Freelance Writing

I was chatting with a friend the other day who was lamenting how much she was dreading the job search she likely will undertake soon—updating resumes, sending letters, for all practical purposes "selling" herself to potential employers—and I realized that when you're a freelance writer you are, essentially, in a constant state of job searching. Only instead of a full-time job with built-in opportunities for career advancement, benefits, and the works, when you land a freelance gig, that success only yields a single writing assignment.

And then what do you do? You start all over. Updating resumes. Sending query letters. Selecting the right clips. Selling yourself. For the majority of us who aren't sought-after, big-name writers penning celebrity interviews or thought-provoking essays on demand for top-tier publications, it's an almost-constant cycle.

Granted, at this point in my life I'm fortunate enough that I have a full-time job (doing what I love, namely writing and editing books and magazines). And I have relatively steady freelance income copy editing and proofreading. So as long as that stays the same, I'm not going to be fretting over whether my queries will pay the bills or put food on the table.

Yet I'm still dying to write more. To get my name out there and start getting more of those "yes, please" responses and fewer "no, thanks."

Only it's hard work. It takes a lot of time, more time than I've had lately.

A story query can't be taken lightly. You have to know the magazine you want to write for, inside and out. You have to look into your crystal ball and figure out what stories have already been done, which ones are in the works already, and what won't ever be done. You have to try, as impossible as it sounds, to figure out what the heck the editor you're pitching to is going to like, what she's thinking, even when you've never met her before and probably never will.

What proposal is going to strike a chord when she's likely stressed, overwhelmed, overworked, underpaid, and battling a never-ending barrage of query emails from folks who don't have a clue what they're talking about? That's what you, the intrepid freelance writer, must figure out. Which clips will she find most interesting? Which job should be played up more in the resume? Should the whole package be sent by email or snail mail? How formal should the greeting be?

Welcome to the mind of a freelance writer.

And the clincher is that no matter how stellar the story idea is or how well-researched your query letter might be, if the editor isn't into it on any given day, you're out of luck. The end. Sayonara. Try again, sister.

I've sent a select few queries out in the last year and most have been met with no response or a big fat no. It's a game of chance, really. Especially when you're breaking into a publication you've never written for before. In one instance I had the perfect idea, pitched it to the perfect publication. The only problem? They'd just assigned a similar story for an upcoming issue of the magazine. Too slow. Another time, I sent out a hastily penned query for a story I was incredibly excited to write, only to get a terse "not interested" email two days later. At least I got a response though. The editors a freelancer never hears back from—no matter how many attempts are made—may be the most puzzling and frustrating creatures in the world.

Expect to hear more about the trials and tribulations of this a less-than-part-time freelance writer soon. I sent out another query last week. Any bets on whether they'll say yes?