I suspect most non-fiction writers, outside of wanting to publish a book, have one magazine or newspaper column they dream of writing for and which would make it all worth while if they achieved it, their gold place. It might even be the publication or column which encouraged them to be a writer in the first place.

I’m no different.

Over the last few months I’ve been trying to work out my strategy for getting my writing into my gold place. I’ve worked out my pitch, researched the style and specifications and practised writing to it, found the editor’s contact details and asked loads of people for advice.

Today I bit the bullet. I finished two articles written to style, drafted a careful email with what I hope is an intriguing enough title so that the email is opened and after much agonising and re-reading, finally pressed the send button.

My aspiration at this stage is to at least get an answer which suggests the editor actually opened the email. Watch this space…