Members' Salon: ASJA members discuss their lives as writers

Victoria Moran

It was pretty apparent from early on that words, spoken and written, were what I was good at. (That was easy to figure out because I was pretty awful at art, music, numbers, manual dexterity, and a host of other things.) At times, in high school especially, there was some conflict about whether writing or speaking was more my forte, but it's turned out that I've been able to do both.

Career high point and career low point?

Lots of high points, from age 14 when my Teen Life magazine press card got me into my first Beatles press conference, to going on Oprah 30 years later, to having a woman in Omaha tell me that reading Creating a Charmed Life led her to "dump the abusive alcoholic, get my GED, and get my kids back." You just don't forget something like that. Low points? I bring those on myself when I compare my accomplishments (or lack of) to somebody else's—not a good idea.

Most memorable story?

Definitely: I wrote about going undercover in a slaughter-house for The Animals Agenda magazine in, gosh, 1990. That was a story researched with my eyes, ears, nose, and conscience. The experience that day—witness the hellish working conditions and the mass execution of beings who moments before had made eye contact with me—changed my life forever.

What does it mean to you to be a writer?

A lot. I feel so lucky to get to do it. Because I write nonfiction— spirituality, well-being, self-help—I also get to be a philosopher. I have the incredible blessing of sharing what I've learned and what is important to me with lots of readers. This is really stunning when you think about it. I mean, I'm just a girl from Kansas City with no more right to have an opinion about things than anybody else and yet, as a writer, I get my opinions and ideas and convictions out to people around the world. (That's one of the biggest thrills, by the way: seeing my books in Chinese or Lithuanian or Icelandic.)

What do you think about what's going on now in the world of journalism and publishing?

I think I'm glad I started writing when I did. It does feel as if we're in the midst of a revolution. We've seen established publications disappear. With so much content available for free online, and so many people willing to provide it (also for free), the line has blurred between writers, like those of us in ASJA, and people with spell-check and some time on their hands. How this will play out in the world of books remains to be seen. I know that I, like most other writers I know, have diversified so that my work life now includes writing, speaking, life and health coaching, teleclasses, spokesperson jobs, and lots of marketing of all of it. Everything I do, however, revolves around the topics I write about. I'm a writer first, a professional writer. I'm convinced that's what I came to earth to do and I trust that things will shake out so that young people coming along with that same conviction will be able to make their living from words.

What's new and/or upcoming (writingwise)?

Oh, thanks for asking! I'm about two-thirds of the way through the proposal for a book I've wanted to write for seven years. It's about living the spiritual life. It feels like my magnum opus, like when Charlotte wrote "Humble" in her web.

Kelly James-Enger

From the time I was in third grade, I was writing pithy little poems and stories ("The Tale of the Orange Shoes" and "Strange Habits Suit my Cat") that I was inordinately proud of. I even read my poems at my elementary school's talent show. I credit my mom, who loved (and loves) to read and instilled a love of words and stories in me from early on. My desire to write grew out of that. As far as knowing I could sustain a career as a self-employed writer, that was at about the 18-month point of full-time freelancing. I'd secured a number of steady clients, was making in the mid-30s (close to what I'd made as an attorney), and I finally had a sense of "Hey, I think I can do this for good."

Career high point and career low point?

My career high point was selling my first novel, Did You Get the Vibe?, which was the fifth incarnation of the novel I'd been attempting to write since I quit my legal career to freelance full-time. The year I made six figures was another high point; hitting that benchmark was significant both because I felt like I'd "made it" as a freelancer (at least that year) and it led to my popular book on six-figure freelancing. Low point was in my second year of freelancing, when a feature for a women's magazine was killed after about nine months' of pitching, re-pitching, reporting, more reporting, writing, rewriting, you name it. I'd gotten to know the family featured in the story, and telling them it wasn't going to run (for political, behind-the-scenes reasons) was a real disappointment.

Oddest person you've ever encountered through your reporting?

I edited a book for a psychic years ago, who was somewhat unusual. I believe she had a gift and could communicate with people who had passed on, but I was a little freaked out when she told me about my "past lives." In one, I was a rich, bored wife in ancient China who had an affair with her houseboy and was decapitated by her husband when he found out. In another I was a male newspaper editor in late 18th century New England whose wife was killed by Native Americans. According to her, that's where I get my interest in writing.

Most memorable story?

I'm primarily a "service journalist," so most of my stories blend together in a big prescriptive blur. But my piece "20 Things to Know about Your Vagina" certainly comes to mind!

Was there a book that changed your life?

That's a tough one. I did read and reread Recombinations, a novel by Perri Klass, in college and vowed someday I would publish a novel about relationships and love and sex and friendship and meaning… and eventually did (two, in fact). The book that changed my writing/freelancing life was definitely Writer's Market 1988. Although I majored in writing in college, I'd never taken a journalism class and had no idea how freelancing worked. I learned more from WM and its subsequent editions than from any other source.

What did you do when you received notice of your first publication?

It was a sale to Cosmopolitan; I was such a rookie I actually wrote the article (on surviving your last two weeks on the job) and sent it in! The editor bought it three weeks later, and sent me the acceptance letter by mail. I yelled, "They're buying it! They're buying it!" and literally leaped onto my unsuspecting husband, who had brought in the mail. I then called everyone I could think of, starting, of course, with my mom.

What does it mean to you to be a writer?

It's hard for me to separate "being a writer" from writing for a living. What it means has changed over the years; at first, it was a convenient vehicle for me to escape from the law. Then it became a way for me to make decent money while exploring a variety of subjects that were already of interest to me. Now that I'm a mom to a newborn and a preschooler, it's a way for me to make enough money to help support my family while working 10-15 hours/week. I don't always love it, but I like it way more (and it gives me more freedom) than any other career I can think of.

What's new and/or upcoming (writingwise)?

I'm currently ghosting a book for a dietitian, and continuing to do ghosting/co-authoring work. My agent's shopping a book on ghostwriting that I hope will build on my "writing expert" platform (I've written two other books on successful freelancing) and I'm still doing a little magazine work as well as some public speaking. Most important, I'm enjoying my kids and loving my life!