Prepare

• Make an appointment (and be on time for it). Tell your subject how long you expect the interview to last.
• If you’ll be taking pictures, tell him or her so that they can be prepared for it both physically and mentally.
• Research your subject ahead of time so that you can have a specific slant in mind for your article. I often talk to their friends and family to get ideas before the interview.
• Develop questions to start the conversation, but don’t let your prepared questions limit your interview.
• Plan to record it. You’ll have the recording to back up your note-taking as you write the article. Always ask the subject’s permission to record before turning the machine on.
• Prepare your equipment. Be sure your camera and tape recorder have good batteries and are working properly.

Be Aware

• Some seniors have vision, hearing, or mobility challenges. Physical disabilities are not always obvious, so be sensitive to any challenges that arise. Almost all seniors have some hearing loss, though, so speak distinctly and face the person when you talk.
• Seniors can be shy about talking about themselves. Often they’ll talk about their family. I try to steer the conversation to his or her activities and interests.
• Some subjects will not be shy at all. In fact, you may have difficulty keeping on-topic because, once the subject gets started, he realizes he really does have an interesting story.
• Seniors often want to talk about their faith. My magazine welcomes such material, but some publications do not. Since I also write for the Christian market, I sometimes use my seniors’ faith stories in articles for Christian publications.
• Some seniors are writers themselves. If you discover a hidden talent, encourage it. I’ve helped some of my interview subjects get stories published in our magazine.

Show you care.

• If the interviewee wants to see the article before it’s published, I always agree. But, if they don’t ask, I don’t offer.
• Obtain multiple copies of the published article for your subject. They’ll enjoy sharing their temporary celebrity status with family and friends.
• Make contact with your subject periodically for a possible follow-up story. My publication does a recap issue about every three years in which we go back to our interviewees and get an update.

Interviewing seniors can be a challenge, but it is never boring. After all, today’s seniors survived World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, not to mention the Culture Wars. Their life stories contain lessons for their contemporaries and the younger generation that will be lost if they are not told now. I am honored to be part of that effort, and I encourage other writers to be part of it, too.

More Interview How-to Articles:

How To Write a Profile or Interview-based Article

How to Write a Profile Story

Winner Number One is Sue Tornai, a regular subscriber to Blog4writers. Visit her site, www.suetornai.com. Also take a look at her blog: www.missue.blogspot.com.

The second winner is a regular subscriber whose e-mail address begins with ditelbat. I’ve received no response to e-mails asking for name and mailing address. Will you please e-mail me at akinemily@gmail.com and give me your mailing address so that I can mail your book?”

I’ll be doing book giveaways about once a month for the rest of this year. Subscribe to Blog4writers so that you will be eligible for future drawings. Go to http://emilyakin.com/blog/, and enter your e-mail in the Subscribe box and follow the directions. If you need help, don’t hesitate to e-mail me for help: akinemily@gmail.com.

A review of The Time of Your Life is on Blog4writers here. In the Getting Organized posts, I mentioned some of the concepts in the book. See those posts here.

I’m giving away two (2) copies of The Time of Your Life on Blog4writers this week. Since the book is out of print, I must disclose that these are used books, but they are in good shape. Here are the rules for the drawing:

• Deadline to enter is 11 p.m., Central Daylight Time, Sunday, July 18, 2010.

• How to enter:
  • If you are already an e-mail subscriber to Blog4writers, you are automatically entered.
  • Others may enter by becoming a new subscriber. Just go to any page on my site, http://emilyakin.com and put your e-mail address in the subscription box at the top of the sidebar. Click “subscribe” and follow the directions.
  • If you prefer not to subscribe, you can enter by commenting on any post on the blog: http://emilyakin.com/blog/. Browse the posts by using the search box or by browsing the category drop-down menu.
  • Current subscribers (as of July 13, 2010) may comment on any post for one (1) additional entry in the drawing.

• Drawing: On July 19, 2010, I will draw two names from the pool of subscribers and commenters. Winners must reside in the USA.

• Winners will be notified by e-mail. I will ask for your mailing address, and I will send winners’ books via USPS media mail as soon as possible after the deadline.

Enter now while you’re thinking about it. If you have questions or need help with anything, e-mail me at akinemily(at)gmail.com.

Review your intentions: Take a look at the goals you set for yourself. Did you accomplish any of the short-term goals? How are you progressing on the long-term goals? The more specific your goals, the easier it is to measure success. As an example, if you stated that you wanted to submit one article per week, this goal is easily measured by counting your submissions. At the monthly mark, you should have sent out four submissions. If you’re behind on your quota, you can make it up before the next evaluation date. Vague goals like “submitting as many articles as I can” aren’t easily measured. You can excuse a low submission count by citing distractions or unforeseen circumstances.

Revise the plan: If you submitted one article every week for one year, you sent out 52 submissions. Technically, you reached your goal. However, if you got no acceptances, you probably need to make some changes. It’s time to examine your marketing techniques, your adherence to guidelines, and even your writing itself. It could be that your timing was just not right for some of your rejected pieces. Perhaps you are concentrating too much on quantity and not enough on quality. Go back to the market guide to look for a better match. Or—revise and send to the same publisher. Keep trying to different tacks until you find a process that works for you and your genre.

Re-charge: When you make your original plans and when you revise them, spend some time checking with other writers about their goals and methods. And don’t forget to pray as you evaluate and make new plans. In previous posts, I mentioned Mark Porter’s The Time of Your Life: How to Accomplish All That God Wants You to Do. I’d like to share an excerpt from the book now. Porter says there are four ways to receive word from God. He calls it the Compass of God’s Guidance. “North” is Neighbor’s Counsel, the input of godly Christians. “East” is Events & Circumstances, those God-incidences that occur from time to time. “South” is the Spirit’s Promptings. And finally—“West” is the Word of God, the Bible. He says God uses each of these points to communicate with us as we seek God’s guidance.

More articles on goal-setting:

Did You Achieve Your 2009 Writing Goals?

Four Signs You Need to Re-Evaluate Your Writing Goals

Setting Goals That Work for You on the Way to Publication

This is the final post in the Get Organized series. See previous posts at by searching “Get Organized” in the search box anywhere on my Web site: http://emilyakin.com. This series was developed to accompany my presentation at Kentucky Christian Writers Conference 2010, “Get Organized and Sell Your Work.”

If you devote full-time to your writing career, you may spend as much as an hour each day doing these additional writer jobs. If you consider yourself part-time, organize your time, either daily or weekly, to perform each of the following functions.

• Reading and research. Read examples of the genre you want to write. Do some research on your subject matter or current trends in your chosen genre.
• Marketing. Subscribe to publishing industry blogs to keep current on marketing trends. Spend some time each day exploring markets for your work in the market guide or online.
• Networking. Get to know other writers on Twitter, Facebook, online writers’ groups, and blogs. Be part of a critique group, either local or online. Keep in contact with people you have met at conferences. Look for opportunities to collaborate with other writers on projects.
• Prayer. For the Christian writer, praying for God’s guidance daily is a must. How can you know whether your plans and activities headed in the right direction unless you check with your Guide? Whether you feel that things are going well or not-so-good, don’t leave out this critical daily activity.
• Organizing. It never ends. Decide on a place for everything, and keep everything in its place. If you don’t stay organized, you’ll waste precious writing time looking for lost things.

Try giving a set amount of time to each activity on the list. Give each equal time. Then do your hour of writing for that day. You can do the writing hour first, but I think you’ll be better prepared to write when you’ve done the other things first.

And—be careful not to waste time. It’s easy to let the time slip away when you’re doing something you enjoy. Secretly, you may be hoping that you’ll run out of time and not have to do the things you don’t enjoy. For example, e-mail and social networking can be time-wasters if you don’t limit the time you spend on them.

Again, I recommend Mark Porter’s The Time of Your Life: How to Accomplish All That God Wants You to Do. It’s out print, so it’s only available through used book services like Half.com, Abe Books, Amazon, and Better World Books.

Next post in the Get Organized series will be “Evaluating Your Efforts.” Subscribe at the top of the sidebar anywhere on my site to get all updates: www.emilyakin.com.

What are your goals for your writing? Organizations and individuals spend a lot of time developing goals and objectives to make their work more effective. A writer should have the same concern. If you don’t know what your goal is, you have no way to measure success.

Do you want to publish a book? The steps to publication for a published writer will be different from those of an unpublished writer. As you set your goals, be sure they are realistic. Miracles do happen, but it usually takes years, even decades, to see that first book in print. Attend conferences and learn what it takes to reach your goal. Then, set your sub-goals with your time constraints in mind.

For the Christian writer—do the goals you’ve set coincide with what God wants for your writing? The best resource on this topic is a book that is out of print. Published in 1983 and 1988, Mark Porter’s The Time of Your Life: How to Accomplish All That God Wants You to Do is not specifically for writers, but I highly recommend it. Porter outlines a time management method for Christians that includes several chapters on goal-setting. See my review of this book here.

Why do you write? Every writer needs to know the answer to this question. Sandra P. Aldrich, a Christian writer was featured speaker at Kentucky Christian Writers Conference 2006, said, “I write because I have to.” She doesn’t write to make a living or to become famous. She writes because it’s part of who she is. Some writers who “write because they have to” are not concerned with publication. They might use their writing to encourage and teach others or to enhance a speaking ministry.

Check out this article, “Do You Know Why You Write?” Then take a look at the first chapter of Marlene Bagnull’s Write His Answer here.

And for whom? Writers want their work to be read by someone. Who are your prospective readers? For example, do you want to write for children, ages 6-10? Senior adults? Teens? The “market” you choose will determine the subject matter, language, and style of your writing. Publishing industry experts say this is possibly the Number One deficiency in the work of writers seeking publication. These writers have no idea that they are supposed to tailor their work for specific publications.

See this article on Daily Writing Tips site. Also, Jim Watkins has a masterful piece entitled “The Ministry of Writing” on his site here.

This is the third installment in a series of five posts on the topic, Get Organized. The material will be part of my workshop, Get Organized and Sell Your Work, at Kentucky Christian Writers Conference, June 11-12.

Next post in the Get Organized series is Time Management. Subscribe so that you won’t miss it.

Links to previous posts in the Get Organized series:

• W – Your Writing Place
• R - Your Records

Also, if you came to this blog because you are a writer looking for resources to advance your career, you might be wondering why this book is featured here. It’s because I found it very helpful to me in managing my time as as a freelance Christian writer.

A chemical engineer and teaching elder in his church, Porter was  a busy man. He was caught up in what he called the “scurry syndrome,” running from one thing to another without thinking about which activities were important and which were merely urgent. This doesn’t sound new to us today, because others have picked up on it. Many things that are urgent are not necessarily important.

Porter takes the reader through a study of how to turn mere activity into accomplishment. In fact, the book is designed to be used in a 13-week study. There’s mention of a study guide, but I have not found it anywhere.

Porter covers goals, priorities, spiritual gifts, analysis of current time usage, identifying time wasters, and planning. All is presented from a sound Biblical basis, making this book a valuable resource for the Christian writer.

This book is available for sale at ECS Ministries. I’ve searched Half.com with no luck, but I did find it on www.abebooks.com.