Writing Class Update

So, I'm halfway through this online magazine writing class that I'm taking for the second time. I enrolled five years ago when I was pregnant with Grace and read all of the material but didn't complete any of the assignments. This time I'm completing the assignments and am taking everything seriously in hopes of publishing some articles and maybe even making a little extra money.

One of the first assignments was to brainstorm 50 topics on which to write. Then we narrowed our list down to our top 10 and posted our list for feedback. Here's my list (in no particular order).

1. PMS: A lot of it IS all in your head
2. The truth about why married people have affairs
3. What is "Sensory Integration Disorder" and how to help a child who struggles with it
4. Your son loves to dress up in girls' clothes: now what?
5. Hormone balance: what every woman between the ages of 30-50 needs to know. (It may not be what you think)
6. 10 toys that you can find around your house (without spending a dime at Toys-R-Us) that will delight your baby or toddler
7. Why it's important (and possible) for many moms to work full-time and serve the role as primary caregiver
8. It's 12:00 PM: Do you know who's reading your blog?
9. 5 steps to a perfect weekend camping trip
10. The top 5 reasons reading to young children will help them in the long run.

Fellow classmates and the instructor commented on my list and people said they loved the titles and would read the articles just based on them. One person especially liked #1 and #5, another liked #4 and doesn't even have children. The instructor said she tried to pick a favorite but said all of the topics were her favorite. These are topics that I either know a lot about or know someone who does. (I don't know first-hand about #2, but I work with a PhD whose life work is about this topic, so I thought about interviewing him).

I settled on developing #5, and so the next step is to "bubble" the main idea into topics and sub-topics that become the body of your article. Most magazine articles are written after being "queried," so the query letter was the next assignment.