by Jeanne Marie

Created on: October 01, 2008

If You Write, The Write Job Will Find You

If you write about everything that makes an impact on your senses, if you keep an open mind and let your creativity flow in whatever direction it wants to wander, then sometimes the job of your dreams will fall into your lap and that's exactly how I became a novice drag racing sportswriter for an International magazine earning up to $8,000.00 a year for part-time work.

I was hired by the magazine as a feature writer, contributed many of my own photos with my articles and was given my own column about Junior Dragsters which I wrote for five years.

Sports writing can be very creative, but it's entirely different from free style creative writing because of the assignments, guidelines and deadlines. On the plus side, I learned how to cover drag racing events and I learned how to interview drag racers from eight-years-old to eighty-two years-old. I was trained to be a sports/photo journalist and although it was a career choice I'd never planned, it was an extreme experience and I was in awe at every event.

I interviewed the stars and I interviewed the local weekend warriors. I talked to the exhibition racers, including one who actually drove a Flying (Jet) Toilet down the track and my favorite, a young woman who worked Monday through Friday in a doctor's office. On the weekends, she pulled back her hair, taped on a pair of men's fire pants and drove a jet dragster down the quarter-mile strip at 302 mph in 5 seconds.

How did this spectacular job fell into my lap? My first drag racing story was about my husband's racing, "Parts and Pieces." I submitted it to a local drag racing newspaper and the editor offered me a job. It turned into merely an opportunity to learn because in three years he paid me just $75.00.

I worked full-time at a restaurant but the writing experience was invaluable, so I also threw myself into the apprenticeship. It would prove to be the experience I needed to step into a paying sports writing job.

The editor taught me how to present my work professionally. I learned interview skills, motor sports photography and drag racing terminology. He eventually gave me my own column in addition to my regular feature articles about local racers and events.

In time, I quit the restaurant and went to work as the Personal Assistant for the new owner of our local racetrack. I did make sure it was an actual job before I accepted the position, but again the experience was invaluable. I created promotional flyers, organized race

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