I wanted to show you the cover of this magazine I write for — here’s our June issue. I’ve been writing monthly articles for this magazine since last December. It’s fun because I write about local people, places, and trends in my hometown and a few surrounding counties. I enjoy asking people to tell me a little more about their passions and expertise.

For this issue, I helped research a story called “32 Ideas for Cool Summer Fun.” I immediately thought of this amazing horse farm, run by a husband and wife who moved down here from Virginia. I think their story is so inspiring. They just had this DREAM — to start a horse farm — and they did it with lots of hard work. They bought some land and slowly built a beautiful stable and riding rings; meanwhile, they lived in a teeny-weeny house (that was actually built to become a future horse barn) until they could build up their business.

The owners are so friendly and involved in the community — we’d met them because they invited our preschool over for a hayride. Within a few years, they were able to save up and build a nice house with a pool. Of course, the pool is part of their summer horseback riding camps.

When I called to interview them for the story, the woman screamed into the phone, like I’d just told her she’d won the lottery. I heard her say, “Guess what, everybody? This is Heather from Lifestyles Magazine!” Then she apologized for the noise in the background. “I’m so sorry,” she said to me. “We’re having my son’s birthday party, and we’re just about to bust the pinata.”

I asked her if I could call her back at a more convenient time — and she said “Oh no! This is perfect!” Since their website was so informative and I had already been out to visit their farm, I really only had a few specific questions. After chatting a few minutes, I asked if she could email me more details about their summer camps.

Within a few hours, her husband sent tons of information by email, and he also sent my editor several professional-quality digital photographs for possible use in the story (saving us from having to send a photographer out ourselves.) This couple made us feel like we were the best thing that had ever happened to them. And guess what the result was? Our June issue ran four fabulous pictures of their horse farm, telling readers about their camp, filling up a nice page in the magazine. At absolutely no cost to them — since they were part of the story we were writing. Yet the resulting publicity will introduce their farm and camps to thousands of readers.

If I had only KNOWN how much fun it would be to write stories like this, I would not have been so petrified to major in journalism. (I squirreled away with stacks of British novels, majoring in English instead.) I imagined I’d have to be an investigative reporter, aggressively sticking a microphone in someone’s face. But my kind of stories usually only involve one-on-one interviews.

There’s an art to interviewing, and I’m only beginning to learn it. A good interview will result in a good story; a poor interview will leave you with nothing to work with. I can’t read any magazine articles now without a pen in my hand. I dissect them, similar to what we did to those poor frogs in 7th grade biology. I’m fascinated with the words writers choose for their lead-in sentence, the theme, how they arrange the quotes, how they tie it all up with a take-away.

Maybe one day I’ll learn how to write a great story. It all starts with keeping my eyes and ears open for the unusual, the unique, and the spectacular. What I’ve discovered is that most people don’t mind being interviewed, if you show a sincere interest in what they’re passionate about.

Someday, when I have more time, I know some of these interviews could be turned into pieces for national magazines — for example, a horse magazine might be interested in this horse farm — or a marriage magazine, since this couple built a dream together and work together. Or maybe a writer’s magazine, giving tips on interviewing. The list could go on … unfortunately, I can only meet the deadlines I have now and little else!

If you are a writer and have any tips on interviewing, I’d love to know!