A friend recently emailed a link to an essay that he had published in Motherwell, an online parenting magazine. The essay was about an old dish and how it got passed down through the family and repurposed over the years. I could write something like that, I thought, but shoot, Motherwell is for parents, and I am not a parent.

But wait a minute. The guidelines state, “Motherwell is a publication that tells all sides of the parenting story.” They list a number of topics for which they’re currently seeking articles or essays. Even though I don’t have kids, I found many of them intriguing. And doesn’t “all sides of the parenting story” imply that I can come at it from a non-mother point of view?

Hundreds of publications aimed at parents offer a big paying market for writers. National, regional, Christian, special needs kids, special interests. Are we barred from writing for them if we’re not parents? We are not. Writers can write about anything as long as they can gather the necessary material by interviewing the right people and asking the right questions. Maybe we don’t have our own children to write about, but we can certainly weave someone else’s experiences into our stories.

Years ago, when I lived in California, I was a regular contributor to Bay Area Parent. Although I was learning a lot about teens through my husband’s kids, I was pretty clueless about babies and younger children. If people asked me about my childbirth experiences or what my kids were like as toddlers, I didn’t have anything to offer, but here’s the thing. We are surrounded by people who do have children and would be happy to talk about them. I could do research. I could ask questions.

While I was writing for Bay Area Parent, I also wrote home and garden pieces for several publications. I lived in a mobile home at the time, but found myself touring mansions. It was my job to ask questions like, “What do you call that kind of sink?” and “Where did you get that antique chair?” Over the years, I have written about carpets, fences, and asbestos ceilings, as well as beer-brewing, taffy-making, and competitive weightlifting, subjects about which I had minimal knowledge when I started. I didn’t have to be the expert; I just had to find someone who was.

If you don’t personally have children, there’s no reason you can’t write about the challenges that face your friends, family, or co-workers’ families. Most parenting publications are looking for advice on how to handle the many different aspects of raising kids. Over the years, I have written about “only” children, left-handed kids, gymnastics, picky eaters, and school lunches. You’re a writer, and you were a child once. You can do this.

Most publishing magazines and newspapers prefer that writers send queries rather than completed manuscripts. As with any other kind of publication, read a few issues to get a feel for what they publish, follow the guidelines, and give it a shot.

We aren’t limited to writing about what we know. We can write about what we’d like to know. Sometimes, with the curiosity of a newcomer, we get an even better story.

Here are some helpful links to explore:

“29 Parenting Blogs and Magazines That Pay Freelance Writers” https://thewritelife.com/parenting-blogs/

“Parenting Publications” https://www.freelancewriting.com/writers-guidelines/parenting-publications/ 

Brain, Child Magazine https://brainchildmag.submittable.com/submit 

Atlanta Parent https://www.atlantaparent.com/writers_guidelines/ 

Thriving Family (Christian) https://www.focusonthefamily.com/ 

Adoptive Families https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/about-us/writers-guidelines/ 

Family Fun Magazine http://images.meredith.com/parents/pdf/WritersGuidelines2013.pdf 

Green Parent https://thegreenparent.co.uk/downloads/Writers_Guidelines_2010.pdf 

BIO: Sue Fagalde Lick, a former California journalist, is a writer/musician/dog mom living with her dog Annie in the woods on the Oregon coast. Her books include Stories Grandma Never Told, Freelancing for Newspapers: Writing for an Overlooked Market, and Love or Children: When You Can’t Have Both. She blogs about childlessness at https://www.childlessbymarrigeblog.com and life on the Oregon coast at https://www.unleashedinoregon.com.