wouldn't bid on anything. Good thing cause I was definitely tempted by a few!
My friend, another girl, and myself all had on great boots. The lighter pair are Anderson Beans and mine are to the left and are Justins, not sure about the other girls. 
I also had to throw out these beautiful flowers this weekend. Our boss got everyone in the office some and they were sooo pretty and smelled sooo good I took them home and kept them as long as I could.Friday, March 26, 2010
My weekend forecast
My weekend has been planned for a while and includes putting on a 45 minute (?!?!?) photography presentation to an unknown number of 8-17 year old 4-h kids in Douglas Saturday morning, then continuing on home to pour calves and hang out with the family. I was cool with this because:
A) There is rarely anything happening in Casper and after a few recent amazing weekends I'm sure the cool quota has been filled for a while.
B) The guy (or whatever you want to call him, this is just how I distinguish him on here) is gone this weekend. He's also sick.
C) There are new calves to photograph at home.
D)I offered to pick up some cabinetry for the parents and deliver it.
E)I will already be an hour closer to home after driving to Douglas for the photography workshop.
Then this happens:
A) Megan from Life of and Accidental Rhinestone Cowgirl is flying to Wyoming for the weekend and invites to Cheyenne to see her and some other fabulous girls.
B)Another good friend invites me to the Leachman/CSU bull sale in Fort Collins during the day Saturday in Fort Collins.
C)It would be wonderful fun to spent the day in Fort Collins and the evening/night in Cheyenne.
D)Christy and friends are also going out tonight in Casper.
But I cannot imagine speaking to children for 45 minutes hung over, and my mother has called repeatedly to make sure I'm actually coming (I think she really wants her cabinets and the opportunity to grill me about the guy). She has even implemented her dirtiest trick, which is having my sister ask me.
All I have to say is there had better be some really cute calves and those darn kids better love my presentation
A) There is rarely anything happening in Casper and after a few recent amazing weekends I'm sure the cool quota has been filled for a while.
B) The guy (or whatever you want to call him, this is just how I distinguish him on here) is gone this weekend. He's also sick.
C) There are new calves to photograph at home.
D)I offered to pick up some cabinetry for the parents and deliver it.
E)I will already be an hour closer to home after driving to Douglas for the photography workshop.
Then this happens:
A) Megan from Life of and Accidental Rhinestone Cowgirl is flying to Wyoming for the weekend and invites to Cheyenne to see her and some other fabulous girls.
B)Another good friend invites me to the Leachman/CSU bull sale in Fort Collins during the day Saturday in Fort Collins.
C)It would be wonderful fun to spent the day in Fort Collins and the evening/night in Cheyenne.
D)Christy and friends are also going out tonight in Casper.
But I cannot imagine speaking to children for 45 minutes hung over, and my mother has called repeatedly to make sure I'm actually coming (I think she really wants her cabinets and the opportunity to grill me about the guy). She has even implemented her dirtiest trick, which is having my sister ask me.
All I have to say is there had better be some really cute calves and those darn kids better love my presentation
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Oh, Organic?
I'm cruising through the blog world the other day when I stumble upon a girls post about food.
Oh dear.
She was explaining why organic meat was more expensive and that non-organic animals were usually infected with disease due to the industries poor housing of livestock, and so on...
10 deep breathes later I wrote her a nice comment explaining my background and what sentences in her post I felt were a little misrepresenting of the livestock industry.
So, how about organic? What's up with it? I decided this would be easy and googled the term "organic meat" to grab the stats that I heard so often in college...except they didn't come up...but I found out where that girl might have found her information, sadly.
The USDA defines organic meat (it's the first link) as that meat which comes from an animal that has never received antibiotics or growth hormones. Before a product can be labeled, "organic" the place it was produced must be inspected to ensure they are meeting organic requirements.
OK, but why the price difference?
It's a matter of supply and demand. Some consumers want the choice of organic and are willing to pay more for it. Organic meat has to be worth more for a rancher to produce it, because through choosing to raise organic cattle he will have slower gaining cattle with a higher death rate.
Choosing to produce organic beef means a rancher or feeder doesn't give them any antibiotics or growth hormones, everyone's got that part. But, in not giving animals these products animals aren't as efficient, and more of them get sick and die. So, in reality, the healthier animals are the non-organic variety.
If they get sick, feeders are encouraged to wait a couple days to see if health improves on its own in some cases. If health doesn't improve the animal is doctored and no longer an organic candidate.
It drives my family's cattle feeder absolutely nuts to not doctor a sick calf. He feels having to wait a couple days results in a much longer recovery period for the animal and can lead to more sickness in the animal's peers.
We don't raise organic beef. We sat down and penciled out the additional income we would receive from marketing our cattle that way and compared it to the additional loss we would expect and economically it came out almost identical, so we stuck with our traditional program.
On the other side of the organic beef choice is the fact that non-organic cattle can and usually are treated with growth hormones.
Consider this about hormones-The average daily hormone dose in oral contraceptives is 2,500 TIMES higher than what is found in a serving of beef from an animal that received growth hormones. A man naturally produces 15,000 TIMES more estrogen than he would consume if he ate 500 grams of meat.
Consider this also, ranchers eat their product. I don't know of a single rancher who doesn't eat what he produces. If the beef he raised wasn't healthy he wouldn't feed it to himself, his family and his friends, let alone to the entire world.
There's almost always reason and logic behind why food is produced the way it is, and this is a great example of that. Most people believe they are encouraging the production of happier, healthier plants and animals through choosing organic, when the opposite is closer to the truth.
Organic is a choice, and I am in no way saying it's a bad one, but it's also important to remember that non-organic is a good choice too. Having the option between the two is another example of the effort American Agriculturalists put forth to provide the consumer what they want.
Oh dear.
She was explaining why organic meat was more expensive and that non-organic animals were usually infected with disease due to the industries poor housing of livestock, and so on...
10 deep breathes later I wrote her a nice comment explaining my background and what sentences in her post I felt were a little misrepresenting of the livestock industry.
So, how about organic? What's up with it? I decided this would be easy and googled the term "organic meat" to grab the stats that I heard so often in college...except they didn't come up...but I found out where that girl might have found her information, sadly.
The USDA defines organic meat (it's the first link) as that meat which comes from an animal that has never received antibiotics or growth hormones. Before a product can be labeled, "organic" the place it was produced must be inspected to ensure they are meeting organic requirements.
OK, but why the price difference?
It's a matter of supply and demand. Some consumers want the choice of organic and are willing to pay more for it. Organic meat has to be worth more for a rancher to produce it, because through choosing to raise organic cattle he will have slower gaining cattle with a higher death rate.
Choosing to produce organic beef means a rancher or feeder doesn't give them any antibiotics or growth hormones, everyone's got that part. But, in not giving animals these products animals aren't as efficient, and more of them get sick and die. So, in reality, the healthier animals are the non-organic variety.
If they get sick, feeders are encouraged to wait a couple days to see if health improves on its own in some cases. If health doesn't improve the animal is doctored and no longer an organic candidate.
It drives my family's cattle feeder absolutely nuts to not doctor a sick calf. He feels having to wait a couple days results in a much longer recovery period for the animal and can lead to more sickness in the animal's peers.
We don't raise organic beef. We sat down and penciled out the additional income we would receive from marketing our cattle that way and compared it to the additional loss we would expect and economically it came out almost identical, so we stuck with our traditional program.
On the other side of the organic beef choice is the fact that non-organic cattle can and usually are treated with growth hormones.
Consider this about hormones-The average daily hormone dose in oral contraceptives is 2,500 TIMES higher than what is found in a serving of beef from an animal that received growth hormones. A man naturally produces 15,000 TIMES more estrogen than he would consume if he ate 500 grams of meat.
Consider this also, ranchers eat their product. I don't know of a single rancher who doesn't eat what he produces. If the beef he raised wasn't healthy he wouldn't feed it to himself, his family and his friends, let alone to the entire world.
There's almost always reason and logic behind why food is produced the way it is, and this is a great example of that. Most people believe they are encouraging the production of happier, healthier plants and animals through choosing organic, when the opposite is closer to the truth.
Organic is a choice, and I am in no way saying it's a bad one, but it's also important to remember that non-organic is a good choice too. Having the option between the two is another example of the effort American Agriculturalists put forth to provide the consumer what they want.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Here's to best friends!
Tonight I am expecting a phone call from my best friend :) :) I have several amazing friends, but this girl and I just get each other. We don't talk much, don't ask me why, we just don't. We're both busy and that results in catching up every few months.
But when we do finally get ahold of each other and both of us have time to talk it typically results in 2-3 hours of conversation full of tears, laughter, stories, advice, questions, everything...it's wonderful.
We cover boys, shoes, work, travel, families and misc, usually in that order. She loves shoes. We can each tell the other all the hilarious, weird, maddening and discouraging guy-related stories and receive honest advice from the other. I can trust her and throw everything out there to be studied and solved and she does the same.
We met at a recruitment day for Laramie County Community College, in Cheyenne. I was there with my dad and she was there with her parents. We ended up at a table together and immediately hit it off.
Both of us thought about requesting the other for a roommate, but she couldn't remember my first name and I couldn't remember her last name. So our first year I ended up living with a pair of wild childs who were frankly annoying and immature. Her fate was worse, she ended up with a girl from California who went through the entire basketball team (you know what I mean) and showered bi-weekly. She left hair all over the bathroom and it was questionable what kind of hair it was. We both still have a bit of a hair issue after seeing that.
Our second year of college we got that taken care of and roomed together. It was roommate bliss for both of us after our eye-opening first year experiences. We were the only two girls to survive Mr. Pulse at LCCC. By complete accident we dressed alike at least a couple days a week, despite making efforts not to after a while. She's a fitness buff and just through making an effort to keep up with her (which I didn't, the girl runs marathons, I run errands) I ended up in the best shape of my life.
After community college she headed south to finish school and I ended up at Laramie. I was so discouraged by UW that she almost convinced me to transfer after the first year. But in order to be done in as little time as possible I stayed put.
Since our two years of college together we have communicated primarily by phone, with a handful of visits thrown in. These visits almost always involve shopping, a meal, and ice cream or coffee! We would love to own a combination photo, coffee, gourmet chocolate shop someday, and we would be awesome at that! She comes from a great family and so do I and our morals and beliefs are very similar.
So here's to best friends, may each of you be blessed to such amazing friends as I have!
And here's to our conversation tonight, I am definitely in need of guy and life advice!
But when we do finally get ahold of each other and both of us have time to talk it typically results in 2-3 hours of conversation full of tears, laughter, stories, advice, questions, everything...it's wonderful.
We cover boys, shoes, work, travel, families and misc, usually in that order. She loves shoes. We can each tell the other all the hilarious, weird, maddening and discouraging guy-related stories and receive honest advice from the other. I can trust her and throw everything out there to be studied and solved and she does the same.
We met at a recruitment day for Laramie County Community College, in Cheyenne. I was there with my dad and she was there with her parents. We ended up at a table together and immediately hit it off.
Both of us thought about requesting the other for a roommate, but she couldn't remember my first name and I couldn't remember her last name. So our first year I ended up living with a pair of wild childs who were frankly annoying and immature. Her fate was worse, she ended up with a girl from California who went through the entire basketball team (you know what I mean) and showered bi-weekly. She left hair all over the bathroom and it was questionable what kind of hair it was. We both still have a bit of a hair issue after seeing that.
Our second year of college we got that taken care of and roomed together. It was roommate bliss for both of us after our eye-opening first year experiences. We were the only two girls to survive Mr. Pulse at LCCC. By complete accident we dressed alike at least a couple days a week, despite making efforts not to after a while. She's a fitness buff and just through making an effort to keep up with her (which I didn't, the girl runs marathons, I run errands) I ended up in the best shape of my life.
After community college she headed south to finish school and I ended up at Laramie. I was so discouraged by UW that she almost convinced me to transfer after the first year. But in order to be done in as little time as possible I stayed put.
Since our two years of college together we have communicated primarily by phone, with a handful of visits thrown in. These visits almost always involve shopping, a meal, and ice cream or coffee! We would love to own a combination photo, coffee, gourmet chocolate shop someday, and we would be awesome at that! She comes from a great family and so do I and our morals and beliefs are very similar.
So here's to best friends, may each of you be blessed to such amazing friends as I have!
And here's to our conversation tonight, I am definitely in need of guy and life advice!
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