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Forty years ago, while taking a college course in children’s literature, I set out to write a children’s book. But my career as an elementary school teacher interfered, and my publishing dreams evaporated. When I became a mother of a child with a disability, the next twenty years blurred the boundaries between order and chaos. By the time I took another creative writing class, my children were teenagers, and I was in my late forties. The teacher wielded his pen like a sword, a grizzled old guy who yelled at students when they couldn’t explain where to place a comma in a sentence. Still, he walked around the room cajoling us with, ‘write what you know.’ I wrote about my chaotic life. The idea for my book jelled with a theme that revolved around raising a child with disabilities. I joined writing groups to help develop my skills. I learned about first, second, and third persons, first, second and third drafts, how to identify weak verbs, how to self-edit, how to revise, and the differences between passive and active voice. Fast forward another two years. I attended my first writing conference, ready to query my manuscript. I met an editor More

“Keep it (pitches) short and sweet and to the point. Editors get hundreds of pitches every single day and if you can help them get to a “yes” fast, do it.” ~Six-figure freelance writer Mandy Ellis, https://www.mandyellis.com/ Yes, the key is to write such a pitch as to make the editor sigh with relief at a writer finally “getting it.” They have to read your pitch and be so happy at a writer who writes well, has a voice, gets the publication, and has a halfway decent topic. So many writers shoot themselves in the foot by not trying hard with the pitch, when they ought to struggle writing it as much or more than the article itself. Suggestions on how to break into freelance assignments (magazines, blogposts, newsletters): 1) Read a dozen articles from that publication until you have down pat the style, tone, and ideas they prefer. 2) Identify which sections allow freelancers (some sections, even with newsletters like FundsforWriters, have sections written in-house). 3) Study headlines hard. Yes, people start there in deciding whether to read further. 4) Do not use AI if they say do not use AI. You won’t be just rejected, but may be More

Contract bridge is a four-player, dual-team card game. When I first wrote about bridge, most people didn’t get it yet – but this year, seeing a Family Guy skit about bridge, the references certainly appear to be more mainstream. Makes me smile, because writing in this niche for over seven years has held strong for me during some of the hardest times for the publishing industry. Here’s how to apply to your own writing niche, whether it’s bridge, cooking, strength training, or horror film reviews. Niche Through Necessity Writers don’t find their niche at random: it takes time, persistence, and diligence to find those types of markets, but to find writing markets for something you already have a passion for, can make your days so much finer. Look for your niche, and pitch for it. Continue doing so, even when it doesn’t work for a while. Keep hunting. Keep pitching. After all, you love this niche, right? ’What’s in a Deck?’ was the first card feature I sold in 2016. Facing hard times, we had just been evicted by guys with firearms instead of a court order. Selling this story was the difference between going forward and going broke. I More

Creating art is heart-pounding and daring when you put it on display. Whether art, dance, or writing, to take what you’ve practiced long and hard to accomplish, takes intense courage to present it and make it subject to criticism and praise. “To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe Some writers have more natural talent than others. A lot of that is a vivid imagination while a lot of that is hidden practice the public never sees. Writers who have published have lived these stories for years in most cases. To go from talent to publication take guts, diligence, and endurance. “Talent is only the starting point.” – Irving Berlin You do not want to be like anyone else. You want to have your own voice, your own style, your own name. To be like someone else is to cheat or fall short of being the best you. Dare to be unique. “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.” – Martha Graham There is no such thing as More

Pitching is an incredibly important part of freelance writing—as important perhaps as the writing itself. That being said, have you ever given thought to the timing of your query, article, or essay? Timing your query, article, or essay for a holiday, especially the big holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, is a no-brainer. You submit in plenty of time—say July—when many editors begin planning for their November and December issues. Here’s a little tip: During a current holiday—Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, New Year’s Day, and even lesser holidays—I am always alert for stories or articles and jot down highlights of that particular holiday I feel will make interesting articles or stories for the following year’s holiday. For example, one year I scribbled a few notes about a tractor/hay ride on a family farm, taken on Christmas Eve. I later wrote “Yuletide Tractor Ride” which was purchased by Northern Ohio Live. On the same note, a road trip taken through Georgia one year at Christmas (jotting down notes) to visit a military son was published in Country recently, and “Aunt Gracie’s Valentine,” a story about discovering a vintage valentine card my deceased aunt had hidden away from someone More

An individual wrote me asking this in pretty much these words. They had a children’s book out, a month or more old and hadn’t garnered a single review. They asked how to get reviews and how to get their book on a list that others would see. So many writers push to get a book out then look around stymied and wonder, What now? Then a few weeks later when they hear nothing but crickets, they wonder, What happened? I didn’t read the book. That horse is out of the barn, and I didn’t want to pass judgment on quality of work. I had to assume the book was edited and formatted properly and came off as professionally done. The cover was great. Then I replied with the following (no name listed because they don’t need this kind of attention from the general public). Dear Friend, Afraid you didn’t even tell me the book title so I could look it up on Amazon. I had to search for it using your name. Anyway, here you go on what to do from here. 1) Never write anyone without mention of the book (and link) in your byline/signature block. 2) Where is your website? 3) More

I had a philosophical discussion with someone this week who didn’t like the way a particular state they visited did certain things. I don’t want to get into a political discussion here, so I’ll keep it general. I also won’t mention the state. I’m a rather live and let live type of person. I told them if a state does things I didn’t like, I don’t go there. I don’t live there, therefore, it wasn’t my place to tell them how to live. They took issue. They didn’t like the state’s rules and laws. Also, with a live and let live mentality, I told them they could think like they wanted to, but you don’t enter someone else’s house and tell them how to decorate it, clean it, or secure it for the night. Same goes for writing. When you pitch to a magazine, site, or company, you offer them your services in hope they can use your talents. You do not submit a pitch that isn’t a pertinent topic, has the wrong word count, or assumes a voice the company doesn’t prefer. You offer them what they believe they need. . . not what you think they need that More

Being a writer is a personal decision; we choose to share our stories in order to be seen but what about the privacy of the other people involved? A couple of years ago I pitched a personal essay about my first Christmas in the UK with my partner and his family. It was a warm, light-hearted piece about finding a home away from home. The editor had some initial questions, the last one being if my partner and his family would be happy to be pictured and named. I knew my partner well enough to know that with his militancy around privacy there was no chance. He has no social media presence and is not interested in being online in that way; if I’m chronically online then he’s the complete opposite. I emailed the editor back explaining that while his family may be OK with being named and pictured he would not. She chose not to commission the piece based on this fact. I was frustrated but not surprised. It makes sense that such a personal story demands details and photos. But did the lack of someone else’s participation necessitate the death of the piece before it had even begun? More

I’m a writer and author working at Op Cit (https://johndunnshops.com/project/op-cit-books/ ), a locally-owned, independent bookstore in Taos, New Mexico. They’re also in Santa Fe. Formerly called Moby Dickens, the Taos shop has been open almost four decades. My fifteen years of employment there has provided me with insights worth sharing. First, the sheer volume of books published every year. Numbers range from 500,000 to one million for traditionally published books, which averages from 9,615 to 19,230 new releases every week. When you add self-publishing, the annual numbers soar to four million. Add the zillions of already existing books and you get an inkling of the challenges facing bookstores—and libraries as well. And writers. Generally, bookstores buy what they can afford; what fits on the shelves. Of course, every shop is different: in size, aesthetics, specialties, and so on. Op Cit is mid-size, with thousands of books occupying two floors. To keep informed, we review catalogues, trade publications like Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus, bestseller lists, and customer recommendations. We order mainly from Ingram, sometimes directly from publishers. If Amazon is the only place to get a special customer order, we do that too. Shoppers come in all shades. Some look for new More

I received an email from a frustrated reader this week. This excerpt pretty much sums it up: “I’m still doing medical and legal transcription (keystrokes for pennies) which leaves me unfulfilled and often angry about writing.  I think this is what prompted me to reach out – your writing prompted by anger (see last week’s newsletter). Heck, I could likely write The Art of War if I could channel the anger into writing.” They asked me how much time I spent doing copywriting/freelancing. Instead of answering just that, I replied giving a more overall viewpoint of my income. Basically my writing time is broken into these areas: Novel writing (and its marketing) Copywriting/magazines/freelancing in general (and its marketing/pitching) Writing/researching for FundsforWriters (which generates advertising income) Now, there’s a difference in writing time and writing income. I know of few writers who write in one area (at least for very long). Of course, in the beginning the copywriting/freelance writing makes more income because novel/book writing has a long tail approach to making money. Having as many novels as I do now has allowed that balance to catch up. . . when it comes to money. Right now I earn a third of my income More