Sissy gloves

When giving my younger brother a hand cleaning his flat last week, I ran into some problems. The largest sized rubber gloves sold in supermarkets are still too small for my hands, and they only come in an immasculating choice of pink or bright yellow.



I started to think it was a conspiracy when the television constantly ran commercials for a brand of kitchen roll I'd purchased that featured two men wearing dresses.

Even on the internet there was no immediate let-up in the assualt on my machismo, I couldn't find any books on Amazon geared at cleaning for men, and a google search with the key words, "man" and "cleaning" only yielded a tonne of oppurtunities for me to hire naked bald blokes to come round and do it for me.





Anyway..........

As I move into assignment two, (analyze a magazine of my choice, and then produce a suitable non-fiction article to submit to it's editor) I thought that something like the above would be a good way to begin. Maybe I could gear it at a lads mag?

After I read the course materials though, it seems I'm somewhat mistaken and have had to rethink my ideas for a few reasons...


#1. Most people achieve limited success because they write the piece, and then try to sell it all across town.

A different path is suggested, you pick your publication first, analyze the sort of thing they publish in great detail (paragraph length, word count, complexity of language, their target audience, etc) and bear all this in mind when you write the actual piece.


#2. Non-fiction articles are looking for facts and not opinions.

The people who get the sort of rant I've written above into print have to be already famous first.
I still like that kind of stuff, but for the time being it belongs on my blog and not the desk of an editor.


#3. As I try to get my first bit of work published, I should concentrate on routes that are more likely to yield success.

From what I've assertained by browsing my local newsagent this afternoon, men's general interest magazine's accept less freelance articles than women's general interest magazines, and there are much more women's mags to choose from. Also, if I am going to write about cleaning, an editor of a women's mag is going to be far more open to that kind of subject matter.
All this adds up to an easy desicion as to what I should do.


So I've decided to try and write for a womens general interest magazine about "Ways to Get Your Man Interested in Cleaning", (it's a working title.)
If my own experience is anything to go by, it's a topic that will interest many a frustrated housewife across the country.

Now I'm off to research where one can buy the manliest pair of rubber gloves.



Assignments completed : 1/30