I like to have several writing projects going at the same time. When I wear out on one, I go to another. This makes it easier for me to follow a Big Rule about being successful as a writer: BIC—Bottom in Chair—which means ignore distractions that invite you to get up from your writing chair.

Secret about me? I don’t like to create first drafts of anything. They’re hard for me, I don’t always know what I want to say yet, and doing first drafts makes my head hurt. So, if I have an article waiting that’s past the first draft stage, I can move away from the brain-draining work of a first draft and relax into something more fun for a few moments.

Following are examples of articles that waited patiently on my computer until I came back to finish them. I loved moving from one to the other and then seeing them in print when they were done and accepted by a publisher.

“Secret Career”
Hopscotch for Girls, Jun/Jul 2005 (pages 10–11)

Emma Edmonds wanted to serve in the American Civil War. She cut her hair, put on men’s clothes, and as Franklin Thompson, became a Union soldier. She asked to be a spy and disguised herself again—first as a Confederate slave and then as Charles Mayberry in a suit and tie. She completed eleven spy missions before she became ill with malaria. She ran away to get treatment. Franklin Thompson was declared a deserter, which upset her terribly. She told her secret and asked the War Department to review her case. In the end, she was given an honorable discharge.


“The Fall of a President”
Boys’ Quest, Aug/Sep 2005 (pages 10–11)

This is the story of President Richard Nixon’s resignation, what led up to it, and what he did while president. “I have never been a quitter,” he said. He wished his job could have ended another way.


“Neon Artist”
Boys’ Quest, Dec/Jan 2006 (pages 2–3)

Fred Elliott turned a neon-sign business into art. He used gases, glass sticks, and heat to make his own profile, a neon guitar, and a slinky made of 40, 36-inch circles of yellow lights.


“Gordon Parks: Bigger than LIFE”
Cricket, Feb 2008 (pages 34–39)

This article won International Reading Association’s Paul A. Witty Short Story Award. It shadows Gordon Parks’s life from his birth in small-town Kansas to his joining the staff of photographers at Life magazine. He overcame racial barriers and artificial obstacles meant to stop him and became a world-famous photographer, film maker, and writer.


“Sunflowers”
Hopscotch for Girls, Jun/Jul 2011 (pages 22–23)

I used the theme of Kansas sunflowers for this article. It has information about the history of sunflowers and the many ways they have been used over the years, but the focus is on the state flower of Kansas—sunflowers.


These are articles accepted, 
but not yet published:

“Overalls for Aprons”
Highlights

This is the story of women going to work during World War II when many of America’s men were sent to the military. Thelma Baldock left home, went to Portland, Oregon, to train to be a welder. She welded tanker ships that were sent overseas.


“A Bridge and Kite”
Cricket

A construction company had a contract to build the first suspension bridge over Niagara Falls. They were ready to start but could not figure out how to get the first cable across the deep, roaring rapids. A kite contest was held during Canada/New York’s freezing winter of 1848 to see whose kite could carry the cable across. Homan Walsh and the kite he built won the contest, and the construction company completed the bridge on time.


These are articles I’m working on:

“St. Lucia”

Swedish communities celebrate the life and story of St. Lucia each December 13. Beginning in about 250 A.D. and several times throughout the years, she mysteriously arrived on ships in Italy and Sweden. Dressed in white with a wreath of candles on her head, she delivered food to hungry people. This article tells about fourth-grader Elise Nelson being chosen as St. Lucia for Lindsborg, Kansas’s celebration.


“Home on the Range”

Webster Higley wrote a poem called “My Western Home.” His friend added a tune and changed the title to “Home on the Range.” It became the world’s most famous cowboy song, known by music lovers all over the world.


“A Tisket, a Tasket, Who Has the Basket?”

A basket company in Central Texas uses machinery from the early 1900s when the factory made thousands of baskets for tomatoes that were grown in the area. The Swanson family loves their old machines, repairing and making new parts for them when they break down and wear out. The Swansons still make the same high-quality baskets—some for tomatoes, along with hundreds of other types of baskets.