Commitment

Journals require a commitment, and we take this commitment very seriously. If a journalist doesn't send in timely entries or disappears, we all worry! We don't have the time to contact journalists with reminders on a frequent basis so if you are truly interested in writing a pregnancy journal, you must make the commitment to send in an entry each week. Other types of journals have a MINIMUM requirement of once a month. There are times when you have an emergency or the holidays keep you busy, etc., and we understand this. However, please do not make the commitment to do a journal and then forget to send in entries on a regular basis. If you have a tendency to get bored with projects or not follow through with things, please don't sign up for this. It's really frustrating when ladies have signed up, and a few months down the road, just disappear because they don't want to do it anymore.

Ask yourself if you truly have the time and energy to commit to such a project. It can be fun . . . and it can be a pain in the butt if you're not comfortable writing something on a regularly scheduled basis. Please don't sign up because you'll think it'll be fun without really asking yourself if you can do this for the entire pregnancy plus birth story (if you're doing a pregnancy journal).

Think about how much you want to share. Will you feel comfortable sharing issues you deal with during this pregnancy or in parenting? If you tend to be a private person, will you have plenty to discuss in your journal that will hold readers' attention? Think about these issues before you committ to being a journalist. One does not need to share private things to make a journal interesting, but they need to have plenty of pregnant/parenting moments to hold the attention of the reader.

Writing

You don't have to be a pulitzer prize winning author to write a journal for StorkNet. However, if you struggle with writing, grammar, capitalization, etc., this won't be a fun project for you or for me. You must spell check your work and not write your entry full of slang words. Nobody thinks it's cute in a journal.

With that in mind, if you're interested in writing a journal, please complete the following form. Tips for getting accepted . . . write enough so that we can get a feel for how well you write and so we can get to know you better. Include your age and anything you'd like us to know about you. If you write a short paragraph, all in caps that isn't proofread so it's full of grammar and spelling mistakes, you will not be accepted so be mindful of how you write your information in the miscellaneous area of the form. For reference, read through our journals, especially the introductory entries. That'll give you a great idea of what we're looking for. We'll review your information as soon as we can. If you do not hear from us within two to three weeks, please assume that we will not be using your journal.

Name:
Email:

Type of journal: Pregnancy Trying to Conceive Parenting

Due Date:

How many children do you have at home?

Do you foresee problems that may arise that could prevent you from updating/completing your journal? Here are examples of some things you may know already could be foreseeable problems and interrupt your journal: marriage problems, depression, illness in the family. It is important to think about whether you could write through these issues. If you end up on bedrest, do you have a laptop/internet connection so that you could still send in updates?

Do you have any privacy issues that we need to be concerned about in placing your story on the internet? If you are concerned about privacy on the Internet, you may want to keep your last name private or use a pseudonym. We also need a photo of yourself.

Please send us a writing sample: It can be your introduction for the journal or a sample of something else you have written.

Miscellaneous . . . Let us know your age, and a little background about yourself, why you'd like to write a journal, and anything else you think we should know.

Thank you!