Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters "Gun Writer" Backgrounds

Alright, you're on. I'm a lab technologist at a local hospital here in Pueblo, CO. I've been working the graveyard shift for over 20 years here now, and love it really, as it allows me to pursue my (our?) favorite pastime to the tune of 6 days off in a row every other week.

Back in '94 my lab partner suggested i try and write an article for a hunting mag., to provide another outlet for my addiction. I took her up on it, and wrote a 1-pager about woodchuck shooting in my home state of MD. I sent it to 3 editors, and they all turned me down. 1 day, months later, i thought to send it into Mitch Cox @ Fur, Fish, Game. He sent back an acceptance letter, and a promise of $75 upon publication. I was ecstatic, and called mom and dad immediately to tell them about their soon-to-be-famous son.

That was "the beginning," so to speak, and it's been a great ride so far. I only put out about 4 or 5 freelance articles a yr., but i guess i've snowed a few guys over the years now, and was asked to do a talk on coyote hunting at the Fur Takers Convention of America several yrs. back. I've also been asked to do another talk next yr. on intermediate range coyote shooting at the Varmint Hunter's Jamboree. We'll see how that goes.

My name is Steve Hugel, and i write some now for Varmint Hunter, and Small Caliber News these days. Been a privilege hanging out here with some of the "Biggies," as well as the non-writers with worlds of experience beyond mine, who for whatever reason have not taken pen to paper to try and sell their expertise.

Steve, thanks for kickin' in some background & a name!

I think it is a good thing so many writers peek in here, & I am sure other sites also, to kind of check the pulse of what's being talked about, etc. Seems like it should give some ideas to the publishers what to get movin on.

Thanks again to all of you, Pat

Well,I'm no "Gun Writer" but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once. Does that count?

Actually,just wanted to thank you all for the post. This is certainly one of my favorites,to date. It is really nice to "meet" you and hear your stories on such a personal level.

As for me,I grew up in Michigan,with Dad taking us hunting every chance he could and me and my older brother going hunting,fishing,snorkeling when Dad wasn't able to. Mom still has pics of me and older brother with snakes and frogs we "harvested" from local ponds,creeks,etc.,with our Red Ryders and slingshots. Certainly,some of my fondest memories and where I cut my hunting teeth.

Currently, I live in the sunny South Carolina "Lowcountry",I'll be 44 in a couple weeks,am a Maintenance/Reliability Tech. at a local firm,have been blessed with a beautiful,understanding wife,two wonderful step-sons,a new house,46 acres to call my own,a cat that actually craps in the litter box and a half-ass decent selection of guns,am prone to tobacco and the occasional libation(hence,the long post). I would love to hunt out west someday and my big dream,of course,is to hunt Africa. Other than that nothing spectacular.

I truly enjoy reading ALL gun articles and don't care what a persons' qualifications are as long as it is interesting. As do many others here,I live vicariously through gun writers' adventures and appreciate their putting forth the effort to entertain,enlighten and educate us,despite their having to put up with their own issues. Good job,ALL of you! And,Thanks!

If any of you "Gun Writer"-types wants to visit,hunt,golf,fish,etc in the area,let me know and I'll see what I can do. For a nominal fee,of course. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

And no,I'm not just suckin' up. Well,maybe a little. But,nothing ventured,nothing gained,eh?

Here is a pic of my latest acquisition:
Ruger 77 African in .458 Win. Mag. w/ Leupold 2-7x33.

Hey all,

I don't write often so for those who may be interested in some of my writing, my latest just came out in the Nov/Dec edition of American Handgunner. It's a review of the Kahr Arms P45...Hope you like it and if you didn't, please pm me and tell me what you didn't like and I'll try harder next time.

I am enjoying this as much as any reading in a long time. If Ken Howell doesn't choose to write about himself it is worth it in my opinion to state that Handloader "dumbed itself down" after he left to a level that now promotes only an occasional read. If that isn't great praise I can't say more. Gianni.

What a great thread! Very interesting to say the least. Been playing with the idea of a freelance piece on the origin of the 22 Hornet and the first factory rifle so chambered. So far I've done a few drafts & some digital photos. I'm not a gunwriter but I wouldn't mind sticking my toe in the water to see how things go & what kind of rejections my submission could generate. Worst they could say would be "No Thanks"...

That's right. Fear of rejection is often the greatest hurdle for many people who'd like to write for publication. (I could have wall-papered my office with rejection letters when I started out, though I did sell a couple of stories early to "big" magazines, which helped my confidence.)

One thing to realize is that a rejection letter does NOT mean the article is no good (though it obviously may). One story I like to tell is how in the early 1980's, when I had started making a living (barely) free-lancing, I sent a letter outlining some articles to FIELD & STREAM, where I was selling fairly steadily. One was a flyfishing piece on "The Evening Rise." They said they liked the idea, so I wrote it up and sent it in, along with 20 slides.

They sent it back in a few weeks, saying that somehow the story "did not hang together," and the slides were OK but maybe a few different ones might not hurt. They suggested I let it rest for a few months and then read it again, in order to look at it freshly. If I rewrote it then, and maybe took some different photos in the meantime, they'd be happy to look at it again.

In about three months I reread the piece and looked the photos. Both looked fine to me, just the sort of thing I'd already been selling to them. So I sent the package back in to the same editor, saying I'd taken his advice--but not mentioning there were no changes. He wrote back saying that I'd "hit the nail on the head" this time, that both the story and photos were now just fine, and I'd be getting a check soon.

So some editors just have bad days. Maybe he read my story the first time on a Monday. Other reasons for rejection are too many stories on the same all-around subject already at the magazine, the story is too long for their format, etc.

Very often in those days I sold stories that one magazine rejected to another magazine. So if at first you don't succeed, it pays to keep plugging.

John Barsness

One of my favorite writers (who doesn't now acknowledge that he knows me) had all but given-up all hope of "making it" as a writer when he sent me an article in 1978. I later learned that he'd sent-out five or six articles, vowing privately that if one sold, he'd keep plugging. Otherwise, he'd be content to be a truck-driver. All had come back except the one that he'd sent me.

I sort of accepted, sort of rejected the one that he'd sent me. I sent it back and told him that I liked it but wanted more. At the first SHOT show (1979) a couple of months later, I introduced him to the folks who made the components that he'd need, and they sent him gobs. He did more work on his loads, expanded the article, and I used it. His writing wasn't the problem � he'd just done too little load-development, using too few components for the intended scope of the article.

His work got better and better, so � before he really qualified for the position but obviously soon would � I added him to my staff. He has long since gone on to bigger and better pastures and is internationally known and respected. (Needless to say, I'm both pleased for him and proud of him.)

I asked him several years later what had happened with those other first articles. The Editors who'd rejected 'em had bought 'em after he became one of my staffers and his work appeared regularly in Handloader and Rifle. Also, other Editors invited him onto their staffs.

But I'm the polar opposite of most Editors. When I got an article manuscript from a free-lancer, my mind set was Here's something that I can use unless something about it makes it unworthy. Others generally (some have told me) open the brown envelope thinking I'll have to send this back unless something about it compels me to use it.

My pal Neal felt the same way I did � when I took-up the reins that he'd dropped (1978), I inherited a passel of articles that his assistant had rejected but Neal had accepted (and stock-piled) with the notation "OK with tinkering" (IOW, potentially usable but needing a lot of editorial improvement).

After several years of sometimes very tedious and tough tinkering, I was able to use all but very, very few of those articles. In fact, I can't remember having, finally, to give-up on more than one. Most Editors don't have the skill or the will to put forth that much effort for the reader.

May I ask who the writer is? I would like to know if he is one of my favorite writers too.

W

If I were willing to give you his name � or even a clue � I would've.

I bet it is Mule Deer. Nope, bet it is Clay Harvey. Am I getting warm?

Nope. Not even "Matthew-warm."

And I'm not going to tell you if you do.

Ken--

I felt somewhat the same way as an editor. Of course, most of the material I received was Me'n'Joe stories, the type used in GRAY'S SPORTING JOURNAL, though some technical stuff was also purchased, especially when I edited GAME JOURNAL.

But I always opened an envelope full of new submissions with hope rather than trepidation. One of the great things about editing is the pleasant surprise possible with every slitting of an envelope.

I often saw potential in pieces that were not professional, but could be fixed. In fact, one of the pieces I published in GRAY'S was a fine story about the death of an old hunting dog. Now, these are usually cliches and too personal and sentimental, but this one was great--until the last page. Trouble was, the author didn't end it where he should have, but pounded on the point too long. I insisted on cutting the last page, back to the real ending. He was not happy, saying how hard he'd worked on it. But I was the editor, and he finally gave in, grumbling.

One of my greatest editing pleasures came a year or two ago, when that same author had a collection of his bird-hunting stories published, including the dead dog story. He sent me an inscribed copy, with a note saying, "You were right, John. It appears here as you edited it, and a much better story for it too." Of course, he had also since gone through nearly a decade of evolution as a writer.

But a great many editors simply don't have the time to spend fixing pieces. If they have the budget, they compensate by hiring writers who are pretty good self-editors--but in the process they lose good, new writers, and the world never has enough of those.

John

I might be startin' to sound too repetitive but here it is again:
"What a great thread!", it's fascinating hearing about this sort of stuff from those who've "been there, done that". It really gives a "behind the scenes" type of insight into a realm that most of us never even think about.
Rejections?.... Heck, I can handle that stuff. Isn't that how you learn? Think I'll just make sure I know in advance what an editor wants to see in terms of layout, photo format, etc. and go from there.
So thanks to all of you for sharing your insights and experiences with the rest of us here. BTW, Mule Deer; my new HANDLOADER finally arrived yesterday. Can't wait to get into the "Velocity vs. Barrel Length" piece tonight. I'm sure it will be one heckuva lot more interesting & scientific than my crude chrono experiments circa 1998 with the two 6.5x55's that you may recall from a recent barrel length/velocity loss thread. When you get that 21(?) inch 6.5x55 rebarrel job back I'm still hoping we get a good story all about it. So thanks again to everyone, including advertisers, who help to make this forum interesting, informative and just plain entertaining. I can dig it...(Does that make me sound old?)

I would like to here about your rodeo career. DARREN as you cansee i am not a writer!

It wasn't too illustrious, I'll tell you that. I started riding steers and little bulls when I was ten. Rode barebacks through high school and into college. Finally came across a minute amount of wisdom and switched to team roping a few years later. While I had some fun, my rodeo days weren't much to brag about. My mother, Sally, on the other hand was the 1947-1948 world champion bull rider in the All-Girl Rodeo Association. Was a well-known trick-rider after that, and that IS something to brag (or boast) about.

Do you still rope? DK

I have been very high profile and now I am unknown in the US, even to the major companies where I have written hundreds of articles through the support of their distributors over the last couple of decades.

I was told that if I wrote an article, the orders flowed in a couple of weeks later. That is influence and value to the manufacturers. I was proud of that and conscious of the responsibility to get it right and say it in a way so as not to lead people astray,

Nobody is my name. AGW for short.

I am only concerned with helping riflemen. If I can pass on information and experiences I have learned or had passed onto me, my goal is to pass it on. I have no interest in fame nor notoriety.

A smile from a grateful ear is my reward.

AGW

AGW
I for one enjoy your posts.
mrk

If memory serves Nobody is My Name was the title of an Italian Western in the 70's. And 'Nobody' was not the guy you wanted to face in a gunfight. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />