I’m getting ready for next week. I’ll be spending five days in the backcountry of Nevada, out in the sage, researching some of the activities of a non-profit environmental group. I hope to turn my reporting into a magazine article for a national magazine. This is far more work than I have previously done before receiving an acceptance letter, never-the-less, the story I need is Out There, and that’s where I need to go.

I’ll have interviews and pictures and observations to bring back that will make for a compelling query letter. After acceptance will come the real work, of putting the story together. Could I do an article with less effort? Perhaps. A small regional magazine might be content with some pictures and a few interviews conducted in an office. But I really think that I need to get into the field for an arresting 3,000 word article.