Query a Day: A Freelancer's Quest for Publication

A blog following a Pennsylvania freelance writer in her quest to become published nationally.

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Location: Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States

Cohabitating with boyfriend and cat in the mountains, soon to be graduate of Wilkes University and attending New School University in fall for MA in media studies.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Rejection: But a positive one!

The follow up letters seemed to work. I just received a nice note from one of the editors regarding one of the recent pitches. He stated that the story isn't right for them, but asked to try pitching other ones on (subject he suggested here.)

So, I will be sure to think of some additional ideas! It is just refreshing to know that the queries are being read, responded to and replied to personally rather quickly.

In other news, I am tweaking the children's book manuscript and getting ready to have two editors look it over to be sure it is polished. I cannot get over the fact that I received such a nice letter from the publisher regarding my query. Which brings me to a point. I try very hard to stay positive, and for the most part, this blog has been a very positive experience. I do not want to use this blog as a venting post, as I have one of those at MySpace. However, I do just need to get something off my chest.

There was a very negative post on a freelance writing site's member's only forum about this blog saying it was unprofessional and the writing dreadful. I just wanted to say that first of all, this blog isn't meant to be professional. It is supposed to be a fun way to keep track of my queries, while at the same time being a vehicle to motivate, support and help (and learn from) other writers. As far as the writing being dreadful, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this blog is not meant to be a judged-by-the-grammar police creative writing sample or article submission. This is just me blogging, blabbing, usually off the top of my head first in the morning when the coffee hasn't set in, or way too late at night when my contacts are starting to stick to my eyelids.

The lesson here: There will always be people who try to discourage you, no matter what. I had an article on these naysayers published once on a motivational website. The best thing to do? Surround yourself with positive people, people who believe in you. Of course there are going to be let downs (as in not being published), but in my experience even editors who do not run with one of your ideas could ask for another. Even enthusiastically. They usually don't tear your stuff apart, not to your face or on a public forum. That's the thing. Thanks to the Internet, we can now network and communicate with other writers and cheer each other on. And, with this blog, I've been thankful for the buzz that was created and the emails I have received and the encouragement from others. Thank you! It is you who make this blog awesome and totally fun to write!

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're doing great. Don't worry about what other people have to say. As long as you're happy, that's all you need.

Good luck!

2:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If that moron couldn't see that this is just an informal blog then their opinion isn't worth a damn. I like reading your blog everyday and it's a great way to see someone trying to get published. It's given me the nudge to start submitting my things and tracking them in Excel.

11:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd just like to point out that a "members-only site" isn't a "public forum."

12:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

>> As far as the writing being dreadful, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this blog is not meant to be a judged-by-the-grammar police creative writing sample or article submission. This is just me blogging, blabbing, usually off the top of my head first in the morning when the coffee hasn't set in, or way too late at night when my contacts are starting to stick to my eyelids. <<

Not sure I'd want to present myself that way to any editors who find their way to my blog.

12:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You shouldn't have posted information from a members' only site, even if you didn't like what it said. Obvious breach of confidentiality, if not your own, than that of the individual who forwarded the message to you.

2:52 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I'd be a little peeved at the person who forwarded the comment (which shouldn't have left a private forum, agreed). What good did they think would come of it? That you'd learn something useful?

Hey, not everyone's gonna love your blog/book/baby/backside/etc. As you get more clips, you'll see -- you'll receive horrid "fan mail," read scathing letters to the editor, suffer through nasty reviews -- this is the tip of the iceberg. Chin up, and remember: doing well is the best revenge.

4:24 PM  
Blogger Query-A-Day said...

Thanks for your comments and support, everyone!

6:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Personally, I'd wonder at the motivation of the person who forwarded that information to you, what a nasty thing to do. Personally, I like your blog and read it as a blog not as an effort to reach out to potential paying clients. The only thing I'd be concerned with is that you are posting editors responses which they may not realize that you are posting in your blog. This may breach the confidentiality they are assuming when they contact you.

7:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know the freelancers group you mentioned. Yes it was wrong to forward that post to you, but I have found that group to be eager to point fingers at everyone and question the ethics of everyone but themselves. While some among them are decent writers, a lot are hacks without a splinter of ethics who always immediately jump onto the mistakes of others. I tried it out for a a few months but found the squabbling to be very High Schoolish fwiw-------I agree with Lola augustine brown that you should probably rething some of what you share to avoid pissing people off and having other poeple rip off your ideas.

4:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for being open and honest. We appreciate it!!

6:46 AM  
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I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
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