The Writing Life of Marcie Hill: The Early Days

This is to continue from a long time ago.

I left my job excited about the prospect of becoming a “real journalist.” I had my own newsletter for over eight years; I was a frequent contributor to The Independent Bulletin Newspaper and Chi-Town Daily News; and I was published in Mahogany magazine just months before. Surely, I qualified for something.

At the advice of loved ones, I sent my resume to N’Digo MagaPaper for freelance work.  Lo and behold, I was actually assigned a story. I had to interview four women business owners about their ventures.  I wrote it and submitted it, and was told it was going to be an evergreen story.  This meant that it could be published at any time.  A day or two later, I was told to add quotes to the story. A little bit after that, I received notice that it was going to be the cover story for the 2008 March edition.  I couldn’t believe it! I kept looking at the screen as if water had been squirted from the monitor into unsuspecting eyes. Yep, there it was.  My story was the cover story.  That was the good part.

Now, here’s the other part. Although I submitted query letters and stories to different publications, I got discouraged after a few rejections and responses. So, I gave up on being a freelance journalist.  Kinda.

I did submit a query letter to Essence Magazine.  The editor liked it but nothing has come of it.  I’ve re-submitted it a couple times to other magazines, but nothing has happened.  I’m going to keep trying.

In addition to faith and persistence, mentors are always needed on whichever journey you are going.  I would be totally wrong if I did not mention Jennifer Brown-Banks who have been a source of support since Hurley Green, the Managing Editor of the Bulletin Newspaper, first sent me to her for writing tips early in what would become my writing career.

Even though I did not continue on my freelance journalism journey initially, I had lots of spiritual experiences that indicated I was moving in the right direction.  I also attended two events that confirmed that I was where I was supposed to be in life.

The first event was the Making Media Connections event sponsored by The Community Media Workshop (Tom and Gordon are the coolest), which was held in June 2008.  Unity: Journalists of Color conference was the second event.  That was July 2008. I was nervous, but I felt right at home.

This is about the time I started blogging.  That’s another story at another time.  Until that time…