Writing astrology columns

As many of my regular readers know, for the last couple of years I have been writing an astrology column for the student newspaper of the Community College of Denver (CCD): Campus Connection. And today, I am starting my fourth semester of being a professional astrological writer (using the olympic definition of professional---if you ever got paid [even once] for the work, then you are a professional).

When I first accepted a position on the newspaper staff, the astrology column was not even a glimmer in my eye. I was in a literature class with Sarah Stover; and when she got the job of editor-in-chief, she remembered that I mentioned that I occasionally did some freelance writing. I agreed to work for the newspaper, then discovered the very next week that I needed to do a last minute transfer to the University of Colorado at Denver if I did not want to lose a whole semester worth of credits (I was just short of a single class, a science class, for my Associate degree when I transferred). Sarah did not care that I was going to a different school; as long as I was taking classes at Auraria campus, I was still qualified to work for Campus Connection.

It was not until October that the thought of an astrology column arose. I was doing a piece on Wicca and witches---which is how Sarah realized that I knew a lot about the esoteric traditions---when the thought occurred to her that I might be capable of writing an astrology column. Every writer meeting after that, she would mention how she loved astrology columns (hint, hint). I basically ignored the hints because of a slight difficulty that the format of the student newspaper presented.

Campus Connection comes out every three weeks (five issues a semester). This means that doing a predictive column was close to impossible. The very first semester I was there, I discovered a two year-old issue on one of the stands---an issue long forgotten by everyone. This caused me to have to figure otu a way to write an astrology column that was as fresh (useful) on the last day that the issue was on the stands as it was the first day.

It took me three months to figure out the solution. In fact, I figured out the solution the very last week of winter break. I cobbled it up and sent it in. The first column was about How Your Sun Sign Might Affect Your Study Habits. It got published, and the rest as they say is history.

The original format of the astrology column included an introduction which discussed some aspect of astrology and introduced the theme of the month. Based on the feedback from readers I talked to, the introduction section was abandoned when the next editor-in-chief started (it was part of the changes needed to keep the column in the paper---his opinion of the column was not exactly favorable---ironically, all the changes were ones that I wanted because of my feedback research). There was also some artistic changes done last year (including the removal of the background artwork).

But despite the changes in format, the way I write the column has been stayed the same. A month before writing any particular column, I have an idea. A couple of days before the column is due, I abandon the original theme and start working on a completely different theme. The revised idea for the column tends to be something I dreamed up while in the shower. Coming up with the idea is probably the hardest part of the process (in terms of how long it takes me to come up with a viable idea).

Then I start with the easiest signs for that idea and work my way towards the harder ones. The easiest signs to write about are those that I have a real life model for (often I am joking about how a certain Virgo and Gemini react). Then I progress to the harder ones...for the ones that I am unsure about I open up one of the many astrology books that I own (most often Rex Bills' The Rulership Book). Due to the nature of the column, I end up writing bits of it whenever I have a few mintutes to spare (lightrail, standing around waiting on my wife, etc.).

And a few months after the issue is off the stands, I reprint the columns on the internet. The astrology column does not do well on the internet for various reasons, but I do like to have them available online for my non-college friends to read. (The last four columns I wrote have yet to be posted to the internet which says what type of summer I had this year.) So here is to another year of writing astrology columns. May you enjoy and learn as much about astrology as I do while writing them.

Kicking around the astrology column

Well, I just posted the last astrology column of the semester up on Associated Content. Normally, I would wait until the next issue comes out before even considering doing this; but given the fact that it was about New Year's resolutions, and I seriously doubt that a lot of students are still on campus to read the issue, I decided to post it up early.

This is actually the first column from the new improved format that I put online. The big difference that one can see online is that I have quit doing the introduction, and am now just focusing on describing the signs and their behavior. The other two changes were to the way it was printed in the physical version of the newspaper: the name of the column changed from "Crystal Ball" to "Sun Wisdom", and the bad mugshot printed behind the column was replaced by a simple astro-wheel without any words printed over it (both of these problems were a non-issue on the web).

(I still have four more columns to post online, but I want to space out their posting a little for web traffic purposes.)

Now, it is time for me to kick around what my next column is going to be about. And the deadline is rapidly approaching (just over a week away).

When I volunteered to do the astrology column, I did not realize that it was going to take two weeks to come up with an idea for the column, and only a few hours to actually write it. I thought it would be the other way around; ideas coming quickly, and the actual writing being the bog that would slow me down.

Turns out that it is actually harder work to come up with the ideas (due to the audience and issue frequency) than it is to write the column itself. I will admit that I am still a little slow at writing the column itself; my knowledge of astrology was not as deep as I thought it was. But the column is helping improve my knowledge of astrology.

Now if I could only come up with ideas for the column faster. I would be in so much trouble if they decided to publish more often than once every three weeks.

Getting closer to the semester's finish line

Turned in the first of several rewrites I have to do this semester. Started with the last paper done, but easiest to fix (or at least, I think it is going to be the one that turns out that way). Only four more rewrites to go...unless this one comes flying back at me.

And at this point, if I die suddenly and complete no more work, I have an A- in Chemistry for the Consumer. I should be able to get all the way into a solid A, but it might be tight.

Plus thankfully, the editor of the student newspaper gave everyone a couple extra days to complete our articles. I will admit that I placed a rewrite in front of my newspaper commitment.

The semester is winding down...the finish line looks like it is a mile away.

Silly editor

Silly newspaper editor is asking us writers for story ideas. Didn't the last editor tell him that we all think about our stories at the last minute? and write them after the deadline?

OMG! I know some Biblical history

Well, today is the second day of school which is a lot more fun than justifying my book reviewing methods for the umpteeth time.

(By the way, I am not sure I feel like justifying my book reviews to someone who can not spell my name right. It is NOT Morgan Drake Epstein; it is Morgan Drake Eckstein. It is a subtle difference. My last name means "cornerstone"; I have no idea what Epstein means. All I know is that none of my work shows up on a goggle of Morgan Drake Epstein.

(As for my posting book reviews on Associated Content and having Adsense on my blog, I happen to be a freelance writer. I realize that the world view of occultists says that writers should give all their copyrights away, and never make a dime, for the good of humanity. But I believe that the divine wants me to have a roof over my head...and considering writing and annoying people are the only two skills I have...well, you get the picture.

(Furthermore, going back and changing a book review when my opinion of the book has not changed...I am sorry...are you trying to control the free press? By the way, research by book publishers has always indicated that bad book reviews do not hurt book sales. The key to book sales is "buzz"; even a bad book review is helpful.

(And there is a long list of writers who think I reviewed their work wrongly...get in line. Nobody is getting a rewrite; your personal opinion of my motives are no more important than my friendship with the other writers that I have trashed.

(I am not sure if any of that was helpful, but I wanted to get it off my chest. Now back to the regular scheduled blog post.)

So this semester, my third at the University of Colorado at Denver, I am taking:

Chemistry for the Consumer
Colorado History
Gothic Literature
and The Bible as Literature.

It was during The Bible as Literature class that I realized that I am not a normal student. And not just in the nontraditional sense (remember I became a freelance writer and a college student because of unemployment).

Now, I am taking the Bible class because I am not terribly familar with the Bible. Occasionally, I can spot a Biblical reference when I run across it; but most of the time, I will have no clue where it is from. Not good if you are a Literature major, or a ceremonial magician for that matter.

As a kid, my background in the Bible was the Big Little Book of Bible Stories. My parents did not agree on religion, so I was raised with none with the exceptation of the forementioned book. The little bit of religous training I got was from my aunt: a Garderian witch. I did some exploring and browsing of various religions in my twenties before coming back to Wicca, though I adopted a different flavor to call my own.

In the nineties, I found myself in Golden Dawn, which for some reason does not seem to be the same branch or culture as some other people experienced (could it be that they told the hierarchy where to go for a reason?); this is where I picked up my initial Kabbalah training.

(I was also influenced by Modern Magick, which despite being published by a certain book company, was actually a working textbook, as in it was attempting to teach practical magic.)

And as everyone who studies Kabbalah eventually learns, it is rooted in the Bible. Which is how the son of a Catholic went back studying the lore of his ancestors who decided to become Catholic to avoid being burned at the stake for being Jewish.

(I am not sure how they would feel about me being pelted for writing terrible book reviews...but I am not changing my opinion, thank you very much.)

Though the course of studying Kabbalah, I picked up some history of how the Bible came to be (I love history, hence my minor). That and I have tied some of the history classes I have taken to waht I already knew.

So I knew I had some knowledge about the history connected with the Bible.

What I did not realize was that my peers, my fellow class mates, had no knowledge of how the Bible came into being. We were doing the scaffold exercise (the professor borrowed the idea from Carl, who I had for Greek history two semesters ago). Basically you are given ten events in a random order that occur in the period of history you are about to study. You try to put them in order. (I did better with Bible history than I did with Greek history.)

These ten events became the scaffold (or in my case, a ladder) that you plug the rest of the dates into. It is the big picture, much like plugging things into the Tree of Life.

But I can not help worrying about my fellow college students. I presume that they are representive of their generation. No sense of history, no sense of literature. And most of them, informal poll, seem to be communication majors.

It is obivous that my bad book reviews are not the only thing that the world needs to worry about.

Who is my audience?

Lately, I have been kicking around the question of exactly who is my audience. A little bit more than I normally do.

Part of it is the fact that I am starting another semester of writing for Campus Connections, the student newspaper of the Community College of Denver. And we just switched editors, so it is time to refocus what the paper aims for.

Now, a lot of this refocus for me is cleaning up my astrology column based on what I learned last year. But some of it is simply trying to figure out who reads the college newspaper in the first place. Outside of myself and a couple of friends I do not know anyone who reads Campus Connections. (And I read anything, especially if I am bored, so I am not a typically reader. Plus I am a non-traditional student.)

But the question extends past the newspaper. Who exactly is reading my stuff?

I think the high point of pondering the mystery of my audience came recently when I was writing an article on money spells to post on Associated Content. Should I aim for people who know something about magic and money spells (why are they reading AC if they already know something) or should I aim for everyone who does not know the first thing about magic?

In the end, I tossed another item on the stack of beginner's material, doing just a simple money spell that in theory anyone can do. It boiled down to a pageview answer. I just don't think that there are that many advanced people out there to justify writing something complicated (I could be wrong).

What I would really like to see is a market study of the pagan/wiccan/ceremonial magic readership. One that does not rely solely on guessing the audience profile based on the number of books sold (if you go just by the numbers, only beginner pagan/wiccan and new age books and articles should be written). But I am betting that if such a study existed, it would be a trade secret. Alas, I can dream.

Posted the last two astrology articles

Yesterday, I finally got around to posting the last two astrology articles I wrote last semester for Campus Connections, the student newspaper of the Community College of Denver. Outside of these, I only have one article left that I plan on posting on the web; and it is a Halloween themed one, so I am going to wait until October to republish it.

(There were a couple of other articles I wrote for the paper; but they are either really bad or very narrow audience, so I am not going to republish them.)

I definitely wanted to post these last two before I started reprinting the ones that I am going to be writing this year for the student newspaper.

One of the reasons that I have been at so many of the staff meetings for the paper is that I wanted some format changes in the way I was doing the astrology column. That and the little fact that I have already seen the schedule for the writers' meeting, and I am in class during them: hence I am going to miss a lot of meetings this semester.

The biggest format change that is going to happen is that I am no longer going to be writing an introduction (editorial) section for the astrology column: just the sun signs are being read according to my informal reader survey. There were other changes, but they were all print media related.

If anyone is curious, the last two articles were about pet peeves of college students and a sun sign career guide.

I can feel my ego growing as I type

I just returned from a meeting with the editor and art director of Campus Connections, the student newspaper for the Community College of Denver. I went to suggest changes for the astrology column that I write. All of my suggestions were accepted.

I guess market research and reader feedback counts for something.

But I am not sure if I am comfortable with the effect on my ego.

One of the changes I wanted was to get rid of the introduction; basically I discovered that no one is actually reading it. Also I want a column this year that is closer to what I would get paid to write elsewhere. And the editor wants to get rid of it too...because he thinks that I am actually a better writer than that based on the work I did in a history class that he was also attending (he wants some serious political and historical articles from me).

Gee, I can feel my ego grow as I type. Run away! Run away!

Rocky Mountain News last issue

Under normal conditions, I avoid abusing my blog to send out links to my articles (or at least open links); but I am going to make an exception today.

Here is the address of a piece I wrote today on the last issue of the Rocky Mountain News.

www.associatedcontent.com/article/1517731/rocky_mountain_news_publishes_last.html

If anyone else has written an online piece about it, leave your link in the comment section in return.

College newspaper articles

For those of my readers who are curious about what type of articles I have drifted into writing for the college newspaper, I have republished two of them on Associated Content.

What is Divination Addiction?

What Your Sun Sign Says About Your Study Habits

Is political correctness a danger?

One of my concerns as a writer is that our culture of political correctness is restricting what writers and artists are willing to say, that thinkers will hesitate to say certain things because of the possible backlash that they could be subject to. Powerful lobbying groups, churches, politicians, academics, the blogosphere, and your grandmother can ruin your career, or at least make your life miserable if they feel that you are insensitive and/or do not like what you are saying.

I became acutely aware of the effect of this threat recently. I was working on a possible Campus Comedian column for CCD Campus Connection, the student newspaper of the Community College of Denver. Several of my jokes made fun of several of my former professors. I also made jokes about the upcoming Democratic National Convention. And periodically, I found myself asking myself if I really wanted to be saying what I was saying.

It is not just my reputation on the line, but the reputations of the editors, and possibly the entire staff, that could be drag though the mud if some hothead decides that I have crossed the line. Last year, I watched with horror the fuss made over the “F*** Bush” headline and editorial that appeared in a college newspaper; and recently, the tar and feathering of the New Yorker for their Obama cover (with him in a turban, and Michelle carrying an assault rifle).

I am not sure when this political correct culture started. Or when we lost the ability to talk about politicians and the fears that we feel as a people, but it does not bode well for your county. And it does not bode well for me as a writer either.

I wasn’t aware of the extent of political correctness was having on my writing until the Campus Comedian attempt. And a couple of weeks later, it was really driven home. I went down to the newspaper office to get my headshot done for an editorial that I wrote about students complaining that they do not need some of the classes that colleges are forcing them to take.

While I was at the office, I got to see the cover of the August 19th issue of the newspaper. My first thought was “That is brilliant; that is exactly how some people think about Barack Obama; they act as if it is the Second Coming, or that he is the Messiah.” My second thought was “Does the newspaper really want to use that picture for the cover?”

This thought was horrifying to me. Just a couple of years ago, I was appalled when the Artist Coop that I belonged to was more concerned that none of the artists displayed anything that would upset people than attracting attention and customers. I had even thought up a few art ideas that would possibly get me burned at the stake. And today, I am more worried about what people will think about something than if it is worth saying. Sad but true; fortunately, knowing that I am in danger of becoming a cog in the political correctness machine is half the battle.

College newspaper meeting

Tuesday, I attended my first staff meeting for the Community College of Denver newspaper. I may or may not be writing for them. I am not sure if my style of writing is geared to theirs. But it is worth a shot, if only to try to improve my resume that currently has large gaps of unemployment on it. Plus, it counts as a writing job.

It will be strange writing for the CCD newspaper while I am busy attending the University of Colorado at Denver. (There is also some doubt, purely on my end, that I can legally do so.) But I know the editor, and they are a little short-handed at the moment, so I am willing to roll up my sleeves and write a few pieces.

Provided that my style matches theirs. Looking around the room, I think that I was the oldest person in the room. Of course, that leads me into what I want to focus on---articles aimed at the non-traditional college student.

I didn't pitch any ideas, or voluteer for any assignments (I don't have a clue where to begin on some of the ideas that were tossed around), or even admited that I had any ideas. I do have some ideas, but it is easier for me to just write them and submit them as my writing sample.

The editor laughed that she didn't need a writing sample from me; after all, I got an A in the literature class that I took with her, and the teacher is a real stickler for grammar, proving your statements, and having a voice.

So that is the big news of the week; I might be freelancing for one of the college newspapers.