Writing Prompt #3 and other cool things

I've decided that it's okay to not post on Mondays.  Because Mondays.

A couple pretty cool developments!  I finally had the pleasure of meeting Adam's cousin, who is also a writer.  On top of us bonding over it in general, she did confirm an awesome tidbit for me: drinking while writing sparks the creativity, and revise/edit sober.  I foresee Lindsey and I getting along great.

The other awesome thing is that it finally dawned on me that a friend-of-mine's father works for the local paper out here.  I asked her the favor of possibly her dad giving me a reference there for some freelancing work.  I was touching base with my Google Gods and found a couple interesting articles on "how to start a writing career."  Both had some short, informative bits, but a couple of the big points that struck me were:

• You might not have any previous experience, and that's okay.  Put a few writing samples together, and/or create a query.
• Start by inquiring to local publications for any available freelancing opportunities.

Paying it forward, the two articles I found are the following:

How to Start a Freelance Writing Career in 24 Hours or Less via The Real Life of a Narrowboat Wife
How to Start a Freelance Writing Career via Theta Mom

There were tons of other great nuggets of info, but those two are the ones that really stuck out to me.  To the point where my mind went, "Hey, this is actually possible.  Awesome!"

And then, as would be expected, Anxiety Girl here instantly jumps off the deep-end with such classic lines as, "Query?  Wtf?  And writing samples?  Dude, you HAVE NO WRITING SAMPLES that would work in the world of non-fiction freelance!  And local publications?!  This isn't Chicago anymore, Dara!  There's practically nothing!  You can't even find a damned yoga class that doesn't meet in the middle of the friggin' day, what makes you think you'll even find somewhere that will give you a few shots at writing for them?!"

I have quite the Debbie Downer in my head, I tell you what.  Moving on.

I left a message for the editor of the local paper, saying that my gal-pal's father recommended I reach out to him.  Nothing back yet.  I've got a gag in Debbie's mouth for now, it'll probably last only until the end of the week.

And now, for some writing time, care of Today's Author.

"There was no one in the rest stop, but the parking lot was full."

Outside.  Of course, they had to be.  Imagine if some normal person walked right in to see ten to fifteen businessmen with fangs standing around.  Maisie crossed through the rest stop to the exit at the opposite end, back into the humid, nighttime air.  The rest stop wasn’t large by any means, but still, the sight of so many cars and no bodies accompanying them was unsettling.  At least Devin would be there.  And Perry, as well.

A short, shrill whistle got her attention.  She saw a figure waving the screen of a cell phone in her direction, to which she quickly made her way over.  “May want to use the light on yours,” Devin pointed it towards the ground as he led the way through a faint path in the grass, “These tree roots don’t mess around.”

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Maisie did as suggested, watching her steps as she followed, “Perry didn’t call me until he was already on his way, and I was with Bree.”

“Bree.  Shocking,” Devin muttered.  Maisie could never put her finger on it, but she couldn’t help but assume her best friend and he had a history.