Will I Ever Learn???
Topic: Writing
I've done it to myself again. In deciding what I wanted to write about over the six weeks of my pitching class, I chose marriage. It makes sense to me that any time I set out to write about a topic, I should choose one that I could write four or more articles on. It means that researching four articles takes essentially the same amount of time and work as writing one, and I don't have to go back to my sources for quotes repeatedly if I have all my angles and slants figured out in advance and can just ask everything in one sitting. I chose marriage because, if you've been following along, it's been on my mind lately. Plus, UTNE just did an interesting three piece feature on that topic in this month's issue.
For the first query, I pitched an article that leans heavily on my personal experience but includes quotes from leading marriage counselors on ways any reader can bolster her own marriage, regardless of its current state, and offered 2 sidebars.
In writing that one, I realized that was of interest to me, but that there is an even deeper question, which is, should you fight for an ailing marriage, and, if so, why and in what circumstances? Last night I had gone to bed slightly deflated after reading the other queries turned in by the other women in my class - all more experienced in magazine writing than I am, and all very qualified to write whatever piece they were pitching. Before I could fall asleep, however, the first line of my next query came to me and before I knew it, I was out of bed and writing a two paragraph introduction to my topic. So tonight I decided to do my "no more than one hour of research" - that is the time-limit mandated by my instructor, and, yes, you guessed it, the time-limit I way overshot - and realized that I am in way over my head. I tried googling the title I was going to propose for the piece and found that it is such a great title, it's already been used dozens of times.... The search yielded a TON of information, all of it useful, including the names of some social scientists that I will want to talk with - even one here in Durham at Duke. (This activity of scrolling through the faculty list of Duke's sociologists was depressing, too - so many of these people are my age or only slightly older and way more "Accomplished.") [Author's Note to James (if you're still reading) and any one else who cares about my self-esteem: Yes, last night and again tonight I subjected myself to comparisons between me and the other writers and me and professors, and, no, the comparisons were not positive. BUT, on both occasions, I quickly reminded myself that I am on my own crazy path and social comparisons do not matter. I am fine.]
The problem is that I am in information overload. So many people are writing on this topic, and all of them seem so confident in what they have to say. I want to pitch the piece to an alternative paper or magazine, and I read a Salon.com piece tonight that showed me how much edge and opinion a story could have and made me worry that I don't have enough attitude to write for an alternative outlet. Plus, the controversy over what the social research means (are married people healthier, wealthier, and happier than single people, and if so, is there a causal relationship or merely a correlation?) that I know I am going to want to go to the source material and read the published papers before interviewing any of the scientists or even attempting to say which way my story might lean. Essentially, what I'm proposing to write is the equivalent of a term paper for a Soc or Psych class, and there's no way I'm going to be prepared with even a draft query of it by Monday night. So, my dilemma is, do I write up as much as I can of this query and turn it in, knowing that it will need much work over the next four weeks? or, do I try to come up with a simpler, 1,000 word article idea that I can write up without a great deal of research? (Yeah, right. Like that's gonna' happen!)
So I guess my answer is write up a crappy first draft of the long piece and get as far as I can in laying out all the sides.... I can honor my feminine impulse by not offering an opinion until I've carefully analyzed all the available data - and who knows when that will be!
Thoughts captured by Kristine
at 10:32 PM EST
Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2006 8:12 AM EST