writer's work

Not often do I get paid for my writing, but I have written a few articles for Northwest Runner magazine, based in Seattle. My first attempt at freelance writing for them was an essay about my experience running the Munich half-marathon in June 1999. But I waited too long to send it in to them--I didn't really know what I was doing. The editor gave me good feedback and liked my writing, so he encouraged me to send more.

My first piece was published in Oct. 2000, and by surprise actually--I happened to pick up the magazine issue at a running story and saw my article inside. I had emailed him a response to an article that talked about the caution required when running with a dog. Some of the ideas were a bit dramatic and inaccurate, I thought, and didn't really work to encourage dog-owners to run with their dogs, or runners to run with their dogs. My piece shared my history of running with my dog and his achievements, but pointing out that because Emerson is a husky he is naturally inclined to be a distance running partner. And since the UW Dawg Dash 5k was coming up, they even put some cute little husky clip art by my article title, along with another reader's response to dog-running.

Since then, I've had published a few first-person articles about my running experiences to highlight the Seattle half-marathon and other Seattle-area races, as well as feature stories--one about longtime HS coach Roger Erickson (the head coach I worked under), a profile about distance runner Carl Moe while he was still a HS senior, and another feature on my friend Tim (one of Carl's coaches) who ran the beautiful 2004 Napa Valley Marathon and qualified for Boston.

It sometimes takes more time than anticipated to write an article, and I only get paid after it's published. Sometimes my efforts don't bring any monetary reward. For example, in spring of 2002, I had written an article about running the LA Marathon (my 2nd marathon experience) but I hated the course and race weather so much that I didn't really much motivation or love for the assignment--but I got a brief, nice-as-I-could-be 500-word article written. But then the editor pushed back the article for a later issue and asked me to double its length. I just couldn't do it, I had nothing else to say about LA (and Tim hated it too). So, I asked my friend Megan (who also ran LA that year) to write about her story--it was her first marathon and she had genuine love for the entire experience.

I have also contributed editing work for my friend Keith's article about the African boys on the high school cross-country team where we both were assistant coaches--a group of blazing fast teenagers who had immigrated from Sudan and Somalia. That team took 3rd place in 2000 and 4th in 2001 at the Washington State XC meet.

A few of my running-related poems have also been published Northwest Runner, and last year I wrote a feature article about Bloomsday and quite a few of the digital pictures that Judd and I took were also included.

Anyway, my most recent "Spokane correspondent" assignment was to write 300-word profiles on two high school runners from Spokane. Today I spoke with both of the kids over the phone, and the articles--though longer than originally planned--are good to go (the editor gave me more page space for the profiles).

• Laef Barnes, from Mead High School, one of the fastest high school milers in the nation and the fastest HS indoor mile runner (according to DyeStat). Man, this kid is nice...articulate, humble, totally fits the cool kid mold which most high school XC boys are. Laef has a fascinating story to tell, so his profile article is over 600 words. He came back from a stress fracture injury last April, no training for 3-1/2 months, to take 4th in last fall's state xc meet and be this national-caliber miler today.
• and Becca Noble from Rogers HS, who excels at distance in xc and on middle distance on the track (400 State champ two years in a row)...she's a really confident, no-nonsense girl, with a full-ride running scholarship to University of Oregon.

So, their profile stories are written in time to go into next month's issue. My day at the "office" is done.

All this is to say that writing for Northwest Runner isn't the most glamorous gig, but it is writing work that gets published. It's a stepping stone to future prospects. So, if anyone reading this has always wanted to get some writing published--start with some local publications. I pursued the magazine because I was a loyal reader of it myself, knew the publication, and was encouraged to start building a portfolio of work by a local newspaper reporter who used to contact me when she needed a "teacher quote" for different stories she was writing about issues occurring in my district (low teacher pay and a 1-day teacher walkout).

I'm heading out to do some editing work for Willow Springs now. And Mindy Aloff is our visiting non-fiction writer tonight.