OK, so I used to be a feature writer for the Kansas City Star, the same newspaper, as I like to point out, that launched the careers of Walt Disney and Ernest Hemingway. But then I decided that I'd rather spread my words far and wide, so I became a freelance writer.

I've done just about everything. I've written brochures for seminar companies. I've written scripts for training videos. I've even written press releases that were sent back to the same newspaper that used to write my paycheck.

All the time I was doing what we freelancers called "corporate PR work," I was also madly sending out queries, landing assignments here and there with many different publications. My first biggie, the one that made me call everyone I know and gloat, was a piece on "Exercise for Couples" that ran in Modern Bride.

 

For awhile, I wrote a column for Amtrak Express. It was called "Made in America" and I wrote about all sorts of fun American products such as yo-yo's, donuts, Frisbees and Steinway pianos. Another time, I had a gig with First For Women where I wrote their "Mind and Body" column. And for Ingram's magazine, a long-time business publication in Kansas City, I wrote two columns: "After Hours" and "Word of Mouth." "After Hours," of course, offered things to do after work and "Word of Mouth" was about the food scene in K.C.
My main gig now is People magazine. I'm one of their many stringers and I write about all sorts of people from the midwest. Not many celebrities in my neck of the woods (although I did write about one of the Backstreet Boys wedding because he married a girl from Shawnee, KS, Willie Aames from Eight is Enough used to live in Olathe and Eminem's mom lives up the road in St. Joe), but there are thousands of interesting people who open hair museums and make films starring guinea pigs and start restaurants that serve nothing but mashed potatoes.

I'm constantly trying to dig up more magazine work and I'm one of the rare breed who actually enjoys sending out queries. Some of my recent articles have been published in Scientific American Explorations, New Age Journal, Kansas magazine and Arizona Highways.

Some of my freelance articles:


The Rex Files: Alan Detrich, Dinosaur Hunter, Scientific American Explorations

 

From Ridiculous to Sublime: Once Scoffed at, contemporary American folk art
is now a favorite among discerning critics, Southwest Spirit

The Good Humor Man?, USAir magazine

The Louisville Slugger, Amtrak Express magazine

Disappearing Culture, Reappearing Memories, USAir magazine

Sweep Dreams, Off Duty

Local Heroes: Mary Guthrie's innovative daycare center for special-needs
kids gets remarkable results, People magazine

Style: With a helping hand from her Kansas mom, Annie Hurlbut delivers
hand-made Peruvian hits with homespun savvy, People magazine

Jack's Back (little-known facts about Jack Nicholson), Pre-Vue

Air Supply: give your game a fuel injection by learning the secrets of the
breath, Tennis magazine

It's no stretch to say that yoga has gone from esoteric fad to mainstream
exercise. And it's time tennis players took advantage of what it has to
offer--both to the body and the mind, Tennis magazine

Collectors: She isn't Venus de Milo, but Cathy Runyan-Svacina is proud to
call herself the Marble Lady, People magazine

America's Most Wanted, People magazine