We have just finished the Labor Day weekend in the USA. Three days to be away from the office, to rest and relax, to sleep in a little, to worship on Sunday, to read, and to write. Last Friday I looked forward to it.
And it played out as it should have. Except for having trouble sleeping Sunday night, which I believe was due to a pill I took, it was quite relaxing. As far as writing goes, I didn’t do a whole lot. Friday evening I relaxed, and read in The Art and Craft of Storytelling, by Nancy Lamb. Saturday I devoted to family finances—when I wasn’t reading or napping. Sunday I wrote about at my An Arrow Through the Air blog.
Monday, finally, I set to the task of writing. I’m not quite ready to begin my next book-length project. I was still waiting for my beta reader to respond about publishing my short story, “Whiskey, Zebra, Tango”. So I decided to do something I had put off for a long time, writing an article for the website Decoded Science. I know the editor there from my time at Suite101.com, and had told her I would write for the site. I actually did that back in June, but, alas, I had missed a rules change about what type of articles they would accept, and the article I submitted didn’t comply with the new rules.
Monday morning, between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon I banged out an 800 word article on stormwater quality, and whether the Clean Water Act was meant to cover it. This is a lead-in article to what I hope will be a series of articles on stormwater, perhaps covering everything from flooding to normal conveyance to low impact development to rainwater harvesting.
By yesterday evening I had word from the editor that the article was accepted, pending my adding a few images/photos to it. I added those this morning before starting work at the office, and resubmitted. The article should go live sometime today. When it does I’ll edit this post and perhaps add a screen shot, or at least a link.
Decoded Science pays writers with a share of advertising revenue. I don’t know how much it will amount to. How long will it take for this article to earn $100, which would be a fair payment for on-line publishing based on the total amount of time I have in it? I don’t know, but I’m willing to take this risk.
Edited: The article went live this morning.