A. Donna: The first time take what you can get. Just don't sell all rights, no matter what--remember just first North American. Then after that, after two or three successful pieces, simply say, "Can you do any better?" 

Q. Christina asked: How does a good writer make the jump from being published locally and regionally - to national publications? 

A. Donna: How do you make the jump? Remember aim high, work low. Get writing, interviewing, doing...waiting for the BIG break is a bad way to go. Instead keep sending stuff to the big guys while you write for the local, regional stuff. Once you get enough big clips, kiss the locals goodbye. 

Q. Lainie asked: What's enough??? 

A. Donna: What's enough? Two or three national clips sounds good to me, and never write more than once on spec for anyone. 

Q. Jerri asked: How do you make sure you have an assignment, and not that they just want to see the piece on spec? 

A. Donna: Jerri, it's okay to write on spec when you don't have national clips yet, the first time. But don't make a habit of it. 

Q. Lisa asked: Donna, when you first started out freelancing, how long did it take you to really get going, feel consistent with your work, etc. especially with young kids at home? 

A. Donna: How long did it take me to feel comfortable with freelancing? Until I could say, "so what?" I'll live no matter what happens to that query, that article...when you get a dose of chutpah freelancing gets easier. 

Q. Lisa asked: How long did it take you to get that dose, Donna? 

A. Donna: I'd say a few years. But you're confidence is always so fragile. That's why a lot of writers like staying with local editors who give no grief. I like the peaks and valleys of the bigger pubs. 

Q. Chelle asked: Donna, how do we attend one of your seminars? 

A. Donna: Unless you have a company to send you, you don't want to attend my effective feature writing seminar, the one that I wrote about and costs $315 for the day. Instead come to a freelance one. I'm giving a day long in NYC in April. Email me your addresses and I'll alert you if I'm in your areas. Also, Sept and Oct. I'm teaching an 8 week on-line course for $195. (Donna's e-mail address: boetig@erols.com ) 

Q. Anne asked: Was your hubby very supportive in the early days? 

A. Donna: Allen was always supportive, and it probably helps that he doesn't take all this that seriously, so when I'm crushed he keeps it in perspective. 

Q. Jerri asked: Donna, there are a couple of ladies on our list who are housebound, what kind of chances do they have in national magazines? 

A. Donna: They have a super chance. Tell me more. Why are they homebound? Kids? Choices? 

Q. Jerri: Health problems. One of our ladies is bound to a hospital bed, and she doesn't get out of the house at all. She asked us to find out what kind of articles she could write that Nationals would be interested in. 

A. Donna: Women who are housebound today are no longer housebound. In fact, it may be an advantage, considering how much time I waste driving around. You've got the web, fax, phone, books, mags...make it all work for you. Go deep within yourself. Try that fein suin --spelling ?--bit. I've got fountains all over the place. I could drown trying to be creative 

Q. Robin asked: Donna, I write mostly personal [parenting] essays - no researched articles. Yet the market seems slanted to researched pieces and interviews. What advice would you have for essayists like me and do you see that market growing? When mags say the don't usually accept essays, should we accept what they say or query anyway in case they change their minds or like the piece? 

A. Donna: Articles are easier to sell, but there is a market for essays. You just have to write them--you don't query essays because they depend too much on style and voice, rather then research etc. Read, read , read the published essays in mags and newspapers that you want to write for, then the old advice, write, write write, regularly. Easy to say... 

Q. Robin asked: Second question. Honestly, how do print mags view online mags? A lot of us just getting into submitting work have only been published online. Do the glossies smirk when we send "clips" from online mags? 

A. Donna: I'm no expert with on-line mags, but my hunch is that one like Salon gets respect, but all the freebie ones probably are in the same category as local rags. I guess what it comes down to is that good writing is good writing--no matter where it's published--if the first reader of a magazine takes the time to look at it. 

Q. Lisa asked: If you've only written for small, no-name pubs and online pubs, is it worth letting editors know that in your query? 

A. Donna: Yes, Lisa, but group em, emphasizing the type of articles and say an array of on-line pubs, etc. rather than naming a lot of stuff they've never heard of. 

Q. Lisa asked: Donna...are you planning any other books in the near future? 

A. Donna: I'm thinking of pitching one idea to a group of editors I'll be meeting in NYC when I speak at the International Women's Writer's Guild 

Q. Robin asked: Donna, do you have a group of writing friends who critique or review your submissions every time, or do your queries/articles go straight from you to the pub? How many do you have? 

A. Donna: Robin, they go straight from me to them. My youngest son, Ryan, was a super editor. He told me when stuff stunk, and I went off on these confusing digressions etc. But now he's a plebe, first year, at the Naval Academy...Allen, my husband, means well but...the stuff he loves I'm stuck with in the reject drawer... I have a lot of writing friends; it wouldn't be worth it, if not for them. 

Q. Serena asked: Can you tell us a little about the book selling process? Did you do a proposal for Feminine Wiles?

A. Donna: No, I never wrote a proposal for FW. It came about in a very strange way. I really believe that once you get out there and start doing a lot of junk things happen. : Anyway, this small publisher, American West Books, had asked me to write a chapter for a writing book, The Portable Writer's Conference, a year or two back, and I was speaking with him about that and mentioned my thesis, and the rest you know. It really is a web. Once things just leads to another -- though never in a straight, predictable fashion. That's what exciting. 

Q. Robin asked: Before you hit it big, Donna, long before your were published, did you ever have a "feeling" you'd be published someday? 

A. Donna: I don't know about a "feeling" per se. I'd say I'm really determined. And although I am sensitive and get my feelings hurt probably more than usual, I also get mad--real mad at unenlightened editors, translated, editors who haven't come to appreciate me yet. And as they say in the Second Wives Club , resuccess is the best revenge. You have to want it. This writing. It must be a passion with you. 

Q. Chelle asked: Donna, should we go ahead and interview people, and begin writing the article, even though we haven't sold it yet? Or should we focus mostly on queries?? 

A. Donna: If you want to publish, write queries---be time efficient. 

Q. Lisa asked: Donna...you mention sending more than one query to an editor at a time...do they like that? 

A. Donna: Lisa, they hate that. That's why you do it. 

Q. Serena: So, why do you send more than one if editors hate it? 

A. Donna: Serena, editors receive so many unsolicited ideas that you have to stack the odds in your favor--just a tad. 

Q. Ann asked: Donna, this may be a stupid question, but if you have never been published, how do you go about interviewing someone for an article? 

A. Donna: Ann, people LOVE to be interviewed--only don't use that word with them-say instead, "let's talk." Never be shy when you're giving someone your attention. (look how fast I agreed to join you guys....) Only really media savvy people might hesitate, I mean celebrities... 

Q. Mim asked: Donna...I read an article in a local newspaper, and I want to interview a fellow and do an article, but what is in it for the people you are interviewing? Do they expect to get paid? 

A. Donna: No, Mimi, most don't. Again, there's a lot to be said for being a good listener. As I say in the book, you're the shrink without the bill. It's downright flattering. I've had very very few people refuse. 

Q. Ann: I guess I'm cynical, because I wouldn't talk to anybody without credentials. 

A. Donna: Your interest, your passion are your credentials. 

Q. Beth asked: As Jerri had asked, is there something you can do or say to the editor when writing on spec so as not to have the article rejected? 

A. Donna: Beth, Jerri, you can ask her up front, when you agree to write it on spec, to give you a chance to rewrite. Tell her you're willing to do ANYTHING to make it work---multiple rewrites, if necessary. I know this may sounds desperate, but when starting out it works. 

Q. Serena asked: Should you get a contract before writing anything? 

A. Donna: Of course, try for a contract, but if necessary write once, for a pub, on spec....then never again. 

Q. Beth asked: I've seen advice that when sending a manuscript (like an essay), to say in your cover letter that you will do rewrites. Is that a good idea, or does it make you come across as unprofessional? 

A. Donna: I wouldn't offer "re-writes" per se in a cover letter. Instead, I'd close with "I'm open to any suggestions you may have." 

Q. Lisa asked: When you want to interview someone for a story that you don't have a pub that is actually buying it yet, what do you tell the person? 

A. Donna: We're all optimists. Just tell the subject that you'll be submitting the idea to "a variety of women's magazines, or lifestyle sections of national newspapers, whatever." 

Q. Chelle asked: Donna, do you work much with reslanting articles/research etc. that you've already used for another piece? 

A. Donna: Chelle, not usually, but that's a great thought. I guess I did, by accident, with the McCourt piece. We should all think of ways to work smarter.... sold a few to Reader's Digest, but they contacted me. I guess I'm lazy chasing after reprints because the pay is usually low. The Digest is an exception. I have had articles reprinted elsewhere, but again they sought me.