August 20, 2002
I’ve learned to be a successful freelance writer, I have to play by the rules. And to play by the rules, I have to know them inside and out.
When I first began, I was naive enough to think that all I had to do as a writer, was write. Of course I’d mail off my work, a publisher would see it’s potential, offer me a great deal of money and praise me as they published my words.
Wrong.
There’s a sequence of events, a way of doing things in the writing world, and I’ve been learning them all for a very long time.
I’m aware of the processes – think of an idea, query a magazine, if accepted write the article and if rejected start all over. But even with the knowledge of what to do, I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about the process.
A while ago, I purchased the book, Writer’s Guide to Queries, Pitches & Proposals by Moira Anderson Allen and checked out the accompanying website, and these two things helped me get my ideas from my head and into magazines. Not only do I understand the process now, I’m a successful part of it.
As much as I like to toot my creative horn and flail my fists at linear thinking, business is still business. To get paid, there are certain rules I have to follow. I don’t mind, in fact, these are the first rules I’m not aimed to break.