Been a while! I hadn't sent out anything recently because I've been working
mostly on longer pieces, and I don't usually send out anything longer than
column-length. I haven't written much of that length lately because Beliefnet
is still sailing through the financial gales that hit all dot-coms, indeed
all publications, about a year ago, and for the time being they're not able
to keep columnists on regular rotation.
However, I *think* I'm about to begin doing commentaries for National Public
Radio again, so that will give me something short to send. Some of you
remember when I used to be on All Things Considered, btwn 1996 and 1998. Then
my excellent editor Amy Dickinson moved on to Time magazine (you can see her
perky photo at the back, above her Family column), a great move for her but
in her absence I found it much harder to get pieces accepted.
Someone was asking me the other day how this works. For any kind of
publication, you have to get the ear of an editor, and tell him/her what you
want to write about, and why the mag needs this piece, and why you're the
person to write it. You have to sell the piece to the editor--this is called
"pitching" it, or more formally, sending a query. Or you can just take a
chance and send the finished piece--its a coin toss as to which the editor
would find more annoying, and remember, these guys are being hounded by
hopeful writers all the time. I remember walking through the offices of
Putnam books and seeing a stack knee-high of manila envelopes full of
rejected manuscripts ("the slush pile"). Used to be you'd either get an
acceptance or rejection note, but now you often hear...nothing. Discouraging
biz, being a writer. If you still want to try, get a copy of "Writers Market
2002" and some stamps and go to it! That's what I did. Excellent how-to
advice for beginners in the opening essays ("front matter").
So a few years ago I sent Amy a few commentaries as a shot in the dark ("over
the transom"), and she took 'em. Lately I've been talking with the
commentaries editor at Morning Edition, and we're planning to tape my first
one soon. (We email the text back and forth in the editing process, and when
it's done I go to an NPR affiliate station, or to the main HQ in DC, and tape
it.) I don't want to count chickens before they're hatched, but I hope I'll
be able to send that out soon.
BTW I was surprised to learn that ME has twice the listenership of ATC. You'd
think the opposite, since ATC seems like the more famous show, but it seems
to be true throughout radio: the morning show is always the biggest draw. ATC
has 3-4 million listeners, and ME has an astonishing 7 million. For
comparison, CNN draws 2-3 million viewers. So now, instead of talking to
people driving, I'll be talking to people shaving.
A few of the things I've been up to:
An article in Touchstone magazine that they called "What Women Want"--I had
titled it "Three Bad Ideas." I've also given this as a speech for pregnancy
center fundraisers. Touchstone is really an excellent thinky journal, and Sam
Torode is doing a fine job with the recent design facelift. A very talented
guy.
http://www.touchstonemag.com/docs/issues/14.6docs/14-6pg20.html
An article in Citizen Magazine (the public policy mag of Focus on the Family)
about how churches are responding to the Sept 11 disaster, and what they can
learn from other disasters (OK City, Columbine). I had enormous help from
editor Gary Schneeberger in collecting these interviews for a very short
deadline. I actually write a good bit for Citizen, and if you search the site
a lot of things will pop up. I especially liked the profile of Mark Pickup
that I did in the October issue--fascinating guy.
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0018674.html
Can't seem to find these on the web, but it might be because I'm all thumbs
at searching.
For Christianity Today (www.ChristianityToday.com) --a tribute to folk artist
Howard Finster, Dec 3 issue. I have more pieces for CT slated for February
and April.
For an upcoming Los Angeles Times, a review of the pair of books about "Fr.
Arseny," a Russian priest who died in 1975 and who spent time in the gulag.
The books collect memoirs of this extraordinary man from many people who knew
him, and were circulated underground as carbon copies until the fall of
Communism. The first English volume came out in 1997 and was, I think, the
most important book I've read in recent years. An extraordinary blessing. Now
more memoirs, from his later life, have come to light, and will be published
December 12 by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press (www.svots.edu).
I've composed a 5-page Study Guide for "The Illumined Heart"--drop me a line
if you'd like to see a copy. I'm still polishing it and looking for comments
from test drivers. BTW "Illumined Heart" makes an excellent Christmas gift!
Pocket-sized, cheap, and beautifully designed! Better order a stack of em!
You can get a good price at Amazon.com.
In the Christians in the Visual Arts (www.civa.org) journal, an essay on icons
In the British women's magazine, "Woman Alive" (www.christianmedia.org.uk),
an article about my conversion
In Catholic Digest (www.catholicdigest.org), an article about the Orthodox
Church
Also, I'm working on a series of anthologies for Conciliar Press
(www.conciliarpress.org). I counted up over 350 articles I've published since
I started about 12 yrs ago (and of course there are all the unpublished ones
that went in the silent rejection pile) so I'm trying to organize them into
topics and polish up final versions. I'm not sure what they plan for a
timeline, but maybe we'll have the first one out next fall.
And here's a major project. The Christian Millennial History Project intends
to bring out a series of volumes on the history of Christianity--kind of like
the Time-Life series on WW II, for example. Longish chapters, but lots of
illustrations, sidebars, etc. Visually very approachable. The first volume
will be out in February, and I'm sure you'll be hearing much more about it
when marketing launches. The writing team was pretty impressive, including
Joseph Sobran, Mark Galli, Charlotte Low Allen, and many others. I wrote the
very last chapter, on Josephus and the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. But
because the series has to read smoothly, like a single book, all the writers'
originals have been "ironed" to flow together, and my chapter doesn't "stick
out" as being in my quirky style. I sure learned a lot. We're now beginning
work on the next volume, and I'll be writing about the church in Egypt and
the early life of Origen.
Perhaps the brightest spot for me was a few months ago, when a friend sent me
an email "You've become an adjective!" Sure enough, there in the pages of
Re:Generation Quarterly (www.regenerator.com), was an essay by David McGaw in
which he talked about his desire to impart the Gospel in a way that showed
"richness, wisdom, passion...diversity, joy, shared emotion", which he termed
"C.S. Lewisian, Mathewes-Greenian." I felt such encouragement, and
embarrassment, and trepidation that I just wanted to go hide under the bed.
Incidentally, this issue had one of the best cover art I've seen: for an
issue themed around the difficulties of evangelism, the painting by Robert
Amesbury started with the harrowing photo of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Oswald,
and Oswald recoiling, crumpling in pain--but what Ruby is thrusting toward
him is a bunch of flowers.
So it's a lot of writing, and I'm not even counting the speaking
engagements--I think I had about 25 in 2001, and then "Illumined Heart" came
out in August. (THis mailing list, by the way, has grown from 350 names to
almost 700 since it was automated a year ago; the website is busy, with a
high of 55,000 hits last June). Put it all together it spells "busy"--and
also "scattered", "frantic", if not "desperately avoiding burnout." It's just
awful hard to have so many, many different workplaces and bosses; it's hard
to start on the first of every month and think, "how am I going to keep bread
on the table this month?" and go out hitting the pavement again. Unlike
writers who have "day job" skills--professors, pastors, heads of
organizations or foundations--I'm just a gal with a computer in the spare
bedroom. I answer my own phone, open my own mail, and do my own photocopying
at Office Depot. Whew. Lately I've been discouraged realizing that, hey,
there's no step above the one I'm standing on--I'm not *going* anywhere. I'm
going to be right here in busy-busy freelance-land for the rest of my life
(with all the job insecurity that being self-employed brings--I wake in the
night thinking, what if I got sick?). So if you're a praying type, please
pray for me, that God will provide, that he'll inspire some editors and hosts
of speaking events to think of my name, and that he will show me which door
to knock on next.
best wishes, F
********
Frederica Mathewes-Green
www.frederica.com
