Stu News and Photos

I've been writing on and off my whole adult life. Every now and then I've gotten paid for it. Several years ago I reached what I thought was my peak - I was a feature writer for a small monthly out of the San Fernando Valley, called Valley Scene Magazine. It was fun, and while the pay wasn't great, I was writing cover stories with a decent circulation.

But then I decided to focus on raising the kids. We took them out of daycare and I became a fulltime stay-at-home dad. It was incredibly rewarding, and I don't regret any of it. But the kids are older now and they don't need me around as much. So I decided to try to get back into the writing game. For a while now I've been sending out writing samples to a wide variety of publications, hoping to land another local rag or maybe a stint with one of the local newspapers.

And then it happened.

I got an offer to write freelance for... Better Homes And Gardens.

Yep, no kidding, I got an assignment to write a travel article that will appear in the March issue of BH&G Magazine. This is my shot at the big leagues. I can't even begin to express how exciting it is. I've always dreamed of hitting the big-time as a writer, and now that it's happened, I feel vindicated, validated in my pursuit.

So now I have to write the thing. My editor and I are still finalizing the details of the article, whereupon I'll have a month to crank it out. If I'm lucky and I don't screw it up, there's a decent chance that this will turn into relatively steady work.

I hope, I hope, I hope...