Rachel Howard-Collins

Time to Write

2008-03-12T08:12:00.001-05:00

Finding time to write is always a challenge. I have a military husband and two small children, so we have a busy life. Carving out time for me to write is difficult. I have started scheduling our days so I can evenly split the time between my wife/mom duties and my journalism needs. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are becoming my writing time. Someday, I may need more time than that, but right now this is enough.

Writing is carthartic for me....well, writing and cleaning house. :-) It helps me organize my thoughts and allows me to zone in on one subject, instead of multitasking like I usually do. The feeling is something like meditating; you simply close out the rest of the world and allow yourself to become consumed with your subject. It's part of the reason I love to write.

Ups and downs

2008-03-07T17:40:00.000-06:00

I now have published five articles on Suite 101. This is something of a personal triumph for me, since five articles is a lot for someone with two small children at home. There was a time when five articles would have been a slow day for me in the newsroom, but those days are gone. I am proud of myself for writing that much in about a month.

On the downside, I've been dragging my feet in sending off query letters to consumer magazines...I admit it: I'm afraid of rejection. Yes, rejection is par for the freelance course and shouldn't be taken personally. As The Godfather would say, "It's not personal; it's business." So why am I so hesistant?

I guess I need to just "take the plunge." There's no other way to do it, right?

The winding road to "journalist"

2008-01-30T17:15:00.000-06:00

Writing is my passion; I have always loved words - both reading and writing. But I never considered it as a career until my sophomore year in college.

A driven teen-ager, I loved airplanes - military airplanes, specifically. My dream was to be a fighter pilot, a dream I pursued until my eyesight fell below pilot standards. Following my love of aviation, I entered college determined to become an aeronautical engineer, but I quickly discovered that I had no talent for calculus and differential equations.

After some soul-searching, a professor suggested I use my writing talent to pursue journalism. I entered my first journalism class and found that it was much more difficult than I expected. My journalism professors throughout college were tough, but I loved it. I enjoyed the variety; no two days are alike as a journalist.

I have worked for small, local papers, covering small-town politics and interviewing local characters. I have written for nationally-distributed publications, and I received reader feedback from across the country. In what other profession can you listen to the President of the United States in person one day, and then write a definitive series on methamphetamines the next?

After my son was born, I chose to become a stay-at-home mom. But my love of journalism has stayed with me, and I am a freelance journalist now.