ALLEN, Moira (Anderson) 1959-

PERSONAL:

Born January 1, 1959, in Santa Rosa, CA; daughter of Victor (an artist) and Muriel (a photographer and homemaker) Anderson; married Patrick D. Allen (a technical analyst), March 17, 1984.

Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: University of California—Berkeley, B.A.; Boston University, M.Ed. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Archaeology, history, needlework, pets.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—4618 Norris Ct., Chantilly, VA 20151-1405. E-mail—moira@writingworld.com.

CAREER:

Dog Fancy, San Juan Capistrano, CA, editor, 1985-87; Peregrine Press, owner and publisher, 1987-96; freelance writer, 1996—. Inkspot (Internet publisher), managing editor, 1999-2000; Writing-World. com (Internet company), owner and publisher, 2001—.

MEMBER:

National Association of Women Writers, Dog Writers' Association of America, Cat Writers Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Awards from Dog Writers' Association of America, best all-breed canine magazine, 1986, for Dog Fancy, and best general category book, 1988, for Coping with Sorrow on the Loss of Your Pet; awards from Cat Writers Association, best feature article, 1998, for "Human/Animal Abuse Connection," and best column, 2001, for "The Pet Loss Counselor."

WRITINGS:

Coping with Sorrow on the Loss of Your Pet, Peregrine Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1987, 2nd edition, Alpine Publications (Loveland, CA), 1996.

Belgian Tervuren, TFH Publications (Neptune City, NJ), 1992.

Teleios: Recovery through Christ for Adult Children, Peregrine Press (Los Angeles, CA), 1992.

Writing.com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career, Allworth Press (New York, NY), 1999.

The Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches, and Proposals, Allworth Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Author of The Writer's Guide to Rights, Contracts, Copyright, and Permissions, privately printed. Contributor to books, including The Writer's Handbook, beginning 1988; The Writer's Online Marketplace, edited by Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Writer's Digest Books (Cincinnati, OH), 2000; and Domestic Whimsey Anthology. Author of columns, including "Freelancing 101," Inkspot, 1998-2001, "Global Business," Entrepreneur, 2000-01, "The Pet Loss Counselor," AllPets. com, 2000—, "Dispatches and New Markets," Writer, 2001—, and "Net//Working," Writer, 2002—. Contributor to periodicals, including fiction to Rogue Worlds and articles to such publications as Byline, Freelance Success, Whole Cat Journal, Down Under Quilts, Phantastes, Entrepreneur International, Children's Book Insider, and Northwest Travel.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Writing.com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career, 2nd edition; A Devil's Bargain, a historical romance.

SIDELIGHTS:

Moira Allen told CA: "I've known that I wanted to be a writer since around the sixth grade. Wanting to be a writer and actually becoming a writer, however, are two very different processes. While I declared my intentions of becoming a freelancer for years, the practical concerns of earning a paycheck tended to intrude on that goal. In the interim, I became an editor instead, working for a spectrum of companies including a national magazine (Dog Fancy), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a think-tank, and a large corporation.

"In 1997 I resolved to go full time as a freelancer (with the generous personal and financial support of my husband). While I had no particular subject specialization in mind, my efforts were increasingly influenced and shaped by the Internet. At the time, writers were just beginning to discover the Internet—to build online communities, submit work to electronic markets, and attempt to contact editors of print publications via e-mail rather than the traditional way.

"This didn't mean a great deal to me at first; but shortly after I launched my freelance career, I became involved in the writers' Web site Inkspot, which was, at the time, the largest and most popular writing site on the Web. Inkspot was founded and managed by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. I began to submit an occasional piece on writing to Debbie, and she encouraged me to contribute more frequently. She also mentioned that she was particularly interested in material on how writers could use the Internet to their advantage, related issues such as electronic rights, et cetera. Not one to turn my back on a market that was beckoning with open arms, I began to research these issues—and in the process, became increasingly knowledgeable about the whole Internet/writing scene myself. Somewhere along the line, I realized that I had developed an unexpected specialty: writing about writing, and writing about 'writing and the Internet.'

"My relationship with Inkspot blossomed into an ongoing column and eventually a position as managing editor of the site and the Inklings newsletter, which had a subscriber base of nearly 50,000 readers. Around that time, I pitched a basic 'how to get started as a writer' book to Allworth Press. They weren't interested in that topic, but asked me to pitch some other ideas, and I decided to take a chance and offer a book on how writers could benefit from the Internet. Thus my first writing book, Writing.com: Creative Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing Career, was born.

"The next book, The Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches, and Proposals, was actually Allworth's idea—a book in search of a writer. Since there were a number of areas that I knew little about, I chose to include a number of chapters by other authors who were experts in different fields. As a result, I think this is one of the most complete books on 'how to pitch' in the writing business.

"Along the way, Inkspot was purchased by a larger company—and then shut down for lack of funds. I was able to salvage some of its content and launch my own site, Writing-World, which is now one of the largest writing sites on the Web. Perhaps it is the largest in terms of content, as it offers nearly 350 articles.

"If there was one lesson to be learned along the way, it was to write what feels right, not just for the market that pays the most. I enjoyed writing for Inkspot and had a good relationship with Debbie—and kept on writing for that market even though it paid very little. When I started, I never imagined that writing for this site would lead to two books and, ultimately, a Web site of my own that attracts nearly 70,000 visitors per month. I was simply doing what I enjoyed. I think that's a message all writers could heed; if you follow the money, you may get money (or you may not!), but you may not get much else. If you do what you enjoy, it can bring rewards that you never imagined (and, quite possibly, money will be one of them).

"What motivates me at the moment is the letters and questions I get from writers around the world. When I get a letter declaring that someone has just sold her first book, and feels that my site is to thank for it, I feel great. That's a huge motivation to keep writing.

"I'm also branching out into fiction. I've just sold a fantasy story (which took second place in the SpecFic-World High Fantasy contest), and I'm working on a romance novel. In that regard, I'm inspired by writers like Teresa Medeiros and Diana Gabaldon, who demonstrate that romance heroines don't have to be nitwits, and that romance can be funny as well as sexy. I'm a bit worried, though; my husband is actually enjoying my romance novel, and he isn't at all interested in this type of fiction. If I'm writing a romance novel even a man can enjoy, will it ever sell? Sigh. However, I'm doing something I enjoy—and that's what matters."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2001, David Pitt, review of The Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches, and Proposals, p. 41.

ONLINE

Writing-World: A World of Writing Tips … for Writers around the World,http://www.writing-world.com/ (December 10, 2003).