(c) 2001 By Mary Anne Hahn
"Write about what you know."
Who knows
how many times I read these words of advice before I
finally heeded them? Heck, I didn't want to write about my boring
old life--I wanted, through writing, to *escape* from my life, or to
*change* it!
So over the years, in fits and starts, I queried big name markets
with article ideas
far outside the scope of my experience. I
shunned the familiar in favor of the exotic. Dreamed of getting
that first
feature cover story. Looked at the stars, rather than
what was right in front of me, or around me.
Collected my fair share of rejection letters.
But something else was happening during these years, too.
With every day that passed, every year that slipped
by, I
acquired new skills, learned new things, accumulated new
experiences. I made new friends, traveled, fell in
and out
of love, put myself through college, held a series of
different jobs, faced my demons, lost my father, developed
closer relationships with my siblings, and began to sound
more and more like my mother.
All the while, the urge to write never left me. It would diminish
at times, but then
return stronger than ever. And then I'd read
those words again, in another book or magazine, by yet another
writer.
Write about what you know.
Okay, I'll do it, I decided one day, several years ago. If I ever
wanted to get
published, then perhaps the time had come to
harvest article ideas from my own little backyard garden of
experience.
At the time, I held a pretty demanding day job as a customer
service supervisor in an increasingly unpopular industry--health
insurance. Although a far cry from the writing career
I had dreamed
of in my youth, it was in fact a challenging position that had many
aspects I enjoyed, and felt good
at. I began listing topics that
pertained to managing people, from delegation to motivation, followed
by topics
on career advancement. Then ideas sprang up involving
providing excellent customer service, developing good listening
skills, and writing business reports, procedures and proporsals. I
had, I discovered, opened a floodgate.
