"Dear Peggy, how do I get started?"

Noel asks:
"I’m a graduate student of English and would love to become a freelance writer, writing for different publications like you do. How do I get started?"

Hi Noel,
Congratulations on pursuing your English advanced degree. To get started freelancing, first, decide what kind of writing you want to do. Fiction, how-to, personal experience? Think about which publications you enjoy reading. You will write the best articles for the publications you already read. You will notice that many commercial magazines have a column, often in the back of the magazine, where they encourage readers to submit personal stories. This is often a great place to start. Keep writing and most importantly, keep submitting. Don’t get discouraged by a lot of rejections at first. Just keep learning and studying books like Writer’s Market and read magazines and websites (and blogs!) on freelancing. Good luck!