Sunday, April 22, 2007

query for story #2

Mary Pitchford - Editor
Career Communications, Inc.
6701 W. 64th St., Suite 210
Overland Park, KS 66202

Dear Mary Pitchford,
I am proposing to write an article for your magazine, which focuses on a college student in the midst of a career change.
The subject is a 23-year-old senior at California State University Sacramento and he is a business administration major.
Recently, Jason Teske was working for a housing development group, basically as a realtor. Teske does not yet have his realtor’s license and therefore was not eligible for commission of his sales.
As a full-time student working five days a week he does not have enough time to study for such an exam so he decided to leave the real estate world and pursue his dream of being a sports agent.
He recently started an internship for the Sacramento Rivercats baseball organization where he promotes the team through events and contests.
Your publication has encouraging writing for students and advice for educational purposes, which would welcome the piece I’m proposing.
An article about a young man nearly finished with college switching career paths while staying within the spectrum of his major would give lots of students hope of achieving their dream.
I’m writing this article while enrolled at California State University Sacramento in the journalism program and I’m currently taking a magazine writing course instructed by Michael Fitzgerald, currently a freelance magazine writer.
The article can be customized to fit your preference and I’d be eager to do further work on it if you wanted me to expand on anything.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Quey Letter-Story #1

Andy Bromage - Managing Editor
New Haven Advocate
900 Chapel Street, Suite 1100
New Haven, CT 06510

Contemporary American culture is founded on social convening at popular
gatherings. In Stockton, California, the Thunder have opened the city’s eyes to hockey in a place where it isn’t very popular. Hockey has come to be well known over the years for the physicality of the sport. Hockey fans see the physical endurance and athleticism required by the great hockey players of our time, but few people realize what goes on behind the scenes. Most people do see the extreme sacrifices made by the players on an emotional and familial level. In my article “Dreams Can
Land You in Stockton,” I seek to delve into the true lives of hockey players.

I’ve talked with players about their journeys and how they deal with the hectic travel and relocations that the sport requires. Players have to make sacrifices for the sport and it means ever-changing distance between them and family. Troy Bodie and Liam Reddox of the Thunder both grew up in Canada and now reside in Stockton until hockey takes them elsewhere. Bodie is from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, a small, quiet town much different than Stockton. Reddox is from East York (Toronto), Ontario, also different from Stockton.

Lucky for these players they can find comfort in one another and in their fan base. They have been joyously welcomed by the city of Stockton and have made the best of their living situation far from home. They have come to see one another as family by enjoying time together off the ice. Also, they have maintained close ties to family through regular phone calls. I want to offer readers a perspective on hockey that most people take for granted by giving them a behind-the-scenes view into the daily life of the hockey player. My article seeks to show hockey fans how much the players give of themselves for the love of the game.

They are part of the contemporary culture of Stockton where crowds of all ages attend games and qualify as the best attendance of any team in the ECHL. This will appeal to your magazine audience because it will diversify your articles by touching a unique subject. Young Canadian men are the heart of one of the popular cultural fads in a growing town in Northern California.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Profile Blogggg

Many people are probably choosing someone rather prestigious to interview but I want to take a different route and profile someone that is simply very interesting. One of my bosses at work has had a very strange life and always has interesting stories to tell about random experiences. His name is Jay and he's 36 years old.

He was adopted as a child just before he was about to be placed in an orphanage in Texas. The family that adopted him had two daughters nearly 20 years older. Jay was not always treated fairly but eventually moved out to California.

Here, he attended Sac State for a few years. I'm not positive whether he graduated but I know he said he would have done some things differently. He managed a Chinese movie store for a couple years, which he says was his favorite job.

He started at my work just before me and was employee of the month every month before he got promoted to supervisor. He's an artist and constantly draws in his free time and has had comics published.

I can recall a number of very unique stories he's told me over just a few minutes at work. His life has had extreme ups and downs. He was homeless twice. He was married and divorced. His girlfriend makes way more money than him. He also collects toys. He may sound quirky, and he is, but he's been through a lot of drama and has an intriguing wisdom.