How to use this Page

I’m taking off for the month of September while I try to build up HappyFit, the personal training and wellness coaching side of my business. During that time, I plan to run some oldie-but-goodie posts that you may not have seen. I hope you enjoy this one!

Three weeks ago, a writer (let’s call him Jack) e-mailed me asking for the contact information of the editor at a magazine I wrote for. I told Jack that I no longer write for the magazine and that the editor had changed since I last worked for them — but that the magazine was published by 123 Custom Publishing, and he could contact them for information. I didn’t hear back from the writer with a thanks (or anything else).

Fast forward to yesterday. A friend of mine who writes for the same magazine told me that she heard from this same writer asking for information on who to pitch.

There are two ways Jack could handle the situation of not knowing who to pitch:

1. He could go to 123custompublishing.com, get their phone number, call, and ask for the name of the editor at X magazine. He could then call or e-mail the editor to introduce himself. Time elapsed: 10 minutes.

2. He could ignore the valuable information I shared, wait three weeks, and then contact another writer for the magazine, hoping that since I failed him, this writer would be able to hand him the editor’s contact info on a silver platter. Time elapsed: Three weeks.

If he had chosen course #1, Jack might have had an assignment by now. But since he chose course #2 (and my writer friend also didn’t know the name of the new editor), he wasted three weeks, still has zero information, and will need to either contact yet another writer from the masthead or simply give up.

The writers who win assignments are those who are willing to show a little initiative and research ability to get them — that is, the ability to look up information online and pick up the phone. For example, a few months ago I wanted to pitch a custom health publication I saw at a friend’s house. The only contact information listed on the masthead was the editor-in-chief’s phone number. I called her and introduced myself, and she asked for clips, which I sent. I forgot all about this exchange, and then last week the editor called out of the blue to offer me a $1,000 assignment. All because I had picked up the phone. Would I have gotten an assignment if I had relied on other people to hand me the information I needed (and ignored the clues they did provide)?

Now, I’m not saying you should never ask other writers for editors’ contact information, but it should be a last resort after you used your research skills to try to find that information yourself. I know that it’s scary to call an editor or a magazine’s editorial department, but for us writers who have something to sell, the ability to fight the fear and go after the sale is a worthwhile skill to develop. [lf]

I’m in the process of moving from New Hampshire to North Carolina and am posting reprints until we get settled in. The reprint-fest should be ending very soon, I promise. Enjoy the post!

If you know me, you know that the articles I write are typically service pieces with subheads and bullet-pointed tips for magazines like Health, Oxygen, Writer’s Digest , and many trade and custom publications. In my mind, moving up to the next level as a writer would be writing more complicated pieces. And I recently did it: I sold and wrote my first narrative piece for a business magazine on a cage-fighting entrepreneur. To write the article, I learned how to set scenes and how to smoothly move from the business aspect of the subject’s life to the martial arts aspect, without the aid of subheads for transitions. I also learned how to move seamlessly from past tense to present tense, how to drag personal information from a source, how to interview in person while trailing the subject, and lots of other techniques for narrative writing. I was proud of the article I turned out, and look forward to writing more like it.

For some writers, moving to the next level means going from unpaid to paid work, or from a dollar a word to two dollars a word. Whatever it means for you, here are some tips to moving on up in the writing world.

1. Start where you are. My buddy Jennifer Lawler is a very successful magazine writer, book author, and now, and agent. When she started out writing, she concentrated on her expertise: martial arts. She wrote for Black Belt magazine and other fighting titles. When she wanted to move into more popular and better-paying consumer magazines, she sent them pitches rooted in the martial arts; her first consumer magazine piece was an essay for Family Circle based on the mindful aspect of martial arts. She also ended up writing on self defense for Oxygen and Cooking Light. Later Jennifer garnered several clips from Family Circle that were not about martial arts because the editor liked her work. If you have an expertise, use that to help catapult you to the next level. Once you’re at the next level, you can gradually expand your topics.

2. Don’t go all or nothing. Don’t burn bridges with your current markets as you try to make the leap to bigger and better; it makes more sense to drop them slowly as you develop relationships with the more desirable magazines. For example, when I decided I wanted to write more complicated pieces, I didn’t start turning down service pieces — after all, those are still my bread and butter! You may be tempted to drop all of the work you want to move out of so you have time to pitch the better markets, but if you do that you could end up without an income. The only exceptions are magazines that pay nothing or that pay ridiculously low fees: Those you can safely drop.

3. Get help. When I got the assignment to write the narrative piece for a business magazine, I was clueless. So I asked my buddy Elaine Grant for help since she’s done many of these types of pieces. I took Elaine out to lunch, and all of those things I said I had to learn in order to write this article? She taught me. She even helped me by critiquing my first and second drafts. So approach a writer you know who writes for the markets you’re aiming for — and ask for help.

4. Ask. If making it to the next level, for you, means moving up to a higher pay rate, try asking your current editors if they can give you raises. This can be a lot easier than breaking into higher-paying markets, though of course you should try to do both.

I’ve started noticing a theme that comes up with most of my e-course students and mentoring clients: They tell me they want to break into national magazines (usually women’s magazines) so they can make enough money to quit their jobs and make a living as a full-time freelancer.

Of course, I’m very willing to help them. I’ve written for dozens of newsstand magazines, from Family Circle to Fitness, and I have a pretty good idea of what they’re looking for. However, I don’t know anyone who makes a full-time living writing only for these types of magazines, for one good reason: They’re very difficult to work for. It seems pretty sweet to make $2 per word and up writing for a newsstand magazine, but let me tell you — you work your ass off for that money.

Because ideas have to go through multiple layers of acceptance, it often takes months to hear back on a query — and then, when you do, sometimes the editors need the article turned around very quickly. Then, once you turn in the article, the multiple rounds of revisions start. Finally, once the article is finally accepted, you have to wait to get paid. One newsstand women’s magazine accepted my idea in June, the article wasn’t accepted until November, and I wasn’t paid until the following April.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s not worth it to pitch and write for national magazines. Not at all. They make excellent clips that can help open the door to other magazines. And the per-word rate is a factor: I definitely felt like I had “made it” when I got my first assignment that paid over a dollar a word. Finally, I’ve developed relationships with many wonderful editors at national magazines.

But if your goal is to make enough income to freelance full-time, I’ll tell you what I tell my students: You need to write for other markets as well, and trade magazines are a great, often overlooked market for freelance writers. Trade magazines are publications that are created for the members of a certain industry. For example, Credit Union Times is for execs in the credit union industry, In-Plant Graphics is for people who run on-site print shops, and you can probably guess who reads Sheep! magazine.

Here are some of the benefits of writing for trades:

* They’re easier to break into than national magazines. I’ve written for more than two dozen trades, including Funworld, Multi-Channel Merchant, and Call Center Management Review, and I broke into almost all of them with letters of introduction. While many trades are happy to receive pitches, they also often come up with ideas in-house and assign them to freelancers.

* They’re less competitive than national magazines. So many writers overlook this great market that trade magazine editors tend not to be overwhelmed with pitches like their national magazine counterparts.

* They make great clips. A clip from a trade magazine can help open the doors to other magazines. I used mostly trade clips to break into national magazines.

* They’re fun to write for. The people I interview for trade magazines are usually excited to share information about their industries, and that excitement is contagious. You may think it’s boring to write about, say, how to set up a cleaning schedule for your restaurant (which is a topic I wrote on last year), but I disagree. A true freelance writer can find interesting nuggets in any topic.

* They can pay well per hour. The per-word rates can look stingy compared to national magazine rates &md

I tend to have Seasonal Affective Disorder — for a month or two in the winter, I’m exhausted, unmotivated, and down. I use a light box, take vitamin D, go for walks, do yoga, meditate — all the things you’re supposed to do — and still the winter depression comes. My life coach suggested that I simply work my ass off the rest of the year and then take the winter months off as much as I can to do what I need to do, like sleep. A Harvard researcher I interviewed for an article on emotions recommended the same thing: He called it “honoring the season.” I love the idea, but I can’t figure out how I could put off clients for a month or two without turning them off completely.

However, I DO “honor the season” on a day-by-day basis. We all have days when we feel down and dragged out, and we just can’t bring ourselves to work. We haul our butts into our ergonomically-correct chairs and try to will ourselves to write, but all that happens is that we spend the day in front of the computer surfing the web. Then, at the end of the day, we still feel down and dragged out — only now we feel guilty, too.

I’ve learned that when I have a day like this, it’s best to just go with it. Here are my tips for “honoring the day” so that tomorrow, you can feel rejuvenated and ready to get back to work.

Get an Early Start

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, as soon as I get an article assignment I start lining up interviews and doing research. That way, I’m not knocked off track if a key source is unavailable or some snag crops up; I have plenty of time to deal with the snafu. There’s another reason to start early, though: If I have a down day, I can take the day off and it won’t affect my current deadlines. Unless it’s the actual day before deadline and my article isn’t done, I can usually take off a day and pick up the thread again the day after.

Make a List

It’s hard to honor the day if you’re feeling guilty and frantic about all the to-dos that are running through your brain. Yesterday, which was a down day for me, I took a few minutes to make a list of all the things I needed to get done the next day. Then I was able to relax.

Ban the Computer

If you have a down day, use it to really relax and rejuvenate. Don’t veg in front of the computer all day trying to work and not succeeding, or Facebooking other people who aren’t working. Turn the computer off. The e-mails can wait until tomorrow. Instead, read a book, call a friend, watch a movie, or do some light exercise (more on that below).

Get Moving — Slowly

I always find that light exercise helps me relax, take my mind off the work I’m not doing, and feel more positive. I prefer yoga. A local yoga studio offers gentle yoga classes, so that’s what I opt for when I’m feeling down. Also, if I have personal training scheduled that day, I ask my trainer, who’s also a certified yoga instructor, if we can do yoga instead of weight training that day. Another option is to get outside for a casual walk (no power walking!).

Sleep

Okay, I’ll be brief with this one: If you need to sleep, sleep!

Meditate

At the end of a down day, I like to do a guided meditation from my iPod. The Meditation Podcast offers free — guess what? — meditation podcasts. My favorite is the one titled “Positive Thinking.” Another good source for free podcasts is

Last week an editor at a custom publication made a crazy request: She wanted a revise of an article — by the next day. It wasn’t her fault; the pub’s client stalled on reading over the article, and then decided they needed the revise right before the publication was being laid out for printing.

My mind spun as I tried to figure out how I’d juggle my other commitments to accommodate this request. I groused to my husband about clients who sit on copy for two weeks and then need changes in a day. I called a friend and did some more kvetching. Then I sent an e-mail to my editor with three words:

“I’m on it.”

I then worked my ass off to make the requested changes. At the end of it all, my editor looked like a hero to her client. Even better, she doubled my fee without my asking.

Another editor e-mailed to let me know that a product my source picked for a product review piece –which I turned in over two weeks ago — was no longer in production. Could I get another recommendation and write up a description today?

I complained to my poor husband (he hears a lot of it), then sent my editor a three-word e-mail:

“I’m on it.”

Then I had a back-and forth via e-mail with the source until we found a product that was a good replacement for the original one. My editor, who was rushing to meet a deadline of her own, was grateful. A week later, I had another assignment from her, and I noticed that my payrate was slightly higher.

When an editor makes a request, you have three choices:

1. You can decide that it’s unreasonable and that you can’t (or won’t) do it, and let the editor know.

2. You can decide that you can do it, but because of the rush/extra work outside the scope of the original assignment/etc., you’ll need a bump up in your payrate.

3. You can tell your editor that you can help her — and tell her with a smile.

All three of these options are valid and you’ll use all of them in your freelance career. But if you know you’re going to do it, even if you really don’t want to, it doesn’t make sense to complain to the editor, use passive-aggressive language in your e-mail, stall, or otherwise make yourself into a PITA. Grouse to your significant other, call a friend to bitch, punch some pillows to get the frustration out of your system, and then tell your editor you’re on it and apply butt to chair to get it done.

I’m not talking about major work here, like rewriting an article with five additional sources and 800 additional words. You should certainly say no to any attempts to take advantage of you. I’m talking about requests that are inconvenient because they disrupt your schedule, that may seem a bit unfair because they’re so last-minute, but that in reality don’t take a ton of extra work. When I get requests like these, I often get a little upset because I have to get back into the assignment mindset when I finished the copy weeks ago and have moved on to new things. But I suck it up and get it done. Maybe that’s why I get assignment after assignment from a core group of great clients.

I guess it’s all about attitude.

When an editor comes to you with a last-minute request, decide which of the three options will work for you, And if it’s #3, tell the editor, “I’m on it!” [lf]

In my post Extreme Productivity in early August, I talked about how I had my husband change my password to a time-suck writer’s forum and I downloaded a free Firefox extension called BlockSite to block other distracting sites. For a couple of days my fingers itched to type in those web addresses, but then the urge passed and I’ve been happy without these distractions.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago: I said to myself, “Gee, I’ve hardly been working. I need to start hustling.” But then I realized that I had plenty of work: Due in September I had four blog posts (about 500 words each), eight pages of website copy for a corporate client, a Writer’s Digest column, a short article for Muscle & Performance, a feature article for a major women’s magazine, and a profile for Antioch University. And yet, although I made good progress on these deadlines, I took off three days last week. That’s right — I worked only two days last week.

That’s when it hit me: Normally, I would have ass in chair for several hours each day — but that didn’t mean I was working that entire time. I would often click away from an article in progress to one of those distracting websites. What I didn’t realize was how much time I must have spent doing that, as I got done in two days last week what would have taken me a whole week before I blocked the time-sink sites!

Wow, this is an amazing feeling. To think that one simple change has boosted my productivity so much.

This week I’ll be working three days. I always worked fewer than 40 hours per week before, but now I’m putting in even less time. I’ve been using my newfound free time to go to the park with my husband and son while the weather is nice, meet up with other moms for lunch and coffee, hang out with our new exchange student, exercise, and generally relax.

As I also mentioned on this blog, I’ve made a vow to no longer take on assignments that have red flags and to stop working with clients that treat me badly. I haven’t had the opportunity to turn down any PITA clients yet (because none of them have approached me), but just knowing that I’ll only be writing for clients I like compounds the great feeling I have from gaining so much free time while still earning full-time income.

Here’s your challenge: Determine where the time-sucks are in your work life (Internet? TV? eating? sleeping?) and think of tactics — even extreme ones — to get your time back under control. What will you do this week? [lf]

Share This

Image via Wikipedia

Padded toilet Seats

To paraphrase a line from the HBO series Weeds, it feels like I’m pooping on a mushroom. In my experience with these super cushiony cushions, it appears there is a rule: Once you reach retirement age, you are required to equip every toilet in your house with a padded toilet seat – and preferably make it the color of poop brown or powder blue.

Pre-Warmed Seats

But not just any warm seats. Chairs or couches that have been heated by the ass of some other person. It feels like a violation to my ass to be warmed by the heat of someone else’s ass. But I’m not completely self-centered on this issue. I feel slightly embarrassed having myself created a hot seat, knowing that someone else will soon sit there.

Cheap-ass Toilet Paper

Often popular with mother-in-laws. However, I suspect that if you take a look around you’ll see this particular low-end toilet paper is only in her guest bathrooms, not in the master suite. So “No thank you, Dollar Store”. I will not rub my ass raw with your product.

Slivers

It’s not good to get a sliver anywhere… but let’s face it. While you can get a sliver out of your own finger, getting a sliver out of your butt check requires some outside assistance. And if you don’t have a spouse or close family member near-by, that can be an odd one to work into conversation with a friend.

If you know me, you know that the articles I write are typically service pieces with subheads and bullet-pointed tips for magazines like Health, Oxygen, Writer’s Digest , and many trade and custom publications. In my mind, moving up to the next level as a writer would be writing more complicated pieces. And I recently did it: I sold and wrote my first narrative piece for a business magazine on a cage-fighting entrepreneur. To write the article, I learned how to set scenes and how to smoothly move from the business aspect of the subject’s life to the martial arts aspect, without the aid of subheads for transitions. I also learned how to move seamlessly from past tense to present tense, how to drag personal information from a source, how to interview in person while trailing the subject, and lots of other techniques for narrative writing. I was proud of the article I turned out, and look forward to writing more like it.

For some writers, moving to the next level means going from unpaid to paid work, or from a dollar a word to two dollars a word. Whatever it means for you, here are some tips to moving on up in the writing world.

1. Start where you are. My buddy Jennifer Lawler is a very successful magazine writer, book author, and now, and agent. When she started out writing, she concentrated on her expertise: martial arts. She wrote for Black Belt magazine and other fighting titles. When she wanted to move into more popular and better-paying consumer magazines, she sent them pitches rooted in the martial arts; her first consumer magazine piece was an essay for Family Circle based on the mindful aspect of martial arts. She also ended up writing on self defense for Oxygen and Cooking Light. Later Jennifer garnered several clips from Family Circle that were not about martial arts because the editor liked her work. If you have an expertise, use that to help catapult you to the next level. Once you’re at the next level, you can gradually expand your topics.

2. Don’t go all or nothing. Don’t burn bridges with your current markets as you try to make the leap to bigger and better; it makes more sense to drop them slowly as you develop relationships with the more desirable magazines. For example, when I decided I wanted to write more complicated pieces, I didn’t start turning down service pieces — after all, those are still my bread and butter! You may be tempted to drop all of the work you want to move out of so you have time to pitch the better markets, but if you do that you could end up without an income. The only exceptions are magazines that pay nothing or that pay ridiculously low fees: Those you can safely drop.

3. Get help. When I got the assignment to write the narrative piece for a business magazine, I was clueless. So I asked my buddy Elaine Grant (whose e-course Magazine Writing Basics starts on September 14) for help since she’s done many of these types of pieces. I took Elaine out to lunch, and all of those things I said I had to learn in order to write this article? She taught me. She even helped me by critiquing my first and second drafts. So if you can’t afford to take a fabulous e-course ;-> , approach a writer you know who writes for the markets you’re aiming for — and ask for help.

4. Ask. If making it to the next level, for you, means moving up to a higher pay rate, try asking your current editors if they can give you raises. This can be a lot easier than breaking into higher-paying markets, though of course you should try to do both.

5. Help a buddy. When I started earning bigger paychecks from better magazines, I didn’t just drop my old clients saying “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out!” My husband was just starting out as a freelance writer, and I recommended him to these editors. They were thrilled to have another good writer, and I still had a positive relationship with the magazines even though I didn’t write for them anymore. If you don’t have an aspiring writer waiting in the wings, you can offer to find writers who are willing to work for the editor’s rates by posting in writers’ forums you frequent.

6. Get moving! So many writers tell me they’ll pitch their dream markets as soon as they build a good selection of clips from [insert name of non-paying magazine here]. Smarten up: You need only one clip to say you’re a published writer, and if you get bogged down writing for free (or super cheap) to build clips — that’s your fear talking, not your logic. Just pitch your dream markets — you lean more by doing and experiencing and making mistakes pitching your A-list markets than you do by stalling with the non-paying markets. You don’t even have to let go of the apron strings of the magazines you want to eventually ditch (see “Don’t go all or nothing” above). Just pitch! [lf]

Share This

(Back in 2006, Linda wrote a post about health and the freelancer. These odds & ends are a continuation.)

Watch your butt

This is an indelicate subject, but I’m an indelicate person, so here goes.

The more successful you are as a freelancer, the more you sit on your ass. Sitting for hours a day at a keyboard = unhappy heiney. Unhappiness begins with a spreading posterior. You’ll notice as the years pass, your butt cheeks spread. Then, you hit 40 or, if you’re female, pop out a few kids, and whoa, it’s Preparation H time. Combine the spreading-butt phenomenon and the horrendous hemorrhoids with a terrible diet — lots of coffee and diet soda, not enough fruits and fiber — and the butt expansion/hemorrhoidal hell only gets worse.

We writers fuss over our wrists, necks, and lower backs, but it’s the butt that bears the brunt of our profession. Make your butt a health asset:

• Do butt squeezes throughout the day. Not only does this help tighten your glutes (the heiney muscles), it gets blood moving and flowing “down there.”
• Aim to eat 25 to 30 grams of dietary fiber every day. Fiber keeps you “regular,” as grandma used to say. When you’re not regular, you’re constipated, and chronic constipation is one cause of those nasty hemorrhoids. Most Americans don’t get anywhere near this recommended amount of fiber in their diets, due, in part, to a love of processed food. There are so many easy ways to sneak extra fiber in your diet:
  • Look for the breakfast cereals out there that have anywhere from 5 to 9 grams of fiber in every serving (preferably cereals that don’t have a lot of sugar and/or artificial sweeteners).
  • Eat raspberries: One-half cup contains a whopping 20 grams of fiber!
  • Include a huge, vegetable-rich salad every day for lunch, and sprinkle it with wheat bran or ground flaxseeds.
  • If you can’t get all your fiber requirements from diet alone, then look to supplements. The Vitamin Shoppe makes a product called Miracle Fiber that I really like. It’s inulin, a natural vegetable fiber, that dissolves completely and flavorlessly into any beverage. A teaspoon has 5 grams of fiber. I add it to my tea and water to boost my fiber intake. I even sneak it into my kid’s hot cocoa.

Aren’t you glad you asked? Ooops, you didn’t.

Play with your diet

When I worked in a cubicle, I used to read a lot of diet books. Not just books to help me lose weight (God knows all those trips to the vending machines took their toll!), but books about vegetarianism and general health improvement. Most of these books required a new way of eating and thinking about food. They also required a lot of time to shop, prepare food, and cook. Or the plan would require me to eat at certain times of the day — and those times were usually when I was trying to get a package out the door to Fed Ex or was suffering through a boooooring meeting.

Maybe you’ve been thinking about going vegan. Or you’d like to cut sugar or caffeine out of your diet. If you’re freelancing, you have the perfect job, the ideal setting, to make these kind of dietary changes (changes to your exercise habits, too!). You have flexibility to plan your schedule. You have no boss who’s going to raise her right eyebrow if you need to chop vegetables at 10:30 a.m. Moreover, sometimes dietary changes make you cranky. I remember giving up caffeine when I worked in an office job. It was horrible. I was snappy, my head hurt, but I still had to perform at 100 percent. If you’re doing this at home, though, you can take it easy for a few days, maybe even sneak in a couple naps. Then there are some of the unpleasant side effects some dietary changes create. Think about what happens when you increase your fiber intake or start eating more legumes. It’s really nice not having to share this part of a new diet with co-workers. (Cats and dogs don’t seem to mind strange noises and smells.)

Set up an HSA

A lot of self-employed folks think HSAs, or health savings accounts, are bennies for those who work for an employer. Not so. You can easily set up your own HSA. (An HSA is tax-exempt money you set aside in an account to pay for things like doctor’s visits, insurance deductibles, prescriptions, eyeglasses — even stuff like sunscreen and massages!) Last week someone on a writers’ board I belonged to posted about a company that offers no-fee HSAs for consumers. I haven’t set one up through them, fwiw, but it looks promising.  [db]

Share This

K asks, “Not sure how to post this as a separate question for you that I’ve not seen addressed elsewhere. Since you’ve written books and magazines, I’m hoping you can help me. I’m in the middle of writing Book 2 of a 3-book series on assignment by a children’s book publisher. I’ve published 1500 magazine and newspaper articles so I felt ready to make the leap into books. My problem is, I’m having a hard time adjusting to the different paces of newspapers and books. I’ve still got 5 newspapers articles to complete and the truth is, I could give them all up right now! I’m no longer interested in writing in this format because it seems boring and I want to concentrate on the non-fiction books. I need to bring in the money from the newspapers stories while I’m writing the book so some money is being generated quickly. But it’s a struggle at this point to focus on the smaller stories. Did you ever have that problem? If so, what did you do about it? Thanks.”

I sort of had this problem a few years ago when I was writing a branded book for a publisher. It took me about four months to write it, but during that time I had to keep the money coming in with magazine assignments. What was different about our problem was that I actually felt frustrated by the book, which was gobbling so much time (not to mention dealing with the publisher was a HUGE time suck/pain in the ass). Whether you like writing articles while writing books — or hate it — the two practices are necessary for most working writers because the average nonfiction book advance rarely covers living expenses during the time one needs to write the damn book. Juggling between book writing and magazine writing can indeed be tough, and made more difficult when you don’t want to hold one of those balls.

Since it sounds like those newspaper articles are non-negotiable for you — you have to do them or starve — I’d look for ways to make the work more palatable. Off the top of my head, you could:

• Find some new fast-paying clients who can offer work that’s more interesting to you.
• Ask for a bump in pay on future newspaper articles. Sometimes a little extra money tempers resentment.
• Pitch some story ideas relating to your book to new well-paying markets. Not only do you have the research done, you’re interested in the material, it gives you some good prepublication PR for the book, AND you might get enough work so that you don’t have to do the boring newspaper stories in the future.
• Set aside one or two days a week to commit to your newspaper work. Just focus 100 percent on the newspaper stuff during that time, then when you go back to your book work, you don’t have to agonize.
• If you can afford it, outsource. You can get a transcriptionist to do your tapes, hire a high school student to help you with research over the summer, even pay someone to clean your house or organize your office. What could you hand off to someone else that would make you feel less stressed while you’re juggling?
• Break all of your work — book and newspaper — down into bite-sized chunks. I think what happens to a lot of people doing both kinds of work is that they get overwhelmed. When you see everything in doable tasks on paper, it takes a lot of the fear and agony out of the work.

Any other ideas for K? Add them to the comments section below.

If you’ve got a writing-related question for us, send it to questions[at]therenegadewriter[dot]com. [db]

Share This

I started taking a meditation class at the local yoga studio, and my teacher said it’s her job in life to “fail well.” That really resonated with me, and I think it pertains to writing as well as to the rest of life. As writers, we need to really put ourselves out there and do our best, even when there’s a risk that we may fail (such as by being rejected). Sometimes people do a half-assed job at things so that when they fail, they can say, “Well, I didn’t really try anyway.” But to be successful as writers, we can’t do this. (We have to use our whole ass! Not trying our best, or not trying new things, in order to avoid a potential ego blow can equal fewer assignments…so in a way it’s self reinforcing.

“Fail well.” I like it! What do you think? [lf]

Share This

It’s funny because it’s true!

Share This

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a to-do list that’s a foot long, filled with a variety of tasks — everything from the mundane to the critically important. The critical stuff always gets done, and I notice that the mundane does too. It’s all the stuff in the middle that languishes from day to day. And that stuff in the middle tends to be stuff that, once done, could make my life a whole lot better.

I’ve preached before about the virtues of a streamlined to-do list. Here’s a strategy to make it even more effective. Rather than list tasks that you know you’ll get done today because you have the flames of hell toasting your buttocks or just adding stuff like “do laundry,” “buy new file folders,” and “organize paperclips,” write down the three tasks you’ve been putting off. Go on, try it. The tasks can be anything, personal or business-related, as long as they’re creating even the vaguest sense of dread in your stomach. For me, this week, some of my to-do list tasks included sorting out an invoice for a client, figuring out a glitch on our server, analyzing a bill from a vendor and calling him to correct it, picking up my office for 10 minutes (seriously, it was a horrendous mess and I couldn’t think with the clutter), saying no to a friend, and writing for 30 minutes on a new project. Completing just three such items every day has given me an incredible boost of energy and cleared up my mind to focus on tasks that had to be done on a certain day, such as assignments, interviews, or appointments.

Of course, it’s always good to keep a running list of stuff to do — I still keep a list like that, only I tuck it into a drawer and work hard to cross off stuff on my list of three.  Try it out, and let me know what you think: good idea or does it make you forget stuff you really have to do today, like buy toilet paper?

P.S. And if you’ve been putting off signing up for one of our Renegade Writer eCourses, please put this task front-and-center of your new handy-dandy to-do list. We’re starting to get a rush of last-minute signups, so you don’t want to miss out. Three of the courses start Monday, January 7, 2008. That’s less than a week! [db]

Share This

Imagine you had a half-hour to ask Linda and Diana whatever you wanted about freelancing:

• “I’m getting a lot of positive feedback from editors at women’s magazines, but no assignments. Is there anything else I can do to help my cause?”
• “I’m bored writing about health and want to try my hand at travel writing. How can I get started?”
• “I’m a new writer and I feel totally intimidated sending my queries to editors. Help me!”
• “I just don’t have time to write and market and keep up with bookkeeping. How do you guys do it?”
• “Why do you use the word ass so much?” *

Here’s your chance to pick our brains — but please, step away from our noses. During the week of November 19, we’ll be offering one lucky writer a half-hour mentoring session by telephone with Linda and Diana. All you have to do is sign up for one of our Renegade Writer eCourses, which start in January 2008. If you sign up for two courses, you get two chances. Three courses, three chances.

On the other hand, zero courses = zero chances.

We’ve been talking to our teachers and reviewing their weekly lessons, and we’re just blown away by what we’re seeing. There are tips, insights, and rule-breaking advice you simply won’t find in our books or on our blog. Our teachers are top freelancers, whose bylines you’ll see every month at the newsstand. These teachers know of what they teach.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up TODAY! Your chance to get a crack at this opportunity ends Monday, November 26, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

*Because it’s fun.

Share This

A writer’s forum I frequent has been discussing the acronyms often used when talking about writing. It can be hard to understand a post or article that’s riddled with terms like WIP, RPP, and WFH, so here’s a handy list I came up with. You can see acronyms that are more related to fiction writing at the Coffee & Critique Writers Group.

RPP = Regional Parenting Publication

LOI = Letter of Introduction

WIP = Work in Progress

WD = Woman’s Day or Writer’s Digest

FC = Family Circle

LHJ = Ladies’ Home Journal

GH = Good Househeeping

NYT = New York Times

WSJ = Wall Street Journal

WM = Writer’s Market

POA = Pay on Acceptance

POP = Pay on Publication

FOB = Front of Book (the short pieces at the front of the magazine)

BOB = Back of Book (the short pieces at the back of the magazine)

WFH = Work for Hire

WMFH = Work Made for Hire

FNASR = First North American Serial Rights

PITA = Pain in the Ass

FWIW = For what it’s worth

YMMV = Your mileage may vary

Do you know of more acronyms used when talking about writing? Please post them in the Comments below. [lf]

Share This

Yesterday I was reading a Haruki Murakami book and he mentioned Tom Swift. I didn’t know who that was, so I asked my husband, and he said, “I don’t know who he was, but I know there is a type of phrase named after him.” So I turned to the magical Wikipedia, which said that a Tom Swifty, named after the main character in the Tom Swift series of books, “is a phrase in which a quoted sentence is linked by a pun to the manner in which it is represented as having been said.” For example, “I can’t see a thing,” Tom said darkly. The author of this book series, Victor Appleton, was known for eschewing the use of the unadorned word “said,” and instead came up with overly-creative adverbs and replacements.

Since I have articles to work on, I decided to spend hours last night coming up with my own Tom Swifties instead. Mine are below. I left out the, er, dirty ones.

Let’s have a contest: Post your best Tom Swifties in the Comments section by the end of Wednesday, September 5, and I’ll send the author of my favorite phrase a copy of The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock. Bonus points if your Tom Swifty is writing-related.

* “I write mainly for clips and exposure,” Tom said senselessly.

* “I don’t have any more article ideas,” Tom said querulously.

* “Who is that blind singer?” Tom wondered.

* “Either get rid of that boat or we’re leaving,” Tom said rigorously.

* “I prepared this meal from scratch with my own two hands,” Tom said cannily.

* “I am so sick of all these noisy pigeons,” Tom said courageously.

* “I have explosive diarrhea,” Tom said bombastically. (Okay, that one is borderline dirty!)

* “We encompass everything,” the yogi said ominously.

* “I can’t believe those insects started their own baseball team,” Tom said beleaguerdly.

* “My husband proposed to me in the bathroom,” she said alluringly.

* “I hate poetry,” Tom said Frostily.

Post yours in the Comments section for a chance to win! [lf]

Share This

Kristen writes: I have 23 articles due between now (August 21) and August 31. My total pay for those articles will be around $2,300. I quit my staff writing job after 10 years in January and, out of fear of never eating again, lined up many local paper and magazine assignments. They’re fun and easy and when I figure my hourly pay it’s not bad (usually around $35-$40), but I have so many interviews to do and so much to write that I’m not pursuing the national pubs and I’m mean to my children.

My credit card debt is high so I don’t know how to say no to any work.

Do you have any advice for me — besides divorcing my good husband and finding a sugar daddy?

If you want to get out of debt and you don’t want to find a sugar daddy, you have to turn down work. Specifically, you have to say no to those assignments that pay $100 per article. You can try to justify such low pay by insisting that you’re a fast writer, but consider this: How much would you be making if you could whip out 23 articles in ten days that paid five times as much? Getting assignments that pay more takes time and effort, but if you don’t concentrate on raising your rates by targeting higher-paying clients, you’ll be grinding away at low-paying articles forever, and struggling to pay the credit card bill. Those cheap-o magazine editors know a good deal when they see one, and they’ll never give you the time to work on increasing your income!

Also: $35 to $40 per hour might sound like a fine rate when you compare it to some staff jobs, but don’t forget that when you work on staff, someone else is paying for your benefits and their overhead. As a freelancer, you’re paying for 100 percent of your health insurance, you have higher employment taxes (when you’re on staff, your employer pays half), and you’re paying for your utilities, office supplies, and office equipment. Your income needs to cover all that as well as give you a good living wage.

It’s time to do some calculating to find out how much you need to be making per billable hour to meet your goals, and then ditch those assignments that don’t hit that mark. Freelance writer Erik Sherman has a free e-book on his site that takes you through the steps of planning your business and setting your rates. Download it here; this is a PDF file.

I know it’s hard to turn down work: It’s flattering when editors come to you, and you’re also afraid that this feast of work may be your last. But I learned the hard way recently that if you don’t turn down work that doesn’t help you meet your goals, you’ll burn out — and not reach your goals. I’ve been freelancing for 10 years now, and every slow time has been followed by a busy period. Despite my fears that each busy period might be the last, I’ve never been without enough work.

I haven’t calculated my hourly income needs, but I do turn down all work that is below a certain per-word rate and/or above a certain PITA level. Through trial and error, I’ve determined what kind of balance between money and time works for me. I’d love to hear from others how they calculated their rates and what the results have been. Please post your tips in the Comments section!

Got a question for the Renegade Writers? Send it to us at questions [at] therenegadewriter [dot] com. [lf]

Share This

by Diana Burrell and Linda Formichelli

(Diana) Writers love to talk trash about crazy sources. Most experts I interview are smart, funny, well-spoken, and interesting. There’s always the expert source that defies reason, though. Like the renowned negotiation expert who expected me to negotiate with him — hard — for a 15-minute interview. Or the PR person who’ll call on her client’s behalf, asking when “their” story will be in print, because it has been two whole days since we talked.

Occasionally Linda and I find ourselves sitting in the expert seats. The perspective is fascinating. We worry about how we’ll sound and are ever-so-grateful when a writer or reporter lets us know what she’s looking for before the interview. And we totally understand how tempting it is to call the writer each week with, “Do you have a pub date? Huh? [slobber] Huh?”

We also get to observe how our peers do their work. Most of them do wonderful jobs, but there’ve been a few times when I’ve wondered how the hell this person summoned the energy to roll out of bed in the morning, never mind score an assignment.

For example, earlier this summer a writer contacted me through my publisher for an interview about a branded book I wrote in 2005. I was happy to do the interview, but was surprised when an e-mail showed up with a list of ten or so questions the reporter wanted me to answer — in writing, via e-mail. And these weren’t little questions with sound-bite answers, either. I wrote back to say I was happy to answer the questions over the phone, and I gave the writer days and times when I’d be available. The writer said she’d call on a certain day, and then never called. Weeks pass and yesterday, the writer e-mails with, “Sorry, I forgot about this. Could you just answer these by e-mail?” To which I rolled my eyes, hit the delete button, and silently wished the writer well for her trip westward on the stupid train.

I realize I’m sounding like a complete bitch here — and you know what? I don’t care! It’s lazy, lazy, lazy to request that your sources answer interview questions by e-mail. You can give them the option, of course, and even secretly harbor the hope that they’ll take you up on it. And hey, full disclosure — I’ve done e-mail interviews before. They’re not my first choice: they don’t leave room for the give-and-take that can nuance a story, and quotes usually sound stilted and/or canned. But I’ve done them, and I’ll probably do them throughout my career. But geez, give the source the choice!

Back to my story: I figured the hour or two it would take me to write out the answers to her questions could be better spent on querying, revising an article for one of my editors, interviewing one of my own sources, or hell, even weeding my vegetable garden — after all, a weed-free garden will give me bushels of healthy tomatoes and chili peppers to can this fall. That’s money in the bank around here. On the other hand, even if my sage advice led to 100 people to buy my book — that would be $75 toward my advance. Whoopie. Taking money out of the equation, there’s the writer. The bottom line is I have no interest in enabling the clueless when there are so many other things to tackle on my to-do list.

Ah, you sigh, shaking your head. What about the free publicity I’ll miss out on? I know — I’ve said the same thing about sources who’ve ignored or declined my requests for interviews. But I’m learning — there’s nothing free in life, including publicity. Sources *do* pay for it, and smart sources know how to evaluate that cost. I no longer get bent out of shape when someone declines an interview; I try not to take it personally when my calls aren’t returned. I’m far more grateful these days to the sources who do share their expertise. Some of them spend hours with me, leading me around their farms or taking my calls between surgeries to answer picayune factchecking questions. Their time with me costs them something, and there are a bazillion other worthwhile things they could be doing instead.

(Linda) Last week I was interviewed by a reporter for a well-known newspaper on a topic that would not result in any publicity that I need. When I asked her to send me a link to the article when it went online, she said, “Oh, just Google your name and the name of the paper and you’ll find it.” As someone who always sends sources a heads-up when an article is out — and a link if there is one, and sometimes even a print copy if they can’t find one — I was shocked that I would take time out of my workday to help a reporter and not even receive a link to the article (which would take the reporter what, like 30 seconds?).

Then there was the time, a few months ago, when a writer asked me to “write a paragraph using colorful language” about topic X. Hmm…I could have sworn that it was the writer’s job to write the article, not the expert sources’. (You don’t even know what my “colorful language” almost ended up being in that case.)

Situations like this have made it clear to me why it’s sometimes so hard to find willing sources for articles, and why so many of them are pleasantly surprised when I send them thank-you notes or let them know when the article they participated in is on the stands. I had no idea that so many writers had such sorry skills until I experienced them from the expert’s side of the desk.

(Linda and Diana) Here are some rules from the no-rule chicks on dealing with sources. (Yes, we were so shocked and appalled by what we’ve experienced that we wrote up some actual rules!)

• Remember that their time is as valuable as yours. Give sources a few possible times for a phone interview and let them pick the slot that’s most convenient for them. You can give the option of doing an e-mail interview, but don’t require it.
• If you do an e-mail interview, keep the list of questions short; we limit ours to 6 or 7 questions.
• Don’t ask questions that will require the source to regurgitate his entire study, book, or other work.
• Don’t make the source do your work by asking her to write in a certain style or to say certain things.
• Thank the source after the interview, whether by e-mail or snail mail.
• When the article is out, send the source a quick e-mail so he can see the article online or look for it on the newsstands.
• Diana likes to call sources on the fly — they tend to give livelier quotes! However, she always prefaces her questions with, “Is this a good time to talk, or shall we set up an appointment for a better time?” If it’ll just take a few minutes, most sources are happy to chat on the spot.
• Be respectful of time and keep your eye on the clock. If you’ve told someone you need only 15 minutes, and it’s minute 14, break in with, “We’re coming up to the time you alloted for me. I’m happy to keep talking, but I know your time is valuable.” Sources *love* this, as long as you’re asking good questions and the interview’s going well.
• Even experts get the jitters. Spend a minute or two settling them down. Tell them what your article is about, why you picked the topic, how you found their name, etc. You can even let them know how the magazine tends to work, so they won’t be surprised by a call from a factchecker. Then lead into your first question.

Have you ever been the on the other side of the fence as an interviewee? What are your peeves? What do you think writers could do better? Post your comments below!

Share This

Alison asks: Is having an MFA in Writing worth mentioning on a query letter? I hear conflicting things: on the one hand, that it will show that I’m serious, and on the other, that it’ll show that I’m an overeducated, pantywaist buffoon.

I didn’t know the answer to this, so I contacted some editors I know and trust to tell me whether they think you’re a serious writer or a pantywaist buffoon. I also asked them what they think of other creds writers typically include in their queries, such as membership in the American Society of Journalists and Authors or personal experience. (Some of the editors wished to remain anonymous.)

Maria Schneider, Editor of Writer’s Digest:

I’ve never given anyone an assignment because they have an MFA degree, but it certainly wouldn’t deter me from offering an assignment. I wouldn’t recommend featuring your degrees prominently on your query letter since it’s really the idea and the writing that count most. But it’s fine to include a brief bio in your last paragraph. It might catch my eye if the degree was an MFA from Iowa or Columbia.

Editor at a general interest magazine:

I’d think pretentious, overeducated — probably can discuss the worth of Keats and Yeats until the sky turns purple but can’t report or write for our purposes. I’d also question why someone spent good time and money earning a master’s in a discipline best learned by doing it. I highly doubt some Ivory tower dwelling academic can teach a person about writing and reporting better than the experience of spending a midnight shift in a patrol car, or spending a week in a courthouse, or a day at a plane crash, or an afternoon on a stranger’s porch.

Editor at a health magazine:

I’m more impressed if someone has personal experience with the subject than with any degrees. Most of the people I know with MFAs are fiction writers, and while they may write wonderful stories, it doesn’t tell me if they know about health and how to do research. I would expect an incredible, writerly lead, of course. I’m more likely to give it some weight if they’re doing personal essays–but again, it’s not the degree but the product that’s most important. I may be a little prejudiced. I once worked at a newspaper with a guy who had an undergraduate degree in architecture and a law degree. His first week he went out to cover a bank robbery and came back with nothing. I got the story over the phone.

I don’t care if someone is a member of ASJA, but I’ve known many editors who see that on a resume or query and figure that this writer is going to cross out all sorts of things in their contract and be a royal pain in the ass. I worked with a former head of ASJA and that wasn’t true–but the perception is there among some editors I know.

Chris Caggiano, editor of Deliver magazine:

It wouldn’t matter to me at all. I certainly wouldn’t hold it against someone for having an MFA, but it’s not going to make any different as to whether I’d assign a story to that writer. I’m most interested in whether writers have applicable experience in the subject matter at hand, and whether other editors have found them reliable.

On the whole, I would counsel writers to leave any mention of an MFA out of a query letter. Unless for some reason it was germane to that particular pitch.

Editor at a parenting magazine:

An MFA, PhD, or membership in a professional group like the ASJA does not mean anything to me. The most important thing is clips. But personal experience can be very influential. If a writer is pitching a story on colic, for example, and includes a few compelling graphs on what it was like dealing with constant crying, what worked, what didn’t, and how she got through it, she could get a chance based on her story.

Lisa Hannam, senior editor at Oxygen:

The credentials matter most to me when the topic they’re writing on is related to their academic background. For instance, a RD writing a diet plan; a MD writing a health story; a CSCS writing a fitness article, etc. You get the picture. The reason it matters is because it tells me whether the writer is a source, too. As for writing credentials, they can be listed; it’s not wrong. It tells me a bit about their experience, expertise, and ability to handle challenging topics. But clips speak stronger to me, though.

Editor at a sports magazine:

Hmm. . . . I think this would matter more if I were an agent or someone who published creative work. What I want to see is that the writer has credentials that relate directly to the work I need to have done. An MFA in writing doesn’t tell me that the person knows how to write an article, interview sources, etc etc. I’m not sure what it does tell me. But if you mention some places you’ve written for, or include some clips, or tell me how your interest in [topic] has ruled your life for twenty years (and your introductory letter looks like it was written by a sane person), that makes a difference. I think if you didn’t have much practical experience (i.e., not many clips) then you might mention writing related degrees to show that you’re serious about being a writer.

I don’t care about membership in writers’ organizations; there’s usually no bar to entry. When there is a bar to entry (ASJA), that does mean something, but on the other hand, I have experience with all of these organizations and I don’t necessarily have the same opinion of ASJA as someone else. I might think (not saying I do, just saying I might) that ASJA is populated by a bunch of quarrelsome pain in the ass writers with delusions of grandeur about their writing talent. So you never know how something like that will be received. Better, I think, to stick to the credentials that specifically impact whether you can do the work or not — related clips, related experience, a special interest in the subject matter and a well-written letter.

Elaine Grant, former editor at Inc.:

My feelings about credentials are decidedly mixed. An MFA in writing wouldn’t necessarily help someone who wanted to write for business magazines; in fact, it can signal to an editor that the writer is really more interested in writing novels, or perhaps other kinds of nonfiction, and is querying business magazines as a second (or third, or fourth) choice. Perhaps if I had experience as an editor for the Atlantic, the New Yorker, or other more literary magazines I’d see that particular credential differently. What impresses me, generally, is experience and credits, and yes, I am interested in someone who has experience working in the field they want to write about. Writing group memberships can help slightly — it means someone is sufficiently professional and interested enough in the field to spend time getting involved — but it doesn’t signal to me that this person is a better writer than someone without those memberships. So I guess my bottom line is that experience FAR outweighs degrees and memberships. Degrees without experience? Pshaw. I’ll turn to someone else first.

On the other hand, I admire anyone who has a literate enough of a sense of humor to refer to themselves as a “pantywaist buffoon!” I love a sense of humor, especially a self-deprecating, ironic one like this.

Editor at a health magazine:

I like knowing if a writer has an advanced degree. That tells me s/he is smart. But I don’t like it when it’s flaunted. If a writer wants to broadcast it, s/he needs to have a good reason. Re membership in a writing group, I don’t really care either way.

*****

So there you have it — honest answers from editors. In short: include a credential if it relates to the story you’re pitching — otherwise, leave it out.

Got a question for the Renegade Writers? Send it to us at questions [at] therenegadewriter [dot] com. [lf]

Share This

Diana: Last night I finally got around to watching The Secret, which I’d had in my Netflix queue for awhile. A few of my friends were buzzing about it, so I thought it was time to see what all the hoopla was about. Plus, I’m always game for inspiration or a good message.

I gotta say … the DVD was a huge disappointment. I actually felt a little icky after watching it. The premise is that everything we have in our lives is there because we attracted it: money, a nice home, a sporty car, a great relationship, etc. The flip side is that we’ve also attracted all the “bad” things: debt, a crummy apartment, the rusty beater, lousy relationships, and yes, even poor health. (Damn! I wish I’d known about The Secret in the womb … maybe then I could have done something about my congenital heart disease!)

There were two things that really annoyed me about The Secret. First, its emphasis on material acquisition. According to the producers of The Secret, everyone from Aristotle and Shakespeare to Emerson and Einstein knew about and used this secret Law of Attraction. In the next breath, the producers urge viewers that they, too, can harness the Law of Attraction to acquire things like money, cars, jewelry — even bikes — into their lives! In short, Shakespeare used The Secret to create Hamlet — and now I can use that very same power to get me a first-class trip to Denmark. Woo hoo!

The other thing that annoyed: the huckstery feel I got from all the presenters. Roughly 80 percent of them are professional motivational speakers, not the movers and shakers of the world. Maybe I’m a snob, but if I want to learn about wealth, I want to hear from Warren Buffet or even Bill Gates  — not some smooth-talking “success coach” I’ve never heard of who can teach me how to “attract prosperity” if I cough up $159 for the tape set.

This said, I *do* believe in the Power of Attraction, just not in the way it’s being marketed by these people. A couple weeks ago, I was talking to a writer buddy of mine about how, a year ago, we both decided to make changes in our professional lives. I decided I wanted to be a food writer and recipe developer. Days later, Linda got an assignment where she needed a recipe developer and I said, “Yo, I can help you with that.” This led to more assignments, and less than a year later, 70 percent of my writing work is food-related. I’m actually booked to create over 30 recipes for magazines, newspapers, and corporate clients this summer alone!

My writing buddy has also achieved similar successes in her career: she is now writing regularly for her dream market and her byline is popping up in national magazines everywhere. A month ago, another writer friend said, “OK, I’m going to write a book about X.” I’m not kidding — a week or so later, she was asked to write a book on the same topic (she had to turn it down because of a tight deadline).

I use this power in a lot of ways. I notice my son acts up more when I’m cranky and fussy with him. Weirdly enough, if I start treating him like he’s behaving, he behaves. If I’m grumpy and out-of-sorts on a long car drive, I can bet that the highway will be filled with insane drivers who cut me off or tailgate. But if I sit back, relax, pop on some Beck, and smile, the road mysteriously fills up with courteous, kind drivers.

Linda: I’ve been interested in watching The Secret after hearing so much about it, but I like to avoid feeling icky, so after reading what Diana had to say, I think I’ll skip it.

That said, I believe in the Power of Attraction, but not in some sort of supernatural, otherworldly way. I don’t think that if I decide I want to, say, travel to Denmark (to use Diana’s humorous example), the “universe” hears me and breaks its ass to make my dream come true. What I do believe is that once we set an intention, we open our minds to opportunities that bring us closer to that goal. For example, if we want to travel more, we may naturally start talking to our friends about travel topics, browsing travel magazines, and looking “out of curiosity” at airline fare sites. Then a friend tells us about how his family rented a villa in Tuscany on the cheap, we pitch an article on Tuscany to the travel mags we’ve been reading, and we find a great off-season airline ticket to Tuscany online. In other words, we create “coincidences.” [Diana: So true! I decided I wanted to go to India, and within a couple days of going public with my wish, I found a travel partner for November!]

There’s something about writing down dreams and goals that seems to make us more likely to reach them. A few weeks ago, I discovered a file on my computer called “Goals” that I wrote on December 26, 2003, and then forgot about. Here’s how they panned out:

Goal #1: To have a house with a fireplace, a big bathroom, a porch, and even a sunroom. (This was three years after we bought our first house, and we had no plans to move.)
Result: In 2005, Eric and I bought a house in New Hampshire that has all these features (except it has a patio instead of a porch).

Goal #2: To query The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock! (Diana had had this idea, but we hadn’t actually pitched it at this point.)
Result: The book came out in November 2006.

Goal #3: To travel more.
Result: Since then, Eric and I have spent a month in Okinawa and a few weeks in Germany and The Netherlands, and we’ve also traveled to Ohio, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. We’ll be spending October 2007 in Munich.

Goal #4: To be sought out — and even paid — as a speaker. (Keep in mind that I used to be so fearful of public speaking that I dropped out of Toastmasters!)
Result: In January, I gave my first paid talk (along with Diana). I was also asked to speak at the Erma Bombeck Humor Writers’ Conference in 2008 — a paid gig.

Goal #5: To fix my back. (I have a deformed vertebra in my lower back that limited my movement and caused a lot of pain.)
Result: I saw a physical therapist in 2004 who prescribed exercises and other techniques that greatly diminished my back pain.

Goal # 6: To help cats and teach people how to treat animals.
Result: Eric and I are now volunteer educators at the local SPCA, meaning we go to local schools and the SPCA shelter and give talks to school kids on how to care for animals. We also volunteer at feral cat spay/neuter clinics.

Goal #7: To get back into dialectology. (I studied South Slavic dialectology in graduate school.)
Result: About 18 months ago I was in the Borders café talking with Eric about how I’d like to get back into linguistics in some form. The woman at the next table overheard me and introduced herself: She was a Ph.D. in Slavic Linguistics who had just moved to the area after fleeing New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. This summer, we’ll be reading some linguistics texts together.

There are a few other goals I met, and there are only two goals on my list that I didn’t achieve.

I don’t believe any of these things happened by some “secret” method or because the universe heard my goals and worked to make them come true. I got the speaking gig most likely because in 2005 I had a website built that had a page that featured my speaking services. My back didn’t magically heal itself; I mentioned the back pain to my doctor, and she referred me to a physical therapist. I got involved in linguistics again because someone overheard me talking about it (and I was talking about it all the time, which made it even more likely that the right person would overhear it).

You want The Secret? Save your 20 bucks; I’ll tell you a secret for free: Write down a brief list of goals you have in your life, no matter how crazy they may sound right now. You can either tuck them away in your wallet (or on your computer) and let the goals ferment in your mind (which is what I did), or be more proactive by figuring out the first tiny step you’d need to take to meet each of those goals, and then take them. Tell all your friends and family members about your goals, and keep your eyes open for opportunities.

Share This

This post is inspired by Erik Sherman’s post on his blog about ignoring being ignored. You know, when you sweat all day over the perfect intro letter and clips package for a custom publisher who expressed interest in you, and weeks later the only thing in your inbox is decomposing spam.

A lot of writers will tell you, “Aw, get over it” or “A busy writer doesn’t have time to sob over magazines that ignore you.” I don’t disagree with that advice — but advice like this is not, for lack of a better word, actionable, unless you schedule an appointment with a psychotherapist who can help you resolve your early weaning issues over the next five years. And frankly, when you’re new to the business, it’s irritating to hear a more experienced writer tell you that being busy with other work is the cure. What if there *is* no other work?

Bear with me. If you’re staring into the maw of an empty mailbox, there’s plenty you can do to fill your day, whether you’re a newly minted freelancer or someone who’s been milling the lobby of Conde Nast for a few years.

#1 piece of advice: Stop staring into the mailbox. The answer is not there.

Next, grab yourself a pen and a notebook or open up a Word file on your computer and start whining. That’s right — get everything out of your head and down on paper (or pixels). You’re being ignored, no one loves you, your rent was due yesterday, you’ll never make a living at this, how come everyone else is doing well? That kind of stuff. I don’t know about you, but I can maybe take 500 words of this, maybe 1,000 words if it’s February, before I start to feel queasy and disgusted. In a good way, that is. I really can’t tolerate whining, especially my own, and maybe because I’m a mother, a little voice starts pushing through the din to say, “Stop this! You’re driving me crazy! You want something to complain about? I’ll give you something to complain about.” (Wow, when I wrote that down, I didn’t hear my voice — I heard my mother’s voice. Yikes!)

OK, so next what you do is start thinking about things you can do to improve your situation. I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy into the whole editor=dominant/freelancer=submissive equation. Some ideas:

• If you sent one kick-ass package out to a custom publisher, what’s stopping you from sending out another package to a different publisher? You don’t know of any? Well, get off your ass and start researching.
• You sent five queries out last week? Send five more out this week … or better yet, send six, seven, or 10!
• Did you just turn in a bunch of assignments? E-mail your editors and let them know you’re just coming off a work bender, and do they have any assignments before your schedule fills up again?
• Did you meet an agent at a recent conference who expressed interest in your book idea? If you’ve got a break in your schedule, it’s the perfect time to work on that proposal or query letter.
• You’ve met a few other freelancers locally and have idly wondered about getting everyone together in one room. Well, e-mail them all and suggest a coffee break where you can all get to know each other. Build those connections.
• E-mail all your quality PR contacts and ask them if they can give you the heads-up on some stories. Sounds crazy, but you know? A good PR person can be a goldmine for the savvy writer.
• Ask someone you admire to meet for coffee or lunch. Why not?
• Call a local community college or continuing education program and ask if they’re looking for instructors. You don’t have to teach writing — teach a class in Indian breadbaking or motorcycle repair, wherever your talents lie!
• Use your kick-ass writing skills on eBay, Half.com, or Craigslist. Sell books you haven’t read, or the mountain bike gathering dust in your basement. Selling your stuff can keep you busy for hours — and it brings in cash!
• Especially if you’re bad at coming up with story ideas, force yourself to come up with ten story ideas every day. Do not go to bed at night until you’ve written the ten ideas down on paper. Do this for the next two weeks. At the end of two weeks, you’ll have 140 story ideas, and I bet at least ten of them will be pretty damn good. Now pitch them to editors.
• Send your editors a thank you note and let them know how much you enjoy working with them. Do this only if the sentiments are true.

Several months ago, things were slow around here. I had sent out a killer clip package to a custom publisher and was a little surprised that they never responded to my package or follow-up. Shrug. I didn’t let it bother me … I simply got busy doing other things. And one day I checked my e-mail and it was an editor from the custom publication. She’d saved my package and now something had come up and was I interested in taking an assignment? Sure I was … and I’ve gotten more assignments from her since.

I could go on and on with things you can do. But I’ll leave it to our readers to come up with their own ideas. What do you do when the mailbox is empty and you’re feeling sorry for yourself? Post in the comments!

Linda and I were just gossiping reminiscing over the telephone about our earlier efforts at query letter writing. Linda remembered one of her first queries to Family Circle: “Kwik Dri Cheez: Why Advertisers Can’t Spell” which was about the psychology behind product labeling. The surprising thing is that even after that cringe-worthy query, Linda later broke into Family Circle (with a different idea, obviously) and ended up writing for them for several years.

And I’m embarrassed to say, the query letter that shames me was sent just a few years ago to an editor I’d worked with a few times. I used to work in the marketing department of a consumer packaged goods company, and while there I learned the ins and outs of rebate programs and consumer coupons. I decided to put that hard-earned knowledge to good use by pitching an article on the ethics of rebating and couponing to a women’s magazine. You know, why it’s not okay to use a coupon for a different product than the one that’s actually advertised, or why using multiple addresses to get lots of rebate checks can bite you in the ass. I even found sources who were willing to tell me stories about their own unethical behavior.

Naturally, the story idea was rejected with a note, “This story is inappropriate for our readers. It’s a how-to manual on stealing from companies. Best of luck placing it elsewhere.” Yeah, like at the bottom of my cat’s litterbox! Geez, wtf was I thinking??? But like Linda, I ended up getting more work from them, so it wasn’t a career killer.

So come on — what have been some of your doozies? Spill! Spill! [db]

Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell has posted a sad exchange that occurred when she applied for a writing job related to the social issues she’s passionate about. When she asked about compensation, this “editor” (and I use that term loosely here) deemed her unfit for his company due to her passion for money. He reminds her, “You can’t take it with you.”

It’s amusing that for all his distaste of Ms. Fivecoat-Campbell’s money-grubbing attitude, Mr. Byer is the one who brought up income streams, banner advertising, and e-mail marketing. No sirree, he’s not thinking of money. P.S. If you still haven’t made your charity contributions for 2006, may I suggest bypassing Mr. Byer’s enterprise and donating some of the money you earn from bona fide writing assignments over at the ASJA’s Writers Emergency Assistance Fund? From their website: “Its mission is to help established freelance writers across the country who, because of advanced age, illness, disability, a natural disaster, or an extraordinary professional crisis are unable to work.” [db]

Gawker has posted an e-mail that Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby (that’s Touby, not Tubby) sent to 200 applicants who didn’t get the job as her personal whipping boy assistant. Check it out here. Gee, the little lecture at the end … such a special touch. [db]