Quartzsite Coming Up

Next week I’ll travel to Quartzsite, Arizona (external link) to see what’s been called the world’s largest flea market. Most notably, at the so called QIA POW WOW show, some five hundred vendors will be selling rocks, gems, jewelry, fossils, and minerals. Truly, a rockhound’s paradise. Beyond the show grounds will be countless other vendors also selling rocks as well as everything from Mexican piñatas to metal garden sculptures. I’ll be writing an article on spec for Rock&Gem magazine (internal link) about the event.

World’s Fastest Query Letter?

In mid-march I’m taking a day tour of the Nevada National Security Site, a normally off-limit area once used for atomic testing. Although cameras are not permitted, I think the tour will make for a great article. I’ve queried a national magazine, taking all of twenty minutes to do so. With my high rejection rate I am now concerned about being efficient when proposing an article. I could spend hours on a query but, really, how well have I done doing that?

Nevada Agriculture: Past and Present is Looking for a Sponsor

My Nevada agriculture book proposal (external link) has been turned down by the first outfit I approached. To be realistic, the book would have a limited audience so I am concerned it may not find an outlet. I’ve done a little investigating into e-books and this seems a possible, affordable way to publish. Kindle, for example, does not charge to publish a book, instead they take a percentage of sales. While publishing may be free, the hard part, after the writing, is all of the formatting needed to make something attractive. Not my speciality. But there is software to help. More to learn.

Speaking of proposals, my ag book proposal is already out of date. In the time since I wrote it, only months ago, a wide swath of land called Gold Butte has been grabbed by the government and turned into a national monument. That wrecks my statistics on federal land ownership in Clark County. And recreational marijuana has been approved in Nevada, again destroying what I wrote about it as a crop. The tyranny of hardcopy type. All of which argues, perhaps, for not a book but a website that could be built and kept up to date as Nevada agriculture changes through the years. But Yipe! Talk about a project. I ramble. I’ll check in later from Arizona.