Writing a Cooking Column

Among some of the enjoyable creative work I’ve done during a writing career has been producing cooking columns for newspapers, magazines and online.  I’ve even contributed to cookbooks. 

Image: sxc.hu

 This career began rather unexpectedly after I finished a 2-year correspondence course in journalism (comparable to an online class today).  Many people ask me how they can get started, too.

 Study other columns and write some yourself.

 Take a column writing class.  As mentioned above, I did this via a correspondence course.  I now teach column writing classes online.

 Make sure you’re serious about column writing and have ideas enough to keep going.  Writing a weekly column (I’ve done both weekly and monthly), takes persistence and continual idea gathering.  Some people get started, then after 6 weeks run out of ideas.  An editor is depending on you…and you are if you want to get paid.

 You may have begin writing for very low or no pay for the first few columns to convince the editor it will be a good column for that publication.  (Some writers say this isn’t a good idea, but sometimes you must get started somewhere if you’ve never written a column for publication before.  However, it’s advisable to do it for an agreed upon limited time.)

Be enthusiastic about the material you write.  It will show through in your writing.

From the cooking column, which I still write today, I’ve gone on to write columns about gardening, local history, quiltmaking, arts and crafts, travel, children’s books, and family history.  Today, column writing has evolved into blog writing for many authors.