Sue Fagalde Lick

As your career moves along, you may want to specialize in a few subjects where you can continually build on your knowledge, develop files and sources and keep up with the latest developments, where you can in fact be considered an expert. This can lead to regular columns, something most of us want.

llamas stand there looking at their trainers. You can just tell they’re thinking, “You want me to do what? I don’t think so.”

If you narrow the story down to a profile of a particular person who trains llamas for obedience competitions, or a feature about a competition coming up in your area, now you have a story.

Your pitch will also be stronger if you can name some of your sources. “Joe Smith up in Logsden has a herd of 20 llamas he has been training for seven years. As a member of the Happy Hopping Llamas, he can put me in touch with other owners. Plus, he’s preparing for a competition next month. We can get pictures of the llamas in training.” Who could resist such an article?

Perhaps you’re aiming beyond the local weekly. Do you see a trend that has not been reported yet? Does it seem as if today’s families are less likely to spend the holidays together? If you can pull together enough research, anecdotes and quotes to show a definite trend, an editor will be interested, especially if Christmas is coming.