Category Archives: articles

First Article for Decoded Science

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.