Does Timing Matter?

Do you think the timing of pitches matters? I often find myself drafting pitches Friday afternoon (a quieter time when e-mail and phone have died down, etc.). But then I wonder if it’s a bad idea to e-mail a pitch on a Friday afternoon because the editor likely won’t get it until Monday morning when it will be buried underneath all the spam and other stuff that comes in her in-box over the weekend. Also, I overheard a former editor talking the other day and she said she hated it when freelance writers pitched her during certain time of the month (I’m pretty sure she wasn’t talking menstrual cycle, but rather the week that she was under deadline). So are there certain days and/or weeks that are better to pitch than others? Or am I totally over-thinking this?

LOL: the certain time of month! I'm guessing that she meant "closing" - when they put an issue to bed and things get really harried - but honestly, I don't keep track of which magazines close when, so not pitching during "that time of month" might be tough. But you could certainly ask your editor - if you have a relationship with her that is - when the mag closes, and then pitch accordingly.

When I was in my pitching hey-day, I liked to send off emails late at night before I went to bed. My thinking was that universally, people tend to open their email account first thing in the morning before their days got crazy, and by sending it later in the evening, mine would be closer to the top. Now. I have no idea if this tactic worked or if it was just some crazy scheme that I invented, but I did seem to land a decent amount of pitches or, at the very least, got responses.

I actually don't like to pitch on Fridays or over the weekend for the exact reason you mention: I worry that my email will get lost in the fray. But I do have some friends who say that pitching on Fridays works really well for them because it tends to be a quieter day for editors, so they have time to read the emails, and they also might want to clear out their inboxes before the weekend.

So...gee...I'm not being particularly helpful, am I? I think the bottom line is that every writer will tell you something different, so it's difficult to pinpoint the best time to pitch. What really matters, of course, is that your pitch is a good one, not when you send it.

But that said, I'd love to hear from readers: when do you pitch and why? What works for you? If there are any editors out there, when do you prefer to receive pitches?

In-Person Interviews

I have my first “big” interview coming up with a well known author who I’ll be profiling for an article. Most of my articles up to this point have only required me to track down a few sources for a quote or two over the phone. I haven’t conducted a lot of “in person” interviews. What’s the proper protocol? Do I take hard copy notes? Type on my laptop while we chat? Or can I simply lay a dictaphone on the table and just have a conversation without taking notes (then transcribe the tape recording later in my own time)?

Funny, in the day and age of email and phones, we writers rarely have to leave our offices to conduct nearly all of our work. Amazing, isn't it? I mean, if I'd decided to become a journalist twenty years ago, I'd have to trek to the library to do my research on microfiche!! Which means that in-person interviews are often a thing of rarity. I don't do them much either.

When I do do them, I tend to record the convo and take light notes. I dunno, this seems to help me jog my memory when going back and writing the article, as well as helps me filter through a long recorded conversation, as in, okay, she said this, and then she said that. Which helps when I'm looking for a specific nugget.

But I'm tossing this question back out to readers because I'm certain that there are some folks who do a lot more in-person interviews than I do. So folks, how do you conduct them? Tips for this reader?

The Secrets to Success

Hey guys,

I'm guest-blogging at Writer Unboxed today...it's one of my favorite posts all about the key ingredients, in my opinion, to becoming a published author.

Check it out!

The Numbers Game for Queries

I'm starting to get more clips (it seems like a snowball effect) and I am landing a couple of magazine assignments each month, which inspires me to pitch more, etc. At some point of course I'd love to quit my 9-5 and be able to pay for my own health insurance. My question is, how did you transition to freelancing full-time and do you set a weekly goal for pitching magazine pieces - i.e. this week I'll pitch five stories - or any other tips you have on how to keep the snowball rolling, and growing.

I was in a very fortunate position in that I didn't really have a "full-time job" when I started freelancing. Rather, I'd co-launched an internet company that was eventually sold (sadly, after the internet bubble popped), and I retained a lot of our clients as freelance clients. So...I never really faced the "can I leave my current job" situation because I poached from my current well of work and kept working for them.

But, more to your point, I think a weekly goal is a must. In fact, one of my writer's groups frequently has Pitch Challenges, in which teams try to pitch as many places/editors as they can, and then score points for each story landed. If five a week works for you, and is bringing in steady work, then by all means, keep it up.

I think the hardest thing, in terms of volume, is coming up with new ideas. So don't forget that each idea doesn't have to be "new." It might be a spin on an idea that you're already pitching...or a spin on a story that you've already written. Whenever I'm interviewing an expert for a piece, I try to weed out some tangents or nuggets that might be used elsewhere - I often end up using only a small percentage of the actual interview for the first story, and why let all of that good info go to waste? Of course, it also helps to scour the web (and newspapers, etc) to stay on top of all the breaking research and trends. I've found that often times, even when I'm totally creatively-zapped, digging around some breaking news might help me muster up a gem of an idea.

So readers, how many pitches do you aim to shoot off each week? Is there a method to your madness?

Any Booksellers Out There?

I'm in the final stages of my pre-publication publicity push, and I've learned so much as I've gone through it, so I thought that in addition to answering questions on the blog, I'd also chat about what I'm doing publicity-wise, if you guys are interested in such things.

One of the critical things I've discovered is how invaluable booksellers are...the actual folks who toil at your local store or behind the counter at your nearby Barnes and Noble. Your marketing team can do a hell of a lot for you, but at the end of the day, the folks in the stores are the ones who have influence over buyers and can keep your book in front of readers for a longer period of time than you publisher might have anticipated in their co-op space purchases.

To that end, this week, I'm starting to head out to local stores to introduce myself, talk about the book, and hand out my few remaining galleys. We get the actual book in a few weeks, so once I've burned through the last of my galleys, I'll hand out books. It's an interesting process, and something that, until I was published, I'd never even though about. But check out this article from yesterday's NY Times: pounding the pavement really can help.

Obviously, I can only get to so many local stores, so if you're a bookseller or if you're pals with a bookseller who might be interested in reading a galley, shoot me a note. I only have a few left, but I'll drop one in the mail.

Writers: have you found that this one-on-one, personalized marketing has really helped? I'm curious to hear about how other people have done this in the past. And booksellers: do you truly take note when an author shows up and awkwardly mumbles an introduction? I'm a really outgoing person, but I feel a little self-conscious doing this!

Taking the Lead

I'm back! Vacation was wonderful, and yeah, I know that being in the sun is horrible for you (I do wear gobs of SPF, don't worry), but wow, isn't everyone just a little bit more attractive with a flush of color? It's true, I swear.

Question of the day: A novel question for you...if your publisher is making you a "lead title" what does that mean? I'm guessing it's good, but I'm not sure what it means in terms of what they actually do.

If your novel has been deemed the lead title, it's a very, very, very good thing. So if this is the case, huge congrats!

What this means it that your book will essentially be the star of your publisher's show: the one the sales reps push, the one the marketing team markets, the one onto which gobs of attention will be showered. For example, Jon Clinch's Finn was recently his imprints lead title, and damn if you didn't see that book everywhere. (And deservedly so...Jon is a kick-ass guy, and while I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, the reviews were incredible.)

If you're the lead title, ask your agent directly what this means for you and how it will impact your PR, marketing and sales. But needless to say, it's a real vote of confidence from your publisher.

Anyone out there a lead title? Or have more specifics as to what this author can expect?

Adios Amigos!

Last Friday, my hubby and I celebrated our five-year anniversary. It's so hard to believe that it's been five years, but when you think about it - all that we've gone through and accomplished - it's pretty easy to see where our time has gone.

Here's the math on what he and I, either separately or together, have accomplished since March 23, 2002:

-Had 2 amazing children
-Adopted 1 now very pampered, overindulged pooch
-Bought 3 different apartments
-Land 3 kick-ass jobs and/or promotions (him)
-Taken 1 fledgling freelance career and seen it soar (me)
-Sold 1 novel
-Lost 1 of my best friends, a bridesmaid at our wedding, to breast cancer

It's amazing when you look back on it to see how far you've come. I mean, marriage is hard, and there's no doubt that it takes a ton of work, but when you reap the rewards, like many of them on the above list, it's hard not to think of it as a success.

So, dear readers, with that said, hubby and I are off to Mexico for the rest of the week, to celebrate our success sans children and with the help of (I hope) a very talented masseuse. :) I'm packing four books - Catching Genius by Kristy Kiernan, Good Things by Mia Kim, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris, and The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz - and I plan to do little other than read, sleep, eat and be extremely pampered (by both husband and the hotel). An occasional run on the beach might be called for too.

Adios! See you when we get back.

So...where have your last five years taken you?

Hurry Up and Wait

Here's one I don't think you've answered... how much lead time do you usually get before your deadline? Some of my editors (at websites and smaller publications) have assigned stories and set a deadline for less than two weeks later. I'm happy to get the assignment and can usually rearrange my schedule to make it work, but I feel bad asking my sources to rearrange their schedules on short notice to meet my deadline (it reflects poorly on me because they may think I've put it off until the 11th hour). Plus, sometimes I send in the story and the editor emails me back a month later asking for rewrites. Umm... if you don't have any sense of urgency in publishing it, why should I rush to write it? I'm guessing other writers have grappled with this issue, too!

ARGH!! I typed out a long response to this only to have my computer freeze and require a total shut-down. ARGH!! I'm trying this again.

Deadlines will vary wildly depending on how organized your editor is, if she had a last minute story fall through, how often the magazine/website is published, etc. That said, I'd guess that my average lead time is about three weeks to a month, which is perfect for me, as far as my planning purposes. But I do sometimes get really fast turn-around assignments - say, a week or so lead time - and on the flip side, I often get evergreen pieces that don't need to be handed in for two months.

Whenever I have a rush request for a source, I say something like the following: "I was just handed a last-minute assignment for X magazine, and unfortunately, I need to turn this around by Friday. I know that this is very last minute, but if there's any way that you would have time to talk in the next day, I'd so appreciate it. If not, I completely understand." That way, the source knows that I'm not disorganized, and it also gives lets him know that he needs to hop to it.

If you *do* get a rush deadline, don't forget that you can always ask your editor for more time. You'd be surprised how accommodating editors will be, especially if the story isn't yet schedule. (Though if it's a rush, it probably is.) As far as why editors give you these tight deadlines, then don't get back to you for a month with edits? Ugh. It happens ALL the TIME. And yep, it's annoying. I imagine it's because the story has to wind its way through the entire editorial team, but still, it's annoying. And something for which I have solution, only empathy. :)

So readers, what's your average deadline time, how do you ask sources for rush requests, and do you find editors flexible with deadlines?

Mulling Memoirs

What made you decide to turn your experience with your friend’s death into a novel, rather than write a memoir? I’m working on a memoir project, but I keep wondering if it wouldn’t be a better read as a novel based on my experiences. It might be a cop-out though, because then I could change names to protect the guilty.

Funny - I never once considered writing my life story.

For several reasons: 1) my life story isn't that interesting. These days, memoirs have to have a very strong hook to them to sell. Sure, everyone thinks they have a story to tell, but it's sort of akin to how you think your dreams are totally interesting and weird, and then when you relay them to friends, their eyes glaze over. Publishers aren't interested in your memoir unless you're like, the person who discovered the cure for AIDS in her basement or something. 2) I have no interest in putting my friend's struggle with cancer up for public consumption in the way that a memoir would. Really, that's her story to tell, and I'm not the one to tell it. And, getting back to point A, losing a close friend to cancer isn't such a unique story that I think publishers would be chomping at the bit for a memoir. At least, not as I could write it. Maybe if I had a more exotic life, and this was just one facet, then sure, but not as of now. 3) These days, you better be damn sure that every last word in your memoir is truthful (see: Frey, James), and I wasn't at all interested in telling a factual story. What I love about writing fiction is that I can pull something completely out of my imagination and find a way to make it work. I get to breathe in experiences through my characters that I've never had the opportunity to explore in my real life, and for me, that's exhilarating. The "creating something from nothing" is probably what I enjoy most about the process of fiction, and since writing a memoir offers none of this, I ain't interested.

Though...hmmm....it should would be fun to run fear into the hearts of my ex-boyfriends when the project was announced. On second thought.... :)

So, what say you readers? Why do you choose fiction over memoirs or vice versa?

The Cream of the Crop

Why do you think it is that some magazine writers, are more successful than the majority of magazine writers, both financially and career wise? Whenever I read about professional writers doing well, I find myself grabbing one of my cats and weeping with envy into their fur. Or I have to go and do something drastic, like weed the garden or clean behind the cooker, to get rid of my angst at not being able to be a successful writer. Throw into that, I live in the UK (horribly low pay rates) and it's enough to make the management track at the supermarket look tempting. :) I know the usual advice is 'ditch the not-so-profitable mags and go for higher paying ones' but how can you do that when you need the former to pay the bills? Is it just lack of faith on my part? A lack of faith that the bills won't get paid if I ditch the low-profit mags? Or that the more profitable magazines will take one look at my work and say: 'get back to the trades honey, you ain't cut out for this world.'

Okay, this is a big, sweeping question that I'll do my best to answer, but I'm not sure that there are indeed concrete answers to it. And that's because there are a lot of intangibles that lead to success in this business, in my opinion, not the least of which is luck. Yep, luck. Look, I'm not going to dispute that I can write a kick-ass article, because I can. And yeah, I think I'm a decent fiction writer too, but I'm not so pompous as to assume that part of the reason that I've had more success than some other writers isn't due to dumb luck. I landed a big ghostwriting gig right at the start of my freelancing career (The Knot Book of Wedding Flowers), and yes, arguably, it was my writing skills that landed me that gig, but it was also timing and sheer luck. That I happened to be getting married at the time they were looking for a writer. That I happened to pitch them a story idea at this very same time. That I'd previously happened to be hired to ghostwrite for some celebrities and the Knot wanted someone who was interested in weddings, as well as who had ghostwriting experience, etc, etc, etc. So they hired me. And from there, I landed my first national story in Bride's. It was one of my first pitches, actually. So yeah, I definitely think that some of this was due to sheer luck. Lucky me.

Now. There are many who will argue that you make your own luck, and I am among those many. (This, incidentally, is a big theme in TDLF.) I'm not sitting at home rubbing rabbits' feet, hoping that good things will happen to me. I'm going out there and creating every. possible. opportunity. in order for some of this good fortune to come my way. That means querying, querying, querying. It means being open to opportunities that you wouldn't necessarily originally be interested in. It means admitting that there might be room for improvement in your writing and seeking out classes or critique groups to bolster you.

One of the underlying commonalities that all successful writers share, I believe, is that they're a) persistent and b) unsinkable. Which means that no matter how often they're rejected, they'll keep at it, and they don't let all of these dings to their armor get them down. There's no crying in publishing. Okay, that's not true. There's plenty of crying in publishing, but there's no drowning in your tears. Because there are too many other writers who won't drown, and no one will miss you if you do. Rejection is a matter of fact in our industry, and the writers who make it are the ones who don't take it personally and who use it to push themselves higher.

So what does all of this add up to? Keep at it, keep at it, keep at it. What's your other option? Quitting? If quitting is an option, then I'd say - and I don't mean this rudely at all, only as advice to people who waver in this industry - that writing probably isn't a career for you. Because there are too many other things for you to do and be good at and be happy at than to bog yourself down in a writing career that you'd be okay walking away from. I once had an acting teacher tell me the same thing: if can think of anything else you want to do with your life, then do that, not this, and I think the same thing applies to writing. And if you can't think of anything else, then hang in there! Timing, persistence and skills will often pay off in the end.

So readers, what do you think separate the successful writers from the rest?

Motivation vs. Procrastination

I still don't get how you can freelance full time, write fiction, have two kids, maintain a house, promote your book, have a social life, go to the gym...and not go insane. I'm incredibly bad at time management. Do you think about time management or do you do this stuff effortlessly?How do you keep yourself motivated? Keep yourself from procrastinating?

Aw, thanks, but I'm really not a superhero or anything. As I've mentioned before, I'm hyper-organized. But I also know my limits, as well as how long things will take me. This took a long time to figure out...there have certainly been points in my career when I felt overwhelmed (or bored) because I put too many (or too few) eggs in my basket. And I think this is knowledge that can only come from experience - you have to test your own limits and see what washes out.

How do I not go insane? Well, I have fabulous child care to begin with. Again, not to repeat myself here, but I treat my job the same way that a mom who goes into an office does, and in that sense, I have a nanny Mon-Fri. Now, I spend a decent amount of that time with my kids anyway - for example, the baby can't go with my son to some of his classes, so I chill with her during those times...that's the beauty of working from home, but there's no doubt that during most of the week, I can peel off to "go to work" and get stuff done. There is NO CHANCE I could be as productive as I am without good child care, and I make no apologies for that. I also liberally employ the use of the word "no." This is something that a lot of women struggle with, and you know what? I've just come to realize that my time is too valuable, so I now say "no" to plenty of things, both work and social, that I might have begrudgingly dragged my heels to (and on) in the past. I highly recommend it - it's freed up a lot of time and mental space.

And to be honest, my social life isn't that rocking. :) I have my girl's (or is that girls'?) night dinners once a month (which are so much fun, it's like being back in college), and my husband and I have dinners out with friends or on our own over the weekends, but other than that, it's emails and occasional phone calls with friends. But I think that might be more a symptom of having two young kids than anything else. I'm sure that other parents out there can relate. I mean, given the choice, which would I rather: go out and drink a cocktail that will inevitably only make me sleepy or just go to sleep, period? I think you know the answer.

How do I stay motivated? I'm not always, to tell you the truth. Sometimes I'll just blow off days entirely because I can't seem to click away from PerezHilton.com. But what really helps is changing up what I'm working on. As I said last week, I've adored magazine writing in the past, but in the past year or so, I've found myself less interested, and thus my motivation to both query and write these pieces was really flagging. So, knowing this, I've taken the past few months to refocus on fiction, as well as my promotional work for TDLF. As with any job, switching up your tasks often helps relight your fire. And yes, I do procrastinate. But what helps is setting time limits for myself. Saying, "Okay, you can surf celebrity gossip sites until 10:30 AM, but then you have to write for an hour. After that, you can go back to surfing." Living by the clock really helps me - sort of like dieting - it allows me to "cheat," but also forces me to get back to business.

So what helps you guys stay motivated and kick your rears in gear?

Examining Essays

WIP Update: Yahoo! I wrapped up the first half of my WIP yesterday and fired it off to my agent, who said she's going to read it asap. I'm in the fortunate position of being able to query publishers on proposal, so she's going to read and we'll then talk strategy - if she likes it, we'll assess when to send it out, etc. Yay! So relieved. How are your WIPs coming along?

I have been freelancing for my local newspaper for more than 5 years. I've also had approximately a dozen articles published in The Indianapolis Star. (See links below for a few articles.) I would like to advance to the next level, magazines. I am a medical assistant in a group practice and I have nearly 25 years in the health care field. I have been considering personal essays in mainstream magazines and/or articles for trades. What are my chances? How should I proceed?

I've discussed essays in the past (so you might want to search the archives), but it's tough to make a living on essay writing alone. There just aren't a lot of outlets, much less well-paying outlets for them. And whether or not you place an essay is so subjective, you'd really be leaving your career up to a lot of luck and chance.

That said, you obviously have writing chops, so I'd recommend two things: 1) using your medical background to pitch service articles to magazines. You'll probably get steadier work this way, especially since you have a certain expertise. 2) Send out essays because, really, you have nothing to lose, but don't count on them to become a primary source of income. Again, there are thousands of essay writers out there, and so few places that essays run that the math just isn't in your favor, in terms of landing multiple and frequent assignments. That said, of course, someone has to land these slots, so give it a shot!

So, what say you readers? Are essays as hard to place as I think?

Finding the Right Balance

Random thought of the day: my husband has the flu. The knock-you-on-your-ass type of flu. I feel sorry for him, I do, and I've been playing nurse maid in an effort to get him back to health. But let me ask you...why is it that men are such whiners when they're sick??? I mean, again, I realize that he's sick, but is all of the melodrama necessary?? Must he act like he is at death's literal door? If I had the flu, life would go on: I'd still have to make my son dinner and I'd still have to make sure that the dog got out for his two poops a day and I'd still have to nurse my daughter, etc, etc, etc. And frankly, I'd probably do it without much complaining. So, dear readers, let me ask you...why are men incapable of this? (She said, all the while truly taking a tad bit of pity on her husband whose complexion right now is the color of my walls.)

Question of the day: When you were writing magazine articles (at your busiest), how many articles did you have "in the works" at one time? I'm in a position now where I have 4 articles that I'm working on and possibly a 5th (still for the trade magazine, but they keep upping my pay, so I can't complain). I'm allowing about a week per article, which includes research, interviews, writing. Is this about right or am I allowing too much time per article?

I think this is an "it all depends" answer. When I was at my busiest, I was also often really stressed and too harried for my own good...there were times when I'd have three deadlines a week, feature deadlines, I should note, and I felt like you could tug a string, and I'd come completely undone.

So, what I think you need to do is figure out what pace works best for both you and your bottom line. For example, writing four FOBs a month probably isn't going to tax you but it also might not pay the bills. Writing four features might. These days (when I'm not working on fiction), I like to have about one feature deadline a week - that's a good pace for me because I always have something in the works, but I'm not so harried that I feel like I can't get my errands done or make it to the gym. It also assures a steady flow of decent-sized checks.

Another factor to consider: even if you're writing FOBs OR features, how much time does each article take you? Some editors might require 5 sources for an FOB, which means that your per-hour rate for this story might be next to nothing, while you could write a feature on a subject for which you're well-versed in a few hours. One thing that I did learn along the way is that I had to stop taking on subjects about which I knew nothing. The learning curve was just too high, and that cost me both time and money. So what I'd suggest is that you figure out what you think you should be earning per hour, then pitch and select assignments accordingly.

Does that help? How many stories do you guys like to be working on at one time?

Considering Credentials

You seem to be a freelancer at heart. I'm sorry I'm new to your blog, I feel as if I missed a lot. What led you do write a novel? Is freelancing and having clips a prerequisite to getting published?

Having clips and freelancing are definitely NOT prerequisites to getting your novel published. While I don't have stats or anything concrete to reference, I'm certain that there are a good deal of debut authors out there who have never been published in the magazine world at all. The only prerequisite to being published is that you write a good book. As we've chatted about before on the blog, I'm sure that my magazine experience did help me land the deal that I did, for sure. No doubt about it. It showed publishing houses that I was a pro and could handle deadlines, revisions and all of the craziness that might come my way. But was it the reason that my book sold? Nah. Because if that were the case, my first book would have sold too. And it didn't. :)

Funny that you mention that I'm a freelancer at heart because while this has definitely been true in the past, I'm now more interested in focusing on fiction. I'm paring back my freelance assignments to really hone my second book, and I'd like to reach a place where I continue to selectively choose my mag assignments but also produce on novel a year (or so).

What led me to write a novel? A few things: one, it provided a really cathartic outlet for my grief in losing one of my best friends to breast cancer, but two, and this speaks to the above point, I was ready for a break from the monotony of magazine writing. Don't get me wrong: I adore my editors and really dig a lot of the assignments that come my way, but if you speak to a lot of long-term mag writers, many of them will tell you the same thing - that after a while, you run out of subjects that really hold your interest because you feel like you've covered just about everything. The stories I still enjoy are those in which I'm learning something, and if it's just the same-old, same-old, it gets dull, as with any job. Fiction allowed me to explore new skills and new writing territory, and I found it - and continue to find it - really exhilarating.

So readers, why do you write fiction? And is being published prior to writing a novel imperative?

Aiming for the Stars

I was encouraged by an editor who liked my writing style to pitch a department piece to break into the mag (I don't have many clips beyond the small pubs for which I'm on staff as an editor). Assuming all goes well and I dazzle her (which I plan to!), I will definitely follow up with additional story ideas. My question is should I prepare 3-5 more FOB pitches, or go for the big one and pitch a feature or two (she handles both)? In other words, is nailing one short assignment enough to prove myself worthy of feature consideration? And if I decide to pitch another section of the mag, will it help to name-drop that I recently worked with this editor even if the piece hasn't run yet?

Two good questions here. For the first, I'm inclined to say that it doesn't matter: you should pitch the ideas that you think are strongest, or hell, why not pitch them all? If you're dying to break into features asap and have a great story idea, go for it; once she knows your name, you'll at least get a more attentive answer. Will she assign it? I'd say that if it's a good fit for her, she probably would. That said, there's really no way to know, so I wouldn't consider this an either/or thing: pitch everything because proving yourself to an editor is an on-going process, and just because you'd rather write features doesn't mean that you shouldn't (or can't) be writing FOBs along the way. Does that make sense?

As far as writing for another section of the mag, this is how I handle things. I usually ask the editor I'm working with if she is the appropriate editor to pitch X to. If she's not, she almost always gives me the name of the editor who is, and I can then say to this editor, "So-and-so suggested that I contact you about TK story idea." It gives me an in without being presumptuous. Of course, if your experience with your current editor is positive, I don't think it will harm you to name-drop, but it's always nice to have said editor's permission to do so. (But again, I really don't think it's that big of a deal.) Besides, your current editor might just put in a good word for you with the new editor, which is always a good thing.

So, how do you guys handle moving from FOBs to features? Is one story enough to make the transition?

How to Find a Good Editor

I’m ready to send queries to agents for my first novel. The novel is as tight as I can make it but I need someone v. cheap to correct the grammar, punctuation etc… (English isn’t my first language.) Would you have suggestions on how to go about this?

The only way to find a reputable editor is to ask around. Which is why I'm posting this for you! :)

If folks out there have worked with a good editor, please let this reader know.

That said, while I'm certainly not advocating that you send in your ms with errors, I do think that agents will give you the benefit of the doubt if they find an errant comma or misspelling. Just so you don't have a total heart attack if you find a period out of place after sending it in. Hell, even after my ms was bought and read (and corrected) by dozens of people, we still found errors in the galley. So yes, get it as tight as you possibly can, but most importantly, get the writing as tight as you possibly can. That's really what an agent will look for.

Know a good editor? Pass it along here.

Hey Editor - Where the Hell Are You??

WIP update: I'm thrilled to report that I hit page 150 on Friday. Not just thrilled to hit that page, but because I've really pulled together the first half of the book and think it's all really clicking now. This week, I'm going to revise these pages again - I have a few sections that I still want to strengthen - and get it in shape to pass to my agent when she's back in town on Friday. How goes your work?

Question of the day: What do you make of editors who express interest in an essay or query and then go MIA? I had an editor commission a piece last fall with a fairly short turn-around time. I beat the deadline, then never heard from her. I keep following up every month or so asking about getting a kill fee or getting it published, but she always says she'll check with the other editors and that she'd love to get more queries from me, but I never get a definitive answer when I query with other projects or ask about the status on my old article. When is it time to write her off and submit the article elsewhere?

Ugh, isn't this the worst?? Okay, here's what I'd do.

First of all, it's important to remember that editors do not hold all the power. It's easy to be intimidated by them because yes, they are the gate-keepers and do ultimately determine whether or not you're published, but at the end of the day, they're people, just like us. Really. When I first started out, I, too, was cowed by their presence, but now that many of these editors have become friends, I really can state with authority that while I love 'em, they're certainly not on a higher plane than we are.

So remember that.

With that in mind, I'd send this editor an email saying, "I'm so glad that you expressed interested in my story, however, since I haven't yet been paid and since you haven't yet confirmed that you'll be running it, please let me know if you intend to use said story, as it's a timely piece, and I'd like to place it elsewhere if not. Please let me know by X date." This gives both of you a deadline - her, to make a decision, and you, to move on.

Now, if she had already paid you, it would be a different situation. Once you've been paid, they've fulfilled their end of the contract...they're not under any obligation to actually publish the piece. I can recall several time when I've actually been paid in full and never had the article run. That's just what happens in the magazine world when hot topics suddenly become cold and vice versa.

Good luck. I hope you get both paid and a published story!

So readers, what would you do in this position? And what have you done when you've found yourself in this position?

Dear Editor: Is This a Clip?

I've read (or think I've read) about new writers using letters to the editor as published clips. What's your take on this? Is this a legitimate practice, or one of those new writer pipe dreams?

Noooooo!!! Don't do this.

Letters to the editor are in no way true clips. True clips are articles that you've researched and written and for which someone has contracted you (and should be paying you as well, but I know that some writers will write for free - a practice I really disagree with - but won't argue here). LTTE are not. If anything, sending your published letter to the editor only sends a clear signal that you haven't been published elsewhere or don't have anything better to offer. If LTTE counted as published clips, then everyone from my grandmother to a second-grader could be considered a published author, and sorry, they're not.

Please. Do. Not. Do. This.

I'm Unboxed Again!

Thanks to everyone who emailed or posted questions! I'm so excited to get back to answering them...and if you haven't sent one my way but have a conundrum, go ahead and press "send!"

Today's post is at Writer Unboxed, where I'm now a monthly contributor. It's all about separating fact from fiction when working on your novel and how writing something that is too close to home might come bite you in the ass. Check it out.

Back tomorrow with more answers to your wonderful questions!

Who Has Questions?

Because I might have answers....

I can't believe it, but I've burned through every last question that you wise folks have asked. So either a) I've taught you everything you need to know or b) the students have become the masters and you no longer need me. :)

That said, if you're lurking out there and need something answered, send it my way! That's what keeps this blog rolling. Don't be intimidated - I'm nice, really!