Some months ago, I finally, finally received a modest payment for a couple of articles I’d written for a well-known outlet. It took me almost a year from submitting the first piece to getting paid, and the whole process involved endless emails, chasing different people, lots of silence, and false dawns – a great deal of frustration and wasted time.

The irony is that the venue in question prides itself on being a resource for writers! Many a time I would stew on the situation, planning sarcastic emails in which I deplored the publisher’s hypocrisy, bemoaned the complacency and the inaction of the editors involved, threatened to demand that my articles be taken down, and imagined myself broadcasting the whole sorry saga all over social media.

In the end, I did none of these things. I managed to refrain from selecting the nuclear option, and eventually the payment came through. The identity of this payer is not important – I’ve had several such experiences over the years, and it’s often the very biggest companies that are the worst at paying.

But what was interesting for me here was learning how to deal with a bad payer that I still very much wanted to keep on my side. The fact is that I wanted to have my pieces published by this outlet, even if I was never paid. And I’m glad I didn’t lose it, because anger in professional contexts rarely leads anywhere positive. Here are a few takeaways.

Feel what you feel – just don’t broadcast it

When I was getting really frustrated, I found it helpful to draft messages to my reluctant payer in which I vented all my feelings. But crucially, I didn’t send them. I’d sleep on my words, and eventually always think better of sending them.

Set a date for chasing – and forget about it

Chase for updates regularly, but don’t let the situation take over your head the rest of the time, or you’ll resent it even more. I’d send my latest chasing email, then put a date in my email calendar (say two weeks later) when I’d chase again, and then just get on with the rest of my life.

Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face 

Staying courteous and professional is a golden rule of freelancing. If you fall out with one editor, none of their co-workers are ever likely to commission you. It’s an asymmetrical relationship, and they have so many other people they could commission, so you have to be the bigger person. Maybe you don’t want to work for that company again, but that editor may pop up somewhere else, and they’re unlikely to commission you again if all they remember of you is an unhinged all caps rant.

Stay patient 

At one point, within an hour of drafting another angry email, I received an email from an editor apologising for the whole situation. It made me realise that she didn’t have much control over things either (in a big company, don’t forget, the finance department can be far removed from the editorial staff), but it meant something to have my ordeal acknowledged. Patience was rewarded; if I’d lost it, I probably wouldn’t have received this reaction.

Think clearly

At one point, I was told the payment had been approved, and notification was on its way, but I didn’t see anything for days. I was about to lose it again when, on the off chance, I checked my spam folder. There was the notification, sent ten days earlier. If I’d sent that angry email, I’d now have to do some serious apologising.

BIO: Dan Brotzel’s debut short story collection, Hotel du Jack, is published by Sandstone – https://sandstonepress.com/books/hotel-du-jack