I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails over the past couple months from writers who wanted to take my Story Ideas That Sell workshop. I had a lot going on in my life, so I pulled the workshop down. It was just too much for me at the time, plus some of my students wanted me to offer one-on-one coaching along with the workshop and I just couldn’t figure out how to fit that all in.

My life has settled down somewhat, and I was able to give the material a second look and figure out a way to provide more coaching and hand-holding. So I’m happy to announce that I’ll be offering my three-week class, Become an Idea Machine: How to (Painlessly) Build Up an Inventory of Story Ideas to Sell to Magazines, starting Monday, May 17. You can take the class with e-mail support ($149) or without ($99), although if you really struggle coming up with salable story ideas, I strongly urge you to sign up for the premium level.

What you’ll get from this course:

• You’ll learn how to generate dozens, even hundreds of possible story ideas, starting with the first week of class.
• You’ll learn how to sift through your ideas for the good ones, the stories that have potential, and learn how to refine and shape them into pitchable stories.
• You’ll figure out how to target your ideas for the right markets
• You’ll never be at a loss when an editor asks if you have any more ideas for them? You’ll have dozens of good ideas, sorted into subject categories.

I’ve reworked the material from my “Story Idea Workshop” for this new course, but if you’ve already taken that class, I’d urge you not to sign up for it again UNLESS you want to do it again with e-mail support. Contact me if you’re interested in doing this; you only have to pay the difference between the Basic and Premium levels, which is $50.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be doing a teleseminar with Linda Formichelli, tentatively titled Five Easy Ways to Generate Story Ideas That Sell. Details TK. In the meantime, you can sign up for my class at the Renegade Writer site.

Greetings! Some updates on my schedule.

Unfortunately, I’m no longer offering my Story Ideas That Sell workshop. Last fall I had a long think about what direction to take my career, which meant ruling out projects that pull me away from my goals. Teaching was one of them. Sorry folks! But I’ll continue posting at the Renegade Writer blog, and in the next few months, I’ll be giving a teleseminar with the fabulous Linda Formichelli on — ta dah! — idea generation. Details TK.

So, that new direction I mentioned. I’ve been working on a book proposal for the last few months, and I’m really, really, REALLY psyched about it. The book’s topic is one that’s close to my heart; the proposal itself was actually a lot of fun to write. Yeah, you read that right … fun! (If you know anything about me, you know that I rarely describe writing as “fun.”) My agent sent the proposal out last week, so keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?

I continue to write for the Boston Globe (I just reviewed the honkingly huge Cuisinart Elite food processor), and Kiwi Magazine just published a story I wrote about all-natural food colorings and flavors. I’m working on another piece for them about a topic near-and-dear to my heart. Let’s just say it’s raw.

As for speaking engagements, Smith College (my alma mater) invited me to speak on a freelancing panel at “A Century of Women in Type: A Conference for Smith Women in the Media” on March 25-26, 2010 in Northampton, MA. I was honored by the invitation, as I’ll be speaking with the Smith alums Gloria Steinem, Wendy Kaminer, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Andrea Cooper (a freelancer I admire greatly), among others. Yay!

Till next time.

In the midst of a creative lull? Want to ramp up your income 2009? I’ll be running my three-week Story Idea Workshop this spring with start dates on March 2 and April 6. Sign up through my classes page.

I really loved teaching my freelance writing classes locally for the past few years. But with my shift to food writing and a kid who has a more vibrant social life than I, teaching was one thing I had to cut out in the last year.

However, I’ve figured out a way to teach online. I think this is going to be great because I can reach beyond Boston. Now it doesn’t matter where you are — you can take my fun 3-week workshop! The other thing I did differently was focus on my favorite part of freelancing — generating salable story ideas for editors. It’s the part of my in-person class I found the most exciting. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has a story to tell sell and I get a kick out of showing my students they have dozens of ideas right in front of them. They just need to learn how to see them.

This workshop came about when, maybe a year ago I was talking to my writer friend Sandra, sharing with her some of my idea-generating tips and she said, “You should really teach a course in this.” It took me awhile to gather my thoughts, tips, and ideas, but finally this week I finished the three-week workshop. And now I’m really excited to share this with the world.

So check out my class page. If you have any questions about the workshop, send an e-mail to diana at ninetofive dot com and I’ll be happy to answer them.

It was a busy summer! As I try to keep up with the glut of tomatoes and chili peppers from my garden, I can’t believe the season’s over. I wrote quite a few pieces for the Boston Globe food section — see my clips page for links — and have another story coming out on 9/26/07 about goats, my new obsession. One story I’m quite proud of … it was about a Concord couple who raises pasture-fed chickens for meat and eggs. The story led hundreds of people to call or write to them about buying their birds … they ended up selling all their chickens for this year and have a waitlist for people who want birds in 2008! I also wrote many food/recipe features for fall magazines, some of which are hitting the stands this month. I did a Thanksgiving dinner story for Oxygen‘s November issue, and ended up having to test the recipes during one of the hottest weeks this summer.

But it’s not all work … I spent Labor Day weekend in LA visiting a dear friend I haven’t seen in awhile, and we went to my husband’s family reunion in Iowa in August. It was held at his great-grandfather’s homestead, which is still in the family — moreover, the reunion has been held every summer since 1918. I thought that was pretty cool! Now we’re off on a family vacation to Munich for a couple weeks, then it’s back to Boston to start planning my November March 2008 trip to India.

In January, my co-author and I are starting a series of e-courses taught through our Renegade Writer website. We are so thrilled with the instructors who are teaching them — they’re tops! Check out our blog as well, which we update fairly frequently.

I’ll be teaching my popular magazine writing class, Freelance Magazine Writing for Fun & Profit, though Chelmsford Community Education again this spring, starting on Tuesday, March 6, 2007. The class runs for three weeks from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. A few of my students have gone on to write for magazines including Parenting, Woman’s Day, and Yankee. They were already pretty terrific writers before my class, but hey, I like to think my kick in the pants made the difference. So don’t be shy — sign up today! The class always ends up being a lot of fun.

I’m also attending — not speaking at — Boston University’s Food and Wine Writing Symposium on Saturday, March 31. If you see me, say hi. I’m very excited about this symposium as some of my favorite authors, writer friends, and editors will be in attendance. While I adore writing about food and developing recipes, the truth is my high school home ec teacher kicked me out of her classroom. (Seriously. I’m not making that up.) I’ve got huge gaps in my knowledge of culinary matters, starting with how to time dishes so they all end up on the dinner table at once.

Here’s my schedule for fall 2006:

September 22 – 23, 2006
Connecticut Coast Writers Retreat, Milford Yacht Club, Milford, CT, $199.
*Speaking with Linda Formichelli on how to write the perfect pitch letter.

October 3, 10, & 17, 2006
Chelmsford Community Education, Chelmsford, MA
*Teaching Get Published!: Magazine Writing for Fun & Profit, $60, on Tuesdays beginning Oct. 3, 6:00 – 9:00 PM. From the catalog: “Dream about writing for top magazines? Learn how to make a lucrative living off your timely ideas from a professional freelance journalist. From idea-gathering to completing your article, we’ll explore the skills and strategies you can use for freelance writing success.”

October 19, 2006
National Speakers Association teleseminar, details TK.

November 7-17, 2006
Editorial Freelancers Association online class, Query Letters That Rock, Tuesdays and Fridays, EFA members, $95; non-members, $115.

November 9, 2006
Barnes & Noble, Warwick, RI, workshop and signing, 7 p.m., free
*Linda Formichelli and I will be talking about the perfect pitch and signing copies of our new book, The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock.