What I’m listening to: Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen Yesterday was proof of why I love my job. My kid needed someone to sit at her house and wait for an appliance delivery. My hand went up — hell, I volunteered. So I packed up my Surface and cell phone and moved my work to…
Tag: query help
Free Advice Friday: Turning Ideas Into Article Queries
What’s on the iPod: Have Love, Will Travel by The Sonics What a week. Unlike most summers, I’ve been working to the point where I had to postpone my vacation a few weeks just to get caught up. I did, but more came in. No matter — I’m out of here either way. I need…
Free Advice Friday: Writing a Terrific Query
What’s on the iPod: Katharine Song by Runaway Dorothy (link below) It feels like the world is starting to return to its normal orbit. Not that things were completely a-kilter, but I did get the sense that my work life (and home life, for that matter) were a bit on the random side. Given the…
6 Query Writing Mistakes
What’s on the iPod: The Busker by We Invented Paris Friday! The week went by too quickly, but I’m glad to see it end. Weirdness with Verizon yesterday had me without email all day. In fact, I’m hoping by the time you read this I’ll have my email restored. The company said it wasn’t expecting…
Pitch Perfect
Great work day yesterday. I managed to get a good chunk of work done on my article. If my day hadn’t been interrupted by an appointment, I would have finished it. Today, for sure. I worked a little later than usual – 6 pm – because of the interruption. I spent an hour trying to…
The Cross-over
Yesterday was one of those days where I got up from this chair and walked a mile. I’d been sitting in the same spot, powering through a big project, since 7:30. At 5 pm, I was toasted. Today it’s a second pass on some of the smaller sections, and pushing forward again. I had sent…
Myths About Queries
Welcome to a new week! Since so much of last week was spent in direct contact with new-to-this-blog writers, I’m assuming there were some newbies in the crowd. And hopefully, a few have stuck around. If so, this post is for you. And veteran writers? You, too. Remember what your first query letter looked like?…
Query Writing: The Follow Up
The Follow Up Thanks again to Nikki for providing today’s topic in our Beginner’s Series – how to follow up on those queries you’re now crafting with ease. Once you’ve waited your requisite amount of time (I admit – this is an arbitrary decision – despite what I said earlier, sometimes you just know when…
The Sound of SilenceBack among the working again. The vacation was great! Perfect weather, too. Daughter and I had a blast. I’m taking a small breather from the Beginner’s Series to answer a terrific question posed by Nikki. She asked what we should do when queries go unanswered or worse, ask for your rates. Here’s…